He never imagined that, one day in the future, Who’s-Who would defect to the enemy—and not just defect, but do so thoroughly, making full use of him in the process.
Without a second thought about their past friendship, Who’s-Who used him as a stepping stone for his own promotion.
If he were in Who’s-Who’s position, he’d probably do the same, but now that he was the unlucky one, he found it hard to accept.
“Really? That’s quite troublesome.”
Although he said it was troublesome, Tesoro still clapped his hands, and a golden statue appeared behind him, with flowing lines on its body.
“Gon Fuoco di Dio!”
Using Haki as a power source, Tesoro transmitted heat through the statue’s intricate lines, heating it to create a high-temperature, high-density energy that rapidly expanded, ultimately unleashing a laser attack that incinerated everything below Knight’s head to ash.
He couldn’t let Knight die without leaving a trace. His goal was to make sure Knight died silently here, but he needed those behind Knight to know exactly what had happened; otherwise, it wouldn’t serve as a deterrent.
“That should be enough. Even for a Logia-type, if you’re left with just a head, there’s no way to survive.”
Later that evening, Morgans published a news report: a tourist, intoxicated, accidentally fell into the water and was unfortunately devoured by a sea beast. By the time the rescue team found him, only his face was recognizable.
Gran Tesoro expressed regret over the incident, pledging to strengthen patrols on board and urging other tourists not to overindulge in alcohol to avoid similar tragedies.
The news spread widely. The Celestial Dragon who ordered Knight understood what Tesoro was doing. This show of power displeased them, but in contrast, the other two Celestial Dragon families made no comment.
They even joined forces to suppress any subsequent actions from this Celestial Dragon’s family, openly shielding Tesoro’s actions because he brought them substantial profits each year.
Outsiders trying to interfere here already made them unhappy, and while they lacked evidence or justification to act, this incident provided them with the perfect opportunity.
Celestial Dragons weren’t a unified entity; various conflicts often arose due to interests and preferences. As long as the overall Celestial Dragon interests weren’t harmed, the higher-ups wouldn’t intervene. But these things have nothing to do with Tesoro.
…
Although some small mistakes occurred, Who’s-Who’s capabilities were further recognized after this. During his time on Gran Tesoro, he managed to catch quite a few questionable individuals. The undercover and counter-surveillance training he’d received back then wasn’t in vain.
At the same time, he came to realize another truth: he couldn’t put too much trust in the young miss of his family—at least, not complete trust.
Once she set a new goal, she would indeed work hard to achieve it, but the process could be quite winding, and at times she could end up doing some unnecessary things.
For instance, on Gran Tesoro, no matter how he looked at it, she was just having fun.
Not only that, but he was finding it difficult to understand the thinking of the Beasts Pirates’ officers. At this moment, he was holding a small book that recorded some investigation experiences Yamato had discussed with the officers before leaving Onigashima.
Torture them until they can’t take it anymore, and eventually they’ll talk—that was the suggestion from King. In his view, as long as the torture was severe enough, someone would eventually confess, though it would likely just lead to forced confessions.
However, what puzzled Who’s-Who even more was that King’s methods were considered the “gentler” type.
Suspicious individuals should be killed on the spot—that was Queen’s suggestion. He never held back when it came to maintaining the security within the crew.
As for Shayna, who seemed gentle, her suggested method was even more violent than King’s. In her view, trying to infiltrate was a grave offense, especially in regard to Arceus’ believers, who underwent a special level of scrutiny.
True believers were fine, but false believers should be burned to ashes.
After reading all those suggestions, Who’s-Who felt it was a miracle he’d made it this far—this pirate crew certainly has more than its fair share of weirdos.
As Yamato finished playing around, his own test also came to an end. Before leaving, he saw one of Yamato’s accomplishments: she had taught a parrot to talk, but only one phrase.
“Help, I’ve been turned into a parrot.”
Listening to the parrot’s slightly panicked tone, he wasn’t sure how to even begin evaluating this behavior.
Yamato only accompanied him for the test, and then completely left him to handle the rest, returning to Onigashima ahead of him. Meanwhile, as Who’s-Who painstakingly investigated the nearby islands for any suspicious individuals, Queen was facing a particularly tough decision.
…
“Is the information confirmed?”
“Yes, Boss. Something has happened in your banana plantation—many of the banana trees are infected.”
“Burn the infected trees and the ones nearby.”
“They’ve already tried, but it didn’t work. Within a few days, the nearby banana trees also got infected, and the diseased trees withered completely within days….They’ve brought a sample for you to check.”
Saying that, his subordinate handed Queen a special small box containing a sample from the infected banana trees.
This was Queen’s current major headache—his prized banana plantation was having issues.
Since relocating to Wano Country, his orchard had also been moved. But because Wano’s terrain was limited, it’s impossible to give him all of it to grow fruits.
On the limited land, he also needed to grow a large amount of Berries and rare medicinal herbs, so Queen’s private plantation only took up a small portion. To meet both external demand and internal needs, the Beasts Pirates maintained multiple plantations outside of Wano, and this banana plantation was the one Queen valued most.
So many years have passed, the cultivation techniques there have long become mature, and he usually doesn’t need to worry about anything. Unexpectedly, such an accident happened today.
Queen took the sample to his laboratory. After extensive analysis, he didn’t find any problem.
He even enlisted Nightin’s help, but still came up empty-handed. The sample showed no problems, only traces that something had once been there.
“No, still no results. Something has damaged the cells of these plants, but it left no clues.”
Putting down the equipment, Nightin gave her final verdict.
“Could it be that because the transportation process was too long, they died naturally?”
“It’s possible, but in that case… we might have to go to that island to figure out what’s happening.”
“No, something doesn’t feel right… I have a feeling this is a trap…”
Queen was gripped by a foreboding premonition. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed like someone was trying to draw him out.
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