I walked through the forest, letting the familiar rhythm of Hamon flow through my cloak and hat. The golden ripples spread across the fabric like liquid electricity, deflecting the wild branches that seemed determined to tear at my face.
The branches that would have caught and torn at the cloth now slid off harmlessly, as if I were made of iron rather than flesh and bone. A trick that I made use of every time I moved through a forest, though it did nothing for the psychological weight of what I was about to do.
The compass in my hand was still settling on its target. Not quite true north, but then again, this particular compass never pointed to true north. It pointed to what you wanted most.
And right now, what I wanted most was to retrieve my stolen money, not because I needed it, but because it had a sentimental value, and well…
'I am a petty bastard…'
As I drew closer to my destination, I slowed my pace, letting my boots find the softer patches of earth to muffle my footsteps.
The trees began to thin, and through the gaps in the foliage, I caught my first glimpse of what I'd been seeking: a mikan grove, neat rows of citrus trees heavy with orange fruit, and beside it, a modest house that looked small but cozy.
'Now, here we go,'
I closed my eyes and took a slow breath, feeling the familiar sensation, like my consciousness was expanding outward.
The sensation was always strange, like suddenly having additional senses that your brain wasn't quite designed to process.
Presence, emotion, strength, intent—all of it flowing back to me in a way that felt both natural and deeply unnatural at the same time.
Mantra, was still something of a mystery to me, even after all this time.
By all rights, I shouldn't have been able to use it at all. According to what I'd read in the manga, it was supposed to be an innate ability, for the sky people specifically, something they were born with.
'But then again, I wasn't exactly born in this world, was I? Maybe being an otherworldly anomaly has its perks. Or maybe I'm just special. Pfft! Yeah right,…'
At first, I had assumed I could only access it through Hamon, using the ripple energy as a sort of bridge to unlock the ability. That theory had held until the third month of my sword training, when I'd accidentally activated it during a particularly stressful spar with some fellow trainee.
No Hamon, as I just couldn't start glowing in the middle of a sword spar, right?
Turns out, I could use Mantra without Hamon after all. It just required significantly more concentration, like trying to thread a needle while riding a horse.
With Hamon, it was smooth, effortless. Without it... Well, let's just say I'd given myself more than a few headaches learning the hard way.
'Still, the effort had been worth it. Mantra was basically cheating, and I've never been above exploiting an unfair advantage.'
The ability to sense presence made my marksmanship devastatingly accurate.
Being able to feel emotions turned my already considerable analytical skills into something approaching mind-reading magic.
Strength assessment helped me avoid dangerous situations and identify threats before they became problems.
And intent sensing... well, that was just unfair in any combat situation.
I'd managed to expand my range to roughly a hundred meters through training—not impressive by the standards of the most powerful user, Enel, but decent enough for someone who was essentially winging it. And right now, those hundred meters were telling me everything I needed to know about the situation ahead.
Two presences in the area. One in the house, one in the garden.
The person in the house was... turbulent. Waves of negative emotion crashed against my consciousness like a storm-tossed sea—anger, frustration, despair, and underneath it all, a bone-deep sadness and exhaustion that made my own cynical fatigue look like a mild case of the blues.
'That would be Nami, I suppose. And given what I know about her situation, those emotions make perfect sense.'
Crash!
The sound of breaking glass drifted from the house, followed by what sounded like ceramic shattering against a wall. More crashes followed in rapid succession, each one accompanied by a fresh spike of anguish from the house's occupant.
'Well, that's not concerning at all.'
I felt a pang of something that might have been guilt. After all, I had pushed her pretty hard earlier, using every psychological lever I could find to manipulate her into revealing information about her relationship with Arlong.
Not my finest moment, ethically speaking, but I'd told myself it was necessary. She'd stolen my money, tried to scare me off the island, and was clearly in over her head with whatever deal she'd made with the fishmen.
'But watching her break down like this... maybe I pushed a little too hard.'
The guilt lasted approximately three seconds before I reminded myself that she had, in fact, robbed me blind and then tried to intimidate me into leaving.
Plus, I was planning to deal with Arlong anyway, which would solve her problems whether she appreciated it or not. Really, she should be grateful.
'See? Perfectly logical. No need to feel bad about anything.'
Through Mantra, I sensed the second presence—the one in the garden—beginning to move toward the house.
Female, older than the first, with an emotional signature that radiated concern and determination. That would be Nami's adoptive sister—Nojiko was her name, I think.
As she entered the house, I made my move.
Keeping my head down and moving with the practiced StealthHiki, honed by over two years avoiding greedy Marines and angry pirates, I approached the garden's perimeter.
The fence was nothing special—just wooden slats about shoulder-high, designed more to keep wandering animals out than determined intruders. I vaulted over it silently, landing in a crouch among the mikan trees.
'Time for some good old-fashioned Treasure Hunting. Or plain raiding. Depending on your perspective.'
I reached into my pocket and withdrew one of my prized Hamon tools:
The Hamon Pendulum!
It was an upgrade from my late Hamon Detector, which had basically been a water bottle with enough lies to trick gullible children of its nonexistent grandeur.
This version was far more sophisticated, consisting of a specially crafted seer's pendulum, with a crystal at the end containing diluted Ether, and a thin silver thread running through the crystal's center.
I took a deep breath, falling into the familiar rhythm of Hamon breathing. The ripple energy flowed from my lungs through my bloodstream, down my arm, and into the pendulum.
The silver thread began to vibrate with the Hamon energy concentrated in the jewel, its vibration forced the ripples to spread outward in invisible waves through the air, land, and even water if it was there, turning the technique into something resembling supernatural sonar.
The effect was immediate. Waves of energy spread out from the pendulum like sonar, giving me a three-dimensional layout of everything within range.
Not just a tremors detector through the ground like what the Hamon Detector provided, but the underlying structure of buildings, the location of hidden compartments, and the density of different materials.
'Yes, I transformed the water bottle Hamon Detector into a freaking sonar using freaking Seer Pendulum! And yes, I can detect underground water with it.'
The combination of Mantra and the Hamon Pendulum was almost unfairly effective. Where Mantra gave me emotional and intent-based information, the Hamon Pendulum provided precise physical data. Together, they painted a picture so detailed it was practically Clairvoyance.
If I'd had any ultra-range powerful attacks to match, I could have been a truly terrifying sniper. But with my pathetic one-hundred-meter limit, it made something like that literally a long shot for me.
'Still, it's enough for what I need right now.'
And what I needed was to locate Nami's hidden stash of money—my money, technically, since she'd stolen it from me. The Hamon Pendulum's vibrations revealed to me a hollow spot hidden between the rows of the mikan trees, where it looked like there was some sort of container hidden in the earth.
Through the walls of the house, I could sense the two women sitting across from each other at what felt like a table. Their conversation reached my ears through the combination of Mantra and Hamon Pendulum as I moved.
I didn't focus on their talk, but I can recognize that they were talking about the Strawhats.
"...those guys..." Nami's voice, strained and bitter.
"...especially that bastard who showed up with them, he knew something..."
"He was playing with me the entire time."
'Bastard? Well, I suppose that's fair. I did manipulate her pretty thoroughly.'
I felt a strange mix of anger and guilt at her words. Anger because she was the one who wronged me first. Guilt because... well, knowing her situation, maybe I could have been less of an asshole.
'But no, dwelling on emotional complications is exactly the kind of thinking that gets you killed in this world. Focus on the task at hand.'
Using a simple Hamon technique I'd developed for situations exactly like this, I began removing the earth from above the hidden stash without making a sound.
The ripple energy allowed me to basically will it aside. Another absolutely ridiculous application of supernatural power that somehow worked perfectly.
The stash was larger than I'd expected—a waterproof container about the size of a…well, a coffin for lack of a better word, filled with stacks of berries.
My berries, mostly, though I could see other denominations mixed in. Money she'd been collecting for whatever deal she'd made with Arlong.
I began transferring the cash into my Dimensional Bag, stack by stack. Most of it went in without hesitation—after all, it was my money in the first place. But then my hands closed around a particular stack, and I froze.
Blood. Dried and brown with age, but unmistakably blood. And dirt, ground so deep into the bills that no amount of washing would ever get it clean.
This wasn't money that had been stolen from merchants or earned through clever schemes. This was money that had been paid for with suffering.
'How much pain went into getting this stack? How many times has she gotten hurt collecting these bills?'
I stared at the bloodstained Berries for a long moment, feeling something uncomfortable twist in my chest. The rational part of my mind pointed out that Arlong was just going to send someone to steal all of this anyway—pirates didn't exactly have a reputation for honoring their agreements.
The practical part of my mind reminded me that this money was better with me than stolen by some corrupt Marine.
But the part of my mind that still remembered being human, that still remembered what it felt like to be desperate enough to be grasping for straws.
'Damn it.'
With a sigh that came from somewhere deeper than my lungs, I set the bloodstained stack aside. Then I found a few more like it—bills that had clearly been earned through desperate, dangerous work—and left those as well. Instead, I pulled a piece of paper from my pocket and scrawled a quick note:
(I Told You, You Are a Liar.)
I sealed the stash back up, used Hamon to replace the earth exactly as it had been, and made my way back over the fence.
The whole operation had taken maybe five minutes, and through Mantra, I could sense that the two women were still deep in conversation.
Mission accomplished. Time to rejoin the Straw Hats and figure out what fresh chaos they'd managed to create in my absence.
The walk through the forest to the Straw Hat Pirates' temporary gathering place gave me time to contemplate the philosophical implications of my actions.
I'd essentially robbed someone who was being extorted by a criminal organization, justified it through technical legalities, and then left money behind out of guilt. It was the kind of moral complexity that would have given my old self a headache.
'Though to be fair, my old self's biggest ethical dilemma was whether or not to return a pencil someone had dropped. Perspective is a wonderful thing.'
The sound of voices reached me before I emerged from the tree line, accompanied by what sounded like a significant impact and someone hitting the ground hard.
I pushed through the final layer of undergrowth just in time to see both Roronoa and Sanji stepping back from what appeared to be Usopp's unconscious form.
'Well, that's not ominous at all. Nothing quite like arriving to find your allies have apparently murdered each other.'
The poor sniper was lying on the ground like a sack of potatoes, limbs akimbo in a way that suggested he'd been completely unprepared for whatever had just happened to him.
Both Roronoa and Sanji were looking distinctly nervous, which was almost more concerning than if they'd been proud of their handiwork. Luffy was still asleep on the road, apparently oblivious to whatever disaster had just occurred.
'Ah, yes. The Straw Hat Pirates, ladies and gentlemen. The most competent crew on the East Blue.'
I couldn't help but shake my head as I walked toward them. "What, you guys decided you didn't want him alive anymore? Figured you'd do that woman's job for her?"
'Because nothing says "team bonding" like accidentally murdering your own crew member.'
Both men immediately looked uncomfortable, Sanji gesturing frantically as he tried to explain. "He appeared out of nowhere! I didn't see him coming!"
"You're the one who attacked out of nowhere." Roronoa shot a look at the cook that was equal parts annoyed and accusatory.
I gave them both my best DeadpanHiki, the one I'd perfected during years of dealing with idiots. "I see. So, what's the plan now? Throw him in the ocean, or are we just going to bury him here?"
'Obviously I'm joking, but watching them squirm is oddly satisfying.'
"Oi, Oi! He's still alive!" Sanji shouted, looking genuinely guilty and uncomfortable now.
I maintained my deadpan expression as I walked over to examine Usopp.
"Are you sure? Because no matter how I look at him, he looks pretty dead to me."
'Poor bastard. He really does look like he got hit by a truck. Or in this case, two trucks with anger management issues.'
I nudged Usopp gently with my boot, putting just enough theatrical dramatics into my voice to sell the bit.
"Looks like this is the end of the Great Captain Usopp..."
Usopp twitched slightly at my words, and I caught Zoro raising an eyebrow.
'Hmm? Did I say something wrong?'
That was when Luffy finally woke up, probably drawn by the sound of his crewmates panicking.
"What's going on?" he asked, rubbing his eyes. Then he spotted Usopp's prone form and immediately shot to his feet.
"USOPPOOOOO!!!"
"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?! WAS IT NAMI?!! DID SHE REALLY DO THIS?!" The rubber captain held his late crewmember in his arms while panicking.
"We hit him by mistake," Sanji said apologetically.
"It was just you," Zoro corrected immediately.
I knelt down beside Usopp and placed my index finger against his forehead, channeling a small amount of Hamon energy into his system. The ripple effect was immediate—his eyes snapped open and he sucked in a sharp breath, like someone who'd just been pulled from deep water.
"Whoa!" Luffy's eyes went wide with amazement. "How did you do that?"
'Magic, Luffy. The answer is always magic. Or in this case, supernatural martial arts from a completely different manga series that I somehow have access to because my life is apparently a crossover fanfiction now.'
I stood up, brushing imaginary dust off my hands. "A simple trick!"
Usopp sat up slowly, looking around in confusion. "Luffy? You made it to the island?"
"Yeah, just a little while ago," Luffy replied, still staring at me like I'd just performed an actual miracle.
Usopp's gaze shifted to me, and I saw recognition dawn in his eyes.
"Hikigaya? You're here too." He paused, then added more quietly, "Though I guess you would be."
"I had some unfinished business here anyway," I said casually. "Figured I might as well take care of it."
Roronoa, who had been watching this entire exchange with growing puzzlement, finally spoke up. "I've been wondering about this, but... do you two know each other?"
'Eh? Is that what it is about?'
"I've been to his island a couple of times," I replied. "We've met before."
"You actually remembered me from back then?" Usopp's face lit up with what looked like genuine surprise and glee.
'How could I forget? Even if you are not one of the main characters, you don't usually meet a teenager with a slinger who claims to be the captain of an 8000-man crew.'
"Of course I remembered," I said. "You're not exactly forgettable."
"Man, I was afraid to bring it up because I thought you might not remember me, and I'd just embarrass myself," Usopp said with a laugh.
"Eh? So, you guys really knew each other?" Luffy asked in childish wonder.
"Yeah…something like that," I replied casually to his question.
But Luffy's eyes suddenly blazed with excitement as he looked at me.
"Oh! Did you go on that amazing adventure Usopp told me about? The one with the giant underground labyrinth and the treasure guarded by massive sea monsters?"
'For the love of—'
"The what now?" I asked, giving Usopp a look that could have frozen seawater.
Usopp's face went through several shades of red before settling on a color that matched his pants. "Luffy, I told you that was just—"
"He said you guys fought through three levels of ancient traps!" Luffy continued, completely oblivious to his sniper's growing mortification. "And there was this huge octopus-dragon hybrid at the bottom guarding a mountain of gold!"
I closed my eyes and counted to three.
'This is what I get for asking him to be the guide for me. Now I'm apparently a character in his fantasy adventures.'
I sighed, trying to collect enough patience usually reserved for explaining basic math to particularly slow students,
"The only part of that story that's remotely true is the treasure. There were no labyrinths, no traps, and definitely no octopus-dragon hybrids. Just a very straightforward process to very old smugglers' loot hidden underground."
The disappointment that crossed Luffy's face was almost physically painful to witness. "But... the monsters?"
"The biggest threat we faced was Usopp tripping over his own feet and nearly falling on a sharp rock."
Roronoa put his hand over his face with a groan that spoke volumes about his experience as Luffy's first mate. "Idiot, you can't just believe everything people tell you."
"But it sounded so fun!" Luffy protested, looking between me and Usopp with the betrayed expression of a child who'd just learned there was no tooth fairy.
Sanji chose that moment to chime in with his own observation. "I came here too, as I joined the crew."
"Oh, you! I'll get you back for that someday, you shitty cook." Usopp shot him a look that could have curdled milk. Clearly trying to get away from his awkward lie.
"So, what happened with you and Nami? Did she actually try to kill you?" Roronoa, ever the practical one, brought the conversation back to more pressing matters.
"Actually," Usopp said, his voice carrying a note of something that might have been gratitude, "she saved my life."
'So, it was as I thought, huh? And completely not what you would expect based on the way she was talking about the Straw Hats earlier.'
"Saved your life how?" I asked, trying to keep my tone casual. The last thing I wanted was to seem too interested in Nami's activities, even though I…actually was.
Usopp rubbed the back of his neck, looking genuinely shaken by whatever he'd experienced. "Arlong's men caught me. I thought I was dead for sure. But then Nami showed up and..." He paused, seeming to struggle with the idea.
"And?" Luffy prompted, leaning forward with obvious concern.
"She pretended to stab me," Usopp continued, his voice quiet.
"Made it look like she was killing me for Arlong. But instead of stabbing me, she stabbed her own hand. There was blood everywhere, and Arlong bought it completely."
The pieces were starting to click together in my mind, forming a picture that was close to what I'd initially assumed.
"Then she kicked me into the sea," Usopp added. "Told Arlong she was disposing of my body. I managed to swim away while they weren't looking, but..." He shook his head.
"I don't know why she did it. She could have just let them kill me. It would have been easier for her."
'Easier? Nothing about her situation has been easy. She's been walking a tightrope, trying to keep people alive while maintaining her cover with a crew of murderers.'
I thought back to our earlier confrontation, to the way she'd reacted when I'd pressed her about her relationship with Arlong. The anger, yes, but underneath it... desperation. Fear. Not fear of me, but fear of what would happen if her carefully constructed facade cracked.
"She must have her reasons for being involved with Arlong," Usopp said thoughtfully. "Nobody goes through that kind of trouble to save someone unless they've got something bigger at stake."
Before I could fully process the new information, the sound of approaching footsteps caught my attention.
Through Mantra, I sensed three familiar presences returning to our location. Delgado, Yusako, and Johnny.
The trio emerged from the tree line, their expressions grim. Delgado, my employee, approached with the purposeful stride of someone carrying bad news.
"Master," he called out as they drew near. "We've completed our reconnaissance of Arlong Park."
'And judging by their expressions, it is bad news.'
"What's the situation?" I asked, already knowing I wasn't going to like the answer.
"The information on the map was accurate enough, we verified that, but…"
Yusako continued for him, his usual demeanor notably absent. "They're ready for war, Aniki. Armed to the teeth, all in high alert."
Johnny nodded grimly. "Saw at least sixty fishmen in full combat gear. They've got the whole place fortified like a Marine base."
'Of course they do. Because nothing in this world can ever be simple.'
"There's more," Delgado added, his voice carrying a particular edge that made my stomach tighten. "We saw the fishman who's got your sword."
"Description?" I asked, keeping my voice carefully neutral.
"Big bastard, even by fishman standards," Johnny replied. "Shark-type, with serrated teeth and scars all over his arms. Carries your sword on his waist like some kind of trophy."
GYARO
The name hit me like a physical blow, dragging up memories I'd spent months trying to bury.
The sound of my own ribs cracking. The taste of blood in my mouth. The feeling of saltwater filling my lungs as I sank toward the ocean floor, the pain, the fear, the despair.
'So it was that bastard who kept the sword after all…'
I could feel my hands starting to shake, so I clenched them into fists at my sides.
'Get it together, Hachiman. You're not that helpless kid anymore. You've learned swordsmanship, mastered Hamon, and developed your abilities. You're not the same person who nearly died that day.'
"You know him," Roronoa observed, his hand already resting on his sword hilt. The swordsman's instincts were sharp—he could probably smell the rage and anger radiating off me like cologne.
'Know him? I have nightmares about him. I wake up in cold sweats remembering the way he smashed my chest, breaking it, and kicked me to the ocean, where I could die painfully and slowly.'
"Gyaro," I said, and the name tasted like poison on my tongue. "His name is Gyaro…The guy who stole my sword."
'And almost killed me…'
The Straw Hats were listening to this exchange with obvious interest, and I could see the wheels turning in Luffy's head.
"So, what's the plan?" Delgado asked, looking at me expectantly.
"…We wait," I said after a moment of consideration, which was me just getting my mind back on track. "Let me think through our options."
"Wait?" Luffy interjected, sounding confused. "Don't you already have a plan?"
"I have, just need some finishing touches," I replied dryly. "Delgado, I need you to scout the area around Arlong Park. Look for elevated positions where we could set up artillery."
The silence that followed my words was almost deafening. I could feel everyone staring at me with expressions ranging from surprise to outright shock.
"Artillery?" Sanji finally asked. "You mean like... cannons?"
"That's generally what artillery refers to, yes," I said, fighting the urge to roll my eyes. "Unless you were planning to take down a fortified fishman stronghold with harsh language and righteous indignation."
'Though knowing this crew, they probably would try exactly that.'
"You have cannons with you?" Roronoa asked, his tone suggesting he wasn't sure whether to believe it or not.
'Well, no point in being subtle about it now.'
I reached into my dimensional bag, thinking about what I wanted. My fingers closed around cold metal, and I pulled it out as if I were pulling it from under my cloak.
THUD!!!!
I pulled out a naval cannon—nothing too fancy, just a custom 25-pounder that could make a hole through an armored battleship, more than perfect for demonstration purposes.
The effect was immediate and exactly what I'd expected.
Luffy's jaw dropped so far that I was worried it might actually detach from his skull. Sanji's cigarette fell from his mouth. Roronoa's hand instinctively moved to his swords, as if the sudden appearance of artillery was some kind of threat.
Yusako and Johnny looked like they were having an existential crisis.
Usopp just stared, his eyes growing wider by the second.
Even Delgado—who'd been working with me for a year—looked impressed. Apparently, pulling military-grade weaponry out of thin air never got old.
"Holy crap!" Luffy shouted, immediately rushing over to examine the cannon. "Where did that come from? How did you do that? Can you do it again?"
'And there's the rubber head, asking all the wrong questions in exactly the right order.'
"That's..." Sanji started, then stopped, apparently at a loss for words.
"Impossible," Zoro finished, though he didn't sound particularly bothered by the impossibility of it all. Living with Luffy probably gave you a high tolerance for things that shouldn't exist.
Usopp, meanwhile, had recovered from his initial shock and was now circling the cannon like a kid in a candy store.
"This is a 25-pounder naval cannon, military grade, capable of launching special rounds, probably from the Grand Line judging by the craftsmanship..." He looked up at me with something approaching awe. "How many of these can you make?"
'That's...sounded very competent for an Usopp… What happened? Is this some hidden hobby for him we didn't know about from the Manga?... Who are you and what have you done with Slinger-kun?'
"…Enough," I said simply. "Different sizes, different purposes. This is just for demonstration."
"Right now, I need to finalize the strategy. I've got the basic outline, but the finishing touches are going to depend on what Delgado finds."
It was true, mostly. I had a rough idea of how to approach the problem, but the specifics would need to be tailored to the terrain and the enemy's nature and position.
"Looks like you are planning a big party," Luffy said slowly, as if testing the words. "That sounds awesome!"
'Of course, he thinks it sounds awesome. Everything sounds awesome to him. I bet he'd think getting eaten by a Sea King sounded awesome if you presented it the right way.'
Before I could respond to Luffy's enthusiasm, I sensed another presence approaching through Mantra. Female, moving with determined purpose, and carrying an emotional signature that radiated frustration and protective anger.
'Oh, wonderful. More complications.'
A young woman emerged from the direction of the mikan grove, her blue hair catching the afternoon sunlight. Nojiko, Nami's adoptive sister, and judging by her expression, she wasn't here to wish us luck.
"You need to stop this," she said without preamble, her voice carrying the kind of authority that suggested she was used to being listened to. "Whatever crazy plan you're cooking up, abandon it. Don't interfere with this village."
'And there it is. The concerned family member, arriving just in time to complicate an already complicated situation.'
…
A\N: Well, That's it for now.
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