Yuuki glanced at the four people whose faces were filled with shock. With a casual motion, he tossed the three Devil Fruits floating before him onto the deck and gave a relaxed smile.
"Everyone, this really isn't something worth being too surprised about."
"At least… not compared to what we're going to do in the future."
His calm words brought Buggy and the others back to their senses.
"Captain… how did you even do something like this?"
"If this got out, it would probably shake the entire sea!"
Buggy's eyes darted toward the three Devil Fruits lying on the deck. He swallowed nervously as he spoke.
When a Devil Fruit user dies, the fruit's power normally reappears somewhere else in the world.
That was common knowledge on the seas.
Yet the scene before them clearly contradicted that rule.
The three fruits on the deck had obviously belonged to those three members of Baroque Works.
Which meant—
their captain possessed a method to extract Devil Fruits.
Buggy didn't know whether he should feel terrified or excited.
"Captain, that's incredible!"
"I remember hearing that a single Devil Fruit can sell for over 100 million berries, right?"
"You idiot, that's not the point!"
Mohji and Cabaji shouted excitedly.
Meanwhile, sitting on the deck and resting, Miss Goldenweek watched quietly and murmured,
"Incredible… I think I've joined a truly extraordinary pirate crew."
She glanced at Buggy and the others, then carefully looked toward Yuuki with a complicated expression.
"Those three idiots are completely missing the real point…"
The fact that Devil Fruits could be taken from their users should already be shocking.
Yet according to Yuuki, even that was nothing compared to what they planned to do next.
So—
what exactly was the captain's goal?
Miss Goldenweek couldn't even begin to imagine it.
In her mind, Crocodile's plan to overthrow Alabasta had already seemed unimaginably ambitious.
"Now that you've joined the Magic Eye Pirates, there's no need to keep using the name 'Miss Goldenweek.'"
Yuuki looked at her.
"What's your real name?"
Caught off guard, she quickly answered,
"Marianne."
"Marianne, huh? That's a nice name."
Yuuki smiled gently.
With a flip of his hand, a brand-new Magic Eye Cross appeared.
The next moment, he seemed to teleport and appeared directly in front of her.
"This magic suits you quite well."
He touched a finger lightly to the center of Marianne's forehead.
Silver magic light flickered.
In an instant, a Magic Eye mark appeared and sank into her skin.
Marianne felt a warm current spread from her forehead through her entire body.
The exhaustion from earlier faded.
Even the pain throughout her body lessened.
"What… is this?"
Her eyes widened as she stared at the cross floating before her.
"As a welcome gift for joining the crew."
Yuuki smiled calmly.
"It's called Painting Magic."
Painting Magic was the magic used by Rill Boismortier, captain of the Aqua Deer, one of the nine Magic Knight squads.
It was a rare magic type capable of imitating multiple attributes.
If developed properly, it could even reach Underworld-tier magic.
Marianne stared blankly.
She slowly raised her hand and grasped the floating cross.
Immediately—
she felt a strange connection with it.
Especially the energy that had entered her body earlier.
The moment she held the cross, she could control it.
Buzz—
The Magic Eye Cross trembled lightly.
Inside the hollow eye at its center appeared the number 10.
Standing beside Marianne, Mohji and Cabaji quickly looked at the crosses around their own necks.
The numbers on theirs had changed as well.
Mohji's became 9.
Cabaji's became 8.
Both had risen by one rank.
"Buggy, bring the recording equipment," Yuuki said.
Buggy stared greedily at the cross in Marianne's hand.
He knew exactly what that cross represented.
It was essentially a Devil Fruit-like power.
But unlike Devil Fruits—
it had no weakness to seawater.
Buggy had always wanted one.
Unfortunately, Yuuki had rejected him on the grounds that Buggy wasn't a combatant.
Reluctantly tearing his gaze away, Buggy ran into the storage room.
Soon he returned with a recording device.
Conrad took it and pointed it toward Crocodile's corpse, which had been brought onto the deck.
Buggy and the others watched in confusion.
"You might want to prepare yourselves," Yuuki said calmly.
"What happens next may surprise you."
He reached into the air.
Another Magic Eye Cross appeared.
At first glance it looked identical to the others.
But it was fundamentally different.
Instead of containing a mana source, it held a spatial magic formula connected to the Imperial Sword Elsdocia stored in another dimension.
Yuuki looked toward the recording device.
A gentle smile appeared on his face as he lightly spun the cross between his fingers.
"This is a Magic Eye Cross."
"It contains a power known as magic."
"Turning the impossible into possible—that is magic."
"Personally, I prefer to call it the power of miracles."
"It's a far more mysterious power than the so-called Devil Fruits."
Yuuki paused.
The smile on his face faded.
His gaze turned deep and serious.
"This world is filled with inequality."
"Differences in wealth. Differences in status. Differences in birth."
"The strong and the weak. Nobles and commoners."
"Some starve in the streets with no clothes to wear."
"Others live in endless luxury."
"But there is one thing that has always been fair to everyone."
"Death."
Yuuki looked straight at the camera.
"But now…"
"It isn't."
The cross slipped from his fingers and fell toward Crocodile's corpse.
Buzz.
The moment it touched the body—
a green spatial gate, filled with vibrant life energy, appeared above Crocodile.
Golden light poured from the gate and enveloped him.
In a single breath—
the gate shattered.
Then—
Crocodile's eyes snapped open.
He sat up abruptly.
For a moment his eyes were blank.
Then clarity returned.
When he saw Yuuki standing nearby, his pupils shrank.
Bang!
He kicked off the ground and retreated several meters.
"I'm… not dead?"
Crocodile stared at Yuuki in disbelief.
He clearly remembered dying.
Yuuki did not answer.
Click.
Conrad shut off the recording device.
Only then did Yuuki turn back to Crocodile and smile faintly.
"Welcome back, Crocodile."
The method used to revive Crocodile was not true resurrection magic developed by Yuuki.
It was Conrad's technique.
By extracting a stored soul from the Imperial Sword, placing it into a corpse, and activating it with Key Magic, a form of false resurrection could be achieved.
Crocodile looked alive.
But in truth—
his existence depended entirely on Yuuki's magic.
If Yuuki stopped supplying mana—
Crocodile would immediately die again.
And even his body would crumble into ash.
That was why Yuuki thought Conrad's idea was… a little insane.
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