Before the banquet even ended, Jin and Reiju excused themselves and departed.
Vice Admiral Gion declined Enru's offer to stay longer at the base. Instead, she returned to her ship with the young commander at her side.
"Peacock, what do you think?" Gion asked.
"Eh? About what? He's fine, handsome enough… but a king is bound to be a little unfaithful," the young officer said, grinning like a gossip.
She was younger than Hina, their relationship casual, and now she teased gleefully.
Gion sighed, flicked her forehead with a finger. "You spent the whole night thinking about that king?"
"Uh? If not that, then what? What did you mean, Gion-senpai?" Peacock blinked, wide-eyed, innocent as a child.
Gion pressed her fingers to her temples. How could such a shrewd woman as Tsuru raise such a… "shrewd" granddaughter?
"I meant Lunair Port. What's your view on Enru?"
"Oh!" Peacock scratched her head, embarrassed. "Well, when we entered port, I saw Navy ships beside pirate ships. Along the way, pirates everywhere. Even Marines drinking with them in taverns. Lunair's already lost its line—it's neither Navy nor pirate, but a mix of both."
Gion nodded faintly. "Lunair has been debated at Headquarters many times. Do you know why it hasn't been touched?"
"Why?"
"Because it provides thirty billion Berries in military funds each year. Enru's connections with the West Blue kingdoms are deep. He has patrons in the World Government. He pays the Heavenly Tribute, governs cleanly, the people live stable lives—and he has never slipped up."
Peacock's eyes widened. Most naval towns didn't even break even. They relied on Headquarters' subsidies. Lunair, though, was profitable.
"Enru wants his son to succeed him. That clashes with Headquarters' will," Gion continued. "Our job here is to gather evidence, to remove Onoran legally and quietly. But we can't provoke Enru too much. The transition has to be smooth."
The next day, noon.
Thick curtains sealed out the sun. The room lay in a false night.
Reiju stirred lazily, her smooth legs slipping from beneath the sheets. She yawned, half-dreaming, saw Jin wasn't beside her, and rolled over, drifting back to sleep.
At the Bounty Hunter Guild, Jin sat on a sofa.
"Headquarters won't allow Onoran to take over. Gion's mission is to settle this matter," he mused. Though they had spoken little last night, the details told him enough.
Enru looked calm, but beneath was desperation. Gion seemed warm, but kept her distance.
Think it through—Enru had run Lunair for twenty years, yes, with tacit approval. But trying to make it hereditary? To turn a naval base into family property? Headquarters wouldn't tolerate it. No one wanted to be the fool.
Crocodile lit a cigar. "Let's hope the next commander isn't a hawk. That would complicate things."
"It shouldn't be," Jin said. "Gion didn't flip the table at once—she wants a peaceful resolution. As long as Enru doesn't push too far, she'll keep things quiet. The Navy fights with evidence and politics, not swords."
Jin praised Crocodile's wisdom with a smile. "Even in the worst case, I trust you to handle it."
It was trust—and a touch of manipulation. Fear alone ruled no one for long. To bind loyalty, one had to win hearts. Soldiers bled for those who knew their worth.
That afternoon, Jin woke Reiju, then collected Capone Bege from Mr. 1 at the docks.
The struggle for Lunair didn't interest him. It was, in his eyes, nothing more than "In the Name of the Navy."
Still, he mused, "Enru would do well in Hannabal. He's no proper Marine, but as a governor, he's exceptional."
Indeed, Lunair's prosperity had been his doing. But it also owed to the Navy's platform. He had flourished because they had allowed him to.
Jin left Crocodile with a word of caution: if things soured, lend Enru a hand. Hannabal's Wilson wanted to resign anyway. He preferred the sea to paperwork. The timing might align.
Events unfolded just as Jin foresaw.
Gion's investigation netted a pirate captain who had worked dirty jobs for the Enru family. From his mouth came proof of smuggling, laundering, collusion. Enough to damn them both.
But Gion didn't arrest them. She laid the evidence before father and son, leaving the choice in their hands.
That night, a "pirate riot" broke out in Lunair.
Colonel Onoran died "heroically in battle."
Enru, grief-stricken, resigned.
So went the official record.
In truth?
Onoran, desperate, had led his men to strike at Gion's group, aiming to seize the evidence and kill the pirate captain. He misjudged badly. Against a Headquarters Vice Admiral, he was nothing. Gion cut him down with a single blade.
With his only son gone, Enru had no fight left. Better to bow out with his name intact.
Days later, Jin's group was already gone when news spread.
On the carrier, he merged the Kilo-Kilo Fruit into its core.
A ripple ran through the hull. Light shimmered, subtle yet potent. Unlike Zoan fruits that throbbed with life, the Paramecia gave off quiet potential. Hidden strength.
Jin tested it. His weight plummeted—past one kilogram, down to a hundred grams. His body unchanged, his power intact. A hundred grams, yet still striking with terrifying force. He only needed to adapt.
A breath could lift him skyward.
Then—he grew heavy. Ten tons, effortlessly.
As he suspected, the power extended outward. He could make objects heavier or lighter. A thousand-ton warship reduced to a kilogram—he could hoist it and walk away.
Against foes, he couldn't strip their strength, but he could twist their weight until they stumbled, out of rhythm, weakened by dissonance.
And with the carrier—this was the breakthrough. It rose into the skies.
The Demon Carrier had become a true aircraft carrier.
After the Kilo-Kilo came the Castle-Castle Fruit, taken from Bege.
A fruit that made one's body a fortress. Useless in a duel, almost laughable on its own. Yet Bege had developed it cleverly—housing his crew within, shrinking them, launching cannons and bullets that expanded to full size on exit. An army in his chest.
Merged into the Demon Carrier, its potential would be far greater.
By unleashing endless waves of men, Bege could drown his opponents with sheer numbers.
His body transformed into a fortress, a towering castle.
He could even enter this castle himself—
free to move within his own body,
while the fortress outside moved and fought at his will.
Everything, inside and out, was under Bege's control.
He could even create swamps within, tormenting enemies trapped inside.
But the weakness was obvious.
As the "castle," his body remained exposed. Against top-tier fighters, he was nothing more than a punching bag.
Yet in Jin's eyes, this was a Devil Fruit that matched the Demon Carrier perfectly.
For a single man, it was too weak, too utilitarian.
For a warship—its functionality was overwhelming.
Once fused, every item within the Carrier could be miniaturized, giving it near-limitless capacity.
And with the fruit's power, Jin could freely restructure its inner world.
Before, he hadn't recklessly expanded the Devil Carrier's internal space—
because it was too messy, too hard to organize.
Now, he could remake its interior into a true city.
Yes, a city!
Not a castle.
Bege's fruit formed a castle because that was his recognition of it, the cultural image of a "city" in West Blue.
But Jin's vision of a city was very different.
And this "city" could be divided into layers—
a fungal research lab,
a Munch-Munch factory,
Germa 66's fortress complex—
each in its own space, avoiding conflicts and accidents.
The fusion of the Castle-Castle Fruit gave the Carrier even greater plasticity, reshaping it under the concept of a city.
And who said a "city" had to be only one type?
Why not a mechanical city? A fortress city? An ancient citadel?
As One Piece fans say: There are no useless Devil Fruits, only useless ability users.
And indeed, there's truth in that.
The same Devil Fruit, in different hands, yields completely different powers.
Without the right vision, even a powerful fruit could be wasted.
Take Kid, for example.
He should have been a Pirate Magneto, rivaling the Gura Gura no Mi.
But he played it like scrap metal.
Why? Because he was a brute, nothing more.
At the Reverse Mountain,
The Devil Carrier, lifted by balloons and lightened by the Weight-Weight Fruit, became feather-light.
With its massive bulk and tiny weight, it rode the updrafts with ease, drifting skyward until it hovered near the mountain's peak.
Rumble!
Four roaring torrents surged up from every sea, colliding with earth-shaking force, then pouring down into the Grand Line.
For the crew, this was their second visit.
Law, Robin, even the Germa brothers had grown accustomed to the sight.
But seeing the Carrier itself climb the mountain left them stunned.
The higher they rose, the thinner the air became. Breathing grew difficult.
But in this world, people's bodies were strong. Within moments, they adapted.
Jin suddenly halted, struck by the sight before him.
Above, the sky was black, dotted with scattered stars.
Around him, the four seas clashed in thunderous fury.
To the west and north, the sun sank low, half-submerged in the sea, scattering molten gold across the crimson waves.
To the east and south, the moon had risen, silver and pure, spilling cold brilliance across the waters.
The world was split in half.
Sunset and moonrise, dawn and dusk—coexisting in one moment.
The glow bathed Reverse Mountain.
Bathed the Devil Carrier.
Bathed its crew.
"Amazing!"
"So beautiful!"
"UnBerriesevable!"
Even Kuma, Judge, Sanjuan Wolf, and the Vinsmoke brothers stared in awe.
As the western sun finally sank beneath the waves, the eastern sun rose, morning and evening light bursting forth together.
At that instant, Jin stood upon the mountain peak and felt it deeply—
Heaven and earth divided, yin and yang in balance.
A single glance, and all mountains lie beneath me.
His chest swelled with grandeur, his spirit overflowing with boundless ambition.
Suddenly, screams rang out from the southern current.
A pirate ship shot skyward, its sails still unfurled, the wind blowing it off course—straight toward the Red Line.
At such speed, the crash would be instant death.
Jin glanced and said lightly,
"Kuma. Your countrymen."
Kuma raised his head slightly, then leapt from the Carrier.
Boom!
One step carried him hundreds of meters.
Swish!
Just as the ship was about to smash into the Red Line, Kuma appeared between them, palm outstretched.
"Eh?!"
"A man?!"
"On top of the Red Line?!"
"Mama—I don't want to die!"
Kuma's paw expanded, forming a massive air bubble.
DUANG!
The ship slammed into the bubble. The shock compressed it flat, but the force was absorbed, and the ship was gently bounced back into the current.
The pirates, who had been weeping in despair, blinked in disBerriesef.
"We… survived?"
"What just happened?!"
"Wait… that was the Tyrant Kuma?!"
Before they could recover, the current seized them again, dragging their vessel into the Grand Line.
Down below, sailors on other ships gasped.
"Look up there! A ship… on top of Reverse Mountain?!"
"No way… are my eyes playing tricks?"
"No! It's real! There's a ship!"
And high above, silhouetted against the twilight and moonlight, loomed the Devil Carrier.
Five Days Later
After unloading goods at Twin Cape, Whiskey Peak, and Asuka Island, Jin returned to Drum.
With half a month left in Sea Circle Calendar 1518, he made a declaration:
"From this day forth, January 1st shall be the National Day of the Winterhan Kingdom.
Each year, the entire nation will celebrate!"
On Drum, on Aska—festivals erupted. Fireworks lit the skies. Citizens wept with joy.
The people cried out together:
"Loyalty! Loyalty everlasting! Long live the King!"
Meanwhile, in the East Blue…
On the shores of the Goa Kingdom, Luffy waved furiously as Portgas D. Ace rowed out to sea.
"Ace! We'll meet again out there!"
"I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!!!"
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