News of the Republic of Arabasta clashing with a Marine Rear Admiral spread through the merchant networks. Within hours, the story had been embellished, exaggerated, and blown completely out of proportion.
Some merchants were claiming the country was on the verge of total destruction. After all, Aokiji was in Arabasta, if he decided to retaliate for his subordinate getting punched, the entire kingdom could be wiped off the map.
But here's where things got weird.
Despite his Rear Admiral getting sent flying through two palm trees, he didn't retaliate. He didn't even seem annoyed. He just... left quietly.
Merchants who'd been preparing to evacuate their assets stopped, staring at each other in confusion.
Koza had openly refused to cooperate with the Marines. He'd insulted them, rejected their offer, and assaulted a high-ranking officer. And yet... nothing happened?
The merchant community immediately began speculating about what this meant.
"Does Koza have a more powerful backer we don't know about?"
"Maybe he's got connections in the Revolutionary Army?"
"Or perhaps the World Government has bigger problems to worry about than one desert kingdom?"
Whatever the reason, the conclusion was clear: doing business in the Republic of Arabasta had suddenly become a much more delicate matter. The merchants who thrived on political connections and factional alliances found themselves having to completely reassess their strategies.
Naturally, many of these same merchants had been the ones spreading rumors about Arabasta's imminent downfall. After all, they didn't mind if Arabasta suffered, as long as the Marines came out ahead, they could jack up their prices and profit from the chaos.
But now the situation had flipped on its head, leaving them scrambling to figure out their next move.
Toto seized this moment of confusion to carry out a thorough purge of corrupt merchants. He expelled those who'd been price-gouging, shut down several smuggling operations, and established new trade regulations that favored honest business practices.
Everything seemed to be moving in a positive direction.
But inside the palace, the mood was far less optimistic.
Igaram paced back and forth across the throne room. Kebi sat at the strategy table, his brow furrowed so deeply it looked painful.
Koza, the one who'd actually started the whole mess, scratched his head. "It's not that serious, is it?"
Kebi let out a sigh. As the de facto strategist among them, he had to consider angles the others might miss. Aokiji's arrival, his strangely casual attitude, the destruction of Katorea... none of it made sense as a simple inspection.
"Aokiji didn't come here out of idle curiosity," he said slowly. "There's a deeper purpose behind all this. And the fact that he showed no reaction when his Rear Admiral got knocked out? That's even more suspicious."
Igaram stopped pacing. "You think this is all part of some larger plan?"
"I think we're missing crucial information," Kebi admitted. "Everything seems calm on the surface, but underneath..."
"Underneath, the currents are already moving. If my guess is correct, this was under the orders of the Celestial Dragons."
All three men turned to source of the voice, seeing Cobra standing in the doorway.
"Your Majesty—" Igaram began automatically, then caught himself, unsure how to address his former liege.
Cobra waved his hand dismissively. "You still haven't broken that habit. But that's not important right now. If I'm not mistaken, the Aokiji's visit is connected to the Miracle Artifact."
"The Sky Pyramid?" Koza asked.
"Exactly. And you must not activate it again. Not for a long time."
Koza looked confused, and Kebi wasn't far behind. Both young men had grown up among common people, with no real access to the inner workings of World Government politics or the true nature of the Celestial Dragons.
But Cobra knew. And he didn't sugarcoat it.
"Marine Admirals may wear Marine uniforms, but their highest authority doesn't actually come from the Fleet Admiral," he explained. "Their ultimate orders come from the World Government, which means from the Celestial Dragons. And the Celestial Dragons are arrogant, greedy creatures who operate on pure whim. Anything they can't possess, they destroy. The Sky Pyramid is exactly the kind of thing that would catch their attention."
Both Kebi and Koza had always viewed the Celestial Dragons through a sort of idealized filter, like distant figures of authority who maintained order in the world. Hell, just about everyone in the pirate world saw them that way. That was the result of eight centuries of careful propaganda spread by the World Government.
But Cobra's blunt words shattered that illusion completely.
Kebi's frown deepened. "So you're saying the Celestial Dragons would send an Admiral all this way just to destroy a water source? That seems irrational."
"That's exactly what they are, irrational," Cobra said flatly. "Their desires and whims change with their moods. Such an action is perfectly in character for them."
Koza suddenly spoke up. "No wonder Vivi chose to go to sea."
Everyone stared at him.
"What do you mean?" Cobra asked.
"If true equality is ever going to exist, then those who stand above everyone else have to be brought down first," Koza explained. "The Celestial Dragons are exactly that kind of people, untouchable, accountable to no one. She's out there trying to change the world. She can't do that from inside a palace."
Cobra opened his mouth, then closed it again. His daughter had seen too much of the world's injustice and had chosen a broader, far more dangerous path than he'd ever walked.
Kebi's anxiety only grew worse. "If that's true, doesn't that mean we're in even greater danger now? If the Celestial Dragons are watching us..."
But Cobra smiled faintly, shaking his head. "Actually, you don't need to worry about that. Once the Celestial Dragons discovered the Sky Pyramid and ordered it destroyed, they got what they wanted. As long as you temporarily halt development of Katorea, they'll lose interest. Give it time, and they'll simply forget we exist."
"So we focus on the oilseed flower fields," Koza said decisively. "We'd hoped Katorea could become a new trade center, but the timing's not right. Agriculture it is."
---
While Arabasta dealt with its political upheaval, the Straw Hat crew was experiencing something far more lighthearted.
They were all bobbing up and down in the ocean. Literally the entire crew, including the Devil Fruit users.
"I can't believe we can actually swim in the ocean!" Usopp shouted excitedly, floating on his back. "The Luck of the Sea enchantment is incredible!"
As someone who'd only recently gained Devil Fruit powers, he still remembered how to swim just fine. His body hadn't forgotten the mechanics, and with the Luck of the Sea reducing the weakening effects of seawater, he was having the time of his life.
But Luffy and Chopper were a different story entirely.
Luffy had eaten his Devil Fruit as a young child. He'd known how to swim before that, but years of being unable to enter the water had made his body forget the motions entirely. Now, even with the Luck of the Sea, his instincts kept screaming danger whenever seawater touched his skin. It was like someone who'd nearly drowned trying to swim again, his body rebelled against the idea.
Chopper had similar problems. As a reindeer who'd eaten a Devil Fruit and lived on a winter island with scarce water sources, he'd never really learned to swim at all.
Both of them were sprawled out on inflatable rings, looking frustrated.
"Why can't we do it?" Luffy asked, paddling ineffectively with his hands. "We were fine in the pool!"
Chopper nodded emphatically. "Yeah! We swam just fine in the pool!"
Marcus was treading water nearby, checking his status effects.
Weakness X
Luck of the Sea VI
With the two effects overlapping, he could still feel the ocean's draining effect on his Devil Fruit powers. It was like trying to move through molasses, everything required more effort than it should.
But it was manageable. Definitely better than full Weakness Lv.10, which would've left him barely able to move.
The Luck of the Sea enchantment was interesting. In Minecraft, it affected fishing, reducing junk catches and increasing treasure finds. But he had discovered something fascinating when he'd tested it in the ocean: the enchantment interpreted "junk" in a much broader sense than just fishing garbage.
To the enchantment's logic, the debilitating weakness effect from seawater counted as "junk," an unwanted negative status that interfered with normal function. So just like it filtered out worthless catches while fishing, it filtered out a portion of the ocean's curse on Devil Fruit users. It was like the enchantment was constantly working to "fish out" the bad effects, leaving him with a reduced but manageable weakness.
If he had to quantify it, he'd say the debuff felt like Weakness Lv.4 instead of the full ten. Still annoying, but he could swim without drowning.
Then, on a whim, he took a deep breath and dove underwater, submerging his head completely.
A circular bubble began forming around his head, like an invisible helmet filled with breathable air.
"Huh. So that's how Respiration VI works."
He'd always wondered about the exact mechanics. Did it make your lungs more efficient? Let you hold your breath longer? Some kind of biological enhancement?
Turned out it was way simpler and more straightforward than that. The enchantment just created a pocket of air around your head underwater.
As for whether you could just stack Luck of the Sea enchantments across all your gear to get 4×6, totaling twenty-four levels of protection?
Yeah, that wasn't happening.
He had already tested this. The enchantment mechanics were pretty specific, you needed a complete set of Luck of the Sea to let your body adapt underwater. Anything less, and the effect simply wouldn't trigger at all.
If even one piece, your boots or helmet, for example, lacked the Luck of the Sea enchantment, then the moment seawater touched your skin, you'd still get hit with the full Weakness debuff. At that point, it didn't matter if your other gear had the enchantment or not. You'd be completely screwed, sinking like a stone.
So the maximum you could actually achieve was Luck of the Sea VI on each piece, which is what he had enchanted onto all his swimming gear.
Now he was looking down at his boots, which he'd specifically enchanted with Riptide VI in addition to the Luck of the Sea.
Riptide was normally a trident-specific enchantment that let you charge forward underwater or during rain. But what would happen if he applied it to his boots and used it while submerged?
He thought for a moment, then pushed off hard with his feet using Geppo. He shot through the water, moving so fast he actually burst through the ocean's surface with a massive splash, launching into the air.
"What the hell?!"
Ripples spread across the water where he'd emerged. He hadn't even used that much force. He'd just executed a basic Geppo kick underwater, yet the speed that erupted was way more intense than anything he'd expected.
Was this what Riptide VI could do?
Everyone stared at Marcus flying through the air.
"Is he really that excited about swimming?" Sanji asked.
But before anyone could respond, Marcus plunged back into the water, and then, whoosh, he exploded out of the surface again, this time soaring nearly a hundred meters into the air.
His agility and control were hard to believe for someone who was supposed to be a Devil Fruit user cursed by the sea.
High above the waves, Marcus flipped himself upside down and used Geppo to dive straight back into the ocean at incredible speed. His entry was so fast and clean that he barely created a splash at all.
"Ten out of ten! Perfect dive!" Usopp immediately held up an imaginary scorecard.
The others silently agreed, nodding their approval of the performance.
But after several minutes passed without Marcus resurfacing, the mood shifted from impressed to concerned.
Robin stood at the ship's railing with one hand against her cheek, tilting her head. "You don't think he got eaten by a Sea King, do you?"
"Hey, hey! Don't say scary stuff like that!" Usopp protested.
"I'll go check on him," Sanji said, already preparing to dive in after their crewmate.
He'd barely descended three meters when he spotted a fast-moving figure circling something massive in the depths below. It was Marcus, swimming around what appeared to be a sea serpent easily 500 meters long.
Then he saw a flash of light from Marcus' hand, and the serpent's head was cleanly severed from its body. Blood began spreading through the water, immediately attracting countless carnivorous fish to the feeding frenzy.
"What the fuck..."
He was a bit shocked by the display of underwater combat prowess. Then he looked back up at Luffy, who was floating on an inflatable ring like a piece of driftwood. Then back down at Marcus, who was swimming through the ocean depths like he owned the place.
Splash.
The sea serpent surfaced next to the ship.
Marcus pulled himself up onto the deck. "That thing was way faster than I expected. I shot straight into its lair by accident and almost got swallowed whole."
"You went all the way to the ocean floor?" Usopp asked.
Marcus nodded.
"How did you do that?! That's not fair, I want to swim like that too!" Luffy started whining, splashing his hands in the water.
Marcus briefly explained the mechanics of the Riptide enchantment and the conditions needed to activate it properly.
"So... you're saying you need to use Geppo first before the enchantment kicks in?"
Marcus nodded.
"But on the ship, there are only two people who can use Geppo properly."
Everyone looked at each other, mentally counting.
"Me, obviously. And Kira."
That surprised several people.
"She can use Geppo?" Nami asked.
"Yeah," Marcus confirmed.
She had been training for months to master it, wanting to flee faster. Every time Marcus used the technique, she paid attention to every detail. That's why she picked it up so quickly.
As for the others, although they were competitive when it came to strength, they didn't really focus on learning technical skills like that. Plus, since they could just fly by holding onto Kira when she used her abilities, most of them figured there was no point in learning something as optional as Geppo.
That made several crew members look sheepish. It was true, they'd gotten lazy about learning the Rokushiki because they had workarounds.
"But hey, this is just my experience," Marcus said with a shrug. "You might discover totally different ways to use Riptide. There's probably more than one method that works."
Sanji thought about that for a moment, then dove back into the water. Instead of trying to use Geppo, he decided to test out Soru instead.
The instant he activated the technique underwater, he felt like someone had installed rocket boosters on his feet. He shot forward through the water with incredible speed, almost out of control, before bursting through the surface.
"That speed was incredible!"
Seeing Sanji produce a similar effect to Marcus got everyone else curious and eager to try.
"Sanji! You can use Geppo now too?!" someone shouted.
Sanji shook his head, but then looked uncertain and gave a hesitant nod. "Actually... I'm not sure?"
"What do you mean?" Zoro asked, floating nearby on his own inflatable ring.
"I only used Soru, but underwater it feels like I can achieve something similar to Geppo," Sanji explained.
Soru involved stomping the ground ten times in an instant to generate explosive forward speed. Geppo, on the other hand, was about rapidly kicking the air, moving fast enough to create pressure barriers you could use as footholds to stay aloft.
"Both require serious leg strength and speed. Maybe underwater, where there's already natural resistance and pressure from the water, even Soru's speed can create an effect similar to Geppo."
That explanation made sense to the others, who were now itching to try their own experiments.
"This sucks," Usopp complained, looking at his hands. "My abilities feel completely restricted. I don't feel the exhaustion that comes from being in seawater, that Luck of the Sea enchantment definitely helps with that. But I can't actually use my abilities. If I had to describe it... it's like trying to move an arm that isn't there anymore."
In his imagination, he should be able to use his explosions to create thrust and propel himself through the water at high speed. But the connection between his will and his Devil Fruit powers was completely severed.
Marcus was deep in thought.
His own abilities still worked perfectly fine underwater. The only real limitation he'd found was that his Minecraft doors couldn't create air pockets or keep seawater out when placed underwater. That meant his original plan of creating an underwater tunnel system using doors was impossible.
However, he could still use his Construction Wand to replace water blocks with solid materials. That technique worked just fine underwater, though it consumed several times more stamina than normal.
Watching Usopp struggle with his abilities, his attention shifted to Alvida, who was also swimming nearby.
Naturally, she had wanted to test whether she could swim. Everyone except Goliath had been curious about their capabilities in water.
Marcus swam over to her.
"Try using your ability. Tell me how it feels."
Alvida raised one arm above the water's surface and activated her Slip-Slip Fruit power.
Immediately, her wet skin became perfectly smooth and dry. Countless water droplets slid off her arm, repelled by the slippery effect of her Devil Fruit.
"Now try using your ability on your whole body at once," Marcus instructed.
Alvida frowned slightly, concentrating as she attempted to activate, then suddenly, as if she'd lost all support, she suddenly dropped straight down into the water.