Playing Card Pirates

East Blue, Clockwork Island.

This island was named for the massive clockwork mechanism on it. The entire island rose in a spiral-shaped terrain.

At the island's highest point stood a grotesque structure cobbled together from steel plates of abandoned ships, rusted gears, and metal wreckage from unknown sources, like a nest piled from metallic corpses.

The Playing Card Pirates' stronghold.

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

"Remember, I won't make a move this time. Live, or die here. Choose one."

After giving them his instructions, Dawn activated the invisibility mode of his transparent combat suit.

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

"How's your recovery?"

Zoro grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

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

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

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

But neither of them waited. Kuina gestured for Zoro to crouch, then stepped on his shoulders and leaped up, slipping through the gap between rotations before landing lightly inside. Zoro was rougher about it. He directly cut through a horribly rusted support shaft at the gear's edge and squeezed in the instant it stopped turning.

Inside the fortress was a huge plaza, perhaps once some kind of mechanical assembly workshop. At this moment, a banquet was underway.

Dozens of pirates sat around bonfires, tearing into chunks of meat and drinking bowl after bowl of liquor. Tobacco smoke mixed with