The shadow beneath the water expanded until it covered a broad section of sea beside the Oni Slayer.
Zaraki rested both hands upon the cold metal railing and tapped one finger against it.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The shadow was not approaching the Marine warship.
It was moving toward another vessel less than two hundred meters away.
The water erupted.
A column of white spray rose into the still air, carrying the stench of slime and old blood across both ships.
Through the falling mist, a gigantic sea serpent burst from the Calm Belt.
Dark-green scales covered its body, jagged bone spines ran along its back, and its mouth opened wide enough to swallow several dozen people at once.
Its target was an unusually designed wooden vessel pulled by two enormous Yuda.
The sail displayed a skull surrounded by nine intertwined snakes.
Zaraki recognized the emblem from the dossiers of the current Seven Warlords.
The Kuja Pirates.
A tall woman stood at the bow, long black hair falling down her back and a dark-red qipao moving around her legs despite the windless sea.
Boa Hancock.
The Pirate Empress looked up at the charging Sea King without shifting her feet.
The Yuda hissed beneath the surface and pulled the ship sharply sideways, but the serpent was already descending. Its shadow swallowed the forward deck.
Hancock brought her hands together before her chest and formed a heart.
"Slave Arrow."
She drew the heart backward as though pulling a bowstring.
A storm of pink arrows shot upward.
They struck the Sea King across its open jaws, eyes, and chest.
Pale stone spread from each impact point, racing over scales and bone until the creature's entire upper body hardened.
Petrification did not cancel its momentum.
The stone Sea King continued falling toward the ship.
Hancock stepped from the bow.
One long leg swept upward.
"Perfume Femur."
Her heel struck the petrified jaw and shattered it. Cracks spread through the stone body, breaking the enormous creature apart before it could reach the deck.
Heavy fragments crashed into the sea on both sides of the Kuja vessel, throwing up broad curtains of spray.
None struck the ship.
Zaraki took one of the flat metal flasks from inside his coat, opened it with his thumb, and swallowed a mouthful of liquor.
"A little dramatic," Gion said beside him.
"It worked."
The waves created by the falling fragments pushed the two vessels slightly closer.
On the Kuja deck, Boa Marigold hurried toward her sister with a dark-red envelope edged in gold.
"Big Sister, that much blood and stone striking the water could attract an entire nest. We should leave before something larger notices."
Hancock turned away from the broken Sea King.
Marigold extended the envelope.
"Another messenger reached us from the New World. It is an invitation to Charlotte Linlin's tea party."
Hancock's expression soured immediately.
"You expect me to attend that old woman's banquet?"
"Amazon Lily's supply routes are being watched more closely," Marigold said. "The Government's position toward the Warlords is becoming unstable, and rejecting an Emperor openly would create another danger for the kingdom. We do not have to accept yet, but we should not insult her messenger."
Hancock lifted her chin.
"To breathe the same air as that woman would be an insult to my beauty."
Marigold sighed.
"Then we send a neutral answer while we consider it."
For several seconds, Hancock looked as though she intended to declare war over the suggestion alone.
At last, she turned her face away.
"Tell them I have not decided."
It was the closest thing to caution Zaraki expected from her.
He raised the flask again.
Gion glanced at him.
"You are enjoying this."
"The files made her sound less ridiculous."
"The files were written by Marines trying to sound professional."
A rapid flapping of wings disturbed the windless air.
A News Coo wearing a postal cap dived from the clouds with a thick bundle of papers beneath one wing.
It ignored the Marine warship, which already possessed official communication channels, and circled above the Kuja vessel while screeching for payment.
Marigold flicked several coins upward.
Only after catching them in the pouch around its neck did the bird release a stack of newspapers onto the deck.
The same emergency edition Gion had handed Zaraki scattered across the Kuja ship.
Hancock did not look down.
"That Marine called Zaraki again?"
Her voice carried clearly over the calm water.
"His name has occupied far too much space lately. The newspapers should be discussing me."
Zaraki's mouth twitched.
Gion slowly turned toward him.
"You are not going to answer that."
"I wasn't planning to."
"That sounded disappointed."
On the Kuja ship, Boa Sandersonia picked up the nearest newspaper.
Her green hair shifted around her shoulders as her expression changed.
"Big Sister... this says he killed Edward Weevil."
Several Kuja warriors gathered around her.
Sandersonia read the article more carefully.
"Weevil was being evaluated for a vacant Warlord seat when he attacked a Marine training vessel. He killed recruits and took civilians hostage. Zaraki fought him at Hells Island and killed him after a prolonged battle."
Marigold's eyes narrowed.
"So the Government's offer did not protect him once he attacked Marines."
"It also says Zaraki survived Kaido twice," another warrior murmured.
Hancock's posture stiffened slightly.
Sandersonia turned the page.
"There is more. He struck Saint Charlos during the evacuation at Sabaody."
Every nearby voice stopped.
Hancock turned around.
The arrogance remained in her face, but something underneath it had become still.
"Give me the newspaper."
Sandersonia obeyed immediately.
Hancock took the pages with one hand and scanned the article.
The headline described Zaraki as a Marine without a leash, a dangerous brute, and possibly the only officer at Sabaody willing to stop a World Noble from firing into an evacuation crowd.
Morgans had exaggerated almost everything else.
The article claimed Zaraki had humiliated an entire World Noble family, when he had struck only Charlos.
It implied that he had challenged the authority of Mary Geoise before thousands of cheering witnesses, when most civilians had been too terrified to make a sound.
It also suggested that his next Warlord evaluation might take place near Kalles Island, citing unnamed underworld brokers rather than any official source.
The photograph, however, was real.
It showed Charlos's pistol still falling near the pier, Garp standing several paces behind Zaraki, and the instant the War Demon's palm broke the bubble helmet before the World Noble could fire again.
Hancock froze.
Her fingers stopped moving across the paper.
The Kuja warriors around her saw only an image of a powerful Marine striking one of the world's untouchable rulers.
Hancock saw chains.
She saw the mark burned into her back, the laughter of men wearing bubble helmets, and the years spent building enough pride to bury the frightened child she had once been.
The newspaper crackled in her hands.
Marigold leaned closer.
"He struck a World Noble."
Sandersonia read the smaller column beside the image.
"The mermaid Charlos purchased was abducted from Fish-Man Island. Zaraki stopped the guards long enough for Trafalgar Law to remove her explosive collar. He also freed the man Charlos had been riding."
Marigold's voice lowered.
"A Marine did that in front of Garp, Vice Admirals, government guards, and recording Den Den Mushi."
"He may still be dangerous," Sandersonia said.
"Yes."
Marigold looked at the photograph again.
"But perhaps he is not dangerous in the way we assumed."
Hancock's nails sank into the coarse paper.
For a moment, anger returned—not at Zaraki, but at the involuntary tremor in her own hands.
"A single photograph proves nothing."
Her voice sounded colder than before, though less steady.
Sandersonia nodded quickly.
"Of course, Big Sister."
"If he is foolish enough to enter the Calm Belt, I will judge him myself."
Marigold glanced across the water.
The Oni Slayer had drawn close enough for its Marine flag to be clearly visible.
"Big Sister..."
Hancock followed her gaze.
Zaraki stood against the opposite railing with a metal flask in one hand.
Their eyes met across the water.
His golden gaze held no surprise at being recognized and none of the helpless admiration Hancock expected from men who saw her face.
He simply watched her with the same blunt curiosity he might have given an unfamiliar weapon.
Hancock's fingers tightened around the newspaper.
Zaraki raised his flask slightly.
It was not a salute.
It looked more like acknowledgment that the entertainment had finally noticed him.
Hancock's breathing slipped out of rhythm.
She crushed the paper into a ball.
"Change course."
Marigold blinked.
"Are we returning to Amazon Lily?"
"No."
Hancock turned so sharply that her hair struck the back of her qipao.
"We will attend Charlotte Linlin's tea party."
Sandersonia stared at her.
"You just said—"
"I changed my mind."
Hancock's voice rose before either sister could question her.
"The invitation grants us protected entry through her waters and access to information from the New World. After the tea party, we will learn whether the rumor about Kalles is true."
Marigold looked toward the Marine warship.
"You intend to meet Zaraki?"
"I intend to determine whether Morgans printed another collection of lies."
The answer came too quickly.
Hancock turned away from both sisters and walked toward her cabin with far more urgency than dignity required.
Zaraki watched her leave.
Gion rested her elbows against the railing.
"She knows we are here."
"Obviously."
"And now she is changing her route because of you."
"She said it was because Morgans lies."
Gion gave him a long look.
"You believed that?"
"I don't care enough to decide."
The Kuja crew began preparing to turn.
Because there was no natural wind in the Calm Belt, the sail remained slack. Beneath the water, the Yuda changed direction and pulled the vessel into a broad arc.
The snake ship accelerated away under their strength, leaving only a widening wake across the otherwise still sea.
Zaraki watched until the Kuja flag became a dark mark near the horizon.
Then he drained the last of the liquor from his flask.
"The entertainment is over."
Gion folded the newspaper under one arm.
"You heard the Government prepared Kalles as a trap, met a Pirate Empress in the Calm Belt, and watched her decide to follow the same rumor. Your definition of entertainment is exhausting."
Zaraki pushed away from the rail.
"That sounds like your problem."