At the same time, in the New World, inside the Dressrosa Palace.
A man wearing a pink feathered coat, cropped pants, and pointed shoes sat on a chair in a room reading the newspaper.
"Fufufufu... Has another new villain emerged in this world?"
Doflamingo, having just finished the paper, laughed low, finding someone worth paying attention to.
Although he hadn't had contact with Gecko Moria, the man was once a famous pirate of the New World. He hadn't expected him to die at the hands of a green boy.
And the Marine HQ Vice Admiral Dalmatian was also quite strong, yet he too was slain by Hiroto.
Judging from Hiroto's age and his current deeds, Doflamingo felt that this might be another figure like Ace, capable of stirring up the world, perhaps even bringing about a more violent impact.
He committed Hiroto to memory, then looked at the den den mushi nearby.
After a moment's thought, he decided not to call his subordinates. This troublesome fellow named Hiroto should still be in the East Blue and wouldn't encounter the men he had sent to Drum Island.
"The Drum Island auction, three Devil Fruits... it's certainly worth looking forward to."
"If those two unknown Devil Fruits turn out to be Zoan types, I'll have more bargaining chips to negotiate with Kaido."
"And that one confirmed to be a Logia type—the Logia Cloud-Cloud Fruit, or perhaps it's called the Weather Fruit. Someone on the black market seems to have been searching for this Devil Fruit, offering a price as high as 1 billion berries, and the person behind it..."
Doflamingo seemed to recall something, and the corners of his lips curled up.
If it really was the legend who had disappeared for many years searching for it as he speculated, then this Devil Fruit might bring him unexpected gains.
This made him look forward to Dellinger and the others' actions even more.
"Will it really be you... Golden Lion..."
In the first half of the Grand Line, Alabasta, the city of Rainbase.
Inside a magnificent, towering mansion, Crocodile sat in a wide chair, looking at the fresh news.
"Moria... has that guy been killed? What a piece of trash..."
Crocodile tossed the newspaper aside, not paying much attention to this newly rising pirate.
To him, only Alabasta's Pluton was the most important thing.
As long as Hiroto didn't get in his way, he wouldn't pay much attention. Of course, if he did get in the way, Crocodile wouldn't mind making him understand that there are levels even among the Warlords of the Sea.
"Robin, are the preparations ready?" Crocodile asked.
Behind him, a tall woman quietly stepped out.
"The personnel deployment is ready, boss."
Nico Robin said softly, "Mr. 1 and Miss Doublefinger, Mr. 3 and Miss Goldenweek have already boarded the ship."
"Then let them move out, and you go with them." Crocodile's expression was cold.
"The Logia Cloud-Cloud Fruit... this Devil Fruit cannot be allowed to fall into other hands."
"The Alabasta royal family has already caught wind of the news and sent Pell, the vice-Captain of the Royal Guard, over, hoping to get that Devil Fruit to change Alabasta's situation."
"Such a thing absolutely cannot be allowed to happen. You take the people from Baroque Works and make a trip. Make sure to bring back that Logia Devil Fruit, and kill anyone who dares to stand in your way."
"As for the specifics of how to do it, you decide for yourself."
Saying this, he looked at Nico Robin. "Don't disappoint me, Devil Child."
"Of course, boss."
Robin smiled slightly, then retreated and vanished.
...
Hiroto had no way of knowing about the changes far away yet.
After returning to the Going Merry, he focused on training until the day the News Coo flew across the sea.
On the Going Merry, Hiroto and the others gathered on the deck to read today's newspaper.
"Look, Hiroto, it's your bounty poster."
Carina found his new bounty, and at a single glance, her breathing quickened. "400 million berries! What an unbelievable number!"
"It's Hiroto, after all." Nami said as if it were only natural.
Beside them, Zoro found his own bounty poster and discovered his bounty had skyrocketed to 60 million berries.
This surprised him a bit, but then he remembered Hiroto saying that during the battle with Moria, a Marine surveillance ship had monitored the process. Perhaps it was for this reason that the Marines significantly increased his bounty amount.
In fact, that was exactly the case.
Zoro's Flying Slash demonstrated his status and strength as a swordsman. The Marines couldn't set a low bounty that would mislead people.
Even Carina now had her own bounty poster
[Dancer Carina]
[Bounty: 20 million berries]
[Dead or Alive]
"Hehehe, not bad at all."
Nami leaned over, first with envy, then with relief, saying, "It's much higher than mine."
"Of course, you were hiding the whole time." Carina rolled her eyes.
Nami's strength lies in navigation. She can handle any weather, and that's her value.
As for Carina herself, after the Moria incident, she began to ponder how 'concept development' should proceed.
'I should ask Hiroto about it.' Carina thought.
'They're all so strong.' The bystander Van Augur watched silently, his gaze falling on his Captain.
Especially Hiroto, with a bounty of 400 million berries—a number he couldn't even dream of.
Even among the pirates called Supernovas in the newspapers, most only had around 100 million berries. Yet his Captain, who hadn't even left the East Blue, could receive such a high bounty.
Van Augur's intuition told him that he seemed to have joined the crew of a great figure destined for an extraordinary future!