The Thousand Sunny sailed smoothly across the calm waters of the New World.
The sun beat down on the grassy deck. On the deck, the crew was enjoying the pool area.
Luffy splashed in the water, wearing his red swim trunks and a tube around his waist. He laughed, throwing a beach ball at Chopper. Chopper, wearing a tiny inner tube shaped like a duck, giggled and tried to headbutt the ball back. Franky lounged on the edge of the pool.
Nami lay on a beach chair near the tangerine trees. She wore a bright orange bikini. She soaked in the sun, her eyes closed behind designer sunglasses. Vivi lay on the chair next to her, wearing a blue and white striped bikini, a woven sun hat resting over her face.
Robin sat under the shade of a large umbrella. She wore a light, floral sundress. She quietly read a thick, leather-bound book.
A sharp squawk broke the peace of the afternoon.
A News Coo bird descended from the sky. It wore a tiny postman's hat and carried a heavy leather satchel. It landed gracefully on the railing near Nami.
Nami pushed her sunglasses up onto her forehead. She reached into her beach bag, pulled out a small stack of Bellis, and dropped them into the pouch around the bird's neck.
The bird squawked in thanks, dropped a rolled-up newspaper onto her lap, and took off into the sky.
Nami unrolled the paper. She scanned the front page.
Her eyes widened slightly.
"Hey, guys!" Nami called out, sitting up on her beach chair. "The news is out. We made the front page."
The splashing in the pool stopped. Luffy grabbed the edge of the pool. "Did they print a picture of me eating meat?!"
"No, idiot," Nami sighed. She held the paper up. "The headline reads: Straw Hat Luffy and Trafalgar Law Alliance Defeats Warlord Doflamingo. Dressrosa Liberated."
Law sat against the mast on the upper deck. He pulled his spotted hat down over his eyes, grunting softly. He didn't care about the news. He cared about the incoming headache.
Nami shook the newspaper. A thick stack of glossy bounty posters fell out, scattering across the grassy deck.
The crew scrambled out of the pool. They dripped water everywhere as they grabbed the posters.
"Let's see, let's see!" Luffy cheered, grabbing the first poster he saw.
Nami picked up her own poster. She looked at the picture. She looked at the number. Four hundred and fifty million Belli.
She just sighed and folded the paper. "Well, I suppose that was inevitable after we brought down a kingdom. At least it's a good picture."
Sanji spun out of the kitchen, holding a tray of iced drinks. He saw his poster on the grass. He swooped down, grabbing it.
"Seven hundred and ninety million!" Sanji cheered, his eye turning into a heart. "Oh, Nami-swan! Vivi-chan! Look how dashing I look in this photo!"
Zoro walked out of the men's quarters, yawning. He picked up a poster that had drifted near the door.
"Eight hundred million," Zoro stated flatly. He looked at Sanji. He smirked. "Looks like you're still ten million short, curly brows. Stay in your lane."
Sanji dropped the tray. The drinks shattered on the deck. "What did you say, moss-head?! I'll kick that extra ten million right out of your teeth!"
"Bring it on, fourth-place cook!" Zoro drew Sandai Kitetsu.
Dorry, Brogy, Oimo, and Kashii sat near the bow. They passed their posters around. Brogy slapped his knee and roared with laughter.
"Gahahaha! Seven hundred and fifty million!" Brogy boomed. "The Marines still think we are a threat!"
"As they should!" Dorry grinned. "The blood of Elbaf runs hot!"
Near the swing set, Merry and Sunny sat on the grass. They looked at the empty deck. They didn't have posters.
Merry pouted. Sunny crossed his arms.
"This is unfair," Sunny complained. "I shot a laser at a very suspicious toy dog. I deserve a bounty. At least a hundred thousand."
"I helped in locating Pica!" Merry argued. "I am a menace to society!"
Bonney walked past them, chewing on a slice of pizza. She held her poster up. "Five hundred million. Not bad for a girl who just ate her way through the city."
Robin walked over to the pouting avatars. She smiled gently. She knelt down and patted their heads.
"Do not worry," Robin consoled them softly. "The Marines simply do not understand your true potential yet. Someday, they will fear you. But for now, how about I ask Sanji to prepare a massive chocolate fondue pot just for you two?"
Merry and Sunny's eyes instantly turned into sparkling stars.
"Chocolate fondue!" they cheered in unison, completely forgetting their lack of criminal notoriety.
Franky struck a pose. "Super four hundred and eighty million! The iron pirate rises!"
Brook hummed a happy tune. "Three hundred million! Yohohoho!"
Law glanced at his own poster that blew past him. Nine hundred million. He ignored it and went back to sleep.
Suddenly, a loud wail echoed across the deck.
Luffy sat on the grass, holding his poster. Tears streamed down his face. He sobbed uncontrollably.
A few feet away, Usopp was doing a happy jig. He held his poster up, dancing a fast-paced tap dance with his hands on his hips.
"I'm free! I'm free!" Usopp sang joyfully.
Chopper walked over, looking completely dejected. He held his poster up. "They only increased it by fifty Belli. I am worth one hundred Belli."
Sanji stopped fighting Zoro. He looked at Luffy and Usopp.
"What is wrong with you two?" Sanji asked. "Luffy, why are you crying? Usopp, why are you celebrating?"
Luffy sniffled, wiping his nose with the back of his hand. "My bounty... it went down! It decreased!"
Usopp spun in a circle, laughing. "And mine decreased too! The Marines finally realized I was just a harmless, weak bystander! My four hundred and fifty million bounty is gone! I can live a peaceful life!"
Nami frowned. She put her hands on her hips. "Wait. Why would your bounties go down? We just defeated a Warlord. That doesn't make any sense."
"Did you guys do something bad?" Bonney asked, tilting her head.
"If they did something bad, their bounties would increase," Robin pointed out logically.
"Did you do something good?" Franky asked.
Luffy cried harder. "I don't know! I never shared my meat with anyone! Why did they lower my bounty?! Not sharing meat is a bad thing, right?! I'm a pirate! I'm supposed to be bad!"
"There, there, Luffy," Chopper patted Luffy's knee, tears welling in his own eyes. "It's okay. We can be low-bounty pirates together."
Brook walked over. He picked up Luffy's discarded poster.
The skeleton looked at the numbers. He tilted his skull.
"One... two..." Brook muttered. He rubbed his eye sockets. "Eh?"
Brook counted the zeros again. He counted them a third time.
Brook turned to Luffy. "Captain... I think you counted wrong. The numbers don't stop at twelve million."
Luffy sniffled. "They don't?"
"No," Brook said, holding the poster up for everyone to see. "Your bounty is one point two billion Belli."
Silence fell over the deck.
"BILLION?!" Nami, Sanji, and Chopper screamed simultaneously.
Franky walked over to where Usopp was dancing. The cyborg picked up Usopp's discarded poster from the grass.
Franky adjusted his sunglasses. He counted the zeros.
"Hey, bro," Franky called out to the dancing sniper. "I think you miscounted yours too."
"Your bounty is one billion Belli."
Usopp froze mid-jig. He had one foot in the air and his hands on his hips. He did not move. He did not blink. His skin turned completely grey, taking on the texture of solid stone.
He remained frozen in the air for two full seconds.
Then, the stone cracked. Usopp fell over backward. He hit the grassy deck with a heavy, hollow thud. He lay there, completely rigid, his eyes rolled back into his head.
"Medic!" Chopper screamed, running in circles. "Usopp is dead! We need a doctor!"
"You are the doctor!" Sanji yelled.
Chopper stopped running. "Right!"
He ran over to Usopp. He checked the sniper's pulse. He shined a tiny flashlight into Usopp's unblinking eyes.
"He's in a state of psychological shock," Chopper diagnosed rapidly. "His brain simply rejected reality and shut down."
Zoro walked over. He looked down at the petrified sniper. He smirked.
"I bet he stays like that for ten minutes," Zoro said.
Sanji scoffed. "Please. That coward? I give him twenty minutes minimum."
"I bet thirty!" Franky boomed.
Merry and Sunny instantly appeared next to the frozen sniper. They wore tiny visors and held small notebooks.
"Place your bets, folks!" Sunny announced, his voice taking on a rapid, auctioneer-style cadence. "We got twenty minutes from the cook! Thirty from the cyborg! Any other takers? Do I hear forty? The house takes a ten percent cut of all winnings!"
"I'll put five thousand Belli on an hour," Nami said casually, filing her nails.
"I'll take forty-five minutes!" Brook chimed in, handing a few coins to Merry.
The crew gathered around, tossing coins and bills onto a small pile next to the frozen sniper. They waited.
They waited.
And they waited.
Exactly one hour later, Usopp gasped.
The grey color vanished from his skin. He sat bolt upright, his chest heaving as if he had just run a marathon. He looked at his hands. He looked at the sky.
"I won!" Nami cheered, scooping all the money off the grass.
Usopp grabbed his head. He screamed.
"ONE BILLION?!" Usopp roared, tears shooting from his eyes like geysers. "WHAT DID I DO?! I SHOT A GUY WITH A PLANT! THAT DOESN'T COST A BILLION BELLI!"
"Maybe," Zoro said, leaning against the rail, "you shouldn't stand in front of three thousand pirates, call yourself a god, and tell them to worship you."
"Yeah," Sanji added, lighting a cigarette. "Or maybe you shouldn't have messed with the Fleet Admiral. Do you really think Akainu was just going to forget that?"
A dark, heavy raincloud materialized directly over Usopp's head. It began to rain exclusively on the sniper.
"He hates me," Usopp sobbed, hugging his knees. "The Fleet Admiral of the Marines hates me personally. I am going to die."
Robin picked up Usopp's poster. She looked at the text at the bottom. She picked up Sanji's poster and checked the bottom of that one as well.
"Interesting," Robin murmured.
"What is it, Robin-chan?" Sanji asked, instantly appearing beside her.
"Look at the condition," Robin pointed a slender finger at the text. "On Sanji's poster, it says 'Alive Only'."
"Ah," Sanji preened. "They want to capture my beauty intact."
"And look at Usopp's poster," Robin continued.
Usopp looked up, hope flashing in his eyes. "Does it say 'Just Kidding'?"
"No," Robin smiled pleasantly. "It also says 'Alive Only'."
Usopp stopped crying. He blinked. "Why... why would they want me alive?"
Robin put a hand on her cheek, looking thoughtful. "Well, usually, when they want a pirate commander brought back alive, it means they wish to execute them publicly to make a statement. Or, in the case of Fleet Admiral Akainu..."
Robin paused. Her smile turned slightly darker.
"...he likely wants to torture you personally. He probably wants to punch a hole straight through your chest with his magma fist. He wants to make a donut out of you while you are still conscious."
Usopp screamed. It was a high, piercing shriek. He scrambled away from Robin, hiding behind the main mast.
"Don't say that!" Usopp wailed. "Don't put that image in my head! I'm too young to be a pastry!"
While the crew laughed at Usopp's misery, Ben sat alone deep inside the ship.
His research room was quiet. The walls were lined with books, vials of strange liquids, and complex magical arrays drawn on chalkboards.
Ben stood in front of a small pedestal.
On the pedestal rested a Devil Fruit. It looked like a grey, lumpy melon covered in swirling patterns. It dripped constantly.
The Mucus-Mucus Fruit. The Paramecia fruit previously eaten by the Donquixote executive, Trebol. He had managed to recover it from the ruins of the underground port before the Marines arrived.
"Absorb," Ben commanded.
The blue light from the interface washed over the Devil Fruit. The grey melon dissolved into digital particles. The particles flowed up and vanished into his system.
The System chimed in his mind.
[Paramecia-Type Devil Fruit.]
[Initiating Template Roll...]
A digital roulette wheel appeared in Ben's vision. Templates flashed past his eyes. Saiyans. Shinigami. Stand Users. Mutants.
The wheel slowed down.
Click. Click. Click.
It stopped.
[Template Acquired: Park Ilpyo (The God of High School).]
[Condition: Base Form Only. Key and Charyeok (Nine-Tails) restricted.]
Ben lowered his hand. The interface vanished.
He let out a long breath.
He was slightly annoyed. The Nine-Tails power from The God of High School was a devastatingly powerful Charyeok. It would have granted him immense fire manipulation and physical enhancement. The System locking it behind a restriction was frustrating.
But Ben was pragmatic.
He closed his eyes. The knowledge of the template flooded his brain.
He didn't gain raw power. He gained technique.
Park Ilpyo was a martial arts prodigy. He had read the secret manual for Renewal Taekwondo, learning all its concepts and counters without ever formally practicing the style. He created his own martial art to counter it: Ssamsu Taekkyon.
Ben's muscles twitched as the muscle memory ingrained itself into his nervous system.
He now possessed flawless mastery over:
Ssamsu Taekkyon: A fluid, devastatingly fast kicking art designed for rapid strikes and flawless defense.
Practical Taekkyon: Traditional Korean martial arts focused on sweeping kicks and joint manipulation.
Renewal Taekwondo Knowledge: The theoretical understanding of the ultimate striking art, allowing him to anticipate and counter almost any linear attack.
Acupressure and Pressure Point Combat: The ability to strike specific nerve clusters to paralyze, blind, or disorient opponents.
Ben opened his eyes. He executed a flawless, blindingly fast spinning hook kick in the tight space of the research room. The air snapped like a whip. He did not stretch a muscle. His balance was absolute.
Ben nodded in satisfaction.
Ben turned away from the pedestal. He walked out of the research room and headed up the stairs toward the deck.
He raised his left wrist. He tapped his Kimiyo bead.
The bead hummed for a long time.
Then, a deep, gruff voice answered.
"Ben."
"Dragon-san," Ben said, walking out into the sunlight.
"The dominoes are falling," Ben noted. "What is your next move?"
Dragon looked at the map. He placed red pins on several islands in the New World and Paradise.
"We move," Dragon declared. "The Revolutionary Army is launching simultaneous strikes against the nations crippled by Doflamingo's ammunition. We will liberate them before the World Government can step in and restore order."
"Understood," Ben said. "Good hunting."
"Take care of my son, Ben," Dragon said softly.
"He takes care of himself," Ben replied.
The connection severed.
Ben walked over to the railing of the Thousand Sunny. He looked out at the vast, blue ocean.
The world was changing. The Warlord system was fracturing. The underworld was bleeding. The Revolutionary Army was marching. And the Straw Hat Pirates were sailing straight into the territory of the Emperors.
The true war for the One Piece had finally begun.