"Heh, I see. I understand now."
Through his Observation Haki, Fujitora perceived what was happening around him and confirmed his suspicions.
Turning his head toward Luffy, he said, "Young man, could I trouble you to stand a bit further back?"
"I'm going to send these people to hell!"
"Oh!"
Realizing the old man intended to fight, Luffy quickly retreated a certain distance, leaving the battlefield to Fujitora.
"Oho~"
"Is the old man planning to make a move?"
Meiser looked back at Fujitora with interest. He was quite curious to see how strong this old man, who gave him such a peculiar feeling, actually was.
That way, even if the man really was a Marine, they would be mentally prepared.
Zoro didn't say anything, but his eyes were fixed on the cane sword Fujitora was slowly drawing.
A sword...
He hadn't expected this blind man to be a swordsman as well.
"You really have a death wish!" The man in charge gritted his teeth as he looked at Fujitora. "Since you're so intent on dying, I'll send you on your way!"
"Get him! Take him down!"
"Yeah!"
His subordinates roared and charged at Fujitora with their weapons raised.
"Die, you blind old man!"
Unfortunately, their speed was nowhere near enough to hit Fujitora. Instead, Fujitora lightly slashed them several times with his cane sword.
"I... I've been cut!"
"I have...?"
"It doesn't seem to hurt at all."
The men touched the spots where they had been slashed, confusion clouding their eyes. They had certainly felt the impact, but why was their skin completely unharmed?
Had they been cut or not?
"Old blind man, what did you do?" the manager asked, frowning.
Fujitora did not answer. He calmly sheathed his cane sword and slowly walked toward the group.
As he moved, a terrifying gravitational force acted upon the men, causing their expressions to change completely.
"This... this is?!"
"So heavy!"
"I'm... I'm going to be crushed!"
"Stop it! I'm dying!"
"Ahhh!!"
The men, pinned to the ground by gravity, began to scream in agony as the floor beneath them started to crack bit by bit.
Finally, under the effect of Fujitora's ability, the ground completely collapsed, and every one of them fell into a massive hole.
This scene left Sanji and the others completely stunned.
"?!" Sanji's eyes widened. "What's with that guy? What did he do?"
How did a giant pit appear just by slashing those guys a few times?
And what was with those people saying it was heavy?
"Could this man also be using sorcery?" Kin'emon asked in shock.
Otherwise, there was no way to explain how such a large hole could appear in the ground.
"Sorcery..."
Zoro narrowed his eyes and said, "A Devil Fruit ability user, huh."
If that was the case, this man wasn't a pure swordsman.
"If I'm not mistaken, this blind old man's ability should be related to gravity," Meiser said, crossing his arms.
"Gravity?"
"Yeah, it looks a lot like gravity," Meiser nodded.
At least, that's what it looked like based on those men's reactions.
Gravity...
If this ability was used well, its lethality would be truly horrific.
"Gravity, huh..."
Zoro pondered for a moment. An attack from a man like that would be incredibly heavy.
To fight such an opponent, one would need sufficiently powerful Haki and strength.
Merry looked at Luffy, who was standing not far from Fujitora, and said with concern, "Will Luffy be..."
"Don't worry."
Perona rubbed Merry's head and said, "Luffy didn't get into a conflict with him, so he'll be fine."
Technically, Luffy had helped the man, so Perona felt he wouldn't turn on him.
Hearing Perona's words, Merry sighed in relief. As long as they didn't fight, it was fine.
"That's a huge hole."
Crouched by the edge of the pit looking down, Luffy wore a look of amazement. The man was really powerful.
"Out of sight, out of mind."
Putting his weapon away, Fujitora spoke with a look of disgust, "There are truly too many filthy wretches in this world that offend the eyes."
As if having confirmed certain thoughts in his mind, Fujitora's expression gradually returned to calm.
He then walked toward the shopkeeper, tapping his cane sword along the way.
"Boss, I apologize," Fujitora said somewhat sheepishly. "I will compensate you for the damage to the shop."
With that, he handed the man a piece of paper.
"Compensation...?"
The shopkeeper swallowed hard. Even if he wanted to, he wouldn't dare ask such a powerhouse for money.
However, out of curiosity, he looked down at the paper he'd been handed.
As soon as he saw the words on it, his expression transformed.
"This... this is?!?"
Marine Admiral Fujitora Issho?
Was this man actually a legendary Marine Admiral?
Realizing this, the shopkeeper was about to say something, but Fujitora clearly anticipated his move and cut him off without hesitation. "Heh, I shall take my leave now."
"Someone will come to handle this matter later."
Having said that, Fujitora walked toward the door without turning back.
"Hey, old man."
Luffy turned to look at Fujitora and said, "You're really strong."
"Who are you, exactly?"
"Heh, I think it's better if I don't say," Fujitora said with a chuckle. "It's better for everyone that way."
After leaving those meaningful words, Fujitora turned and walked out the door, leaving Luffy with a head full of question marks.
"What did he mean by that?" Luffy asked, confused.
"I don't know."
Sanji rubbed his chin and said, "But..."
Before he could finish his sentence, the sound of someone falling echoed from outside the door, followed by a man's angry roar.
"Hey! Don't you have eyes, you bastard?"
"Apologies, apologies," Fujitora said awkwardly. "I truly am blind. Are you hurt, sir?"
"Tsk, what bad luck."
"Fine, fine, just go!"
"Thank you for your generosity..."
Listening to the exchange, Sanji fell silent. Seriously, what was with this guy?
"By the way... what did he mean by those words?" Perona asked, puzzled. "What does 'it's better for everyone if I don't say' mean?"
Could it be that the guy has a really bad reputation?
So if he said his name, would they be discriminated against just by association?
But the old man didn't seem like someone with a bad reputation; he even knew to pay for the things he broke.
As for the fight?
The enemies had attacked first, so fighting back was perfectly justified.
"I'm not sure what he meant, but this man is definitely no ordinary person," Zoro said grimly.
His intuition told him this old man was nowhere near as simple as he looked.
Meiser, meanwhile, thoughtfully glanced at the shopkeeper nearby, thinking, What exactly was on that note?
To make the shopkeeper show such an expression...
Could he be some kind of major figure?
Just then, a man cried out, "Hey, where did my bag go?"
Hearing this, others in the crowd checked their belongings on the tables and let out similar exclamations.
"My watch is gone too!"
"My wallet!"
"Hey, why did they steal my shirt as well?!" a robot said, dumbfounded.
Since becoming a robot, that shirt was the only piece of clothing he had left!
"Someone must have made their move while the room was full of dust!"
"Damn it, my money!"
"So many people lost their things?" Observing all this, Sanji said in surprise, "Could it have been that old man from earlier?"
Did that old man work as a thief on the side?
"Probably not," Meiser said, shaking his head.
Based on the shopkeeper's reaction, the man was likely a high-ranking official.
Meiser didn't believe such a person would resort to petty thievery.
"This doesn't have much to do with us anyway," Franky said. "We should hurry up and..."
Before he could finish, Zoro suddenly shouted.
"Hey, where's my sword?"
"Sword?"
Franky blinked and reflexively asked, "Which sword?"
"Autumn Water!"
Zoro said excitedly, "Autumn Water was right by the table, and now it's gone!"
"Nani?!"
Upon hearing this, Kin'emon exploded on the spot.
"The national treasure of the Land of Wano is missing?"
Are you kidding me, you bastard!
How could something so important be lost?
He couldn't accept this!
"Could it really have been that blind old man?" Merry wondered.
But wasn't he a Gravity Fruit user? Could that ability be used to steal things so silently?
"It probably wasn't him," Meiser said.
He had been watching the man since the trouble started and hadn't seen the blind old man do anything extra.
So he didn't think the old man was the culprit.
"If not him, then who?" Perona asked. "Ordinary people couldn't get near us, right?"
She knew very well how much Zoro cherished his swords.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he treated them like his own wives, so she didn't think a normal person could steal Zoro's sword.
"Damn it, what are we going to do?" Kin'emon said, frantic.
"How should I know!"
Zoro was also extremely frustrated; he was even more anxious than Kin'emon.
At that moment, a toy man walked over and said, "It seems everyone has lost something."
"Do you know something?" Perona asked immediately.
"I do."
"Then spill it!"
"It was naturally stolen by a fairy~" the toy man said with a laugh.
Perona: ??
A fairy? What fairy?
"A fairy?"
Meiser thought for a moment and said, "Are you talking about the fairy from the legends?"
Earlier, the robot waiter had indeed mentioned that this country had legends about fairies while serving the food.
Could it really be the work of some magical existence?
"That's right, that's the one," the toy man laughed. "So, everyone should just laugh this matter off~"
"How can we laugh this off!" Zoro roared with a shark mouth.
His sword was missing, dammit!
To his surprise, however, the surrounding crowd actually relaxed upon hearing this.
"Ah, so it was a fairy. Then never mind."
"Hahahaha, if it's gone, it's gone."
"Come on, let's keep drinking~"
"Yeah!"
Zoro: ??
What is wrong with these people?
They really don't care about their stolen belongings?
Perhaps seeing Zoro's confusion, the toy man explained, "Long ago, there has always been a group of invisible fairies in this country, and these fairies are the guardian deities of Dressrosa."
"They occasionally play pranks, and we've learned to turn a blind eye to it."
After all... they really couldn't catch invisible fairies, so over time, they simply accepted this explanation.
"Don't give me that!" Zoro shouted angrily. "That's my sword!"
It was a weapon he had fought desperately to obtain from an enemy. How could he just let it go?
He absolutely would not accept this!
"Well said!"
Kin'emon also roared, "That sword is a vital national treasure of the Land of Wano. It absolutely cannot be lost!"
"It's my sword!" Zoro corrected.
"What do you mean 'your sword'? Since when did Autumn Water become yours?!"
"I've told you how many times—someone gave it to me, so of course it's mine!"
"Damn you." Kin'emon looked at Zoro with displeasure and said, "I will settle things with you sooner or later, and I will surely take back Autumn Water and return it to the Land of Wano!"
"Hmph, fine by me~" Zoro snorted. "We'll see who kills who then."
Looking at the two men gritting their teeth at each other, Perona sighed helplessly.
Here they go again...
Ever since it was confirmed that the sword in Zoro's hand was the national treasure of the Land of Wano, the black blade Autumn Water, Kin'emon would have this exact argument with Zoro every now and then. She didn't even know what to say anymore.
But since Zoro hadn't actually beaten Kin'emon up over it, she couldn't say much.
"So what do we do now?" Merry said. "Where do we find this fairy?"
She knew how important Autumn Water was to Zoro, so she felt they should prioritize getting the sword back.
"I don't know either," Zoro said, his head throbbing.
Damn it, he better not catch that sword thief, or he'd make that bastard pay!
Daring to steal his sword... the thief was practically begging for death!
"Perona, send your ghosts out to search," Meiser said, looking at Perona. "See if you can find this so-called fairy."
In a sense, Perona's ghosts were an extension of the soul, so it was possible they could see the legendary fairies.
"Okay, I got it."
Perona agreed without hesitation, but Franky frowned and said, "Isn't using them now going to risk exposure?"
Meiser had said before that they shouldn't use the ghosts. Would using them now blow their cover?