Sky Island, Open-air Banquet Hall.
Despite being covered in blood, Mihawk still sat in his seat, drinking alone.
He wasn't drinking out of frustration; after all, at only nineteen, it was normal that he couldn't defeat Kizaru, who was in his prime.
The reason he was drinking was that Seven had knocked out all the natives on Sky Island, and now there was no one to help treat his injuries.
Following Mihawk's gaze, Seven and Kizaru seemed to be arguing about something.
"Brother, the world shouldn't be like this."
"Little brother, please stop talking."
Kizaru never expected that he, a Marine Vice Admiral and a high-ranking official about to be promoted to Admiral, would reach a cooperation agreement with a World Government wanted criminal.
This kid was even freaking trying to incite him to rebel.
It was simply outrageous.
Suddenly learning the covered-up historical truths dealt a massive blow to the justice Kizaru upheld, leaving him somewhat dazed.
Two wills were constantly clashing in his mind.
[He's been to the Final Island; these must be true. The World Government is just trash.]
[So what? A pirate is always a pirate.]
[He didn't want to be a pirate either; it's only because the World Government and the Marines are incompetent that he became a pirate just to survive.]
[Have you forgotten the justice in your heart?]
Kizaru rubbed his brow, his ragged breathing as heavy as his current mood; he just wanted to leave this devil in front of him as quickly as possible and be alone.
"Little brother, are your people reliable?"
"Don't worry."
Seven pulled a few photos from his pocket: "The photos are all here. We aren't planning to go to the Blue Sea anyway, so you can rest easy."
"Brother, I only have one request."
Kizaru burned the photos: "Go ahead."
"Brother, you know the World Government's nature. I hope for the sake of these weak Skypieans, you won't leak news of Sky Island."
"Fine, I promise you."
Thinking of the gold Seven had promised, a surge of heat rose in Kizaru's heart. In just half a day, he had earned enough money for the rest of his life.
It was truly a worthwhile trip.
He could actually find a way to kill Seven; then, all the gold in the Gold Country would be his.
How should he put it? This kid wasn't easy to kill.
Besides, Kizaru couldn't bring himself to do such a thing. Ambiguous justice is still justice.
"Little brother, where is the prisoner you kidnapped?"
"Ran away." Seven shrugged helplessly. "While you were fighting Mihawk, that guy slipped away."
"I see..." Kizaru felt a bit conflicted. "I should still go after him. Catching even one is better than none."
He couldn't miss out on the gold, but he also wanted to be an Admiral.
Promising Seven not to leak news of Sky Island was indirectly telling him: as long as you don't leak the photos, I won't leak the news.
Those destroyed photos... who was he kidding?
Kizaru was absolutely convinced that this devious kid must have more photos of the two of them drinking together. He must have lost his mind to attend some pirate banquet.
And even got blackmailed with photos.
Using gold to pave the way, Seven and Kizaru, who was about to be promoted to Admiral, reached a series of cooperation agreements.
Including but not limited to—
Not wiping each other out when encountering Marines, exchanging intelligence, and so on.
Before leaving, Kizaru spoke again: "Are you sure you won't be active on the seas for a while?"
"Don't worry, I'm a man of my word."
Watching Kizaru leave, Seven carried a bucket and splashed the unconscious Skypieans awake one by one.
"Old Gan, Mihawk is injured. Pick some nurses to help treat his wounds."
"Yes, Lord Thunder God."
Gan Fall nodded in agreement. That wretched-looking enemy had disappeared; he must have been driven away by Lord Thunder God.
As expected of Lord Thunder God!
Seven returned to his seat and began to reflect on the wrong decisions he had made recently: he should have given up on the idea of recruiting the Doctor as a crew member sooner.
The strategic value of the Ope-Ope no Mi was indeed extremely high.
But now that the guy had escaped back to the sea amidst the chaos, if he were captured by the World Government again, it would expose information about Sky Island.
"I really shouldn't have been soft-hearted back then."
Just as Seven was feeling regretful, a sneaky figure suddenly darted over.
"Captain, is that guy gone?"
Seeing who it was, Seven kicked him: "You little idiot, you even fooled me."
The Doctor dodged while smiling apologetically, "Doesn't this make it seem more real? That guy would never suspect anything if even you were fooled by me."
"I'll give you credit for having some wisdom."
Seven said crossly, "You'd better find a way to hide. The World Government will never give up on the Ope-Ope no Mi."
The Doctor's eyes dimmed instantly. "So you knew all along."
"Then why didn't you hand me over? If you did, at the very least, it could clear your Marine bounty."
Seven rolled his eyes.
"Even though I'm a pirate, a pirate must have a sense of honor. Besides, a Marine bounty is a symbol of honor for a pirate like me."
A bounty is a different kind of recognition from the Marines for a pirate.
On the entire sea, the only pirates with bounties over 5 billion are Captain Roger and Whitebeard, while on the Marine side, there's only Akainu Sakazuki.
Because of the Battle of God Valley, information about Rocks was erased by the World Government.
Seven patted the Doctor's shoulder.
"Find a place to hide, and it's best if I don't know where. I'm afraid one day I won't be able to resist and will drag you to the World Government to collect the reward."
"Understood, Captain."
...Three days later, the Golden City, Shandora.
In front of a giant stone tablet, Seven stroked the relatively new inscription on it, and a scene from two years ago, when he followed the Captain to Sky Island, couldn't help but appear before his eyes.
Beside Seven, Mihawk was wrapped in supreme bandages from head to toe.
"What's written on it?"
Seven shook his head. "I can't understand the first part of the inscription either. The latter part was dictated by Captain Roger and engraved by Oden."
"I have come here and will lead this passage to the Final Place—Pirate: Gol D. Roger."
Mihawk frowned. "D?"
Seven explained, "The Captain's real name is Gol D. Roger. When the World Government reports his deeds to the world, they publicly call him Gold Roger, deliberately hiding the 'D' in his name..."
"The Clan of D... was once a faction hostile to the World Government in the past."
"The World Government loathes 'D' and fears 'D,' so they chose to erase the existence of the Clan of D from the public eye."
Seven grinned and laughed.
"In other words, even if we turn the world upside down, since we aren't part of the Clan of D, the World Government might even try to win us over."
Mihawk remained silent, and only after a long while did he ask, "I want to go down. Do you have a way?"
Even someone as strong as Mihawk would likely be smashed to a pulp if he jumped from ten thousand meters up.
Seven spread his hands. "Mihawk, you aren't even willing to call me Captain."
Training should never stop, especially for a proud man like Mihawk. Whenever Seven saw an opportunity, he would start his manipulation.
Faced with this, Mihawk drew the black blade yoru from his back. "Beelzebul, draw your sword."
Seven drew his sword in response. "Let's go somewhere else; don't damage the inscription."
In fact, Seven had long prepared an item that would allow Mihawk to land safely on the sea: a bamboo copter.
Why not buy a flying cloak?
A flying cloak is certainly cooler, but it costs as much as 1,000 points, while a bamboo copter only costs 500 points. Plus, Seven's mischievous streak was acting up.
Just think about it.
When the ice-cold and proud Mihawk flies around like Doraemon with a bamboo copter on his head, isn't that a vivid image?
After a clash between real men, Seven pulled a bamboo copter from his pocket.
"Mihawk, put this on your head."