Seven days later, somewhere in the waters near Alchemi Island.
A warship sat at anchor while Marines hauled one dejected pirate after another out of the sea and onto the deck.
Vice Admiral Tsuru stood on deck, frowning at the wreckage of the pirate ship scattered across the water. She turned to Gion beside her.
"How many groups has this been?"
Rear Admiral Gion knew exactly what Tsuru meant. After thinking for a moment, she answered, still sounding puzzled.
"The fifth. I just asked around. Just like the previous four groups, they were all captured by the Sky Pirates. But strangely enough, the Sky Pirates didn't actually do anything to them. They just had that little girl, Ayala, touch them once, then let them go. After that, some ran into storms, some got attacked by Sea Kings, some ran aground, and there were all kinds of other bizarre incidents on top of that. In short, their luck has been unbelievably bad. What exactly is going on, Vice Admiral Tsuru? Do you know?"
After hearing that, Tsuru let out a long sigh.
"This is bad."
"!"
Tsuru looked at Gion.
"I once saw a Devil Fruit encyclopedia in the science department at Headquarters. There was one fruit in it that left a very deep impression on me. Its name was the Raki Raki no Mi."
Gion immediately understood, and her eyes widened in disbelief.
"Raki Raki no Mi!!! A Devil Fruit like that really exists?"
Tsuru nodded.
"Devil Fruit abilities are full of things beyond common sense. Just like the Woshu Woshu no Mi that I possess, the Raki Raki no Mi is another fruit that can't be explained by ordinary logic. If the Sky Pirates really have gotten their hands on it, then with their already overwhelming strength, their incredible technology, and now luck that defies heaven itself, I'm afraid we really may have no way to catch them."
Gion was speechless for a moment.
"Then what do we do now?"
"First, send this information to Zephyr and Headquarters. We can't relax on our side either. If the Sky Pirates are using the Raki Raki no Mi to absorb the luck of so many people, then they must be planning something major. We may still find an opening."
"Understood. I'll take care of it right away!"
Vice Admiral Tsuru had guessed correctly. Ever since the Sky Pirates obtained the Devil Fruit known as the Raki Raki no Mi, everyone had been eager to see just how incredible it really was, and just how miraculous this so called ability to make wishes come true could be.
Of course, for a wish to come true, there first had to be something in your heart that you wanted.
In the Sky Pirates' plans, the first thing they wanted to do was find the lanternfish called Bonbori.
But luck was still just luck. It was more like a fortunate chance than guaranteed success. It was not something that could ensure a perfect result every single time. So focusing all of its power on just one goal felt like a waste.
After discussing it, and on Yemu's suggestion, they set a second target.
They would search for another Devil Fruit.
Back on the Earth from Yemu's previous life, the five strongest nations had become the five permanent powers not just because of their economic might and national scale, but also because they all possessed the same kind of weapon, one powerful enough to deter the entire world. Nuclear weapons.
If the Sky Pirates wanted to found a nation of their own, then resistance from the Marines and the World Government was inevitable in the future.
Even if they beat them back once, there would always be a second time.
So the best solution was to possess a weapon with the same kind of overwhelming deterrence, something that would make the World Government and the Marines think twice before making a move.
And in the world of pirates, the strongest weapons were the Ancient Weapons.
Yemu naturally did not possess an Ancient Weapon. But the Sky Pirates did have a power on the same level, one capable of wiping out an entire island with a single blast.
That was Enel's ultimate move. Raigo!
By drawing on the power of nature itself, Enel could unleash an attack powerful enough to easily destroy an island, something even Yemu could not do.
The problem was that Raigo was not so easy to use. It required thunderclouds.
At the moment, the only way to pull it off was with the help of Yemu's Mera Mera no Mi.
That made it slow to prepare and easy to disrupt.
So Yemu wanted to solve that problem once and for all.
Just like how he combined the Mera Mera no Mi with the Atsu Atsu no Mi, he picked out a second Devil Fruit for Enel after reading the encyclopedia.
It was another Logia type. The Kumo Kumo no Mi.
Goro Goro no Mi plus Kumo Kumo no Mi. It was a perfect match.
And so, after searching for Pure Gold, finding the Kumo Kumo no Mi became the Sky Pirates' other top priority.
Of course, there was one more matter just as important as those two.
On the deck of the Twin Goddesses, everyone had spent the past few days discussing one thing, aside from capturing pirates and having Ayala absorb their luck.
They were trying to decide where the Sky Pirates should establish their future nation.
At first, nobody had any real ideas. The New World was unfamiliar territory to all of them. But then they happened to meet the old man Dolon, who gave them a set of nautical charts of the New World.
That instantly gave them a great many ideas.
For the past few days, they had been sitting together, spreading the charts out one by one and studying the islands marked on them.
Their plan was to make a rough list first, then check them one at a time in person.
Ayala's luck would be crucial throughout that entire process.
Over the last few days, Ayala had also come to a basic understanding of the Devil Fruit she had just eaten.
Luck itself was already vague and mysterious, and she found that using this fruit's power felt just as strange and subtle. The Raki Raki no Mi seemed to strengthen some part of her intuition.
In simple terms, when she activated the fruit's power, all she had to do was focus on what she wanted, spend some luck, and then follow the feeling in her heart.
That was exactly what they were doing now while searching for the Kumo Kumo no Mi.
This time, they were not relying on the Log Pose at all. Whenever Ayala felt they should go in a certain direction, Tiger turned the Twin Goddesses that way.
This was definitely not some random guesswork.
As Ayala herself put it, she could not really explain the feeling, but it was there.
On the other hand, when she used her Devil Fruit ability to search for Bonbori, that same intuition never appeared.
Did that mean finding Bonbori was simply impossible right now?
If anything, that only proved the feeling was real and not some vague illusion.
And so, after more than half a month of stopping and moving, they finally arrived in the waters outside an island.
But it seemed the Sky Pirates were not the only ones who had come here.
Out on the sea, two pirate ships were blasting away at each other, their pirate flags impossible to miss.
Even Yemu looked surprised. He smiled at the others behind him and said,
"Well now, I didn't expect us to run into two overlords of the New World at the same time!!!"