No wonder the Shyarly of the future once said this.
The future is better left unseen.
If you knew everything already, what a bore it would be.
At least right now, no matter what name came out of Shyarly's mouth, Ozz would not be pleased. Whether it was King Luffy, Buggy, or any other wild card, none of it would excite him. He would only feel that nasty itch of a fate someone else had already penciled in. And then the contrarian in him would wake up.
If she said King Luffy, he would feel like testing the world itself. Could he stop Luffy from becoming Pirate King if he went all out? He even caught himself thinking the ugliest thought of all, the kind you only admit in silence. What if he snuffed the kid out before the story began.
"Boring."
Ozz lounged into the sofa and looked at Shyarly, who was nearly his height even sitting. Since he was here, he let himself ask a few questions that did not matter.
"Hey, Shyarly. In the future, do I die?"
Shyarly let a slow bubble of smoke escape. You could hear the helpless exhale in it. She turned her gaze to the crystal sphere and focused.
"At least in the futures I can see, you are very much alive."
Ozz did not blink. It fit. There were few things left that could truly threaten him now. He was not about to pull some suicidal stunt to spite a prophecy either.
"What about Fish-Man Island. Does it get destroyed?"
That one made the room go still. Shyarly froze. Jinbe and Hachi both stiffened. The Black Emperor asking that question meant he knew something. Or suspected it.
Shyarly had never tried to scry that path. At his prompt, she reached. Images came hazy and stuttering, as if light were breaking in deep water.
"How can that be… Fish-Man Island is almost ruined by someone in a straw hat, but at the final moment it is saved…"
The fragments would not resolve. That did not happen often.
"I see."
Ozz had never been the type to worship fate. He had crossed into this world with memories intact, and he had already set eyes on the most secret treasure of all. There were not many mysteries left he could not at least guess.
He slung an arm around each of his companions, drawing Mihawk and Crocodile close with a sideways grin.
"You two seriously have nothing you want to ask? Especially you, Mihawk. Do you not want to know whether you become the strongest swordsman in the world?"
Both icy hearts beat the same answer. The hawk-eyed man did not even blink.
"What difference would it make to know. If she says I am, I still would not slack. If she says I am not, I would not believe it. I would only swing harder."
Sharp and clean. Exactly Mihawk.
Crocodile was even simpler.
"I am not wasting my breath on idiocy."
The cigar rode the corner of her mouth. She had that old-world boss poise again.
"The future is only fun if you go and see it yourself."
No one got to the top without a tempered mind. Their answers were exactly what Ozz expected.
For all his scorn of fatalism, Ozz was fascinated by concept-type powers like Shyarly's.
"Hey, Shyarly."
He looked over the shark-mermaid girl across from him. She was still a teenager, delicate features already sharpening into a cool beauty with a hint of older-sister air.
"If you ever feel like it, come out to sea for a while. I will leave you a Transponder Snail. You can reach me anytime."
Shyarly took the little snail with careful hands. She understood exactly how much weight that offer carried.
Ozz did not push her. He tossed a few more idle questions her way on a whim, then rose and clapped her gently on the shoulder with a smile.
"Next up…"
Out of the mermaid café, Ozz rubbed his chin and finally turned to Hachi.
"Lead the way to the Fish-Man District. There are a few people there I am very interested in."
One light sentence hit like a thunderclap. Jinbe and Hachi both jolted as if a current ran through their spines.
He had said Fish-Man District.
That den of punks.
Jinbe's face stayed composed. Hachi's went pale first. He knew better than anyone what kind of trash nested there. The boys out that way hated humans with their whole chests and had no sense for who they were mouthing off to. One wrong word and Ozz could decide to erase the entire block for discipline.
"Th-that place is just small-time riffraff, sir. Not much to see, Ozz…"
Hachi tried to shuffle forward and plead, but a cold flash cut his step short. He looked down. A gold hook glinted at his throat, catching the light like a crescent of ice.
"Hey, fishman. Should I take this as defiance."
Little Sand had the quickest fuse. Once she recognized Ozz as her king, she had no patience for anyone who forgot their place. If Ozz had not spoken, she would already have turned him to dust with a Desert Spada.
Hachi swallowed hard and raised his hands.
"Enough, Hachi. Lead us."
In the end it was Jinbe who read the room most clearly. Ozz's eyes had not wavered once, and he had said he was interested in some of the people there by name if not words.
Pray for our luck, then.
…
"I am Captain Arlong of the Arlong Pirates."
Bang.
One punch flattened a Neptune Army soldier. A young saw-shark fishman stood in the street with his chest out, basking in his own noise while his underlings clapped and whooped.
Not far off, a knot of fishman kids watched with wide, starstruck eyes.
"I do not see what good Otohime's little signature drives do. Humans are nothing but a lower breed…"
"Oh. Is that so."
A voice rolled down the lane, slow and clear, and Arlong's head snapped up.
"Who is there."
He scowled toward the sound. Arlong had been swelling for months. In his mind, he had already beaten everyone in the Fish-Man District. Other than Tiger and Jinbe, no one could touch him.
He did not notice the tall figure that had already walked up behind him, hands in pockets, looking down with bored, cold interest.
"You want to say it again. Humans are all lower lifeforms."
No Conqueror's Haki swept the street, yet the pressure that crawled over Arlong's skin made his predatory instincts scream. Sharks knew when something larger glided into the water.
Back to the light, he turned like he was pushing against the deep. The face came into focus piece by piece. The pride froze on his lips. His pupils trembled and would not stop.
Impossible.
The one who nearly shattered Fish-Man Island with a single clash.
"Did you not hear me."
Ozz kept his hands in his pockets and looked at Arlong the way a wolf looks at raw meat.
"I want you to repeat it."