The main conference room of the Dreadnought Thalassa hummed with the low vibration of ancient machinery. The light was soft and dimmed by sellouts of the large group. The conference table was a massive slab of polished Adom wood, its surface reflecting the holographic image that floated above it.
The Thousand Sunny sailed through open water, its image rendered in perfect detail—the lion figurehead, the grassy deck, the colorful sails.
Wanted posters were strewn across the table, their edges curling, their faces staring up at the gathered crew.
Jelly bounced on the table, his translucent blue body wobbling. He had Chopper's wanted poster in his mouth, chewing with enthusiastic abandon.
Sanza lunged for him, his red hair flopping across his face. "This is an important meeting! We need this! Return it at once, you gelatinous—"
Jelly rolled away, just out of reach, his voice muffled around the paper. "Bloop! Crunchy!"
Ember sat cross-legged on her chair, her mismatched eyes—one icy blue, one gold—fixed blankly on Usopp's wanted poster. She muttered something under her breath, her fingers twitching.
Jannali slumped in her chair, her headscarf slightly askew, her golden hoop earrings reflective in the light. She rubbed her temples with both hands. "Bloody hell, I've got a shocking headache."
Eliane hovered nearby, her silver hair swaying, placing both hands on Jannali's forearm. "Would tea help?"
Jannali waved a hand. "Yeah, nah. Just need to ride it out."
Law stood at the head of the table, his arms crossed, his sharp eyes scanning the group. "Everyone understands the plan?"
Atlas scratched his head, his rust-red fur bristling. "Yeah, but it sounds a little…" He paused, searching for the right word.
Aurélie finished for him, her voice flat. "Unconventional."
Kaburo nodded, his hand resting on Kalamaru's hilt. "Are you sure this is the best course of action?"
Law stared them down, his expression cold. "I have experience with this crew. This will work."
Marya interjected, her voice carrying that quiet authority. "Remember, the objective is to kidnap their captain. We grab him and go. We are not going to linger."
Bō-Zak grinned, his kiseru pipe clenched between his teeth. "I think it's a great plan!"
He picked up Nami's wanted poster, his eyes gleaming. "I can't wait to lay my eyes on this one."
Bianca rolled her eyes, her grease-stained overalls hanging open over her floral blouse. "Like, really?"
Bō-Zak shrugged. "Well, yeah."
Bianca shook her head, picking up Franky's poster. "So like, is his power source like really cola?"
Hakugan replied, his voice matter-of-fact. "Yeah. His whole power distribution system is based on carbonation."
Bianca blinked in disbelief.
Charlie cleared his throat, holding Nico Robin's wanted poster, his pith helmet askew. "I would like to point out that this particular individual is well known in academic circles. It would be in our best—"
Jannali interrupted him, her accent thick. "Bloody hell, mate. She's a pirate! She'll kick your arse!"
Penguin rubbed the back of his neck, his expression confused. "I thought we were friends with the Straw Hats?"
Shachi nodded, just as confused. "Yeah, me too."
Law snapped, his voice sharp. "They are not our friends or allies."
Vesta stood at the end of the table, her rainbow hair shimmering, Mikasi slung across her back. She raised her hand.
Marya's eyes narrowed. "What is it?"
Vesta snatched Brook's bounty parchment, fibers groaning beneath the frantic flex of her knuckles as she brandished the ink-stained portrait like an altar icon. "This is the Soul King! He's super famous, and all of his fans love him! He's a fellow musician. I don't think we should fight him! We should be their friends and ask them for help!"
From beneath the brim of his spotted cap, Law tilted his head, calculating the sudden fracture in the air as Marya rose.
The room became smothered into a breathless hush.
Each strike of her heel against the iron decking tolled like a funeral chime as she paced the length of the conference table. Shielding the skeleton's likeness against her sternum, Vesta tracked that deliberate trajectory, pupils dilated.
Halting an inch from the girl's space, Marya loomed, forcing the Vesta's throat to hyperextend merely to capture her line of sight.
Her irises—concentric amber rungs mirrored straight from Hawkeye's legacy—gleamed with arctic detachment. "I do not bow to any king."
Reaching past, she lifted Monkey D. Luffy's warrant from the lacquer tabletop, a blunted nail skimming the weathered margin "I do not need his crew. I only need him."
She pinned the grinning visage beneath an impassive mandate. "His crew does not interest me."
Vesta shrank, her theatrical fervor splintering into panic. "Yeah, but—"
A crimson aperture detonated across Marya's pupils. The air bruised with suffocating pressure.
Vesta's knees gave out instantaneously, consciousness severed like a slashed violin string. Her cascade of rainbow strands tumbled across the wood.
Marya caught her before she hit the ground, her arms hooking under Vesta's shoulders.
She looked to Galit, whose stride had already bridged the gap.
Marya ordered, the cadence glacial, devoid of pulse. "Lock her in her quarters until we are finished."
Acknowledging the mandate with a mute incline of his head, Galit hoisted the unconscious girl into a cradle, her pallid cheek slack against his pauldron.
Marya swept the assembly, residual embers of conqueror's red simmering in her periphery. "Does anyone else have any other concerns?"
The group's heads swiveled.
Ikkaku replied, her voice steady. "I think we're good."
Marya withdrew to flank Law, her hand snagging the swordsman's bounty in passing. Reclaiming her chair, she smoothed the likeness of Roronoa Zoro flat upon the surface, her features settling into an impenetrable mask of granite. "Are both drives operational? Are we anticipating a successful jump?"
Bianca replied, her voice slightly shaky. "Like, yeah, but like, remember we like need like twelve hours before we can like jump again."
Ikkaku added, "The Pluton is ready. We have our contingencies in place."
Marya's legs crossed as she lifted Zoro's wanted poster fixing her attention on it, and Law added, "Good."
Eliane raised her hand, her silver hair swaying. "We have the supplies you mentioned, but we may need to stop somewhere to restock."
Law nodded. "That is fine. Bepo and Galit can coordinate our rendezvous island once we pull out."
Bepo's ears perked up. "I know of three we—"
Galit added, "Good. Send me the coordinates, and we'll decide on the final location."
Uni told them, his voice carrying that matter-of-fact tone. "Just make sure it's someplace secluded and open. The last time he ripped open the Tang, and the repairs took weeks."
The Heart Pirates nodded in unison.
Law told them, his voice steady. "This is different." A sidelong cut of his gaze caught Marya, whose focus remained hooked upon the swordsman's warrant; her fingertips circumscribed the fraying perimeter, while her features harbored an impenetrable, ciphered stillness.
Jean Bart, arms crossed, asked, "When do we leave?"
Law told them, "First thing in the morning."
Marya looked over the edge of the wanted poster, her voice quiet but carrying. "If you have any goodbyes, say them now. Get plenty of rest."
She stood, her chair scraping against the floor.
"Tomorrow, we take on the Straw Hats."
The group replied with defiant smiles.
Atlas told her, "Sure thing, boss."
---
As the group began to file out, Marya called out, "Aurélie."
Halting mid-stride, Aurélie caught the summons beneath a drift of argent strands, knuckles already settled against the blackened guard of Anathema. Only after the room emptied of listeners did she wheel about, closing the distance to Law and Marya.
Marya raised the ink-scorched warrant of the swordsman, amber eyes fixing on Law. "This is the one who trained with my father?"
Law nodded, his expression grim. "Aye. He is powerful."
Marya asked, "He shattered Yuro?"
Law nodded again.
Marya's lips pressed together, her fingers tightening on the poster.
Aurélie asked, her voice flat. "You have a concern?"
Marya leaned back in her seat, placing the wanted poster on the table. Her golden eyes were fixed on Zoro's image.
"Kaburo will not succeed."
Aurélie raised a brow. Law shifted in his seat.
Aurélie told her, "I did not think our objective was to win."
Marya shook her head. "It isn't. But Kaburo—" She tapped her finger on the table, on Zoro's image. "—has made him his goal."
Law asked, his voice careful. "Do you want to pull him?"
Marya shook her head. "No. That will not stop him from challenging him, and he will need to be occupied."
She locked her gaze on Aurélie, her voice cold and precise. "I don't need Kaburo. I only need Kalamaru. His blade."
Aurélie nodded, her expression unchanged. "I will see that the blade is not lost."
Marya nodded.
The moonlight streamed through the conference room's viewport, casting long shadows across the table. The wanted posters lay scattered, their faces staring up at the ceiling.
Tomorrow, they would take on the Straw Hats.
Tomorrow, everything would change.