Poker Pirates

East Blue, Clockwork Island.

The island was named for the enormous clockwork mechanism upon it, and its terrain spiraled upward from bottom to top.

At the island's highest point stood a grotesque structure cobbled together from abandoned ship plating, rusted gears, and metal wreckage of unknown origin, like a nest piled from metal corpses.

The Poker Pirates' stronghold.

Kuina and Zoro stood on the beach where they had landed, looking up at the fortress. Both wore dojo training uniforms beneath simple leather armor.

"Remember, I won't be making a move this time. Survive, or die here. Those are your only choices."

After giving them their orders, Dawn activated the Invisible Suit's stealth mode.

Kuina tightened her grip on Wado Ichimonji. She glanced sideways at Zoro.

"How's your recovery?"

Zoro flashed a grin, baring a mouthful of white teeth.

"I'm in good enough shape to cut down a hundred pirates."

Kuina asked no more questions. She headed toward the spiraling mountain path, with Zoro following behind. Their footsteps sounded especially clear in the silence.

The stronghold's entrance was a gap in a massive gear. They would have needed to wait for the gear to rotate into a particular position to enter.

But neither of them waited. Kuina gestured for Zoro to crouch, then stepped on his shoulders and sprang up. She slipped through the gap between rotations and landed lightly inside. Zoro was rougher about it—he directly cut through a badly rusted retaining shaft at the gear's edge, then squeezed through the instant it stopped turning.

Inside the fortress was an enormous square, perhaps once some kind of mechanical assembly workshop. Now, a banquet was underway.

Dozens of pirates sat around bonfires, tearing into chunks of meat and guzzling down bowls of liquor. Tobacco smoke mixed with the greasy stench of