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Chrollo had no idea that a terrifying conspiracy targeting the Phantom Pirates was quietly unfolding among the world's highest authorities.
At this moment, he was sitting on a sun lounger on the deck of the Black Whale, his head bowed in deep thought.
"Still short 31,000..."
He just needed that many more Reputation Points to purchase the most crucial item in this cycle's [Bandit's Points Exchange]: [Special Item: A Favor from the Four Emperors' "Red-Haired" Shanks].
Chrollo had learned his lesson from past reckless spending. He had to secure this item first; everything else could wait.
Only a favor from Red-Haired Shanks could serve as a genuine trump card—a safety lock—on the high-end battlefield.
For some reason, a nagging sense of unease had been creeping over Chrollo, growing stronger by the day.
He was gradually realizing... this world was deviating further and further from its original plotline.
With the arrival of their crew—these "foreign calamities"—more and more variables had been introduced. The resulting chain reactions were causing the situation to spiral completely out of control.
Take Loguetown, for example: Kizaru showing up when he wasn't supposed to. Or running into Teach on Drum Island. Or the massive convergence of factions on Skypiea: the Navy, Ace, Blackbeard, and the Donquixote Family.
Kizaru's appearance perfectly corroborated a line from the prophetic poem: "Beneath the new moon, stolen wings will draw magma and golden light."
The "golden light" clearly represented Kizaru. So what about the "magma"? Without a doubt, it pointed to one of the Navy's Three Admirals—the man who upheld "Absolute Justice," the future Fleet Admiral, and user of the Mag-Mag Fruit: "Akainu" Sakazuki.
Akainu was vastly different from Kizaru. Run into Kizaru, and nine out of ten times you'd survive—the one casualty usually bringing it upon themselves.
But run into Akainu? You'd be lucky if even one out of ten made it out alive.
Chrollo had never forgotten that prophecy. Now that Nami and Robin were on board, and they had successfully stolen numerous Devil Fruit abilities, the pieces were falling into place.
Whatever those "stolen wings" represented, the Red Dog wouldn't be far behind.
Given the Troupe's knack for causing chaos, the World Government had undoubtedly already noticed them.
Even the citizens of Alabasta and Skypiea were whispering about them being the "Drums of Liberation." There was no way Cipher Pol hadn't caught wind of it.
The Sword of Damocles was already hanging over their heads. Before it fell, Chrollo needed to maximize his crew's strength.
Besides...
Chrollo looked down at the two intelligence reports in his hand, his expression grim.
One was a message from Dragon, extending an invitation for Chrollo to visit the Revolutionary Army's headquarters. He even disclosed its location: Baltigo, the Isle of White Soil in the Grand Line.
Chrollo understood Dragon's underlying message perfectly.
Dragon wanted his help to push the world revolution forward, subtly hinting that if Chrollo ran into any trouble, he could reach out. In a critical moment, the Revolutionaries could play a massive role.
The second document was the daily Navy newspaper, detailing recent bounties and major global events.
Three specific headlines caught his eye.
First: The bounties for the Phantom Troupe members had skyrocketed.
"Bandit King" Chrollo Lucilfer, Captain. Bounty: 1,020,000,000 Berries
Jewelry Bonney, Age-Manipulator / Special Attack. Bounty: 230,000,000 Berries
Uvogin, The Beast / Special Attack. Bounty: 330,000,000 Berries
Nobunaga Hazama, Swordsman / Special Attack. Bounty: 310,000,000 Berries
Feitan Portor, Swordsman / Interrogator. Bounty: 400,000,000 Berries
Phinks Magcub, Special Attack. Bounty: 250,000,000 Berries
Shalnark, Tactician. Bounty: 70,000,000 Berries
Franklin Bordeau, Long-Range Firepower. Bounty: 70,000,000 Berries
Machi Komacine, Medic. Bounty: 300,000,000 Berries
Pakunoda, Intelligence. Bounty: 40,000,000 Berries
Bonolenov Ndongo, Base Security. Bounty: 90,000,000 Berries
Kortopi, Replicator. Bounty: 35,000,000 Berries
Shizuku, Cleanup. Bounty: 45,000,000 Berries
"Cat Burglar" Nami, Navigator. Bounty: 30,000,000 Berries
Nico Robin, Devil Child. Bounty: 88,000,000 Berries
Right off the bat, Chrollo's own bounty had breached the 1-billion mark, reaching New World standards.
Furthermore, the bounties for Uvogin's quartet and Machi had seen massive spikes.
Currently, six members of the Troupe had bounties exceeding 100 million!
In other words... these six were now prime targets for the World Government, rising stars of the sea—the so-called Supernovas!
Chrollo guessed this was likely Teach's doing, or perhaps the other "calamities" who had escaped the Black Whale, feeding their intel directly to the Navy.
This also meant the Navy's threat assessment of them had drastically escalated.
The day they formally clashed with the World Government... wasn't far off.
The second headline: A new rookie pirate crew had emerged on the Grand Line, led by a rubber man.
This crew had made a name for themselves by defeating numerous pirates at Whiskey Peak and Little Garden. Their captain's bounty now sat at 45,000,000 Berries.
This was obviously Luffy and his crew.
Looking at their wanted posters, Chrollo sighed. Sanji had ultimately decided to set sail with Luffy, meaning their Monster Trio remained intact. Chopper had also been successfully recruited. However...
Chrollo stared in surprise at the two people who had replaced Nami and Robin.
Navigator: "Sister Storm" Gale. A woman with messy orange-red short hair, cargo pants, and spiked boots, her waist lined with bizarre weather-measuring instruments. A notoriously short-tempered woman who supposedly changed the wind's direction by screaming at it.
Archaeologist: "Memory Fish" Awang. A mermaid who had eaten the Memo-Memo Fruit. She retained her pale cyan fish tail and possessed unnervingly large, pale blue eyes that always seemed out of focus. She could read the memories of objects, but only ever remembered trivial, useless details.
"The Child of Destiny lives up to his name. He found replacements that fast."
Though, realistically, these two were nowhere near as reliable as Nami and Robin...
But Luffy's rise to fame meant that the overarching narrative was still hurtling toward a violent, irreconcilable climax.
And then... there was the third headline.
Chrollo's eyes locked onto the front page, his gaze freezing.
[Whitebeard Pirates 2nd Division Commander, "Fire Fist" Portgas D. Ace, was captured and handed over five days ago by former Whitebeard crewmate Marshall D. Teach.]
[Following a conference of the Seven Warlords, Navy Headquarters officially grants Marshall D. Teach the title and privileges of a Warlord of the Sea.]
[Furthermore, by supreme decree of the World Government, the high-profile criminal Portgas D. Ace will face public execution at Navy Headquarters, Marineford, in three months' time.]
The air seemed to freeze for a moment.
"The fulcrum of the balance..." Chrollo muttered under his breath. "...has shifted."
The timeline for the Paramount War... had been violently dragged forward by nearly three months!
"A war capable of redrawing the map of the seas" was about to begin.
"Whatcha looking at? Let me see~"
Bonney happened to be walking by. Craning her neck, she spotted the photo of Kuma attending the Warlord meeting in the newspaper, and her face instantly went blank.
The father she had been desperately searching for... was sitting right there, stone-faced, at a round table belonging to the World Government.
Even though Bonney had already known the truth, seeing it with her own eyes still brought tears to her eyes. "Father..."
Just what the hell was going on?
She wiped her eyes and looked up at Chrollo timidly, desperately seeking a reassuring answer. "Chrollo... this public execution in three months... Do you think my father will be there?"