In the dining room of the Storm Petrel, 15-year-old Dier stared at someone and said:
"Put the champagne down."
Slap!
Hina slammed the table and stood up indignantly, puffing out her chest.
"I'm already 17!"
The sizable jelly-like mounds on her chest swayed slightly, as if declaring she wasn't a child anymore.
"Even 17 isn't old enough. Wait until you're truly an adult if you want to drink."
Dier took the champagne away and poked her forehead disapprovingly.
"Where did you pick up all these bad habits? Lami reported that you hide cigarettes under your pillow too. Smoking, drinking—should I give you a perm next?"
"That wouldn't be so bad..."
"Ugh!"
Under Hina's reluctant gaze, the champagne in Dier's hand vanished into thin air, stored away in his Storage Space.
Over the past year, the Storage Space had expanded significantly.
Dier had designed it into a classic cube shape—3 meters long, 3 meters wide, and 1 meter tall, totaling 9 cubic meters.
While it couldn't fit the entire Storm Petrel, it could hold plenty of miscellaneous items.
The only downside was that it couldn't store living things—Den Den Mushi couldn't be placed inside.
"I'm confiscating this bottle for now. You can have it next year."
"Fine~ Hina's depressed."
Hina plopped back into her seat dejectedly and took an angry bite of the skewer in front of her.
She had wanted to try champagne back in 1502.
Now, in 1505, she still hadn't gotten a single sip.
Fortunately, a punching bag soon arrived to vent her frustration.
Deno came to report that a small Marine ship had appeared on the distant horizon.
"There's only one~"
8-year-old Perona came running over, clinging to Dier's arm and whining.
"Let me go! I can handle it alone! I can do it!"
She stared up at him with big, watery eyes, pleading.
She was now a wanted criminal too.
"Phantom Princess" Perona, bounty... 500 Belly.
Her abilities were practically invincible in the Four Seas—in a direct confrontation, almost no one could harm her.
A single Negative Hollow could make even the strongest or smartest opponent collapse into despair.
After the live-stream incident, she had repeatedly shown herself in public, displaying her powers in hopes of getting her selfie on a Wanted Poster.
But because of her young age, Dier never let her act alone, always accompanying her for protection.
As a result, the Marines mistakenly attributed the Negative Hollows to Dier's abilities.
Perona became nothing more than a background character.
From the Marines' perspective, she was just a pampered mascot—Hypnotist Dier always used his phantoms to protect her.
That's why they fittingly dubbed her the "Phantom Princess."
Perona was desperate to change this perception.
She wanted to act alone and show the Marines who the real master of phantoms was!
"Well, 500 Belly isn't bad. My first bounty was 500 too."
Dier comforted her, ruffling her hair.
"I'll let you go alone once you master Astral Projection."
It was easy to dodge an open attack but hard to guard against a hidden one—Negative Hollows couldn't block bullets.
Astral Projection was the advanced ability of the Ghost-Ghost Fruit.
In simpler terms, it meant halting the physical body and letting the soul leave it.
The soul would be immune to physical attacks, allowing Perona to leave her body safely on the Storm Petrel while her soul went out to make an appearance—finally washing away the shame of her 500 Belly bounty.
Perona could perfectly serve as a phantom sniper, with her red umbrella acting as the sniper rifle. Phantoms would launch from the tip of the umbrella, combined with Observation Haki, allowing her to eliminate targets from miles away with a single shot.
For now, Dier still had to follow along.
The Storm Petrel retracted its sails, and the propellers at the ship's bottom roared at full power, pushing the vessel swiftly toward the approaching ship.
Compared to a year ago, the Storm Petrel was slightly faster.
The sales of the Ship Spirit manga weren't doing well.
In this manga, Dier was obsessed with collecting Ship Spirits.
He bestowed various abilities upon ships, attempting to awaken Ship Spirits within them.
But he was impatient. If a Ship Spirit didn't manifest after some time, he would deem the vessel worthless, destroy it, and discard it.
The protagonist was a Navy shipwright who repaired and maintained the ships Dier had wrecked.
Moved by his care, the ships would then awaken as Ship Spirits.
In the end, the protagonist formed a fleet from the ships Dier had abandoned and defeated the villainous Dier.
However, children didn't seem to like the behind-the-scenes leadership theme, so the manga's sales were disappointing.
Later, he shifted his approach.
Plain ships? No good. Transformable ships? Perfect!
The revamped "Transformers" concept became widely popular upon release.
This granted him the unlimited ability to fully enhance the Storm Petrel at any time, expending stamina to upgrade its various functions.
Both Automatic Repair and Automatic Upgrade targeted the Storm Petrel as a whole, naturally including the propellers.
Automatic Repair could fix the daily wear and tear of the propellers.
Automatic Upgrade could boost the propellers' power.
The small Navy ship couldn't even match the Storm Petrel's speed from a year ago, let alone its current pace.
Boom!
Perhaps realizing escape was hopeless, the Navy ship fired cannonballs in retaliation.
Hina's eyes sharpened as she raised her palm toward the incoming projectiles.
A half-meter-long Black Gun shot from her hand, its sharp tip piercing through the air with a shrill whistle.
Boom!!
The Black Gun collided with the cannonball, erupting into a burst of flame midair.
Hina donned her purple sunglasses, letting her pale pink hair flutter in the explosion's shockwave.
At 17, she was certainly no longer a child.
While her physical combat skills still needed work, her mastery of her abilities was already impressive.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
"Sister Hina is so cool!!"
Lami, her light brown twin tails bouncing, cheered and clapped at the perfect moment, her eyes filled with admiration.
At 7 years old, she had spent over a year on the Storm Petrel and idolized Hina—the oldest and most dashing big sister.
"Lami, come back inside with Mommy. Don't distract your siblings from the fight."
Leia picked up Lami and carried her back into the ship's interior.
Their family currently lacked combat prowess.
So when naval battles began, they retreated to the inner rooms to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.
Law did train diligently, but no matter how hard he tried, he was still just a 9-year-old human child—not a freak of nature like Big Mom.
Once the family had evacuated, only the deckhands and Dier's group of four remained on deck.
Boom! Boom! Boom!!
More cannonballs came flying. Dier conjured several Flame Power orbs the size of human heads around him, launching them skyward to intercept the projectiles one by one.
The violent shockwaves swept across the deck, tousling his white hair.
In the past, he had dyed his white hair black and often wore a mask to conceal his identity.
Now, there was no longer any need for that.
Robin brushed aside her bangs and gazed at the retreating figures of Dier and Hina, a faint melancholy rising in her heart.
Unconsciously, she had already become unable to help.
In terms of combat power, 17-year-old Hina had become a capable fighter, while 8-year-old Perona was unstoppable with her Devil Fruit Ability.
Meanwhile, 13-year-old Robin was stuck in an awkward position.
If a real fight broke out, she could handle a few small fries—but that was all she could manage.
As for other aspects, she was even less useful.
For ship handling, there were Pirates to assist.
For intelligence gathering, Dier's information network was far superior to hers.
The group no longer needed the Flower-Flower Fruit to alter their appearances, and her expertise in history had become irrelevant.
The only thing Robin could do now was help Dier manage the ship's daily chores.
Boom!
Hina hurled her Black Gun, shattering another incoming cannonball.
Watching her tall, confident figure, Robin couldn't help but feel another pang of envy.
"When will I finally grow up?"