The luxurious penthouse suite fell into a silence so complete you could hear a pin drop.
The battered Vice Admiral stood with his arms spread, as if abandoning defense entirely, a calm, genuine smile on his face.
The Queen of the Pleasure District, draped in a black silk robe, stilled for a heartbeat. Her crimson-lacquered fingers twitched, then settled as her gaze held on the smiling man.
One second.
Two.
Three.
"Tch. I'm not falling for your trap." Stussy's contempt cut through the quiet. "Testing me with a stunt that clumsy? Your methods are far too crude, Darren."
"Suit yourself if you don't believe me." Darren shrugged, the smile fading to resignation. "Just saying—you're passing up a once-in-a-lifetime chance. You could hand me over and buy yourself even more trust from the brass."
"After all these years inside the World Government, I've learned one thing: anything that comes too easily usually hides a blade."
Stussy's mouth curved.
She took the seat opposite him, crossed one long leg over the other, and tilted her head to light a slender lady's cigarette.
"So. What's your next move?"
"You've heard it already—the whole world is hunting you. The higher-ups ordered me to mobilize every resource and informant I have to track you down."
Mint-sweet smoke curled past her cheekbones, sharpening her cool, regal poise.
She tapped the newspaper on the coffee table with the hand holding her cigarette.
"Here's the latest. That lunatic Morgans is enamored with you. He's even casting you as some hero defying tyranny."
"Tch, tch… five billion berry. Unprecedented. The Marines really are going all out."
"If you're short on cash, turn me in," Darren said lightly. "Though I doubt they can scrape together five billion right now."
"As for that birdman Morgans, he fascinates me. A dark emperor with a propaganda empire vast enough to rock the world—why has the Government tolerated him in the New World this long?"
This guy is impossibly calm…
While a power that's ruled for eight centuries scrambles to strike back, he shows up here to drink and smoke, as if none of it matters.
Stussy watched the world's most wanted criminal, hunting for even the smallest tell in his eyes.
"No next move? That's not your style."
"Here's another piece of intel. The World Government's Flying Fleet has entered the North Blue. They'll move soon—hard and indiscriminate."
"The Gorosei never spare those who defy them. They crush what you love to make you yield. That's their way—and their arrogance."
Darren raised a brow through the smoke. "Oh? So besides the Marines, the Government's running a second navy now?"
"Not a navy," Stussy said. "A temporary formation from the Holy Land Guard."
"Even so," Darren mused, "with their weight of metal, erasing a few nations or islands is trivial. The real problem is volume—waves of hulls. Even your Flying Fleet can't intercept them all."
Finishing, she heard her own resentment ring clear. That damned bastard built a monster fleet under my nose and never told me. Some "partner." I've fed him my entire intelligence web for free.
"The Flying Fleet is my trump card," Darren said. "Not even my godson, Doflamingo, knows."
Catching the bite in her tone, he chuckled. "Tch. I couldn't care less what you think of my fleet."
Stussy pouted, then tilted him a playful look. "At this rate you won't hold the North Blue. However loyal those countries were, they'll kneel before overwhelming force."
"No territory means no taxes. No funding, no fleet. The Gorosei are exactly what they claim: the Government's highest authority. They don't need to touch you themselves. One order, and everything you built unravels."
"Oh, so that's how it is," Darren said blandly.
Stussy almost choked on smoke.
Oh, so that's how it is? How can you be this blasé? The Government is mobilizing the world, and even your 'invincible' fleet can't stop that tide!
"Did you even hear me?" she hissed, jaw tight with anger. "I risked everything to get you this intelligence."
"You risked everything?" Darren smiled, eyes narrowing.
She hesitated—and he waved it off with a lazy flick of the wrist, a sly curve edging his mouth. "How about another bet?"
"Absolutely not!" The word came out like a yelp. At the mere mention of a wager she recoiled, tugging her silk hem lower, covering certain letters inked along her thigh. Heat rushed to her cheeks. "Don't you dare."
Darren laughed. "Fine, fine. Sit tight. Don't worry about the North Blue."
"You can reach Morgans, right? Put the bird on the line. Tell him I've got some Big News."
"If that's all, I'll sleep. I'm exhausted…"
Don't worry about the North Blue?
Just sit and watch?
"What are you implying—"
She broke off. Darren's eyes were already closed. Still smeared in blood, he'd sagged into the sofa and slipped under, breath slow and steady.
Stussy stared, taken aback by the sudden quiet in him.
After a long beat, she turned and picked up the Den Den Mushi on the desk. Her gaze drifted back to the sleeping black-haired Marine and lingered. She pressed her lips together, something conflicted passing through her eyes, and dialed.
"Send bandages and medicine," she murmured, and hung up.
Setting the Den Den Mushi down, she looked at him again, sighed—half irritated, half something else—and whispered:
"How can you sleep so soundly, even now? Aren't you afraid I'll betray you?"
A softness, rare and unguarded, settled in the depths of her proud, sultry eyes.
To be continued...