Chapter 211: Fire Fist, Back On The Scene
The meeting room, which wasn’t large, was already occupied by quite a few people. Aside from Bruno, all of the original CP9 had taken their seats. Princess Violet, who had already pledged allegiance to Elus, had also arrived early. She had lost the power of the Gaze-Gaze Fruit, and because of that, she had witnessed Elus’s incredible methods. Without a second thought, she switched her allegiance.
She also realized that even if the Donquixote Family were dealt with, Dressrosa would not truly find peace. Without a sufficiently strong backer, in the New World where the strong prey on the weak, who knows when an event like the one eight years ago might occur.
Coincidentally, Elus was one of the strongest backers in the New World.
Furthermore, she had also learned of a secret of Elus’s that was not yet widely known: extracting Devil Fruits from living people… She couldn’t imagine what kind of uproar this ability would cause if it got out.
In order to avoid being silenced by special means later,
Princess Violet, with great decisiveness, swiftly pledged her loyalty to Elus.
This meeting,
she also participated in.
In addition, Isca and Farrug entered one after another. They also remained in Paradise and did not return to the New World. After all, although the New World was said to be turbulent, the currents hadn’t actually surfaced. With the Vice Admirals of His Highness suppressing things, unless the Four Emperors attacked, no major trouble would arise.
“Rucci, after a few days, you’ve gotten stronger again!”
As Farrug entered and didn’t see Elus and Fran, he joked with Lucci.
“Not enough.”
“What a serious guy… Miss Kalifa, after a few days, you’ve become even more beautiful!” The same words, just with a different name and a different word, so unoriginal and insincere… Farrug was truly at a loose end.
Isca closed her eyes to rest, ignoring the commotion. It was said that Ace had recently appeared on Drum Island… It was possible he might come to Alabasta at any time, or perhaps he had already secretly infiltrated Alabasta.
“Boring.”
Kalifa adjusted her glasses.
If it weren’t for the table separating them, making it difficult to move her feet, she would have kicked him long ago.
“Hahaha! Miss Kalifa is so cute!”
Farrug, the seasoned veteran, was unfazed. Even after being insulted, he was still cheerful.
However, his laughter didn’t last long. It suddenly stopped abruptly. The next second, the meeting room door was pushed open again, and Elus and Fran walked in slowly. Almost everyone stood up at the same time, bowed their heads slightly, and greeted in unison:
“Your Highness.”
“Don’t just stand there like idiots, sit down!”
Elus waved his hand and sat down at the empty main seat.
His gaze swept over everyone one by one. All those present instinctively shivered, feeling as if Elus’s gaze had seen through their entire beings. Princess Violet, realizing what ability he possessed, blushed slightly but proudly held her head high, her astonishingly large chest becoming even more perilous to approach.
“Your Highness?”
Isca looked over with suspicion.
A swordsman’s intuition is very sharp.
“Don’t worry, I am a gentleman. I prefer to appreciate inner beauty over physical appearance,” Elus said with a smile. He wasn’t lying; looking at young girls with X-ray vision was a tedious thing to do… he had seen enough of it!
Fran and Clarice, as his personal maids, would never refuse any of Elus’s requests. As for Isca, she was his subordinate, and Elus greatly respected this loyal and capable subordinate.
“Hmm, I hope you will keep your word.”
Isca withdrew her piercing gaze.
Elus smiled dismissively.
He had just scanned everyone to observe their ‘inner selves’.
Not flesh, bone, or internal organs, but he had glimpsed the true form of their consciousness. To put it plainly, with that one glance, he had seen through almost everyone’s secrets. For example, with Isca, he saw extremely sharp Sword Qi that pierced through iron and stone. With Lucci, he saw a ferocious killing machine like a beast…
This was one of the abilities of the Gaze-Gaze Fruit that Elus had developed in conjunction with Observation Haki.
Whether they were acquaintances or strangers, without any special means of concealment, Elus could easily see through their true nature. For instance, an extremely famous fist fighter might actually possess a hidden flying knife technique that was impossible to guard against… Even techniques never before used in public would not escape Elus’s eyes.
In Farrug’s case, Elus saw a python-like monster strangling an enemy in his mind. Most importantly, this monster had actually grown an arm and was holding a long sword.
“Farrug, how long have you been studying swordsmanship?”
“…Your Highness, how did you know I was studying swords?” Farrug’s eyes widened as he looked at Elus in disbelief, but he still answered honestly, “Half a year ago, I got my hands on a swordsmanship scroll. At the time, I felt my Strangling Technique had reached a bottleneck, and no matter how much I pondered it, I wasn’t improving. So, I tried practicing swordsmanship to see if I could gain some insight through analogy.”
“It’s not a bad thing. Learning an extra skill can have an unexpected effect at a critical moment.”
Farrug’s talent was mediocre. Without Elus forcibly raising his level with the Hogyoku, he would at best be a third-rate fighter in the New World. The Hogyoku expanded his potential, allowing him to reach second-rate status and spar with the lower-ranked cadres of the Yonko Crews. In Navy Headquarters, he would be considered Vice Admiral combat power.
“Alright, enough small talk. I didn’t call you here to chat.” Elus tapped the table. “In fact, you all probably have a general idea already, so I won’t explain much. In short, your mission… is concerning Straw Hat Luffy and his companions who haven’t yet appeared on Bounty Posters.”
Fran placed the copied photographs on the table.
The photos were from Drum Island, including a photo of Chopper boarding the ship.
“Your mission is simple: set up difficult challenges to temper these guys… You can choose opponents freely. No one is allowed to die, and no one should be severely crippled. In short, you must use terrifying tactics and just the right amount of strength to temper these fellows and help them become stronger.”
The strange order left everyone exchanging bewildered glances.
They had indeed prepared themselves mentally. Seeing the orange-haired woman who often darted around the castle, they could tell His Highness held no ill will towards the Straw Hat Pirates. However… they truly hadn’t expected His Highness to go to such lengths to help the Straw Hat Pirates!
“Right, the Straw Hat Pirates will likely land in Alabasta soon and will arrive in Arubana before long. Bruno is waiting in Rapeseed Flower to deliver a letter… Be quick about it. Don’t wait until they’ve arrived and the stage isn’t set, and Bruno can’t even deliver the letter. I promised someone that I would properly train the Straw Hat Pirates, so don’t make me lose face!”
Upon hearing this,
everyone loudly pledged their assent.
Being a stagehand isn’t a life-threatening job. Aside from the time it takes to prepare a suitable stage, the work isn’t really that difficult. Still, I must do it seriously! It concerns His Highness’s reputation. If I don’t do a good job and cause His Highness to lose face…
I really don’t want to know what the consequences would be!
Also,
The more I think about it, the more curious I become about the origins of this Straw Hat Pirate Crew. To make His Highness Elus go to such trouble… it’s almost unimaginable! Even Lucci stared at the bounty poster of Straw Hat Luffy for a long time, trying to see if he could find any clues.
“Alright, you’re dismissed! Discuss the specific details amongst yourselves.”
Elus delegated authority with great relief, not intending to waste any more energy on this matter.
The research on the Gaze-Gaze Fruit was utterly captivating. The harvest over this past month has been beyond imagination. These eyes… are just a thin veil away from the true nature of the world. His intuition told him that if he could break through this final barrier, he would understand what Devil Fruits truly are.
The only problem is that this final thin veil doesn’t feel easy to break.
The conference room soon became quiet.
Everyone dispersed like birds and beasts, going to make preparations. Only Elus and Fran remained in the room.
“Your Highness, won’t this be too crude?”
“It’s fine. In the end, it’s just a game. It was just a whim of mine at the time, and I didn’t expect to become so engrossed in researching the Gaze-Gaze Fruit now… There were some practical tests, but it doesn’t matter. Once I return the person and the item, I’ll have accounted for it to that guy Dragon. Then I’ll have Isca and Farrug observe and try to temper the Straw Hat Pirates a bit… That should be about it!”
“I understand, Your Highness. I will relay this to Miss Isca and the others.”
Fran nodded.
“Next… back to work.”
Elus reached out and opened an Air Door, his back disappearing into the green world within the doorway.
————
Port City, Rapeseed Flower.
The Going Merry slowly sailed into the port.
“No ambush… It seems almost certain that this is the Black Prince’s doing.” Robin used ‘Ear Flower’ and ‘Eye Flower’ to investigate all possible hiding places around them, finding no traps or ambushes.
“There are also few ships and people in the port.”
Sanji, with a cigarette in his mouth, warily surveyed the surroundings.
“I bet that guy did this too! Clearing the obstacles to make it easier to act?” Zoro held his two swords, clearly ready for battle.
“The evacuation of ships and people near the port was not an order from His Highness. This was a decision made by the Navy Commander of the Alabasta Kingdom.” An Air Door opened on the deck, and Bruno, with his distinctive horn-shaped hair, appeared on the Going Merry.
The Door-Door Fruit,
had been returned to Bruno by Elus.
It wasn’t impossible to give the Door-Door Fruit to others, but most people around Elus were already Ability Users. The few non-Ability Users had refused Devil Fruits for various reasons, and it’s unlikely they would even eat the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
Someone like Farrug, that idiot, loves swimming in the sea. It’s impossible to ask him to give up the joy of freely swimming in the ocean.
Since no one showed significant interest in the Door-Door Fruit, Elus simply returned it to Bruno. After all, he had developed the Air Door, and it could be quickly put to use in his hands, so Bruno’s former ability was restored.
This time,
he had come to the Going Merry as an envoy.
“Who are you?”
“Navy? Pirate? Or a subordinate of that Black Prince guy?”
Zoro drew his sword, its gleaming blade pointed at Bruno standing on the deck. He wasn’t the only one to react. Usopp, whose legs were trembling, pulled back his slingshot. Chopper transformed back into his reindeer form, his antlers lowered as if preparing to charge. And Sanji… his high-kicking pose was also ready to launch an attack at any moment.
However,
their captain was the fastest.
“Gum-Gum… Pistol!”
Relying on an intuition that even beasts would find hard to match, Luffy sensed Bruno’s presence immediately. The Straw Hat, already on high alert, acted instantly, using the recoil from his rubber body’s stretch to launch his fist with enough power to take down a giant Sea King.
“Iron Body.”
Bruno didn’t dodge.
He stood his ground and took the hit.
“Dong—!!!”
A tremendous sound rang out, as if a bell had been struck. Luffy’s arm retracted like a snake. Bruno didn’t take a single step back, easily blocking Luffy’s attack. Luffy, who hadn’t even developed Gear Second, was still a long way from defeating Bruno!
“I’m not here to fight you.”
After taking Luffy’s punch without retaliating, Bruno continued speaking, “I’m here to deliver a few words. I hope you won’t interrupt me again before I finish…”. Bruno paused for two seconds. No one moved, no one spoke, they just watched him warily.
“Very well.”
Bruno continued, “Your partner is being held in a discarded village outside the capital Alabarna of the Alabasta Kingdom. It’s a village that was discarded due to a lack of water. Out of consideration for a certain Big Shot, His Highness will not harm that Navigator young lady. However, if you don’t reach there quickly, her death from dehydration will not be our responsibility.”
Saying this, he took out a very new map from his pocket.
“This is the map. The red dot on it is the location of your destination. I hope you can get there as soon as possible, otherwise… that Navigator young lady will truly die. Oh, and it’s not just this young lady; that Straw Hat and that Wado Ichimonji are also there.”
With that, Bruno opened an Air Door and was about to leave…
“Yo, don’t rush off! I originally wanted to visit my younger brother, but I didn’t expect to hear something like this… Mister, I hope you can stay and say a few more words.” The flames wrapped around Bruno’s feet like snakes, preventing him from entering the Air Door.
“You’re… Fire Fist?!”
Bruno’s face twitched.
Sighing in his heart about his bad luck, he came to deliver a message and ran into such a big shot, it was truly unlucky.
He turned back to look at the freckled-faced youth crouching on the ship’s side, wearing a cowboy hat, “Fire Fist, Your Excellency, this matter has nothing to do with you, and I advise you not to rashly interfere.”
“This isn’t for you to say. As an older brother, how can I stand by and watch my younger brother get bullied?” The freckled-faced youth smiled heartily. Luffy, who had been stunned for a while, finally shouted excitedly, “Ace!!!!!”, his loud voice making people’s ears ring.
“Yo, Luffy, long time no see… You’ve finally set sail too!”
The Whitebeard Pirates’ Second Division Commander, [Fire Fist] Portgas D. Ace, smiled and greeted his younger brother, whom he hadn’t seen in over two years.
“Huh?”
“Younger brother?”
“Fire Fist?”
The other members of the Straw Hat Pirates and their temporary members were confused, clearly not understanding the current situation. Only Robin seemed to have guessed something and immediately looked Ace up and down with a surprised gaze.
