Several days later, first half of the Grand Line.
Makoto Nishikado's group had set up a temporary base on Malad Island.
"Cage-Cage Fruit? Your hands turn into iron bars to restrain enemies? Why wouldn't I just use a Seastone net? Way more convenient."
Bang!
"What the hell is a Wheel Fruit even good for?"
Bang!
"Soft-Soft Fruit? Makes things you touch go soft? What am I supposed to do with that?!"
Bang!
Every complaint from Makoto was followed by the crack of Yu Ishigami's gun.
These pirates had come from all over the world carrying Devil Fruits, naturally drawn by the promise of a kiss from Shakky.
Just as Makoto had predicted, every last one of them got taken for everything they had. Devil Fruits seized, and a bullet to the skull for their trouble.
Not a single pirate had left Malad Island alive.
At first, Gloriosa, Shakky, and the rest of the Kuja Pirates couldn't stomach it. But after a few days, they'd grown numb to the sight. This group was genuinely ruthless.
There were exceptions, of course.
"U-um, my lord, I'm not a pirate. I sell fruit. A few days ago when I was restocking, one of the apples suddenly turned into this weird thing, so, I..."
A middle-aged man dressed like a farmer nervously held out a Devil Fruit. Shaped like an oversized apple, its surface was covered in swirl patterns that resembled clouds.
Gloriosa glanced at it, then flipped through the stack of wanted posters in her hands. "He's not on any bounty list. At least not in the hundred-million range."
The farmer nodded frantically.
He really was just an ordinary fruit merchant.
He'd heard that turning in a Devil Fruit would earn a kiss from the world's most beautiful woman, so he'd sailed out on a whim to try his luck.
He hadn't expected to walk into a nightmare. Pirate corpses were practically piled into mountains on this island.
Utaha Kasumigaoka flipped through the Devil Fruit encyclopedia. "This should be the Smoke-Smoke Fruit. Logia class."
"Oh, Smoker's fruit." Makoto nodded.
In the wild world of One Piece, where practically everyone was unhinged, Smoker was one of the few relatively normal people. When he'd first appeared, it seemed like he was being set up as Luffy's naval rival.
Then the two-year timeskip happened and he completely fell off, eventually turned into a stepping stone for the Coward King.
Part of that was Oda propping up his favorite, but the Smoke-Smoke Fruit genuinely couldn't keep up with the power scaling either.
"Makoto, should we keep this one?" Ran Mouri asked.
Makoto thought for a moment. "Might as well hang onto it."
The Smoke-Smoke Fruit was one of the weaker Logia types, but elemental intangibility was still elemental intangibility. Good enough for mopping up scrubs.
"Um, my lord, if there's nothing else, I'll be going now."
The farmer scrambled to leave, terrified of joining the corpse pile.
One thing was certain: he'd never come back.
When it came to civilians, Makoto spared them when he could. Though the "civilians" of Konoha were a different story entirely.
Seeing the farmer about to bolt, Makoto called out, "You came all this way. Leaving already?"
The farmer blinked blankly.
Wasn't that the plan?
Shakky's eyes went wide as she stared at Makoto. No. He wasn't seriously going to...
"N-no, that's quite alright, my lord..." The farmer forced a laugh.
Sure, he'd originally sailed out here thinking with his lower half, but after seeing the mountains of corpses, every trace of that had evaporated.
Nothing was worth more than staying alive.
Makoto smiled and turned to Shakky. "The man came all this way. Sending him home empty-handed doesn't seem right. One of your wanted posters should be worth a fair bit. Give him one."
Shakky exhaled a quiet breath of relief and took a wanted poster from Gloriosa.
She had to admit, even as a bounty poster, the photo could pass for a magazine cover. It had the same flair as a young Nami's wanted poster.
She signed her name across it and handed it over, turning the whole thing into something resembling a fan meet-and-greet.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
The farmer received it like a priceless treasure and decided he'd use it as inspiration tonight.
The Kuja Pirates' opinion of Makoto shifted slightly. They'd assumed he was a cold-blooded monster, but clearly some shred of humanity remained.
Shakky and the others realized, looking back, that Makoto truly had never raised a hand against a civilian since they'd met him.
"I'm so bored!"
Nayuta shouted from her perch on the table. "Makoto, how much longer do I have to stay on this island? I've done everything there is to do here."
It had been nearly ten days since they'd arrived in this world.
Nayuta's frustration was understandable. Malad Island wasn't particularly large. Two or three days was enough to see everything.
Morgans chimed in from the side. "My lord, the powerful Devil Fruits have almost all been consumed or are in the hands of the major powers. Even with Shakky's appeal as bait, getting the remaining fruits into our hands may prove difficult."
Before Morgans could finish, Yu Ishigami spoke up. "Boss, ships incoming. Pirate ships."
Everyone looked up. A dark red pirate vessel was cutting through the water toward them at full speed.
The sail bore a skull-and-crossbones with flowing, cloud-like mustaches.
Every member of the Kuja Pirates, and Morgans too, went pale. That insignia belonged to the Roger Pirates.
Before the Oro Jackson could even dock, a voice boomed through a Transponder Snail.
"Shakky! Shakky! Are you there? It's me, Roger! Are you being threatened? Don't worry, I'll save you!"
Moments later, the Oro Jackson pulled into port.
The entire Roger Pirates crew came swarming ashore, only to freeze at the sight of the harbor choked with pirate corpses.
"What... what happened here?" Scopper Gaban, the third-in-command, blanched. "That's a lot of dead people!"
"Dual-Sword Baron! Ghost Malvika with the 520 million bounty!"
Rayleigh instantly recognized more than a few familiar faces among the dead. Every one of them was a pirate captain with a bounty in the hundreds of millions.
All of them... killed?
Roger, meanwhile, had no interest in the commoners littering the ground. He sprinted toward the town and quickly spotted the silhouette he'd been longing for at the town gate.
"Shakky! Shakky! I'm here!"
Gloriosa's expression soured. She'd confessed her feelings to him more than once, yet Roger only ever had eyes for Shakky.
Makoto accepted the cup of hot tea Erina offered, took a sip, swirled the contents, and glanced sideways.
Ah. The Oppression King had arrived.
Even though Makoto hadn't deliberately projected any killing intent, the crushing presence forged through countless life-or-death battles made Roger's stride falter.
Kei Shirogane: You're Not One of His People
Looking at the young man sitting beside Shakky, someone so young he barely seemed worth noting, Roger's mind raced through every pirate and naval roster he knew. Nothing came up. He couldn't place this guy at all.
"Hey, kid. You're the one controlling Shakky? The one who spread those rumors?"
Roger demanded without a shred of courtesy.
"One Devil Fruit buys one kiss. Bring the goods and trade. Show up empty-handed and die." Beam didn't bother pretending anymore. "Actually, bring the goods and you still die."
Deep in the town, the players who'd been training their Haki alongside the Kuja Pirates were drawn by the commotion.
"The Roger Pirates, of all people..."
Tritoma, who had shed some of her girlish innocence and gained a woman's composure, sounded briefly surprised before her calm returned. "Then again, Roger is Shakky's most devoted suitor. It makes sense he'd show up."
"Are they strong?" Hachiman Hikigaya asked with genuine curiosity.
Tritoma nodded. "In terms of overall combat power, the Roger Pirates would rank in the top five of this era without question."
"You bastard! Who gave you permission to do this to Shakky?!"
Furious, Roger drew his blade, the Supreme Grade sword named Ace, and charged the elevated platform.
Crimson light gathered along the blade's edge. A single swing carried enough force to split mountains.
He wasn't going all out, but he wasn't holding much back either. Whatever force had subdued the Kuja Pirates couldn't be weak. Roger might not have been the sharpest tool in the shed, but he understood that much.
Yu Ishigami gripped his right forearm with his left hand, mimicking the motion of cocking a firearm. Both arms transformed into heavy machine guns, and he unleashed a continuous stream of armor-piercing rounds at Roger.
Bang bang bang!
The hail of bullets and sword energy collided head-on.
At first, Roger's explosive sword pressure held the advantage, but then a barrel extended from Ishigami's forehead. With a deafening crack, it fired a far more devastating laser blast that matched Roger's output.
"What kind of power is that?"
Roger's expression tightened, but a grin crept across his face. "In that case, I'll get a little more serious."
He twisted his wrist and unleashed a second wave of sword pressure. Ishigami staggered backward, his footing giving way.
Every swordsman worth their salt in this world fires energy waves from their blade.
Just as Ishigami's teeth clenched and his stance was about to break completely, the three tomoe in Makoto's right eye spun rapidly, evolving into the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. He locked his gaze on Roger.
A violent sense of danger flooded Roger's instincts. Pure reflex carried him sideways.
Whoosh!
A mass of dark black flame erupted where Roger had been standing a heartbeat earlier.
With no target, the Amaterasu instinctively shot backward and landed on one of the Roger Pirates' crew members.
"Argh! Hot! It burns!"
The crewman collapsed, rolling frantically across the ground, but the fire wouldn't die.
"Into the water!" Gaban made a split-second decision and kicked the man into the sea.
Most of the Roger Pirates weren't Devil Fruit users. Every one of them could swim.
But almost immediately, the crew realized that even submerged in seawater, the black flames on their crewman showed no sign of extinguishing.
Rayleigh noticed that Gaban's shoe had caught fire too.
"Gaban, get that shoe off! Now!" he shouted.
Gaban didn't hesitate. He kicked off the burning shoe and hurled it into the ocean.
Within seconds, the crewman Gaban had just kicked into the sea went silent.
His body floated on the surface as those eerie black flames consumed him.
Every member of the Roger Pirates with Observation Haki reached out with their senses. Nothing. No life remained.
"Rowen!"
The crew cried out the dead man's name and moved to fish him from the water, but Rayleigh stopped them. "Don't touch him. The flames haven't gone out."
That fire was wrong. Unnatural.
Touching it would only create more victims.
Rayleigh turned toward Makoto's group. "Who did this? Who's responsible?"
"You killed Rowen?" Roger's eyes locked onto Makoto.
His Observation Haki had already told him. That energy had come from the kid. More precisely, from his right eye.
"Should've dodged. Would've been fine." Makoto said it with a grin.
He had zero goodwill toward Roger.
Even Roger, thick-skinned as he was, was momentarily speechless. Were there really people this shameless?
"This is a solid combat opportunity." Makoto raised his voice. "Move out!"
Having Morgans spread the message had been bait to lure pirates in for the kill.
If someone turned out to be an ordinary civilian like that farmer, or a decent Marine like Smoker, Makoto might let them walk.
But the Roger Pirates definitely didn't fall into that category.
Players poured out of the town behind them. Megumi Kato, Ran Mouri, Kotonoha Katsura, and the others emerged in full force.
Saeko Busujima gripped the katana Tritoma had given her days ago and ran her tongue across her lips, barely containing her excitement. "Finally. A real fight. My blade is thirsty."
"Hey, hey, calm down! That's the Roger Pirates!" Tritoma couldn't help but interject.
She got along well enough with Roger's crew, given her captain and vice-captain's history with them, but she had no particular affection for those overgrown brutes.
Besides, although her relationship with Makoto was purely physical at this point, he was still the man who'd taken her first time and given her boundless pleasure in return.
Naturally, her loyalties leaned toward Makoto's side.
"Don't worry," Makoto said. "Go all out. If things get dangerous, I'll step in. Whoever grabs a Devil Fruit, keeps it."
Those words hit every player like a shot of adrenaline.
"Thank you, Commander!"
Saeko's cheeks flushed as she drew her blade and charged.
Reze, Kotonoha, Megumi, and the others followed close behind.
Even Reze, the strongest fighter among his female companions, didn't stand much of a chance against the Roger Pirates, let alone Saeko.
Wasn't this basically leaving Pallet Town with a starter Pokémon and immediately challenging the Elite Four?
But with Makoto present, everything changed.
Saeko, at the front of the charge, swung her blade at Roger.
"Are you kidding me, little girl?"
Roger raised an eyebrow. He didn't even bother drawing his sword to counter. He simply kicked out, intending to send this foolhardy girl flying.
But the moment his foot came within half a meter of Saeko...
Grayish-black flames erupted across Makoto's body, coalescing into the second form of his Susanoo.
In the same instant, a spinning tomoe shot toward Roger, forcing him to raise his blade and parry.
And in that opening, Saeko's katana was already slicing toward his heart.
Clang!
The sound of metal on metal rang out. Saeko's eyes widened. Her blade had stopped dead, as though it had struck solid rock.
Remembering what Tritoma had explained about the three types of Haki over the past two days, Saeko understood instantly.
Armament Haki. It's not just for offense. It works for defense too.
"Captain, I've got your back!"
"Let's take Shakky back!"
"Shakky! Wait for me! Go out with me!"
The rest of the Roger Pirates surged forward.
They hadn't sensed anything particularly formidable from the players, but that kid sitting on the platform had abilities that were downright eerie. Roger alone might not cut it.
Besides, this was the perfect chance to win Shakky's heart!
Seeing Saeko emerge unscathed, the players' confidence surged.
"Alright! This time I'm going to make my mark!"
Fuutarou Uesugi grabbed a standard-issue spear he'd scrounged from the Kuja Pirates' armory and bolted sideways toward the Oro Jackson, still moored at the harbor.
As a top-five student in his second year at Asahiyama High School back in the real world, Fuutarou figured he had something the other players lacked: a brain.
Makoto had said that whoever found treasure first, kept it. So there was no need to fight the enemy head-on. Why not skip straight to raiding their ship and grabbing the loot?
This was his chance to score a powerful Devil Fruit and skyrocket.
And Makoto had promised to step in if things got dangerous, so there was nothing to worry about.
Raiha Uesugi watched her brother sprint off into the distance and shouted after him. "Wait up! Big brother!"
Bang!
The Roger Pirates' sniper Pittam didn't hesitate. A single shot punched through Fuutarou's leg.
Fuutarou howled as he hit the ground, clutching his shattered limb and screaming in agony.
That single shot was like a bucket of ice water over every player's head.
Miyuki Shirogane, who'd also drawn his sword and was about to charge the Oro Jackson, stared blankly at Makoto. "Um... C-Commander... didn't you just say..."
Makoto gave him a look of pure, unbothered logic. "He's not one of mine. Why would I save him?"
Right then, Makoto noticed Alice was in danger too. He vanished from his seat and reappeared in front of her, caught the Flying Thunder God kunai from her hand, and decapitated one of the Roger Pirates' veteran cooks with a single kick.
Miyuki silently looked over at Fuutarou, still writhing on the ground.
He knew the guy. Their grades were neck and neck. They'd never spoken, but there was an unspoken rivalry between them.
Good thing he hadn't charged as fast. Otherwise, that would've been him.
"Stupid brother!"
Kei Shirogane saw right through Miyuki's thoughts and cursed him.
Every single one of them had studied their way into idiocy.
Who did they think Makoto was?
His personal bodyguard?
He obviously only protected his own people.