A few days later, in the first half of the Grand Line.
On Malad Island, the temporary base of Makoto's group.
"Bar-Bar Fruit? Turn your hands into bars to restrain enemies? Wouldn't it be more efficient for me to just use a Seastone net?"
Bang!
"What the hell is the Wheel-Wheel Fruit?"
Bang!
"Soft-Soft Fruit? Soften anything you touch? What use is that to me?"
Bang!
Every time Makoto complained, the sound of Yu's gunshot followed immediately.
These pirates, who had come from all over the world carrying Devil Fruits, naturally all came to receive Shakky's kiss.
However, just as Makoto had anticipated, when these pirates arrived, they were all victims of his mutually assured destruction scheme… their Devil Fruits were stolen, and they were shot.
To date, no pirate had managed to leave Malad Island alive.
At first, the Kuja Pirates, led by Gloriosa and Shakky, felt some sympathy. But after a few days, they also became numb to it, thinking this group was truly ruthless.
Of course, there were exceptions, such as...
"U-Um, M-Master, I'm not a pirate. I'm just a fruit seller. A few days ago, while I was stocking up, one of my apples suddenly turned into this, s-so I..."
A middle-aged man dressed as a farmer timidly handed over a Devil Fruit shaped like a large apple, but with cloud-like patterns on its surface.
Gloriosa looked at him, then flipped through the wanted posters in her hand and said: "He's not in the bounty book. At least not among those with bounties over a hundred million."
The farmer nodded repeatedly.
He really was just an ordinary fruit merchant.
He had heard that by handing over a Devil Fruit, he could get a kiss from the world's most beautiful woman, so he thought he'd try his luck and sailed over.
He never expected to encounter such a terrifying scene… the corpses of pirates on the island were piling up like a mountain.
Utaha on the other side flipped through her Devil Fruit Encyclopedia and said: "This should be the Logia-type, Smoke-Smoke Fruit."
"Oh, Smoker's fruit." Makoto realized.
In the One Piece World, where everyone seemed mentally ill, the man known as Smoker the Smoker was one of the few relatively normal people.
When he first appeared, he seemed positioned to be Luffy's rival in the Marines.
But unexpectedly, after the two-year time skip, he couldn't keep up with the power scaling, and later was directly used as a stepping stone for the Deserter King.
Although part of the reason was Oda wanting to promote his beloved Deserter King, it was also true that the Smoke-Smoke Fruit couldn't keep up with the power creep.
"Makoto-kun, should we keep this one?" Ran asked.
Makoto thought for a moment and said: "Might as well keep it."
Although the Smoke-Smoke Fruit was among the weakest of the Logia types, it still had elementalization, which was good for crushing weaklings.
"Th-That, Master, i-if there's nothing else, I'll be going now..." The farmer, terrified, prepared to leave immediately.
He didn't want to become one of those corpses.
But he was overthinking it.
Makoto generally avoided killing civilians when possible… of course, the bastards of Konoha were an exception.
Seeing the farmer about to leave, Makoto asked: "You came all this way, and you're just leaving like that?"
The farmer looked bewildered.
'What else was I supposed to do?'
Shakky stared wide-eyed at Makoto, 'No, you don't seriously expect me to...'
"Th-That, n-no need, Master..." The farmer said with an awkward smile.
Although he had initially come all this way driven by lust, after seeing the piles of corpses, he didn't have the nerve for it.
After all, nothing is more important than life.
Makoto thought for a moment, looked at Shakky, and said: "The man came a long way. It's not good to send him away empty-handed. Your wanted poster seems to sell for a lot. Give him a couple."
Hearing this, Shakky breathed a long sigh of relief. She took one of her wanted posters from Gloriosa.
It had to be said, although it was a wanted poster, it was photographed like a magazine cover… the same style as future wanted posters of Nami.
Then Shakky signed her name on the poster and handed it to him, making it feel like a fan meeting.
"Thank you! Thank you!" The farmer received it as if he had found a treasure and decided to use it as material tonight.
The Kuja Pirates' impression of Makoto also changed.
They had thought he was a cold-blooded monster, but it seemed he still retained some humanity.
Shakky and the others suddenly realized that since they had met him, Makoto had never actually attacked civilians.
"I'm so bored!" Nayuta, sitting on the table, shouted. "Makoto-kun, how much longer are we going to stay on this island? I've done everything I can."
Nearly ten days had passed since crossing into this world.
No wonder Nayuta was getting bored. This small island called Malad Island wasn't very big... they had explored it all in two or three days.
Morgans interjected: "Master, the powerful Devil Fruits have mostly already been eaten or are in the hands of major powers. Although Shakky is very attractive, getting their hands on those Devil Fruits might be..."
Before Morgans could finish, Yu suddenly spoke: "Senpai, a ship is coming. It's a pirate ship."
Everyone looked up and saw a dark red pirate ship speeding towards them.
The mark on its sail was a skull with a flowing cloud-like mustache.
Instantly, the entire Kuja Pirates crew and Morgans changed their expressions drastically, 'That… That was the mark of the Roger Pirates!'
Before the Oro Jackson could even dock, a voice came through a Den Den Mushi:
"Shakky! Shakky! Are you there? It's me, Roger! Are you being threatened? It's okay! I've come to save you!"
Soon after, the Oro Jackson docked.
The entire Roger Pirates' crew landed on the island in full force and were immediately horrified by the mountain of pirate corpses at the port.
"Wh-What's going on?!" Even the third-in-command, Gaban, was startled. "That's way too many dead!"
"Is that... [Double Sword] Balon!? [Ghost] Marvika!?"
Rayleigh instantly recognized several familiar faces among them… all pirate captains with bounties over a hundred million who they had fought before.
'Were they all... killed?'
Roger, however, ignored the common rabble on the ground and rushed into the town. Soon, at the town's entrance, he saw the figure he had longed for day and night.
"Shakky! Shakky! I'm here!"
Gloriosa looked utterly resentful… she had made her feelings clear many times, yet Roger had eyes only for Shakky.
Makoto took the hot tea Erina handed him, took a sip, swirled the cup, and looked sideways.
'Ah ~ the King of Suppression was here.'
Although Makoto hadn't deliberately emitted killing intent, the natural oppressive aura he had nurtured through countless great battles still made Roger pause in his steps.