A few days later.
"Once again it's news coming out of Shell Island. Axe Potter and Harry of the Blood Coral have both gone down there, and there are even pirates spreading word that the Thorn Treasure is on Shell Island."
In a slightly dim space, two people who couldn't clearly see each other were talking about something.
"Axe Potter and Blood Coral Harry's heads will soon be taken back by the underworld and become important funds for us."
"Their heads aren't the key issue. The key is our plan. If all the pirates are drawn to Shell Island, if all the pirates die at the hands of that guy who popped up out of nowhere… this sea region will return to peace again. Our plan is only halfway done; this kind of chaos needs to last at least another month."
The other person seemed to stop some movement, displeasing a certain creature. With a soft sound of landing, an overly fat cat slowly walked beneath the only beam of light in the space.
"…I understand. In that case, find someone to kill him. I'll contact a famous assassin. There happens to be a rising star lately—young, cheap, and looking everywhere for a worthy opponent."
"Cheap? That really is a comforting trait… do it."
One person pushed away their chair and quickly left. The one who remained stepped into the beam of light, picked up the fat cat, and began stroking it.
"At most another month. By then, pirates and unstable factors will all disappear… half a year? Too long. I can't wait half a year."
...
"Your Highness the Princess, I heard about it—there's an incredibly formidable person who's appeared on Shell Island. Two damned great pirates were both defeated by him."
Princess Martha of Rose Island had her maid relay some of the news she'd heard.
"Is he really that strong?"
"It's true. Those two pirates were two of the three who attacked our Rose Island back then—though it probably wasn't the one who can turn into a leopard."
The strongest was definitely the one who could transform into a leopard, but the other two weren't weak either—both were captains with sixty or seventy pirates under them.
Those two captains had fought before. Even their kingdom's guard captain might not have been a match for them, yet the two of them fell just like that on Shell Island.
She knew very well what kind of place Shell Island was—just a poor little island within a poor kingdom.
In a place like that, organizing a force capable of resisting over a hundred vicious pirates was basically impossible; or rather, the possibility was far lower than the appearance of a powerful individual.
A powerful person could have many reasons to appear there—passing by, stepping in after seeing injustice, someone on the island having eaten a Devil Fruit…
In any case, such a person must exist on that island. Perhaps that person was precisely the important force that would allow the Thorn Rose Kingdom to join the World Government alliance and reduce pirate harassment in the Thorn Rose sea region.
"I understand. You may go."
After the maid left, Princess Martha of Rose Island took out a snail.
In this world, this kind of snail had another name: Den Den Mushi.
One had to admit that Oda really was imaginative. Setting aside Devil Fruits, the most ingenious design was this Den Den Mushi. If Vane had to choose, he'd find this far more interesting than the concept of Haki.
It perfectly served as communication, surveillance, a player, and more.
And when Den Den Mushi connected people, the expressions it conveyed were exactly the same as the person on the other end.
Martha dialed a number, and the Den Den Mushi's expression quickly took on a trace of coldness.
A faint female voice sounded: "What is it?"
"Lena, I need your help with something. A mysterious person has appeared over on Shell Island…"
The person Martha contacted was Lena from the underworld. Lena had originally been a noble as well. Unfortunately, her family had made a mistake under her father's hand; the reason Lena survived at all was because Martha let her go.
Later, somehow, Lena joined the underworld. After the two reestablished contact, they would occasionally exchange information and help each other.
In the current situation, Martha had no chance to leave Rose Island and could only ask whether her underworld friend had an opportunity.
"…I understand. I'll help you with this."
Lena hung up her Den Den Mushi. This help could only be considered incidental. The underworld had already decided to send her to Shell Island again, to make another deal with that young man.
"Completely overwhelming a 20-million-Belly pirate… can this guy become the Thorn Rose's 'hero' as she hopes?"
Already, three pirates with bounties over 20 million Belly had become his spoils. The number of pirates Vane had crushed was close to two hundred. Given the current situation in the Thorn Rose sea region, whether intentional or not, he could be called a heroic figure.
...
Vane, who had been inexplicably crowned with the title of hero, was currently ruthlessly disciplining the pirates captured this time.
Ordinary pirates—the clearly vicious kind—were tied up and given just one sip of water and one bite of food each day to keep them alive. People in the pirate world had extremely strong vitality; one sip of water and one bite of food was enough to keep them going for a long time.
Those who were more obedient were sent for labor reform first. Perhaps a few would be selected from among them to supplement the Rocket Team, though not many—at most, another ten people.
As for the two pirate captains and the bounty-bearing vice captains and first mates, they were held under special guard.
Vane interrogated these captains. At first, these guys were pretty tough, wearing expressions that said they'd rather die than tell him anything.
For this kind of trash, they were directly tied to stakes and used as punching bags for the Rocket Team grunts. After a beating, they even confessed things like sneaking peeks at others bathing when they were kids.
Axe Potter had basically no useful information—at most, he talked about some local customs he'd experienced. His life story was simply discovering he had decent physical talent, working as a sailor when he was young, and once he felt his strength was enough, gathering a group of people to become pirates.
Drinking and eating meat, romance and revelry, being chased by the Navy, shaking them off…
Blood Coral Harry's life, on the other hand, was far more colorful. He had come out to make his way from the Kano Country navy. His life goal was to obtain a Devil Fruit to make himself strong. Only once he possessed strength worthy of a bounty exceeding 50 million would he return to the Kano Country navy.
He was of commoner origin in Kano Country, with no background whatsoever. For someone like him, in the Kano Country navy, he needed strength worth at least a 50-million bounty just to qualify for Armament Haki and Observation Haki training.
"Clearly some people will sell manuals for training the two types of Haki just for money, putting them up for auction in underworld territory, yet the requirements for commoners like us are set this high."
In the Kano Country navy, he saw little future. Devil Fruits were certainly not something he'd ever get to eat; his only option was to come out and look for opportunities himself.
Status gaps existed everywhere. Something as important as Haki training manuals—some people could secretly take them out to sell for money, while others found it hard even to get near them.
At least Vane obtained one piece of information from this: in the West Blue, there were opportunities to acquire methods for Haki training without going to Kano Country—there was a chance they might appear at underworld auction houses.
Although not many people in the Four Blues could come into contact with and understand the importance of Haki, every place would have a few who knew its worth. Its value would certainly be no lower than that of an ordinary Devil Fruit.