A beast that knows when to stay quiet is way more terrifying than any hunter.
That's what Sami felt in her gut.
But that only applied to her. If you asked Aus, he'd probably say—
Barking dogs don't bite.
And if they bark? Knock their fucking teeth out.
Though this wasn't really a dog anyway. Guy had Conqueror's Haki—at best he was a rebellious flamingo with an attitude problem.
Of course, before letting this flamingo fly free, Aus made sure to clip its wings:
He kept a piece of the bastard's Vivre Card. Didn't matter if the guy ran to the ends of the earth—Aus could find him.
"Don't worry."
Aus leaned back, letting his head sink into the soft cushion behind him. He grinned up at Sami's delicate face:
"Point a gun at someone's head, and even wolves turn into puppies."
Especially when it's a gun that gives zero shits about space and speed.
But hey, as an angel investor, Aus threw the kid a bone.
Like some Ryuo techniques.
He'd made promises to the World Government, after all. Sure, pirates breaking their word wasn't exactly breaking news, but a man had his reputation to think about.
If he vouched for the kid and then the moron immediately got himself killed at sea, that'd be embarrassing as hell.
Where's the style in that?
Three days after releasing his pet flamingo, massive news exploded across the world—pushed by some very mysterious forces.
"Extra! Extra!!"
"Rising Pirate Star!! Heavenly Yaksha!!!"
"Recently battled the legendary pirate at Sabaody Archipelago! Former Pirate King crew member! The Next Generation King 'Black Gun'—
And lived to tell about it!!!"
Newsboys screaming in every market, News Coos flooding the skies—everyone was pushing this story like their lives depended on it.
On some random deserted island—
Aus, one of the stars of this little media circus, had just wrapped up today's Warp-Warp Fruit training session.
"Buru buru buru..."
"Click."
"Moshi moshi. What's wrong, No. 7?"
Aus chomped on his food while watching the Den Den Mushi morph into an adorable girl's face.
The snail kept shifting—black hair, then white, then back again:
"Lord Aus! That report you wanted is out!"
"And you look absolutely gorgeous in it!!!"
"Lord Aus, should we come over and—"
The conversation was already going off the rails. Sometimes having clingy maids was its own special kind of hell.
Aus didn't know if other people had this problem, but he sure as shit did.
After politely declining their offer to come "serve" him, Aus hung up.
Right. He hadn't read a newspaper in forever.
Back at Sabaody, he never had to buy them himself—Sami's people handled everything. Now he was on his own.
So... where the hell were the News Coos?
Aus looked up at the sky.
Like the universe was reading his mind—or maybe News Coos just had some sixth sense—whenever someone wanted a paper, they'd show up.
"Caw—"
Perfect timing. A News Coo soared overhead, spotting the deserted island below.
Usually these places were dead zones. No customers, just the occasional ship stopping by.
The seagull was probably just going through the motions—quick flyover, then off to the next spot.
But then it actually saw someone waving from the ground.
Holy shit, an actual customer?
It started diving down, ready to make a sale. But when it got to about a hundred meters up, something made it slam the brakes.
It took one good look at Aus's face and refused to come any closer.
Meanwhile, Aus had been feeling pretty lucky about the timing. Talk about perfect service.
But then the damn bird just... stopped.
After getting a clear view of his face, it started cawing angrily.
Basically saying: "You're that asshole on our blacklist!"
Then it turned tail and flew off.
Aus stood there with his arm still raised, frozen mid-wave.
"..."
He let out a slow breath. His expression went from friendly to murderous.
Ungrateful piece of shit.
Watching the seagull flee, Aus focused and instantly warped a kilometer into the sky.
The News Coo nearly had a heart attack. Forgot how to fly for a second and started dropping like a rock until Aus grabbed its tail.
"Seriously? One time I don't have cash and take a freebie, so you blacklist me? And it's not like I stiffed you—I used your own money to pay for it."
"Tell Morgans if he keeps me on that list, I'll pluck every feather off his sorry ass."
"Consider yourself lucky to be breathing."
After using the News Coo's own cash to buy a paper—again—Aus released the traumatized bird and warped back to his island.
Munching on his meat stick, Aus cracked open the newspaper. First thing he saw was a dramatic photo—
Him and Doflamingo clashing Conqueror's Haki in the red-light district. Some sneaky News Coo must've snapped it when he wasn't looking.
They called it a "clash," but really it was domination. With black and red lightning crackling everywhere, who could tell whose was whose?
Classic journalism—start with one photo, make up everything else.
"After their meeting, neither would back down. Conqueror's Haki exploded in collision. Multiple exchanges with shockwaves that knocked out every bystander. Then all-out combat...
...Finally overwhelmed, his crew slaughtered, Doflamingo barely managed to escape."
When the hell did his crew become my kills?
Give these guys one piece of material and they'll spin a whole damn novel.
Aus didn't really care about the embellishment—didn't hurt him any.
But every other powerhouse on the seas reading this paper? They cared plenty.
They had no clue this was all staged marketing between Aus and the World Government.
So after seeing this report, they burned Doflamingo's name into their memories.
This kid was someone to watch.
Sure, he got his ass kicked and ran. But look who he was fighting.
Aus was basically the world's biggest celebrity right now—One Piece world's A-list superstar:
"Invaded Marine Headquarters." "Split the sky at Loguetown." "Pirate King crew member." "Soloed three Admiral candidates."
For a young guy to escape from him alive? That wasn't just impressive—that was legendary.
Same reason Crocodile surviving Whitebeard got him recruited by the World Government. Same reason Moria escaping Kaido made him a Warlord.
Respect through survival.
And across the seas, the men who cared most about Aus's movements read every word of this report multiple times.
Shanks. Buggy. Mihawk.
Each had their own reaction brewing.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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