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"Kuma... he got away again."
Kizaru stood on the shore and glanced back at the bedraggled group of Marines behind him.
He felt a mix of resignation and relief.
Not a single Marine had been lost, but Kuma had sunk ten warships, and a number of men were injured.
Furthermore, the ship carrying CP agent Spandine had been destroyed. Spandine himself had been killed by a deflected cannonball.
Ironically, his son Spandam—the one who had been captured in the first place—had survived after losing an arm and was now receiving medical treatment.
Kizaru reported back to Headquarters, detailing the events of the battle.
Sengoku rubbed his temples.
What a headache.
"Kuma's ability," Vice Admiral Tsuru mused, "was one of the six fruits from God Valley. It's truly a broken power."
Repelling damage and pain was one thing, but repelling oneself to achieve instantaneous movement... it was completely overpowered.
Once Kuma started using that in combat, he would be an untouchable phantom. It was a bug in the system.
"Useless Marines..."
"Worthless Marines!"
"You can't even catch one man! What good are you??"
Spandam's furious tirade was both a way to vent his frustration and a way to shift the blame.
Nevertheless, he was still facing an internal investigation. Why had Kuma come for him, and not someone else?
Spandam offered his own theory, conveniently omitting the part where he had confessed everything.
When he learned that Blueno was missing, an idea sparked in his mind. If things went south with Tequila Wolf, he could just throw Blueno under the bus.
He had to protect his position at all costs.
What was the sacrifice of one CP9 agent?
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An uneasy night fell over Water 7.
The Marines and Cipher Pol conducted a city-wide search. Many people were taken in for questioning. The citizens were terrified.
Iceburg and Franky were also brought in. An Observation Haki user stood by, listening to their heartbeats.
Fortunately, neither of them had any real connection to Kuma. The Marines' "interrogation" yielded nothing.
Besides, Iceburg had been injured while trying to save Spandam. He hardly seemed like a suspect. He was not only the president of the Galley-La Company but also the mayor of Water 7, a popular and respected figure. Without concrete evidence, the Marines couldn't just arrest him.
The incident at Water 7 was never reported. The Marines and the World Government contacted Morgans and had the story suppressed.
It was too embarrassing.
Morgans, on some matters, would display an unyielding pursuit of the truth, which gave his newspaper an air of authenticity. But this was just a strategy. A mix of truth and lies was the best way to manipulate the ignorant masses.
Most people were incapable of independent thought. They were like sheep, blindly following the flock.
Morgans was selective in his reporting. The Sorbet Kingdom incident, for example—he had cut out the beginning and the end, twisting the facts.
No matter how much he pursued the "truth," he would never go against the World Government or the Marines. Otherwise, he would have been eliminated long ago.
It was because he knew when to bend that he was so valuable. The World Government needed a "principled" journalist like him.
He could report on the unimportant matters, but when it came to the crucial facts, he was the one who buried them.
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One quiet morning.
Kuma returned to the demonic carrier, then left again.
He had requested permission from Jin to go to the East Blue in search of Tequila Wolf.
Jin had agreed. In the original story, Kuma had sent Robin to Tequila Wolf, which meant he had gone looking for it himself. And he had found it.
Kuma had also visited Foosha Village to see Luffy three years before he set out to sea—which meant it was this year.
It was likely that Kuma would find Tequila Wolf this year.
Jin told Kuma to contact the revolutionary Dragon. His hometown was in the East Blue; he might know something.
Jin wasn't particularly interested in Tequila Wolf.
It was better to leave it to Kuma and the revolutionaries to save.
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At that moment, Jin was leisurely fishing.
He cast his line a couple of times.
Although it was morning, the sky was still dark.
A black sky, a gray fog, and the occasional piece of broken ship drifting by... it was a grim and terrifying place.
This was the Florian Triangle, a mandatory route on the Grand Line.
Every year, hundreds of ships disappeared here.
The ones that were found were always empty, their crews gone.
There were even sightings of ghost ships, manned by the dead...
All sorts of legends had sprung up around this mysterious stretch of sea.
Jin controlled his fishing line with Armament Haki. The straight hook instantly pierced a sea fish, and he yanked it from the water.
He was training his Haki, practicing "perception," "flexibility," and "impact," trying to make it all second nature.
"This darkness, this fog... where does it come from?"
Robin was sitting beside him, a fishing rod in her hand, her mind elsewhere. She was curiously observing her surroundings.
The Florian Triangle had been around for a long time. Was it a natural phenomenon, or was there another reason? What was the root cause of it all?
"I don't know," Jin said, shaking his head. This area was a mystery. When Luffy and his crew were leaving, a massive dark shadow had appeared.
Some guessed it was a giant.
Some guessed it was Imu.
Some guessed it was a mirage projected by the Skypieans...
There were all sorts of theories.
Jin, however, had his own suspicion. It had something to do with the "Davy Jones" that Rocks had worshipped.
But Jin wasn't here for that. He was here for Thriller Bark.
Thriller Bark, the stronghold of one of the Seven Warlords, Gecko Moria.
It was the largest ship in the world, so large that it carried a small piece of an island on its back.
It was suspected to be a part of God Valley, blown away by Shiki's power during the great battle.
Moria had found it and made it his base. And on it was the corpse of Captain John, one of Rocks' crew members who had been at God Valley.
"As for the Warlords' power in Paradise... Mihawk is a loner, so he doesn't count. That just leaves the fat-ass Moria."
Jin lifted his rod, the straight hook glinting, and cast it again. He released his Observation Haki, letting it flow along the line and deep into the sea.
Haki was like a tool. The more you used it, the more skilled you became.
Even with his evolutionary cheat, Jin never slacked off. He was always pushing himself.
"Gecko Moria may be a fat slob, but he's a loyal man," Jin said to Robin. "He just has terrible luck."
"Oh?"
Jin smiled. Moria and Buggy were two extremes.
Buggy was blessed by the world.
Moria was cursed.
"When Moria was young, he was ambitious, ready to take on the world. But then he ran into Kaido, who had just gotten the Azure Dragon fruit. Not only was he beaten so badly he started to question his own existence, but his entire crew was wiped out. The pain... it was too much."
"After that, Moria was obsessed with revenge. He went to Wano and became a grave robber, digging up the corpse of the legendary samurai, Ryuma. But he knew that wasn't enough to take on Kaido, so he retreated to the West Blue to build up his strength. Soon after, he was invited to become one of the Seven Warlords. He found the ruins of God Valley and even made some new friends. By this time, Kaido had become one of the Four Emperors. Moria still wanted revenge, but he didn't have the strength or the manpower. He was terrified of a repeat of what had happened before, of having his crew wiped out again. Kaido just got more and more famous, stronger and stronger. And gradually, Moria's fear grew, and he lost his nerve. So, he holed himself up on his ship, playing with corpses, biding his time, waiting for a chance for revenge. And that's what he's been doing for years."
As Robin listened, she felt a tug on her line. She managed to harden the line with Armament Haki and set the hook.
She had it!
She wrapped the line in Haki, making the fish and the straight hook one, and then yanked with all her might.
A massive, meter-long fish flew out of the water.
But her technique was still lacking. She fumbled, her Haki wavered, and the struggling fish broke free.
Jin, with a quick flick of his wrist, pierced the fish with his own line.
Robin breathed a sigh of relief. "That really is some bad luck."
Jin just smiled.
Moria's bad luck didn't end there.
Later, the Straw Hats would show up.
They'd come in, shouting about bonds and friendship, and then they'd beat him to a pulp and destroy everything he'd built.
He'd be stripped of his Warlord title and hunted by the World Government, forced to live as a fugitive.
And just when he thought he'd escaped, he'd run into the Blackbeard Pirates.
He'd become a complete relic of the old era.
Terrible luck.
Just look at his opponents. Were any of them easy?
Moria: "This is too much!"
Buggy had the luck of a king. He had the bad luck of a king.
To try and alleviate some of that bad luck, Jin had decided to give him a little push.
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