The Grand Line shimmered under the sun as a massive, gourd-shaped island soared through the sky. Merveille and Omatsuri Island, temporarily fused by Golden Lion Shiki's Float-Float Fruit, drifted like a pirate fortress in the clouds.
"Jahaha! Another day bursting with energy!" Shiki crowed, his golden mane glinting.
"Lily, whip me up a fake Rocks! I can't start my morning right without smashing one to bits! Don't give me that dead-fish stare, girl! I'll pay you back—captured pirates, sea kings, you name it! I, Golden Lion Shiki, am a top-tier officer who'd never shortchange a crewmate! Your hard work's all tallied up in my head, and I'll square the debt soon enough!"
Shiki floated out, grinning ear to ear. Ever since they ditched that cursed "Sound Shell," he'd been in high spirits. Even Newgate barely mentioned it anymore, which suited Shiki just fine. Brook's word was worth ten of his own!
Viscount Fraule stepped forward, and Lily Carnation quickly conjured a knockoff Rocks for Shiki. A few swings later, Shiki obliterated the leafy doppelgänger with a satisfied roar.
"Hell yeah, that's the stuff!"
Shiki was thrilled, but Lily scribbled in her notebook: Shiki owes 10 Leafmen's worth of energy. 9.8% discount applied—98 pirates owed. Shakky had taught her the math, and Lily loved it. In just three or four days, Shiki's morning, noon, and night Leafmen-bashing habit had racked up a debt of 80 or 90 pirates. What a steal! Back on Omatsuri Island, she'd be lucky to see a pirate ship land once a month, and even then, their crews varied in size—hardly a guaranteed feast.
"Lily, same as always—stash it in my room!"
Sniper Silva sauntered by, "accidentally" brushing past Lily. He muttered under his breath, then strolled off whistling like he hadn't a care in the world.
Young folks these days—morning's the best time for a workout!
"Silva's room—handled!"
Lily jotted down: Silva owes 4 Leafmen's worth. 9.9% discount—39.6 pirates owed. Per Shakky's rules, 39.6 rounded to 40, and 40 might as well be 50. Done! A nice, round number. But why did a 10-unit order only get a 9.8% discount? Felt like she was still losing out.
Flipping back to Shiki's page, she adjusted: 98 pirates rounds to 100. Perfect—easy to remember now!
Meanwhile, Brook, snoozing with Stussy in his arms, had no clue a capitalist sharper than any merchant was rising on his ship. All he knew was Stussy's softness made for a damn fine nap.
...
The Hell Pirates strutted through the Grand Line like they owned it, hugging the Calm Belt to avoid detection. By the time the Marines spotted them, their colossal island was already nearing the Red Line, ready to slip back into the New World.
"Damn it! The Hell Pirates are back in the Grand Line, stealing islands again!" a Marine vice admiral fumed at an emergency commanders' meeting. "We don't even know which island they nabbed this time, but they're definitely after something!"
"They've already hauled Raijin Island and Nebulandia Island back to Elan Island," he continued. "Are they cooking up some grand scheme?"
Another officer piped up, "What's so special about these islands? What treasures are they hiding?"
The Marines hadn't pinned down which Grand Line island had vanished this time—clearly, the Hell Pirates were targeting obscure ones.
"Darian, what's your take?"
Marine Fleet Admiral Kurotaka turned to Chief Strategist Darian. Even he couldn't crack Brook's motives. The Hell Pirates had already raided West Blue to snatch Ohara and even shifted Baltigo Island's position for Future Kingdom. Their endgame was anyone's guess.
"Based on Raijin Island and Nebulandia's locations," Darian mused, "the Hell Pirates might be planning to cluster a dozen more islands around Elan Island. They could be building a defensive island chain—or even a pirate empire!"
It was a shot in the dark. Their spies on Elan Island were few and far between, yielding scraps of intel at best. They'd confirmed Elan Island doubled as a sky island—the Hell Pirates' true stronghold. But knowing that changed nothing.
Shiki's Float-Float Fruit, Newgate's Quake-Quake Fruit, and Redfield's Rumble-Rumble Fruit formed a trifecta of long-range devastation. Even the Rocks Pirates couldn't breach Elan Island's defenses, let alone the Marines.
"Brook's got some serious ambitions," Kurotaka sighed. "Stealing Ohara, a scholar's haven? That's no pirate's whim—he's aiming to build a kingdom!"
The Hell Pirates' roster was a nightmare: five Conqueror's Haki users and a slew of top-tier Devil Fruit powers. The New World was already the Marines' weak spot, and now the Hell Pirates were rubbing it in, looting islands from the Grand Line and the Four Seas like it was a grocery run. Allied nations were panicking.
Wealthy islands like Law's hometown, Flevance in the North Blue lived in fear. One day, they might wake up in the terrifying New World, courtesy of the Hell Pirates. How could they survive that?
The allied nations were hounding the World Government and Marines to crush the lawless Hell Pirates. No one wanted to live in constant dread.
Shiki had even earned new monikers: Shiki the Nation-Mover and Shiki the Island-Snatcher. The Hell Pirates' infamy had eclipsed the Rocks Pirates and Vesper's crew, cementing them as the Grand Line's greatest terror.
The World Government and Marines were at their wits' end. This meeting was going nowhere—how do you stop a crew that's already unstoppable?
Even a single admiral would turn tail against the Hell Pirates. Brook, backed by his monstrous crew, was beyond any one admiral's power to handle.
The Hell Pirates had become an unsolvable enigma. Even if Rocks and Vesper teamed up, they couldn't wipe them out—not without risking their own annihilation. Shiki's Float-Float Fruit and Newgate's Quake-Quake Fruit were like nuclear warheads, their destructive power a strategic deterrent no one could ignore.
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+300 chapters on p@treon/tambeerg