A Pirate World: Watching Roger's Execution from the Start

A Gathering of Visitors

The New World, Whitebeard's territory.

Aboard the enormous Moby Dick.

Dozens of pirates lay asleep across the broad deck, the lingering pleasure of last night's feast still on their faces.

Overturned wine jars, bowls and chopsticks left wherever they fell, and the remains of a few campfires.

In a secluded corner,

a heavyset, dark-skinned man sat wide awake in the shadows. He secretly pulled a crumpled newspaper from behind him.

The publisher listed at the bottom was not the World Economy News Paper, but some obscure New World newspaper.

Morgans's World Economy News Paper was far from the only one in the world. Newspapers large and small still gave it plenty of competition.

An absolute monopoly would stifle creativity. That was why Morgans, despite being the paper's president, still tirelessly traveled the world digging up valuable stories.

With rough hands, the man carefully smoothed out the newspaper. His excitement rose as he studied a blurry photograph tucked into a corner.

The black-and-white photograph showed no colors. The fruit's markings curled like a snail's shell, giving it an air of mystery.

A Devil Fruit!!!

The man's hands trembled. He could hardly believe what he was seeing.

The Dark-Dark Fruit!!!

He could not have mistaken it. This was the fruit he had dreamed of obtaining.

To get it, he had spent decades hiding among the Whitebeard Pirates. A crew of this caliber was bound to handle plenty of Devil Fruits, and this was where he had the best chance of finding it!!

Over the years, he had heard news of the fruit more than a dozen times.

But this time, he was closer to it than ever before!!

Long ago, by sheer chance, he had seen the fruit himself and burned its appearance into his memory!

Those markings!