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As soon as Bai Ye stepped out of his room—
He saw something wild.
Nami was beating the crap out of Luffy.
Bai Ye: "???"
Nami stood there, hands on her hips, fuming, fangs bared, yelling at Luffy.
"Are you an idiot?! What the hell did you do?! You nearly blew the ship up!!"
Luffy, face all swollen, looked up at her.
"Sanji told me to go fishing."
"Huh? You think I'm as dumb as you?! How the hell does fishing lead to an explosion?!"
"Fishing was taking too long, so I used a better method."
He looked totally proud of himself:
"I found out Bai Ye's talismans work really well. Just one of them can blow up a bunch of fish at once!"
As he spoke, Luffy even pulled out the stack of talismans Bai Ye had given him earlier.
Bai Ye's face twitched.
He couldn't help but yell, "You seriously expect me to believe you only used one?! You've already gone through half the whole stack!!"
Luffy perked up the second he heard his voice:
"Oh, Bai Ye! You're out! Give me more talismans! I wanna bomb more fish!"
Bai Ye: "?"
…Could you not hear the tone in my voice just now?!
Trying his best to keep calm, Bai Ye asked:
"Luffy... who the hell taught you to fish like that?!"
There's no way that guy could've come up with a plan like this on his own.
So, Bai Ye figured someone smart must've been coaching Luffy behind the scenes.
"It was Usopp."
Luffy said it with that innocent, clueless smile of his.
"Knew it."
Bai Ye let out a sigh and instantly appeared next to Usopp in a blink.
"Bai Ye, wait! I can explain! It's not what you think—!"
[Golden Light Curse — The First Mate's Punishment!!!]
Before poor, trembling Usopp could even finish his sentence, Bai Ye, a.k.a. Mister No-Nonsense, made his move.
Moments later—
Luffy & Usopp: "We're so sorry!!!"
Bai Ye: "Is it really too much to ask for you guys to just fish without making a scene?!"
"Now get back to fishing, you idiots!!!"
With that, Bai Ye walked off to the kitchen to find Sanji and ask for something to eat.
"You killed Wapol, right?"
Sanji asked casually while bringing out the food.
Among all the crew, only Sanji—since he's the one feeding everyone—was told about Wapol's existence by Bai Ye.
Bai Ye's reasoning was simple:
He couldn't let Wapol die from starvation before he had a chance to kill him himself.
"Yeah. He's dead," Bai Ye replied, nodding as he dug into Sanji's cooking and gave a big thumbs-up in approval.
Sanji just nodded back without saying much.
He didn't really care that Wapol was killed—he only cared about how much food the guy had eaten before dying.
Which was… a lot.
Just then, both of them sensed something weird happening outside.
So they stepped out to check what was going on…
…and were greeted by a very strange scene.
"TWO LUFFYS?!"
Sanji's eyes nearly popped out of his head, and the cigarette in his mouth fell straight onto the deck.
Right in front of him were two people… both with Luffy's face.
One was wearing Luffy's usual outfit.
The other was dressed in a bizarre swan-themed ballet costume.
Bai Ye stepped forward and stomped out Sanji's cigarette, watching the scene unfold with amusement.
Having read the original story, he knew exactly who this guy was.
Mr. 2 of Baroque Works—also the only senior agent without a partner.
Why? Well, Bai Ye figured it was probably because the guy's… hard to categorize.
Yup. He's a drag queen—a powerful one, and a devoted believer in the "okama way."
Also, he'd eaten the Clone-Clone Fruit.
That means he could transform into anyone whose face he touched with his right hand—and not just the face! He could mimic their voice, their body… everything.
Thinking of that, Bai Ye remembered what happened in the original plot.
After Mr. 2 was pulled onboard, he started copying all the Straw Hats…
Then after copying Nami, he flashed his transformed body to show off his figure...
"WAAAHHHH!!!"
BOOM!!!
Bai Ye looked up just in time to see the shocked faces of Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper...
…and Nami—face bright red—punching Mr. 2 straight into the ground.
Then, as Mr. 2 continued his over-the-top performance, the ship's resident dumb trio started clapping and cheering like idiots.
Nami just looked fed up, while Zoro had his usual deadpan expression.
Sanji… looked kinda miserable.
Bai Ye understood instantly—this kind of person was Sanji's natural enemy.
How do you even console someone like that?
Tell him that, if it weren't for Bai Ye being here, he'd end up training on an island full of drag queens for two whole years?
Bai Ye shook the thought away and got ready to step in.
Right when Mr. 2 was bonding with the idiot trio and about to leave on his ship…
A voice rang out:
[Xun Hex — Wind Bind!]
"Eh?!"
Standing on the edge of the ship, Mr. 2 looked shocked as invisible ropes of wind wrapped around him. He turned toward Bai Ye.
"Can you tell your darling why you're treating me this way?"
He wasn't even flustered—in fact, his tone was super calm. The way he talked, though, sent chills down Bai Ye's spine.
As for the Straw Hats—except for Chopper, who had just joined—even Luffy didn't jump in to defend Mr. 2. Instead, everyone went quiet, waiting to see what would happen next.
That was the kind of trust Bai Ye had built with the crew over time.
Bai Ye turned toward the second floor and asked Vivi:
"There's a Baroque Works officer codenamed Mr. 2. Ever seen him before, Vivi?"
Vivi was caught off guard at first, then replied:
"Mr. 2's super mysterious. I've never seen his real face."
But then she added:
"Though... according to rumors, Mr. 2 is a tall drag queen who talks in a weird, girly voice. Loves wearing swan-themed coats and has four big characters written on his back: 'Way of the Okama'."
An awkward silence fell over the ship.
Everyone turned to stare at the clearly matching Mr. 2… then turned back to Vivi:
"You didn't recognize him from that?!!!"
Bai Ye couldn't help but chuckle. This was one of Vivi's few embarrassing moments.
Well, that and her signature dance move—the infamous "Alluring Dance."
"Princess Vivi, huh?"
Mr. 2, overhearing the conversation, finally put the pieces together.
"No wonder I couldn't find Mr. 3. You guys must've taken him out, right? Straw Hat crew?"
He clearly recognized them as the now-famous pirate group, but since his target had been Mr. 3, he hadn't paid them much attention till now.
"You just—!"
Vivi suddenly realized something and jumped in.
"You transformed into my father! What did you do while pretending to be him?!"
Her voice trembled with anger and fear.
"....."