Year 1522 of the Sea Circle Calendar, Karai Bari Island.
This New World island was gradually being shrouded in the flames of war. Crowds filled the island as people prepared to face the impending attack.
Buggy was weak; there was no doubt about that. Aside from the inexplicable halo surrounding him and his network of connections, Buggy had no real ability to establish himself in the New World.
But his subordinates were a different matter. A large number of them were criminals from Impel Down, people who had always lived beyond the law. In order to make these unstable elements somewhat controllable, the World Government granted Buggy the title of Shichibukai.
After that, many more people flocked to Buggy, seeking the title that allowed for legal plunder.
Such a group gathered together was not a force to be underestimated, but unfortunately Buggy lacked high-end combat power to match it.
The current Buggy Pirates could meet the needs of restraining low-level troops, but they were completely incapable of interfering in clashes between top-tier forces.
This was the New World's island, and a microcosm of the entire sea.
The Four Seas were relatively better off. In the Grand Line, an island could be attacked at any moment. Especially islands that were already pirate strongholds. People living there were always fully prepared for battle.
Boom! Boom!
Shells continuously rained down on the island. Each explosion cleared out a vast area, and the pirates on the island advanced toward where the cannons were stored. Before long, the sounds of return fire rang out.
"Damn it, it's the Beasts Pirates' flag! Why are they attacking us?"
That flag was meant to intimidate enemies, to make most people afraid to cause trouble in their territory. It didn't mean that when they attacked other islands, the enemy would simply give up resistance.
Although the flag frightened some, they did not surrender outright.
"Charge! Charge! Move it! Lord Buggy is watching us from behind!"
The pirates on the island didn't understand why the Beasts Pirates had come, but that didn't stop them from fighting back. Because of Buggy's uniqueness, their morale was actually quite high.
Under the organization of a few individuals, they weren't overly panicked and even managed to plan out some responses.
After all, the Shichibukai were still subordinate forces of the World Government. In theory, if an Emperor of the Sea attacked a Shichibukai, the World Government couldn't just sit by. They would have to respond somehow.
Buggy himself had yet to appear, but they felt he must already be plotting something big.
For example, holding their ground while awaiting reinforcements, using Den Den Mushi to call for troops, attacking from both sides, and then turning defeat into victory—tactics like that.
At the same time, aboard Jack's ship, the Steel Mammoth, the people there were actually a bit confused.
"Hey, didn't the orders we got say we were supposed to go talk to that clown?"
Sheepshead looked at the rumbling warship cannons and suddenly felt at a loss.
"Yeah, talk. Isn't this exactly how Captain Jack 'talks'?"
According to Jack's logic, dealing with pirates using only words was useless.
The usual process was to state your terms first, have the other side refuse, then beat them up until they chose to compromise. But Jack felt that was too troublesome, so he made an improvement.
Beat them into submission first, then state the terms. This way, they would accept them gladly.
"Heh, I think Captain Jack was just itching to fight."
At this moment, Jack himself was nowhere to be seen on the ship. The artillery battle was merely a cover. The real Jack had already appeared in a completely unexpected place.
"You b*stards! You're running away without even waiting for me?!"
Buggy caught up with Mr. 3 and the others, who had already begun to flee. Judging by how practiced Mr. 3 and his group were, they had probably anticipated this kind of situation long ago.
Buggy's furious questioning was met only with a string of eye-rolls. In front of people who knew his true colors, his prestige as a Shichibukai was useless.
Given the special circumstances, Buggy didn't fuss over such a minor issue and simply planned to escape together with them.
"Move it, move it! The docks are a no-go now. You must have other ships prepared, right?"
Before Mr. 3 could answer, a sudden tremor shook the ground, knocking several of them flat. Immediately after, a massive figure appeared before Buggy.
"Found you, Buggy the Clown."
"You came up from underground?!"
Buggy's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. He couldn't accept that Jack's enormous figure had appeared in front of him in this way. Staring at the deep tunnel, Buggy couldn't even imagine how the other side had done it.
In truth, it wasn't complicated at all. Jack had simply dug his way here. As a member of the Fish-Men, he had dived into the sea while still some distance from the island, then tunneled straight from the seabed into the heart of Karai Bari Island.
Jack's Observation Haki wasn't particularly outstanding. Finding the weakest presence on the island alone had taken him quite some effort.
Buggy's subordinates also made their stance clear. Upon hearing that Jack's target was Buggy, they immediately distanced themselves from him. Only Mr. 3 remained by Buggy's side.
"Mr. 3, I'm so touched…you actually—"
"Don't misunderstand, Buggy. My legs just gave out."
The ignorant are fearless; the more one knows, the greater the fear becomes. Mr. 3 was a perfect example. He knew very well what a Calamity represented, which was why he was scared stiff.
"Boss Kaido's orders. We won't concern ourselves with what you've done in the past, but from now on, the Underworld will have only one master—us. As a Shichibukai, you surely won't surrender so easily, so I'm here to tell you the consequences of refusing."
"Wait!"
Hearing Jack's words, Buggy hurriedly shouted for him to stop, but Jack's fist had already come crashing down, beating him mercilessly without another word.
"So, are you still going to refuse? You'd better not. Red-Hair seems to look after you quite a bit. If you keep refusing, it'll be hard for us to keep giving him face."
"I…I didn't refuse at all! You just wanted to hit me! Couldn't you ask first and then hit me?!"
Buggy forcibly swallowed the words he had originally wanted to say. At this moment, he felt incredibly unlucky.
"Oh? Then I'm really sorry about that. Anyway, you agree, right?"
"That's right. Whatever you say goes."
On the verge of tears, Buggy became even more unwilling to speak. It was just having one more boss. He didn't care about that at all. Why did he have to beat him up so badly?
Once Buggy's attitude was confirmed, the fighting on the island came to a halt.
Jack had only come to make a verbal agreement. Nothing was signed, because alliances and such held no meaning in the world of pirates.
A piece of paper's greatest purpose was to be torn up and thrown away. As long as the Beasts Pirates' military might remained, that was the best restraint. If anyone were to feign obedience while plotting otherwise and got caught, the Beasts Pirates would naturally let them know the price of betrayal.
Conversely, if the Beasts Pirates were to lose their current strength, no amount of written documents would matter.
Buggy's Buggy's Delivery could be said to be unique. The only area not originally under the control of the Underworld's former emperors. With Buggy choosing to "compromise," the unification of the Underworld accelerated even further.
The vacant positions were filled rapidly. Almost no one chose to resist with force; at most, they dispatched some personnel to probe the Beasts Pirates' next move.
They couldn't get into Onigashima, so the gray city of Gran Tesoro became their target.
"All right, among the people in front of you are enemy moles. You have ten minutes. Tell me who you suspect. If you're discovered first, this assessment will be considered a failure."
On Gran Tesoro, Who's-Who was conducting a session with a group of trainees, putting their counter-surveillance skills to the test
If they graduated successfully, they would become core members of Gran Tesoro, either advancing further into the intelligence unit or staying here to gather information.
As a money-squandering den on the sea, all kinds of people gathered here every day: Underworld merchants, nobles from around the world, Marines, pirates—an eclectic mix. With enough attention to detail, one could collect intelligence of considerable value.
Under Who's-Who's orders, several people disguised themselves and blended into the crowd below as tourists.
Bang!
A dull crack rang out from the starting pistol. As the shot echoed, the Cyclizar on the track sprang into motion, plunging the gamblers aboard the ship into another round of frenzy.
Lights flashed, and the invited band performed their program.
Smoke rose as street-side stalls cooked their specialty foods. You could even spot some prominent figures on the ship, like a man with slicked-back gray hair chatting up the woman in front of him.
He was none other than the vice-captain of the Red Hair Pirates, Benn Beckman.
Beckman's appearance here wasn't surprising. The Red Hair Pirates had been active nearby not long ago, and he was simply here to spend some money.
This was Beckman's usual lifestyle. A playboy couldn't endure drifting alone at sea for too long.
Ten minutes passed quickly, and the people Who's-Who had sent out returned to his side.
"So, did you notice anything suspicious?"
"That cleaner is off. He's too serious.
There isn't much dust on the ground, yet his back never straightened once. Keeping that posture would leave a normal person unable to stand up straight the next day.
And the first performance had just ended when he went to sweep up the streamers on the ground. That doesn't fit the procedure."
"And that drummer in the band, his eyes weren't on the conductor. He kept scanning the surroundings. Rather than playing, it felt like he was forcibly imitating others, and he missed the beat several times."
"And also…"
The trainees voiced their observations one after another. Some differed from the expected answers, and some didn't quite match the actual situation, but overall, Who's-Who was satisfied.
"Very good. In this line of work, you have to be cautious. It's better to catch the wrong person than to miss one.
Of course, there's another crucial point: don't look at what you shouldn't look at, don't listen to what you shouldn't hear. Learn to be mute, blind, and deaf. It will do you good."
That last line was a lesson drawn from Who's-Who's own experiences. Afterward, he dismissed the group, letting them continue at their own pace, while he himself quietly followed a particular group on his own.
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