That project had begun the moment she obtained her Powers.
Several weeks prior.
The place: my private quarters in the Hideout on Merveille.
I'd summoned an old acquaintance of mine, a young woman, along with her partner, a man, to come see me together.
"Excuse me, Mi--"
Galdino came in with his characteristically distinctive way of speaking, but the moment he saw what was going on inside my room, he froze in place.
Marianne, who followed in after him, didn't exactly freeze, but she let out a voice somewhere between understanding and exasperation: "Ahh..."
As for what lay in the direction of their stares...
"Oh, welcome, Marianne. You too, Galdino."
"Sorry for calling you over so suddenly. I'm still kind of in the middle of something right now."
"Mind just sitting down wherever and waiting a bit?"
"Feel free to grab some tea and snacks from the shelf."
"I'll tell you what this is about once I reach a good stopping point."
"...Miss, forgive me for asking a terribly rude question, but... which one is the real you?"
At that moment, inside my private quarters, which were really more of a Study, five of me existed simultaneously, all furiously scratching away with pens in a chorus of frantic scribbling.
Of course, the real me was only one of them. The rest were doubles I'd created with my Powers: Proxy Dolls.
I had every single one of them writing separate manuscripts at the same time. That was the current situation.
See, lately, thanks to my Shichibukai privileges, I'd been able to go on research trips to places I'd never been able to visit before, and it was one stimulating experience after another, fueling my creative drive like crazy. My imagination just kept expanding and expanding. Ideas kept flooding in faster than I could write them down, and I didn't have enough time or hands. But it'd be such a waste to forget them if I didn't get them down on paper immediately. That line of thinking led me here.
If you don't have enough, just make more. Hands, that is. Or rather, me.
By multitasking and thinking up multiple stories simultaneously in my head, then creating the necessary number of Proxy Dolls to handle the output, the actual writing, I'd become several times, even dozens of times more efficient than before.
...Sorry, let me correct myself. It's not really "work" so much as a hobby that's gotten wildly out of hand.
I'd even gotten multiple unprecedented requests from publishers saying things like, "We can't keep up with publishing, so could you maybe slow down a little?"
'I mean, it can't be helped, right? Not having enough "hands" or "time" for output is seriously stressful for creative types like us. I totally understand why Vegapunk, whom I met on a research trip the other day, went and created his "cats" (Satellites).'
And it wasn't just me. Lately, Mama had been using a similar approach to advance multiple research projects at once, using applications of the Termite ability and the Mold ability.
Did you know that a termite Queen can produce clones with genetic information completely identical to her own? Apparently, that's just how their biology works. Mama combined that with the Mold ability, generating clones of herself from Mold mycelium using the termite method, multiplying like she was splitting into copies. In other words, she'd created a state of "multiple Mamas existing at once," dramatically accelerating every research project she had going.
And simultaneously, the knowledge of this dealt massive damage to Papa's stomach, landing him in the hospital.
"One Sou... two Sous... three Sous... five Sous..." he kept mumbling deliriously. Just painful to watch.
I remember worrying about all sorts of things, like whether he might drift from counting sheep straight into eternal sleep, or whether the numbers skipping here and there meant the shock had sent him into early senility...
...There had been a lot of "things" going on lately, after all.
Now, I got sidetracked, but let me get back on topic.
So, I'd been split into several copies and was right in the middle of writing when those two arrived, but my main body managed to finish up. I headed over to where the two of them were waiting and sat down on the sofa across from them.
"Sorry, sorry. Called you here and then made you wait."
"No, please don't worry about it... However, running that many at once, doesn't your head get all mixed up?"
"That's just a matter of practice, practice. Now then, let's get to the main topic. Marianne, there are two things I want to talk about. The first is about personnel decisions going forward, for you, or rather, for both of you."
"Personnel decisions?" Crunch.
Marianne listened to me while chomping on a rice cracker. Attitude-wise, it might be slightly in the gray zone for someone talking to their boss in a professional setting, but ours wasn't the kind of relationship where anyone bothered about that sort of thing. No problem at all.
I placed a paper in front of the two of them, a simple summary of the personnel plan I'd been considering.
"Hmm... This paper here is the organizational plan for the entire Golden Lion Pirates, as envisioned by Shiki-sama, the Supreme Advisor. I see, it's a well-thought-out plan suited for efficiently running a pirate crew that's grown to an extraordinarily massive scale... And this other one is... a personnel plan focused around your immediate circle, Miss? A separate chain of command, something like a Personal Guard reporting directly to you?"
"That's not quite right, I think, but... well, it's fine if you think of it that way. So, about this part of the structure, right here..."
I tapped a specific point on the paper as I spoke.
"I'm planning to appoint Marianne as one of the Goninbayashi."
Hearing that, Galdino's eyes went wide.
"Th-that would mean... Miss, at this position... you'd be placing Marianne at, if not Grand Executive level, then at least Senior Executive Class...!?"
"Hm? Is that what it means, Sue?"
"Yep, that's the plan."
Understanding that it wasn't some kind of mistake, and precisely because of that, a cold sweat ran down Galdino's face. In stark contrast to Marianne, who was still being her usual spacey self right beside him. Well, looking more carefully, maybe she did seem a little surprised, or perhaps troubled?
I understood their concerns, though.
Galdino wasn't making that face because he was jealous or dissatisfied that Marianne, his partner since the BW days, was about to be placed in a position far above his own. He was flustered because he understood the meaning, the sheer weight of being appointed to Senior Executive Class in the Golden Lion Pirates, a crew now spoken of as Quasi-Four Emperors.
And while Marianne probably didn't grasp the situation as precisely as Galdino did, she likely had a similar concern:
"But Sue, I'm... not that strong, you know? And I'm not that smart either. Galdino and the others, Mikita and Gem, they're always helping me out."
She said it just like that, understanding, or at least sensing, that this was a position that didn't suit her. Even with her usual spacey demeanor that hardly fit someone living in the underworld, she understood at least this much. ...Though she did skip out on missions sometimes.
If she was going to serve as an Executive Class member under me, she'd need commensurate power. She understood that properly.
Of course, it wasn't as though I didn't understand that. I wasn't trying to promote Marianne just because we were close, without giving it any thought. I had a clear rationale, and a genuine need, for placing Marianne in this position.
"I see... Then, what is that reason?"
"Two main reasons. The first is... well, to make it look exactly like that."
"Like what? Like you're just promoting someone you're close to and keeping her by your side as an Executive?"
"...! Ah, I see..."
While Marianne still looked puzzled, Galdino seemed to understand from those words alone.
This had been the intention and direction from the start. I was a member of the Shichibukai and the Admiral of the Golden Lion Pirates, but my position was merely a figurehead. The real Mastermind was Papa, Shiki the Golden Lion. That was the open secret, the style by which the world understood things.
I had the skills to back it up, and I even properly fulfilled my duties as a Shichibukai, but setting that aside, the one actually running the pirate crew was Papa. In that sense, the Pirate Literary Master, meaning me, was nothing more than a figurehead.
This move, essentially what you'd call "cronyism," was also meant to reinforce that impression even further. For the sake of the various plans Papa was simultaneously advancing.
If that was the case, then it wasn't unreasonable. Galdino accepted this with a tentative nod.
"And... the other purpose?"
"The other one... saying this might immediately contradict the whole 'cronyism' angle I just mentioned, but going forward, I want to entrust Marianne with work that's genuinely important, befitting her Senior Executive Class position. This appointment reflects that."
"Important work?"
"Yes. Extremely important work that only Marianne... and Galdino can do."
"...Wait, me too?"
And when I told them the details of this "work"...
"""""...!!!?!?"""""
Marianne's eyes were sparkling, and she was leaning forward eagerly, hanging on every word.
Galdino's jaw had dropped open in utter disbelief, completely blindsided, struck speechless.
Setting aside Galdino and his Enel face, judging by that reaction, Marianne really was the same kind of person as me. Before all the messy stuff about being pirates or living in the underworld, she was a hobbyist at heart. Writer and painter may be different fields, but we both loved creating something exciting.
I'd expected her to jump at it, but this exceeded my expectations. Excellent, excellent.
Pretty obvious at this point, but I figured I'd ask anyway.
"What do you think, Marianne? This job... want to do it with me and give the world a surprise?"
"...Yeah, I'm in!"
***
Several weeks later.
I was meeting with Morgans on one of the islands within our Territory.
The original purpose of today's meeting was a discussion about a new novel I was releasing, plus a meeting about publishing a new edition of an older novel.
Our roughly two-hour conference had concluded without issue, and just as Morgans stood up to head back to headquarters and get to work, I stopped him.
"Sorry, Morgans, got a few more minutes today? There's something I want to show you, and something I want to discuss."
"Hm? Well, I don't mind, but... What, are you going to show me something interesting again?"
"Huh, what makes you think that?"
"Look in a mirror, Sue. You've got the same face as when you've finished writing a masterpiece and you're itching for someone to read it. No, actually, it looks like you're hiding something even bigger than that."
Morgans laughed, saying I was easy to read as always. I felt a bit embarrassed about it, but since he was absolutely right, I couldn't really argue.
But I did think it was only natural I'd be like this, and the truth was, I'd prepared something that I was genuinely itching to show Morgans. I was confident. Even someone like Morgans, who'd seen all manner of things both behind the scenes and in public, I thought I could blow his mind with this.
With Morgans seated again across from me, I made sure he could see clearly as I pulled something from inside my coat.
It was a Dial. And not just any Dial. It was one of the types Mama had developed through selective breeding, capable of recording and playing back both music and video. Like a projector, it could display footage on a wall or surface.
But it wasn't the Dial itself I wanted to show him. It was what was inside.
The moment I pressed the apex, images appeared and music began to play.
Morgans murmured an intrigued "Ooh" at first, but the very next moment, for an entirely different reason, his eyes flew open in shock and he shot to his feet.
"Sue... what is this? What am I looking at?"
"Before I answer that... what does it look like to you? What does it seem like?"
"To me... well... it looks like a Picture Story's drawings are moving and talking. There's really no other way to describe it. And what's being shown here is your work, Blade of the Sea Overlord, isn't it?"
The title being Blade of the Sea Overlord aside, what Morgans had just said, that it could only look like "drawings in motion," that was the key point. Of course it looked that way. Because drawings were actually moving.
I'd asked Marianne to use the Brush-Brush Fruit's Powers to materialize the illustrations from Blade of the Sea Overlord, then actually set them in motion, and recorded the whole thing as footage. An "animation." That was the true nature of what Morgans was watching.
Granted, unlike real-world animation, where thousands of individual drawings are used to create the illusion of movement, this was actual movement.
Still, a story that could previously only be experienced through Picture Stories, through still images and written dialogue, was now moving and speaking. On top of that, there were special effects like light and explosions, giving it dynamism and overwhelming impact. That alone was clearly enough to make a powerful impression.
It had more impact than even a live stage performance with similar movement. Even filmed from a fixed angle, unlike theater, which had inherent limitations because it was performed in real time, this could be retaken as many times as needed during recording to capture the perfect take. Dangerous and extreme staging like explosions and sword fights could be added freely, as much as needed to maximize excitement.
Of course, stage performances had their own strengths, and I wasn't saying they were inferior. But just as it had been in Reiwa-era Japan, there were definitely people this kind of thing would resonate with. I knew, because I was one of them.
The only person who could create this, at present, was Marianne, who possessed both the Brush-Brush Fruit's Powers and master-level artistic skill. Add to that Galdino's support, with his ability to craft infinitely versatile props, and you got this level of quality.
That was precisely why, once this got off the ground, Marianne's importance would be immeasurably great. Great enough that she deserved to be given a position commensurate with it.
Also, this type of Dial still cost considerably more to produce than simpler ones like Tone Dials, so widespread distribution to the general public would be difficult. I figured the format would lean more toward large-audience screenings at movie theaters or similar venues. Widespread distribution like DVDs or Blu-rays from my old world was still years, maybe over a decade away.
Even so.
"What do you think, Morgans?"
"You're always like this, Sue! You ask me that when the answer is already staring everyone in the face! This, this thing is a bomb that could transform entertainment worldwide! Kuwahahaha! What, are you saying you'll cut me in on this!? Even if you said no, I'd force my way in!"
"I have no intention of leaving you out, so relax, Morgans. There'd be no reason for me to bring it up here otherwise. But in return, you're going to cooperate properly."
"Of course! In fact, even without being asked, even if you told me not to, I'd do it anyway! Promotion, behind-the-scenes arrangements for public screenings everywhere, preparations to make it sell, collecting profits afterward, all of it!"
"That's great, but like I said, I have a favor to ask, Morgans. Hey, the rights to Sora, Warrior of the Sea are held by World Economic News, right?"
"...! You mean...?"
"My Blade of the Sea Overlord and Gurren Lagann are great too, I think, but when it comes to worldwide name recognition, it's gotta be Sora. Perfect for the very first one, right? So--"
"I want to make an animated version of Sora, Warrior of the Sea... so can I get permission to use it? Also, I want to meet and coordinate with the relevant staff, so could you arrange all that? In exchange, I'll give you a fair commission, plus broadcasting rights, character merchandising rights, the whole package."
"DEAL!"
I know it sounds self-aggrandizing to say it myself, but that day, without a doubt, the history of the One Piece World shifted.
This was roughly half a year before a form of entertainment called "animated film" was born into this world and became widely known.
To be continued...