"So, I'm going on a business trip for a little while."
I called an emergency meeting. I borrowed the meeting room in Mogwa Kingdom's castle and gathered all the leaders.
I thought they would be more worried, but the leaders and the guards seem calm.
"Daz will be in charge while I'm gone. ...Of course. Daz, you know our most important goal in the West Blue right now, right?"
"Yes."
Daz isn't bothered at all, even in a crisis. He's amazing.
I don't know how he feels inside, but he looks calm to me, which is a big help.
This should keep the soldiers from panicking.
"We will focus on grain to grow more food," Daz continued. "We will get rid of hunger from as many islands as we can. Or at least push it back."
"That's right."
We need power, but right now, we need to make more food most of all.
The whole area is unstable. We need to make enough to survive.
"Mihawk, your most important job is developing the old Kanan country."
"Yes," Mihawk confirmed. "The transport ships are already loaded with enough food, seeds, and supplies. It should be fine for the first step."
"Good. For protection, I'm giving you Chris, the guards, and our best soldiers. Do not let the people get hurt anymore."
"Got it, Kuro," Mihawk said simply.
"Hancock, you will defend the sea between Mopuchi Country and Mogwa Kingdom. Work with the Marines. But..."
"Things are changing, so I shouldn't let my guard down... is that it?" Hancock finished for me.
"That's right. Always think 'what if.'
...Sorry. I was supposed to handle the politics and talking with other groups."
"Don't worry," Hancock reassured me. "As the admiral, I knew this would happen. I can't promise I'll be perfect, but I'll try my best not to mess up. Amisu and Gild Tesoro are here too."
"...Thank you, Hancock."
Mihawk is ready to go. That's great.
We might develop that land faster than I thought.
I hope we can grow more grain...
Hancock has become so dependable since she started leading the fleet.
"Daz, you run and protect Mopuchi Country. My rough ideas for development are in the safe... but I haven't put them in order. I haven't even checked if they are possible. Remember, they are just rough ideas."
Plans for water and sewer systems, dams, new farms, fixing roads, a new transport system, building a ship repair dock...
It's just a bunch of wild ideas, like a high schooler's notes, but this is a good time to share them.
"Talk with the guards and Gild Tesoro. If any of the ideas seem useful, use them. Do what you think is best."
"Understood," Daz acknowledged. "...What about the islands near Mopuchi Country from the first plan?"
Ah, like Purina and Kanagan... the islands we were going to take first.
I want to focus on Mopuchi Country and Kanan... but those islands are probably hurt, too. I don't want them to turn into thieves.
"If we have the extra strength, you can bring them under our control. I'll leave the decision to you."
"Understood," he replied.
"Gild Tesoro, you will help Daz and the princess with advice and raise money. We have some savings, but for rebuilding and the future, we'll need all the money we can get."
"Understood, Captain," Gild Tesoro said.
Good. Gild Tesoro is fitting in well.
I was worried since he's not a famous character or a devil fruit user like Daz or Perona, but I can trust him with money.
He's smart and understands how things work.
"To the fish-men, your first job is to stay safe. If it's an emergency, you can run without telling us."
"...So we will be targeted," Hack concluded grimly.
"Sadly, yes. People still see fish-men as easy money. This is the West Blue, the mafia's sea. Even normal people know how to sell you. In this crisis, people will jump at any chance to get money or food."
"Mm, we understand..." Hack nodded. "But you have helped us, Captain Kuro. Let us at least help gather and prepare supplies."
"...Sorry, Hack. That helps a lot."
Hack is also someone we can't do without.
He's the one who made our regular soldiers stronger, not just the guards. Hack teaches them.
Mihawk? He just smashes things. The guards who can keep up with him are amazing...
"Now... then."
Rayleigh, his face hidden by his hood, just smiles a little.
Well, I have nothing to say to him.
He's just doing what he wants, but he's making Mihawk a better swordsman.
The problem is...
Mmmmmmph.
"Can someone please pull Robin off of me?"
"Impossible, Captain," Daz stated flatly.
"Hey, Vice-Captain, aren't you giving up too fast?" Hancock teased.
"I'd call it making a quick decision."
"Horo horo horo!" Perona cackled. "Just take Robin with you. You could escape even if things go wrong, right, Kuro?"
"Don't be crazy. Hey, Robin. Can you at least undo your devil fruit? It feels like I'm being eaten by a spider—"
"No!" Robin shouted, her voice muffled against me.
"Please..."
--
"Sniffle..."
"I'm sorry, I decided without you. But this was our chance."
In the end, none of my crew helped me.
What a bunch of traitors.
Are they all too soft on Robin?
If Robin started a mutiny, they would probably join her. Especially Perona.
Everyone left to get ready for their jobs. Now, it's just me and Robin.
"From now on, we have to find a way to deal with the World Government."
She finally stopped using her devil fruit to hold me and is just clinging to me normally.
"This whole thing made it clear. We and the Marines have something in common. Our... 'culture,' maybe? That's why we can still talk."
Well, the Amisu incident was a big reason... If we didn't have that gap with the government, this would have been impossible.
"I need to go there and feel what the World Government is really like. I don't have to understand it, but I need to feel it."
I also want to set up a few plans. I can't miss this chance to see the inside of my enemy while I'm mostly safe.
Yes... I should be mostly safe.
At least until the meeting is over.
Even if I have to use our deal with the Marines as a threat, I should be able to get back to the West Blue safely. Daz and Hancock's work, and what they do while I'm gone, will make me even safer.
If they kill me, 'Black Cat' will become a full-on anti-government army. The government wants to avoid that.
...Still, maybe I should make a connection with the Revolutionary Army, just in case.
"Captain," Robin asked quietly, "do you want to get rid of all the pirates in the West Blue?"
"...We probably can't get rid of all of them, but I do think things need to calm down."
Just being practical, it's useful to have an easy enemy like "thieves."
But... if there are too many, it will mess up my own development plans.
"Robin, you know my goal, right?"
"...To build a second ruling power," she recited. "One that can compete with the World Government, but also live alongside it."
"Yes. ...We talked about this before."
I explained it to Daz and the others before we took Mopuchi Country. Perona was sleeping through it, though.
"As long as we're chased as pirates, we have two choices. We can hide, or we can become too strong for them to touch."
"...Yes," she whispered.
"For us, hiding was hard. After the Amisu incident, we were always going to be chased. We had to get stronger, or the Marines or mafia would have crushed us."
If the pirate alliance hadn't shown up, we'd still be busy fighting the mafia while trying to build our base.
"Luckily, we grew strong. As a single pirate crew, we're one of the strongest in the West Blue."
Even without Mihawk, our guards are stronger than anyone else.
I saw that when we attacked the pirate bases. They had more men, but that's it.
Mihawk said their best leader was only as good as one of my average crewmen.
"Because we're this strong, we had to meet the government sooner or later."
"...Captain." Robin's voice trembled slightly. "Will you come back?"
"Of course. I know who I'm talking to this time. The chances are better than when I went to the regional base."
Back then, if I had talked to the base commander instead of Sengoku, I would have been in trouble. This time, I know who I'm meeting.
"I'm going to make a connection with the government and buy us time. The most important thing, Robin, is what you and Mihawk do. I need you to make that island useful to us."
I am keeping some things from Robin, but I mean this.
If she can use our new workers to make that big island productive, it will be a great achievement. It will make the Marines and the government hesitate to attack us.
We need to show them how useful 'Black Cat' is, even if we're not under their control.
"Mihawk is great at clearing land, but he leaves all the planning for towns and roads to Chris and Amelia. That's fine, but I want you to be the one in charge."
If she's going to be a leader of 'Black Cat,' she needs this experience.
"If you two rebuild that island, and the Marines and the government hear about it, it will help me a lot. Can I count on you?"
My friend, who is a little more emotional than the Nico Robin I remember, wipes her tears and nods.
But she's wiping them on my jacket.
"Captain," she said, pulling back.
"Yes."
"I'll try my best," she declared. "I'll try really hard...!"
--
In Spider Miles, a port town in the North Blue. Three men were sitting at a table in a bar.
"Fuffuffu. I see. You'll gather power while staying hidden," the youngest man, wearing sunglasses, chuckled.
"Yes," replied the older man with an afro. "It's just a lot of treasure hunters right now. It's too annoying to fight for territory."
"But that 'Silent Step' Kuro. He's interesting..." the man with a ship's wheel stuck in his head mused. "To think he found our base with so little information."
"My bad, 'Festa,'" said the man with the wheel. "You were planning some big fireworks, weren't you?"
"Heh heh heh, don't worry about it, 'Golden Lion,'" the older man with the afro said, and the youngest man, wearing sunglasses, shook his head. "I'm the one who gave the 'go' sign. I should be the one saying sorry."
"It was a failure, but not a big loss," the young man said. "In fact, it was good to learn that this kind of failure can happen. Besides..."
He paused to pour a drink for the afro-haired man.
"We got what we wanted. The New World is about to explode. Because Kuro figured out our plan, the Marines are moving forces from Paradise to the New World."
"Jihahahaha!" the Golden Lion roared. "They're just rookies, but pirates are pirates. The Grand Line is going to be on fire with all these new pirates."
"Was it a good cover for you? Shiki, the Golden Lion," Festa asked.
"Yes. Thanks to this, it's easy to find new men."
"Fuffuffu, that's good," the young man with sunglasses said. "It means no one at this table lost anything."
The man with a ship's wheel stuck in his head, about the same age as the afro man, looks at a dirty map on the table.
"Well, it hurts that he took the island I wanted to pick up later... but I've already 'picked up' other islands. I'll take my time and build my base."
"That's good news," Festa said. "I'm happy if I could help someone like you, who plans to fight the whole world."
"Jihaha... But you're pretty smart yourself. Doflamingo, was it?" The Golden Lion shoved meat in his mouth, not caring about the map, and said to the young man, "You caused a huge pirate panic and killed a lot of Marines. Anyone can think of that. But then, you used the fact that the Marines needed new soldiers... to sneak your own men inside."
"Fuffuffu," Doflamingo smirked. "Well, they're all in training at different bases. It will be years before they're useful as spies... but it's a good first step."
"You got that right! Jihahahahaha!" Shiki bellowed as the three pirates laughed and drank their sake.
"So, Mr. Doflamingo, Will you accept our proposal?"
"Yes, no problem," Doflamingo replied. "I heard an interesting story from Buena Festa, too. It's a good way to kill time until the real show... though that's still a ways off." He continued, "For now, I'll build my basic power... and next, I'll move to get authority. The 'Black Cat' pirate is a problem for the government. That means they will definitely want a new force to fight him. A force that isn't the Marines. I have a few more things to do in this sea, but... My goal is the Seven Warlords. For starters... Fuffuffu... I'll use this situation for all it's worth."