One Piece: The Living Devil

"What? It has something to do with the Pirate King?"

The moment he heard those three words, Luffy's eyes instantly turned into shining stars. All the heaviness from before vanished, and he became excited again.

"If it's related to the Pirate King, then if your information is valuable, I can consider sparing your worthless life for now."

Usopp coldly offered him a very forced way out.

The way he was trying so hard to maintain the image of a cold-hearted avenger had left Zoro and Nami completely speechless.

At this point, they truly, one hundred percent, no longer believed that anything had happened to Kaya.

If Kaya had really been killed by the man in front of them, with Usopp's feelings for her, there was no way he'd suddenly start negotiating just because he heard the words "Pirate King."

Unless Usopp was like his father Yasopp, who only knew how to father children but not raise them, a heartless scumbag willing to abandon everything for adventure.

"Have you ever heard of Arabasta?", Kuro asked mysteriously, lowering his voice.

"Arabasta? Where's that? Does it have good food?", Luffy tilted his head in confusion.

Kuro cleared his throat and began explaining, "Arabasta is a great desert kingdom in the first half of the Grand Line with a long history. But things there have become a little complicated."

He paused before continuing, "More than ten years ago, the previous king, Cobra, unexpectedly died of illness. Since then, the country has been jointly governed by the young Queen Vivi and the Regent King Titi. However, in recent years, a rumor has been circulating throughout Arabasta..."

At this point, Kuro deliberately paused and looked around at everyone.

"The rumor says that Queen Vivi isn't King Cobra's biological daughter at all. Instead, she's the child Princess Titi conceived years ago through an affair with the World Government's supreme ruler, His Majesty himself."

"Hiss..."

Hearing such explosive gossip, Zoro, Nami, and Usopp instinctively turned to look at Sanji, who was standing nearby smoking.

After all, Sanji was Rosse's legitimate crown prince.

"Why are you all looking at me?"

The stares made Sanji's skin crawl. He rolled his eyes and pointed at himself with the hand holding his cigarette.

"I wasn't even born back then. How would I know whether he left any romantic debts behind in the desert?"

Even so, Sanji was fairly certain Vivi was probably his half-sister.

As for the details, he had no idea.

"Oh..."

The others didn't press further. They simply nodded in understanding, withdrew their curious looks, and gestured for Kuro to continue.

Smiling, Kuro went on, "And because of these uncertain rumors about her bloodline, Arabasta has split into two factions. Led by a young man named Koza, part of the citizens and the military doubt Queen Vivi's identity and believe she isn't qualified to rule Arabasta."

"Wait," Nami immediately spotted the problem and frowned.

"That doesn't make sense. If those people suspect Queen Vivi is His Majesty Rosse's illegitimate daughter, then how do they even dare rebel?"

"If His Majesty Rosse really is Queen Vivi's father, then with the World Government's current power, the opposition would probably have been blown to pieces the moment they even thought about rebelling. Why doesn't Queen Vivi just get rid of them?"

She could more or less guess that this was another stage prepared by the invisible hand for the Straw Hat Pirates.

But she still couldn't understand the logic behind the script, or what role they were supposed to play in this conflict.

"That's exactly what's so strange about it."

Kuro adjusted his glasses, his eyes flickering.

"However, that young man Koza isn't without support. Rumor has it that not only are members of the Revolutionary Army secretly helping him behind the scenes, but there's also a kind-hearted master named Crocodile doing everything he can to support the opposition and overthrow the royal family."

"Hold on."

Nami stared at him in disbelief, as though she had just heard the most absurd story imaginable.

"Crocodile? You mean the pirate with a 500 million Berry bounty and the Sand-Sand Fruit? How do the words 'kind-hearted master' have anything to do with a pirate whose hands are covered in blood?"

"Ahem... Well, that's just what people are saying. As for the real reason, someone like me wouldn't know."

Kuro coughed awkwardly and brushed the question aside.

After receiving the script, he had looked into it himself.

But that really was the way things were. It had nothing to do with him.

"Enough with all this random gossip."

Sanji blew out a smoke ring and cut in at the right moment, steering the conversation back on track.

"You said there was a secret related to the Pirate King. What exactly is it?"

The instant he asked that question, Kuro, Usopp, and Sanji's eyes met briefly.

Kuro's expression remained calm, but his tone became solemn.

"The Nefertari Family, the royal family of Arabasta, are descendants of one of the Twenty Royal Families that founded the World Government eight hundred years ago. They're the only family that never moved into the Holy Land, Mary Geoise."

"It's said that Pirate King Gol D. Roger discovered an extremely important clue in Arabasta back then. That clue ultimately led him on his journey to Laugh Tale."

In truth, there was no need to add this secret about Roger.

According to the planned route, the Straw Hat Pirates were going to Arabasta anyway.

But for the sake of all the extras and supporting actors who didn't know the truth, and to give Luffy a reasonable motivation, the lines still had to be delivered.

Besides, once they reached the grand stage of Arabasta, the Straw Hat Pirates were about to receive a massive power-up.

If they weren't given something to look forward to, the show couldn't continue.

"Roger went there? And found the clue to Laugh Tale there?"

Just as expected, the moment Luffy heard those words, he exploded like a lit firecracker.

Jumping up and down excitedly with shining eyes, he grabbed Zoro's shoulders and shook him hard.

"We're going! We have to go to that place called... Alaba-whatever! Let's see what Roger left behind!"

"Idiot! Stop shaking me! You're making me dizzy!", Zoro slapped Luffy's hands away irritably.

Nami sighed helplessly.

'What a headache.'

Right now, they still didn't understand anything.

Once they reached Arabasta, were they supposed to help Queen Vivi, the suspected illegitimate daughter?

Or help Koza, who was supported by the so-called kind pirate?

And how were they supposed to find the clue Roger had left somewhere in that endless desert?

Looking at Luffy, who was already eager to leave and had completely lost interest in Reverse City, Nami knew there was no point thinking about it now.

Things would work themselves out when they got there.

That had always been the only way their unreliable captain operated.

"I'm going to Alaba-whatever! I'm going to become the Pirate King!"

Although Luffy jumped around like a monkey, shouting his protests at the top of his lungs, Nami's iron fist quickly suppressed him.

The future Pirate King obediently held the steaming lump on his head and followed behind the group as they began their half-day tour of Reverse City's harbor district.

It wasn't that Nami and the others didn't want to explore the city's more prosperous districts.

The problem was that, as the hub connecting the Five Seas, the city enforced a strict system of social classes and identity restrictions.

Unregistered pirate ships like theirs, which had done nothing but pay the toll, were only allowed to stay within the harbor supply district.

If they crossed the boundary, they would be removed.

Throughout their brief shopping trip and resupply, Kuro clung to them like a piece of stubborn chewing gum.

He eagerly carried bags, bargained over prices, and enthusiastically introduced all kinds of new facilities around the harbor.

Smiling the entire time, he looked like an exceptionally competent unofficial logistics officer for the Straw Hat Pirates.

After finishing their supplies, the group returned to the Going Merry in high spirits.

"Raise the sails! Set sail! Our destination, the Grand Line!"

Standing atop the sheep figurehead, Luffy had completely regained his energy and excitedly pointed ahead.

The Going Merry sailed through Reverse City's enormous sea gate and plunged straight into the downward reverse current.

"Hold on, everyone!"

Accompanied by Nami's scream, the Going Merry became the world's craziest roller coaster, diving almost vertically down the cliff face of the Red Line from an altitude of ten thousand meters.

The fierce wind cut past their ears like knives, while the crimson cliffs on both sides blurred into streaks as they raced by.

The tremendous feeling of weightlessness even sent Luffy's snot flying upward. Zoro, meanwhile, excitedly gripped the ropes, and even Sanji couldn't help letting out a whistle.

Amid deafening splashes and roaring water, the Going Merry became like a sword, cleaving through the thick sea mist at the end of the descent before crashing into the waters of the Grand Line.

"We're finally here... the legendary sea!"

Nami calmed her pounding heart and opened her eyes.

But the sight before them instantly froze the excitement on everyone's faces.

There were no magnificent waves.

No mysterious islands waiting to be explored.

Instead, before them lay a silent graveyard of ships that sent chills down their spines.

The broad waters at the entrance were densely covered with countless wrecked ships.

Broken masts.

Decks riddled with holes.

Faded, tattered pirate flags.

Some force had permanently fixed all these wrecks in place, stretching across dozens of kilometers like countless silent gravestones.

The World Government had cleared only a single broad, straight shipping lane through the middle of the wreckage.

As the Going Merry slowly sailed down that passage, the shocking ruin on both sides reduced the mood aboard the ship to freezing point.

"This used to be the entrance to the Grand Line, and it was famous as a gathering place for rookie killers."

Kuro adjusted his glasses. The fawning smile had faded somewhat, and his tone carried a hint of complexity.

"In the past, rookie pirates from the Four Seas would rush down Reverse Mountain full of dreams. Before they even got a good look at the Grand Line, countless veteran pirate crews would ambush, rob, and slaughter them here."

"But after Reverse City was built, the World Government purged this entire area."

Kuro pointed toward the mountain of wreckage surrounding them.

"Overnight, every pirate operating here was completely wiped out by the World Government. His Majesty used special methods to permanently fix these wrecks here as both a tourist attraction left behind by the Great Pirate Era and a warning."

At this point, Kuro let out a heartfelt sigh.

"Honestly, everyone, being a pirate really has no future in this era."

"Even after my identity was exposed in the East Blue, I didn't dare continue wandering the seas. I spent every Berry I'd saved over the years, calling in favors everywhere, just to barely obtain legal citizenship in Reverse City."

"I'm going to become the Pirate King!"

Luffy's slogan still rang across the sea, as if the surroundings had no effect on him whatsoever.

That was simply who he was.

As for everyone else, their thoughts were even simpler.

They had never been true pirates to begin with.

Once the script ended, they would all return to the places where they truly belonged.

Only Kuro lowered his head, his eyes behind the lenses filled with mixed emotions.

Back in the tiny, remote corner of the East Blue, he had called himself a master strategist, believing he had everything under his control.

Back then, he had pieced together his image of the outside world from the occasional scraps Usopp accidentally let slip.

It wasn't until he truly stepped onto this stage and took advantage of the Straw Hat Pirates' journey through the East Blue to visit the outside world himself that he finally fell into complete despair.

Only then did he realize that the world beyond wasn't a place where countless pirates competed for supremacy as he had imagined.

Starting more than ten years ago, everything he had seen in the East Blue, even the first half of his own life, had merely been part of an absurd stage play that His Majesty had built for the Straw Hat Pirates.

Every time he thought about it, Kuro couldn't help feeling cold all over.

Only by climbing out of that tiny well, only by stepping outside the script, could one truly understand just how terrifying the World Government, and Rosse himself, really were.

The Going Merry continued sailing through the graveyard.

Suddenly, a massive white object resembling a small mountain appeared ahead.

"W-What... is that?", Nami covered her mouth in shock.

As they drew closer, everyone gasped.

It was an enormous skeleton.

Its outline was unimaginably huge. The part protruding above the sea alone stood several hundred meters tall, while its ribs rose from the water like gigantic pillars reaching into the sky.

"This is the skeleton of an Island Whale."

With one hand on his sword hilt, Zoro stepped forward, narrowed his eyes, and examined it carefully before speaking in a low voice.

"And... this Island Whale can't have been dead for more than a few months. Look at those charred marks on the bones, and the lingering heat that still hasn't completely dispersed from the surrounding waters."

"This monster the size of an island didn't die of old age. Someone burned it down to nothing but bones in an instant with unbelievably intense heat."

"Burned into a skeleton in an instant? You've got to be kidding!", Nami couldn't help saying, "How huge would that fire have to be?"

She wasn't weak herself, but the level of power Zoro was describing was beyond anything she could imagine.

Even Sanji and Usopp didn't know the origin of this Island Whale.

After all, neither of them paid much attention to places this far on the outskirts.

The Pirate Graveyard, as its name suggested, was now nothing more than a dumping ground for the old era in the eyes of the World Government.

At most, it was just another tourist attraction.

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