Ernest Nia

Knock, knock!

Just as Rod was getting familiar with Armament Haki, a knock at the door snapped him out of his excitement.

He hung the Shark Cutter saw-blade back on the wall, thinking he should set aside a room someday to store all the weapons he'd stolen.

After all, they were treasures that had helped him.

Of course, he didn't need all that other junk, like shoes.

With those thoughts running through his mind, Rod opened his door.

"Nia, what's up?"

Seeing Nia standing outside, Rod looked at her questioningly.

"There's something I wanted to talk to you about. Is now a good time?"

Holding her wanted poster, Nia peered into Rod's room and gestured for them to go in and talk.

"Sure, that's fine."

Rod left the door open, went over to the table, opened his mini-fridge, and took out a Coke for Nia.

"I hope you don't mind if I join you."

Nerl's voice suddenly came from the doorway. Without waiting for an answer, he walked in, pulled over a chair, and sat down, his emerald-green eyes fixed on Nia.

"I can probably guess what you want to talk about, too."

"Then I'll get right to it. It's nothing particularly secret. I just didn't know how to bring it up when everyone was around earlier."

Nia opened the Coke and took a swig, then slapped her wanted poster down on the table.

"Very pretty. What about it?"

"Look at the words at the bottom, Rod."

At Nerl's words, Rod lowered his gaze and noticed what set Nia's wanted poster apart from the others.

"ONLY ALIVE?"

Rod looked up at Nia.

"Well, that's surprising."

His face was full of curiosity. He seemed to smell a secret.

In the original timeline, the only other person he knew of who'd been treated this way was Sanji. The Vinsmoke Family had used its influence to get his wanted poster changed to ONLY ALIVE.

Could the Catwoman on his ship have a special background, too?

"I've never told you this before, but my full name is Ernest Nia."

Nia looked Rod in the eye and revealed her full name.

"I'm Not Rod."

"That's not what I meant!"

Nia felt her fists clench.

"The Ernest Family is a noble house in the Dawson Kingdom. It holds influence there that's at least equal to the king's."

Nerl added from his seat beside them.

"The Dawson Kingdom?"

Rod furrowed his brow slightly.

He wasn't like Nerl, who had memorized most of the intelligence reports, but he still knew the basics.

The Dawson Kingdom was a powerful nation in the North Blue and a member of the World Government. It wielded considerable influence even within the World Government and had always been one of the fifty nations attending the Reverie.

The kingdom was famous around the world for its formidable intelligence network. Its military intelligence office was well known throughout the underworld, and was rumored to have close ties to informants around the globe.

The Ernest Family was in charge of the Dawson Kingdom's military intelligence office.

"A brilliant branch-family prodigy making a comeback? Or an illegitimate daughter who grew up outside the family?"

All sorts of ideas flashed through Rod's mind.

Nia noticed the change in his expression. Seeing the gossipy glint in his eyes, she felt speechless.

"I don't know what you're thinking, but my story is very simple!"

Nia snapped.

She hadn't expected that revealing her identity would first earn her gossip from a crewmate.

"I'm the eldest daughter of the Ernest Family. I just hated the family's dark way of life, so I left two years ago."

"So you're a rebellious noble heiress!"

"With all due respect, given the Ernest Family's intelligence network, if they wanted to bring you back, it'd take them no more than two months."

Nerl quietly added.

As Rod's right-hand man, it was his job to help Rod with the things he wasn't good at handling.

Whether it was external intelligence or internal unity.

"Maybe it's because Neo's been covering for me all this time."

Now that she'd opened up, Nia held nothing back and told them her whole story.

As a family that had controlled the kingdom's military intelligence office for generations, the Ernest Family was inevitably involved in all kinds of dark business. But Nia had never been interested in any of it.

Espionage, infiltration, undercover work, betrayal, assassination...

All the things the Ernest Family relied on to survive filled Nia with disgust.

So, on the night before she turned seventeen and officially joined the military intelligence office to begin taking charge of the family's power, Nia ran away.

Thanks to the Devil Fruit power she'd accidentally acquired, she transformed into a black cat and slipped away without alerting anyone.

After that came more than two years of wandering the seas.

"Wait, how old is your younger brother?"

"He's two years younger than me, so he should be almost eighteen now."

"Then your brother really is a bona fide genius!"

Rod rubbed his chin.

"After you ran away, he took your place and took over the family's affairs. He was less than sixteen at the time, wasn't he? And he was already able to control your family's intelligence network and keep covering for you all the way up to now."

"He's different from me. He's been an absolute genius since he was a child. Everyone in the family says he was born for this."

Nia's voice grew complicated as she spoke about her younger brother.

"If that's the case, why not just let your brother take over the family's power? Why do they insist on involving you, too?"

"Because of the king!"

Nia's voice carried a trace of resentment.

"The current king, Dawson Bourbon, is a hedonist who neglects state affairs, yet he has a fierce appetite for power."

"He thinks the Ernest Family has too much power and poses a threat to his rule. So he demanded that the Ernest Family marry into the royal family, hoping to divide the family's power and consolidate his reign."

"So you became the unlucky one chosen for the arranged marriage."

"Who'd want to marry that old man?"

Even after two years, just bringing it up still made Nia furious.

"I'm free! Whether I get married, and who I marry, are decisions I get to make for myself! Not the king, and not those old fossils in the family—no one can force me to do something I don't want to do!"

"Well said!"

Rod stood up and applauded Nia.

"That's the spirit we need in the Rod Pirates. We're not afraid of the Shichibukai, let alone the Dawson Kingdom."

"You're my crewmate. I'll protect you!"

While Nia wasn't looking, Rod patted her on the head.

He'd been wanting to pat her head for a while, especially when she was in her half-human, half-beast form.

Those were cat ears!

Thanks to reader 20220515130623861 for the monthly ticket!