Chapter 31: Preparation

The upstanding citizens of the world breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the news of the Rocks Pirates' downfall that year. Most people clung to the hope that a new era of peace was finally upon them.

But what they didn’t know was the truth—that the destruction of the Rocks Pirates came not from a decisive defeat, but from their captain’s death and the subsequent scattering of his crew.

The once-mighty Rocks Pirates had disbanded. Countless pirates who had once been under their banner were now free to roam the seas as they pleased. And above all else, the most terrifying remnants of Rocks’ crew had gone independent.

In reality, the threat of piracy was far from over. And that fact weighed heavily on the minds of the Marines—the world’s enforcers of justice, tasked with maintaining order across the seas.

---

The Grand Line, New World

"Hey, Roger!! Today’s the day I finally throw your ass in prison!! You ready!?"

"Hell yeah!! Give it your best shot!! —Wait, hold on a sec!!"

"...Hah!? What now!? You think a Marine like me’s gonna listen to a damn pirate’s—"

"Waaah! Waaah!"

"Ngyahh! Ngyahh!"

"!!?"

Monkey D. Garp, now a hero of the Marines, had once again been assigned to relentlessly pursue the Roger Pirates. But today, his brow furrowed as the unmistakable cries of two infants echoed from Roger’s ship.

A moment later—

"Oi, Roger! They’re crying again! What the hell do we do!?"

"Wahaha!! Loud little brats, ain’t they!? Diaper change!? Or are they hungry!?"

"Nah… I think they just got scared by all the noise..."

"Hmm… Now that ya mention it, we don’t got any baby toys, do we? Alright, let’s go buy some! —Sorry, Garp! Gotta cut today short. Toy shopping!!"

"—THE HELL YOU SAY!? Wait, why the hell are there even babies on your ship!?"

Garp roared at Roger, now one of the most infamous pirates on the seas. But the Marines had their hands full dealing with the aftermath of that incident, leaving little room to breathe.

---

Marineford, Headquarters

"…It’s been over a month since Captain Rocks’ death at God Valley and the collapse of the Rocks Pirates. Yet the remnants remain a formidable threat—many have already begun leading their own crews and making moves across the seas."

"'Whitebeard' Edward Newgate—1.546 billion berries. 'Big Mom' Charlotte Linlin—1.488 billion berries. 'Golden Lion' Shiki—1.644 billion berries. Among others, these former core members of the Rocks Pirates now command forces beyond what ordinary Marines can handle."

"The most dangerous right now is Golden Lion… Rumor has it he’s absorbed many former Rocks subordinates under his banner. While his combat ability is said to be slightly inferior to Whitebeard and Big Mom, his influence has surged alarmingly."

"Vice Admiral Garp continues his pursuit of Roger, but these three demand equal vigilance. They’ve already caused significant damage."

"Hmm… Who’s currently assigned?"

"Sir! Vice Admiral Sengoku—Garp’s rival in strength—handles Golden Lion. Vice Admiral Zephyr is on Whitebeard. And Fleet Admiral Kong is monitoring Big Mom’s movements. However… we’re still critically understaffed. Many remnants remain unaccounted for."

"…Tch. Unfortunate. But we must face reality. Garp’s… concerns aside, we must prioritize containment. Another Rocks cannot be allowed to rise. Focus on those three—strengthen our defenses, stay alert, and be ready to move at any moment."

"Understood! We’ll proceed accordingly!"

The Marine saluted sharply and exited, leaving the tense atmosphere of headquarters behind. For them, the current state of the seas was anything but stable.

The death of Rocks had unleashed a storm of pirate activity, throwing the world into chaos. The World Government was desperately suppressing the truth, but the damage was already done—remnants of the Rocks Pirates had already left their mark.

Somewhere, on an island beyond the Government’s reach, innocent lives were likely being trampled underfoot—no, definitely being trampled. Just recently, two former Rocks pirates had been captured, but the prison ship transporting them had suddenly gone silent mid-transit. Probably broken out. Probably sunk.

The ones responsible would need to be dealt with eventually—but not yet.

For now, the Marines could only wait, watch, and prepare. Because when those pirates finally made their move in earnest…

That’s when justice would strike with full force.

---

Grand Line, Kies Island

The island’s name was Kies Island—a small, lawless speck in the Grand Line with a population of about 30,000. (There used to be more, but that didn’t matter. The past was irrelevant.)

It wasn’t a World Government affiliate—hell, it wasn’t even a proper country. Just a town with a mayor who’d been the island’s representative… until he’d oops, died. Now, there was no one in charge.

A haven for pirates and outlaws, Kies thrived on tourism—if you could call it that. Hotels, restaurants, bars, and weapon shops lined its streets, catering to seafaring scum. Its specialties? Fruit, fish, and Kies Cocktails—a local concoction made from the island’s exotic fruits, famous for being strong, sweet, or spicy depending on your taste.

The island’s reputation? "Dangerous as hell." Or at least, it used to be. These days, it was oddly peaceful. No brawls. No murders. Just… quiet.

Good.

At the heart of the island, standing atop a hill, I stared up at the flag flapping in the wind and grinned.

"Damn, this looks good! You guys nailed it! Totally worth hiring pros!"

"Y-Yes…! W-We’re glad you’re pleased… heh… hehe…"

The dyers I’d commissioned shuffled nervously. Smart move, hiring experts—neither Kaido nor I had an artistic bone in our bodies. But this?

This was perfect.

A skull with horns mimicking Kaido’s own—the symbol of the Beast Pirates. Our creed. Our declaration. Proof that we’d claim this era as our own.

"Worororo… Now it’s official. This island belongs to us."

"Having our own flag really makes it feel real, huh? Like we’re actual pirates now!"

Kaido and I laughed together, our voices booming under the shadow of our Jolly Roger. But we weren’t just two people anymore.

After taking over the island, we’d spent days recruiting.

And now?

"Alright, listen up! From today on, you’re all part of the Beast Pirates! So—

You ready for this!?"

"Y-YESSIR!!"

"We’re ready, Captains!!"

About a hundred hardened outlaws and pirates stood gathered in the square—the newest recruits of the Beast Pirates. Our subordinates.

We’d scoured the island for willing (or at least surviving) pirates and locals, but the turnout was smaller than expected. Maybe they were too scared. Maybe we’d killed too many. Eh. Didn’t matter. The whole island was ours now anyway, so technically, everyone here was under our thumb. And if anyone still refused to join after all that? Good riddance. Pirates without conviction were useless—cannon fodder at best.

"Worororo… At least we’ve got bodies to throw around now."

"Oh, come on! Don’t say it like that! They joined us, so they’ve got some spine. And who knows? Maybe they’ll get stronger!"

"Hope so. I’ll give ’em a chance."

"Mhm! We’re running this crew on pure meritocracy. Strong enough? Instant promotion! Heck, if anyone’s stronger than me or Kaido, they’re welcome to challenge us!"

"Hahaha… Y-Yeah, sure…"

"We’ll… do our best…"

…Huh. The mood somehow got heavier. Thought I was being funny. And honest! I’d love someone strong enough to give us a real fight—well, unless it’s someone like Whitebeard. That’d just be suicide.

"Alright, Kaido. What’s next?"

"Obvious. We’ve got men and a base. Now we need a ship. No self-respecting pirate sails without one."

"Right. So, build one? Or… take one?"

"We’ll borrow someone else’s for now. Building can wait."

Kaido made the call. As he should. Even though we’re practically siblings, he’s the captain. An organization—pirate or otherwise—needs a clear chain of command. Sure, once we’re bigger, I’ll handle more decisions, but the big moves? The direction? That’s Kaido’s call. No exceptions.

…Unless he does something really stupid. Then I’ll step in. After ten years together, I know exactly where that line is—and so does he. He trusts me to speak up when it matters, and I trust him not to let power go to his head.

For now, though? He leads. I support. If Kaido says we’re commandeering a ship, then we’re commandeering a ship.

"Then let’s hit the docks and—"

"U-Um… About that…"

One of the recruits suddenly spoke up, voice trembling. The others shifted uncomfortably, like they’d rather be anywhere else.

"? What’s up?"

"…The hell? You better not be sayin’ you won’t hand one over."

"N-N-NO!! W-We’d give you all our ships if we could!! S-Seriously!!"

"……Hah?"

"……The fuck?"

Kaido and I exchanged confused glances as the pirate stammered under Kaido’s glare. Huh? What’s he trying to say?

"Wait… you’re telling me there are no ships? But you’re pirates."

"W-Well, it’s not that there aren’t any, it’s just—"

"Spit it out." Kaido’s voice dropped to a growl.

The recruit flinched, sweat beading on his forehead. Weird. Even knowing how terrifying Kaido is when pissed, he still hesitated. Whatever this was, he really didn’t want to say it.

Finally, he clenched his fists and blurted out:

"A-All the ships in the harbor… they’re… they’re DESTROYED!!"

"——THE HELL!?" 

"…Eh?"

I blinked. Hold up.

"No no NO! They were there when we got here! What, did someone wreck them AFTER we took over? We specifically avoided smashing the ships when we raided the island!"

"W-Well… technically, you didn’t, Vice Captain… but… uh…"

The recruit’s eyes flicked nervously—upward. Toward Kaido.

…Oh.

My brain short-circuited for a second. No way. I turned to Kaido with a strained smile.

"Hey, Kaido. You didn’t wreck the ships, right? Because we talked about this—"

"——Ah. Forgot."

"IT WAS YOU AFTER ALL, YOU DUMBASS!!"

THWACK!

I punched him full-force in the arm. Unbelievable.

"ALL OF THEM!? There were like TWENTY SHIPS IN THAT HARBOR! Are you STUPID!?"

"…Calm down, Nue." Kaido grunted, rubbing his head. "No ships? We’ll build new ones. Problem solved."

"DON’T ‘PROBLEM SOLVED’ THIS AFTER YOU CAUSED IT!!"

Another smack—lighter this time, but still firm. God, this idiot… I should’ve kept a closer eye on him when he was drunk. Who wrecks an entire fleet by accident—

"…Hey. Why’s everyone standing so far away?"

The recruits had quietly retreated to the edges of the square, some even hiding behind crates. One gulped.

"W-Well… we, uh… thought you might start wrecking the island next…"

"Ohhh. Smart call." I nodded approvingly. "Kaido and I don’t really hold back when we fight. Especially him. So yeah, if we go at it, run. For your own good."

"……Eh?"

"Tch. Don’t make me sound like a menace, Nue," Kaido grumbled. "I don’t go around attacking my own crew."

"You do when you’re DRUNK! Remember that time you ‘accidentally’ raided OUR ship instead of the enemy’s? We had to beat your ass for an HOUR!"

"…That was because I saw those bastards—Shiki and Linlin’s crews. They had it coming."

"Sure, sure. Just… try not to obliterate our own guys, okay?"

"I said I won’t. Unless they give me a reason."

"Good enough!" I clapped my hands, grinning. "Now! Since SOMEONE doomed us to shipbuilding hell—let’s get to work!"

"Y-Yes, ma’am…"

I flash another bright smile and move the conversation forward, but… huh? That’s weird. Even though an adorable beauty like me is cheerfully steering us to the next topic, for some reason, everyone seems even more drained than before. Well, whatever—I’ll ignore that for now.

"If we’re building a ship, we’ll need carpenters, right? Oh, and money too, I guess."

"Hah? Who needs money? This is my turf. We’ll just force ’em to build it."

"Idiot. If you don’t pay them, the carpenters’ll die, y’know? After it’s built, fine, whatever—but building takes time, and they’ve got lives to live in the meantime. If we don’t pay, we’d have to take care of them ourselves while they work, and honestly, we’re just gonna tax the profits later anyway, so we might as well pay ’em from that. …Well, of course, we’ll make it cheaper than usual. Though they might cut corners…"

"Then we kill ’em."

"…Eh, torture and kill, sure. After scaring ’em that bad, it’ll be fine—so it’s settled?"

"Tch, whatever. Money first, then."

And just like that, we’re back to square one: gathering funds to build the ship. Things have gone off-script in all sorts of ways, but… eh, this is fun in its own right. No hurry anyway—letting them build a ship isn’t a big deal. With that in mind, I start discussing how to handle the money.

"Money, huh? First, we gotta decide how much to tax."

"Half their monthly income?"

"Hmm… I dunno what the usual rate is, honestly… Half might kill ’em, but, well, we can figure that out after they croak…"

"We’ll just lower it when the time comes. Let’s go with that."

"Alright, guess we’ll hang around town for a while. So, everyone, from now on—"

"U-um… About that…"

"Again?! Now what?"

Another subordinate sheepishly speaks up, and I brace myself. Oh come on, money’s gotta be fine, right? How else are they surviving? Then again, if it’s about the taxes being too high, I’ll hear ’em out—

"—Right now, most of the island is… still rebuilding… So they might not have much to spare for taxes…"

"…Huh?"

"Ah…?"

Kaido and I exchange blank stares, caught off guard. …No money to spare? Rebuilding?

"…Wait, we didn’t wreck everything. Some shops and places are fine, right?"

"Well, yes, but… with most of the town in ruins, there are barely any customers…"

"And, uh, since so many pirates died, the ones who used to come buy stuff are gone too… Even the inns are empty now…"

"Farming was big here too, but… well, the fields got burned. People were crying about it…"

"…………I seeeeee… Got it…"

My smile twitches uncontrollably. …So, to sum up the situation:

1. Crew: About 100 weaklings. Useful as manpower, at least.

2. Ships: All gone. Kaido wrecked every pirate ship. Building new ones requires money.

3. Taxes: Island’s half-destroyed. Everyone’s rebuilding. Income’s plummeted. Not zero, but profits? Forget it.

4. Food: Sketchy. Fields burned—probably Kaido’s doing. (Gonna punch him later.) I can handle my own meals, and Kaido’ll survive, but feeding the underlings is another issue…

"…Ahaha. So, uh… are we kinda screwed here?"

"W-well, if we rebuild the town, things should improve…? What’s the plan?"

"…Hey, Kaido. What do we do?"

"What a pain in the ass… This island’s a damn joke…"

"—Yep! Though, y’know, it’s kinda our fault!!"

Alright, got it. Crystal clear. We basically wrecked half the island. Okay, think. Find a solution. It’s fine—I’ve got nearly a decade of pirate experience (apprentice years included). Kaido won’t remember any of this crap, so I’ve had to learn everything myself. My vast knowledge and past exploits will shine here—"Nue-chan’s amazing! Genius! Adorable! Mysterious!"—and they’ll all praise me. Okay, options, options… Hmm…

"Solution number 1! Ignore everything and force ’em to build the ship anyway!!"

"The carpenters’ll die before it’s finished…"

"I’m good with that."

"Not good! —Solution number two! We move our base to another island! Kaido and I can fly, after all!"

"But… but then we'll be left behind!!"

"Ugh, fine! Solution number three! We’ve got the manpower, so we’ll fast-track the rebuilding, gather money, and get a ship built!!"

"Is… is there really no other option…?"

"Shut up!! Then why don’t you come up with something!!"

"We're, uh… not very smart…"

"Then don’t complain!! You wanna get eaten!?"

"Eek… a-anything but that!!"

With my terrified subordinates in front of me, I clutch my head in frustration. Damn it… this is bad… useless crew, half-destroyed base… looks like we’ve got no choice but to do it… We could just head out to sea and hijack a random ship, Kaido and I—but we're not exactly good at stealing ships without damaging them, and operating one with just the two of us would be rough. This is the Grand Line, after all. Plus, without an Eternal Pose, we wouldn’t be able to return to this island. So that plan’s out.

Then there’s the option of waiting here and ambushing any pirate crew that shows up… not a bad plan, but a passive one. And we can’t just sit around doing nothing until that happens. No matter what, we’ve gotta start making moves.

"Ugh… I don’t really care if the islanders live or die, but… I did go through the trouble of claiming this base… If we manage to rebuild, it could be a nice place to live…"

"Damn it… are we really doing this…!?"

"Well, technically they're doing it, not us. We’ll just wait around while they work. Shouldn’t take too long anyway…"

Just like Kaido said, maybe we really have no other choice. For now, let’s just have them get started while we watch how things unfold. Anyway, the plan was always to gather crew, raise funds, and get a ship. Even if we had a ship already, it’s not like we were planning to set sail immediately. It's clear we're still not strong enough. Better to wait until we’ve got everything lined up—including our own power. Kaido may not look it, but he can be cautious. Sure, he often ruins things by getting drunk and acting stupid, and sometimes he really is an idiot—but when he’s sober, he’s got common sense, and his mind works just fine. Even now, the fact that he’s not immediately abandoning the crew and taking off means he’s weighing his options. This island does have its advantages. The booze is great, too. I doubt that’s what he’s torn up about, but I’m sure he’s reluctant to give up a base we finally secured. In the end, it all comes down to what Kaido decides. And as I waited—

"…Fine then. But once the rebuilding is done, we’re taking all the money, the weapons, the booze—and a ship. And when we do leave this place… we’ll destroy the island and steal everything!!"

"Aha ha, so ruthless~! But yeah, since we gave them something, we’ve gotta take it back eventually. That kind of follow-through is so Kaido. I love it!!"

"This island’s ours now… Even if we throw it away later, we should wring every last drop of use from it. Until then, we stockpile what we need to thrive as pirates…!!"

"Okay~♪ You all heard that, right? That’s our plan moving forward, so get ready and do your best starting today!!"

"Y-yes ma’am!!"

The crew of the Beasts Pirates—how long they’ll last, I have no idea, but at least they’re giving me the answers I like to hear. Mmm, those frightened stares full of dread… delicious. This kind of fear is just exquisite. I bet word’s already spreading from the islanders hiding in the rubble who overheard us—but there’s nothing they can do about it. We could just leave them alone… but if Kaido’s going this route, maybe it’s better to crush their hopes, too. So—

"Nope~ Not allowed~♡"

"—Huh!? W-whoa!!"

I leap into the air and grab one of the islanders hiding behind the rubble. I mean, come on, of course I noticed them. My Observation Haki picked up their presence ages ago. Oh, a kid, huh…? Well, I haven’t tasted a child before… maybe it’s worth a try.

"Gotcha~!! This kid’s been very naughty, huh? Eavesdropping on our little talk just now… What should we do with him?"

"Worororo… What, are you hungry or something?"

"Not really~ But I’ve never had a kid before, y’know? It’s not like I go around targeting children. But now that I’ve got one, I’m kind of curious to try~"

"Do what you want. We’re killing them all anyway. Wororororo…!"

"Yay♡ Alright, little guy~ Let’s go to big sis’s room, shall we~♡"

"S-stop… Let me go…!"

"Uh… K-Kaido-sama… is she… really going to…?"

"Worororo… If you’re that curious, go take a look. You’ll see something fun."

"Ah… haha… I-I’m good, thanks…"

Holding onto the child, I take off toward the island hotel I’ve been using as my personal quarters. I could just eat him on the spot, but I feel like experimenting today—and it’d probably traumatize the newer crew a bit too much. Leaving it vague is scarier anyway. The unknown creates a fear all its own. They don’t know exactly what I’m going to do… but their imagination fills in the blanks. And that kind of fear—that’s the good stuff. So for now, I guess it’s time for a lunch break.

Still as full of trouble as ever. We’ve got the crew, but no money and no ship. At least we’ve settled on a plan. And as I dig into some fresh, delicious food harvested from the island, I reflect on this difficult but oddly enjoyable life we’ve begun here.