The Kuja Pirates, aboard the Perfume Yuda.
"Hurry up, time to work."
A pink-haired pirate woman grabbed a half-grown girl by the rail and told her to haul the looted jewels into the hold.
"Okay~"
The girl, clutching a large newspaper, weakly pushed herself up from the deck.
"What are you holding?"
The pink-haired woman picked up the paper the girl had dropped. Splashed across the front page was a huge headline:
[The White King Magnus Returns to Mary Geoise—Will War Ignite Again?]
Norse Magnus.
For the last decade, even on the closed-off island of Amazon Lily, that name was heard again and again.
For a pirate like Gloriosa, she had practically grown up on that name; for a long stretch of her childhood she'd sworn she would become a pirate more famous than the White Wolf Magnus!
And if she ever met him, she'd make him fall at her feet!
But the White Wolf Pirates had always been active in the New World. Forget making the White King bow—just getting a single meeting wasn't easy.
More than once, Gloriosa had proposed sailing to the New World.
She was denied every time.
"The seas of the New World are far vaster than you imagine. With your strength now, heading there is a road to death!"
So the former captain of the Kuja Pirates—also the former empress of Amazon Lily—had often told her.
But all that was in the past.
A month ago, Gloriosa defeated the former empress in combat, winning not only by force, but also the people's recognition of her feminine allure.
Heh. Now she could publicly declare she was the most beautiful woman in the world!
"Petverra, which island on Sabaody do you think the White King Magnus is on?"
Watching her eager junior, Petverra hesitated.
"Gloriosa, someone like the White King isn't someone we can 'conquer' so easily. Besides, as far as I know, the White King hardly lacks women."
"Hmph. Can those women compare to me?"
Gloriosa tossed her long hair. She wore a deep-cut, high-slit cheongsam; beneath the pink mane was a figure just as fiery and rosy as her hair.
"And Petverra, how many times have I said this? On board you should use my title. I am the empress of Amazon Lily now—the captain of the Kuja Pirates!"
To Petverra, Gloriosa's attitude looked exactly like her own once had, when she'd beaten the empress before last and strutted around in arrogant triumph.
Experience had taught her better.
The Kuja Pirates might dominate the first half of the Grand Line, but in the New World—a land of monsters—they were only a slightly strong crew at best.
Her current bounty was but 160 million Berries.
Stronger than an ordinary big pirate, but only so much.
Gloriosa had surpassed her, but only by a hair's breadth. Their strength hadn't truly diverged.
Thanks to the Kuja's unique beauty, they could gain the upper hand against slightly stronger foes.
But before a monster like the White King Magnus, Petverra wasn't sure beauty would help at all.
"Anyway, I've decided. Once we unload, we're going to meet the legendary White King Magnus. They say he ripped the New World out of the Government's hands and is already half the world's master!"
Gloriosa's eyes sparkled.
"Only a man like that is worthy of me!"
"He's nearly eighty!"
"But the paper shows he still looks young!"
Gloriosa puffed her cheeks at her old captain. If the Magnus in the photo wasn't handsome, she wouldn't have bothered.
"Hey, Shakky, you're curious too, right?"
"Gloriosa, don't drag Shakky into this—she's only twelve!"
"M' just want her t' see it~"
With Petverra pinching her cheeks, Gloriosa's words came out muffled.
"See what, my foot!"
Barely over twenty, Gloriosa was clearly not yet a qualified captain; Petverra felt she was worrying herself sick over Amazon Lily's future.
"Huh? Where's Shakky?"
"I sent her to move cargo a moment ago."
"Hey, Izoya, did you see Shakky?"
Petverra called to a crewwoman coming up from below.
"Shakky? I saw her carry a crate ashore."
"Tiffany?"
"Eh? She was just here."
Watching the crew's reactions, Gloriosa didn't catch it yet, but Petverra had already sensed something was wrong.
"Shakky is missing!"
"What!?"
"How's that possible?"
At once, every Kuja warrior dropped what she was doing and gathered around.
Gloriosa smacked a fist into her palm.
"Don't tell me Shakky went to look for Magnus?"
"You think Shakky is as unreliable as you?"
Anxious light flashed in Petverra's eyes. In her impression, Shakky was far steadier than Gloriosa.
If Gloriosa hadn't risen so suddenly, Petverra had even thought to groom Shakky as the next Kuja captain.
Seeing the grim faces around her, Gloriosa dropped her playful look.
"What happened?"
"Slave traders, most likely."
"What!?"
"I figured those traffickers would keep their heads down with the White King here. Who knew they'd be so suicidal?"
Shakky wouldn't vanish for no reason.
Eliminate the impossible, and only one possibility remained—while they were fooling around, traffickers had snatched Shakky after she stepped off the ship and walked too far.
Fortune favors the bold.
It was likely that Magnus's purge had cost the slavers dearly, and that was exactly why they'd take a desperate risk.
In the human market, women from Amazon Lily fetched prices second only to mermaids. For especially beautiful women, the price could surpass an ordinary mermaid!
A nation of only women—Amazon Lily was a dreamland to most men in the world.
And its fame for beauties had always been well-earned.
But the only ship that ever sailed out from Amazon Lily was the Kuja's. The women aboard were all warriors.
Occasionally, though, there were young trainees like Shakky.
"Looks like we've only one option."
With Magnus present, even if the slavers caught prime "goods," they probably wouldn't dare put them straight on the auction block.
If they hid the "merchandise," the Kujas wouldn't find them at all.
Let alone that the Kuja Pirates were still pirates. Raising a ruckus this close to Marineford carried consequences they couldn't bear.
They were not the White Wolf Pirates!
So if they wanted Shakky back, one option remained.
"Gloriosa, didn't you want to meet the White King Magnus? Then go and meet him—beg him to rescue Shakky. That's a request the White King will not refuse!"
(End of Chapter)
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