Strength Gains Trust

"Have we arrived already? These cacti are quite distinctive."

Gato and the others had already reached their destination for this trip: the "passionate" town of Whisky Peak.

With his eyesight, Gato naturally saw at a glance that the spines on those cactus-like peaks were actually gravestones.

Since the residents here were all pirate hunters, any pirates who came to this town would receive a warm welcome.

Before Gato and the others could even dock, the "hospitable" pirate hunters had begun cheering to welcome the pirates' arrival.

"A pirates' graveyard? What an eyesore!"

For no apparent reason, Gato found the sight of those cacti deeply unpleasant. No wonder—they all represented the honor of pirate hunters.

Pirate hunters and pirates were born enemies. Their hostility toward one another was perhaps second only to that between pirates and the Marines.

He did not know why Luffy and his crew could get along so well with two pirate hunters. Those two professions were destined never to become friends at most, they could only become something between enemies and allies.

Gato was also a pirate. Though he had no sense of belonging to that group for now, and those dead pirates had nothing to do with him, he still could not stand seeing an opposing force flaunt its power like this.

"Wind Release—Divine Void Strike!"

Gato stretched out his hand, splitting several azure fist shadows into existence and blasting them toward the "cacti."

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Divine Void Strike hit its targets. The blue-white fist shadows shattered directly, turning into countless wind blades that continuously sliced through the pirates' graveyard.

It was as though those fist shadows contained the countless slashes of a master swordsman.

The pirates' graveyard instantly collapsed, breaking into chunks of earth that fell to the ground as dust billowed everywhere.

Gato was quite satisfied with the results. That attack had only consumed half his chakra, and Divine Void Strike truly was exceptionally efficient when it came to destruction.

The noisy cheers came to an abrupt halt. That calamity-like power pounded against everyone's hearts, and whatever schemes the pirate hunters had harbored vanished completely in the face of such a method.

For a moment, all was silent. The only sound was the rolling sea.

Captain Marcus, the owner of the ship, had long been prepared for Gato's strength. Rather than being frightened, he grew excited.

"This is a pirate's power! This is Lord Gato's mighty power!"

He shouted fervently at Gato.

"Lord Gato, please let me follow you!"

From Gato's brief remarks, Marcus had learned that he too was a pirate. Now, he finally had a deeper understanding of the power pirates possessed.

Gato had a bit of a headache. It seemed he had shown off a little too much this time. He had not even found a single crew member, yet someone already wanted to follow him—what was that about?

Honestly, he was somewhat hesitant. It was not because Marcus was weak; after all, everyone had been weak once. It was because he could not see the bearing of a strong person in Marcus.

Marcus seemed not to understand what heights he himself could reach. It seemed that he had only gone to sea on a momentary impulse, without any particularly clear goal.

That was why Gato was not even interested in learning the name of Marcus's pirate crew. All he knew about him was his name.

But people always changed, and he was willing to give Marcus a chance.

"The New World. Go there. I'll wait for you there. Don't worry about not being able to find me. If you can make it there, you'll naturally know."

Marcus nodded with the devotion of a fanatic. He did not know how far away the New World was, but as long as he could earn Gato's recognition, he was willing to do anything.

Gato smiled self-mockingly. In the end, Marcus merely worshipped his miraculous power. When would he ever possess the same powerful charisma as Luffy?

Of course, he could not behave like Luffy, nor was there any need to. He had his own principles. He was Gato, not anyone else.

He believed that one day, the name Gato would also become a banner that others rushed to gather beneath.

Gato and the others docked amid utter silence. Of course, the pirate hunters who had come to welcome them had not left, nor did they dare to. They waited for Gato's arrival with stiff, awkward smiles.

The welcome banquet was naturally held according to custom, though none of the trouble that had occurred when Luffy landed here happened this time.

The absolute suppression of power made them feel as though a blazing sun had shone into their hearts, leaving every demon and monster with nowhere to hide.

After Gato unapologetically ate his fill, Igaram and Vivi came to find him.

Before Gato could speak, Vivi opened her mouth first.

"I believe what you said. With your abilities, there is no need for you to deceive me. But this concerns an entire kingdom, so I cannot make a decision based solely on my trust in you."

"So I will continue investigating until I can truly prove Mr. 0's identity."

Though she did not know why Gato was helping her, if a man with such immense power wanted to cause her trouble, there was no need for him to go through so many twists and turns.

Vivi secretly glanced at Gato. After seeing that he was not angry, she stuck out her tongue and continued.

"So, could I ask you for a favor? Although I do not know whether Crocodile truly is Mr. 0, we still need to prepare for that possibility. I would like to ask you to deliver this news to my father.

"And I can already confirm that Baroque Works is behind the civil war in our country."

Gato listened quietly from beginning to end, feeling something called admiration. Though this girl was still so young, she was both courageous and resourceful. Otherwise, she could never have made it this far within a den of danger like Baroque Works.

Unfortunately, her only flaw was that she was a little too weak. Still, she had the potential to grow stronger.

The corner of Gato's lips lifted as he reached a decision.

"Can you dance?"

Vivi froze for a moment, not knowing what Gato meant, but she still gave him an affirmative answer.

In three years, her Perfume Dance would even catch Zoro off guard. If she had not run away so quickly and acted so adorably foolish, she might even have been able to defeat Zoro.

"Good. Give me an Eternal Pose to Alabasta, and I'll help you."

"That's wonderful!"

Though she did not understand Gato's logic, Vivi still jumped up happily. Only at that moment did she look a little like a carefree princess.

Igaram handed the Eternal Pose to Gato. He was actually very wary of this stranger, but Vivi was willing to trust him, and Igaram had no choice. As Vivi had said, if Gato had wanted to, they would have been dead long ago.

Besides that, in order to help Gato gain the trust of Alabasta's king, Vivi also gave him a token.

Having obtained the precious Eternal Pose and Vivi's token, Gato's mischievous streak flared up again.

"Gahahaha! Actually, I'm the president of Baroque Works, Mr. 0! You people are still far too naive!"

Breathing in the token's faint girlish fragrance, Gato felt refreshed and delighted, then burst out laughing like that.

Perfectly, he acted out the very essence of a villain.