The steel of Shusui rested against Kanjuro's throat. A single drop of blood formed on his skin.
Zoro did not move. He kept his single eye locked on the painted samurai.
Kin'emon dropped his cup of ale. The wooden cup hit the stones. The liquid spilled across the dirt.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Kin'emon yelled. He stepped forward, reaching for his own sword. "Zoro-dono! Lower your blade! He is my brother-in-arms! What are you doing?!"
Zoro did not lower the blade. "Listen to him."
Kin'emon turned to Kanjuro. "Kanjuro! What did you just say? Working for Orochi? You spoke madness! Tell them it is a lie!"
Kanjuro sat on the ground. He looked at Kin'emon. He opened his mouth. He tried to close his throat. He tried to bite his tongue. He tried to form the lie he had lived for decades.
He failed.
"I am Kurozumi Kanjuro," Kanjuro spoke. "I am a spy. I work for Kurozumi Orochi. I fed him information about Oden. I fed him our plans. I told Jack where to find Raizo on this island."
The courtyard froze.
The wind stopped blowing through the trees. The crackle of the fire pits seemed deafening.
Inuarashi stood up. The giant dog mink bared his teeth. A low, terrifying growl rumbled in his chest.
Nekomamushi dropped his sake bowl. The cat mink's eyes turned into narrow, feral slits. His claws extended, digging deep into the stone floor.
Raizo staggered backward. The ninja grabbed his oversized head. "You... you told Jack? You brought the poison gas to Zou? You brought death to the minks?!"
"Yes," Kanjuro stated flatly, tears of terror forming in his eyes as his mouth continued to betray him. "I wanted Jack to slaughter everyone. I wanted to complete my role."
"YOU BASTARD!" Kin'emon roared.
Kin'emon drew his flaming sword. Fire erupted along the steel. He raised the blade above his head, aiming directly at Kanjuro's skull. Raizo pulled a cluster of throwing stars from his robes. Inuarashi charged forward, drawing his rapier. Nekomamushi lunged, his claws aimed at Kanjuro's heart.
They wanted blood. They wanted immediate execution.
"Stop," Ben said.
Ben didn't yell. He didn't move from his chair.
But his voice carried a heavy, invisible weight. It broke their momentum. Kin'emon froze with his sword raised. Inuarashi stopped his charge. Nekomamushi dug his heels into the dirt.
"He is a traitor!" Kin'emon screamed, tears pouring down his face. "He killed our lord! He sold our country! He brought ruin to our friends! I will take his head!"
"Dying is an escape," Ben stated calmly. "Death is too easy for a spy. He should suffer for the things he has done. And more importantly, he is an asset."
Kin'emon lowered his sword an inch. "An asset? He is garbage!"
"He is Orochi's trusted informant," Ben explained. He took a sip of water. "Orochi trusts him completely. That means we can use him to send false information. We can control what Orochi knows. We can walk into Wano unopposed because Orochi will think we are sailing in the opposite direction."
Inuarashi gritted his teeth. "You want to keep him alive?"
"I want to use him," Ben corrected.
Kanjuro glared at Ben. The magic potion forced him to speak his true intentions. "I will never help you. I will rather die than turn against Orochi. My life belongs to the Kurozumi clan."
Ben smiled. It was a cold, empty smile.
"I will make you work for us," Ben said softly. "One way or the other. Do not worry about it."
Ben thought about the Imperius Curse. A simple flick of a wand, and Kanjuro would become a perfect, mindless puppet. He would write whatever letters Ben dictated. He would draw whatever birds Ben commanded.
Vivi stepped forward. She looked at Kanjuro, then at Ben.
"How did you know?" Vivi asked. "He fooled them for twenty years. How did you guess he was a traitor?"
Ben gestured toward the samurai. "It is simple. Watch how he holds his weapons. Watch how he fights. He uses a sword with his right hand. He fights right-handed. But he uses his paint brush with his left hand."
Kin'emon blinked. He looked at Kanjuro's hands.
"He intentionally paints with his non-dominant hand," Ben continued. "He makes his drawings terrible on purpose. A true artist, a true warrior with a Devil Fruit power based on drawing, would use their dominant hand to create flawless weapons. He hindered himself. He hid his true strength."
Ben looked at Zoro. "I wanted to confirm if I was being paranoid. I talked to Zoro about it."
Zoro nodded. He kept the blade pressed against Kanjuro's neck.
"A swordsman knows balance," Zoro grunted. "I watched him during the fights in Dressrosa. His stance favors his right side. His muscle definition is heavier on his right arm. But he draws with his left. It was a disguise. A bad one."
The Akazaya Nine stared at Kanjuro. The realization washed over them. Twenty years of terrible drawings. Twenty years of a fake personality.
Kanjuro wept. The potion ran its course. The truth was completely out.
Ben nodded at Zoro.
Zoro didn't slash. He twisted his wrist. He brought the heavy, blunt pommel of Shusui down hard on the back of Kanjuro's head.
Crack.
Kanjuro's eyes rolled back. He collapsed onto the dirt, unconscious.
Ben stood up. He raised his hand. A swirling blue portal opened beneath Kanjuro's body. The traitor dropped into Ben's spatial dimension, vanishing from the courtyard. The portal snapped shut.
Silence returned to the ruins.
Luffy sat cross-legged on the ground. He pulled his straw hat over his eyes. He didn't say a word.
Sanji lit a cigarette, his face cast in shadow. Law turned away, pulling his spotted hat down.
Momonosuke stood in the center of the camp.
The eight-year-old boy shook violently. He stared at the spot where Kanjuro had just vanished.
Kanjuro had carried him, fed him. Kanjuro had sworn to protect him.
Momonosuke fell to his knees. He grabbed the dirt with both hands. He didn't yell. He just cried. Heavy, silent tears hit the dry earth. The betrayal of a trusted uncle cut deeper than any blade.
Kin'emon dropped his sword. He fell to his knees next to his lord. He wrapped his arms around the boy. Kin'emon wept with him. Raizo dropped to the ground, burying his large head in his hands.
The minks stood watch. They lowered their heads in respect for the broken samurai.
"Let's sleep," Ben said quietly. "We have a lot of work to do tomorrow."
The crew dispersed. They set up sleeping bags inside the repaired buildings. They rested in the quiet, ruined city. The dancing was a distant memory. The reality of the war ahead settled firmly on their shoulders.
The next morning.
The sun rose over the giant elephant. The thick canopy of the Whale Tree cast long shadows across the city of Kurou.
Nami, Vivi, Robin, Chopper, and Bonney walked out into the streets. They held their wooden wands.
"Let's finish this," Nami said, rolling her shoulders.
She pointed her wand at a collapsed bridge. "Reparo."
The white light shot forward. The stone blocks flew through the air, fusing back together.
Vivi aimed her wand at a ruined watchtower. "Reparo."
The timber snapped into place. The iron hinges repaired themselves.
Bonney and Chopper focused intensely on repairing the residential houses, making sure every roof was perfectly sealed against the rain.
Robin walked through the ancient libraries, using precise flicks of her wand to restore the shredded books and burned scrolls.
They worked steadily, reversing the destruction of Jack the Drought.
Deep inside the Thousand Sunny, Ben sat in his research room.
He sat in a leather chair. A small, wooden table sat in front of him.
On the table rested a Devil Fruit. It looked like a pear, but it was covered in swirling, ink-black spirals. The stem resembled a calligraphy brush.
The Fude Fude no Mi. The Ink-Ink Fruit.
Ben had extracted it from Kanjuro inside his spatial dimension an hour ago.
Ben looked at the Ink-Ink Fruit. He didn't feed it to the System.
He opened a secondary spatial pocket. He tossed the fruit inside.
He looked at the inventory of Devil Fruits he currently possessed. He had extracted them from the defeated CP0 agents on Green Bit and the Donquixote executives in Dressrosa.
He counted his stash.
The Friction Fruit: Taken from the CP0 agent. Increases or decreases friction.
The Silverback Chimpanzee Fruit: Taken from the CP0 agent. A powerful Zoan.
The Glass-Glass Fruit: Taken from the CP0 agent. The ability to create and manipulate glass.
The Hobby-Hobby Fruit (Sugar's Fruit): The terrifying ability to turn people into toys and erase memories.
The Stone-Stone Fruit (Pica's Fruit): The ability to assimilate and control massive amounts of stone.
The Flag-Flag Fruit (Diamante's Fruit): The ability to make anything flutter and fold like fabric.
The String-String Fruit (Doflamingo's Fruit): The Awakened Paramecia of absolute control and slicing power.
The Pop-Pop Fruit (Gladius's Fruit): The ability to rupture and explode inorganic matter.
The Ton-Ton Fruit (Machvise's Fruit): The ability to increase body weight to thousands of tons.
The Art-Art Fruit (Giola's Fruit): The ability to change the physical shape of targets into abstract art.
The Ink-Ink Fruit (Kanjuro's Fruit): The ability to bring drawings to life.
Eleven powerful Devil Fruits.
Ben kept them safely stored in his dimensional vault. He did not feed them to the System for template spins. The System required energy, but these are powerful Devil Fruits. He could give them to allies. He could use them as bargaining chips. He could weaponize them.
Ben closed the spatial pocket. He leaned back in his chair.
He looked at the ceiling of the ship. He looked past the wood and the metal. He looked toward the Red Line.
"I wonder what the old men are doing," Ben murmured.
The Red Line.
Mary Geoise. The Holy Land.
High above the clouds, inside the Pangaea Castle, sat the Room of Authority.
The room was vast and sparsely furnished. Tall windows let in the morning light. Sofas and elegant chairs sat in the center of the room.
Five old men occupied the room.
The Five Elders. The highest authorities of the World Government. The Gorosei.
Saint Jaygarcia Saturn held a walking cane. He wore a dark suit and a flat hat. His dreadlocks and thick beard framed a stern face.
Saint Marcus Mars stood tall. He possessed a long, pointed beard and white hair. He wore a dark suit without a tie.
Saint Topman Warcury possessed a massive, bald head with birthmarks across his forehead. He wore a suit and carried a commanding presence.
Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro wore a white gi. He held a large, cursed sword resting against his shoulder. He wore glasses and carried himself like a master swordsman.
Saint Shepherd Ju Peter looked the youngest. He had blonde hair and a matching beard. He wore a dark suit with the shirt collar open.
A CP0 agent knelt on the floor in front of them. The agent wore a white suit and a blank mask. He sweated profusely.
"Repeat the report," Saturn commanded. His voice echoed heavily in the room.
"Yes, your Excellencies," the agent stammered, keeping his head bowed. "Our operatives on Green Bit... they woke up. Vice Admirals Momonga and Bastille are recovering. However, the three CP0 elite agents assigned to the mission..."
"Spit it out," Mars demanded.
"They are alive," the agent said quickly. "But they have lost their Devil Fruit powers. The Friction, the Silverback, and the Glass fruits... the abilities are gone. They are normal humans again. Same with Doflamingo and his crew."
Silence dropped over the Room of Authority.
Warcury frowned deeply. His thick mustache twitched. "Lost their powers? That is impossible. A Devil Fruit leaves the body only upon the death of the user."
"That is what the reports say, Saint Warcury," the agent replied. "The doctors examined them. The fruits have been extracted."
Nusjuro adjusted his glasses. He gripped the hilt of his sword. "Marshall D. Teach steals Devil Fruits by killing the user. He extracts them from corpses. You are telling us someone extracted Devil Fruits from living hosts, leaving them entirely unharmed?"
"Yes, Excellency."
Ju Peter sighed. He leaned back in his chair. "Leave us."
"Yes, Excellency!" The agent stood up, bowed deeply, and ran out of the room, closing the heavy wooden doors behind him.
The Five Elders remained silent for a long moment.
"The Magician," Saturn finally said. He rested both hands on the handle of his cane. "It must be him."
"Edgar D. Benjamin, it is always the D," Mars agreed. "Borsalino reported on his abilities months ago. He can teleport and manipulate reality. He deployed machines built of strange, unknown alloys."
"And now he extracts Devil Fruits," Warcury grunted. "His tricks are becoming a genuine threat to the balance of the world."
"He is an anomaly," Nusjuro stated. "He does not fit into our historical records. He appeared from nowhere, possessing technology and magic that defies Vegapunk's understanding of the world."
"But he is not the core problem," Ju Peter pointed out. He folded his hands on his lap. "The core problem is the crew he chose to align with. The Straw Hat Pirates."
Saturn nodded slowly. "Monkey D. Luffy."
They all knew the name. They all knew the truth.
"He defeated Donquixote Doflamingo," Mars said. "He took down a Warlord and liberated Dressrosa in a single day. His growth rate is terrifying. They act with the same chaotic, uncontainable freedom as the Roger Pirates."
"Worse than the Roger Pirates," Warcury corrected. "Roger did not possess that fruit."
Saturn tapped his cane on the floor.
"The Gomu Gomu no Mi," Saturn said. The name tasted bitter in his mouth. "A false name we gave it to hide its true nature. The Hito Hito no Mi. Model: Nika."
The Sun God. The Warrior of Liberation.
"For eight hundred years, the World Government has tried to secure that fruit," Nusjuro said, his grip tightening on his sword. "It has evaded us in every era. As if the fruit possesses a will of its own."
"And now, it has chosen the son of Dragon," Ju Peter sighed. "If he successfully awakens that fruit... it would be the end of the world as we know it. The symbol of Nika would rally every slave, every rebel, and every broken country against us."
"We must eliminate him," Mars stated firmly. "Before the awakening triggers."
"He is heading to Wano," Saturn analyzed the board. "He defeated Doflamingo. Doflamingo was the sole supplier of artificial SMILE Devil Fruits to Kaido. Kaido will be furious. He will target the Straw Hats. Or the Straw Hats will target Kaido."
"A clash between an Emperor and the Sun God," Warcury rumbled. "It will tear the New World apart."
"We will use that clash," Saturn declared. He looked at the other Elders. "We cannot send an Admiral into Wano. The samurai are too strong, and Kaido's forces are too numerous. It would start a full-scale war. But we can send CP0."
"A covert operation," Nusjuro agreed.
"Exactly," Saturn nodded. "With Doflamingo gone, we also need a new weapons supplier. We purchase arms from the underworld to keep the Marines equipped without leaving a paper trail. Kaido produces weapons in Wano."
"We send CP0 agents directly to Kaido," Ju Peter outlined the plan. "We negotiate a direct arms deal with the Beast Pirates. At the same time, the agents will monitor the battle between Kaido and the Straw Hats."
"Let Kaido exhaust them," Mars finished the thought. "When Monkey D. Luffy is at his weakest, when his crew is broken and bleeding, the CP0 agents will strike. They will assassinate the boy and bring his body to us."
"And the Magician?" Warcury asked.
"Kill him as well," Saturn ordered. "Burn his machines. Erase his existence. We will tolerate no more anomalies in this era."
The Five Elders nodded in agreement. The assassination order was finalized.
"There is another matter," Ju Peter said, shifting the topic. He picked up a stack of reports from the coffee table. "The Revolutionary Army."
Saturn frowned. "Dragon is moving?"
"Rapidly," Ju Peter confirmed. "In the last few days, their activity has spiked exponentially. They are targeting distressed countries across Paradise and the New World. Specifically, they are targeting nations that relied on Doflamingo's weapon shipments."
"Taking full advantage of the power vacuum," Mars noted. "With the weapons cut off, the royal armies are running out of ammunition. The rebels are seizing the capitals."
"Dragon orchestrated this," Warcury growled. "He let his son take down the Warlord to create the opening for his revolution."
"We must review their top agents," Nusjuro said. "Their strength is growing too fast."
Ju Peter flipped through the reports.
"Their Chief of Staff. Sabo," Ju Peter read. "He has become a massive threat. Reports confirm he possesses the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. A Logia of destruction. He commands lightning."
"A devastating power in the hands of a trained revolutionary."
"It gets worse," Ju Peter added. "Sabo has recruited two dangerous Supernovas to his direct command. Eustass Kidd, possessing a Magnet fruit. And Killer, who ate an Axolotl Zoan fruit. They act as Sabo's enforcers. They recently wiped out three Marine bases in the South Blue in a single night."
"Pirates working for the revolution," Mars scoffed. "Disgusting."
"Then there is Bartholomew Kuma," Ju Peter pulled out a file.
The Elders fell silent. Kuma was a sore subject.
"He defected," Warcury said, disgust lacing his voice. "We allowed him to cure his daughter. We intended to keep him as a mindless cyborg slave. He used our scientists, cured the girl, and fled back to Dragon."
"He possesses the Paw-Paw Fruit," Nusjuro noted. "He can teleport their armies anywhere in the world. He is a massive logistical threat."
"His daughter is the key," Saturn said calmly. "Jewelry Bonney. She sails with the Straw Hat Pirates."
"When CP0 assassinates Monkey D. Luffy in Wano," Mars suggested, "have them capture the Bonney girl. Bring her to Mary Geoise. We will use her as a hostage. We will force Kuma to surrender himself, and we will place him back under our control as a mole within Dragon's ranks."
"Agreed," Saturn nodded.
Ju Peter flipped to the final pages of the report.
"We must also account for their commanders," Ju Peter read the names. "Belo Betty. Her Pump-Pump Fruit turns common peasants into fearless soldiers. Karasu. His soot manipulation allows for espionage and aerial superiority. Morley. The giant who controls the ground beneath our feet. Lindbergh. His scientific inventions rival Vegapunk's early work."
"Do not forget Emporio Ivankov," Warcury added. "He manipulates hormones. He can heal their wounded instantly."
"Inazuma. Koala. Hack. Ahiru. Terry Gilteo," Ju Peter listed the remaining officers. "They are highly trained, fiercely loyal, and moving with unprecedented speed."
Saturn stood up. He walked toward the tall window. He looked out over the Holy Land.
"The pieces are moving on the board," Saturn said softly. His voice carried the weight of a god observing mortals.
"The Warlords are falling," Mars stood up next to him.
"The Emperors are preparing for war," Warcury joined them.
"The Revolutionary Army is burning our kingdoms," Nusjuro rested his hand on his sword.
Ju Peter closed the files. He stood up and joined his fellow Elders at the window.
They looked down at the world they ruled.
"Monkey D. Dragon. Monkey D. Luffy," Saturn said. The names felt like a curse.
"The father commands the armies," Mars said.
"The son carries the spirit of Nika," Warcury added.
"They are the storm," Nusjuro whispered.
Saturn tapped his cane against the glass.
"Both father and son are the most dangerous threats to the World Government right now," Saturn declared. "Send the orders to CP0. Prepare the Pacifistas. Call the God's Knights to stand by. We will extinguish the Clan of D once and for all."
The Five Elders stood together, plotting the destruction of the Straw Hat Pirates as the Thousand Sunny rested quietly on the back of a giant elephant, sailing steadily toward the war of Wano.