Pirates: How Many Divisions Do the Five Elders Have? Fire Dragon Burns the Storehouse, Ghost Soldiers Borrow Grain

An entire page of the East Blue Daily was filled with shocking headlines.

Besides the text and wanted posters, the newspaper also featured numerous photographs of the crime scenes.

In one photo, Kuro stared at a warehouse engulfed in flames, a cold sneer on his face.

In another, Kuro leaped over a ship's side with a large sack slung over his shoulder.

His cold profile was especially clear against the crescent moon...

"These photos... they're all real!!!"

Kuro's hands trembled violently as he gripped the newspaper. A chill shot from the soles of his feet to the top of his head!

At that moment, he understood!

He understood everything!

What bullshit about a second-generation Marine heir!

What bullshit about Baroque Works!

They were all in it together!

"That Captain Nezumi sold the military supplies to Baroque Works, then used the despicable trick of a fire dragon burning the storehouse and ghost soldiers borrowing grain to pin all the blame on me!

Those corrupt bastards stuffed themselves fat, while I, a conscientious pirate who only ever wanted to be a rich ordinary man, was left carrying the blame for everything!

And since when did I have a D. in my name?!

How come I didn't know?!"

Kuro desperately wanted to shout his questions at the Marine scum pulling the strings behind the scenes. Was it really all right to spout such nonsense? Didn't their consciences ache? Were they worthy of the justice on their backs?

But Kuro knew he had better keep quiet.

If he dared step forward to clear his name, never mind that he was hardly an innocent, law-abiding civilian to begin with—even if he were, the corrupt Marines and the criminal organization from the Grand Line, both sides of the law, would do everything they could to silence him forever.

Kuro even suspected that assassins were already on their way to kill him!

Both sides of the law wanted him dead, so they could bring the stolen-supplies case to a complete close!

"Fortunately, I, Kuro of a Hundred Plans, am no fool!"

Kuro was glad he had never believed a word of "Galdino's" nonsense.

He had also thrown the Den Den Mushi that might have contained a tracker into the sea, and he had changed his identity. Finding him wouldn't be so easy.

But...

Looking at the conspicuous wanted poster in the newspaper, especially the bright red words [Ulpo D. Kuro, bounty: 32 million Beli, dead or alive], Kuro still felt his blood rush to his head.

"What have I done to deserve this..."

Kuro's head spun, and the symptoms of low blood sugar grew increasingly obvious.

To carry out his plan to get close to a rich man and murder his master as a wicked servant, Kuro had worked hard to play the part of a man who was down on his luck but well brought up, polite, and skilled in the duties of a butler.

He had strived to make every detail flawless!

For that, Kuro had gone several days without eating.

Even at the sea restaurant, he had only had a glass of orange juice.

According to Kuro's original plan, he would "happen" to faint outside Kaya's mansion.

He would truly faint from hunger, without any fakery.

Even a skilled doctor wouldn't be able to find fault with it.

That was the first step in winning the rich man's trust.

But...

The sudden series of mental blows had thrown Kuro's plan into complete disarray.

His violent emotional swings caused the sugar in his blood to be consumed and broken down more quickly.

A wave of dizziness hit him, and Kuro's vision suddenly went black. He lost consciousness.

"Someone's fainted!"

"Is there a doctor on board?"

"Syrup Village is just ahead. There must be a doctor in the village!"

The shouts of concerned passengers rang out aboard the cruise ship.

"I never expected a pirate so cunning and vicious to be hiding in the East Blue."

"Don't worry. I've already prepared new supplies, and they're on their way... Besides that, I've also applied to Marine Headquarters to have a batch of supplies sent from Loguetown to tide you over. Keep up the good work, Nezumi. I'm deeply gratified that you were able to uncover such intelligence!"

Marineford.

Senior officers' lounge.

Vice Admiral Momonga hung up the Den Den Mushi, smiling broadly.

The meeting to discuss Red-Haired Shanks's ascent to the position of one of the Four Emperors still couldn't get started. One lazy Admiral had gone out riding his bicycle and had yet to return, while several unruly Shichibukai heeded summonses but ignored orders.

Momonga and the others stranded in Marineford had no choice but to waste time waiting for those bastards to show up.

Fortunately, his nephew's calls over the past two days had put Vice Admiral Momonga in an excellent mood.

Vice Admiral Comil, holding a cup of sparkling sweet coffee, congratulated him from the side. "Looks like that boy Nezumi has finally come to his senses."

Vice Admiral Momonga nodded, making no attempt to be modest on his nephew's behalf. "Yes. As soon as he arrived in the East Blue, he uncovered a network of interests connecting the Sun Pirates' remnants and the local Marines who were colluding with them to run amok. He really has grown. But... he did lose the supplies he was carrying aboard ship to the 16th Branch..."

"Even if those supplies hadn't been lost, they were going to be allocated to those parasites who run amok and collude with pirates anyway, weren't they? Besides, don't be too hard on the young man!"

Comil said persuasively, "Who could have imagined that Kuro of a Hundred Plans, with a bounty of 16 million, was actually an expert in the Six Powers? If someone like that joined forces with Fish-Men and had the support of the parasites in the 16th Branch as insiders, Nezumi, who had only just arrived, couldn't possibly have been his match."

To say Kuro had mastered the Six Powers wasn't entirely made up.

Although he was only a minor character who appeared early in the original story, Kuro's signature move, Shakushi, truly was unusual.

According to its description, Shakushi was as fast as Soru, one of the Six Powers, and worked on essentially the same principle.

The only difference between it and Soru was that Shakushi was a flawed technique Kuro had taught himself, and he couldn't control his targets very well.

But that couldn't be seen in the footage.

Ma Qiao had used Twitch's Q skill to turn invisible. Not only had he taken photos of Kuro burning and plundering military supplies from multiple angles, he had even filmed him using Soru to kill his own men and transmitted the video back to Marine Headquarters.

The short video recorded by the big bird Den Den Mushi was essentially no different from footage recorded by a Visual Den Den Mushi, and could be played on the same equipment.

With footage that couldn't have been more authentic, Kuro's status as a master of the Six Powers was firmly established.

Many people even thought the 32 million Beli bounty was too low.

After all, he was very likely an elite officer who had defected from headquarters!

So, no matter how much someone had hated Nezumi before, upon learning that he had lost to such a troublesome opponent, they would never think he had disgraced the Marines of headquarters.

That went even more for Momonga, who had always indulged his nephew.

His talk of regrets was just him showing off a little in front of an old classmate.

What gratified Momonga even more was that Nezumi's growth this time didn't stop there.

Acting to mend the damage, he had investigated where the military supplies Kuro had plundered had gone and uncovered a network of interests involving former Fish-Man remnants of the Sun Pirates, corrupt Marines from the former 16th Branch, and other forces.

They were the ones who had stolen and sold the supplies allocated by Marine Headquarters!

Even more commendable was that, under the guidance of the clever Mr. Ma Qiao, Nezumi hadn't rashly alerted the enemy. Instead, he had published only part of the truth in the newspaper to lull those vicious Fish-Men and cunning, corrupt Marines into complacency.

With his nephew having accomplished so much, what could Vice Admiral Momonga possibly be dissatisfied with?

After thinking it over, he decided to call in a favor and dialed a senior's number.

Although Fleet Admiral Sengoku had specifically requested this senior's presence at the meeting, he had insisted on running back to the East Blue to visit his grandson, showing the Fleet Admiral no consideration at all...