"Captain—found info on that brat. He's the tavern errand boy from the place we drank at before."
"Now that you mention it… yeah. No wonder he looked familiar."
"What's his name?"
A sliver of sunlight rose over the sea's edge.
Dawn.
At the front of the group stood a rough-looking pirate gripping a two-meter-long cleaver. His face was savage, killing intent rolling off him as he stared down his men.
He was the captain of the Big Blade Pirates—a man with a 4.6 million Beli bounty. Cruel, ruthless, and locally notorious.
But step outside this backwater, and he was nobody.
This was the New World. Pirates with bounties like his were everywhere.
To civilians, though?
The Big Blade Pirates were the kind of monsters who decided whether you lived or died.
"The brat's name is Hermes Jormungandr. He lives over by the slums."
"What are you waiting for?" the captain snarled. "Drag that little bastard out."
Spando tightened his grip on the cleaver. His broad, vicious face twisted into something downright ugly.
That was a Devil Fruit.
A sea treasure. A legend. Worth at least one hundred million on the market.
They'd lost several men just finding it—and now some punk had robbed them blind.
If he caught Hermes, not chopping him into pieces would be a crime.
Meanwhile, Hermes was still testing his new ability—completely unaware the Big Blade Pirates had already pinpointed his location.
Even if he did know, he wouldn't panic.
The Mini-Mini Fruit was his backbone now.
As long as none of them had Observation Haki, he could slip through their fingers forever.
Over the course of the night, Hermes had already mapped out a rough development path.
First, deepen the shrinking forms—then push in the opposite direction: bigger.
Right now he had two confirmed forms—five millimeters and thirty centimeters—plus his normal height. Next step was turning that into four stages, five stages… eventually reaching the point where he could change size at will.
Shrink down to dust. To microbes. To molecules.
Slip into a target's body without them ever noticing—then expand.
Pop.
From the inside out.
Ant-Man? Quantum realm? Time travel?
Back to the past, forward to the future?
And enlarging—fifty meters, a hundred, five hundred—he'd be a walking disaster. Every casual movement would be a storm. No different from a giant avatar of destruction.
If he got big enough, one slap might give the whole planet a clean middle part.
Perfectly reasonable.
And that was just the "basic" route.
Go deeper—learn to change other people's size, or objects. Then things like reaching for the stars and grabbing the moon wouldn't just be talk.
If he developed both directions to the absolute limit…
Hermes Jormungandr would have a place on the seas.
And once he did, he'd have anything he wanted.
But right now?
He needed to survive long enough to get there.
He'd stolen a "small goal" right under their noses. A crew of money-addicted pirates wasn't going to let that go.
They arrived fast.
Including Captain Spando, there were nineteen of them. Flintlock guns, long blades, clubs—surrounding Hermes's shabby little shack so tightly it didn't even have room to breathe.
Nearby civilians—ragged, hollow-eyed—took one look and fled as if their lives depended on it.
No one wanted trouble.
Not here.
Inside the shack, Hermes heard everything. He might've been experimenting, but he wasn't careless.
A year of scraping by in this world had taught him that.
In an instant, Hermes shrank to five millimeters, slipped through a crack by the wall, and made it outside. Hidden beneath weeds and shadows, he watched the pirates who now looked like giants—
—and he wasn't spotted.
Then—
His expression changed sharply.
He bolted.
A pirate hoisted a rocket launcher onto his shoulder and fired straight at the shack—no hesitation, no fear of blowing Hermes into paste.
Brutal. Crude. Effective.
BOOOOM—!!!
The ground shook. A wave of heat slammed into Hermes, followed by a pillar of fire.
Luckily, he'd already moved far enough away—and the rocket wasn't as powerful as he'd feared.
He wasn't hurt.
"Nineteen."
Hermes counted them calmly, madness flickering behind his eyes.
Numbers weren't in his favor. His raw strength wasn't impressive. They had weapons built to kill.
But with the Mini-Mini Fruit…
He wasn't without a chance.
A normal person would run.
But Hermes wasn't normal.
Two lifetimes of poverty and humiliation had left scars in his head. And now, after finally getting a chance to flip the table—
How could he not go wild?
He'd been crushed for too long. If he didn't let it out now, he'd suffocate.
Besides…
If he played it smart, these pirates were nothing more than stepping stones delivered straight to his door.
"Find him," Spando growled, watching the shack burn. Both hands rested on his cleaver like a judge's gavel. "Drag him out."
"Yes, Captain!"
While every pirate's attention was on the fire, Hermes—still five millimeters tall—silently approached the nearest one and climbed up his boot, then his pant leg.
When he shrank, his weight also changed accordingly. That was another development angle for later.
The pirate had long, filthy hair, the kind that hadn't seen a comb in months. He reeked of alcohol.
Too distracted to notice.
Hermes moved fast—up to the shoulder, then along the hair until he reached the ear.
He held his breath—
And jumped straight into the ear canal.
The pirate shook his head and jammed a finger into his ear, scratching hard.
Too late. Hermes was already deep inside.
"Bye."
Hermes restored his normal size.
The pirate's head exploded.
No scream. No warning. Just a wet blast—brain matter and blood spraying out like a balloon bursting.
It happened so fast the others didn't even react in time.
Hermes instantly shrank again to five millimeters. Flesh and shattered bone shielded him like cover, and the blood coating him helped him blend into the mess.
"Gade!"
"What the hell happened?!"
"How'd Gade die?!"
Dozens of eyes snapped toward the headless corpse, pieces scattered everywhere. The stench of blood filled the air, thick and nauseating.
"H-He just… his head blew up!"
"I think I saw that brat!"
The closest pirate was shaking. Out of the corner of his eye, he'd definitely seen something—then it vanished in a blink.
"What brat? I didn't see anything."
Several pirates crowded in. Not one of them looked sad.
Only annoyed. Confused.
They'd seen death too often. Their hearts were stone.
Hermes stayed perfectly still beneath the corpse. Calm.
As long as they didn't have Observation Haki, he was untouchable.
For a moment he'd wondered if he should do it "gently."
Then he laughed at himself.
Back in his old peaceful world, desire got locked up behind rules and fear.
Here?
Here, he could live however he wanted.
Two lifetimes of being poor and powerless had hammered one truth into his bones:
Only strength mattered.
"Captain, there's no body in the ruins."
"Bastard… where is he?!"
"And Gade died for no reason at all!"
"Grab a civilian. Make them talk!"
Hermes didn't move. Even at five millimeters, if you looked closely enough, you could still spot him.
Then Spando gave another order.
"Bury Gade."
Several pirates nodded and dug a pit nearby. It didn't take long.
Two of them crouched down and began gathering the remains.
Hermes's eyes narrowed.
"Perfect."
At the exact moment one pirate leaned in close, Hermes sprinted from cover and launched himself—
Straight into the pirate's open mouth.
The man was talking while working, jaw wide.
"What—"
He only saw a tiny black speck.
And he couldn't help it—he gagged once. A sharp, reflexive heave.
Then he swallowed and shrugged it off.
He never would've imagined that "speck of mouse poop" was a person.
Inside, Hermes slid down the throat in a disgusting rush, drenched in warmth and slime. His face twisted in pure suffering.
Then he hit the stomach.
This time, Hermes didn't go all the way back to full size.
He expanded to thirty centimeters instead.
That was more than enough.
The stomach ruptured instantly. Acid couldn't do anything—there simply wasn't time.
"Ugh—BLEGH!!!"
The pirate collapsed, blood pouring from his mouth and nose. His eyes were wide with agony and terror.
"What happened?!"
"Art!"
"Help—help me!"
"Captain!"
Just like before—no warning, no sense to it. Healthy one second… dying the next.
His chest bulged unnaturally, then deflated as if something inside moved away.
Hermes shrank again.
He wasn't ready to be seen.
Not yet.
He wanted to eat the Big Blade Pirates one by one.
And he had his eyes on Spando.
A 4.6 million Beli bounty.
More than enough to solve Hermes's urgent problems.
Money mattered.
And it reminded Hermes of a profession the world often forgot:
bounty hunters.
Outside, the pirates were rattled now.
First Gade. Then Art.
Both deaths were inexplicable and grotesque.
They didn't fear death.
But this kind of death—unknown, invisible—
That was different.
"Captain… the brat clearly isn't here. Maybe we should leave. This place is cursed."
Someone finally said it out loud.
"Retreat."
Unexpectedly, Spando didn't argue. He agreed immediately.
His expression tightened, as if something about this felt deeply wrong—like he'd begun connecting dots he couldn't yet name.
He still hadn't linked it to Hermes.
But it was only a matter of time.
"The prey and the hunter…" Hermes's eyes glinted in the weeds. "It's time we switched roles."
He didn't stop.
Not when a walking 4.6 million was still breathing.
Rolling in the dirt to rub off the blood, Hermes slipped forward—
And climbed onto another pirate's pant leg.