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One month later:
Grand Line, Cactus Island, Whiskey Peak.
The atmosphere inside the hidden Baroque Works branch here was somewhat solemn.
"Simply put, that's how things stand." Shinryu stood at the front of the group, speaking calmly and clearly.
"So you're saying that you're this lady's Mr. 0 boy and that you had us assassinate you just to test this lady and these guys' strength?"
"Now, because you took down one of the Shichibukai, Crocodile, the Kingdom of Alabasta is hunting us down. We need to lie low for a while, right?"
Standing in front of Shinryu, his body still wrapped in bandages, Mr. 2 Bon Kurei rubbed his chin with one hand.
Then...
"So that's how it is!" He suddenly realized something and slapped his fist into his palm. "I knew it! Someone as powerful as you couldn't possibly be unknown, and after you defeated us, you didn't even kill us!"
Tears streamed down his face, and he looked deeply moved.
"First, although I am Mr. 0, I am not your '0-boy.' My name is Shinryu."
"Second, I'm not asking you to lie low. I'm asking you to change your methods of operation. The old approach has been canceled."
"And finally, stay away from me. Your snot is getting on me."
Shinryu silently pushed Bon Kurei away. Then he looked at the others present.
"Any other questions?"
Naturally, there was no need for further explanation. Everyone present had been Baroque Works hitmen previously defeated and captured by Shinryu.
Without exception, he had taken all of them out of Alabasta.
"...You said earlier that Baroque Works is now a subordinate organization under an organization called 'The Twelve Zodiac,' and that our business operations will also be adjusted going forward?" After a long silence, Mr. 1 finally asked in a low voice.
"Wrong." Shinryu waved his hand while speaking. "To be precise, we have always been a subordinate organization of 'The Twelve Zodiac.' As for the recent changes to our work, those are orders from above. You don't need to ask too many questions."
"As for the details, Miss All Sunday will arrange them for you. There shouldn't be any problem, right?"
'There were huge problems!' Mr. 1 thought to himself.
'Aside from idiots like Mr. 2, anyone could clearly see that something was off.'
Baroque Works was supposedly a subordinate organization of the recently famous "The Twelve Zodiacs"?
They had never heard of such a thing!
And the claim that Alabasta was hunting them down was even more ridiculous. After all, Shinryu had personally taken them out of prison in full view of the jailers.
Not to mention, not long ago, Mr. 1 had seen Alabasta's guard commander, Igaram, sneak onto the island with a large sum of money.
Although there was no proof and no idea where that treasure had gone, it was certain that the man standing before them had taken it.
"Was the original Mr. 0 killed?"
The present hitmen had more or less guessed the truth.
But...
Looking at Nico Robin standing beside Shinryu, no one brought it up. Miss All Sunday had already defected, and it was clear that the situation was resolved.
Besides, changing bosses didn't make much of a difference to them anyway. Work was work, no matter who they worked for.
So...
"Oh my! So it turns out you were the boss all along!" Mr. Galdino dragged out his words as he said ingratiatingly, "I guessed it during our last encounter, someone with your kind of unbelievable strength. Where else in the entire sea could you find another one?"
His hands were still wrapped in bandages, yet he raised one hand firmly in a salute. "Please assign me a mission! I am absolutely loyal to you. Right, Miss Goldenweek?"
He turned toward his partner, a small girl standing beside him. She was the only numbered hitman who hadn't participated in the earlier ambush against Shinryu.
"Mm." Miss Goldenweek glanced at Shinryu curiously but said nothing.
"There's no particular mission for now," Shinryu said calmly. "Just keep a low profile for the time being. In addition, I'll assign each of you a sea area. Collect some information for the organization."
"Information?"
"Yes... about certain special items, such as gold, Devil Fruits, and the like."
As he spoke, Shinryu spread out a sea chart, clearly marking the areas in which Baroque Works could operate.
Crocodile's business had truly grown to an impressive scale.
Throughout the first half of the Grand Line, Baroque Works subordinates, the so-called "Billion Officers" and "Million Officers," were scattered everywhere.
With such a well-developed intelligence network and Mr. 1 through Mr. 5 possessing real strength, Shinryu intended to make full use of them.
"You can each choose the sea range you'll be responsible for. Mr. 4, you go first."
Shinryu called out Mr. 4's name, mainly because he was the slowest and would waste the most time otherwise.
Thus, Mr. 4 and his dog, Lassoo, slowly walked forward.
What surprised Shinryu, though, was that before Mr. 4 could speak, Lassoo suddenly started barking at a certain spot on the sea map.
"Oh, that's your hometown?" Mr. 4 said sluggishly. "Then it's decided, boss. We've made our choice."
"...Huh?" Hearing this, Shinryu let out a puzzled sound.
At the same time, Roy's face flashed with surprise behind the mask.
Because only at this moment did he suddenly realize that he had overlooked an important issue.
Mr. 4's weapon was a gun called "Lassoo."
As previously mentioned, it was a gun that had eaten a Dog-Dog Fruit and transformed into its current form. But the problem was, Roy had never really thought about where this gun had come from.
"The technology to let an iron weapon eat a Devil Fruit... Thinking about it carefully, isn't that something only Vegapunk's technology could achieve?"
"How did Mr. 4 come to possess such a weapon?"
With these thoughts in mind, Shinryu looked at Mr. 4 and asked directly, "Hometown? You mean the place where you obtained this gun?"
"...Mm." Mr. 4 slowly nodded.
Then, without trying to hide anything, he began to recount the story of himself and Lasso.
Just as Shinryu had suspected... Lassoo hadn't originally belonged to Mr. 4.
In fact, he had obtained the gun long before joining Baroque Works during an accidental shipwreck.
"I had just gone out to sea, working as a shipwright, when it happened. I don't remember the exact details, only that a massive tsunami appeared and our ship sank."
He spoke in a simple, almost dull manner. "My body was stronger than most, so I was lucky enough to survive after drifting at sea for a long time."
"Several days later, I discovered a small island nearby. I barely managed to land there and then found a huge research facility.
There were many strange, dangerous robots inside the facility. After they injured me, I escaped into one of the rooms."
At this point, he pointed to the dachshund-shaped gun beside him.
"That's where I met Lassoo. And with its help, I managed to escape from that island."
By the time he finished speaking, Shinryu was almost certain. A research facility, robots, and an iron weapon that had eaten a Devil Fruit.
"Was that one of Vegapunk's early laboratories? Like the one in Baltimore?"
Shinryu had already formed such a guess.
Naturally, he was interested.
Vegapunk, the genius scientist, was an extraordinary figure unmatched in his research on Devil Fruits. Shinryu was extremely interested in anything Vegapunk had left behind.
"What else was in that laboratory? And where exactly was that island?" He asked directly.
"I don't know. I didn't stay in that laboratory for long," Mr. 4 replied, speaking slowly.
"As for that island..."
At this point, he and Lassoo exchanged a glance, both showing hesitation.
"What I'm about to say might be hard to believe, but after joining the organization, Lassoo and I went back to look for it."
"At the original location, the island was gone."
"Gone?" Shinryu paused mid-sentence.
"Yes. Lassoo and I are sure the coordinates were correct, but there wasn't any sign of an island nearby."
As he spoke, Mr. 4 pointed at the sea map.
Shinryu followed his finger and saw that the spot he indicated was a completely blank stretch of sea.
Near that area was...
"Water 7?"
Seeing the city marked near those coordinates, the eyes beneath Roy's mask flickered slightly.
"This is quite a coincidence." He murmured softly to himself.
Yes, it was indeed a coincidence.
He knew very well that...
The Devil Fruit he urgently needed, the one that would allow him to meet his clones freely, was also located in Water 7.
(End of Chapter)