The afternoon sun spilled molten gold across the deck of the Red Force, waves rolling lazily beneath the massive ship as laughter and music echoed from the main deck. Someone was already half-drunk despite it barely being noon. Yasopp and Limejuice were arguing over cards while Benn Beckman sat nearby with a cigarette between his fingers, watching the chaos with the exhausted patience of a man who dealt with this crew daily.
Above them, balanced effortlessly on the railing of the second deck, you sat with one leg crossed over the other.
A thick black book floated in front of you without a single hand touching it. The pages flipped on their own every few seconds, crimson wisps of energy curling lazily around the edges like smoke. Your eyes skimmed over the text while the sea breeze tugged at your coat.
The crew had long since stopped questioning the strange things surrounding you.
The Chaos Chaos no Mi was terrifying.
Reality bent around you when it wanted to.
Sometimes probability itself did too.
A sudden squawk shattered the calm.
“News Coo!” someone yelled.
The messenger pelican swooped low over the ship, nearly smacking into a mast before dumping an explosion of newspapers and bounty posters across the deck.
“Ohhh, new bounties!” Rockstar shouted, diving for them.
Instantly the crew scrambled.
Shanks laughed loudly as papers flew everywhere. “Well? Let’s see how much trouble everyone caused this time!”
Lucky Roux grabbed one first and barked out a laugh. “Captain! Yours went up again!”
“Again?” Shanks groaned dramatically, snatching it from him.
Benn picked another up. “Yasopp’s increased too.”
“Ha! Damn right it did.”
One by one the crew celebrated the new numbers.
Until suddenly—
The entire deck went dead silent.
Lucky Roux stared at the poster in his hands.
“…No way.”
Yasopp blinked. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
Even Benn’s cigarette paused halfway to his mouth.
Shanks noticed immediately. “What?”
Nobody answered.
Rockstar slowly turned the paper around.
At the top was your picture.
Not smiling.
Your glowing crimson eyes stared directly out from the poster.
DEAD OR ALIVE
“CHAOS EMPRESS”
“THE CRIMSON WITCH”
And beneath it—
4,780,000,000 Berries
The deck erupted.
“FOUR BILLION?!”
“That’s HIGHER THAN THE CAPTAIN’S!”
“What the hell did you DO?!”
Shanks snatched the poster so fast it nearly ripped in half.
“…4.78 billion,” he repeated slowly.
Benn gave a low whistle. “That puts you above almost every Emperor.”
“Almost?!” Yasopp yelled. “Try all of them except maybe one!”
Lucky Roux stared up toward the second deck like he was looking at a sea king. “That’s not a bounty anymore. That’s a global emergency warning.”
You finally looked up from your book.
The pages stopped turning.
Crimson eyes drifted down toward the crew as silence spread again across the ship.
Shanks looked somewhere between impressed and deeply concerned.
“…You wanna explain why the World Government fears you this much?”
You blinked once.
Then tilted your head slightly.
“That’s it?”
The entire crew froze.
Benn actually choked on smoke.
“You mean that’s it?!” Yasopp shouted.
You glanced at the number again, unimpressed.
“I thought it’d be higher.”
A horrified silence followed.
Then suddenly reality warped.
The air twisted violently for half a second.
The cards in Yasopp’s hand turned into butterflies.
Lucky Roux’s mug exploded into flowers.
Someone in the distance screamed because their pants had spontaneously caught fire.
You looked back down at your floating book.
“Oh,” you added calmly, “someone important probably survived.”
Shanks stared at you for a long moment before bursting into laughter.
“HAHAHAHA! Oh, this is bad,” he wheezed, wiping tears from his eyes. “The Marines are absolutely terrified of you.”
Benn sighed heavily. “Can’t blame them.”
Below your poster, in bold black letters, the warning from the World Government read:
EXTREME THREAT LEVEL — ABILITY CAPABLE OF MASS REALITY DISTORTION. ENGAGEMENT NOT RECOMMENDED.
And somehow…
You still looked disappointed.