After Hans and the others were dealt with, White Shell Town returned to peace.
Fishing boats left the harbor one after another, casting their nets into the sea and sounding their horns as they returned to shore.
In the center of town.
A man carrying a box camera on his back pushed open the door of a newspaper office and stepped out.
He clutched a cloth sack stuffed with Beli, glanced around, and pulled his hat brim lower.
"Ha! I'm rich, I'm really rich!" He briskly turned into an alley and quickly vanished into the crowd.
After he left.
On the rooftop of a tall building nearby, someone had appeared at some unknown time.
The person wore a pure white suit and a pointed top hat, with only the lower half of his face visible.
He stood silently, staring at the empty horizon in the distance.
At that moment, a gray pigeon flew over from behind him, but before it could touch him, it passed straight through the back of his head.
The pigeon circled once before landing on his outstretched right hand.
"Though we were a step late, we found them."
The moment he finished speaking, a series of landing sounds echoed across the rooftop.
One, two, three...
In just a few seconds, twelve figures in identical white suits and pointed hats leaped onto the roof.
Their builds and attire were completely identical, even their stances were exactly the same.
"Target confirmed. Heading southeast."
"Understood." Twelve voices overlapped as one.
The sea breeze swept past, and the people on the rooftop vanished completely as though erased by a rubber eraser. Only the drying sheets swayed in the wind.
White Shell.
Inside the cabin, Teach stood on tiptoe and slowly shuffled forward step by step.
He reached the left side of the lower deck and laboriously pushed open a wooden door.
Inside was a storage room. Lin Nuo stood before the shelves, taking inventory.
"Uncle Lin Nuo," Teach called, looking up at him. "You can't see the Marines outside anymore."
"Good." Lin Nuo glanced down at him and pushed the last wooden crate into place.
"I've more or less finished sorting everything out. Perfect time to go outside and get some air."
He dusted off his hands and made to leave.
"Wait." Teach grabbed him.
"I walk slowly. Can you take me with—"
Lin Nuo stopped, turned around, and stared at Teach for two seconds.
"Nope—" he drawled.
"I'm going to lock the cabin door and make sure you can never get out! Hehehe!"
With that, he really did turn and dash outside.
Bang! The cabin door swung shut behind him.
Teach froze for a second.
"Waaah—don't!!" He stumbled toward the door and desperately pounded on the wooden boards.
"Let me out! I'm telling Mom! Come back right now!"
But all he heard from outside was Lin Nuo's increasingly distant laughter.
On deck, Alice stood behind the helm, her eyes fixed intently on the sea ahead as both hands controlled their course.
Lin Nuo climbed out through the hatch and walked over to her.
"That's enough. I'll take over at the helm now." As he spoke, he reached for the wheel.
But Alice lightly shifted aside, avoiding his hand.
"No need."
"But—"
"Lin Nuo." Alice kept her eyes on the sea.
"Do you remember the task Rocks gave you at God Valley?"
Rocks's... task...
Alice's words gradually stirred Lin Nuo's memories.
"You actually want to join my pirate crew, don't you, Lin Nuo!"
Rocks's booming laughter rang in his ears, full of confidence and arrogance.
"Fine! I'll let you join my fleet! But you'll have to start as a trainee crew member. Even if you saved my family, you can't be an exception."
"Now, I'm giving you your first assessment."
"Bring Alice and Teach safely back to the ship!"
God Valley burned, the battlefield in chaos.
When Rocks pushed his wife and son toward him, there had been a rare solemnity in those eyes.
"Your task is already complete, Lin Nuo."
Alice's voice pulled him back to reality.
She finally turned her head to look at him.
Sunlight reflected pale golden flecks in her pupils.
"You no longer need to look after me in every possible way just because I'm your captain's family."
"Let's continue this journey as companions."
She released one hand, clenched it into a fist, and bent her arm.
"Don't let my appearance fool you. I'm actually quite strong."
"At the very least, I can help with steering and navigation instead of throwing everything onto you."
Lin Nuo looked at her.
A moment later, he suddenly smiled.
Alice smiled too. She thought Lin Nuo must have taken her words to heart.
But in the next second, Lin Nuo's smile suddenly turned a little strange.
He stroked his chin and muttered softly, "I think... I'm starting to understand why Rocks gave up on Shakky and fell for you instead."
"And why he became so utterly devoted that he was willing to risk his life to save you."
"Huh?" Alice blanked.
"I never expected it," Lin Nuo said with a shake of his head. "That arrogant brute actually had another side to him."
"L-Lin Nuo, what are you talking about?" Rare panic appeared on Alice's face as she turned back and gripped the helm tightly.
"Rocks and I..."
Just then, the cabin door flew open with a clatter.
Tears smeared across Teach's face as he stumbled onto the deck and buried himself in Alice's arms.
"Lin Nuo, Lin Nuo said he was going to lock me in the storage room forever!"
Alice patted Teach's back, caught between laughter and tears. "This ship's cabin doors don't have locks to begin with."
The crying stopped abruptly.
Teach raised his head from her arms and blinked again.
"Ah..." He slowly turned around.
"You lied to me!!!"
The two chased and tussled across the deck—though it was really Lin Nuo deliberately slowing down so Teach could catch him.
Alice watched them, shook her head with a smile, and continued steering attentively.
People's joys and sorrows were not shared.
While Lin Nuo and Teach were fooling around, outside the starboard side of the White Shell.
A pair of dead fish eyes stared at them with utter resentment.
Moria was soaked from head to toe, clinging to the side of the ship like a drowned rat.
"Lin Nuo... you bastard..." he ground out weakly through clenched teeth.
"You clearly knew I was chasing after you... yet you completely ignored me..."
"And you're still laughing so happily here!"
As if sensing his resentment, Lin Nuo stopped chasing Teach, walked to the rail, and greeted him.
"Yo, Moria. How's the training going?" Lin Nuo asked with a grin.
"T-Training?" Moria nearly cursed aloud. "You call this training?"
"This is attempted murder! What if I run out of strength and drown?"
"Were you planning to have that woman or this two-year-old brat fish me out?"
"Don't put it like that." Lin Nuo crouched down, propping his chin on his hand.
"Right now, you're one of only two combatants on this ship aside from me. That's a heavy burden. Naturally, you need to train your body more. Aerobic and anaerobic exercises both need to push you to exhaustion to unlock your potential."
"What are you even talking about?" Moria looked utterly bewildered.
Lin Nuo cleared his throat and spoke with complete seriousness.
"What I mean is, from now on, you need to do at least one thousand push-ups, one thousand sit-ups, one thousand squats, and swim one hundred kilometers every day. And in addition—"
"Wait, wait, wait!"
Hearing Lin Nuo list all those exercises as if reciting a menu.
"I'm not doing that!" Moria cut him off, his face going dark.
"Then do you want to become stronger?" Lin Nuo asked in return.
Moria choked.
"Getting stronger is easy. Just eat a powerful fruit and you'll get there right away!"
After a pause, he asked the question that concerned him most. "Why did you leave the archipelago? How are you supposed to help me get the Shadow-Shadow Fruit now?"
"What if the fruit gets transported away?"
At those words, Lin Nuo put away his joking expression.
"Don't worry yet. In my opinion, the person with the Shadow-Shadow Fruit is most likely a World Government agent, not a pirate."
"Agents like that usually have procedures and missions they have to complete. For now, you don't need to worry about the Shadow-Shadow Fruit's safety."
"Among the people I'm looking for are some with powerful Devil Fruit abilities, as well as people who are exceptionally good at gathering intelligence."
"Once we find them, they'll be a huge help for what we're doing right now."
"But what if we miss it..."
"Even if we do," Lin Nuo said seriously, "if I find another powerful fruit in the future, I'll give it to you."
"I keep my word."
Moria stared at him for several seconds before finally clicking his tongue and saying nothing more.
With a stern face, he shifted into a patch of sunlight, closed his eyes, and waited to dry off.
At that moment, Teach quietly moved beside Lin Nuo and tugged at his pant leg.
"Uncle Lin Nuo." His eyes sparkled as he lowered his voice. "I want to eat a fruit too. I want powers..."
"Can I?"
Hearing that, Lin Nuo suddenly froze.
Right... if Teach followed him and never joined the Whitebeard Pirates, would he still get to eat the Dark-Dark Fruit?
If he did not, would that affect his unknown ability to contain multiple fruits?
And if it did not...
All sorts of absurd combinations suddenly surfaced in his mind.
The Tremor-Tremor Fruit with the Glint-Glint Fruit, the Door-Door Fruit with the Op-Op Fruit... combinations of fruits that had already been eaten and ones that had not flashed through his thoughts.
But in the next second, some terrible memories from his past life suddenly flooded back.
"What if Teach ate the Love-Love Fruit..."
In his imagination, the grown-up Blackbeard wore a pink tutu, twisted his burly body, and cried in a shrill voice, "Mero Mero Mellow"~
Then he raised a huge, sweaty size-ninety foot and turned someone to stone with a Perfume Femur...
Lin Nuo suddenly shuddered.
No.
That could absolutely never happen.
Even if a fruit's effects might differ depending on who ate it, he was still afraid that this Phoenix would be permanently petrified mentally...
Before you continue