Chapter 143: Established — The Straw Hat Fleet
Luffy's words hung in the air, and for a long moment, no one spoke. The captains exchanged uncertain glances. The crews shifted on their feet. They had come prepared to swear oaths, to pledge loyalty, to bind themselves to a commander who would lead them to glory. What they were hearing instead was... something else. Something they hadn't expected.
Then Bartolomeo began to cry.
"I think... I think I understand what Senior Luffy means."
Tears streamed down his face, dripping onto the deck. His voice cracked with emotion.
"For Senior Luffy... becoming Pirate King isn't about greatness. It isn't about power. It's about FREEDOM!"
He threw his head back and wailed.
But Itachi's eyes had already shifted. His Sharingan had activated—not in response to the emotional declaration, not in response to the captains' earlier tension—but because something had registered at the edge of his perception. A whisper of movement. A distant sound that didn't belong.
His hand moved before anyone else could react.
A wooden shuriken materialized from his palm and shot skyward.
BOOM.
The shuriken and an incoming artillery shell detonated in mid-air, the explosion blossoming harmlessly above the ship. Fragments of wood and metal rained down into the sea.
"What the—?!"
"AN ATTACK?!"
After the explosion faded, the pirates scrambled. Orlumbus snatched up his Den Den Mushi. "Report! What's happening?!"
The voice on the other end was panicked. Enemy ships. Dozens of them. Pirates who had lost their black market supply chains when Doflamingo's underground operation collapsed had come to Dressrosa seeking revenge—and had found the Straw Hats' fledgling fleet instead.
"Deal with the battle! Our discussion here isn't finished yet!" Orlumbus barked.
Zoro and Law had already moved to Itachi's side.
"Itachi. What do you see?"
"The enemy numbers are significant." Itachi's Sharingan swept the horizon. But what the others didn't know—what they couldn't know—was that his Sharingan had activated before the attack. He had sensed the shells coming. He had already been tracking the threat.
"The captain ordered us to fight. We can hold position for now."
Then his eyes shifted. Something in the distance. Something above the attacking ships.
"Perhaps... we won't need to fight after all."
"Don't need to?" Zoro's hand was already on Enma. "You think Orlumbus's crew can handle that many—"
"No." Itachi's Sharingan faded, the crimson retreating to obsidian. He tried to look past the forest of masts and sails toward the coastline, but the fleet blocked his view. "Fujitora. He's seeing us off."
The Coastline
The pirates who had come to claim the Straw Hats' heads never saw it coming.
One moment they were shouting battle cries, raising weapons, promising to avenge their lost profits on the upstart crew that had destroyed Doflamingo's empire. The next moment, the sky went dark.
"Clouds? Since when—?"
"IT'S NOT CLOUDS!"
The massive sphere of rubble—the same sphere Fujitora had gathered during his battle with Luffy, the same sphere he had held suspended above the harbor—descended like the fist of an angry god. It fell upon the attacking ships in a cascade of broken stone and twisted metal, crushing hulls and snapping masts, driving the enemy fleet to the bottom of the sea in a matter of seconds.
Hundreds of pirate ships. Thousands of voices raised in battle. All of it swallowed by the roar of falling debris.
Fujitora stood alone on the shattered coastline. His staff-sword slid slowly into its sheath.
He faced the sea. Faced the distant shapes of the departing fleet. And he bowed.
Not the shallow bow of a warrior acknowledging an opponent. But a deep, formal bow. The bow of a man expressing gratitude that words could never fully convey.
"Itachi-san. Please allow this old man to bid you and your companions farewell."
The Warship
The fleet had sailed beyond the reach of any further attacks. The adrenaline of the near-battle faded into something warmer. The seven captains sat together with the Straw Hats, and finally—finally—everyone understood what Luffy had been trying to say.
It had never been about power. It had never been about command. From beginning to end, Luffy had spoken of one thing.
Freedom.
"AAAAAAAH!" Bartolomeo's weeping had not stopped. If anything, it had intensified. "Senior Luffy! Even though this is entirely my own selfish decision... please hear me out!"
"What now?" Luffy tilted his head.
Bartolomeo's voice was raw with sincerity. "I will join you as a volunteer! I will follow your orders whenever you call, and I will repay the debt I owe you with my very life if necessary! I do this of my own free will—and I would RISK my life to drink this cup!"
He raised his wine cup and drained it in a single gulp.
"Wait—brother?" Luffy's face went blank.
The other six captains followed suit. Cups raised. Wine swallowed. The crews of seven pirate bands roared their approval.
"IT'S OFFICIAL!"
"FROM THIS DAY FORWARD, WE CALL YOU BOSS!"
"WHAT?!" Luffy shot to his feet, holding up his own conspicuously empty wine glass. "I DIDN'T DRINK THIS! THE CUP IS EMPTY!"
Zoro licked his lips in a way that suggested he knew exactly where the wine had gone.
"I refuse to accept—" Luffy's protest was cut off by two pirates clamping their hands over his mouth.
"BANQUET! BRING OUT THE MEAT! THE VEGETABLES! EVERYTHING!"
Luffy's eyes changed. His protests died in his throat. Because he had just seen the platters. Mountains of grilled meat. Skewers of every description. Fish from the waters around Green Bit, vegetables from the Flower Field's gardens, dishes that the Tontatta had spent all morning preparing.
Sai stepped forward, his eyes closed, his voice carefully controlled. "That's enough."
"Just follow your nature, Straw Hat."
He paused. When he spoke again, his voice was thick.
"We are swearing loyalty to you unilaterally. When you face danger, we will charge forward without hesitation. There's no downside for you—having younger brothers like us can only be an asset."
His eyes were squeezed shut. He was clearly fighting back tears.
"So at the very least... remember our names. Our faces. The seven captains who chose to follow you."
He opened his eyes. The spot where Luffy had been standing was empty.
"Luffy! Did you see?! The fighting fish from Green Bit are HUGE!" Usopp's voice drifted across the deck.
"Fighting fish steak...!" A puddle of drool was forming around Luffy's sandals.
Baby-5 patted Sai's shoulder. "Husband. Are you seeing this?"
Sai stared at the empty space before him with the expression of a man who had poured his heart out to no one.
Near Itachi, Lan Lan and Kaka had emerged from their hiding spots now that the danger had passed. "Captain Leo, are we leaving soon?"
"Of course not!" Leo puffed out his tiny chest. "The patriarch already agreed—we're staying for the entire banquet! The Tontatta won't return home until the feast is finished!"
"That's wonderful!" Lan Lan and Kaka hugged each other, then turned to Itachi with expressions of barely contained glee.
"We have a secret gift for you, Itachilando! But it has to wait until after the banquet!"
"A gift?" Itachi raised an eyebrow.
"Yes! A mystery!"
Before he could inquire further, Luffy's voice thundered across the deck: "WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?! ISN'T THE BANQUET STARTING YET?!"
"THE BOSS HAS GIVEN THE ORDER!" Orlumbus bellowed. "LET THE FEAST BEGIN!"
"I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME BOSS!"
Luffy's protest was muffled by the massive hunk of meat he had already shoved into his mouth.
Robin smiled at Itachi. "Coming to the banquet?"
"In a moment."
He was still scanning the fleet, still cataloguing the ships and the crews and the potential threats—
Two massive metal arms hoisted him into the air.
"Franky."
"OW! Don't be so tense, Itachi!" Franky's star-shaped nipples flashed. "The crisis is over! Time to rest and celebrate! This is a SUPER banquet and you're attending whether you like it or not!"
"I am capable of walking on my own."
"Too late! Let's drink!" Franky carried Itachi across the deck and deposited him directly in front of a massive fighting fish skewer. Cavendish had been about to sit in the same spot, but the sight of Itachi's expression made him reconsider.
Nearby, Bartolomeo was huddled in a corner, whispering urgently to several of his crew members. They were passing something between them—something they clearly didn't want anyone else to see.
"Did you get them all?"
"Yeah, boss! Every single one!"
"These are the newest bounties! Fresh from the printer!"
"Show me! I need to see the quality! The framing! The PAPER STOCK!"
Bartolomeo unrolled the poster with the reverence of a priest unveiling a sacred relic. The face of "God" Usopp stared back at him, five stars gleaming above the sniper's terrified expression.
"It's PERFECT," Bartolomeo breathed.
"Now let me see the others! Senior Luffy! Senior Zoro! Senior Robin! Senior Franky! And—" His voice dropped to an awed whisper. "—the Hellfire edition. Did you find the Hellfire edition?"
"Right here, boss."
Bartolomeo gazed upon Itachi's bounty poster. The crimson skull blazing against the dark background. The epithet. The six hundred million berries.
He clutched the poster to his chest and wept with joy.
"Best. Banquet. EVER."
(End of Chapter)
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