Doflamingo's wide, unsettling grin remained plastered on his face, but his attention had already shifted from his ecstatic crew back to the newspaper in his hand.
His eyes, hidden behind his sunglasses, quickly scanned the text, his brow slightly furrowed as if he were contemplating a grand complex chess move.
A moment later, a low, pleased chuckle escaped his lips.
"Ten billion Berries, huh..." he murmured softly to himself.
"An interesting price for godhood. Fuffuffuffu… Excellent."
His mind was already racing, contemplating which powerful ability would best complement his own String-String Fruit.
There were so many possibilities, so many powers ripe for the taking.
But one in particular had always eluded him, a power that promised true, untethered freedom.
He stood, his decision made.
"All hands," his voice cut through the air, sharp and decisive.
"Resume the search. Find me the Golden Lion!"
"Yes, Young Master!"
"Yes!"
****
The Grand Line, Water 7.
The City of Water was once again brimming with a vibrant, irrepressible vitality.
Many days had passed since the Tsunami and the entire city seemed to have undergone a rebirth, rising from the ruins with an unprecedented vigor that was a testament to the resilience of its people.
The streets were bustling with crowds, their faces filled with the joy of reconstruction and the anticipation of a brighter future.
Trading activities were in full swing, with the canals and plazas alive with the exchange of goods.
Vendors loudly hawked their wares while customers weaved between stalls.
In this vibrant city, people seemed to have already forgotten the hardships and struggles of the storm.
With their own hands, they had rebuilt their homes, their businesses, and their lives.
On a small island just outside the main city, the Straw Hat Pirates' new ship was finally complete.
A magnificent vessel built from the legendary Adam Wood, it was a testament to the skill of the Galley-La Company and the Straw Hats' own determination.
For this brand-new vessel, they had poured all their savings and effort.
However, the joy was tinged with a deep, lingering sadness.
Just yesterday, they had been forced to bid a final, tearful farewell to the Going Merry, the ship that had been their home, their friend, the silent tenth member of their crew who had accompanied them through countless trials and impossible adventures.
Though their hearts were filled with reluctance and nostalgia, reality had been cruel.
The Merry was too battered, too broken to continue sailing with them.
At that moment, aboard their new, unnamed ship, Nami had just opened today's newspaper, intending to catch up on the world's events.
When her eyes caught the massive, bold words on the front page, her own eyes widened in shock, and she suddenly screamed, her voice piercing the calm afternoon air.
"THE… THE PIRATE KING HAS APPEARED!!!"
"WHAT?! THE PIRATE KING?!" Luffy, who had been bouncing on the ship's new lawn, immediately jumped up, his face a comical mixture of shock and pure, childish fury.
"THE PIRATE KING IS ME! Who stole my title?! I'll find them and beat them up!" He trembled with a righteous rage, as if his entire body were about to explode.
He clenched his fists tightly, stomping his foot on the deck.
"I'M THE MAN WHO'S GONNA BE THE PIRATE KING!"
Sanji, Zoro, Chopper, and Robin, startled by Nami's scream, quickly gathered around her, their own expressions turning unusually grave as their eyes locked onto the newspaper's contents.
The headline read in bold, world-shaking letters.
"7 BILLION BERRIES—A NEW KING CROWNED ON THE SEAS!"
Below, it was a massive imposing photo of Whitebeard and beneath that, his new bounty poster.
Not a single digit was missing—a staggering 7,000,000,000 Berries.
"Good heavens… its seven billion," Robin's voice carried a trace of stunned disbelief as she stared intently at the newspaper, her mind already processing the immense historical and political implications of such a number.
Zoro meanwhile was gulping furiously, his eyes almost bulging out of its socket.
His face was a picture of pure, dumbfounded shock, as though he'd just woken from a nightmare.
The sheer gap between his own power and that of the man on the poster was a brutal, physical blow.
"My bounty is only 77 million…" he muttered, his voice thick with a mixture of frustration and defeat.
"That's not even a fraction of a fraction of that… This is downright humiliating."
Sanji's expression was equally grim, the cigarette dangling from his lips nearly falling out.
But when he caught sight of the dejected swordsman beside him, a spark of their usual rivalry seemed to reignite, a familiar comfort in this insane new reality.
He forced a weak, taunting smirk.
"Heh, not too bad, I guess," he said, deliberately blowing smoke in Zoro's direction.
"At least my 17 million is a respectable number. Can't say the same for a certain moss-headed swordsman who only got a bounty because the government mistook him for the crew's pet."
His words acted like a lit fuse.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MOSS-HEAD, YOU DAMN DARTBOARD-BROW COOK?!" Zoro roared, his hand instinctively flying to his swords.
Faced with the sudden aggression, Sanji didn't back down.
"WHOEVER RESPONDED, OBVIOUSLY!" he shot back defiantly.
"YOU BASTARD, YOU'RE ASKING FOR IT!"
"BRING IT ON! MY COOKING IS MORE VALUABLE THAN YOUR SENSE OF DIRECTION!"
"My dream of becoming the Pirate King—it's ruined!" Luffy stormed over, completely ignoring the fight beside him.
He snatched the newspaper from Nami's hands, his face was a mask of pure fury.
"I'm gonna find this Whitebeard guy and punch him into next week!!!" He prepared to tear the paper to shreds.
"LUFFY!!!" Nami's fist connected with Luffy's forehead with a resounding BONK.
The force of the blow was so great that a massive, cartoonish lump immediately swelled on his head.
The pain snapped him back to reality, and he clutched his head in terror, tears welling in his eyes.
"...Angry Nami is sooo scary…"
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" she screamed, smoke practically coming out of her ears.
"IF YOU TEAR THE NEWSPAPER, HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO READ THE REST OF IT, YOU IDIOT?!"
"Ah… N-Nami, I'm sorry…"
Robin just shook her head with a gentle smile and gently patted Chopper's head to comfort the trembling reindeer before turning her attention back to the now-crumpled newspaper.
Nami, taking a deep breath to calm herself, spread it out on the deck for everyone to read together.
The numbers remained just as staggering on a second glance.
"Huh?" Luffy, still rubbing the lump on his head, leaned in and pointed a curious finger at the chaotic background of Whitebeard's bounty poster.
"Hey… doesn't this blurry figure look a bit like Ace?"
It wasn't that he failed to recognize him at first—the image in the newspaper was genuinely blurry, a chaotic mess of explosions and people.
Plus, it was Luffy.
Robin, however, hearing Luffy's words, leaned in closer, her eyes focusing intently on the spot his finger indicated.
She scrutinized the grainy photo for a long moment, her brow slightly furrowed as she cross-referenced the image with the countless faces in her memory.
"That is indeed 'Fire Fist' Ace," Robin finally spoke, a note of quiet surprise in her voice.
She looked up from the paper, her gaze settling on Luffy.
"He's the Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates' 2nd Division.… do you know him?"
-----------------------------
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