It was said later that the whole island heard about the Crow King before noon.
By breakfast, the wanted posters were everywhere—pasted on barrels, stuck to lamp posts, even fluttering from laundry lines. They showed a suspiciously artistic Itachi, painted with too many crows and too little emotion. Someone, eager to impress, had scribbled "HAUNTED WIZARD – 120,000,000 Berries – Approach at Own Risk!" across the bottom.
Itachi watched a pair of street kids scissor his face out of a poster to scare their friends. He kept walking, crows circling, thinking only of how to escape this fever dream of pirates, devil fruits, and loud idiots.
He passed a fishmonger, who ducked behind her stall with a squeak. Every step he took, the legend grew. By the time he reached the market square, people were already whispering about the "new Warlord" who had "defeated Captain Buggy with one look and a flock of demon birds."
Itachi tried to ignore it all—he just needed information, a map, maybe a quiet place to think. But fate, as always, was ready to mess with him.
A bar door slammed open, and a young man with green hair stumbled out, three swords at his hip, eyes squinting against the sun.
Roronoa Zoro.
Itachi didn't need Sharingan to sense the hunger for a challenge. Zoro's aura practically screamed, "Fight me and make it legendary." Itachi, with a single weary glance, almost turned away.
Almost.
Zoro's eyes locked on Itachi's. "You! Crow guy! You're the one causing all this trouble, huh?"
Itachi blinked. "I'm just passing through."
"Yeah, well, the marines are all panicked. The townsfolk keep talking about you. And I—" He drew his swords in a flash—two in hand, one between his teeth. "—could use a good warm-up."
A crowd gathered, smelling a spectacle. Someone started taking bets.
Zoro cracked his neck. "Let's see how you handle a real swordsman."
Itachi just looked at him, deadpan. "Are you lost?"
Zoro hesitated. "What?"
Itachi nodded at the street sign. "That's the same alley you came out of three times."
A snicker went through the crowd. Zoro's cheeks darkened, but he covered with bravado. "Doesn't matter. You're still going down!"
He lunged, swords a blur.
Itachi, utterly calm, sidestepped the first attack—barely moving at all. His cloak fluttered, crows scattering and shrieking. Zoro spun, grinning. "Not bad! Try this—Three Sword Style: Onigiri!"
A lesser man would've panicked. Itachi simply reached up, let his Sharingan flash—red, hypnotic, beautiful.
Zoro's world bent.
He was suddenly on a cliffside, facing not Itachi but the legendary Dracule Mihawk, all in black, eyes cold and merciless.
"You dare challenge me again, Zoro?" Mihawk intoned, raising his blade.
Zoro faltered. "M-Mihawk?! When did—?!"
The crowd saw Zoro swing wildly at thin air, yelling "I'll surpass you!" as he chased an invisible enemy in circles.
A child shouted, "Is he fighting ghosts now?"
The fight lasted less than a minute. Zoro tripped over a barrel, staggered upright, and found himself looking into Itachi's bored eyes.
Itachi inclined his head, polite. "Maybe another time."
Zoro blinked, wiped sweat from his brow, and glared. "You… what did you do?!"
Itachi shrugged. "Sometimes, the greatest challenge is knowing where you are."
The crowd erupted in laughter. Zoro, pride wounded, stomped off, muttering about "damn haunted pirates" and "directions."
At that moment, a new bounty poster was slapped on the wall—"CROW KING – 200,000,000 Berries – Defeated Pirate Hunter Zoro! Marine HQ Alert!"
Itachi sighed. He hadn't even wanted to fight.
He turned to leave, but was stopped by a girl with orange hair and a mischievous smile—Nami.
"You're pretty handy with swordsmen and scaring off marines," she said, flashing a grin. "I could use a bodyguard. For a reasonable fee, of course."
He stared at her. "I'm not interested."
She flashed a map. "I have this. It might help you get home."
Itachi paused, for just a moment, then nodded. "Deal."
And thus, before lunch, the Crow King accidentally became Orange Town's most wanted legend, humiliated a future Pirate King's right-hand man, and got roped into another scheme—this time by the world's greediest navigator.
As he followed Nami down the winding street, crows swirling above, Itachi wondered if this was all a very elaborate, very annoying genjutsu.
But then, as a seagull landed on his shoulder and the world's rumors spun wilder with every step, he thought,This world… is stranger than Tsukuyomi.