Roana Port, a secret room in the underground black market.
The smell of cheap tobacco mingled with damp mildew, lingering in the room.
A black-market merchant with a face full of fat wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and pushed two heavy black briefcases across the table.
"That's forty million Beli."
The merchant's voice sounded a little strained.
"I've given you the best possible rate for the jewelry and gold."
Across the table, Sabo sat calmly in a dark blue tailcoat, towering at two meters and forty centimeters.
He didn't rush to count the money. He casually opened a briefcase, glanced inside, then closed it again.
"Pleasure doing business with you."
Sabo adjusted the top hat on his head, his tone gentle.
"Also, have you packed the premium medical kit for sailors and the special charts of the Grand Line that I asked you to prepare?"
"Everything's ready!"
The merchant hurriedly nodded.
"I've already had someone send it to the port through the back passage!"
"Good."
Sabo picked up the two briefcases and left the secret room.
Behind him, the merchant waited until the door had closed before finally letting out a long breath.
Half an hour later, at the premium private berth.
When Sabo returned to the deck of the Eclipse with the briefcases, he stopped in his tracks.
Dozens of gang members lay unconscious in disarray on the dock.
And the Eclipse's "chief steward," Buggy, was crouched among them, rifling through their pockets with practiced ease.
"Bunch of paupers. Not even a gold ring..."
Buggy grumbled as he stuffed the loose change and a few cheap pocket watches he'd found into his clothes.
"Pah! They don't have more than a few bits of silver, and they call themselves gangsters?"
Even a mosquito's leg had meat on it.
These were the spoils of his late-night "overtime."
"Buggy, what happened?"
Sabo raised an eyebrow slightly and stepped over the scattered thugs onto the deck.
"Ah! Vice Captain Sabo, you're finally back!"
The moment Buggy saw Sabo, he shoved the loose change into his clothes and put on a triumphant expression.
"Some local gangsters with more guts than brains tried to smash up our ship. I knocked them all flat like leaves swept away by the autumn wind!"
Then Buggy lowered his voice conspiratorially.
"But the captain just brought a purple-haired woman into the sitting room."
"A woman?"
Sabo paused.
He knew Ace had never been the sort to let beauty sway him.
If Ace had brought her aboard, she must have some special value.
Sabo pushed open the door to the sitting room.
A rich aroma of roasted meat rolled out with a wave of heat.
In the bright light, Sabo immediately spotted a purple-haired girl kneeling on the leather rug, her eyes shining as she stared at a pile of gold bars.
Ace sat cross-legged on a wide armchair.
He was bare-chested, sweat still clinging to his shoulders, back, and arms from training. Scalding white steam steadily rose from his skin.
It was a sign that the restorative power of the Vermilion Bird Divine Fire was at work.
Ace clearly hadn't rested during the half hour Sabo had been away.
Heavy weights lay beside the rug, and the air still carried the mingled scent of heat and sweat.
With the help of the Vermilion Bird Divine Fire's restorative power, he had repeatedly torn his muscles apart, only to have them rapidly heal again.
This almost self-torturous training method consumed tremendous amounts of stamina and calories.
At that moment, Ace was holding a roasted sea beast shank with bone, thicker than an ordinary person's thigh. He tore off a huge piece in a couple of bites and swallowed it.
"You took a little while, Sabo."
Ace swallowed the last piece of meat, tossed the enormous bone into the nearby trash can, and wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth with a towel.
"The black-market dealers always try to get clever about the quality. It took a bit of talking."
Sabo smiled and carried the two black briefcases over.
"This is the forty million Beli in cash we got in exchange, along with some special charts essential for traveling to the Grand Line."
At the mention of "forty million Beli," Carina immediately lifted her head from the gold bars.
Her attention shifted to the briefcases in Sabo's hands.
"Let me introduce her."
Ace raised a hand, and the white steam around him slowly faded.
"This is Carina."
"Starting today, she'll be handling the Eclipse's finances and working on a trial basis with our intelligence operations."
"Finances and intelligence?"
Sabo looked at the purple-haired girl, who was almost unnaturally beautiful.
He didn't ask any questions.
If Ace had decided to keep her, there had to be a reason.
Sabo set the two black briefcases down in front of Carina.
"Since you're in charge of the finances, check over the money we just exchanged at the black market."
He nodded slightly.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Sabo, the Eclipse's vice captain."
Carina studied the tall, composed blond young man in front of her, who was clearly not someone to mess with, and felt a quiet shock.
Just what kind of people were on this ship?
One red-nosed guard was a Devil Fruit User.
The vice captain could bargain down a black-market dealer with ease, and had an imposing presence equal to the East Blue pirates with bounties in the tens of millions.
As for the captain himself, he was a monster who could tear his muscles apart and heal them with fire, all while eating as though he had a bottomless stomach.
This was no ordinary pirate ship.
It was a nest of monsters.
Still, the moment money came into the picture, Carina's professional instincts quickly overpowered her fear.
She opened the briefcase without hesitation and swiftly leafed through the thick stacks of bills.
She didn't just check the amount. She also inspected the serial numbers, paper, and seals on several bundles of Beli, then recalled the original quality of the jewelry from the vault.
Less than a minute later, she closed the briefcase.
"The cash checks out."
"And the loss in value stayed below twelve percent."
Carina looked up at Sabo, a little more serious now.
"In the black market at Roana Port, keeping the loss on a jewelry sale that low..."
She paused.
"Vice Captain, you must have some pretty forceful negotiating tactics."
Sabo smiled faintly and didn't deny it.
"Money laundering and bookkeeping are just the basics."
Ace picked up a clean black shirt from nearby and pulled it on, fastening two buttons.
"What I care about more is the intelligence network you mentioned earlier."
He looked at Carina.
"We're going to the Grand Line."
"Plan the most valuable route for us."
"Show me what you can do."
When it came to her line of work, Carina immediately got down to business.
She pulled a complete map of the East Blue from beneath the coffee table and spread it across the surface.
"If all we want is to reach Reverse Mountain, sailing south is the fastest route."
"But that would send us straight into the blockade set up by the Marine 16th Branch, and the islands along the way are all barren places with little to offer."
Carina traced a winding route across the map.
"Since this ship values comfort as well as speed, I recommend taking this Golden Route before we leave the East Blue."
Her finger finally came to rest on a specific point.
"There's a massive restaurant anchored at sea here."
"The floating restaurant, Baratie."
At the name, Ace paused.
Sanji's restaurant?
At this point, that blond cook should be there.
Carina didn't notice Ace's reaction and continued her analysis.
"Baratie is the finest restaurant in the East Blue."
"The chefs there all have terrible tempers. I hear quite a few of them used to be fighters."
"But the food is so good that wealthy merchants, bounty hunters, and all sorts of pirates like to dine there."
She tapped the spot on the map.
"It doesn't just serve the East Blue's finest full-course meals. More importantly, it's one of the busiest hubs for underground intelligence in the East Blue."
"If we eat there, we can find out the latest news about the entrance to the Grand Line, and get a feel for what the other major players in the East Blue are doing."
"And if we're lucky, we might even find a reliable chef."
Carina looked up at Ace.
"That would give us intelligence and solve our provisioning problems for the long voyage."
"Captain, this proposal should be enough to prove my value, right?"
Sabo gave a slight nod when she finished.
She really was more than just a thief who knew how to pick locks.
Ace studied the location on the map in silence.
He liked this way of doing things: planning everything in an orderly fashion while maximizing the benefits.
He didn't lack information about the entrance to the Grand Line.
But he did need a top-tier chef.
The Zhuque Fruit's rapid regeneration meant he had to put away enormous amounts of food every day.
If he had to fill up on rough roasted sea beast meat all the time, it would be a waste of an eighty-million-Beli fast ship.
"Good."
Ace stood up.
"Your trial period continues."
"But I'm satisfied with what you've shown me so far."
Carina held the briefcase against her chest, unable to keep the smile from her lips.
Ace turned and headed out of the sitting room, his voice carrying clearly to the deck.
"Buggy, quit rummaging through that junk."
"Clean the deck and raise the anchor."
Outside, Buggy shoved a few coins into his clothes and complained indignantly:
"What do you mean, junk? I worked hard for this overtime pay!"
Ace ignored him and looked at the location on the map, chuckling.
"First thing tomorrow morning, we're heading for the floating restaurant."
"Let's go taste the best cooking in the East Blue for ourselves."
Before you continue