The Puppetmaster

"This—"

Golden Lion had a cigarette clenched between his teeth. Looking at Baro's corpse on the ground, he sneered. "You're pretty ruthless."

He shot a sidelong glance at Flog, whom Louis was holding tightly. "Did you do this?"

"No, no, I didn't, Admiral Golden Lion!"

Flog hurriedly protested. "How could I dare? The ban on fighting among ourselves is an order you've repeated time and again, Admiral! Let alone murder—how could I dare break that rule?"

"Lord Golden Lion,"

Louis grabbed Flog and shouted, "Lots of people saw him chasing First Mate Baro last night! Please don't listen to this bastard's excuses!"

"Oh? Is that so?"

Golden Lion raised an eyebrow. "Lots of people saw it?"

"Yes, Admiral,"

someone came forward to speak. "I did see Flog chasing Baro last night."

"I saw it too."

"I didn't see the chase itself, but I did see Flog return to their base alone."

"I see."

Golden Lion nodded in understanding. "Tell me, did your captain go out last night to hunt down this fellow named Baro?"

He looked at Flog's subordinates, his eyes narrowing slightly. An invisible wave spread out, and Flog's men shuddered. Stammering and trembling, one of them said, "Y-yes, Admiral Golden Lion. The captain did go out last night. Then, after a long time, he finally came back!"

"Oh? Then, Frog,"

Golden Lion looked at Flog. "Do you have anything to say?"

"Yes, Admiral Golden Lion. I did go out last night, and I did chase after Baro,"

Flog gritted his teeth. "But that guy provoked me first! I chased after him, but I didn't catch him! After a while, he suddenly disappeared!"

"So you're saying,"

Louis gritted his teeth. "You came back empty-handed? You're a Zoan ability user. With the jumping power boosted by the Frog-Frog Fruit, you couldn't catch up to First Mate Baro?"

"Oh, that makes sense!"

Golden Lion looked as if he'd suddenly understood.

"I-I don't know what happened,"

Flog's forehead was covered in sweat. "I turned around, and he was gone."

"Hoho."

Golden Lion narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Admiral!"

Rhode pushed through the crowd. "Please stop listening to his excuses! Our two pirate crews have always been on bad terms! Not long ago, when we set sail, he tried to capsize our ship because his was bigger! We nearly drowned! We also had a little clash last night! Baro gave him a real dressing-down! It must be because of that, so he—"

"Is what he said true?"

Golden Lion asked Flog's subordinate.

"Y-yes,"

the subordinate stammered. "When the captain came back last night, he said he'd definitely kill Baro and a man named Mario."

"Ah, so that's how the story goes!"

Golden Lion laughed. "Hey, kid, let him go."

"But..."

Louis hesitated.

"Hey, kid! Are you looking down on me?"

Golden Lion merely glared. Louis felt a terrifying aura rush toward him. His body instinctively took two steps back, and he released Flog.

"Hmm? Not bad."

Golden Lion glanced at Louis, surprised.

"Anything else to say, Frog?"

Golden Lion blew out a ring of smoke.

"Admiral, I've been framed..."

Flog, who had been wailing, suddenly sprang into action. He picked up the long sword Louis had stuck in the ground and thrust it straight toward Golden Lion's chest.

"Admiral, watch out!"

Louis came to his senses in an instant and slammed a heavy punch into Flog's back.

"Jiehahahaha! A frog dares stick out its tongue at a lion? This is too funny!"

Golden Lion burst into laughter. Without any obvious movement from him, as though only a gentle breeze had brushed past, Flog let out a scream. All four of his limbs snapped at once, and blood sprayed everywhere. At the same time, Louis's heavy punch landed in his back, sending him flying. He crashed to the ground, rolled several times, and Rhode stepped on him.

"H-how powerful!"

Louis exclaimed sincerely. The two swords at Golden Lion's waist seemed not to have moved at all, yet Flog's four limbs had been cut off with ease. Louis, who had been standing right behind Flog, hadn't noticed a thing. Golden Lion's strength was terrifying.

"What's going on? How did this happen? My body moved on its own!"

Flog, now reduced to a bloody stump and struck hard in the back by Louis, coughed up blood and cried out, "Admiral! I've been framed! I've been framed!"

"Still making excuses, you piece of trash!"

Rhode planted his foot hard on Flog's back and looked at Golden Lion. "Admiral!"

"I'll leave him to you."

Golden Lion waved a hand, already losing interest. He flew into the sky, glanced at Louis, then left. "Just don't delay tomorrow's departure."

"No! No! Admiral! I've been framed! I've been framed!"

All Flog could do was scream.

"Frog! You did this to Baro! Now you can get a taste of it yourself!"

Haki coated Rhode's gloves as both hands shot toward Flog like phantoms.

"AAAAAAAH!"

Blood sprayed along with flesh and entrails. A man who cherished his companions more than anything could become the most brutal executioner when avenging one of them.

"Whew."

Louis breathed a sigh of relief. It was finally over. He'd gotten rid of both the annoying guy and the one who'd caused trouble in one go. All those injuries hadn't been for nothing.

The whole sequence of events was quite simple. Louis had targeted Baro from the very beginning. At the end of last night's banquet, Louis had made an excuse to leave. Baro followed him, and he was strong. As Rhode's second-in-command, his strength was probably around the hundred-million mark. In terms of raw strength, Louis wasn't necessarily a match for him.

But a fight wasn't just about comparing stats. The human body was fragile. A sword through the heart would kill even Whitebeard or Roger. Louis's advantage over Baro was that he knew Baro's moves, while Baro knew nothing about him. He'd deliberately acted weak at first, letting Baro cover him in shallow cuts. When Baro thought he could take Louis on by himself, Louis dodged the killing blow Baro had been certain would land. Then he bound him with his hair and finished the fight with Rokuogan.

It was that simple. After knocking Baro unconscious, Louis tied him up, forced a little medicine down his throat, and used Life Return to make his skin conceal his wounds. He hid Baro, wrecked the training area, changed into Baro's clothes, and disguised himself as Baro. He even had enough time to take a bath before joining Rhode at the banquet, provoking Flog along the way.

After the banquet ended, Louis made an excuse to go find himself, immediately took off his clothes, and changed back. He used his skin manipulation to disguise himself as if he'd been training, then returned by another route and ran into Rhode. After that, he changed back into Baro again and went to Flog's place to lure the frog out. Flog really was fast, with his frog-like jumping ability, but Louis could easily fool him just by taking off his clothes and changing his appearance.

After losing Flog, Louis went straight to kill Baro and destroy the corpse. He focused on damaging the internal organs while making sure Rhode was furious, so that his wounds wouldn't reveal that he'd used Rokuogan on the organs. Then he disposed of the clothes and went back to sleep in peace.

That was everything Louis had done last night. He had to admit, the timing, circumstances, and people involved had all worked in his favor. Last night's banquet had come at just the right time. Everyone had attended, and no one had paid any attention to the place Louis had deliberately chosen.

Then, this morning, all he needed to do was help Rhode kill Flog. An enraged Rhode was bound to refuse to listen to Flog's explanations. Angry people didn't need facts; a rough outline was enough to make them act. With Louis playing along, killing Flog shouldn't be a problem.

The only thing Louis hadn't anticipated was that the pirates watching from the sidelines feared Golden Lion so deeply that they'd instantly restrained Flog, giving him a chance to live.

But it didn't matter. Flog still couldn't clear his name, and Louis had also made sure to send him off for good.

Of course, Louis had been behind Flog's sudden, crazed attack on Golden Lion.

Here's a question: if the essence of Life Return is to inject one's consciousness into the body and thereby gain complete control over it, could you inject your consciousness into someone else's body?

The answer was yes.

Louis really had a vivid imagination. If even his hair could do it, why not someone else's body, which, just like his hair, had no neural connection to him?

After Golden Lion arrived, Louis immediately grabbed Flog. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he slipped a lot of hair into Flog's body and activated Life Return at full power. His consciousness—or, more accurately, his brain waves—kept flowing through his hair and into Flog's body. He didn't need to control any important part of Flog; he only needed enough control to tug at his ligaments a little.

It took quite a while, but in the end, he barely managed to affect the ligaments in Flog's right hand, making it move and grip the sword to stab Golden Lion. It was a simple action, but it had already left Louis mentally and physically drained. The drawback of this technique was that his hair had to be inserted into the target's body, close to the part he wanted to control. That could save some time, but it still took a while. If Flog hadn't been panicked and badly injured beforehand, it wouldn't have been so easy.

Still, Louis thought this ability had a lot of potential. After all, even a strand of hair separated from his body retained its own consciousness, and could still be controlled.