New World waters, aboard the Giant Yacht.
Every member of the Morning Star Pirates had gathered on a deck as spacious as a plaza, savoring a rare moment of peace.
Ginny sat on Kuma's shoulder, sighing over the newspaper in her hand—
"Kuma-chin, the Marines sure are slow. It's been more than a day and they still haven't updated the bounties. I really wanted to see how high ours will be."
Kuma only smiled, wordlessly passing her one skewer after another of the Captain's grilled meat.
Nearby, Mihawk and Fujitora sat exchanging sword insights while debating the hundred-and-eight ways to blend red wine with iced black tea.
Shiliew had meant to chat cigars with Golden Lion, but the moment the latter saw the paper he stormed off to find the Captain.
"Barzeb, when did I ever agree to join the Morning Star Pirates?"
"Nani?!"
Seven's acting was flawless; while carving a Sea King into Giant-sized chunks he asked in bewilderment,
"Senior Shiki? I'd be delighted if you wanted to join, but you never mentioned it to me."
Golden Lion shoved the paper in front of Seven.
"Look—front-page news: 'Legendary great pirate Golden Lion, awed by Emperor of the Sea Barzeb, joins the Morning Star Pirates.'"
Seven gave a helpless shrug.
"Senior Shiki, six of every ten lines from that bird Morgans are pure drivel. The press mixes truth and bunk—what matters is usually fake, what's true barely matters."
He added with a grin,
"How about we pay Morgans a visit and have the bird print a retraction saying you never joined?"
Golden Lion hesitated. "You really didn't tell him to write that?"
At first sight of the article he'd assumed Barzeb put Morgans up to it—
Yet Barzeb claimed ignorance?
"Of course not. I, Barzeb, am known across the seas as Honest-and-Reliable Lad; I'd never pull such a stunt."
"Besides, everyone knows you, Senior Shiki, bow to no one. Precisely because I know that, I never asked you to join."
Golden Lion preened. "At least you've got some sense."
After a pause he asked,
"You planning to take Hachinosu Island?"
Seven motioned for Dorry and Brogy to lay the Sea King meat on the grill, then answered,
"Senior Shiki, strictly speaking that's an internal decision, but since this partnership's been pleasant—yes."
"We came to the New World to seize Hachinosu and turn it into the Morning Star Pirates' stronghold."
Golden Lion was silent for a moment.
"Leave Directly Ruling to me."
"No problem." Seven nodded.
"Who better than you to deal with a traitor of the Rocks Pirates?"
"But only his life is yours—all wealth on the island stays."
Partnership was partnership; business was business.
Turning Hachinosu into a base meant forts, docks, and every last berrie counted.
"Hmph." Golden Lion snorted.
"I wouldn't touch Directly Ruling's pocket change. You greenhorns have no idea how much treasure God Valley held."
After the Rocks Pirates disbanded, Golden Lion's first fortune came from the chests of God Valley—each holding a billion Berries.
Captain John had been hunted to his death over one such chest.
Golden Lion walked off. Seven resumed cooking; with four Giant crewmates, feeding them was a colossal task.
Luckily, Seven was no longer the rookie he'd been aboard the Roger Pirates—his strength, blade skill, and stamina had all soared.
Otherwise the cooking alone would exhaust him.
Because of the four Giants, the whole crew had transferred to the Giant Yacht for now, the east blue emperor towed behind.
At last, after half a day's work,
Seven finished the feast, bathed, changed, and stepped onto the open-air banquet deck.
"Everyone." He raised his cup.
"Welcome Dorry, Brogy, Oimo, Kashi, Tesoro, and Shiliew of the Rain to the family!"
"Kanpai!"
"Kanpai!"
Henceforth the four Giants would keep the name Giant Warrior Pirates as the Morning Star Pirates' First Division.
Captains: Dorry and Brogy; crew: Oimo, Kashi, and the rest of the original Giant Warrior Pirates.
After nearly a century away, Dorry, Brogy and the others would sail back to Elbaf aboard the Giant Yacht once Hachinosu was taken.
As Seven watched the revelry, he sensed a familiar presence.
Light condensed into a figure; Kizaru held up a bulging bundle.
"Barzeb, someone asked me to deliver this."
Seven smiled in invitation.
"Borsalino, stay for a drink?"
The Admiral shook his head at once—last time he'd sat for a drink this brat snapped photos for blackmail; another round and the title of Admiral would be toast.
"Still on duty. Later."
He set the bundle on the deck and left without a backward glance, as if the ship were infested with monsters.
Seeing this, Ginny casually opened a door, reached out, and handed the parcel to Seven.
Here you go, Captain.
Thanks.
The instant he took the parcel and opened it, Seven's expression turned spectacular: a Devil Fruit and a letter.
He tore the envelope; inside was a single line: Beelzebul, compensation for the Buster Call.
Hohoho-hahaha—
Seven laughed aloud. Who said the Gorosei were cold and heartless? They knew exactly how the world works. Is this the value of a name that doesn't carry the initial D?
Why was he so sure it was the Gorosei?
Who else could make the current Admiral Kizaru deliver it in person? Even Sengoku might not have that kind of pull.
Flames sprang from his fingertips and burned the note to ash. Then Seven studied the oddly shaped Devil Fruit with playful interest.
Will you consume the Paramecia Age-Age Fruit...
No.
Seven hadn't expected the Gorosei to send compensation on their own initiative; he hadn't even considered retaliation. Better to spend that energy figuring out how to boost his own strength and that of his crew.
As a top-tier pirate, being targeted by the World Government and the Marines was normal. If they ignored you, it only proved you were small fry.
The Marines couldn't be bothered to target you.
After all, he had kidnapped Celestial Dragons twice and successfully ransomed the World Government both times.
What surprised him even more was that they'd sent the Paramecia Age-Age Fruit—powered by pure imagination.
In the original timeline, Satan Saint had fed this fruit to Bonney as an extract when she was still an infant.
The Age-Age Fruit's ability… how to put it? The power springs entirely from imagination; by believing a fantasy is real, you twist the future.
The user can turn themselves or others into any future form they can imagine.
The strength of the effect depends on how firmly the user believes that imagined future is possible. The more the user recognizes real-world limits, the fewer forms they can take and the weaker the effects.
In short, it's a bit shady.
For Bonney, the Nika state was probably the limit of what she could imagine and believe.
She'd been locked in a church since age five; her idea of Nika came only from the stories Kuma told her and what little she'd seen.
But who was Seven?
A transmigrator washed by the internet, knowing legends from myriad worlds, a cheater with a system.
When it came to imagination, his limit was theoretically none.
If Seven could eat a second Devil Fruit, forget training—he'd march straight to the Room of Flowers in Pangu City and skip to the finale.
The lords of the Three Pure Ones and Four Imperial Ones were too broken; Erlang Shen and the Great Sage were too overpowered. Turning into Little Drill Wind alone would sweep the pirate world.
Then there were the Chaos Four, the Emperor, Super Saiyans, idealist Superman, and so on.
If possible, Seven could imagine and believe in every mighty being across the heavens.
But judging by how musou isshin had been downgraded from divine weapon to Super Supreme Grade Blade, the pirate world did have a dimensional ceiling.
Existences beyond that ceiling couldn't fully manifest here.
So even if he could eat the Age-Age Fruit, he couldn't become peak Little Drill Wind; it would likely be a nerfed version.
All that would need testing by Seven himself.
And that assumed he first found a way to consume a second Devil Fruit.
In this world, Devil Fruits are the collective wish or imagination of humanity, representing desire for evolutionary possibility.
Sometimes Seven wondered—had the system chosen him because of the intense longing he'd felt as a child?
As the saying goes: keep thinking about it and the echo will return.
Following that logic, Seven prayed silently.
[O omnipotent System, your devout host now wishes to eat one more Devil Fruit.]
Before obtaining the Age-Age Fruit, what Seven wanted most was the Float-Float Fruit, to gain absolute strategic advantage and mobility.
For example, making the east blue emperor fly.
Or using the Float-Float Fruit to move several islands from the sea up to the White Sea, expanding territory for the Sky Islands, and so on.
After acquiring the Age-Age Fruit, Seven changed his mind; he decided to gamble on the power of imagination.
Choosing between the Float-Float Fruit and the Age-Age Fruit was essentially choosing between absolute strategic advantage and limitless growth potential.
The Age-Age Fruit's core advantage was its infinite ceiling; the power depended on imagination and belief.
Its weakness was that strength relied too much on the user's conviction, causing instability.
Besides, Golden Lion was now half-mad; there was a thirty percent chance Seven could talk him into joining the Morning Star Pirates, automatically ruling out the Float-Float Fruit.
As for the other three—the Teleportation Fruit, Swamp-Swamp Fruit, and Baku Baku no Mi—with the Rumble-Rumble Fruit already in hand, Teleportation was just icing, and Baku Baku's offensive power was far below the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's ATK.
The Swamp-Swamp Fruit could be listed on the trading platform... East Blue, Conomi Islands.
Emperor Boxing Gym.
Big Head, something bad happened!
A thin, monkey-faced figure tumbled into the Emperor Boxing Gym, gasping as he slapped a newspaper onto the table.
Big Head, Little White Hair kidnapped a Celestial Dragon—will the Marines retaliate against us?
The burly muscleman Big Head looked ready to cry but couldn't.
That Little White Hair beat us for months last time he was back, and before leaving he specifically told us to tell anyone asking that we drove him out of Housha Town.
Now I see how terrifying he really was.
Quick, notify the villagers... we're moving