Maron Joins the Knights

"The wind has changed."

Kaya leaned against the window, looking at the buildings outside in the night, seemingly sensing a change in the air.

It was a modestly decorated living room, with portraits hanging on the walls. The paintings had an artistic quality, and every one of their subjects wore a black suit.

Beside the fireplace against the wall near the stairs to the second floor stood a low-backed chair draped with a thick wool blanket.

Maron sat in the chair in a black coat, puffing on a cigar.

There was no one else in the room, just the two of them.

"Do you think the plan will work? It feels too crude to me." Maron casually turned his wrist and tapped the ash onto the tall little table beside his chair.

"Given the average intelligence in this world, it's enough," Kaya said.

The plan in question had been devised by Rocks and the others after Kaya revealed the navy's presence.

They were most likely there to meet Ochoku.

In any case, they all hated the navy to the core, and had transferred their hatred for the already-dead Ochoku to the navy as well. They were ready for a proper fight.

But if they went straight out to attack, the navy's first response upon seeing them would surely be to retreat.

To prevent that, they decided to turn the tables and give the navy a nasty surprise.

The plan went roughly like this.

They would pretend to trade with the navy, send people aboard the navy ship to hold them up, then have the main force follow and wipe the navy out!

The only difficulty was delaying the navy's discovery that something was wrong for as long as possible.

Shakky volunteered to take the risk herself.

Although many people were worried that Shakky would be in danger, she said she was no helpless woman who couldn't even truss a chicken. Besides, she was a little angry herself.

Now that Shakky had made up her mind, they still needed someone capable of doing the job without making the navy too suspicious.

Someone like Newgate was definitely out. The navy might start fighting the moment they saw him.

So Keel was chosen.

With the people selected, it was time to put the plan into action. They couldn't come up with anything more complicated.

Simply put, Keel would bring Shakky aboard after she had taken a sedative. The two of them would certainly be separated.

After receiving the navy's payment, Keel would find a chance to shake off the navy and hurry to wake Shakky.

Then the two of them had to sabotage the warship. They didn't need to do much, just enough to affect its speed. If they could keep it from moving altogether, all the better.

The rest would be left to Rocks and the others.

The plan sounded simple, but there was one crucial problem: they couldn't have Ochoku himself appear!

During the operation, they needed to make it clear they were acting in Ochoku's name. If that aroused the navy's suspicions, they were finished.

That made the mission dangerous. If they were exposed, they would need enough strength to hold out until the rest of the pirate crew arrived.

In any case, that was how the pirates had carried it out.

A plan where one mistake could cause trouble had gone almost too smoothly!

"It's already succeeded," Kaya suddenly said.

"Oh?" Maron glanced at Kaya in surprise. He really wanted to know how Kaya could know what was happening out at sea when both of them were on the island.

But after thinking it over, he didn't dare ask.

Maron didn't ask, so Kaya did.

"You seem to have something you want to say."

Maron started. Meeting Kaya's unblinking gaze, he felt a layer of cold sweat break out on his forehead.

He couldn't shake the feeling that even his soul had been seen through.

"I've been thinking about what Ochoku said before he died. I also gathered some information about the archers..."

"No, the Quincy."

"You were behind all of that, weren't you? I've come to understand just how inadequate my strength is."

"I need greater strength, like the other Quincy have, like Loki!"

After saying that, Maron lowered his head.

Saying something like that was tantamount to taking his dignity, throwing it on the floor, and grinding it to pieces.

But the facts had already proven it true.

Maron was still deeply shaken. If Kaya hadn't appeared just then, he would have been stone dead.

Faced with an assassination attempt like that, if someone else had been in his place, such as Shiki or Kyo, Ochoku might not have succeeded so easily.

But as a mafia boss, his own strength wasn't top-tier; he had merely amassed a large organization.

He understood now. No matter how many subordinates he had, they were useless in that situation, except to make his funeral more lavish, draw more people, and make it a grander affair...

But once he was dead, what did it matter what his funeral was like?!

"So?" Kaya looked at him with interest.

"I'm willing to become your subordinate." Maron's voice was heavy, yet he seemed to have set down a burden.

"Not a subordinate, a companion!" Kaya raised a hand, and a wineglass full of red liquid flew up and came to rest on the little table.

Maron looked closely. The glass was right beside his hand; he only had to reach out a little to take it.

Perhaps the experience had left a shadow on him, because he instinctively wondered whether it was poisoned. After all, the liquid was as red as the wine Ochoku had given him.

"A companion..."

He murmured under his breath and gripped the glass with one hand.

That action meant he was ready. He desperately craved power, and all he had to do to obtain it immediately was drink this.

Such power was unimaginable, something he could never obtain through training alone.

An incredible, miraculous power!

Gulp!

Maron slowly lowered the glass, his throat bobbing as the liquid went down into his stomach.

After confirming that he had drunk it, Kaya said, "I might as well ask: are you a Devil Fruit User?"

"Ah... huh?!" Maron clutched his head. Veins bulged on his forehead, and his face turned bright red.

He couldn't answer Kaya right away because he had to process the information flooding into his mind all at once.

Why did every Quincy find it difficult to harbor thoughts of rebelling against Kaya deep down? It wasn't because of Kaya's orders; Kaya had embedded no orders at all.

The reason lay in the brief experience they had at the moment they became Quincy.

After drinking the blood wine, everything about the Quincy would enter your mind at once, accompanied by a surge of power.

When something so nearly miraculous became reality, it was hard to have any improper thoughts about the person who had accomplished it all so easily.

From that point on, fear was etched into the soul.

Maron took several deep breaths, looking utterly exhausted. Yet his face, which had been slightly pale from the poison and his injuries, regained its color.

He suddenly did something: he tore the thick bandages off his body! It was an unwise thing to do.

But his hands soon began to tremble. His injuries... had vanished into thin air!

"Did you do this?" Maron asked in shock.

"Just a minor additional effect." Kaya's calm words almost pierced Maron's heart.

"I'm not a Devil Fruit User, but I have a Devil Fruit." Maron took a fruit with a twisted pattern on its skin from a small box under the table.

"What ability?" Kaya asked casually.

"The Paramecia-type Arms-Arms Fruit. I was originally planning to sell it on the black market for money..." Maron said.

"Eat it," Kaya said flatly.

Maron hesitated for a moment, then made up his mind. He opened his mouth and took a bite of the Devil Fruit.

After eating it, Maron's face turned green.

"Looks like it really does taste terrible." Kaya noticed the change in Maron's expression and smiled. He had actually wanted to see that reaction.

Fortunately, Maron didn't know what Kaya was thinking, or he wouldn't have known whether to laugh or cry.

After one bite, Maron put the Devil Fruit down. Only the first bite of a Devil Fruit counted, and since it tasted so awful, there was no need to eat any more.

Just then, a flicker of silver light suddenly flashed in Maron's eyes. Deep within them, the light of Reishi formed a mystical letter on its own.

Boss Maron—the Schrift "K," The Kaleidoscopic!