We moved to the empty lot next to the store.
"Who wants to go first?"
When I asked them, Rob Lucci rotated his arms to warm up.
"I'll go first, boss."
"Good."
Rob Lucci knew I wasn't an easy opponent. He got serious, took his stance, and charged in quickly, firing finger pistols in rapid succession.
"Finger Pistol: Coptis!!!"
Paf paf paf pat!
I didn't move from where I stood. I swatted away all the finger pistols with one hand. Rob Lucci, who had been attacking, began to panic.
"Th-this can't be…"
"Hmm… At this level, you'd be unmatched in the first half of the Grand Line. But your body isn't in good shape. Looks like you've been injured sowhere?"
Rob Lucci was flustered for a mont, then spoke.
"Th-that's right, boss. Before coming here, there was a fight. I got injured."
"Whoever did that to you must have gone to the New World in the second half."
"Probably…"
At that, Rob Lucci couldn't hide a bitter expression. It was inevitable, since it was about Luffy, the one who had done this to him.
"Well, it's fine. You pass. Rest for a bit."
"Yes."
I then lightly faced Kaku, Blueno, Jabra, Fukurou, and Kumadori in turn. Seeing handle them consecutively without moving from my spot or breaking a sweat, Kalifa asked with cold sweat.
"Just how strong are you, boss…?"
"Hard to say. I've never lost a fight in my life, but there are certainly people stronger than ."
That was just talk. There was absolutely no one stronger than . If I felt like it, the One Piece world itself would disappear that very day.
"First, let's eat. It's almost lunchti."
I took them to a restaurant and explained their tasks while we ate.
"Your job is to patrol the town, crush any pirates who cause trouble, and hang them up. You saw the pirates bound in the passerby cages at the harbor. Just do that."
Then Jabra asked .
"Can't we just kill all the pirates?"
"No. Pirates are custors too. As long as they don't cause trouble, touching them is forbidden."
"I see. Then, if they do cause trouble, is it okay to kill them?"
"Yes. But capture them if you can. If you don't leave enough alive, it won't serve as a warning."
"Understood."
After finishing the al, I naturally stood up, placed my hand on Rob Lucci's head, and said.
"Take care of your body first, then work. I'll pay your salary. Don't overdo it."
"Understood, boss."
I poured them coffee and asked.
"Do you all have a place to stay?"
"Well… we haven't been here long, so we're staying at a hotel."
"Then I'll cover the hotel costs. Also, I'll build a lodging near the center of Mock Town. Once it's finished, live there. It'll make work easier. And it'd be good to get along with the townspeople. That's why I'm building staff lodging in the town center — so you can help them when they need heavy lifting."
"Understood. We'll do that."
There was a reason I went out of my way to do this. After reading Rob Lucci's mories, I saw that — though he hadn't discussed it with his comrades yet — now that he was working at the store, he intended to figure out the island's location, hand the information over to the World Governnt, and try to cover up past failures to return to their service. That's why I deliberately kept the store at a distance from them.
But I also gained sothing. I obtained the complete Rokushiki. Now, Rokushiki would beco the basic martial art of the rchant's Island — my improved version of it. And if I could keep using these people without showing any gaps, it would be like having excellent guards, as I said before.
I also read so interesting mories: just like in the original story, these people had been frad by Spandam and beca fugitives. They'd even had multiple fights with the Navy on their way here. In so ways, their situation was worse than in canon. Yet Rob Lucci still thought about returning to the Governnt. I'd never seen such a doormat.
'Still loyal after being treated like that… pathetic.'
Anyway, starting the next day, I had a three-story building built on a quiet street between Mock Town's center and the hotel, marked with our company logo. The basent has the passerby cages, sea prism stone handcuffs, and an armory. The first floor has a reception room, conference room, and common lounge. The second and third floors are entirely staff quarters.
The land isn't very large, so I thought construction wouldn't take long. Since it's in the central district, noise might be an issue, so once the building is finished, I planned to improve it myself and soundproof it.
Rob Lucci and the others also started working. They wore clothes with our company logo, helped people, checked for troublemaking pirates, and fed the pirates locked in the passerby cages. Kalifa stayed by my side as usual, working as a secretary.
"That's harassnt."
"What's harassnt about asking if you've eaten?"
"It's still harassnt."
"Honestly…"
Seeing her keep saying "harassnt, harassnt" made it seem like she was getting used to the store's work. She's beautiful and competent, so I let it slide.
Then sothing interesting happened. The Kid Pirates also applied after hearing the rumor that I was hiring staff to manage the town while building a new facility.
"Hire us too."
Killer ca directly to ask .
"How predictable. Did you think I wouldn't realize you're doing this just to get Kid an extra piece of bread?"
I must have hit the mark, because Killer stamred.
"Th-that's… th-well…"
"Well, fine. As long as you do the work well, I don't mind. I'll hire four more of you."
"Thanks — I an, thank you, boss."
And so, Killer, Heat, Wire, and Emma — the elite mbers of the Kid Pirates — were added as town managent staff and began working alongside Rob Lucci's group. One side were troublemakers, the other side the governnt's dogs — a very strange combination indeed.
The building was completed in fifteen days. I improved it a bit more. The second floor was used by Killer's group, the third floor by Rob Lucci's group. To celebrate the completion of the lodgings, we had a group dinner. They drank together and got sowhat acquainted, but I'm not sure if they actually beca friends. The atmosphere was a bit awkward.
Now that the work was sowhat settled, I left a clone at the store and went to the rchant's Island. I started teaching the improved version of Rokushiki to the staff and the Sky Island soldiers, centering on Hina and Robin. Since Rokushiki itself takes ti to train, I planned to leave another clone there and keep them training.
"How's the store these days?"
Robin asked , curious about how things were going.
"There are pirates causing trouble now and then, but no real problems yet."
"That's a relief. By the way, when are you going to start the Sky Island renovation project?"
"In a few months. A lot of people will be coming up, so I should start preparing soon."
Work kept delaying it, but the two-year training period for Luffy's crew was approaching, so I planned to do it then.
"Is the fighting tournant also being prepared well?"
"Yes. It's too peaceful here to gain experience, so I need to run a good tournant."
Just then, a guard ca up and reported.
"A man from the Blue Sea caused a disturbance and was captured. He ate an unusual Devil Fruit, so instead of exiling him imdiately, I ca to report."
"An unusual fruit?"
"Yes. His body turns into springs. He's extrely fast and was difficult to catch, but fortunately the Shandian warriors helped us secure him quickly."
If his body turns into springs, it was definitely Bellamy. In the original story, Bellamy swaggers around when Luffy cos to Mock Town, gets knocked out in one punch, and only cos to his senses after being abandoned by Doflamingo — a laundry rinse cycle.
"Ha… this is troubleso…"
"Why?"
"That guy who just arrived is a low-ranking mber of the Donquixote Family."
"Really? Then we should handle him with the bigger picture in mind. It's not good for Sky Island to be exposed right now."
Robin spoke firmly. And she was right. As a One Piece fan, I might have been overthinking it. Anyone who knows the secret understands that preventing any information about Sky Island from leaking is the top priority. Especially for soone connected to a major power — elimination is unavoidable.
"Sigh… fine. I have no choice."
"Why the hesitation? Is there so reason you can't eliminate him?"
"No. Nothing."
I had the guards blindfold Bellamy and bring him to the edge of Sky Island. Then I sent the guards away. Bellamy was crying, as if sensing his end. I silently touched his head and read his mories. Honestly, he was trash. This guy had done all sorts of things to be acknowledged by Doflamingo. So I felt I could send him off comfortably.
I took a pre-made Devil Fruit extractor from my inventory, placed Bellamy inside, quickly killed him without pain, and extracted the fruit. The "extractor" sounds grand, but it's just a double chamber made of sea prism stone. You put the Devil Fruit user in the inner chamber, kill them, and wait for the fruit in the outer chamber to transform into the Devil Fruit.
"Goodbye, Bellamy. I'll enjoy your life only through the original story. And I'll put your Devil Fruit to good use. Next ti, be born in a better world."
I burned Bellamy's body and scattered the ashes down from Sky Island — a simple funeral. The reason I felt a bit attached to him was that he was portrayed sowhat pitifully in the original. I'd considered sparing him, but his loyalty to Doflamingo was too high. There was no choice.
After finishing the funeral and returning to the palace to have a drink, a ssage ca from the store. When I checked, it was from the clone I'd left there.
"I think you need to see this."
"Yeah? Okay. I'll co down."
Normally, the clone could handle everything. But if it was calling the main body, it ant sothing serious or important. So I left a clone on Sky Island and went down to the store. The clone imdiately handed a newspaper.
"Look at this."
I took the newspaper and read it. Blackbeard, Teach, was selling "Teach tal."
This was most likely Wapotal from the original story, synthesized using the Munch-Munch Fruit's ability. Wapotal is the tal that, two years later, Franky uses in his newly modified weapons and machines — incredible strength, lightweight, and a complete shape-mory alloy.
In the original, Wapol nas the tal Wapotal and makes an enormous fortune. With that wealth, he gains the World Governnt's permission to re-establish the Black Drum Kingdom and becos king of a country again. Now, Teach was doing the sa thing.
"What is he trying to accomplish by earning that much money…?"
I dismissed the clone and drank coffee while thinking, but I had no answer. So for now, I decided to try obtaining Teach tal through a rchant I knew.
"How good is this tal, to cause such a commotion…"
A few days later, the rchant I'd asked procured so Teach tal. According to the rchant, a small but large quantity had been released as promotional samples, so he got it easily without going far. I paid the rchant for his trouble and analyzed the tal. Indeed, the tal's strength was at a level difficult to produce elsewhere in the One Piece world, it was very light, and its shape-mory ability was excellent.
"Now I understand why Wapol made so much money selling toys."
Given its properties, Teach tal is indeed very suited for chanical devices. One regret: although its strength was high, it didn't reach the level of the alloy tals I'd created. Moreover, based on what rchants said, Teach didn't seem to have much talent for business — unlike Wapol, he hadn't thought of processing the tal into products.
Still, so rchants recognized its value and were buying large quantities to make various items. So while Teach wasn't earning as astronomically as Wapol did in the original, a lot of cash was still flowing into Teach's hands.
"Hmm… should I wait and watch a bit longer?"
Actually, Teach producing Teach tal was good for us too — since it's a tal that exists in the world's lore, we could also use it in large quantities without having to hide it.
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