“That cannot be possible!”

Kuja Castle rocked with a shrieked admonition, sending the ladies-in-waiting rushing to Hancock’s chamber to find out what had happened, only to find a shocked Grandma Nyon slumped on the floor, her lips trembling.

“I’ve fallen to the floor because your preposterous idiocy knows no bounds!” she shouted. If there was anyone who could speak such insults to the Pirate Empress herself, it was this shriveled old woman.

Hancock fixed Grandma Nyon with a gaze and demanded, “How do you know it is idiocy?”

“Because I do! Based on what you’ve told me, that will never, ever happen!”

“But you never know. It could happen.”

“It won’t!”

“How can you be so sure? What do you know about this, Grandma Nyon?”

“Well, I…!”

Grandma Nyon stopped in her tracks, stumbling over her tongue. Hancock rounded on her. She looked impossibly stern.

“What do you have to say for yourself, Gloriosa? If you know something about this, tell me now.”

“Pipe down, girl! This is nyot your concern! Use your time constructively and go outside to see the townsfolk instead of worrying about this nyon-sense!”

“How dare you call my and Luffy’s concerns nonsense!”

They bickered and shouted and carried on like mother and daughter. Enishida the attendant didn’t know what to do.

How did this argument get started? For that, one had to look several weeks earlier…

It was a cold morning shrouded in foggy drizzle.

Marguerite was standing watch at the fortress when she noticed a ragged little boat approaching from the sea and pointed her spyglass at it.

“Who would dare to break the agreement and approach this island?”

She peered keenly at the boat, wondering if it might be a Navy spy, until she realized that there was a familiar face rowing the craft. It was a formerly missing member of the Kuja Pirates by the name of Dahlia.

“Chapter–‘Dahlia has returned’!” said Sweetpea.

“Oh my goodness! Let’s go to her!” added Aphelandra.

The other two were on the lookout shift with Marguerite, and the trio rushed to the coast.

Dahlia had gone missing during a voyage about two years earlier. A smaller Neptunian had washed up on the deck of the ship during a storm, and she’d been trying to push it back into the sea, but her momentum had carried her into the waves too, and she’d been missing ever since. Time passed without any final word on her status, and it had been long enough that the elders were just starting to discuss holding a memorial service. It was a good thing they hadn’t, because now she seemed to be alive.

The trio rushed through the trees to the shore, where Dahlia had already disembarked, and was slumped onto the sand.

“Dahlia! Chapter–‘Welcome home’!” said Sweetpea, but Dahlia didn’t respond.

“Are you all right, Dahlia? Are you hurt?!” Marguerite rushed over. When Dahlia lifted her face, it was drenched in sweat.

“Please…call for Cassandra…”

She was almost out of breath. Her body trembled violently, and her face was pale. Marguerite looked her over, concerned about the possibility of injury—and then her face went pale, too.

“Oh no! The head is breaching!”

Those who travel beyond the island return home bearing babies, but strangely enough, all of the children born are girls. Amazon Lily was an island of women where men were forbidden. Dahlia was no exception—when Cassandra rushed to her side to help, she picked up a loud and healthy baby girl.

It was the custom in Amazon Lily for the entire village to care for newborns. The women all clamored to be the one to help Dahlia with the baby until the day a letter came to her from Kuja Castle.

In short, it was a summons from the Snake Princess.

A direct summons from Boa Hancock, the ruler of Amazon Lily, was a major event for any woman of this country.

“I can’t believe the Snake Princess called for Dahlia!”

“So you get to see her in person?! I’m so jealous!”

“Just what did you do, Dahlia?!”

Marguerite and Sweetpea and Aphelandra were all atwitter, but Dahlia didn’t seem particularly surprised. She’d had a feeling that this time would come, and she even knew what would be said to her.

In the outside world, Dahlia had betrayed Hancock. She’d fallen in love with a man.

The next day, Dahlia showed up at the castle as instructed. Enishida greeted her, and escorted her to Hancock’s chamber.

“Dahlia is here, Your Highness,” Enishida said softly into the room.

Dahlia stepped forward awkwardly, reminding herself of one all-important thing: Be proud and upright. I’m a mother now.

There was no denying that Dahlia had fallen in love with a man. But that did not mean she had renounced her loyalty to the Snake Princess. The fact that she had left that man and returned to Amazon Lily was all one needed to know about her dedication.

Whatever she asks, I’ll answer boldly and proudly. If that angers the Snake Princess, I will accept it without regret, Dahlia told herself, and looked up.

The ruler of this country sat atop a large canopy bed, leaning against her coiled snake: Boa Hancock, the Pirate Empress. The instant she saw her, Dahlia felt frozen, as though trapped by a predator.

She was in the presence of a beauty so overwhelming it robbed her of the ability to think.

A gently sloping forehead, slightly wide. Cool almond eyes with long, exotic corners. A small, fine nose with a delicate bridge. Smooth, luscious lips without a hint of a wrinkle. The eyes, framed by long lashes, were dark and full of wisdom, and the curve of her eyelids was so graceful it looked like it had been designed by angels.

Her facial features weren’t her only perfection. Her silhouette surpassed the bounds of human intelligence, and was only enhanced by the way her lustrous black hair framed it. Her silky-smooth skin cast a pale glow. She had a bewitching, almost corrupting air, and the translucent quality of glass, a combination that entranced the viewer. Her low-cut top exposed her shapely collarbones, her delicate shoulders, and her luscious cleavage. Hers was a beauty that the sea itself would part before.

How could such a beautiful thing exist in this imperfect world?

The sight of such sculpted, impossible beauty held Dahlia spellbound and unblinking. This was a living being on an entirely different level from her own. The sheer pressure of so much perfection made the insides of her eyes hurt.

What can I do? I came here expecting to meet the Snake Princess as an equal—but there’s no way I can defy someone so beautiful!

Hancock inclined her head slightly, casting a glance at Dahlia. Her black hair trickled across her cheek as smoothly as water, and her red lips parted.

“Dahlia.”

Dahlia sucked in a shocked breath.

She called…my name!

Hancock’s voice was so clean and crisp that it seemed as though the sound itself had a solid core, as pleasant as a wind chime on a summer’s day. It wasn’t fair that she could be so beautiful and have such a lovely voice.

“I’m glad you have returned.”

“H-hyes, Princess…”

In less than ten seconds, Dahlia had already suffered untold mental damage, but she persisted and maintained her sanity. If she passed out, she would be shaming her status as a Kuja Pirate, no matter how gorgeous the Snake Princess was.

“Umm,” she started, trying her best not to look directly at Hancock, “I wish to apologize…for falling into the sea…due to a mistake of my own making…and being unable to finish…your voyage with you.”

“You seem thinner than before. You’ve had a hard time.”

“Um…”

“I’ve heard that you came back bearing a child. It seems that you found something quite precious while you were away.”

“Umm…”

Her voice began to tremble. Dahlia had to consciously tighten her throat. She could not make excuses for herself, but she wanted Hancock to know that she hadn’t lost any of her loyalty. The baby she’d given birth to was a precious part of the future generation that would protect Amazon Lily, too.

“To serve you is my reason for living, Highness. That feeling will never, ever change. But…as you say, when I was abroad, I found something…precious. To me, it is…about as precious as you are.”

She wanted to apologize for saying this, but Hancock spoke first.

“And what is the status of your precious thing? Tell me.”

Is she asking about my baby…?

Dahlia was expecting to be berated for falling in love with a man, so this question confused her. Had she been summoned to the palace because the Snake Princess was concerned about her baby? Maybe she’s not actually angry with me.

She calmed down and envisioned her baby daughter’s face. She was surprisingly happy when leaving the house, but most of the time she was either crying or sleeping.

“My precious stared happily at my hand as I left, but that is a rare thing. Bawling or sleeping are more typical reactions.”

“What?!” Hancock replied, raising an eyebrow. “Is there really so much crying?”

“Oh, yes. You would think that crying was an occupation with how often it happens.”

“I see. The precious one I know hardly ever sheds tears. Perhaps they are not all so similar.”

One who never cries? Does such a baby truly exist?

Dahlia was quite taken aback by this. She couldn’t imagine it, but if Hancock said so, then it must be true. Perhaps even babies were enraptured by Hancock’s beauty to such an extent that they forgot to cry.

“What else? Aside from crying.”

“Ah, yes. When hungry, my precious suckles at my breast.”

“How strange. The one I am thinking of seems to have no interest in breasts whatsoever…”

“Um…really?”

A baby that doesn’t care for breasts? How can that be…?

Dahlia was baffled again. Perhaps babies were so intimidated by Hancock’s beauty that they could not bring themselves to demand milk.

She also had to wonder how much experience Hancock had with babies. Given Hancock’s propensity for kicking baby kittens and seals out of her way, it was hard to imagine her ever caring for a newborn child.

“Forgive me for asking, Your Highness, but have you ever actually seen…?” Dahlia prompted, feeling she might have overstepped.

But Hancock quickly admitted that she had. “While you were away on your travels, I offered my help.”

“My goodness. You gave assistance yourself, Highness? Someone was very lucky, I think.”

“But I do not think that my kindness was recognized.”

“Yes, we spend so much effort and energy, but our loves only giggle and laugh. That is simply how they are.”

So even someone as important as the Snake Princess could be subject to the whims of a baby. It made Dahlia’s proud and regal liege seem much closer and more familiar, and she felt herself relaxing a little.

“At any rate…since you have been with child, I presume you fell in love with a man?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me how that happened.”

Here we go. I had a feeling she wanted to discuss this…

The baby discussion was merely a preamble. What Hancock had called Dahlia here to speak about was her time with a man after all.

She reminded herself that she was going to tell the entirety of the truth. She and her lover were no longer together. There was no reason to concoct a false narrative or hide her own feelings—and most importantly, she didn’t want to lie to the Snake Princess. She would reveal all, and give herself over to her master’s decision.

Dahlia fixed Hancock with a steady gaze and began to tell her story.

“After I was thrown into the sea that stormy night, I woke up on the shore of a desolate island with no one else around. Fortunately, a small trading ship passed by, and so I was rescued fairly soon,” she said.

“All of the sailors on the ship were men. They didn’t seem to have any inkling that I was a Kuja Pirate. They gave me a cabin to rest in, and plenty of valuable food. One of the younger sailors, just an apprentice deckhand, took especially delicate care of me. The sailors did not seem distrustful of me, despite my silence, and continued to feed me day after day. Eventually I let down my guard around the deckhand, and from then on, we ate together all the time.

“I used a false name at all times, but one day, just to this one man, I revealed my true name. When he said ‘Dahlia,’ a name that I was so used to hearing, it sounded fresh somehow—special. I believe that at that moment, I had already been infected by the man’s virus.”

Dahlia continued, “The food on that ship was crude and simple, but I found that eating it next to him was mysteriously enjoyable. Eventually, after dinner he would remain in my cabin with me until morning, and over time we became lovers.

“After a month spent on the ship, it was the sailor’s birthday, and there was a celebration. The crew caroused belowdecks while we got some fresh air above and danced to the tunes that floated up from below. He proposed to me that night. But by then I was fully recovered, and was ready to leave the ship at the next port. A Kuja warrior cannot spend her entire life on a trading vessel, after all. But I did wish, for just the few months until we arrived, to be his wife.

“The crew performed their own approximation of a wedding for us. We all ate together, and they wished us well. I felt a deep happiness in my bones. I think he did as well.

“In time, the ship reached its destination, and our short marriage came to an end. By the time I realized that I was with child, he was already on his way to the next port.”

As Dahlia finished her story, Hancock flushed, turned pale, pursed her lips, and looked away in apparent displeasure.

It seemed as though the Snake Princess did not have forgiveness in her heart for anyone who had contracted the male virus, even once…

Dahlia hung her head. “I am sorry, Your Highness. I fell victim to the male virus while I was abroad. If you desire to punish me, then…”

“Enough. Go away.”

“Huh?”

Dahlia’s mouth hung open. She took two steps backward, but that was probably not what Hancock meant by “go away.”

“Your Highness…are you saying I may leave? You won’t punish me?” she asked hesitantly.

Hancock gave her a funny look. “What are you talking about? Why would I punish a warrior who can protect our country, now that she has finally returned?”

Dahlia was so taken aback that she simply stood there in shock until Enishida finally grabbed her by the hand and guided her out of Hancock’s chamber. When she left the castle gate, still stunned, Marguerite, Sweetpea, and Aphelandra were waiting for her.

“Dahlia, thank goodness! Chapter–‘A Safe Return’!”

“We were worried when the hour got later and later!”

“What did the Snake Princess want to speak to you about?”

But despite the concerns and questions of her companions, Dahlia could only say, “I don’t really know.”

The trio looked baffled. Dahlia shrugged her shoulders.

“She just asked me about my time abroad. It was an honor to see her in person, but I don’t actually understand why she spent all that time with me…”

“Maybe the Snake Princess just wanted to have a chat with you? Perhaps she’s curious about the outside, and wanted to ask questions,” Marguerite suggested helpfully.

“Not at all!” Dahlia protested at once. “She knows far more about the outside world than I do. She goes on all those voyages, doesn’t she?”

Only thing she’d told her about was how she’d gotten together with that man. It was impossible to imagine the Snake Princess wanting to know about something like that. Unless…the Snake Princess was curious about men. Did she want to discuss romance with me because there is a man she seeks to take for a husband…?

No. Couldn’t be.

Dahlia fended off the many questions that the other women peppered her with and turned back to gaze up at Kuja Castle. The massive palace, with its two decorative snakes adorning the tower, was a symbol of the Snake Princess’s glory. Beauty was power, and in this country, everyone trusted in the strength of Boa Hancock above all else.

The Snake Princess would never be ruled by another. She never gave anyone the opportunity. Our ruler is beautiful and strong, and more free than anyone.

Surely there was no one in the world worthy of her love.

“Your Highness! After being missing for so long, Dahlia has returned!” said Enishida.

When Hancock heard this news, there was only one word on her mind: Who?

She did not take an interest in others, and her memory for the faces of those she did not see every day was fuzzy at best. She could get away with that because she was beautiful.

Much more important to Hancock at this time was Luffy. Ninety percent of her waking thoughts were consumed by Luffy, and the remaining 10 percent were what she used to manage Amazon Lily. There was no room for anything else.

“She was thrown into the sea off the deck during a stormy night, and has been missing ever since, but she says she washed up on a nearby island. After that, a trading ship took her on board.”

“Ahh.”

This was all extremely uninteresting. Hancock stared at the wall in a daze and let her thoughts travel to the man in the straw hat, whom she had not seen in far too long.

“She went from boat to boat to pass through the Calm Belt, until she finally rowed one herself to the shores of Amazon Lily.”

“Uh-huh.”

Oh, how I wish to see Luffy…

“I believe she must have struggled mightily during her travels.”

“Yeah.”

“It is truly wonderful that she has returned home safely.”

“Yup.”

“And from what I hear, she is with child.”

“What?!” Hancock’s head snapped around with frightful force. “Dahlia…has a child?!”

Enishida was not ready for such a sudden and violent beauty assault, and fell unconscious. This was not Hancock’s concern, however.

Although the residents of Amazon Lily did not know it, women could not have a baby all on their own. It required both a woman and a man. From what she’d heard, many couples who had children were “lovers.” Meaning that there was a very high chance that this Dahlia woman had taken a man for a lover while she was abroad.

I’m jealous.

To be frank, she was extremely jealous.

Unable to bear it, Hancock began pacing back and forth in her room. She was so fretful that it made her usually regal and dignified air seem like an act.

Hancock had been dying for a loving bond with Luffy for quite a while now. He was the man who’d shown no interest in her beauty, but had still been kind to her. He had a strong will and goal in mind, and he was more free than anyone. She wanted to know more about Luffy, and wanted Luffy to know more about her. She wanted Luffy to love her as much as she loved him.

She had been grappling with this emotion for far too long without knowing what to do about it. For years all she’d had to do was stand there and everyone would obsess over her, so she had never actually wished that someone would love her. So when she herself fell in love, she had no idea what she was supposed to do.

After having the servants haul the unconscious Enishida out of her bedchamber, Hancock sat down on the bed and curled up, hugging her knees.

How had Dahlia managed to be in a loving relationship with a man?

She couldn’t begin to guess at the process for a man and a woman to become lovers. Obviously, this Dahlia didn’t have Hancock’s own beauty and strength, so how had she snagged this man, anyway?

Was there perhaps some secret technique known only in distant regions? If that was the case, she couldn’t remain ignorant of it any longer!

Unable to help herself, Hancock sent Dahlia a summons to visit Kuja Castle as soon as her health had returned. She needed to find out every juicy detail of what had happened abroad, or die trying.

Soon, Enishida brought Dahlia to Hancock’s bedroom.

“Your Highness, it is an honor to finally see you again. I am Dahlia,” the girl said, bowing courteously. She was clearly terrified.

So this is the girl…

Hancock observed Dahlia like a peacock sizing up a potential romantic rival.

She looks so reserved and well-behaved…but if she’s been with a man, she must be made of sterner stuff!

This woman had clearly been through experiences that Hancock could only dream of. Suddenly, the plain-looking girl before her seemed positively radiant.

I want her to tell me what to do to become lovers with a man. I want to be lovers with Luffy right away. And I want us to have a wedding without delay.

Hancock jutted her chin upward, maintaining the regality of the Snake Princess, and spoke with the utmost authority and command.

“I’ve heard that you came back bearing a child. It seems that you found something quite precious while you were away.”

“Umm…to serve you is my reason for living, Highness.”

Blah, blah, who cares about the formalities.

“But…as you say, when I was abroad, I found something…precious. To me, it is…about as precious as you are.”

Aha, now we’re getting to the juicy stuff.

Hancock’s heart was already racing. From what Enishida said, this Dahlia girl was more on the submissive side, and was always fretting and worrying about what others thought. But if she immediately started talking about her man, then this virus of love must have made her very proactive indeed.

Keeping her expression flat to hide her agitation, Hancock nodded.

“And what is the status of your precious thing? Tell me.”

“My precious stared happily at my hand as I left, but that is a rare thing. Bawling or sleeping are more typical reactions.”

“What?!”

Bawling or sleeping…?! Is that what a man does when you are in a loving couple with him?!

She couldn’t imagine Luffy crying and wailing, but maybe that would change once they were lovers. If he started screaming and crying out of nowhere, she felt like she would be very flustered and unsure of what to do.

A lover-man is a more formidable thing than I realized!

“What else? Aside from crying.”

“Ah, yes. When hungry, my precious suckles at my breast.”

Suckles?! At the breast?!

Does a lover-man suckle at one’s breast…?!

Hancock felt herself flushing, and folded her arms over her chest. She would allow Luffy to suckle anywhere that he desired, but simply thinking about it made her heart race.

But when she had shown him her naked body before, Luffy had not attached himself to her breasts, nor even showed the slightest inkling of interest in them. It was impossible to imagine him wanting to do such a thing.

“How strange. The one I am thinking of seems to have no interest in breasts whatsoever,” Hancock said with confusion.

Dahlia replied, “Um…really?” with equal puzzlement. “Your Highness, have you ever actually seen…?”

“While you were away on your travels, I offered my help.”

“My goodness. You gave assistance yourself, Highness? Someone was very lucky, I think.”

“But I do not think that my kindness was recognized.”

“Yes, we spend so much effort and energy, but our loves only giggle and laugh. That is simply how they are.”

At last, the image was matching the one in her mind. At the center of attention, manipulating and coercing others, but always friendly and laughing—the portrait Dahlia was painting was exactly that of Luffy! That must be how a woman in a loving couple saw her man.

“At any rate…since you have been with child, I presume you fell in love with a man? Tell me how that happened.”

Once she had finally broached the real topic, Hancock was very attentive. Somewhere in the story Dahlia was about to tell her might be the clue that she needed to become lovers with Luffy. What had she done to snag this man…?

Dahlia seemed to find it difficult to tell the tale at first. She’d been thrown into the sea on a stormy night and been washed ashore on a remote island. A trading vessel had happened by and rescued her. The crew were all men.

“They gave me a cabin to rest in, and plenty of valuable food. One of the younger sailors, just an apprentice deckhand, took especially delicate care of me…”

Luffy has taken care of me, too…

Hancock thought back dreamily on the time that Luffy had come to see her. As she recalled, he had heard that she was ill with an unknown sickness, and came to check on her health. That was a sign of how much concern Luffy felt for her, the sweetheart. She recalled that this was also the time that he’d asked her to sneak him into Impel Down for his brother Ace, but that wasn’t important. It was clearly secondary to visiting her on her sickbed.

“I used a false name at all times, but one day, just to this one man, I revealed my true name. When he said ‘Dahlia,’ a name that I was so used to hearing, it sounded fresh somehow—special.”

I know that feeling!

Hancock nodded along fervently. She felt the same thing every time Luffy called her “Hancock.” The sound of her name in his voice filled her core with a bliss like warm honey that spread outward to her extremities.

And in Hancock’s case, it wasn’t just her name. He had also squeezed her hand. Squish! Right with his own fingers. Why would Luffy do such a thing? There was only one answer. Luffy was also in love with Hancock.

I knew it… Luffy and I are in love with one another…

“I believe that at that moment, I had already been infected by the man’s virus. The food on that ship was crude and simple, but I found that eating it next to him was mysteriously enjoyable. Eventually, after dinner he would remain in my cabin with me until morning, and over time we became lovers.”

Does that mean Luffy and I are already lovers…?

Hancock nearly swooned. She had already shared meals with Luffy before. In close quarters, just the two of them. It was unavoidable in order to get Luffy into Impel Down, but there was no denying that, technically speaking, she had shared a meal with him.

I had no idea that Luffy and I were already sworn lovers…

“After a month spent on the ship, it was the sailor’s birthday, and there was a celebration. The crew caroused belowdecks while we got some fresh air above and danced to the tunes that floated up from below. He proposed to me that night.”

Proposed!

Could this be? Was having a party and carousing and dancing a proposal? If that was the case, then Luffy had already proposed to Hancock! The day that Luffy had left Amazon Lily, the women had thrown a party just for him. From what she heard later, it had been a raucous affair in which Luffy stuffed sticks into his nostrils and exhibited a very strange dance. (It became quite a popular dance on Amazon Lily for a time.)

Hancock shivered.

I had no idea…that Luffy and I were already engaged…

“The crew performed their own approximation of a wedding for us. We all ate together, and they wished us well. I felt a deep happiness in my bones. I think he did as well.”

Luffy had a crew of his own, supposedly. She could only vaguely envision the faces of the others aside from Luffy. Perhaps she had seen their wanted posters. There was a green one, an orange one, a golden one, and a bunch of other randoms, probably. If they were Luffy’s companions, she would have to invite them to the wedding.

A wedding ought to be a grand affair. Luffy would need to change into about a thousand different outfits. But knowing him, he would look dashing in anything. There couldn’t be too much food. They would need a minimum of a hundred thousand tons of meat, and a wedding cake as tall as a mountain… Oh, it was about to get so busy. She’d have to start her conquest tomorrow if she wanted to arrange a ceremony that would please Luffy.

The visions of her future wedding transported Hancock into the realms of fancy and imagination—until Dahlia’s next words brought her screeching back to reality.

“By the time I realized that I was with child, he was already on his way to the next port.”

After sending Dahlia home, Hancock summoned Grandma Nyon immediately.

“What nyews do you have for me, Princess?” said the old woman, hobbling along with her walking stick.

Serenely, Hancock informed her, “I have a matter of grave importance to share with you.”

Grandma Nyon’s face hardened as she steeled herself for the report.

Hancock put her hands over her belly button and took a deep breath.

“I will soon be giving birth to Luffy’s child.”

The wind blowing through the open window sifted through her grown-out bangs. Tashigi leaned back in the aged wooden chair and sipped from her cup of dark-roasted coffee.

A midsize Neptunian had rammed the ship and opened a small hole in the bilge while the lookout was napping on their return to base. The sailors had performed some quick repairs to keep the ship from sinking, but sinking would have been inevitable if they’d continued cruising as they had been. They’d quickly opened a map to look for land where they could ground the ship, and settled on an uninhabited island just close enough to be safe. Expecting to practice some wilderness survival skills, they found upon arriving that in fact there were people living there. It was a small settlement, under two hundred people, but they had a properly functioning town that was trading with a nearby neighbor affiliated with the World Government.

“Did whoever made this map think that if there are few enough people, they don’t need to put them on here?” grumbled Vice Admiral Smoker, Tashigi’s superior officer, as he flicked the “Navy Official” stamp on the map. But despite the gruff demeanor, Tashigi knew that he was more concerned about the ship sinking than anyone, given that he couldn’t swim. In any case, they were stuck on this island until the repairs were finished.

They were thankful, of course, that rather than having to forage and hunt for their own food, the island already had an infrastructure of its own—but for some reason, Tashigi was resting her cheek on her fist and sighing.

The truth was that she couldn’t stand being cooped up here…

Even now, vicious and boorish pirates were tormenting the weak and innocent across the sea. In an age when evil was so powerful, there was no rest for the Navy, who literally wore “justice” on their backs. She wished they could leave yesterday.

Even if it was pleasant and convenient staying on the island.

“Sigh…”

She exhaled a second time after glancing around the sunlit cafeteria. The fans on the ceiling were clattering as they stirred up the air in the room, keeping the air fresh. It was a spacious interior, carefully tended to, and clean. This was a good place.

Except for the lack of a door over the entrance.

“Curious about that?” asked Atli, the young man who worked the kitchen, as he placed a plate of smoked chicken in front of Tashigi. He gave the wide-open space a baleful glare. “Pirates made off with our door. It was an antique with a stained glass inlay. I know the dust from outside keeps blowing in, but we keep the place clean, so don’t worry too much.”

“Does this town get many pirates?” Tashigi wondered darkly. Was the Great Era of Piracy even causing little islands like this one to suffer?

“When I say ‘pirates,’ I mean simple thugs who barely even go out to sea. I don’t know where they came from, but they started showing up around half a year ago. They just pop into town, start picking fights, and make off with valuables.”

“And here it’s our job to stop things like that from happening… I’m sorry you have to deal with that,” Tashigi said, bowing her head in apology, which caused Atli to freak out.

“Come on, Captain, don’t do that. We’re not expecting the Navy to do anything about the pirates.”

“Huh…? Why not? Aren’t they bothering you, causing damage?”

“Well, sure. In fact, some folks were excited when they saw your ship come by, because they thought it meant you were taking care of the pirates. But after everyone came together and talked it out, we decided not to expect the Navy to do anything for us,” he explained with a shrug, taking the seat across the table from her. “Once a year, the Navy comes to inspect this area, even though it’s so remote, so last year we complained about the pirates. They rounded them up, but then just let them go free after a few days before leaving again. The pirates were furious and swore retribution, and it’s been even worse since then. So we’ve learned that even a large organization like the Navy can’t continually protect every last corner of the world all the time.”

Tashigi bit her lip and clenched the handle of her coffee mug. The thought that the Navy, the self-professed bearer of justice for the world, could not save even a tiny island like this one filled her with regret and frustration.

“We’re used to it,” Atli said casually, leaning back in the chair. “We’ve given up on fighting back and chosen to handle things quietly instead. The truth is, the pirates know the right amount of violence to use that won’t attract too much attention, and if we don’t fight back, we don’t suffer that much, either…although I’ll admit, I got pretty heated when they took my door. It was the pride of my gramps, the one who founded this inn—and look at me now.”

Atli flipped back the hem of his pant leg to reveal the scarred flesh where his prosthetic leg connected, speaking to the depth of his injury. Tashigi had noticed his false leg the moment she’d met Atli, but it hadn’t occurred to her that it might have been caused by pirates.

“I’m so sorry that happened to you. Especially because it’s the Navy’s job to keep the people safe,” Tashigi said, looking as though she herself was feeling the pain of it.

“That’s so nice of you to say,” Atli remarked, smiling wryly. “But it’s just the way it is. The Navy can only save so many people. It’s always the smallest places that get left to fend for themselves when hard choices have to be made.”

Smoker had already been in possession of intelligence that pirates appeared often in this town. His investigation was in progress.

“You only just heard about that? Tashigi, you gotta be quicker about things. How long have we been on this island already?”

Tashigi barely resisted the temptation to tell him the truth: eighteen hours.

It had not yet been an entire day since Tashigi and Smoker had come to the island. It was Smoker, who already had a lead on the pirates and was sending his troops around, who was the abnormally quick one. The fact that he was a vice admiral, despite being seen as a problem child within the Navy, and someone to avoid, spoke to his great ability in combat, and his tremendous skill at his job.

“It doesn’t seem like the islanders want them eliminated, however…”

“Only because the people in charge of this stretch of sea did a sloppy job of it last time. They wouldn’t be having this problem if we’d captured every last pirate and taken them away.”

Tashigi agreed with that, but it wasn’t easy to ensure that you had cleaned out an entire crew of pirates when you didn’t know where they might hide. And regardless, they would only have a limited time on this island.

“Everyone else is gathering information around the island, right? I’ll go and join them.”

“Don’t you dare, idiot. You’ll draw attention.”

“Huh? Then what am I supposed to…”

“What do I care? Practice your swordplay if you have to.”

True, Tashigi stood out quite a bit as the only woman among a crew of men. If she wasn’t careful, the townsfolk might realize they were planning to take down the pirates and feel suspicious.

So she did as Smoker suggested and went around the back of the inn to practice with her sword. It wasn’t because he had said it. This was just her daily ritual.

Tashigi drew her fine blade, Shigure, from its sheath, and held it in her usual stance with both hands. She inhaled, straightened her back, raised it over her head, then swung it down forcefully. After a few repetitions of this motion, she squeezed the hilt and closed her eyes.

In her mind’s eye, she was surrounded by enemies with their blades drawn. She struck a hand with the back of her sword, smacked a torso with another, then spun around and whacked her third opponent on the head.

Her form wasn’t bad.

When she opened her eyes, there was a small girl standing before her, holding a bamboo sword. The girl stared at Tashigi in silence. She looked to be about ten years old.

“Um, may I help you?”

“I’m Hiwa.”

“Oh, I’m Tashigi. It’s nice to meet you,” Tashigi said, bowing, as was her habit. Hiwa returned the gesture.

“Hey, Miss, you’re not from this island, huh? Do you use a sword?”

“Yes, I have a bit of experience…”

“Then can you give me lessons?” Hiwa asked, taking a stance with her bamboo sword and staring into Tashigi’s eyes. “I want to be stronger than the pirates.”

Tashigi generously agreed to grant Hiwa’s request. It didn’t feel bad having another girl hoping to master the way of the sword come to her for help. In fact, it felt very good.

First she had the girl do some vertical swings. Her form was very clean, but the tip of the sword was unsteady, meaning the center of gravity in her lower half was off.

“Don’t try to swing it downward. Focus instead on shooting the tip of the sword as far as you can. Use the snap of your wrists, not your arms.”

Under Tashigi’s guidance, Hiwa’s form improved at first, but it went back to its old ways within a few swings. She asked the girl when she’d started practicing: about half a year ago.

“I was learning from Atli until recently. He’s a cook, but he’s really good with a sword. They say he’s the best swordsman on the island…or he was, until his leg…”

Without Atli to teach her anymore, she had been in need of a sword master until Tashigi had come along.

“I feel so bad for Atli… He didn’t even do anything wrong. The Navy never even comes out to this tiny place. You only came here to fuel up and stuff, right?”

“No…well, yes. That’s true. I’m sorry,” Tashigi murmured, not wanting to give away any details. Smoker intended to get rid of the pirates, but because he wanted to keep that operation a secret, she couldn’t mention it to Hiwa yet.

“Ever since the pirates started coming to this island, nothing’s been fair. And all the grown-ups say we just have to put up with it. That nothing good will come of fighting back. That’s not true, is it?”

“Of course it’s not. You should push back against things that aren’t fair. Sometimes, you might even have to push back with force.”

“That’s what I thought!” Hiwa exclaimed, and pulled back her bamboo sword with force. “I’m gonna practice a whole bunch and drive off all the pirates who hurt Atli!”

With a loud whoosh, the tip of the sword cut through the air.

That was a good swing. But her center of gravity was still weak. From behind, Tashigi grabbed Hiwa’s waist and helped correct her posture.

“So you want to get stronger and bring justice back to this town, is that it?”

Tashigi was painfully familiar with Hiwa’s burning desire for revenge. Her desire to protect innocent people from pirates was exactly the belief that had brought Tashigi to the Navy. She had always believed that pirates were evil and the Navy was good. But those values had been shaken by an encounter with some strange pirates who only seemed to help the weak. Even so, Tashigi’s beliefs were still the same.

It was her belief as a Navy woman that her duty was to protect the weak—which is why the islanders’ disappointment in the Navy was weighing so heavily on her conscience.

Being the second of a vice admiral and fighting on the front lines had taught Tashigi about her own inadequacy to a painful extent. But if she was going to stay and do battle against evil, her only option was to get stronger.

Tashigi continued to instruct Hiwa with a determined passion; she was intent on helping the girl. Hiwa was enthusiastic at first, but after an hour, exhaustion was seeping into her features. Her form got less and less disciplined, and eventually the sword just slipped right out of her hands.

“I think we should take a break.”

“No! I can keep going!”

Continuing to practice when you were tired was meaningless—but that was a lesson one only learned through experience. For now, Tashigi decided to let Hiwa have it her way, and drew her sword.

She let the tip sink, then hurtled it downward.

Once Tashigi started swinging, Hiwa’s eyes went wide.

“Are you gonna practice too, Tashigi? Even though you’re a grown-up?”

“If I take even half a day off, I’ll lose my edge. There are many people in the Navy who are much, much better than me, so I need to keep up with my practice.”

“Are you weak, Tashigi?” the girl asked, tactlessly.

Tashigi was initially at a loss for words.

“I would not say that I am strong. I still have much to learn…so yes. I’m very weak.”

“Oh, I see…”

Hiwa clammed up and stared at the ground. After a brief silence, she looked up again.

“I think I’ll practice on my own,” she murmured, then let her arms drop out of her form.

“Um, but it’s best to have someone to watch your form and give you instruction when you’re still new.”

“But you’re weak, right? What’s the point of getting lessons from someone who’s weak? I thought you were strong because you have a cool sword…but I’m disappointed.”

Tashigi blinked in surprise, then flushed a little.

“R-really? You think my sword is cool…?”

“I wasn’t complimenting you!” Hiwa snapped. “I thought it was really amazing that there was a girl among all the Navy men…but what’s the point if you’re weak? It’s a waste of time taking lessons from someone who’s not even strong.”

“Did you know this sword has a name? It’s Shigure. It has a very long and beautiful ripple on the side. Would you like to come and see it up close?”

“Are you even listening to me?!”

Hiwa had had enough. She stomped off and threw her bamboo sword to the ground, clattering loudly.

“Oh! You shouldn’t treat your sword like that,” Tashigi warned, but a young recruit was rushing up to get her attention.

“Captain Tashigi! May I have a moment? We’ve had some progress on the pirates who are ransacking this island.”

He lowered his voice and delivered a report on the outcome of their investigation. She heard him out, then turned to Hiwa.

“I’m sorry, but this is all the time we have to practice…Wait, what?”

The girl had been right there moments ago, but now Hiwa was gone.

The bamboo sword she’d tossed aside wasn’t there anymore, either.

We’ve found the location of the pirates ransacking the town. They’ve infiltrated an old trading post on the other side of the inlet and made it their hideout. We found about ten of them inside the building during midmorning hours. None of them looked especially dangerous, so I expect they’re just small-time thugs. We’re reporting to Vice Admiral Smoker at this time to get orders for how to proceed.

With the report in hand, Tashigi headed for the inn where Smoker was staying.

“Smoker! I hear they’ve found the location of the pirates.”

In the lobby of the hotel, Smoker was engaging in stacking rocks, and was just about to place the very last one when the vibration of Tashigi slamming the door open caused the delicate tower to topple over. It was an exercise that he attempted every now and then, despite knowing it wasn’t suited to his nature, and somehow one of his many visitors always found a way to ruin it at the very worst time.

Tashigi, meanwhile, didn’t even spare a glance for the scattered stones.

“Shall we raid them as soon as we can?” she asked, getting right up in Smoker’s face.

“No. We wait until tomorrow afternoon. From what the scouts said, not all of them are there yet.”

“But…there’s no guarantee that more of them will be there by tomorrow afternoon, right?”

“They made an appointment at a restaurant on the island at three o’clock tomorrow. They’re all gonna be there, and they told the owner to have plenty of booze and grub ready if he didn’t want the place to get turned upside down.”

If they were going to gather up and present themselves as a group, that was ideal for the Navy—but the small-time meanness of their demands made Tashigi furious all over again. This was how they kept bilking the islanders of their hard-earned money. And the Navy had been allowing this to happen for all this time.

Why was it always like this? In both Alabasta and Punk Hazard, Tashigi and Smoker came to the people’s aid slower than the Straw Hat Crew did. They were the ones who had crushed the evil will of Crocodile and Caesar, and it seemed like the Navy didn’t even have a role.

“In the end, we can’t jump in to help people until after they’ve already suffered, then,” she said, hurling her frustration at her superior officer.

Smoker said nothing.

That night, Tashigi polished Shigure in preparation for the morrow. She would have preferred to take it to a professional, but there was no weapon shop like that on this tiny island, so she had to do it herself.

She rubbed the sides with a cloth, then held it up to the light. Along the ridge was a bright reflection that looked like light shining the midst of fog. It was a beautiful sight that never failed to make her catch her breath.

Performing upkeep on Shigure calmed her down. It was a chance to take her mind off the many responsibilities of being a Naval officer and focus on a simpler and wholesome task.

She was admiring the sword when someone knocked on the door. Atli peered inside.

“Sorry to bother you so late, Tashigi. It’s a bit of an emergency, though…”

“What’s the matter?” Tashigi asked, inviting him inside.

Atli seemed anxious. “Well, I just heard from Hiwa’s parents… They say she hasn’t come home yet. Someone saw her practicing her sword swings with you during the day, so I was hoping she might still be with you.” He scratched his head with embarrassment. “But of course she’s not practicing this late. But they said that she left with her bamboo sword, so I thought maybe…”

“Her sword, too?”

The last time Tashigi had seen Hiwa was this afternoon. She had run off while Tashigi was getting the report about the pirates.

I’m gonna drive off all the pirates who hurt Atli, she had said. What if she’d overheard that report?

“Oh no…”

Tashigi’s face froze. Hiwa might have learned the pirates’ location and gone off to get revenge for Atli.

“I’m sorry to bother you late at night like this, Tashigi. I’m sure Hiwa’s just playing on her own somewhere. She’ll show up looking like nothing was ever wrong, I bet. I’ll just wait until morning.”

“I think I might know…where Hiwa is.”

“Huh?”

“And it might be too late if you wait until tomorrow.”

She slid Shigure into its sheath, placed it on her belt, and put her jacket on.

“Can you pass a message to Smoker for me? Tell him I have a good reason I can’t wait until tomorrow afternoon.”

Thirty minutes by foot from the town’s small harbor, there was a tiny inlet surrounded by cliffs. Ships used to come this far in the past, but now the older buildings lining the water were unused. There was a single trading post that was illuminated, making it stand out from the others. This was the pirates’ hideout. They’d covered up the windows, but light still escaped from the cracks.

Tashigi looked up at the building and listened intently. There were muffled voices coming from the room at the end of the third floor. It sounded like a fairly large number of people, and none of the voices belonged to a child.

She tried the doorbell, but as she expected, it was broken, so instead she knocked on the door.

“Excuse me! Is there anyone here?”

She waited for a while. Eventually the door opened a crack, and a thin and surly man peered out at her.

“Who are you, then? Wot d’you want?”

“I’m sorry to bother you so late. I’m looking for a young girl. She wouldn’t be intruding on you, would she? She hasn’t been seen since this afternoon. She’s about this high, and carrying a bamboo sword.”

The man gave Tashigi a very nasty, suspicious glare.

“Wot, you a relative or something?”

“Yes, I’m her, uhhhhh, mother.”

“Uh-huh.”

The man opened the door wide, grabbed her arm, and yanked her in.

“Come on, then. For that brat’s mother, you still look pretty nice.”

Tashigi did not resist. She let him pull her inside the trading post, then pushed the door shut behind her and shoved the man in the chest with the hilt of her sword.

“Whoa!”

He staggered backward and hit the wall behind him. She immediately used the hilt to smash his chin. His head thudded backward, and without another word, he fell unconscious to the floor.

From what the man had said, it was a near certainty that Hiwa was somewhere inside the building.

Tashigi peered down the end of the dimly lit hallway. There was faint light coming down the stairs at the end.

Third floor, I think.

She had almost gotten to the top when she had to pull back, hearing someone coming. Hiding by the handrail around the corner, she waited for the man to turn down the steps, then struck him in the chest with her sword, still in its scabbard. When he was knocked out, she deftly sent him sliding down the steps and proceeded to the top as softly as a cat.

As she expected, the men were in the room at the end of the third-floor hallway. She could hear them drinking and carrying on.

“This is a hell of an island we found. All the grog you could want, pretty much for free! These bumpkin islanders can’t do nothin’ but what we tell ’em to do!”

“You said it, mate. And that stupid kid came right to us, all alone. She’s so young—she’ll fetch a real good price at market.”

Hiwa was here.

Certain of herself now, Tashigi rammed through the door with her shoulder.

“Freeze! Drop your weapons and get down on your knees!”

There were about ten pirates total in the room. Hiwa was tied up with ropes in the corner.

“Wh-who the hell are you?!”

“How’d you get in?!”

The men got to their feet, apoplectic with fury. If she had made more of an ambush out of it, she could have given herself a major advantage, but Tashigi didn’t do that. She faced them head-on.

“I’m with the Navy. Surrender now,” she warned, and pointed Shigure at them. “If you don’t resist, you won’t be harmed.”

“What?! We’re surrounded by the Navy?!”

One of the men rushed to the window and stuck his head out to look. The environs around the trading post were completely still and quiet.

“There’s no one outside!”

“It’s just me in here.”

The men looked at one another in bafflement. What did this woman think she was going to do against all of them on her own? Especially a dull-witted slowpoke like this one—if she had come here knowing she would be outnumbered, then she was just as careless as the little girl.

“Why did you come here, Tashigi?!” screamed Hiwa, who was tied up on the floor. “There’s no point in coming alone if you’re that weak!”

“The girl’s right. Both of you have really insulted us,” growled the man closest to Tashigi. He drew a short blade. His eyes were gleaming now that he’d realized Tashigi had come alone. The others were also drawing swords, knives, and other weapons, and rounding upon Tashigi.

“I think this is one lesson that’s going to be verrrry painful for…”

But the man couldn’t finish his sentence before Tashigi vanished. He came up short, and then, somehow, she was right in front of him.

“Huh?” he grunted, and then all he could see was a beautifully polished blade like the view of a starry sky. He took a blow from Shigure, and before he knew what had happened, he was knocked out.

Tashigi promptly spun around, her rotation smashing the sword against the next man’s legs. Then she pushed his chest, forcing him off-balance and flying into the men behind him.

“Wha…”

Hiwa’s mouth hung open.

While they were scrambling to get back to their feet, Tashigi started undoing the ropes that bound the girl.

“Thank you… Wait, Tashigi, I thought you were supposed to be weak.”

“It just means that there’s always someone better, no matter how strong you get,” Tashigi said gently, with a wry smile.

It was impossible for Hiwa to believe this was the same woman who had just scattered all those men seconds ago. But if she was right, and there was always someone better, then what kind of monsters was she normally surrounded by?

Tashigi wasn’t weak at all, probably. She was just comparing herself to people who were beyond powerful.

“I’m sorry, Tashigi. I…”

“We can talk later. First we need to get out of here.”

For how bold Tashigi was being, she was not managing to untie the ropes. She was so strong with the sword, but apparently very clumsy in other ways.

“That’s strange…I could have sworn this would loosen up…”

Behind Tashigi, there was a loud gunshot.

Hiwa looked up with a gasp to see a man, trembling, holding a gun. The bullet had grazed Tashigi’s right shoulder, and there was blood welling up along a tear on her jacket.

Hiwa held her breath, but Tashigi didn’t even glance at her wound. She flew right past the man’s guard, slashing his chest. The man fell to the ground, still clutching his firearm. When the remaining men realized that even ranged weapons would not necessarily help them, they paled.

“No way…she’s too tough for us!”

“It’s a waste of time fighting her! Run for it!”

To a man, they all rushed for the exit.

A trail of blood oozed from the cut on Tashigi’s shoulder, dripping onto the floor. It looked extremely painful—and then Hiwa’s vision blurred with tears.

“You’re hurt, Tashigi… I’m sorry, it’s all my fault.”

Tashigi had only gotten hurt because Hiwa had been impetuous and foolish enough to rush into a pirate lair alone. But she had been frustrated to know exactly where the pirates were and yet be unable to do anything about them.

“I understand exactly how you feel, not being able to do anything to help,” Tashigi said. Hiwa bit her lip and sobbed, and Tashigi stroked her head. “If you want to make up for these tears of helpless frustration, and you want to minimize the number of people who suffer needlessly like yourself, then—”

“Hey! Put away your sword!” yelled a man.

Behind them, one of the pirates who had fled was standing at the door to the room, knees quaking. For some reason, he had decided to come back.

Tashigi leapt into action, swinging her weapon at the man. Just at the moment it seemed the blade would slash his trunk, he ripped off his jacket. She had to freeze.

He had a whole string of explosives wrapped around his body.

“I ain’t gonna run from here! The Navy ain’t gonna take me alive… I’ll blow you up with me! I’m serious!” the man shrieked, waving around a flame.

Unable to tell if they were real bombs or not, Tashigi first backed away, putting more distance between them. If they were real and he lit them, this entire building was going to be blown to pieces so small that not a trace would remain of it.

But based on the look of the bombs, the chance they were real was extremely slim—a judgment Tashigi could make based on her experience in the field as a Navy captain. To Hiwa’s childish eyes, they seemed totally real.

“Tashigi…what’s gonna happen to us…?” she asked tearfully, trembling.

“If you don’t wanna die, drop that sword already,” the man warned, waving his lighter around and inching closer to Tashigi.

She sighed, then flicked her sword wrist. It was a very brief motion, but the pressure it created was intense. It was like a little whirlwind had landed inside the room, breaking all the windows outward.

“What?! Hey, what d’you think you’re doing?!”

“Oh, pardon me. I just wanted to flick the blood off before I put my sword away,” Tashigi said easily, then clicked Shigure back into its sheath.

“You think you can intimidate me? Well, don’t do any more funny tricks like that. Now hand that sword over,” he demanded, holding out his hand.

But there was smoke clinging to that hand.

Smoke?

“Huh?”

Somehow, tendrils of white smoke were coming through the broken window from the outside, and now filled the room.

The smoke wrapping around the man’s hand stretched out, long and sinuous—like a living thing with a mind of its own—and encircled his torso next.

“W-what is this?!”

He twisted and writhed, but the more he struggled, the more the smoke constricted his body like a giant snake. The pressure was making his face turn darker and darker.

“D…dammit…”

The strength went out of his hand, and the lighter fell to the floor with a thud.

Behind him, the smoke wavered unnaturally, then assumed a human shape, and at last turned into an actual human. It was the owner of the Plume-Plume Fruit: White Chase Smoker.

Smoker stepped on the fallen lighter with his boot to put it out, then yanked the explosives off the man’s body.

“It’s fake,” he muttered. Then he glanced down at the slumped-over man and growled, “Now give it up. There’s no escape for you.”

“Smoker, he’s already unconscious,” Tashigi pointed out.

“Huh?” Smoker peered at the bomb-carrying man. When he realized that the man was indeed passed out, he undid the smoke and let him fall to the floor.

Hiwa was finding it hard to process what she had just seen: Tashigi breaking the windows, and then the smoke coming inside and turning into a human being who’d captured the man with the bombs.

“That’s amazing… He can turn into smoke…”

She had heard stories about the strange abilities of Devil Fruits, but not until today had she ever actually seen one for herself.

He could turn his body into smoke and hunt down pirates…it was too cool!

She gaped at the awesomeness of it all. Then Smoker came and knelt down next to her. His stern face startled her, and she flinched, but then she realized that he was just trying to undo the ropes tying her up.

“Oh, I’ll do that, Smoker. The knot is incredibly complex and devious,” Tashigi said, though Smoker had already finished untying it. He gave her a dirty look, then noticed the wound on her shoulder and glared even harder.

“How clumsy can you get? How do you get hurt against these incompetents?”

“I’m sorry,” Tashigi said. Hiwa grabbed her sleeve and tugged.

“Um, Tashigi, who is this man with the scary face?”

“He’s my boss.”

“Huh?”

So he’s in the Navy, too…

Hiwa blinked, processing this information, and compared Smoker with Tashigi.

Sheesh. Turns out the Navy is actually really good at what they do!

Tashigi stood on the deck of the ship, watching the silhouette of the island as it dwindled into the distance.

An hour had passed since they’d left the harbor. There was no way to see the tiny figure waving her bamboo sword from the dock anymore, but Tashigi wasn’t quite ready to return to her cabin yet.

The sea breeze brushed her bangs aside as she gripped the railing. Smoker emerged onto the deck beside her, two cigars between his teeth.

“Why did you call for me?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Slightly disgruntled at his subordinate’s lack of perception, Smoker exhaled some cigar smoke and said, “When we captured the pirates on the island. You could have handled them all yourself.”

“I suppose. You might be right about that. But…I wanted to show off to her.”

“Show off what?”

“That there are many powerful people on our team.” Tashigi watched the smoke trail away, then scrunched her face into a pained smile. “Isn’t it frustrating to hear that the Navy are just a bunch of worthless bunglers?”

“You’re putting us on too high of a pedestal. The Navy didn’t pay enough attention to that island. The girl lost faith in us, didn’t she?”

“But it’s a different story now.”

“What?”

Tashigi brushed her hand across Shigure, which hung from her belt.

The girl was going to get much, much stronger. And if her heart sought justice in a world where evil held so much sway, there was only one place she could wind up.

“I feel certain that Hiwa’s found a new dream.”

“Awww, they’re gone…”

Hiwa stood at the harbor, swinging her sword and watching Tashigi’s ship until it vanished beyond the horizon.

“Are you seeing them off, or practicing? Pick one and stick to it,” said Atli, annoyed by Hiwa’s restless energy.

“But it’s more efficient to do both at one time. You can’t even rest for half a day, or you’ll lose your edge.”

“So? It’s okay to lose your edge now. The Navy’s brought peace back to the island.”

“But now I have a new goal.”

“A goal?”

Hiwa held her center of gravity low and stared down the tip of her bamboo sword.

After seeing the way Tashigi had thrashed those pirates, Hiwa had learned a new lesson. If she wanted to dispel those tears of frustration—and if she wanted to minimize the number of people who’d suffered unfairly, like herself—then there was only one course of action…

“I’m gonna be strong like Tashigi one day, and join the Navy!”

When you lived in the seafaring kingdom of Germa, which had no land of its own, the terrain you saw every day, naturally, was nothing but sea. But it wasn’t boring, because it was never the same twice. The waves were always moving, the breeze rippled the surface, and the sunlight illuminated the whitecap froth. With each new region came an entirely new season, to say nothing of the climate.

Reiju, the eldest daughter of the royal Vinsmoke family, stood in the port and idly watched a small trading ship unloading its cargo. It brought to mind her third youngest brother, Sanji—whom she had been separated from since childhood. When he had escaped from Germa as a child, it had been as a stowaway on a ship about as small as that one.

Even now, Reiju still dreamed of the day she’d helped him go free.

If I can escape here…in the East Blue…then I’ll never have to see…Father’s face again!

She hadn’t been planning to help him, but as her little brother shed tears behind his iron mask, Reiju had been overcome with a sudden urge and bent the bars of his cell to free him.

Don’t ever come back here! The sea’s a huge place. Someday…you’ll find people who are good to you!

Even now, Reiju didn’t really understand why she had tearfully said that. Had she felt pity for her brother, who’d been abused and called a black stain on the family reputation by their father? Or had she been sad that if he left at that moment they would never see each other again? Maybe she had cried out of guilt for what she’d done, unable to stand the sight of him kept in that cage any longer.

In any case, she was not as kind as Sanji. She might have helped treat Sanji’s wounds when he was beaten to an unconscious pulp, but she had not tried to stop Ichiji and Niji. Maybe Sanji didn’t think of her as an enemy now, but he wouldn’t consider her an ally either.

She didn’t know if her actions that day had actually saved him or not. The truth was, in order to prevent seeing her precious brother hurt any longer, she had said something irresponsible. She couldn’t guarantee that there would be people out there who were good to Sanji—even if the seas were vast and full of different kinds of people.

Reiju cast her gaze once again upon the distant, endless horizon.

Yes.

The seas were vast.

And in comparison, people were so small and powerless. Stumble across a storm, and your tiny boat would be wrenched out of your control, leaving you adrift. Even when you had the scientific power of Germa.

“No one’s showing up.”

Splaaash… Splaaash…

The sound of the waves coming and going had no answer to Niji’s muttered frustration.

Reiju and her three brothers were on their way home from a diplomatic meeting with a small country hoping to contract with them for work. The client state’s small sailing ships could not handle an escort through dangerous seas, so they were supposed to switch to one of Germa’s ships at a port along the way…but the scheduled time had passed, and there was no sign of the ship coming to pick them up. About an hour ago, they’d gotten word that the departure would be delayed due to storms, and the transponder snail connection hadn’t been restored since then.

“There is absolutely no good reason that royalty like us should be forced to wait at this dinky port,” grumbled Ichiji, standing arrogantly with his arms crossed. Niji puffed out his chest and said, “I can’t wait anymore. I’m hungry.”

“The storm should be passing soon, but if they’re leaving port now, then it’ll be hours until they actually arrive. We should just get a boat from around here and sail for ourselves,” Yonji suggested. The three brothers’ eyes slid over to the small trading ship in the harbor. It was a good, sturdy-looking ship. They seemed to be in agreement on stealing it.

“Sigh…” Reiju exhaled.

The identical siblings, born without emotions due to the manipulation of their bloodline elements, had always thought alike, and those thoughts were exceedingly simple. They upheld the dignity of royalty, and the world revolved around them. The strong were important, and the weak were not. They believed, with an innocent purity, that it was natural that the weak majority should provide their ships to royalty for use. Anything Reiju might say to the contrary would fall upon deaf ears.

As soon as the crew of the trading ship realized they were dealing with the royal family of Germa, they practically prostrated themselves in their haste to hand over their precious ship, rubbing their hands obsequiously.

“Everyone needs a helping hand sometimes! Please, do use our ship!”

“I appreciate that. You can bill Germa for the cost of the ship after this.”

“And here I thought we were gonna have to steal it. These folks are reasonable, at least.”

“Indeed. It saves us from going to the trouble of plundering it.”

The three brothers gleefully boarded the small ship, with Reiju silently following them. The smiles of the ship crew were stiff at best, but Ichiji and Niji and Yonji weren’t equipped with the sensitivity needed to notice the emotions that might exist behind those smiles. She felt bad for the captain, who was losing his precious ship, but the biggest victims here were the crew, who would be forced to sail with Germa now.

“Hey, can’t this thing go any faster?!” Ichiji demanded, as soon as they started sailing.

The navigator flinched, but replied, “N-no, sir! We’ve already got a tailwind, so this is as fast as she goes…”

“You could walk across the water faster than this is moving. I’ve never been on a slower ship,” Niji grumbled.

Reiju sighed and told him, “Germa ships are special; they can even climb the walls of the Red Line. This is just what ordinary merchant ships are like.”

“It’s what we get for using a commoner’s ship, then. How inconvenient.”

If the scheduled ship had arrived on time, they would be back on Germa by now and enjoying their lunch.

“Damn,” Yonji grumbled, after his stomach gurgled. “We don’t have a cook.”

This was how the group of siblings ended up setting foot in a place for which they had never once had even the slightest interest: the kitchen.

“This is undignified. Royals must act like royals. We would never ordinarily set foot into a place of service and labor like this,” said Ichiji.

“Indeed. We are high and mighty. If not for the present emergency, a royal would never make his own food,” said Niji.

“But depending on the time and place, it is possible that one might be forced to exhibit his own skills, as regretful as it might be,” said Yonji.

The “royal this, royal that” business was very tiresome, but their point was clear: They were hungry and wanted to make some food.

Do they even know how to cook? Reiju wondered, joining them as they went into the ship’s galley.

It was more spacious than expected, with two large counters in the middle. Parts of it were aging, and the ceiling had some oil stains that couldn’t be scrubbed out, but it was tidy and well-kept. Clearly, the ship’s cooks were diligent about caring for their workplace.

“Oh yeah, remember how we used to have that brother named Sanji? He liked cooking, didn’t he?”

“Ahhh, I remember that guy. He was a real clumsy oaf.”

“Father’s looking for him, I hear. Sent out a wanted poster.”

How long had it been since they had spoken Sanji’s name out loud? They hadn’t regarded their failure of a brother as anything more than a toy to punch and make cry. It was extremely rare for them to remember that he existed.

Apparently, their father, Vinsmoke Judge, was looking for Sanji now in order to marry him off to one of Big Mom’s daughters. Big Mom’s information network was aware of his current location. After working at a restaurant in the East Blue called Baratie, he was now the cook on the ship of the Straw Hat Crew. The ship’s captain, Monkey D. Luffy, was considered a superstar rookie and a member of the “Worst Generation,” so that suggested that Sanji had at least improved his skills a little…

No, that can’t be right, Reiju thought, reconsidering. He had been a crybaby, and he was obviously still the same as he’d always been. He wasn’t even a fighter, just a cook.

In any case, no matter how hard Judge looked, Sanji wasn’t going to return home. Germa was a place he didn’t want to remember ever again. Nothing could possibly make him come back.

“Ooh, they got some meat.”

Ichiji had been rummaging around for something promising and emerged from the refrigerator with a hunk of light-pink meat. The label on the container said “Brock Collie Pork.”

“Hey, Brock Collie is the name of the place where Niji and I are supposed to intervene with a contingent of Germa soldiers. You know about it, Reiju?”

“Yes, they are famous for their pigs. I read in the newspaper that they selectively breed them to get especially tender meat.”

“Interesting. Just like us—bloodline elements manipulated before birth to create the perfect specimen, eh?” Ichiji said, then forcefully slammed the piece of meat against the floor. “What?! You think this hunk of pork is equal to the royal Vinsmoke family?!”

“You were the one who said it,” Reiju noted.

Ichiji snorted, “Forget it,” and turned on his heel, enraged. “I don’t want meat. I’d rather fish for my lunch.”

“There are no fishing poles here.”

“Doesn’t matter. With my raid suit, I can catch however many fish I need,” he said, and stormed out of the galley. The raid suits were the pinnacle of Germa’s scientific prowess; using them to catch fish was hardly what their designers had intended.

Niji and Yonji, meanwhile, were sitting rudely on the counter and flipping through recipe books they’d found on the shelf.

“If Ichiji’s bringing us the fish, then I’ll do the dessert. Guess I’ll make some chocolate,” Niji said happily, opening the book to a page detailing how to do so. Chocolate was his favorite food. Many times, Reiju had seen him leave some dinner behind because he had eaten too much chocolate for a snack.

“What do you need to make it? Fresh cream, cocoa powder, and…huh? Chocolate?” Niji said, his face grimacing as he looked over the list. “What do you mean, I need chocolate to make chocolate? Why would I want to make chocolate if I already had chocolate? Is the author of this book stupid or something, Reiju?”

“Making chocolate from scratch requires a fair amount of preparation. Amateurs can’t make it straight from the beans, so you buy chocolate from the market and melt it down.”

“So to make chocolate, you buy some chocolate, then go to the trouble of melting it? What is this, some kind of special punishment? I won’t waste my time with that. If there’s chocolate, I’ll just eat it!” he announced, and went to the pantry in search of his treat.

“Then I’ll bake some bread. That seems easy,” said Yonji, clapping his book shut and following Niji to look for baking ingredients.

“Seems easy, he says…”

If only that were the case.

Reiju shrugged. There was a part of her that was morbidly curious to see what food her insensitive and arrogant brothers would make, but the results were bound to be awful. From the day they were born into the royal family, they’d been given the finest food imaginable, and never needed to do as much as peel a single apple before. That included Reiju.

“I wonder…if there’s anything I can make…”

She opened up the fridge and took note of a line of eggs.

“Maybe I can manage a rolled omelet.”

Her mother, Sora, had once read her a story about a penguin that cooked up a rolled omelet. It cracked and beat the eggs, then added a bit of sugar and cooked it very gently in a frying pan. Once it started firming up, the penguin rolled up the egg mixture into a delicate omelet. If a penguin could make it, then even a novice like Reiju might be able to handle it.

Okay. I’ll make a rolled omelet.

She reached out and took an egg, carefully tapped it against the edge of the counter, then put her finger on the crack. With a delicate crinkling, the shell broke open, and a round yellow yolk wrapped in clear fluid dropped into the middle of the mixing bowl.

“That was pretty good for my first attempt,” she noted, and was preparing to move on to the next step when her brother’s panicked voice filled the galley.

“Reiju, come quick! Hurry!”

She looked up to see Yonji, both hands covered in flour, frantically kneading some dough in a bowl.

“Why, what’s the problem?”

“I’m trying to follow the recipe, but it’s not working. When you knead the dough, it’s supposed to grow to twice the size, but nothing is changing about it.”

“Did you put in all of the ingredients on the list?”

“For the most part, but not this one thing—yeast, whatever that is.”

“Why not?”

“It’s only three grams! That might as well be nothing. So it should be fine without that.”

“You idiot!” She smacked him upside the head. “If it wasn’t necessary, they wouldn’t include it in the first place. Make sure you put all of the ingredients listed in the mix.”

“Did that hurt, Reiju?”

“Yes, it did.”

She rubbed at her throbbing hand. She’d hit Yonji’s head as hard as she could, forgetting about their steel exoskeletons.

“At any rate! Measure out three grams of yeast and put it in! Then try again.”

“But three grams might as well be nothing. I don’t have to put it in…”

“Yes, you do! Now do it!” she scolded, and returned to her omelet preparation only to be interrupted by Ichiji, who was returning from his fishing attempt.

“Reiju! I got a fish, but I need it checked for poison. It’s too big to fit in the galley here, so it’s up on deck.”

Ugh, why does everyone have to keep interrupting me?

Irritated, Reiju went up on deck, where a massive, faded-pink fish flopped and leapt.

“That’s a flamingo salmon, from the Boiling Sea. They’re not poisonous, so you can eat it once it’s cooked, but watch out for all the little bones. Can you prepare a fish, Ichiji?”

“You think I’m intimidated by dismantling a fish?”

“I don’t care, honestly. Well, good luck.”

Reiju returned to the galley and finally resumed working on her rolled omelet. In the story her mother had read her, the next step was to beat the eggs in the bowl. She searched the kitchen for a mixer, then whipped up the eggs until they were a pastel yellow.

“Oooh…”

She couldn’t help but smile at the change in color and consistency. It felt like this was working out so far. Maybe I have a knack for cooking.

“Hey, Reiju!”

And just when she thought she had some momentum, Yonji came along to dash cold water on it. She clicked her tongue and spun around.

“What?”

“I put the yeast in, but it’s still bad. It’s not sticky and squishy like the picture in the book.”

The picture of bread dough he was pointing at was clumped up in a nice round mass. But the mixture Yonji was kneading seemed flat and loose.

She glanced over the recipe, realized the issue at once, and sighed. “I think you need more heat. Your exoskeleton is made of steel, so your hands are cold. It’s not a high enough temperature for the yeast to ferment.”

“Huh? What are you saying, that I can’t make bread?”

“There must be ways to get around that, like putting it in hot water first.”

“This is such a pain. Besides, why do I gotta ask microorganisms for help just to make one measly loaf of bread?” Yonji fumed.

Ichiji returned to the galley. If he was finished cleaning the flamingo salmon, there was no way to tell, because he was empty-handed.

“What happened to your fish?”

“I cut it open and there were tons of little bones in it. I didn’t want to deal with that, so I tossed it back in the water. Then I grabbed a couple more fish, but they all had lots of bones, too.”

“There isn’t a single kind of fish that doesn’t have bones.”

“I don’t do fussy little fiddly tasks.”

So Ichiji had given up on fishing and cooking, apparently. Yonji seemed to have gotten bored of trying to make bread.

I had a feeling this would happen.

Reiju sighed yet again. At this point, Niji emerged from the pantry. She had seen him rummaging around for chocolate, and now he, too, seemed to have gotten tired of the task.

“What, you two both gave up on cooking?”

“Yeah. Everything about this is annoying.”

“Cooking is not something for royalty to bother with.”

Yonji laughed and tossed his half-prepared dough into the trash. Then he grabbed Reiju’s bowl of beaten eggs. “I’ll toss this out, too.”

“Oh! Hey…”

Before she could stop him, he emptied the bowl into the sink.

“We’re at sea, so you shouldn’t waste food like that…”

“Hmm? Did you say something, Reiju?”

It was pointless to argue with him. She just shook her head and said, “No.”

“Damn, I’m hungry, though. What should we do?”

“If we’re so desperate that we’re trying to cook for ourselves, why don’t we take a detour to the nearest port? Wouldn’t that be faster?”

“Agreed. I’m tired of trying to cook things.”

There was a gentle knock at the galley door. The navigator hesitantly peered into the room.

“Um, we’ll be arriving at Germa very shortly…”

When they returned to Germa at last, the siblings were greeted by the mass-produced soldiers, who all shared the same face.

“Lady Reiju! Master Ichiji! Master Niji! Master Yonji!”

“Welcome home!”

“We’re glad to see you back after your voyage!”

Her brothers descended to the port to a hail of cheers from the soldiers and walked with their chests puffed out. No matter how hard the sea breeze blew, not a single hair came undone from their powerfully fixed hairdos.

As soon as Ichiji, walking in the lead, noticed the head cook, he came to a halt.

“Hey, Cosette!”

“Y-yes?!”

“Our food better be ready!”

“O-of course, sir!”

The brothers couldn’t be more hungry. Reiju watched them make a beeline for the banquet room, then returned to her own room to change out of her traveling clothes and take a shower. Once she had properly cared for her skin and hair, she made her way to the banquet room as well, where the boys had already finished eating and were deep in conversation about their upcoming military action on Brock Collie and Big Mom’s political marriage, while spreading clotted cream on their dessert scones and shoving them into their mouths. They were royalty, so of course they comported themselves with proper etiquette in public settings, but in private they paid no respect to their food or the people who made it.

“We’ll have your meal prepared at once, Lady Reiju,” said the maids, pulling a chair back for her to sit in. Then they poured a glass of seltzer water—a recent favorite of hers—and set down a basket of bread without a word. Butter, rilletts, oil, salt, and a variety of jams were all set out for her use.

The little rolls were freshly baked and still warm. She pulled off a piece and popped it into her mouth, savoring the gentle sweetness of the flour. One of the cooks in the kitchen had used that yeast skillfully to knead their dough.

Soon more plates of food were neatly arranged before her. A starter, a soup, a salad, and some fish.

“Today’s fish is pan-fried armored stonefish,” explained the serving girl, as a dish twice the size of Reiju’s head appeared on the table. The skin of the armored stonefish was fragrant and crisp, with an array of sauces splashed on top. It was clear from a glance that great skill and care had gone into preparing it.

But armored stonefish skin was incredibly poisonous. The chefs did not have the poison-counteracting ability that Reiju did, so how had they prepared it safely?

That night, Reiju visited the kitchen and startled a young chef who was busy washing dishes.

“Pardon me for interrupting your cleaning,” she said. “I wanted to ask you something, if you don’t mind.”

“Lady Reiju!” he stammered. “W-w-w-what c-can I d-do for you?”

“About that pan-fried armored stonefish you served today…”

“Was it not to your liking?! The sauce wasn’t burnt, was it?! Was there a hair in it?!”

“No, it’s not that… Um, can you just talk normally?”

“Y-y-y-y-y-yes, ma’am!”

He was unnerved to an extreme degree, even for talking to royalty, but given how her father and brothers acted on a daily basis, maybe it was warranted. In this country, the only time the royals called the chefs was when they had complaints about the food.

“What is the matter, Lady Reiju?” said an older woman in an apron, who had overheard them from the storeroom in the back. She recognized this woman—she was one of the oldest cooks, who had been in the kitchen since before Reiju was born.

“Only the cleanup crew is in the kitchen at this hour. My name is Bellry. If you wish to speak to the head chef, Cosette, I can call for her at once…”

“No, it’s fine. I just came because I had a question. The armored stonefish you served today is a poisonous fish. How did you remove the poison?”

“The method to detoxify armored stonefish?”

Bellry seemed mystified that she would ask a question like that, but she went back and opened a heavy door in the rear of the kitchen.

Inside the dimly lit room was a massive fish tank that went nearly up to the ceiling, inside of which swam some armored stonefish. There was gravel at the bottom of the tank, as well as bright-red seagrasses.

“We put the armored stonefish and ruby seaweed in the same reservoir. Ruby seaweed can remove and absorb the fish’s toxins, so if left like this for three weeks, they are safe to eat. You can tell when the time is right because the stonefish’s color turns from purple to blue.”

“Three weeks?” Reiju was astonished. “It takes that long? It’s the innards and the skin that have the poison, right? Can’t you simply remove those parts and eat the rest?”

“Yes, you can remove the poison that way, but armored stonefish taste the best when their skin is still on. Plus, fish begin to lose their freshness from the moment they die. The best way to serve them to you is if they are naturally leached of their toxins and then prepared just before cooking.”

Surely they didn’t need to go to such lengths. Those boys didn’t have the delicate sense of taste needed to appreciate such fine cooking. But Reiju didn’t say that. Instead, she simply told Bellry, “We put you to quite a lot of trouble, don’t we? It must be so much work every day. My brothers have such particular and fussy tastes.”

“Oh, not at all. It’s the duty of a chef to provide a meal that meets the satisfaction of the diner. We undertake all of these efforts to please your taste buds. Master Ichiji might hate vegetables, but if they are chopped finely enough and mixed into a meat patty, he will gladly eat it without realizing.”

What is he, a child?

“Master Niji does not enjoy complex flavors, so we ensure that the sauces used in his dishes are very simple and pure.”

What is he, a fool?

“Master Yonji does not seem to like food with a dry texture, but if you serve it to him in between meals, he will usually be hungry enough to eat it anyway.”

What is he, a dog?

Reiju could only roll her eyes at the foibles of her brothers. The chefs went to such extreme pains for them, and they had no idea what went into their meals. While they protected the peace of Germa, the chefs in the kitchen were protecting the dinner table of the Vinsmoke family.

“I see. That is very interesting,” she said dryly, then spun on her heel and walked to the kitchen exit. “I’m sorry to have interrupted your cleanup. I suppose I shouldn’t have popped into the kitchen like this.”

“Don’t say that, my lady. Master Sanji visited quite often when he was still here,” said Bellry, who immeditatley but belatedly covered her mouth when she realized what she had said. Reiju stopped in her tracks, then turned back in a rush.

“Sanji was in here? In the kitchen?”

“No! I, um, it was just a slip of the tongue… Please forgive me!”

“It’s fine. It makes perfect sense that he would come here. And…was Sanji the only member of the royal family who visited the kitchen?”

“Erm…no. Actually…”

“My mother, too?”

Bellry hesitated, then nodded awkwardly. “Lady Sora did enjoy making desserts. But…Lord Judge did not seem to appreciate the idea of her preparing anything…”

“Yes, that doesn’t surprise me.”

“So when Lord Judge was not at home, she would sneak into the kitchen to bake cookies and financier cakes. She was here even when she was pregnant. She said that when the children growing inside her were all big, she hoped to make desserts with them one more time.”

“Ohhh…”

Suddenly, Reiju had a vision, clear as day, right before her eyes. A little Sanji was there in the kitchen baking cookies with their mother, Sora. Sanji was awkwardly stirring up the flour and eggs in the mixing bowl. Most of the mixture was spilling out, but Sora was happily encouraging him and telling him what a good job he was doing. Once he had helped bake some oddly shaped cookies, they put on a pot of fragrant tea and sat down to eat their freshly baked treats. They laughed and smiled and talked about how much they would like to do it again someday.

Of course, this had never actually happened. The side effects of the medicine Sora took had left her unable to leave her bed most of the time, and Sanji had been locked up in the chilly basement cells.

But there was something that Epony, the servant who used to care for Sora, had said. When he was young, Sanji had once run through the rain to deliver a meal that he’d made just for Sora. He had fallen and spilled it, but despite it having been rained on and generally looking like a hideous mess, Sora had happily eaten every last bite. There was no doubt that she hadn’t forced herself to swallow it, but had truly treasured the meal that Sanji had cooked for her with all his heart.

Reiju wished she could share a meal with Sora and Sanji, just once.

“Bellry, to this point in my life, I’ve never really much cared about things like the flavor or smell of my food,” Reiju said slowly, caressing the tank full of armored stonefish. It was more like she was talking to herself than to Bellry. “When sitting in that vast dining room with Father and my brothers, I never really felt like enjoying my food. I just thought of eating as replenishing fuel, nothing more. But really, that was a waste.”

Upon reflection, she realized that while at sea, a crew was at the mercy of their cook. They could only shovel their food into their mouths each day because they wholeheartedly trusted their cook and his skill.

Sanji, too, was probably trusted greatly by his ship’s crew. Maybe he was still a weakling and a crybaby, but if the Straw Hats had given him a place in the world with them, then at least he’d found the few people in the world who would accept him and his kindness.

But maybe I’m just saying that because I want to justify my choice to free Sanji.

It was so silly that she was still thinking about him that Reiju let out a little giggle, and took out her raid suit, which was adorned with a zero.

“Lady Reiju? What are you…?”

Gerrr-maaa!

Music began to play out of nowhere as Reiju’s body was enveloped in light. The clothes she was wearing melted away to nothing, and a pink suit covered her silhouette. A flashy cloak appeared on her back, fashioned like the wings of a butterfly. She was now Poison Pink.

“The next time you’re going to remove the poison from ingredients, call me. I can fix it up for you in three seconds, not three weeks,” she said to Bellry, who was truly gobsmacked. Then she reached into the tank and grabbed the dorsal fin of an armored stonefish, yanked it out, and placed her lips right on it. The purple skin of the stonefish rapidly turned to blue.

Smack! Gulp!

In just seconds she sucked out all the poison. Then she licked her lips and grinned.

“Thanks for the treat. ”

Hey, Shanks, where does the wind come from?

Uta thought back fondly on this question, one she had asked her father at a very young age.

She didn’t remember what Shanks’s answer was anymore. But the special night they had shared, the taste and texture of cotton candy on her tongue, the damp air—all these sensations were clear in her mind. Even the rough feeling of Shanks’s collarbone against her cheek.

One day, she wanted to do her own arrangement of the song they had all sang to her that night. She wanted to make it a nice, gentle song. The memories of the period they had spent together now put a painful tightness in her chest, so at the very least, she wanted this song to be a soothing, beautiful treasure to look back upon.

“The Whereabouts of the Wind,” she wrote on the top line of her open notebook. Uta closed her eyes, feeling the breeze, and hummed the melody that came to her mind.

When she was with Shanks, a bed could be anything.

One day, it was the place for a tea party with forest animals. Another day, it was a Milky Way packed with stardust. Last night, it was a jungle at the end of the world, where giants walked, and the night before that, it was a desert kingdom with a beautiful princess.

Tonight, however, it was a deadly sea bristling with vicious Neptunians.

Uta put the sheet over her head and growled, “Groaaaaar!” as deeply as she could. “I’m a huge Neptunian! Watch out, I’m gonna eat you!”

Shanks held out his hands in a claw pose and grunted, “Grrrrurg! I’m a huge Neptunian, too. I’m gonna eat you!”

“No! You’re not a Neptunian, Shanks, you’re the poor sailor who gets devoured by the Neptunian!”

“What? Why can’t I be a Neptunian, too?”

“Because. You have to let me eat you!”

“That’s bad luck for a pirate…”

He pushed the sheets off and rolled onto his side, grumbling. Uta yelled, “Raaar!” and jumped at his belly. “I’m gonna eat you! I’m gonna eat you!”

She bit at his stomach near his belly button, causing Shanks to double up with ticklish laughter. This reaction was so funny to her that Uta began crawling all over Shanks, tickling him wherever she could.

These moments, when she got to play with her father, were the most fun of all. Being raised on a pirate ship, Uta didn’t have any friends her age, but Shanks gave her lots of attention, so she never felt lonely.

“Okay, next I’m gonna be a scary dragon! You have to be a poor traveler, Shanks!”

“No, I think we’re done for today. It’s about time to sleep,” said Shanks, glancing at the clock on the wall. Uta looked away, pretending not to see it.

“Umm, I’m not sleepy yet.”

“It doesn’t matter. At night, you go to sleep.”

“But I’m not sleepy.”

“At least get in your bed.”

“Noooooooo!”

Here we go again. Shanks exhaled.

It seemed like every other word out of Uta’s mouth these days was “no.”

“Why are you making me do that? I hate you, Shanks!”

“Aww, darn, you do? So Uta hates my guts now…”

He turned his back on her and made a show of looking sad. It was good enough acting to completely fool a three-year-old, who looked at him with obvious concern.

“Are you sad, Shanks?”

“I’m so sad. I can’t believe Uta hates my guts. Boo-hoo-hoo…”

He pretended to cry. Uta grabbed him by the cheeks and pulled his face toward her.

“I’m sorry, Shanks. I didn’t really mean it. I actually love you. I love you more than anyone else.”

“Oh, I see. Thanks, that’s sweet,” he said, nodding, then scooped her up and set her down on top of the bed. “And that means you can go to bed.”

“Nooooooooo!”

There was no winning with her. Shanks tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling. Living with a three-year-old was so tough.

It was about this time the previous year that Shanks had first met Uta. The crew had happened across another pirate ship that had attacked first, and after they’d fought them off, they had found a baby girl on the ship. With what little she could say, they’d found out that her name was Uta. According to Hongo, the ship doctor, she was around two years of age, but even that wasn’t certain. She’d probably been abducted from somewhere, but only the pirates would know, and they had all fled when faced with the might of the Red-Haired Pirates.

The crew held an emergency meeting to discuss what to do about Uta. Obviously a group of fearsome pirates that made small children cry couldn’t take a toddler along on their voyages, but they also couldn’t take her back home if they didn’t know where that was. After a brisk exchange of opinions and ideas, they reached the most reasonable answer: “Leave her to the Navy after stopping at the next port.” By then, however, Uta had already taken to Shanks, and happily sat in his lap, kicking her feet.

“Uta stay here. Stay wif Shacks.”

It was heartwarming, seeing how much she adored him. And on the flip side, Shanks felt a closeness to Uta, knowing that she came from similar circumstances as himself. He was reluctant to let her go, and found a reason not to do it at every stop. “I don’t like this town.” “The next island should be better.” Eventually he stopped thinking about getting rid of her at all.

A year passed.

Uta grew quickly under the watchful eye of her foulmouthed, rough-around-the-edges caretakers. She was speaking much more than before, and her constant tantrums and demands, so typical of a three-year-old, tormented the crew. She didn’t eat any vegetables, and she only wore what she picked out for herself. When it was bath time, she would play and splash in the water for two hours. At night she refused to get into bed, and always wanted to stay up late.

When she showed no signs of getting tired, Shanks just tossed her into her bed and turned out the lights in her cabin.

“C’mon, Uta. If you don’t go to sleep soon, Whitebeard’s gonna come for you.”

“What’s Whitebeard?”

“He’s a pirate, and he’s scarier than any monster.”

“I’m not scared. You’ll protect me.”

“Well, yeah…but that’s not the point!”

He curled up behind her on the bed and tapped her tiny spine. “C’mon. Be a good girl and go to sleep.”

If he was lucky, this would work. So how would it go today?

That should be enough time.

After about five minutes, he craned his neck to look at her face and found two wide-open eyes, big as marbles, staring back at him.

Ugh, she’s completely awake.

“Uta.”

Her eyes flashed, as though she’d been waiting for her cue.

“I’m not sleepy.”

“Listen, Uta.”

“But I’m not sleepy!”

“I know. But—”

“I’m not sleepy!”

“All right. You’re not sleepy.”

“I’m not going to sleep!”

“Got it. You don’t have to sleep.”

“I’m not gonna sleeeeep!” she screamed, flopping her arms and legs. He caressed her head, trying to calm her down.

“I just said you don’t have to.”

“Huh? I don’t have to go to sleep? Can we play Neptunians, then?”

“No. Not that.”

“Why not?!”

“We’re gonna do something more fun than that.”

He gave up on putting her to bed. If she wasn’t going to be able to sleep, then he’d just keep her up late. Shanks sprang out of bed and grabbed the straw hat from the side table, plopping it onto his head.

“Let’s go.”

“Go where?”

“Outside.”

“Outside?” Uta’s eyes were huge pools of wonder. She pointed at the cabin window. “But it’s night. It’s so dark outside. It’s boring.”

“At sea, maybe. But not on land.”

She just stared at him, baffled, while Shanks grinned mischievously.

Uta went down into the harbor, cradled in Shanks’s arm.

“I thought we were sailing.”

“We got to the port during the day. You just didn’t notice because you were taking a nap.”

“It’s been a long time since I saw the ground.”

“Yes, we’ve been at sea for a long, long while.”

She looked up into the pitch-black sky. There was a clammy wind that picked up and ruffled her red-and-white hair.

“Hey, Shanks, where does the wind come from?”

“Dunno. From the sea, I guess?”

“Oh, okay. Just like us,” she murmured, and looked down. Shanks’s silhouette against the unfamiliar concrete ground was vague and fuzzy. It was strangely quiet, and there were hardly any people around.

“Where are we going now?”

“Let’s just wander around and see. I’ve never been here before, either.”

“Okay.”

Being in an unfamiliar place made Uta feel more and more anxious as time went on. She clenched his shirt tightly.

At sea, everything was so gentle and rocking, and she was kept safe by the big boat they rode on. There was none of that security here. It was just cold, hard ground as far as the eye could see.

“Shanks, let’s go back to the sea.”

“What? We’re finally on land again, and you already want to go back?”

“I like the sea better.”

“Listen to you! Already talking like a pirate,” Shanks laughed.

Uta pressed her face into Shanks’s chest. She hated dark places and unfamiliar places. If Shanks weren’t here with her, she would have started crying already.

I just want to go back…

She curled up and clung to him like a koala. Suddenly, there was a whole lot of noise around.

She looked up, curious, and saw a whole assortment of lights, as colorful as gumdrops. Red, green, yellow, blue—an array of colorful lanterns lined up over stalls and stores.

“What is this? A party?!”

“It’s a night market. They’ve got everything here.”

It was simply amazing—there were so many stores to see!

Uta jumped right out of Shanks’s arms. The rows of stalls went on for so long, she couldn’t even see all of them at once. Everywhere she looked, there was something new; it was like she’d wandered into a completely new world. The lights illuminated aged wooden pedestals that proudly displayed the stalls’ wares—fresh new vegetables, metal toys, rain hats and baskets woven from rushes, candleholders made of shells, and soap carved into flowers.

“Excuse me! What is this?!” she shouted to a nearby counter. The portly man who owned it craned his neck to look down at Uta.

“My store? It is a dealer in exotic tastes.”

“What’s azotick tastes?!”

“It refers to rare and unusual foods. For example, we sell roasted snakes. Over here we have some bat testes.”

I don’t know what that means, but it seems amazing!

“I’ll have one snake!”

“You don’t have any money,” scolded Shanks, who scooped her up from behind. This was the point when Uta recalled that you needed money in order to go shopping.

“Hey, Shanks, I want a snake.”

“Umm, let’s skip the snake this time.”

“Can I have that, then?”

She pointed at the adjacent stall, where they were selling pitchers of an iced beverage. It sparkled and gleamed like it was made of rubies.

“Pomegranate juice, huh? You might enjoy that.”

“Yeah, I will.”

“Just don’t tell Hongo.”

The ship doctor kept tight tabs on the amount of sugar Uta could have in a day. Apparently, you had to be careful about how much a toddler consumed. There was no way it was okay for her to have fruit juice before she went to bed.

Breaking the rules in secret was kind of exciting. Especially when she was with Shanks.

“Here.”

He handed her a cup of juice, which she grabbed with both hands and nervously held up to her mouth. The chilled pomegranate juice had a very strange flavor, somewhere between sweet and sour.

Uta walked slowly through the market with Shanks, sipping at her juice.

“Does that taste good?”

“Yep.”

“Don’t wander off, all right? You’ll get lost.”

“Oh, look at that, Shanks!” Uta said, immediately running off. She had spotted something too interesting to ignore. “Look! Clouds!”

“That? That is called cotton candy.”

“Cotton candy?”

“It’s a sugary treat.”

“It’s sugar? But it’s a cloud.”

A cloud made of sugar that was pink? It was incredible. What would it taste like?

“What now, Shanks? Will we have cotton candy? Will we? We will, right? It’s the chance of a lifetime.”

“Chance of a lifetime? Where do you pick up phrases like that?”

“Building Snake said it. It could be our last chance to have cotton candy. We have to buy it, or we’ll regret it!”

“Really? You just had juice to drink.”

“But this! Isn’t! Juice!”

She glared at him, sending the message that if he didn’t buy her cotton candy, she was going to burst into noisy tears.

“All right, fine. But don’t tell the other guys. They’re going to be very angry…with me.”

“I won’t tell!” she protested, and managed to earn herself some cotton candy.

She chomped down on the fluffy pink blob. A rough, textured sweetness filled her mouth. It was stringier than she’d expected it to be.

“This is interesting food.”

At three years old, she thought she had eaten basically everything there was to eat, but this was teaching her that there was still much to look forward to in the world.

“What?” Shanks said. “You don’t like it?”

“I don’t know.”

“I see.”

“But I’m glad I ate it.”

“Well, that’s good.”

She puckered her lips and sucked in as much cotton candy as she could, and pretty soon all of the skin around her mouth was sticky. She wiped at her mouth with her hands, and then they were sticky, too.

“Yaaagh!”

She reached out to wipe them on Shanks’s pants, but he was gone. He had been walking right beside her just a moment ago, but now he was gone.

Huh…?

Uta looked around, turning this way and that, but no matter where she glanced, there were only strangers.

“Shanks? Where did you go?”

All the lively noise around her grew distant and cold. A nasty feeling crawled up her spine.

Where did you go, Shanks?

She wanted to look for him, but the crowds of people kept blocking her way. She craned her neck, looking up for signs of him, and nearly tripped and fell. Then, finally, a head higher than anyone else, she spotted a familiar straw hat.

“Shanks!”

She squeezed through the grown-ups and ran over to him, grabbing and hugging his leg.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“You left my side, Shanks!”

“What do you mean? I was behind you the whole time.”

“No, you weren’t! You took your eye off me!”

“I could see you the whole time.”

“Pick me up!” she demanded, holding her arms up. Shanks rolled his eyes and scooped her up. She clung to him, pressing her cheek to his soft but jutting collarbone, and felt the tightened nerves at the center of her being loosening up.

“Don’t ever get lost again, Shanks. I don’t want to be alone,” she said in barely more than a whisper, but he heard her through the noise of the crowd and answered by tousling her hair.

That was all it took for Uta’s mood to recover. She hopped out of his arms and reached up to grab him. They resumed walking hand in hand through the market.

“Hey, pal, is that your daughter? Or your sister?” called out a woman at a stall with a variety of children’s clothes, about halfway through the market.

“My daughter.”

“Really! Rather young daddy, aren’t you? Well, you need some cute clothes for your daughter. I made all of these outfits myself. What do you think of this one?”

“Hmm. I dunno about all the frills and ribbons and such…”

She tried to foist a dress with tulle hems off on him. Shanks wasn’t really interested, but he held it in front of Uta’s body anyway.

It looked adorable.

“I’ll buy it.”

“That’ll be three thousand berries. Pleasure doing business with you,” grinned the merchant, rubbing her hands together.

The dress did indeed look great on Uta. He usually just gave her simple outfits like T-shirts and shorts, so the contrast made the effect all the greater. It wasn’t just his bias as a father; she was so cute she looked like an angel that had come down to earth.

No, wait, wait. Calm down.

Shanks returned to his senses and put the three thousand berries back in his pocket.

“Sorry, never mind. We’re on a long voyage. Only got so much room for clothing, and it’s not the most practical look…”

“There’s also a cape that goes with it,” the woman said, swinging a little cape around Uta’s shoulders. Shanks’s wallet emerged once again at light speed.

“I’ll take that, too.”

A dress and cape obviously weren’t things that Uta needed for her travels on a pirate ship, but he simply didn’t have the option of not buying them. They looked so good on her! How could he, as a father, not help her look her best?

Uta twisted a little, feeling constricted by the cape. She pulled on Shanks’s sleeve while he paid the asking price.

“Shanks, I don’t like these clothes. They’re not comfy.”

But Shanks wasn’t listening; her father was quickly concluding his transaction. She puffed out her cheeks and grumbled. Beckman was going to scold him for buying this on his own later.

Then, from the back of the shop, came a wailing cry.

“Oh no, he’s awake. No, no, no!”

The owner hastily pressed the wrapped items into Shanks’s hands and rushed to the back. Hidden behind the counter was a basket on a chair, inside of which was a newborn baby.

“Whoa, that baby’s smaller than you!”

“I’m not a baby anymore.”

The woman picked up the sniffling baby, held it to her chest, and began to sing a lullaby. It was a gentle melody that felt like an airy linen over the ears.

In less than a minute, the bawling baby’s nerves had calmed, and not long after that it went right back to sleeping. Shanks was blown away by how quickly and efficiently she’d put the child back to bed.

“Are you serious…?”

“That’s a traditional lullaby on this island. Sing it and pat the baby’s back, and they’ll fall asleep in seconds.”

“Hey, would you teach me that song?”

A surefire trick to get a child to sleep was more valuable to the Red-Haired Pirates right now than a treasure map.

“I’ve been trying to get her to go to sleep. Me and my friends even tried to write our own lullaby for her. It’s just not working out.”

“Um, sure, I can teach it to you. But it’s just an ordinary lullaby.”

“Hey, it put your baby to sleep, right? That’s the impor-tant part. Please, you gotta teach me, I’m begging you.”

“F-f-fine! Just take it easy!” the woman said, a little intimidated by Shanks’s desperation to learn the lullaby.

Just then, a young man walked by and grabbed Shanks forcefully by the shoulder.

“Hey, you! You’re a pirate, aren’t you?!”

The man was a young Navy sailor who’d returned home to this island while on leave. He had just finished training and been assigned to a unit, and he recognized the face of the red-haired man in the market.

“Hey! You’re a pirate, aren’t you?! I’ve seen you on a bounty poster!” the sailor said loudly, drawing the attention of the shop owner.

She interrupted him to say, “Excuse me, sir, but I think you’re mistaken. This man is just buying clothes for his daughter there. He paid me for them, too.”

“Here, take a look. Don’t these look great on my little girl?”

“I sewed them. See the little pom-poms?”

“Yeah, it’s got pom-poms,” said the red-haired man and the shopkeeper, both intently demonstrating the value of the clothes.

Would a wanted man really take his child out clothes shopping in public? Maybe this man really was just a young father out with his daughter, the sailor considered. Suddenly, the child popped her head between the red-haired man’s legs and said, “Hey, Shanks, I’m tired. Pick me up now.”

“Shanks”?

The man abruptly reached for the gun at his waist, then thought better of firing his weapon in a crowded place and let go. Instead, he drew his knife.

“Don’t move!”

That friendly smile had almost fooled him. But there was no Naval marine in the world who didn’t know the name of Red-Haired Shanks.

“I don’t care how powerful of a pirate you are. If you try any funny business in this town, you’re going to pay dearly for it. I…I’m not bluffing!”

But his voice trembled, and he had to tense his neck to keep it steady. Stories said that Shanks was powerful enough to knock people out with a glare, but no matter how powerful a pirate he was, giving in to evil wasn’t an option. This was a small, peaceful town filled with good people. He couldn’t let pirates ruin their peace of mind. Protecting the tranquility of the people was the Navy’s job…

“Listen, calm down. You’re only going to regret having a go at me. Nothing good will come of it,” the red-haired man said softly, but this only made the sailor more panicked. The knife in his hand trembled.

“You shut up. The Navy wears justice upon its back! I have a sworn duty to uphold the peace and tranquility of this town!”

“Hey, what’s peas and tancrillity?” asked the girl clinging to the red-haired man’s knee. He just scratched at his head awkwardly.

“Well, geez. What should I do about this?”

“Hey. Hey. What’s peas and tancrillity?”

The red-haired man scooped up the child under his arm and muttered, “Gotta run.”

“Huh?”

The sailor blinked in surprise, for the man had vanished. He spotted the red-haired man and his girl already a great distance away.

“Wait!”

The sailor tried to give chase, but in no time, the pair was gone from sight.

Without wasting a single breath, Shanks raced down the street, took a number of turns, and finally arrived at a park with a large fountain, where he came to a stop and squawked, “Ack! I left your clothes behind.”

“I have them,” Uta said, showing him the bag she had clutched in both hands.

“Good girl, Uta! Now you’re thinking like a pirate!” he said. She snorted proudly. “But it does mean we can’t go back to the night market. It’s too bad—I wanted to show you more things.”

“I already saw enough.”

“But you don’t know how much else is out there in the world…”

Shanks had started to walk away from the park when he noticed a general store across the street. They were starting to pull the shutters down and close for the night. Out in front of the shop were a variety of merchandise like nail clippers and scissors, and some impulse-purchase items like candies.

“Wait right here.”

He plopped her down on the ground. Within two seconds she had forgotten that he had told her to wait and wandered off toward the big fountain in the park.

It was so wondrous! Water always fell down from above, but here, it was shooting up. Maybe there was a big Neptunian under the surface.

The big white moon was reflected on the water. She reached down to touch it, and a water skimmer darted past her wrist.

The water kept shooting out of the fountain, but somehow, it wasn’t overflowing. How did that work? Why didn’t the level change?

“Thanks for waiting, Uta. Bought ya something nice,” said Shanks, approaching from behind, but Uta’s gaze was locked on the fountain.

“Hey, Shanks, look. The water’s splashing and splashing. It just keeps going forever.”

“Uta.”

“Look. It keeps shooting out, but it never spills.”

“Uta.”

“Look at it, Shanks!”

She spun around, and a see-through sphere passed right before her eyes. It caught the moonlight, glimmering beautifully. She reached out without thinking, and the moment her fingertips touched it, the sphere popped.

“What is it?”

“Bubbles.”

Shanks had a little tube that he tapped into some liquid. Then he blew air through it, and just like magic, a whole bunch of bubbles appeared from the other end.

Entranced, Uta immediately chased the bubbles around. They were so pretty that she wanted to touch them, but the moment she did, they disappeared. It was such a beautiful sight, whether they were floating or popping.

“They’re amazing, Shanks. These bubbles are so amazing!”

“Right?”

“I want to do it too.”

“Okay, hang on.”

“I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna!”

“I didn’t say you couldn’t! Just wait a second while I put it in the liquid.”

“Let me do it!”

She grabbed his leg with both arms and rocked back and forth until he finally gave her the little tube.

“Whatever you do, don’t suck in. Only blow out.”

She puffed breath through the tube, and clear, rainbow-colored bubbles filled her sight. She gazed at them in wonder. A big one and a little one collided, then stuck together and turned into one larger bubble.

“They combined! Like a snowman!”

Shanks gazed at the floating bubbles with a cool, detached expression on his face. Unlike Uta, who was always emotionally busy—crying and laughing and raging—Shanks was always even-keeled. She had never seen him so angry that he lost his cool.

Maybe he was different in battle, or around the other crewmates. But the Shanks that Uta knew was always loose and chill, watching the seagulls and relaxing. She couldn’t even imagine him glaring at people and menacing them with a scary look.

Uta watched the bubbles float serenely through the air.

“Hey, Shanks,” she said. “What’s peas and tancrillity?”

“Where’s this question coming from?”

“That man said it. What does it mean?”

“Hmm.” Shanks considered this for a moment. “I’ll explain it to you when you’re older.”

“Why not now?”

“Because it’s a little too complicated for you.”

“If it’s too complicated to explain, show me what it looks like. Then I’ll understand.”

“It’s not something you can see. Or touch.”

“You can’t see it or touch it? Isn’t that bad?”

“It’s why we have words for it.”

“Huh?”

Peas and tancrillity couldn’t be touched or seen. Bubbles could be seen, but they popped if they were touched. Cotton candy and pomegranate juice could be seen and touched, and they were yummy.

The world was full of many more things than Uta realized, and each of them had different properties. It was all very complicated.

“Blowing bubbles at night is kinda nice,” Shanks said, blowing on a bubble that had drifted toward him and sending it back the other way.

“Yeah, isn’t it?”

Uta’s feeling that the bubbles were beautiful was something she couldn’t see or touch, but it was still real. So whatever peas and tancrillity were, they had to be real, too. These thoughts, vague and scattered, were what passed through Uta’s head as she tried to blow more bubbles into Shanks’s face.

Shanks gave Uta a piggyback ride on the trip back to the Red Force. She was all tuckered out after chasing the bubbles through the park. She pressed her cheek against Shanks’s back through his shirt and surrendered to the gentle rocking of his walk, feeling herself growing sleepy.

“Oh. I left the bag of clothes back where we played with the bubbles.”

“Awww,” Shanks said, though he didn’t seem that disappointed.

Uta copied him and said, “Awww,” too, then slumped against Shanks’s back.

The warmth of his skin passed on to hers. The road that looked so dark and scary coming here wasn’t scary in the least anymore. The gentle light of the town’s streetlights lent a soft glow to the back of her eyelids.

Shanks was amazing. Just sticking to him like this felt good and soft and right, and she wanted to lie here forever.

I wish I had the power to make someone feel happy like this, too.

As she steadily drifted into sleep, the corners of Uta’s mouth creased into an easy smile.

“Why did you wake up the instant we got back home?”

Shanks was at a loss for what to do. The moment they’d returned to the cabin and he’d set her down on the bed, Uta’s eyes had popped back open like a switch on her back had been flipped.

“I was just sleeping.”

“You were.”

“But now I’m awake.”

“Great…”

The other members of the Red-Haired Pirates had gathered at the door of the cabin to snicker at how dejected Shanks was.

“Captain took her out for a walk to tire her out, and she’s still not sleepy!” chuckled Lucky Roux.

“Can you imagine? Red-Haired Shanks, the legend himself, unable to put a single child to bed,” said Yasopp.

Beckman walked right into the room, picked Uta up, and began to sniff her.

“She smells sweet. If you were giving her food she shouldn’t have, Hongo’s going to be angry.”

Shanks and Uta shook their heads in unison.

“She didn’t have anything. Right, Uta?”

“Yeah, I didn’t eat anything. Right, Shanks?”

“The times when you both say the same thing are when I trust you the least,” murmured Beckman, putting Uta back down on the bed.

She sat on the edge and began to kick her feet into the air. She wasn’t looking like she was ready for rest. If anything, that brief nap had just taken the edge off.

“What do we do now? Uta’s completely wide-awake,” Yasopp teased. Shanks’s shoulders slumped.

Oh, wait. The lady from the island sang that lullaby that put her baby right to sleep. The real gentle one.

He tried to approximate it in a soft, lulling voice, making up the lyrics as he went along.

“Go to sleeeeep, baby giiiirl…”

Instantly, Uta’s brow furrowed. “I don’t like that song, Shanks! Sing the other song, the one that everyone sings together!”

“That’s not a lullaby.”

“I don’t care. Sing it, sing it, sing it! Please!”

“No. You’re not gonna fall asleep to it.”

“But I willll!”

“No.”

The song Uta was referring to was something the Red-Haired Pirates had improvised the previous year. In order to get her to stop crying somehow, they had tried to copy a lullaby they’d heard a mother sing to her child in town. But as they were pirates, it didn’t turn out like a peaceful, soothing lullaby in the slightest. What started out as a children’s song soon had them all swaying shoulder to shoulder and belting it out like a chorus. Somehow, it turned into the sort of raucous pirate shanty they sang lustily at a pub.

“Pleeeeease!”

She begged until Shanks began to fret, and finally, for whatever reason, Lime Juice said, “All right,” and began to beat the rhythm of the song they had made up last year on the desk: dun, dun-dun-dun-dun-dun, da-dun.

“Come on, guys, I’m trying to get Uta to sleep…”

“Just play along.”

Against his protestations, Shanks was soon flanked by Yasopp and Lucky Roux, who began to sing loudly to Lime Juice’s beat. Soon Shanks was getting into the mood and joining in.

Other crew members heard their singing and flocked over to join in, until every last member of the Red-Haired Pirates had added his voice to the chorus.

They put hands around one another’s shoulders and sang as though in the midst of a feast. Seeing all the grown-ups having fun caused Uta to clap her hands and scream with delight.

“I wanna sing, too!”

She hopped off the bed and began to stomp her feet, hopping around like a frog to the song.

“Music is the best! It’s so fun!”

“You like music, Uta? Then you can be the Red-Haired Pirates’ musician when you grow up,” said Shanks. She found this so delightful that she leapt and bounded even higher.

“Yaaay! I’m the musician of the Red-Haired Pirates!”

When Shanks was around, Uta wanted to stay at his side all the time, and never wanted to leave. She wanted to make music that made others feel the same way, something they could listen to forever. She wanted to sing a song that would remain in people’s hearts, even if they couldn’t see it, like that feeling she’d had when she’d watched the bubbles floating.

“I’m gonna be the greatest musician in the world! And I’ll keep singing and singing and singing for everyone!”

She gazed into the faces of the Red-Haired Pirates, the people she loved so much, and made her bold, ambitious proclamation without any evidence, but with absolute confidence.

Jun Esaka was born February 13 in Kanagawa Prefecture. Blood type O. After graduating from Waseda University, he began working as a writer.

Sayaka Suwa was born in Kagoshima in 1980. She illustrates in pencil, ink, and watercolor. Her illustrations have been featured in a variety of books and magazines, including One Piece Magazine.

Eiichiro Oda began his manga career at the age of 17, when his one-shot cowboy manga Wanted! won second place in the coveted Tezuka manga awards. Oda went on to work as an assistant to some of the biggest manga artists in the industry, including Nobuhiro Watsuki, before winning the Hop Step Award for new artists. His pirate adventure One Piece, which debuted in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 1997, quickly became one of the most popular manga in Japan.