"Cough... Ah... you guys."
"Boss, you're awake!"
"I'm fine. ...What's the situation?"
"We received a warning from the ki-- er, from 'Silent Step' and brought everyone back to the ship to evacuate the area. We can still see their ship but..."
Receiving the report from his subordinate, Capone Bege grinned.
"That guy Kuro really gets it... Good, keep rushing the evacuation."
Bege wobbled to his feet, internally grateful to the pirate he'd been fighting moments before.
"Hey, what about them?"
"Them... you mean 'Silent Step'?"
"Who else would I be talking about?"
Looking at his slow subordinate, Bege recalled the pirate and his crew. They had the intelligence to grasp situations from just hearing about them, the courage to act, and the strength to see it through.
He had leadership skills and charisma too. These weren't capabilities you'd expect from a kid not even past fifteen.
"They apparently collected the slaves and other things and set sail earlier. We can still see their ship but... what should we do? Should we change course and attack?"
"You idiot! Don't spout such crude nonsense!!!"
"Eek! S-sorry!!"
Watching his subordinate break out in cold sweat and bow his head, Bege was reminded once again what a big fish he'd let get away.
Bege pulled out a cigar, cut the tip, and put it in his mouth. He lit it and let the aromatic smoke curl up.
"--So where's his ship?"
"Y-yes! On the port side! It's gotten pretty far away but..."
"Bring me a telescope."
Bege stomped out onto the deck, took the telescope his subordinate brought, and focused on the ship silhouette faintly visible in the distance.
On the deck, the handsome Marines were crying. Not from sadness—they were shedding tears of relief and liberation.
That bald subordinate and a girl he hadn't noticed before were treating the injuries on necks and wrists caused by being chained for so long.
Behind the ship, a smaller vessel—probably used for transporting the Marine slaves—was tied up. They were likely using it to transport their plunder.
At the bow of the ship pulling it, he found his target. There was the man Bege had become completely enamored with.
"...So this is what a pirate looks like. Kuro."
Standing at the bow gazing out at the sea, smiling slightly as he observed the waves.
"Yeah... you really do suit the sea."
Then Bege—the man who would later be called Godfather—took a deep breath and:
"You turned down my offer! Kuroooo!!"
"Then I won't allow any half-measures! Show me you can climb up!!"
"--To the top!!"
–
"Alright, this island should be safe for now."
It had been about five days since I'd ordered us to steer as far away from those waters as possible. We'd loaded slightly more food than usual, plus we'd taken some preserved food from that smuggling ship, so we managed to make it work.
Islands with nearby towns likely had Family influence, so we couldn't land there. Considering the Marines' safety, I couldn't carelessly expose them to public view.
"I'm sorry, Captain Kuro. We've caused you so much trouble for our sake..."
"...It would be problematic for you Marines to call me Captain."
Seriously, being called Captain Kuro by the Marines throughout the entire voyage was unsettling...
I am a pirate, you know.
"However, if we don't show at least this much respect here, we'd have no way to maintain our dignity."
One of the imprisoned Marines—a female Marine who looked a lot like Tashigi from the first half when she took off her glasses, except for the hair color—saluted me. And she clearly has no intention of dropping the Captain thing... Really? Really?
"...Fine, I'll accept it gracefully. Are there any among you with survival experience?"
"Yes sir! We all have some from emergency training."
Some experience, huh.
--Well, that's fine.
"Good, get everyone working on building shelters immediately. Your recovery won't progress properly if you stay cramped up on the ship. We'll handle securing food."
"Understood. We'll begin construction immediately."
The saluting really isn't necessary either... I'm a pirate and younger than you. Oh well.
For now, Perona and Daz had gone to secure meat. Fortunately, we'd confirmed this fairly large island was uninhabited, and it was rich in fruits with plenty of wildlife. Whether hunting or gathering, we shouldn't have problems for the time being.
Right now we were supporting nearly twenty Marines, so we needed to establish food procurement here.
Once we'd set up basic living infrastructure, I'd need to think about what came next. For now, I returned to the ship hidden in the shadows of rocks at the back of the inlet to meet with Robin, who was examining our plunder.
"Robin, how's it going?"
"Ah, Captain-san. I've finished cleaning and organizing the furnishings."
In one section of the largest cabin we were using as storage, expensive-looking plates and cutlery, paintings, and furs were arranged almost decoratively, all polished to a shine.
"Good work. ...Now, about the weapons."
"Yes."
What Robin was working on now was organizing the weapons carried by the armed gangsters who'd been on that smuggling ship during our raid.
"It's definitely strange. These weapons have Davitt Trading Company stamps, and these have Cromwell Ironworks marks. But the rest don't have any maker's marks at all."
"...Could the marks have been filed off for smuggling purposes?"
"There's no trace of that either. These were completely manufactured illegally."
Ugh. Another weird development.
"Made by the Five Great Families?"
"...I don't think that's it either."
Robin used her ability to bring over a sword and blade that appeared to be contraband.
"Using leather for sword grips and connecting the blade to handle with one peg instead of two—that's traditional North Blue craftsmanship."
"...North Blue."
North Blue... I think around this time some dangerous bastard is operating there.
"So contraband for smuggling purposes? Robin."
"Probably... But if making money was the goal, it seems inefficient... I think..."
"Because money isn't their only objective."
That's like Alabasta in the original story. An excess of weapons can become a spark all by itself.
Throw it into something already burning and it ignites immediately, and even if not, it makes things more flammable.
"Robin."
"Yeah."
"Can you imagine what would have happened if the Marine incident had become public?"
"...Depending on the scale of the slave trade, it might have led to war."
"Conflict with the Marines..."
"More precisely, it might have led to the Marines breaking away from the World Government."
Right, when I think about it, Cipher Pol was a World Government agency separate from the Marines. A conflict with the Marines wouldn't immediately end the Celestial Dragons.
...Those idiots crossing such a dangerous bridge with Marine slaves might have been optimistic about the situation because of those circumstances.
"...We can't just release the Marines near a base and call it a happy ending, can we."
"If we did that, at best they'd be kidnapped again. But probably--"
"They'd be killed."
Robin nodded with a dark expression. Well, silencing them would be natural, and torture would be possible too. They'd want to catch whoever raided the smuggling ship.
"Captain-san."
"Hm?"
"Why did they do something like this? ...Did those people want money?"
"That's half of it. But... let's see."
If my thinking is correct, the one who drew up this plan is a dangerous bastard. What makes him dangerous is that he can go all-out for revenge and drag everything into it. Even setting aside Hawkeye and Hancock, he's one step above the other Warlords in terms of danger.
"Someone wants to tip the scales. With malicious intent."
This really isn't a joke anymore. Why am I getting involved in an incident in West Blue that might involve that damn bird?
"Well, I'll think about how to handle the Marines. I'm going to organize our other spoils of war."
Even though converting it to cash would be troublesome, getting a large amount of valuables was good, and we'd obtained some major treasure too.
"Okay. ...I'm sorry, Captain-san. I can't help with that."
"Don't worry about it. It can't be helped if you're a Devil Fruit user."
The ship's hold storage—a mountain of seastone that had been used to disguise the slave hold. While I was fighting Bege, Robin had found an entrance to a different cargo hold.
...With this, if I gather personnel and get sea charts and a Log Pose, I might be able to build a ship and head out. To the Grand Line.
–
In a certain port town in North Blue called Spider Miles, in a pirate hideout that used it as their base, one man was receiving a report from his subordinate.
"I see, so we have a failure case in West Blue."
"It seems pirates attacked by chance rather than Marines... what do you plan to do?"
The man giving the report—a subordinate who for some reason had a half-eaten hamburger stuck to his cheek—asked flatly without showing expression.
"It was about time anyway. It might have been different if the captured Marines had risen up, but they only ever targeted rookie small-fry. The simultaneous weapon smuggling we had them repeat lost meaning too."
"About time?"
"Sengoku might start moving soon."
"...The Headquarters Admiral? I hear he's called the Strategist."
"He's showing signs of catching on. The timing's bad too. Because of the Buster Call on Ohara, a large number of skilled Marines have been deployed to West Blue, where our 'business' was most active."
The captain spoke with annoyance, glanced at his subordinate, and said:
"Corazon."
"Yeah."
"Become a Marine."
"...For intelligence?"
Realizing this meant spy work, when the subordinate asked what would be needed, the captain replied:
"No, trust and credibility for now. First cut ties with us and eliminate any pirate scent."
"How long?"
"A conservative estimate would be several years. ...Our information might be leaked too."
"But what about contact? We'll need some."
"...I'll arrange it on this end."
"Understood. By the way, what about that pirate?"
"You already figured it out?"
"We haven't tracked their whereabouts, but we know who they are."
The subordinate handed the captain a wanted poster and independent investigation materials for that pirate.
"'Silent Step' Kuro. His name spread after recently defeating a branch Vice Admiral and his subordinates."
"...Heh, hehe... hehehe, refusing to become a Celestial Dragon's slave and becoming a pirate? Unlucky bastard."
--'Silent Step' Kuro—Bounty 65,000,000 Berries.
The pirate holding the wanted poster with that inscription—the man later called 'Heavenly Yaksha'—tossed it aside with apparent disinterest.
"There's no need to do anything."
"They won't leave him alone anyway."
–
A/N: I've written Vergo as Corazon because he was the first Corazon, and I think Doflamingo would be even more cautious at this time, so he probably wouldn't use Vergo's name.
--
PS Goal = 50
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