Jin eyed him. "Let me guess. Did Sengoku send you to warn me?"
"Ah-la-la… don't make it sound like that,"Kuzan yawned, adjusting his blindfold. "I'm just heading back from vacation and happened to pass by. Then I felt a certain nasty sword aura, so I came to check it out."
He yawned again and tilted his head toward Ain and the black blade beside Jin.
"The report says you took Ain to Moria's place to help her break through. As long as you didn't kill Moria, the Fleet Admiral won't complain too much.
After all, we've had gripes about the Warlord system in the Marines for a long time. If a Warlord gets shaken up but our people get stronger… it's a decent trade."
Jin grinned. "So you really weren't sent here to nag me into behaving? I was hoping you were. Then I could finally have a proper fight with a full Admiral. I'm just that one step away, and simple training isn't cutting it anymore."
"Let's not," Kuzan said immediately, lifting his blindfold to squint at him. "I'm lazy.
And if the two of us really went all out, news would spread that Marine top brass is fighting each other. Sengoku's blood pressure would for sure explode."
Jin sighed. "True. At our level, 'sparring' doesn't wrap up in ten minutes."
Kuzan's gaze drifted toward Shusui again. "That black blade. You got it from Moria's toybox?"
"From Ryuma," Jin corrected. He lifted Shusui, Haki swirling across its pitch-black surface. Black lightning flickered faintly along its edge.
Everyone felt a twinge of danger—Jango, Ain, Brook, even the Marines at the edge of the deck.
Kuzan's Observation Haki tingled. "Maaan. You're getting more and more troublesome."
Jin raised the sword toward the sky.
"Divine Avoidance."
The slash tore upward like a beam and detonated high in the clouds.
BOOOOM.
Thunder rolled as the sword aura exploded apart.
Jin exhaled. "Still not right. I can't grab the core of it."
"That's Roger's signature technique," Kuzan muttered. "As far as I know, only Red-Haired Shanks and Dark King Rayleigh can use it properly. If it were that easy to copy, it wouldn't be called a secret technique."
Jin shrugged. "I've got the shadow, but not the soul."
He quenched the Haki and then, without warning, rewrapped the blade and swung sideways toward the sea.
A massive sword aura roared out, shearing through a pirate ship that had been quietly tailing them.
The vessel shattered in an instant, exploding into splinters and foam.
Brook swallowed—if he still had a throat, it would've been dry.
"That… that really is a human, right?"
"Set a course for the wreck," Jin said. "Let's see if anyone's still alive."
"Yes, boss!"
The ship angled over.
By the time they arrived, only a handful of pirates were clinging to floating planks, coughing up seawater.
"Still breathing," Jin said.
Ain stepped forward, scanning their faces. "Hyena Pirates. West Blue origin. They once massacred three villages there.
Captain 'Hyena'. Zoan-type Dog-Dog Fruit. Likes tying people to stakes and gutting them alive. Bounty: 68 million berries."
"So… trash."
Jin gestured with his chin. "Deal with it."
"Yes, White Boss." Jango transformed into his saber-toothed tiger hybrid form and leapt down.
The hyena captain snarled, transforming midair into a huge black dog.
They clashed in a blur of claws and fists.
It didn't last long.
With a bang and a roar, Jango's fist caved in the Hyena's chest.
"Impossible…" the pirate captain gasped, and went limp.
"Clean it up," Jin said. "Anyone still alive gets tied to the stern and dragged. If they're still not dead when we get where we're going, they can rot in a cell."
Kuzan raised an eyebrow. "You're pretty ruthless, White-kid."
Jin snorted. "Toward this kind of scum, there's no 'too far'."
The surviving pirates were bound and hurled over the stern, ropes around their wrists. Their panicked screams trailed behind as the warship moved on.
Kuzan considered saying something… then remembered Ain's earlier explanation about the massacred villages.
He closed his eyes instead. "Ah-la-la…"
Jin leaned against the railing. "Ever since Roger shouted that line in Loguetown eight years ago… every kind of monster in the world has crawled out of the woodwork."
"You were there, weren't you?" Kuzan asked, lifting his blindfold again.
Every head turned toward Jin.
He nodded. "Yeah. I was in the crowd. Still don't get why Sengoku didn't just gag him."
Kuzan's lips twitched. "It was Roger. You think a gag would've mattered?"
"If it were me," Jin said, "I'd have cut out his tongue."
Ain choked on a laugh and covered her mouth. The others all looked away, pretending they heard nothing.
"Want me to ask Sengoku about it when we get back?" Kuzan teased.
"You won't," Jin said.
Kuzan sighed. "You're right. Sounds troublesome."
"Keep us on course," Jin called. "We're done here."
As the ship sailed on, the pirates' screams slowly grew hoarse.
"White Boss, look at this!" Jango came running up with a small chest.
Jin popped it open.
Inside lay a melon-shaped fruit with strange swirling patterns.
"Well, well. Paramecia-class Bubble-Bubble Fruit. The one Kalifa will eat someday."
"What kind of fruit is that?" Jango asked, curious. Even Kuzan peered over for a second before going back to "sleep."
"Bubble-Bubble Fruit," Jin said, rolling it in his palm. "Can create and control bubbles. Attack, defense, support… all in one. If you develop it properly, it's a great ability."
Jango shrugged. He was a berserker now; Devil Fruits were just seasoning for him.
Jin's grin turned sly.
"Also, if a woman eats it, it makes her skin extremely smooth."
Ain's head snapped around.
So he likes soft skin…?
She subtly touched her own cheek, checking its smoothness, and looked relieved.
Then her face went crimson as her imagination ran off without her.
Jin weighed the fruit in his hand. Barrier Fruit, Bubble Fruit, Water Buffalo Fruit… That makes three. The first two are useful. The cow's going on the market.
"Head back toward Sabaody," he said. "We're done with the Triangle."
"Yes, sir!"
Far beneath the waves, in the shimmering realm of Fishman Island.
"Damn it. How did it end up like this…?"
A man in a bubble-helmet "spacesuit" stomped through the coral streets, furious and alone.
"The entire escort dead in a shipwreck… all those CP agents gone. Useless trash!"
He looked around, sneering at the fish-men who watched him warily from a distance.
"So this is Fishman Island, huh? That means there are plenty of fish-men here for me to pick from…"
Donquixote Mjosgard's lips curled into a drooling grin inside his helmet.
When I get back, the other Celestial Dragons will be green with envy.
He quickly realized, however, that alone like this, capturing slaves wouldn't be easy. His anger flared again.
"That damned CP director. When I get back, I'll have his head."
In the Ryugu Palace, a gentle voice cooed softly.
"Shirahoshi, be good and sleep now. No crying. No fussing. You're Mama's good girl, aren't you?"
Queen Otohime stroked the huge, baby mermaid girl's face. Even as an infant, Princess Shirahoshi dwarfed her.
Nearby, the three princes—Shark Star, Fukaboshi; the second prince, Ryuboshi; and the third prince, Manboshi—stood in a row with their father, King Neptune, watching with doting smiles.
"Shirahoshi, when you grow up, I'll take you all around the island," Shark Star said proudly.
Otohime cut him a sharp look. "Quiet. You'll wake her."
"Y-Yes, Mother…" the crown prince muttered, rubbing the back of his head. The three brothers were all mighty warriors in their own right—but their mother scared them more than any pirate.
Otohime rubbed her cheek gently against Shirahoshi's, coaxing.
"Sleep, little one. Sleep…"
After a bit of wiggling and a few soft "ee-yaah~" noises, the baby princess finally drifted off.
Otohime left a nursemaid to watch her and walked out with Neptune and the princes.
"Mother, Shirahoshi is so cute," Shark Star said dreamily. "When she grows up, I'll show her the whole world!"
His brothers nodded vigorously.
A family of hardcore siscons, through and through.
They made their way to the council hall as Otohime returned to her favorite topic—how to bridge the gap between humans and fish-men, how to bring both races to live together on the surface, under the same sun.
Far above, on the surface, winds were already shifting.
And somewhere between those two worlds, a certain White Ghost was happily stockpiling power, money… and trouble.
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