"Yahahaha!" Enel's triumphant laughter echoed through the banquet hall.
"Found them, Captain! I found quite a few scheming bastards!"
He turned to Mike, his eyes shining with an eager light.
After sailing with this crew, he had finally understood who was really in charge.
It was the young Marine captain sitting elegantly at the table, calmly sipping his wine—Mike.
'Of course', Enel thought to himself, 'my obedience is entirely due to Captain Mike's extraordinary charisma'.
That nightmarish beating he'd taken on Skypiea? The humiliation? The ball-kicking?
'Did that even happen? Nope! Never!'
He tilted his head and asked, "Captain, how should we deal with these rats?"
"Scheming…?" Whitebeard suddenly spoke up, his deep voice laced with surprise.
"You can perceive people's thoughts?" He paused, his sharp gaze fixed on Enel, who was still crackling with electricity.
A glimmer of realization flashed in the old Emperor's eyes.
He had read the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia many times over the years.
An ability like this, combined with lightning…
"A Logia-type with lightning attributes?" Whitebeard mused, turning to Mike.
"The Rumble-Rumble Fruit? Am I right, kid?"
Mike didn't answer right away.
He leisurely raised his glass of premium Fish-Man Island red wine, made from luminous deep-sea grapes, and took a slow sip.
He then set the glass down, picked up a unique, coral-filtered cigar, and lit it, exhaling a slow, curling plume of smoke.
"Correct," he said, his voice calm, as if stating the obvious.
"Enel is the Lightning Man who ate the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. His Observation Haki can effortlessly cover this entire island. He can hear the thoughts of every single person here. Simply put, with him around, no slave trader can even get close."
Mike blew out a perfect ring of smoke, his tone turning ice-cold.
"And no one with ill intentions toward Fish-Man Island will be leaving here alive."
"WHAT?!"
The exclamation burst out from both Jinbei and King Neptune, who shot to their feet, their eyes wide with disbelief.
Observation Haki that could cover the entire island? This was a nation of five million people!
The implications crashed over them like a tidal wave.
This power could solve everything.
Not only could they finally root out the slave traders who plagued them, but they could also deal with the deep-seated problems in places like the Fish-Man District, exposing plots and quelling unrest before they even started.
Both their external and internal threats could be eliminated in one fell swoop.
"This…" Jinbei's voice trembled with a mixture of awe and disbelief.
"Doesn't this mean… Fish-Man Island could achieve absolute stability? But… can it really be that easy?"
It all seemed too good to be true.
"If it's the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, then yes, it's possible," Whitebeard said, his tone full of authority.
"A Logia fruit, combined with a powerful Observation Haki…" He glanced at Mike with an amused look.
"And you just assigned a guy like that the rank of a third-class soldier?"
"His rank doesn't matter," Mike replied with a nonchalant smile.
"Enel will be guarding this island for me. No slave trader will be spared." He thought back to the cheers from the beautiful mermaid girls when he had first arrived.
"If any of them were ever captured by those despicable slavers…" he muttered, his eyes glinting with a cold light.
"I… would be very angry."
He raised his head and looked at Enel.
"Did you sense any slave traders just now?"
"I did," Enel answered without hesitation. "They're lurking in some hidden coves nearby."
"Clean them all up—"
Before Enel could even nod, Jinbei stepped forward, his towering frame exuding a powerful steadiness.
He gave Mike a slight, respectful bow.
"Mike-san, allow me to handle this."
A murderous intent crept into his voice.
"I won't hold back against these scum."
He had two reasons for volunteering.
First, he wanted to see for himself just how accurate Enel's power really was.
Second, if the intel was good, he wanted to be the one to deliver the punishment.
He, and all of Fish-Man Island, had a deep, burning hatred for slavers.
Mike studied the determined Fish-Man for a moment.
"Fine," he said with a nod.
Jinbei was a man of justice.
This was his fight.
After Enel gave him the coordinates of the slavers' hideouts, Jinbei gave another bow and strode out of the banquet hall, his mind set on extermination.
As he left, Whitebeard turned back to Mike with a serious expression.
"You should know, Mike," he said, his voice a low rumble.
"Behind many of these slave traders… stand the Celestial Dragons."
Mike didn't answer.
He just offered a faint, knowing smile.
The Celestial Dragons? So what?
"Kill all the slave traders," Kuzan said, his voice was like a chilling whisper.
He exhaled a faint breath of cold air.
"Then no one will know. And even if they find out, who cares?"
"Aokiji," Whitebeard said, glancing sideways at the Admiral with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
"You've grown quite confident, haven't you?"
This man was different from the lazy Admiral he remembered.
"Heh—" Kuzan just smiled, thinking of the mountain of gold in the Nautilus's hold and the "Deep-Sea Gold Rush Project" that was about to begin.
"Indeed," he said. "I have."
"Oh?"
Kuzan just looked at Mike.
Mike stood up gracefully and clapped his hands.
It was time to silence any remaining doubts.
Kuro promptly entered, carrying two exquisitely crafted chests inlaid with mother-of-pearl, so opulent they seemed to glow.
He placed them on the table.
"—Click—"
The chests were opened, and the entire hall was flooded with a dazzling, golden light.
Piles of pure gold cascaded out like a river of liquid sunlight, its melodious clinking the sound of unimaginable wealth.
Mike smiled faintly and gave an elegant bow.
"Allow me to reintroduce myself," he said, his voice calm and clear.
"An ordinary man worth a trillion Belly—Mike."