News of Golden Lion's reappearance on the high seas quickly spread across the world through the World Economy News Paper.
At breakfast the next day, Stella walked in holding the latest newspaper.
Black glanced at it.
"These restless old guys."
Black's words were not only about Golden Lion, but also about Morgans, who dared to print anything.
He remembered that in his previous life, many people suspected Morgans had once been a member of the Roger Pirates and had ulterior motives for establishing the World Economy News Paper.
Later, however, it was discovered that Morgans had already been active during the God Valley Incident.
This indicated that the fellow simply enjoyed watching chaos unfold and did not mind stirring the pot.
The World Government was also quite strange. It was clearly a crucial propaganda weapon, yet they tolerated that bird-man Morgans controlling it.
After all, even Sengoku knew to cut off the transponder snail when the situation during the Marineford War began spiraling out of control.
There could not possibly be only albatrosses among long-distance flying birds. The World Government could easily establish its own newspaper and then quietly eliminate Morgans.
That would be far more efficient than the current situation, where they had to send CP agents to threaten him whenever a scandal appeared.
After casually flipping through the newspaper, Black no longer paid it much attention. Cultivating the little slaves before him was far more important.
To better build relationships, Black had chosen to dine with them during this period in Mary Geoise.
Awe and dignity were for outsiders. The people before him would one day become his wings.
At the dining table, Mandy still maintained her icy and expressionless face.
Koala sat properly in her chair, cautiously eating the toast in front of her.
Robin's movements were calm and elegant, as if she were carefully carving an exquisite piece of art.
Perona, however, was rather boisterous, smearing cream on her hands without even noticing.
Stella sat beside Black, gently attending to him.
Black deliberately pushed Perona's most hated lemon juice in front of her.
"For vitamins."
Perona puffed up her cheeks, ready to protest, but Stella gave her a gentle smile.
The little girl instantly sat upright, though she secretly poured the lemon juice into Robin's fruit juice beside her.
Black turned his gaze to Koala.
"Koala, what is the first rule of 'Celestial Dragons' Breakfast Etiquette'?"
"It's… it's…"
Koala froze slightly. She had never heard of such etiquette before, so how could she possibly know the answer?
Just as she was about to put on her practiced fake smile and apologize, Perona suddenly jumped onto her chair.
"I know! It's 'no smearing jam on other people's faces.'"
She pointed a cream-covered finger at Robin.
"Just like what you did to the bookworm yesterday."
Black's face darkened as he grabbed Perona.
"It's 'no little brats secretly eating strawberries'!"
As he spoke, he pinched Perona's face and rubbed it vigorously, causing her to cry out in protest.
After the brief chaos, Perona returned to her seat with a huff.
"That's not fair! Why does Koala get a double serving of strawberries?"
Black did not even raise his head.
"Because she doesn't secretly put strawberry seeds into my teacup."
"Hmph!"
Perona turned her head away, leaving her two pink pigtails swaying, clearly displaying the attitude of "Baby is angry and requires strawberries to calm down."
Seeing that Black ignored her, Perona turned her attention to Robin.
"Bookworm, guess what I replaced the sugar cubes in the coffee with?"
Robin did not mind the nickname. She slowly swallowed the food in her mouth and gently wiped the corner of her lips.
"Salt, I presume. You were severely reprimanded last time for putting chili powder into the black tea."
Black had not even noticed their little pranks.
After all, aside from Katakuri, that sibling-obsessed man who constantly protected his brothers and sisters, Eneru, that strange fellow who enjoyed eavesdropping, and Redfield, who practically could not turn off his Observation Haki, most people did not keep their Observation Haki active all the time.
Just as the two were whispering, a soft sound suddenly came from across the table.
Robin and Perona looked up at the same time, both stunned.
Koala had knocked over the coffee pot.
Koala, who had not yet adapted to her increased strength, had broken quite a few things over the past few days.
Koala herself looked even more shocked than the others. She was about to kneel down and clean it, but Black reached out and pulled her up.
"Someone else will handle that."
"So… sorry."
Koala lowered her head, her body trembling slightly.
Perona, however, rolled her eyes.
"Stupid Koala, do it like this!"
With that, she deliberately knocked over a water glass.
Robin sighed. Before the liquid could spill, a hand suddenly grew out of the table and righted the cup.
"This is an application of fluid mechanics."
Black patted Koala's head and then glared at Perona.
"I think someone wants to learn how to mop the floor today."
Perona was not afraid at all. She pulled several feathers from some unknown animal out of her pocket.
"I don't want to. I want to make new clothes for the transponder snail."
Seeing this, Stella sighed softly.
"Those are from my pillow…"
Even Mandy, who normally showed no emotion, could not help slightly curling the corners of her lips.
Black also smiled helplessly.
He was not displeased with Perona's antics.
On the contrary, Perona's lively behavior actually helped Koala and Mandy adapt more quickly to life inside the manor.
This was beneficial for Black's future plans.
Although, of course, Perona herself had no idea.
Still, if things continued like this, breakfast would never end.
Black cleared his throat.
"Alright, according to the third rule of 'Celestial Dragons' Breakfast Etiquette'…"
Before he could finish speaking, Robin had already picked up her notebook.
"What a coincidence. I once read a historical record that the first generation of Celestial Dragons used slave skulls as dinner plates."
The smile on Black's face froze.
Robin continued calmly.
"By the way, the color of your tie today is the same as the prison uniform worn by criminals who were executed in that era."
Alright.
This little girl's venomous tongue had already begun targeting him.
"Then do you know whether those executed criminals included archaeologists?"
This time it was Robin whose expression froze.
"Little rascal, trying to mess with me."
In truth, Black had no idea whether such an incident had ever occurred. He had simply made it up on the spot.
While Black was feeling rather smug, he failed to notice that Perona's hand had already reached toward his pocket watch.
This was not the first time Perona had been interested in that watch, but it was definitely the closest she had come to succeeding.
"While this guy isn't paying attention, I'll definitely succeed this time!"
Perona encouraged herself inwardly.
Just as her hand was about to touch the watch, it was suddenly pressed down by a small, fair hand.
Seeing Black glance over, Koala quickly withdrew her hand and whispered with her head lowered.
"This isn't good…"
Black raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? Little Koala can already stop crimes."
Robin neatly folded her napkin and placed it on the table.
"From a sociological perspective, this is the internalization of group norms."
Seeing everyone's confused expressions, Black explained.
"In simple terms…"
He slipped the pocket watch directly into Koala's hand.
"She wants to steal it herself."
Koala's face instantly turned bright red, and she shook her head frantically.
In a panic, she shoved the pocket watch back into Black's pocket and even patted the pocket gently.
Perona's eyes widened.
"Koala, you traitor!"
Stella, who had been watching the entire scene with a warm smile, stood up and called for the maids outside to enter.
Then she turned and said softly to everyone.
"Alright, it's time for them to clean up."
Sunlight filtered through the stained glass windows, casting scattered patterns across the silver tableware.
This morning was still noisy.
And yet perfectly ordinary.