Luffy took a slow sip of his drink.
Behind him, four Baroque Works agents exchanged glances and came to the same stupid conclusion.
He's distracted.
They rushed him from behind.
They never even reached screaming distance.
Four thin bolts of lightning snapped out from Luffy's cloud throne like divine punishment, piercing straight through their chests. The agents dropped where they stood, bodies smoking as rain hissed against burnt flesh.
"Trash," Luffy muttered, already bored, as he turned his attention back to the battlefield below.
Zoro was exactly where he should be—cutting through enemies like tall grass. Each swing was clean, decisive, merciless. No wasted motion. No hesitation.
But what truly surprised Luffy wasn't Zoro.
It was Johnny and Yosaku.
The two bounty hunters moved with growing confidence, their bisentos carving wide arcs through Baroque Works ranks. Their timing was sharper. Their reactions faster. Each dodge came a fraction of a second earlier than before.
Their Observation Haki is blooming, Luffy noted, impressed. Faster than expected.
A proud smile tugged at his lips.
Armament training might come sooner than I thought.
His attention flicked elsewhere.
Inside the bar.
A familiar presence.
Nami.
Carefully. Methodically. Like a cat prowling through shadows—searching for valuables among the unconscious bounty hunters.
Luffy chuckled quietly.
Never change.
His focus returned to the street just in time to see Zoro… arguing with his sword.
"Well, Third Kitetsu," Zoro growled, lifting the blade to eye level, "you're sharp, but you're a pain in the ass."
The cursed blade hummed faintly.
"A sword cuts when its master wills it," Zoro continued. "Cursed or not—you obey me."
Behind him, a bounty hunter raised his weapon.
A flicker of blue.
A crack of thunder.
A small bolt of lightning screamed past Zoro's neck, slicing a few strands of green hair before punching straight through the attacker's skull.
Zoro froze.
He turned slowly.
A body collapsed behind him, forehead smoking.
Above, Luffy sat with a smoking gun, unimpressed.
"Pay attention to your surroundings," Luffy grumbled.
Zoro nodded once and turned back toward his opponent—Ms. Monday—who now looked significantly less confident.
Johnny and Yosaku had their own victory moments.
Two heavy thuds echoed as Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday hit the ground, unconscious and unmoving.
Silence spread like rot.
Fear followed.
"They… they beat the agents," one bounty hunter whispered.
"And the captain hasn't even moved," another croaked.
Someone dropped their weapon.
"We're going to die."
Luffy laughed softly as Zoro, Johnny, and Yosaku returned to him.
"Well done," Luffy said as his throne dissolved into mist. "Your Observation improved again."
All three straightened slightly, pride clear.
"What about the rest?" Zoro asked, eyeing the trembling agents.
Luffy turned to them slowly.
"I'll give you a choice," he said calmly.
Hope flickered.
"Leave Baroque Works," Luffy continued, voice flat, "and join me… or die."
Murmurs erupted.
"We— we'll join—"
BOOM.
The sentence never finished.
An explosion tore through the crowd, obliterating the speaker and several others in a flash of fire and blood.
Everyone froze.
Zoro snapped toward Luffy.
Johnny and Yosaku tensed.
But Luffy's expression told the truth.
He hadn't done it.
"…Looks like we've got company," Luffy said quietly, eyes sliding toward a nearby alley.
A slow clap echoed.
"Geez," a lazy male voice drawled. "Looks like some of you were planning to betray Baroque Works."
A man and a woman stepped from the shadows.
The remaining agents went pale.
"Mr. 5… Ms. Valentine…" Miss Wednesday whispered in horror.
Mr. 5 yawned. "You people really messed this up."
"Kyahahaha!" Ms. Valentine laughed, floating slightly above the ground. "Such low-ranking trash."
"You came here to mock us!?" Mr. 8 snapped.
"That's just a bonus," Mr. 5 replied.
"We're here on the boss's orders," Ms. Valentine said, eyes gleaming.
Hope sparked again in the defeated agents.
"With you two here, we can win!" Mr. 9 gasped.
Ms. Valentine sneered. "Don't flatter yourself."
"We're not here to clean your mess," Mr. 5 added. "We're here to erase it."
Confusion rippled.
"Erase…?" Mr. 9 croaked.
"Our company runs on secrecy," Mr. 5 said coldly. "And someone here committed a crime far worse than failure."
Ms. Valentine spun her umbrella. "Someone snooped."
Luffy's eyes narrowed.
"Baroque Works doesn't forgive curiosity," Mr. 5 continued. "Punishment is death."
"Well," Luffy said mildly to Zoro and the duo, "this just got interesting."
Zoro smirked. "Yeah."
"So during our investigation," Ms. Valentine went on, "we discovered something fun."
"A certain kingdom got involved."
The word hit like thunder.
Mr. 9 panicked. "K-Kingdom!? I swear, the crown is just fashion!"
"Shut up!" Ms. Valentine shrieked.
"We're talking about Alabasta," Mr. 5 said.
The name landed heavy.
Mr. 8 trembled.
Miss Wednesday stared at the ground, fists clenched.
Luffy's smile faded—not into anger, but into sharp focus.
So that's it.
A kingdom.
A secret organization.
And a boss hiding in the shadows.
The Grand Line had finally shown its teeth.