In the Kingdom of Alabasta, hidden within the Baroque Works base at Rainbase—
Crocodile, who had never bothered to play the hero, looked at today's newspaper and muttered to himself, "So that method that seals Devil Fruits was the Logia Dark-Dark Fruit."
"The maid is a Logia Rumble-Rumble Fruit user… With a pairing like that, no wonder they're so confident."
"Looks like I need to increase the search effort."
When he finished, Crocodile took out a Den Den Mushi.
Somewhere on the first half of the Grand Line—
A ship drawn by two sea snakes, its main and mizzen sails bearing the Kuja skull and the word "Kuja," glided steadily across the surface.
The ship was famous the world over: the Perfume Yuda.
The Perfume Yuda was also the flagship of the Kuja Pirates, led by the current Kuja Empress.
That Empress, who at eighteen received an 80,000,000 Berry bounty on her first expedition, was hailed as the most beautiful woman in the world and the youngest among the seven legally sanctioned great pirates—the Pirate Empress, Boa Hancock.
But the Pirate Empress was not in a good mood today.
"A first bounty of 373,000,000 Berries—higher than mine…"
In a room rich with classical style, Hancock, wearing a cheongsam, sat on a large bed, leaning against her pet Salome. Staring at today's paper, she said with some displeasure, "She's younger than me, has that kind of potential and strength, and yet chooses to be a man's maid. How disgraceful."
"Yami, was it? I'll remember you."
In the New World, aboard the Red Force of the Red Hair Pirates—
"Tsk, tsk… First bounties, and the master and maid together break nine hundred million. Are Paradise rookies really this fierce now?"
"It's not that Paradise rookies got stronger—those two brats just got lucky!"
"After the three Admirals, it's been ages since top-tier Logias showed up on the seas. Now two appear at once, and that legendary Rumble-Rumble Fruit user is someone else's maid? That guy named Yami—what fortune!"
"I'm green with envy! If I could get a top-tier Logia, I'd gladly become a non-swimmer too!"
Listening to his crew, Red-Haired Shanks looked at the day's paper and smiled. "Being given such high bounties in Paradise isn't necessarily a good thing."
"Right, it's likely a Marine and World Government scheme."
Benn Beckman, one of the sharpest minds on the seas, lit a cigarette and exhaled. "Marines, Warlords—they're all tools the World Government uses to balance the seas. Their images can't be tarnished."
"If someone truly escaped an Admiral or defeated a Warlord, they'd have buried it—no way they'd let the news run."
"But now they've used an Admiral's name to elevate a newcomer and sacrificed a Warlord, seriously damaging the prestige of their own institutions."
"If the only goal was to hype two rookies so bounty hunters and pirates would target them, that price is far too high."
"Barring surprises, their aim is to block these rookies from entering the New World."
"Or… to lay a skywide net at the chokepoint."
Hearing this, Shanks sighed softly. "They really do take these rookies seriously."
"It would be strange if they didn't."
Benn Beckman blew out smoke and pointed at Nami's wanted poster. "Look at this girl—at most fourteen or fifteen. At that age she defeated Gecko Moria. That alone shows not only how powerful the Rumble-Rumble Fruit is, but how high her potential runs."
"If she cashes in all that potential, maybe she won't reach our tier, but there won't be many in this world who could catch her."
"More outrageous still: such a prodigy is the maid of a Dark-Dark Fruit user."
"He has a record of escaping an Admiral. If master and maid enter the New World and fully mature, the balance of the seas will change."
"Paradise is the only chance."
"So that's how it is."
After his first mate's analysis, Shanks finally understood.
Beyond the Red Hair Pirates, the Beasts Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates—both Emperors—were also discussing Yami and Nami.
Even the Whitebeard Pirates, widely acknowledged as the strongest crew in the world, were the same.
Yet the focus of discussion everywhere was the girl who ate the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
After all, today's news devoted the most space to Nami. How could the Dark-Dark Fruit, for all its menace, outshine the Logia hailed as the strongest?
When they spoke of Yami, the most common topics were that he escaped an Admiral—and how blessed he was to have a Rumble-Rumble Fruit user as his maid.
Only a few realized Yami was anything but simple.
To make a Rumble-Rumble Fruit user serve as a maid—was that not proof of strength in itself?
That staggering bounty said it all.
Marshall D. Teach was one of those few.
But he was also like the masses—full of envy, jealousy, and hatred for Yami's "good fortune."
"Why? Why does he get that kind of luck?!"
In a corner of the famed Moby Dick, Marshall D. Teach hid his face behind a newspaper.
Yet his hands, gripping the paper, trembled violently, betraying his current state of mind.
On the other side of the paper, the face his crewmates knew for its simple, hearty laugh twisted into a grimace. Between the two rows of teeth—some missing—came a grinding rasp, the very sound of gnashing.
From the eyes that had long concealed his ambition behind a mask of honesty, a near-tangible light of hatred flared.
Staring at the wanted posters, Teach wished he could appear before Yami that instant and tear to pieces the man who had ruined his dream.
"Why… why is it like this…"
Teach muttered again and again: "The Whitebeard Pirates are clearly the strongest crew. Staying here gave me the best chance to get that Devil Fruit."
"Why… did some no-name brat get the Dark-Dark Fruit?"
"Could it be… that I made the wrong choice?"
At that moment, Teach cracked.
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