"...Well, they're gone. Sorry about the commotion, Straw Hat Crew, I was about to say--"
"""Torao-kuuuun!?"""
Nami, Usopp, and Chopper, the three weakest fighters among the Straw Hat Pirates, closed in at point-blank range and glared at him with accusing eyes. All three were drenched in cold sweat, tears spilling past any attempt to hold them back.
Needless to say, the reason was the sudden conference with Alice that had taken place moments ago.
"What was the deal with that girl just now!? She was saying 'Mom' and everything. Is she Sue's daughter, like Leona!?"
"You told us back on Punk Hazard that things wouldn't go sideways with the Golden Lion, didn't you!? Didn't you!? Was that a lie, huh!? She was absolutely furious!?"
"This is really gonna be okay, right!? I don't wanna fight Sue or any of her subordinates! That Alice just now, she was smiling, but she was crazy scary!?"
"...Calm down. I'm sorry for frightening you."
Perhaps overwhelmed by the sheer unpleasantness of three people crying and yelling in his face close enough to feel their breath, Law spoke haltingly, telling them to settle down.
Since their anger (and various other emotions) was entirely justified, he unusually held back from his typical provocative, sharp-tongued remarks.
After somehow managing to calm them down enough to get them seated, he sat back on the bench at the base of the mast, steadied his breathing, and spoke.
"As I was about to say, I'm sorry for the scare. My owner sniffed things out faster than I expected. Originally, I planned to reach out on my own at the right moment with a Den Den Mushi to explain the situation. I even had an excuse prepared for that. But I really do regret losing the one I had for communication."
"Ah, so that part was actually true."
"Hm? Yeah... probably lost it when I fought Vergo."
Brook, it seemed, had assumed even the claim about losing the Den Den Mushi was a lie. And he wasn't the only one; several others had apparently thought the same.
"Still... that young lady just now had incredible Spirit. That was Conqueror's Haki, wasn't it? From the look of her, she seemed right at the boundary between girl and woman."
"Between Luffy, that Parfait we saw at Fish-Man Island... oh, and Sue-sensei too, I suppose. It's supposed to be an extremely rare talent, and yet... really drives home what a monster's den the New World is."
Franky, continuing after Sanji, glanced to the side as he spoke. There, Nami and Kin'emon were working together to tend to Momonosuke, who'd been knocked unconscious by Alice's Conqueror's Haki. Though "tend to" was generous, since he'd only fainted. They were mostly just laying him down.
"Yohohoho... Alice-san's Haki always soaks right into my bones... though I'm nothing but bones and have no body for it to soak into. Yohohoho!"
"Hm? Brook, you know Alice?"
"Yes. I've already told you about my time at Gran Tesoro, haven't I? Sue-san was a regular there."
"Oh, so that's the connection... but wait, wouldn't that mean you two got along? How'd you end up on the receiving end of Conqueror's Haki?"
"Ah, yes. I asked Sue-san, 'Might I have a look at your panties?' and all five of her daughters ganged up and beat me senseless, followed by a rather serious blast of Conqueror's Haki at point-blank range."
"What were you doing..."
"...More like, how are you even still alive?"
Usopp and Law said flatly. Beside them, Luffy tilted his head with a puzzled look.
"...Huh? Five? Wait, I thought Sue had three daughters..."
"Stuff happened and the number went up along the way. Don't know the details, though."
"Huh, really?"
"More importantly, we don't know much about that girl from just now... She is Sue's daughter, like she said, right?"
"Yeah. That was Alice. The 'third daughter' of Miss's household. She technically had a bounty and a Wanted Poster issued, but it got rescinded right after Miss became a Shichibukai, and the poster stopped circulating... so it's not surprising you wouldn't know her."
"She said something that caught my attention, too. Something about being the 'Strongest Retainer'..."
"Oh, that caught my attention too. What are the 'Retainers'? Is that girl really that strong?"
Receiving the questions from Robin and Nami, Law thought for a moment...
"...Well, I suppose it's fine to talk about that much."
"Oi, oi, I don't know what you're about to tell us, but is this really okay? Won't you get in trouble again for sharing internal info with outsiders?"
"It's not exactly classified, so it's fine. It's just not actively publicized either. Don't worry, I won't say anything truly dangerous... the kind of thing where 'now that you know, we can't let you leave.'"
"Don't say scary stuff like that!"
Ignoring Usopp's protest, Law chose his words carefully, one by one, and began.
☆☆☆
The "Retainers" is an organization, as well as a rank structure, recently established within the Golden Lion Pirates. Or rather, it was built by incorporating subordinates and family members close to Sue.
Think of it as a sort of "Personal Guard" organized around Sue, the new Admiral, at its center.
It wasn't particularly hidden, but it also hadn't been publicly announced, so awareness of it was low. Anyone with sharp intelligence networks, though, would likely know not only of its existence but the specifics of its organizational and rank structure to some degree.
At the top, naturally, was Sue, Admiral of the Golden Lion Pirates.
Directly under her were the Grand Executives: the "Three Court Ladies." As the name suggested, there were three of them. Among Sue's "daughters," the three longest-serving members, Suzu, Leona, and Alice, held these positions.
At the same rank as the Three Court Ladies, serving as close advisors, were the "Left Minister" and the "Right Minister." Blume held the position of Left Minister, and Beauty held the position of Right Minister.
One tier below them, at the Senior Executive Class, were the "Goninbayashi," also numbering five as the name implied. The confirmed members were Snow, Iris, Marianne, and Perona, four in total, along with one remaining member whose identity was kept undisclosed. Even Law didn't know who the fifth was.
Below them were the rank-and-file soldiers called "Guards," and the lower-ranking executives who supervised them, called "Stewards."
Furthermore, since the Retainers served as the Admiral's direct Personal Guard, simply belonging to the organization placed one above ordinary sailors or foot soldiers of the pirate crew. This meant that even a Guard, the lowest rank within the Retainers, occupied a position roughly equivalent to "above foot soldier, below Executive" when compared externally. Of course, membership itself was predicated on possessing commensurate ability.
And two major characteristics defined the Retainers: first, the organization was primarily composed of people Sue was personally close to. Second, every single member was female.
Among those the Golden Lion Pirates, and particularly former Admiral Shiki, had relied upon, there had been many men who were both talented and powerful. Despite this, Sue had chosen not a single one of them, filling her circle exclusively with women. While "Personal Guard" sounded prestigious, the arrangement was frequently mocked as nothing more than Sue handpicking friends to enjoy playing pirate with, derisively called "friend Executives."
So what was the reality?
"The rumors are right that Miss's personal preferences and friendships play a major role. The women around Miss were selected with an eye toward letting her feel comfortable while still being surrounded by capable guards. But even so, the Retainers are no decorative Personal Guard. They're a legitimate elite unit."
"S-so they really are... I mean, that Alice from just now looked seriously dangerous too..."
According to what Law had just explained, Alice was the strongest member of the Retainers. That meant the others were below her, but that offered no comfort whatsoever. They had no concrete idea how strong Alice actually was, and there were two more Grand Executives of comparable strength in the Three Court Ladies. The Left Minister, Right Minister, and Goninbayashi surely weren't weak either.
"Basically, the Retainers aren't an organization that takes the initiative. Regular Territory management and dealing with hostile organizations falls to the normal forces. The Retainers only move when something directly concerns them, including Miss, or when the situation is truly critical."
"And this time they did move... moreover, not on Sue's orders, but on Shiki the Golden Lion's."
"So that means your solo act is being taken that seriously?"
Robin's and Franky's observations turned Usopp and the others pale again.
"That's true, but at the same time, the fact that they haven't moved to purge me immediately means something too. From the looks of it, Miss Alice and the Big Boss both realize there's 'merit' in letting me act freely on this. As long as I don't screw that up, there's no problem. Like I said before, at worst I'll get a lecture from Miss afterward."
"But conversely... if you do make a mistake and it becomes certain that losses will be inflicted on the Golden Lion Pirates, then naturally the Retainers' wrath would turn not only on you, Torao-kun, but on us as well. In that case, would that Alice girl simply switch from observer to assassin?"
"On top of that, there's the Legion she commands. The Retainers themselves are Miss's Personal Guard, but the Grand Executives, the Three Court Ladies, each personally command Legions numbering in the hundreds."
"L-Legions..."
"Also, the fact that Miss Alice came in person means we should assume the Four Beasts, her close aides who are almost always by her side, were in play too. They were most likely present just now."
"Huh? But she was the only one who showed up... there was nobody else around?"
Setting aside the ominous proper noun they thought they'd caught in passing, the crew spoke up with puzzled looks, fairly sure nobody besides Alice had appeared. Every single pair of eyes converged on Law with a look that said 'you must be mistaken,' but before Law could open his mouth,
"Shrororororo... what a naive bunch. Just as I thought, you didn't notice."
"Hah? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Are you saying you noticed, you weird sheep?"
"Who're you calling a sheep!? Yeah, I noticed all right. There were definitely subordinates other than Lady Alice just now... right here on this ship. Well, I didn't figure it out on my own either. They made contact with me themselves and told me to 'keep my mouth shut,' so I did."
"Are you serious!? Even Luffy and the others didn't notice!?"
Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji had all acquired Observation Haki through their two years of training and could instantly detect enemies appearing at a distance. In fact, on Fish-Man Island, they had sensed Caribou's attempt to kidnap Shirahoshi, rushed to the scene, and subdued him.
If Alice's aides had truly been present and those three hadn't noticed, that was tantamount to saying the crew had no means of detecting them whatsoever.
"Miss Alice's subordinates are highly skilled in covert operations. Lupupu's stealth in particular... I don't know the details myself, but apparently it can't be detected even at close range by mediocre Observation Haki. There are stories of her infiltrating hostile Hideouts alone, slipping past Haki Users' Observation Haki, and slitting every target's throat."
"That's way too scary! And now we're on their radar!?"
"Makes CP9 look cuddly by comparison..."
"...It's possible that during your explanation just now, the moment a betrayal was determined, that Lupupu girl would have moved to execute you."
"Yeah... could be. Though even if Miss Alice had moved to execute me directly instead, honestly, I would've had a hard time dealing with it."
"S-so she really is that strong...?"
The Strongest Retainer. Of course she'd be strong. Everyone had assumed as much. But as had briefly come up earlier, the fact that nobody knew concretely how strong she was remained true, so Usopp asked with obvious trepidation.
Considering that Law had defeated Vergo, a man who had given both Sanji and Smoker serious trouble, it wasn't hard to imagine that Law himself was exceptionally powerful. And yet he'd said it so matter-of-factly, which meant...
If anyone in this group understood Alice's strength, it would be Law himself, and one other person.
"H-hey, Zoro? Is that Alice really that strong?"
Usopp whispered quietly to Zoro, making sure the outsider Caesar couldn't hear. Zoro had trained under Sue for two years, and his primary sparring partners during that time had been Sue's "daughters." That meant Alice was among them.
After two years of pushing each other to improve, Zoro might actually know Alice's abilities more accurately and in greater detail than even Law. That was Usopp's reasoning. The other crew members were likely thinking the same thing; with varying degrees of seriousness or desperation in their eyes, they waited for Zoro's answer.
After a moment's thought, Zoro said,
"...I wouldn't win easily."
He didn't say he couldn't win. But it wouldn't be easy. In other words, a man of Zoro's caliber was explicitly declaring she was an opponent he'd struggle against.
And that was the assessment for just one of the Three Court Ladies. There were two more of near-equal strength, and each of them commanded their own Legion.
In that moment, a shared understanding took root in nearly everyone's mind: they absolutely could not make enemies of these people.
"By the way... may I ask one more thing, Torao-kun?"
Though unease lingered, the Alliance collectively decided to proceed with the plan as intended. As they sailed onward toward Dressrosa, Robin spoke up as if something had just occurred to her.
"It might not be directly relevant to this operation, but there's a rumor that's been on my mind."
"What is it?"
"This is also about the internal affairs of the Golden Lion Pirates, so I understand if you can't say. I'd just like to know if possible. To be honest, something came to mind while listening to your explanation about the Retainers just now, which is why I'm asking."
"The rumor that the current Admiral, Sue, and the power behind the scenes, Shiki the Golden Lion, are on bad terms... is that true?"
To be continued...