The woman wore a pale-blue, off-the-shoulder dress. Her long blonde hair spilled over her shoulders like silk—and as if she hadn't grasped her situation at all, a faint smile still rested on her lips.
"Bring her out. I want a closer look."
Blake tipped his chin. The shop owner—who'd been kneeling at the entrance the whole time—scrambled inside and dragged the blonde woman out. Both of them dropped to their knees in front of Blake.
"What's your name?"
The woman lowered her head, not daring to meet his gaze.
"Celestial Dragon-sama… my name is Stella."
"Stella…"
Blake repeated it softly, and the moment he did, the memory clicked into place.
Stella had only appeared in a movie—only in flashbacks, even—but Blake's impression of her had been strangely vivid. No wonder she still looked familiar, even now that "2D" had become flesh and blood.
When Gild Tesoro was young, he and Stella met through music. To buy her freedom from slave traders, Tesoro worked himself to the bone, saving every coin he could. But right as he neared the price, a Celestial Dragon set his sights on her too.
Stella was purchased.
To that Celestial Dragon, she became property—nothing more. Subjected to inhuman abuse, she didn't survive long. In only three years, she died.
And before she died, she told Tesoro she'd been happy… simply because he existed.
That single line drove Tesoro down a darker path—until he became the "Golden Emperor," the man who would one day control twenty percent of the world's wealth.
Of course, that wasn't the main reason Stella had stuck in Blake's head.
The real reason was an image—one that became infamous in its own way.
Stella being led away.
A soft blue dress, its hem rippling like water, cold and mournful against her pallor. Blonde hair lifted by sea wind, the tips catching a hint of warm light—as if sunset had brushed amber into the strands.
A collar around her neck.
A rope trailing from it, clenched in a Celestial Dragon's hand.
The collar bit into her throat… and yet her lips still curved upward.
Not a smug smile.
Not a cruel one.
A smile that looked almost devout—eyes half-closed, as if she were whispering a prayer, as if she were feeling the wind slide past her ear.
There was no hatred on her face.
Only a gentle, almost sacred softness—as if pain, humiliation, chains… none of it mattered.
Back when Blake first saw that image, the fracture in it hit him like a punch to the soul.
Even after all these years, he still remembered.
Now, the real Stella stood before him with her head bowed, expression hidden.
Blake spoke slowly.
—
"This slave's good. I'll take her."
He gestured behind him. A maid immediately stepped forward and pulled the shop owner aside, already haggling—while the owner practically glowed with joy.
For men like him, even the thinnest thread of "connection" to a Celestial Dragon could turn into profit for life.
"Remove her collar."
Blake didn't raise his voice. He didn't need to.
One of the CP agents stepped in and flicked a hand—clean and precise. The collar dropped to the floor.
People liked to joke about CP in the original story, but the truth was simple: every CP agent was a carefully selected training prodigy. A pirate with a bounty over a hundred million might not win a straight one-on-one against them.
It only looked like CP were background extras because their opponents were usually monsters.
Blake was satisfied.
Finding Stella alone made this trip worth it. He planned to return to Mary Geoise before nightfall.
He understood exactly how the world saw Celestial Dragons.
Until he reached at least the level of a Marine HQ elite vice admiral, Blake had no intention of "touring the seas." The idea made his skin crawl with unease.
Once he had that kind of strength, only a handful of people could truly threaten him—the Four Emperors (Yonko), the Seven Warlords (Shichibukai), and a few other anomalies.
And pirates at that level usually weren't brainless hotheads anymore. They understood that provoking a Celestial Dragon was a spectacularly unrewarding way to die.
Not long after the Sanctuary left the Sabaody Archipelago…
Back in Area 16, Tesoro stood blankly in front of a floor-to-ceiling window, staring at the spot where Stella had been.
It was occupied by another slave now—someone he didn't recognize.
"Congratulations, Relf. Didn't think your shop had stock this high-end—Celestial Dragon-sama came in person."
"Ah, you're too kind… too kind…"
Relf's modest little laugh was like a knife.
Tesoro's heart sank into something cold and bottomless.
He snapped.
Charging at Relf, he grabbed him by the collar and roared, "What did you just say?! Where's Stella?!"
—
For Blake, it was simple.
"The world doesn't need that much changing," he muttered. "You just need to replace the person sitting on the throne. If that person is me… then everything's perfect."
Back at his residence, the maids took Stella away to be branded with the mark slaves feared most—the Hoof of the Soaring Dragon.
Blake ate dinner the way he always did: a hundred dishes, music and dancers in the background, luxury thick enough to suffocate.
Stella still interested him.
Everyone around him in this world felt like nameless background NPCs—faces without significance. Finding someone who actually had a name, a story, a place in the "original" narrative… of course he'd pay attention.
But there was no rush. Stella kept smiling, but her heart had to be in chaos right now. Better to give her time to breathe—time to settle.
Blake wasn't the same as the truly vicious Celestial Dragons.
At the very least, he had no desire to torture slaves for fun.
After dinner, he stretched his legs in the courtyard. He told the guards to let the newly purchased mermaid live in the pool for now—then ordered them to summon craftsmen.
"I want a giant aquarium built."
Blake had a feeling mermaids wouldn't be rare in his estate going forward.
Once everything was arranged, he returned to his room and lay down on his bed.
"System. Activate."