On an island of the Thorn Rose Kingdom.
"Sir, the Buri Pirates went to Shell Town and still haven't returned."
Inside a somewhat dim room, a man with a scorpion tattooed on his face was reporting the situation to the person seated at the head of the long conference table.
The man sitting at the head was dressed in an impeccably tailored suit, a clearly overweight gray cat cradled in his arms.
Another member said irritably, "Those pirates are just a bunch of brainless animals. I never believed they could complete the task on time."
Someone echoed, "Yeah, they're not elegant at all."
The suited man stopped petting the cat. "They are indeed crude and inelegant, but they're useful tools."
"They're not very stable, but for money, it's unlikely they'd break the agreement. Something must've happened on Shell Town—or somewhere else."
"Lena, take the next ferry to Shell Town and investigate. The rest of you, keep an eye on the black market to see whether Buri's and Dolon's heads show up."
If those pirates ran into bounty hunters at sea and got wiped out, that wouldn't be surprising. If someone wanted to cash in the bounties, they'd have to go to either a Marine base or the black market.
Black market prices were one-fifth lower than at Marine bases. The total bounty on the Buri Pirates exceeded 30 million Belly—one-fifth of that was 6 million Belly. Exchanging it on the black market looked like a loss, but bounty hunters in the Thorn Rose sea region actually preferred the black market.
Because they could enjoy themselves immediately, and because traveling to Marine bases was far away and risky.
"Then if someone comes to exchange it, should we just… deal with them?"
A subordinate made a throat-slitting gesture.
The cat-petting man shook his head.
"They're here to bring us business. That way of thinking is very wrong…"
"But the Buri Pirates were working for us."
The cat-petting man said, "On this sea, there's no shortage of anything except pirates. Our gang can do business with anyone. Pirates' heads are business too."
...
"This is soup made from fish heads. Because Bullfish heads have a lot of meat, this soup isn't just delicious—it's also very satisfying to eat."
A huge Bullfish had been turned into several different dishes.
Half of it was taken by Vane and Meowth, while the rest was shared among the townsfolk and Meowth's admirers. As for those laborer pirates, they only got soup and ordinary food.
Having soup and food at all was already pretty good. If they weren't needed to repair houses, there was no way they'd be allowed to eat their fill.
"Meow, this is way too delicious, meow! This is food straight from heaven!"
The Bullfish meat really was excellent. Meowth used both paws, constantly stuffing food into his belly. His small body devoured food many times larger than his own size, until his stomach was stretched up high.
The size of that belly was obviously disproportionate to how much he'd eaten, but considering how both the Pokémon world and the One Piece world were full of absurdities, this kind of thing wasn't really a problem.
Vane also ate a large amount of Bullfish meat. His powerful digestive ability kicked in—whatever he ate was digested almost instantly.
He felt his blood growing excited. As expected, consuming highly nutritious food could elevate the level of his bloodline. Even though the improvement from eating this much wasn't obvious, as long as he kept at it and accumulated enough, sooner or later, even if his head were blown apart, he'd be able to recover with ease.
"Lord Meowth is amazing—after eating so much, only his belly got bigger."
"Lord Vane is even more amazing—he ate even more and his belly didn't change at all."
"Sure enough, strong people can really eat."
Several children from Shell Town watched the one man and one cat devour food at an astonishing rate. Thinking about their overwhelming strength, they suddenly felt that their parents telling them to eat more to become stronger had actually been the truth.
After they were full, the man and the cat spent the night on the pirate ship at the dock.
Buri's pirate ship now belonged to the two of them. But they'd only moved onto it today—over the past few days, the ship had gone through several rounds of cleaning. It had been far too dirty.
"Meowth, how did the things I asked you to make turn out?"
"Oh, you mean this? Something that backward—I finished it a long time ago, meow."
Meowth brought out a box filled with firearms he had made.
"The materials weren't enough, and there wasn't much gunpowder either, so I could only make this much."
Inside were five pistols and five long guns. The pistols were modeled after the high-end South Blue goods Buri had carried. That pistol could actually fire two shots in succession—after hitting Vane once, it could have fired again.
"People in this world all use such low-level firearms. Are they really that powerful, meow?"
What Meowth was used to were rockets and large-scale mechs. He completely looked down on this kind of firearm.
"Because this world is separated by the sea, development between islands varies drastically. On top of that, the Marines and the World Government deliberately control things. Firearms and cannons are actually among the few remaining heat weapons…"
In most places, the Marines were still using firearms, while on the other side, Vegapunk had already developed absurd technological weapons like the Pacifista.
"Meowth, don't underestimate this world. When some monsters get serious, their destructive power can rival legendary beasts."
"But we're unlikely to run into them right now."
Vane picked out two pistols, attached them to the belts Meowth had made, and strapped them around his waist. He might not need the guns, but it was necessary to have them.
Meowth also picked out two for himself.
"Let's see how many of those pirates can behave themselves in the end. If they do, we'll hand out the remaining guns to them."
Ordinary lackeys had their purpose. If Vane ever went to sea one day, someone would have to raise sails, scrub decks, and do that kind of work.
If the whole ship were filled with elites like the Straw Hats, that would require running into a group where everyone was elite.
"That's terrifying, meow."
Vane also stepped up his efforts to fill in Meowth's knowledge about pirates. Meowth didn't really absorb the other things, but when he heard that a single Devil Fruit—one of the sea's great treasures—could sell for hundreds of millions of Belly, his eyes completely turned into the shape of gold coins.
"So Meowth, you need to work hard on inventing and creating, forging powerful weapons to protect yourself."
"But I can't conjure materials out of thin air, meow—especially energy. Without energy, I can only make ordinary weapons."
With all that skill and nowhere to apply it, Meowth felt a bit helpless.
"Weapons don't have to come first. You can start by building a good ship—a really fast one."
"I already said there's no energy, meow. Without energy, even the fastest sailing ship can only go so far… If only there were an Electabuzz or Electivire. They have really strong electrical power in their bodies, meow."
Vane hadn't watched much Pokémon. Electabuzz and Electivire should be those black-and-yellow creatures—basically shaped like batteries.
But there was no way Vane could just conjure one up for Meowth. After all, he still had no idea how Meowth had ended up by his side in the first place.
"It's fine. This world has artificial energy sources too. You'll get a chance to show your talents."
He didn't know whether there was oil, but electricity definitely existed. What was even crazier was that cola could even be used as an energy source.
...
Shell Town. A ferry that hadn't visited the archipelago in a long time docked today at Shell Town's small pier.
Lena, carrying a dark, black-tulip-like aura, stepped off the ferry. Her figure was full and curvaceous, radiating a captivating presence.
The people on the ferry wanted to look but didn't dare. Ferry business between these islands was basically monopolized by the gangs. Just moments ago, the gang members on board had all treated this woman with utmost respect—they didn't dare provoke her.
"The Buri Pirates' ship—the pirate flag's been taken down and the ship's been cleaned. As expected, a bunch of stupid pirates. They've already failed."
Lena spotted Buri's ship from afar. From all the signs, the ship had already changed hands, and the other party should still be on the island.
Then it was time to activate the backup plan—do business with any possible bounty hunters. They were just pirates. If they died, they died. Their only remaining value was generating revenue for the gang.