"Hey! Hey! Boss, calm down..."
Fake Usopp, Marvin, tried desperately to snap his captain out of the delusion that had begun consuming him. Black had fallen too deeply into the role he was playing, blurring the line between fantasy and reality.
Crack!
In the next instant, the dark muzzle of Black's pistol rose without hesitation and aimed directly at Marvin Bluetian, who had stepped forward.
Black's voice turned cold.
"Oh? Usopp, are you trying to challenge the authority of me, the world's number one God King?"
"Number one God King?"
Fake Usopp froze in shock.
"Hiss... you've already gotten that deep into character? Wake up, boss, you..."
"Hmm?"
When Marvin noticed Black slowly tightening his finger on the trigger, he immediately swallowed the rest of his words.
"You're absolutely right!"
His tone changed instantly.
Turning toward the other fake Straw Hat members behind him, Marvin spoke with exaggerated righteousness.
"I, Usopp, completely agree with Vice Captain Shirogai! We are the real Straw Hat crew! Why are you all acting so guilty?"
Silence filled the cabin.
The rest of the fake Straw Hat members stared at Marvin with disbelief, their expressions filled with contempt.
Hey, hey, hey.
Don't let the captain scare you into becoming like this.
If we keep pretending like this, we'll be dead the moment we're exposed.
"Usopp, you spoke very well."
Fake Shirogai, Black, nodded with clear satisfaction. He slowly turned the gun toward the others, smiling as he spoke.
"What about the rest of you, my dear partners?"
A wave of guilt and unease swept through the group.
Some lowered their heads while others avoided his gaze entirely.
Seeing their silence, Black's mood quickly turned irritated.
"Not speaking?"
His voice became colder.
"So you're preparing to betray our pirate crew?"
The gun barrel moved again and stopped in front of the short man wearing a rubber suit.
Fake Luffy, Difei.
Black narrowed his eyes and smiled slyly.
"A pirate crew must have rules, right?"
He tilted his head slightly.
"Don't you agree, my dear Captain, Straw Hat Luffy, the man with a bounty of one billion Berries?"
After the Marineford War, the Marines had raised Luffy's bounty to one billion Berries. The awakening of his Devil Fruit had terrified the highest authorities of the World Government.
"Yes! You're absolutely right, Vice Captain God King!"
Sweat poured down Difei's face as he bowed repeatedly toward Black.
"I am the real Straw Hat Luffy! I am the man who will become the Pirate King!"
Black nodded with satisfaction.
However, he corrected him calmly.
"Very good. But I am the man who will become the Pirate King."
He smirked.
"You can choose to become the Pirate King's captain."
Difei wiped the sweat off his face nervously and nodded rapidly.
"Yes, yes, yes! I am the man who will become the Pirate King's captain!"
The pistol in Black's hand moved once more.
It stopped in front of the three swords held by Fake Zoro, Wangarang.
"My dear Three-Sword Style swordsman Zoro," Black said coldly, "do you have any objections?"
"N... none."
Wangarang trembled as he held his swords, shaking his head hoarsely.
"Very good."
Black grinned.
"The great swordsman Zoro with a bounty of two hundred million Berries."
His eyes glinted dangerously.
"Now, show everyone your famous technique, Three-Sword Style."
"God King Shirogai, I..."
Wangarang stared nervously at the three swords in his hands.
The truth was painfully simple.
He had absolutely no idea how to use three swords.
Normally he only needed to draw a single sword and pose coldly to scare people. That was enough to maintain the illusion.
He had never actually tried to fight with three swords at once.
In fact, he could not even imagine how such a technique would work.
Black's narrowed eyes flashed with killing intent.
"Oh?"
His voice dropped lower.
"Are you saying that you, the Three-Sword Style swordsman, refuse to demonstrate Three-Sword Style for everyone?"
Black knew exactly what these swindler companions were worried about.
After all, he was the mastermind who had dared to impersonate a legendary pirate with a bounty of tens of billions of Berries while standing in front of monsters worth hundreds of millions.
If those powerful pirates ever discovered that their so called God King was merely a loudmouthed fraud with a bounty of 26 million Berries, his death would be inevitable.
The price of deception was always brutal.
Once the truth surfaced, death might even be considered mercy.
Yet the temptation was simply too great.
To command more than a dozen pirates worth over one hundred million Berries.
To control a pirate fleet numbering nearly ten thousand men.
For Black, the risk was worth taking.
After all, reward and danger always walked side by side.
As long as these powerful pirates could find him a strong Devil Fruit during their plundering, he could gain real strength after eating it.
When that time came, even if the truth was exposed, he would at least have the power to protect himself.
Black glanced at the useless swindlers before him and sneered inwardly.
By then, you fake Straw Hat partners will become nothing more than cannon fodder used to stall those powerful pirates.
And while chaos unfolds, I will escape with the treasures I secretly hid and form my own real pirate crew.
Black had no illusions about impersonating the God King forever.
What he needed now was simple.
Use these powerful pirates he had deceived to squeeze out as much profit as possible.
And to do that, he had to force these cowardly partners to maintain their roles.
They needed enough courage to keep acting until the moment of exposure could be delayed as long as possible.
"Wo... wo... wo..."
Across the room, Fake Zoro Wangarang crouched down awkwardly.
One sword remained clamped in his mouth while the other two were held in his hands.
His jaw trembled as he tried to speak.
"Woo woo woo..."
(Three-Sword Style...)
"Three-Sword Style swordsman?"
Fake Sanji, Doripu, who was copying Sanji's distinctive cigarette pose, looked at him with speechless disbelief.
"The sword in your mouth should be horizontal, not vertical."
Wangarang blinked blankly.
The sword hilt sticking straight upward from his mouth suddenly made him realize the problem.
"Oh... so that's how it works."
He removed the sword and placed it sideways between his teeth.
"Oh! That's much more comfortable!"
Silence filled the room again.
Black stared at the group of idiots with growing anxiety.
At this rate, exposure would come sooner rather than later.
He needed to squeeze every bit of value from those powerful pirates before that happened.
Black began thinking carefully.
Should he lead them to attack ships belonging to the Four Emperors?
No.
That was far too dangerous.
If those pirates lost, would he have to personally intervene?
Absolutely not.
The risk was too high.
Robbing smaller countries would be much safer.
"Poru... Poru... Poru..."
Suddenly, the Den Den Mushi inside the cabin began ringing.
Black quickly answered the call.
"This is God King Shirogai speaking."
He lowered his voice and spoke with authority.
From the other side of the line came a pirate's excited but nervous voice.
"Boss! Is that Shirogai?"
"In the distance, five pirate ships flying the Whitebeard Pirates flag are approaching!"
"They've signaled us and want to meet you personally. What should we do?"
Black froze.
"Whitebeard Pirates?"
Cold sweat instantly poured down his back.
One of the Four Emperors, the Whitebeard Pirates, was coming to meet him.
His mind raced.
During the Marineford War, the real Shirogai had helped the Whitebeard Pirates.
That meant they definitely knew him personally.
If they met face to face, they would instantly recognize him as a fake.
Black's expression turned pale.
Damn it.
Things had gone terribly wrong.
He had thought his deception could last much longer.
But now it seemed his identity might be exposed today.
He clenched his fists nervously.
Before that happens...
I need to find a way to escape.