[Cover Story — Shia's Diary, Long Time No See]
"05.24 — Went to Sabaody amusement park with Nao. The warmest place in the world is at the very top of the Ferris wheel."
"The haunted house was scary… but not scary at all with Nao there."
"Nao is the best."
...
Speaking of which—
When Arlong and his gang were young, they once longed for the human world.
That's why, when he built the Arlong Park, he even used the design of the Sabaody Archipelago amusement park, building the headquarters of the Arlong Park in the East Blue to be very similar to an amusement park.
That towering Ferris wheel was like heaven in the clouds—the place he yearned for the most.
And now—
Nao was sitting in that heaven.
The Ferris wheel, over a hundred meters high, had about twenty cabins, all encased in huge soap bubbles.
Through the soapy film, looking out at the scenery between the Yarukiman Mangrove trees, everything seemed tinted with a fairytale-like filter, dreamy and surreal.
"What are you staring at?"
Gion lazily crossed her legs against the side of the cabin, holding a cup of lychee milk pudding she'd just bought at the entrance. Seeing Nao's gaze fixed on a certain direction to the southeast, she raised her brows and asked with a smile.
"There."
Nao pointed toward a café in the distance. "Quite the coincidence—there's that old man again."
Gion looked in the direction he was pointing. She could see a gray-haired old man who was completely drunk stumbling out of a small alley a few kilometers away. He was spinning a few money bags in his hand.
The thugs he had robbed were bruised and swollen. They lay on the ground, looking at the old man's back, on the verge of tears.
""Dark King" Silvers Rayleigh…"
Gion took one look and then looked away. She shook her head slightly. "Only on Sabaody can a wanted criminal swagger around on an island with a Marine base."
"After all, it's the Celestial Dragons' territory."
Shia scooped up a spoonful of vanilla ice cream from her cup and fed it to Nao, who swallowed it in one bite. He put his arms behind his head and said leisurely:
"Old man's got principles, though. Since retiring, he only shakes down pirates and thugs. Sometimes even sells himself back into the slave market for quick cash. The last time I fought him and reported it to Headquarters, Fleet Admiral Kong didn't seem to be very interested in sending people to arrest him."
"After all, he's the Dark King, all on his own. It'd take at least two Admirals working together to have a chance at taking him down—and even then, he might escape. Not worth the trouble…"
Gion tilted her head, smiling as she looked at Nao. "How did you feel about that fight with him?"
"As the saying goes in my hometown in the East Blue, the old blade is not dull."
Nao shrugged. "Right now, there's still a big gap between me and the old man. I'm not interested in fighting him during my honeymoon… Maybe in a few more years, I'll have a chance to win."
"Nao…"
Bellemere, who was quietly nestled in his right arm, suddenly looked up in confusion. "Did you hear something?"
Hear something?
"A creaking sound—yeah, maybe."
Nao listened for a moment, not entirely sure. "The Ferris wheel's speed just increased a bit. Maybe it's the sound of the bubble rubbing against the mechanical arm…"
Pop!
Before he could finish, the huge bubble surrounding them suddenly burst. A brief moment of weightlessness came, and the cabin, which was at the highest point of the Ferris wheel, instantly plummeted!
"We're going to fall, Nao!" Bellmère's face turned pale. She clenched Nao's arm tightly.
"Don't worry. You'll be fine."
Nao rubbed her hair. Then he looked up at Gion across from him.
They had a mutual understanding as a couple. Gion also looked up. The two of them smiled at each other, and Gion calmly extended her right hand and lightly snapped her fingers.
Snap.
Bell-mère sat up, still in a state of shock. She leaned out of the cabin and looked out, surprised to find that the entire cabin was floating dozens of meters in the air, slowly drifting downwards like a falling leaf.
"Eh?"
The miraculous scene left Bellmère utterly stunned. Then, as if remembering something, she quickly turned to Gion, eyes wide in surprise.
"Gion-nee… you already ate the Float-Float Fruit?"
It wasn't a secret among the three women that Nao could strip Devil Fruits of their powers, and that he had given the Float-Float Fruit to Gion.
But at the same time, Bellmère and Shia also knew Gion had been hesitating all this time, torn about whether to actually eat it.
"Mhm."
Gion smiled and nodded. "I ate it a few days before the wedding. I originally wanted to show you two a surprise on our honeymoon trip, but I didn't expect to have to use it now…"
"You still surprised us."
Sia looked at the ground below. Many people had noticed the cabin floating and slowly descending, and they cried out in surprise. She looked at Gion blankly:
"Gion-nee, didn't you say before that you didn't mind turning into a landlubber or whatever, but the real reason you hadn't eaten it was because you didn't want to expose Nao's ability to strip Fruits? But now, with so many people below seeing…"
"Because the Float-Float Fruit's original user is no longer around."
Nao took Gion's lychee milk tea and drained it in a single gulp, handing back only the last thin layer at the bottom. The little rabbit, annoyed, kicked him in protest.
"Before the wedding, I exchanged letters with Shiryu and Magellan. Shiki's health had been deteriorating since the start of the year. This month, he finally couldn't hold out. Another era's legend has passed."
No wonder...
Shia and Bellemère both came to a sudden realization.
At that moment, the cabin settled firmly onto the ground with a dull clunk.
Nao uncrossed his legs and led the three women out through the cabin door.
The staff in charge of the Ferris wheel had already been waiting nearby. The moment they came out, he rushed forward, bowing repeatedly and apologizing nonstop, his forehead breaking into a nervous sweat.
"Maybe our maintenance wasn't thorough enough. It's been the rainy season recently, so the equipment might've malfunctioned…"
The young man, not even twenty yet, looked both apologetic and terrified. "In any case, for such an accident to happen—it's entirely our park's responsibility! I'll go report it right away. Aside from a free ride this time, we'll definitely provide additional compensation…"
"As long as nobody's hurt, there's no need for compensation."
They were all working folk—Nao didn't want to make things harder for him. Waving his hand, he asked instead, "More importantly, while we were up there, did any suspicious person enter the Ferris wheel area?"
"Suspicious person?"
The young man blinked, then furrowed his brows in thought.
"Now that you mention it… about half an hour ago, when I came back from the restroom, I did see someone coming out of the control room. When they saw me, they kept apologizing, said they'd gone to the wrong place because they were desperate to pee. I didn't think much of it and even pointed them the way…"
"The control room?"
Gion arched a brow, smirking coldly. "Do you still remember what that person looked like?"
"I just remember it was a bald woman. As for her face, I can't quite…"
Before he could finish, Nao suddenly raised a hand to cut him off, as if sensing something. Narrowing his eyes, he turned to glance toward the southeastern corner.
Nearly a kilometer away, at the corner of a wall, a shiny bald head had just peeked out—then snapped back out of sight in an instant.
"So much for a simple honeymoon… there's always someone who won't let me have peace."
Nao sighed, tossing the warm black tea in his hand to Sia. "Hold this for me. You three wait here for a bit—I'll be right back."
"Mhm."
Sia nodded obediently.
The three women watched as Nao's figure flickered away, ghostlike. In just a few swift movements, he vanished at the corner of the wall.
The staff member stood there, dumbfounded. Just who was this guest with the big sunglasses?
He had even nervously hosted a Supernova pirate with a bounty of over a hundred million, but he had never seen anyone move that fast.
As everyone knew—
Nao had always been a man of his word—honest, dependable, and true.
So when he said "I'll be right back," he really meant it. He would never keep his three wives waiting long.
In less than five minutes—
He drifted back to the bottom of the Ferris wheel. He took the cup from Shia's hand. The black tea inside was still warm.
"Did you take care of it?"
"Mhm."
Nao didn't want to speak openly in front of strangers. He gestured for the three women to follow, leaving the bewildered staff behind, and led the way toward the outer edge of the Ferris wheel area.
"It was a bald woman in her thirties and a few of her subordinates. I used a little bit of force, and they confessed everything."
After they walked out, he took a sip of the black tea and said lightly, "She was the one who tampered with the Ferris wheel and was in charge of the surveillance, but she was only a small-time leader. There's a bigger organization behind her."
"Is it connected to that Princess Hathaway?" Shia furrowed her brows slightly.
"Smart."
Nao chuckled, flicking her forehead with his finger. Leisurely, he explained:
"They belong to one of the three underworld families under that princess. I already wiped out the Arlima family and the Babu family. The last one, the Gusta family, slipped through the cracks. Without their backing, they've been living miserably. When we docked, their scouts must've spotted us, so they came to settle old scores and vent their anger."
"With such petty and cowardly tricks?"
Gion couldn't help but laugh. "How naive of them to think that a Headquarters Vice Admiral would die from falling from a hundred meters in the air…"
"Idiots are everywhere."
Nao glanced in the direction of the New World. "Some people even think that blowing up the Whole Cake Chateau would be enough to wipe out Big Mom's pirate crew…"
He didn't elaborate, and the three women didn't press further. Bellmère clenched her fists and threw a hard punch at the air:
"Those sewer rats… they're disgusting! Nao , why don't we just storm their hideout right now and wipe out this Gusta family too?"
She's just itching for a fight, isn't she…
Nao looked at the chestnut-haired woman with a speechless expression. He said lazily::
"Honeymoon time is precious. I'm not interested in playing around with these people. I already called Onigumo. Let his men handle this kind of cleanup. We'll just continue having fun."
Onigumo was now a full-fledged Headquarters Commodre and had a brilliant record of defeating several pirates with bounties of over 50 million Berries.
With him leading the charge, wiping out a crumbling underworld family without support was a sure thing. Hearing this, the three women let go of their concerns.
"There are still a lot of fun places in Sabaody Park. Where should we go next?"
Nao casually tossed the empty black tea cup. The empty cup flew in a high arc and landed precisely in a trash can a hundred meters away. He snapped his fingers in satisfaction and said with a laugh:
"The trampoline, the Roller Coaster in the Clouds, the pendulum ride, or the bubble bumper cars? The bumper cars are the most fun. They're three-dimensional, you know… Huh?"
An itchy sensation suddenly came from his wrist. Nao looked down and saw the almost solidified bloodstains on his skin slowly peeling off, congealing and lifting like a gel.
Then with a soft thud, they scattered, turning into countless tiny, almost invisible crimson particles that floated down to the ground like dust in the sunlight...
"Oh."
Nao raised his eyebrows and clicked his tongue in amazement as he looked at Gion.
"Are you showing off? This is great, Rear Admiral. It's only been a few days, and you can already precisely control the Float-Float Fruit to this level. With this kind of talent for development, I think you'll surpass Shiki before our honeymoon is over."
"You're exaggerating, idiot."
Gion had been wearing a proud, smug look, but his praise left her a little embarrassed. Snorting through her nose, she said softly, "I've been busy with the wedding until recently. I only just figured out the basics of this fruit a few days ago. It'll be a long time before I can do things like move mountains and fill seas like Shiki."
"I believe in you, Rear Admiral."
Nao said solemnly. He then looked at the bumper cars not far away with an itchy feeling. Before he could speak, Gion had already given the other two a look. They all grabbed his hand and ran toward the bubble bumper car area.
"Look at you. You're acting like a kid who hasn't grown up yet."
Hearing the annoyed words in his ear, Nao scratched his head. "I never got to ride them when I was a kid. I've been craving to ride them for decades…"
"There you go again, spouting nonsense. You're not even that old. Besides, the Sabaody Park was only built ten years ago."
Nao chuckled sheepishly and kept quiet.
Some things were easier left unexplained.
——————
The bubble coaster, bubble bumper cars, pirate ship, and even various themed haunted houses—Nao and his wives left their mark on every part of Sabaody Park.
"Whooooooaaa—!!!!"
When he got off the roller coaster, Nao couldn't help but spread his arms and laugh heartily, like a child who hadn't grown up. This earned him a lot of dirty looks from passersby.
But after they got a clear look at his profile, which was covered by his sunglasses, the dirty looks all turned into "heart-eyes."
Gion and Bellmère felt a little embarrassed and stepped a few paces away from him. Only Shia, pale-faced, clung tightly to Nao's arm.
—It wasn't because she was scared of the roller coaster, but because the aftereffects of the haunted house from the last ride hadn't worn off. Having grown up in a palace, she had been deathly afraid of ghosts and monsters since she was a child.
"It's still not exciting enough."
Bellmère stretched lazily, looked at the dark night sky, and yawned. "The haunted house was a little interesting, but the roller coaster and the 3D bumper cars were a little disappointing. Maybe it's because you hyped them up too much…"
"But we've pretty much done all the rides worth doing." Nao scratched his head. "What could be more exciting than a roller coaster...?"
Gion's eyes lit up. She snapped her fingers and started to smile wickedly.
"More exciting? My, I have something for that..."