The midday sun hung high, and a gentle sea breeze blew across the water.
Carried by the wind and the blessings of the villagers, the small sloop sailed into the distance, leaving Cocoyasi Village behind.
On the deck, a large parasol provided shade. Beneath it sat two beach chairs and a small table piled high with fresh tangerines, two cold drinks, and a small mountain of stolen wallets. Darian and Nami lounged in the shade, enjoying the peace of the open ocean.
Nami was happily dismantling the wallets she had pickpocketed from the villagers, extracting the Berries with practiced ease. Darian was flipping through the morning edition of the World Economic Journal.
Looking at the newspaper, Darian couldn't help but marvel at the power of fate.
Aside from the massive front-page spread on him and the Pirate Empress Boa Hancock, and a blurb about the Revolutionary Army overthrowing a kingdom in the South Blue, the rest of the paper was dedicated to local East Blue news.
Among those reports was an article about Luffy.
The Straw Hat Pirates hadn't encountered Arlong—since Darian had wiped him out first—but the winds of destiny still blew strong for the future Pirate King. After the Baratie incident, Luffy's crew had clashed with the York Pirates, a crew that dealt in human trafficking. Because Captain York had ties to the local Marines, Luffy had been branded a criminal.
His starting bounty? 30 Million Berries.
Exactly the same as the original timeline, Darian mused, sighing softly. The power of destiny is terrifying. It gives the protagonist exactly what he needs to progress.
Seeing Darian sigh, Nami looked up from her pile of loot. "Why are you sighing?"
"It's nothing," Darian shook his head. He couldn't explain the concept of 'plot armor' to her.
"Boring," Nami muttered, going back to her money. She pulled a thick wad of bills from a leather wallet. "500,000 Berries!"
She gleefully pressed the stack of cash against her lips, kissing it.
Darian cringed. "Nami, don't kiss the money. Do you have any idea how many dirty, sweaty hands have touched those bills? Or where they've been kept?"
Various horrific images instantly flashed through Nami's mind. Her face darkened.
THWACK!
Nami's fist, fueled by pure indignation (and perhaps a hint of subconscious Armament Haki), slammed directly into Darian's skull. A massive, comical bump instantly swelled up on his head.
"Ouch! OUCH!" Darian yelped, clutching his head.
Nami wiped her mouth furiously, stuffed the money into her pocket, and glared at him. "Where to next? Are we heading straight for the Grand Line?"
Rubbing the bump on his head, Darian grimaced. "You left almost all of your 100 million Berries for the village. We need a travel fund! Let's make some more money first. Are there any pirate crews nearby? We can rob them and clean up the surrounding waters before we leave."
Nami pondered this. It made sense. With Arlong gone, other pirate crews might try to move into the power vacuum and target Cocoyasi Village. Wiping them out now would ensure her home stayed safe.
"Alright," Nami nodded, a wicked glint in her eye. "Let's go pirate hunting."
As Darian and Nami prepared to clean up the East Blue, the news fabricated by Big News Morgans continued to spread across the world.
Somewhere in the East Blue.
The Going Merry.
"Luffy! Look! There's news about Nami and that guy, Darian!"
Zoro handed the newspaper to his captain. Luffy, sitting on the figurehead, glanced at it. He didn't pay much attention to Darian, who had chosen a different path.
Instead, Luffy pulled out the poster tucked inside the folds of the paper. It was his own face, grinning wildly.
"Thirty million!" Luffy laughed, eyes sparkling. "I got a bounty!"
Mary Geoise.
The Holy Land.
Inside a lavishly decorated palace, a wine glass shattered against a marble floor.
"You bunch of useless trash! When will you bring him to me?!"
Saint Charlos's sister, Saint Shalria, stood over a kneeling man in a black suit. Blood trickled from the man's forehead where the glass had hit him, but he didn't dare wipe it away. He kept his head bowed to the floor.
"My current husband is dying," Shalria sneered, her eyes fixed on the wanted poster of Darian. "This man is perfect! He's incredibly handsome. He will be my twenty-third husband! Do you think you ugly brutes are worthy of serving me?"
The suited man trembled. To the Celestial Dragons, normal humans were lower than insects.
"Where is he now?!" Shalria demanded.
"A-According to our intelligence, Saint Shalria," the man stammered. "The 'White Emperor' Darian is currently in the East Blue."
"Then go and capture him!" Shalria commanded, as if sailing from the Red Line to the East Blue was as easy as crossing a room.
"Th-This..." The man hesitated. Darian had a bounty of 66 million. He was a monster who had wiped out Arlong. Capturing him wouldn't be easy.
"Are you questioning me?" Shalria's voice went deadly cold. "Do you want to become a slave?"
"N-No! Yes, my lady! Right away!" The man scrambled backward, cold sweat pouring down his face.
On his small boat, Darian had no idea that his enhanced beauty had made him a target for the absolute worst scum in the world. Several female Celestial Dragons—and even a few male ones—had seen the paper and decided they wanted the "White Emperor" for their collections. It was the true reason his "Capture Alive" bounty was set at an absurd 500 million Berries.
The Calm Belt.
Amazon Lily.
Inside the royal palace, the Pirate Empress, Boa Hancock—the most beautiful woman in the world—lounged on her pet python, Salome. She wore a red cheongsam with a thigh-high slit, her long black hair cascading down her back.
"Hebihime! Hebihime! Look at this!"
Sandersonia and Marigold, her massive sisters, rushed into the chamber holding the morning paper.
Hancock frowned, clearly annoyed at the interruption. "I was resting. What is it?"
"Sister, look at the front page!" Sandersonia said excitedly, holding the paper out.
Hancock took the paper. She saw the massive photo of herself on the left, and the photo of Darian on the right, under the headline: THE EMPEROR AND THE EMPRESS: THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PIRATES IN THE WORLD?
Hancock stared at Darian's photo for a moment. Then, her face contorted into a mask of pure arrogance.
"A filthy man?" Hancock sneered, tossing the newspaper onto the floor. "He dares to be mentioned in the same breath as me?"
She leaned all the way back, pointing dramatically at the ceiling, looking down on the very concept of the newspaper.
"Ohhh! She's looking down on him so much she's looking up!" her sisters swooned, completely forgetting about Darian.
In truth, while Darian's physical features had been perfected by the Human Path, he lacked the aura of an Emperor. Beauty required presence. Hancock had the Haki of a Conqueror. Darian still carried the demeanor of a normal guy who had stumbled into power. Until he grew into his strength, he was just a pretty face with a dangerous punch.
East Blue. West Ali Island.
Marine Branch Base.
"You bastard!" a pirate screamed, aiming his flintlock at a man in a gray cloak. "You handed our captain over to the Marines! We'll kill you!"
The cloaked man didn't flinch. He drew his own gun with blinding speed.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Gunsmoke cleared. Four pirates lay dead on the cobblestones.
Only one young pirate remained, unarmed and trembling on the ground. He stared in horror as the bounty hunter walked toward him.
The cloaked man reached down, but instead of drawing a weapon, he simply pulled a crumpled cigarette from the terrified boy's shirt pocket.
"Go home, kid," the man said gruffly. "Ask your mom to bake you a cake."
From an alleyway nearby, a little blonde girl ran out, cheering. "Wow, Daddy! You're so cool! I'm going to be a great lady worthy of you!"
The bounty hunter, Daddy Masterson, just sighed and patted his daughter's head.
Two Days Later. Dusk.
Darian and Nami had been busy. Over the past forty-eight hours, they had tracked down and annihilated three minor pirate crews operating near Cocoyasi waters.
Now, their sloop was approaching a rocky coastline.
"This is the last one, right?" Darian asked, leaning against the mast.
Nami nodded, checking her map. "Yes. The Twin Blades Pirates. They're based here on West Ali Island. According to Hatchan's logs, they used to work for Arlong as spies, monitoring human activity in the area."
"Perfect," Darian cracked his knuckles. "We wipe them out, take their loot, and then..."
He looked out toward the horizon, where the sun was setting.
"Then, we head for the Grand Line."
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