People including the Captain Nezumi looked toward Leo's arrival as if a man of justice had just entered.
For a moment, they assessed him, wondering if he might be trouble but his composed demeanor made it seem otherwise. Without a care, Leo simply made his way toward the bar, as if the things happening there didn't have anything to do with him.
"He's definitely some noble brat…" Nezumi muttered, lowering his pistol as the other waiters hurriedly escorted the injured man away, apologizing.
"As long as he stays out of my way…"
Contrary to the Marine captain's expectations, Leo had recognized him immediately due to his distinct features, the same rat-faced man who had been tormenting his village since he was a kid, siphoning away 60 percent of their earnings every month.
A faint smirk tugged at his lips as he decided to return the favor, just a little and not too openly.
Leo and the girls drank and danced, the atmosphere growing wilder by the minute. his dance skills carried over from his previous life.
Soon, he had the entire crowd cheered and joined. The girls by his side, however, couldn't keep up with him, both passing out before the main entertainment they had promised could begin.
Seeing the wealthy patrons flaunting their riches, Leo changed his plan. Staying low didn't suit him anymore.
Instead he decided to win the entire place over.
"Tonight, The drinks are on me!"
Cheers erupted as he threw money around, paying his earlier winnings as advance to the waiter. The mood shifted instantly, admiration replacing suspicion.
Surrounded by a crowd of beautiful women, Leo lost himself in the moment until someone pushed him around a half drunk, Marine.
His eyes burned with jealousy—at Leo's presence, the crowd's admiration, the way even his own subordinates praised him.
"Hey… kid…" Nezumi slurred, stumbling closer. "You some kind of noble? Never seen or heard of you in East Blue… What's your name… eh?" Leo glanced at him, unimpressed acting exactly like a noble would do.
"You talk like you know everyone in East Blue…" he said with a mocking smile. "Who are you to ask me my identity, you rat-faced fool." The entire pub fell silent.
For a moment tension filled the air.
Then-
"Chi chi chi chi…!" Nezumi burst into laughter, too drunk to even process the insult. "You're right hic… I don't know shit outside Conomi Island jurisdiction… chi chi—hic—!"
The tension broke and laughter spread.
"Hahaha… doesn't matter," Leo said casually, grabbing a bottle. "We won't meet again. No point knowing each other."
Leo raised the bottle of expensive wine and poured it straight into Nezumi's mouth.
The captain choked, sputtering before collapsing onto the floor, completely unconscious.
"Yeah… hic! yeah… drink up..." Nezumi muttered weakly before passing out.
As the night dragged on, exhaustion and alcohol began to take its toll. One by one, marines and others alike started collapsing across the hall.
Those who remained standing didn't stay that way for long.
With subtle touches, Leo sent faint shocks through their bodies just enough to disrupt their senses, forcing sleep upon them.
By the Midnight, the once-lively hall fell into an unnatural silence everyone asleep except Leo.
Leo moved through the crowd one by one, greeting each guest with an easy smile. Rings, gold chains, watches, diamond necklaces everything found its way into his hands before anyone even realized.
From Captain Nezumi's belongings alone, he secured two briefcases filled with berries.
"Hmm… let's party… chi chi chi…" Captain Nezumi slurred, completely unaware he had already been stripped clean.
Leo, now carrying his spoils, grabbed Nezumi and slipped out of the hall. Pressing his palm against the wall, he activated his ability—the surface warped, then split open into a narrow passage.
The moment they passed through, it sealed shut behind them as if nothing had happened.
He stepped out into the open night.
Half the town still buzzed with life, while the other half had fallen into silence. Leo crouched, placing his palm against the ground.
The earth answered his call, swallowing them, he guided the soil beneath his feet, moving underground to his destination, the shore where he had hidden his boat.
It was far more efficient than parading his loot and a kidnapped Marine captain through the streets like a fool.
As they surfaced, the constant motion stirred unease in Nezumi. Still half-conscious, he began to wake. The moment Leo released him onto solid ground, Nezumi collapsed, vomiting out the contents of his stomach.
"Ugh… this hangover… where am I…?"
"You've been kidnapped, Captain Nezumi."
With half-lidded eyes, Nezumi looked up and froze. The "noble brat" he had just been drinking with now stood over him, with cold expression.
"How dare you..., do you know who I am? I have—"
*Slap.*
Leo struck him mid-sentence. The single blow snapped his head to the side and knocked him unconscious instantly.
"…How weak."
Kneeling down, Leo touched his forehead again, sending a sharp jolt through his mind forcing him awake once more.
"W-What… What do you want…? If it's money—"
"I already have all your money," Leo cut in flatly. "I'm doing this because I don't like your face, is that the reason enough." The memory of that tight slap lingered in his mind.
Nezumi scrambled back, trying to flee but the earth rose and bound his legs in place.
"Come on, Captain… we're only halfway through the night where are you going." Leo's voice softened, almost amused. "You like parties, don't you? Collecting bribes…?" He stepped closer staring in his eyes.
"I'll make sure you never enjoy those things again… while remembering me for the rest of your miserable life." With a single touch of Leo's finger, Nezumi's body began to change.
"Ahhhhhhh... ahhhhh..." His screams tore through the silent port and this time, Leo made no effort to suppress them.
10 Minutes later
Leo dropped the mangled body of Nezumi on the port for someone to find and went near the shore where his makeshift boat had been hidden.
The ground parted again, revealing his shark sub-ski unharmed, but not suited for long-distance travel.
Controlling the earth beneath him, his small vessel rose from the ground. Amid the sea of ships, he set it down atop a regular merchant vessel that had caught his eye.
"Hey! What are you doing there?" Two soldiers from a nearby Marine ship shouted as they noticed him using his Devil Fruit powers.
"Better deal with them now…" With a single touch, the ground erupted.
Spears of earth thirty feet long and thick as pillars burst upward, ripping through the docked ships. Wood shattered, hulls split apart, and a chain of explosions followed.
Fire consumed the docks instantly.
Within moments, every ship was destroyed, including the Marine vessel. The two officers leapt into the sea, barely escaping as the burning wrecks sank one after another into the depths.
'This should keep them off my tail for a while,' Leo thought as he boarded the merchant ship.
The explosion jolted the residents awake, but by the time the island's residents and visitors arrived, it was already too late to save anything.
In the distance, a lone merchant vessel cut through the waves, vanishing into the sea.
***
"Captain Nezumi! Please wake up, are you still alive?!"
One of the soldiers who had jumped from the Marine ship found Nezumi lying in the dock entrance, collapsed in a pool of his own blood. What had been done to him was beyond words.
Both his arms and legs had been severed so cleanly it looked as though a surgery had been performed long ago, no fresh wounds, only smooth, sealed flesh where his limbs had once been.
Across his forehead, carved into the flesh, not with ink, but with his own blood were words etched permanently, as if branded into the slaves:
Corrupt Marine.
The other soldiers, drawn by the commotion, rushed in only to stop dead, equally horrified by the sight before them.
He lay there, motionless, yet alive kept that way intentionally left to suffer.
"Ugh… It hur.s..." Nezumi could only respond in pained grunts, his mind unable to form words.
"Who did this? Did anyone see the culprit?"
"Yes, Vice Captain! There was a boy with white hair, blue eyes with some kind of strange Devil Fruit power. He stole one of the merchant ships and destroyed the others… he must be responsible for this!"
"He must have took our briefcases full of berries..."
"And My ring…!"
"And My diamond necklace!"
"And My wallet & watch!"
The realization struck them all at once, the man they had welcomed and laughed with had deceived them completely, a harsh reminder that appearances could be deceiving.
The Marines quickly retrieved an image from one of the recording Snails on the island, but when questioned, not a single person could recall his name.
As they turned back, Nezumi stirred faintly whispering.
"He said… his name was… Portgas D. Leo… so that I'd remember him… forever…" The name lingered with him like a curse.
A flicker of fear crossed Nezumi's fading consciousness before his eyes rolled back and he fell unconscious once more.
The soldiers scrambled, some rushing to find a doctor, others preparing to report the emergence of this new criminal to Marine base.