The Polar Tang cut through the New World waves in near silence, the yellow submarine riding half-submerged beneath a bruised crimson sunset. The sea was calm for once. No Marines. No rival crews. No chaos.
For about five minutes.
Then Bepo looked up from the deck with a startled gasp.
“Uh… guys?”
A messenger pelican circled overhead, squawking loudly as it flapped against the ocean wind. News Coo.
The bird released an entire bundle of bounty posters tied together with thick string before banking sharply back toward the horizon.
The stack smacked directly into Penguin’s face.
“OW—!”
Shachi burst out laughing while Penguin swore and shoved him overboard hard enough to nearly send both of them into the sea.
“Quit messing around!” Bepo huffed, grabbing the papers. “These are new bounties!”
That got everyone’s attention immediately.
Even Captain Trafalgar Law looked up from where he leaned against the railing near the helm, coat fluttering in the wind. His sharp gray eyes narrowed beneath the brim of his hat.
You barely reacted.
You remained perched on the second deck railing above them, one leg dangling lazily over the edge while a thick book floated open in front of your face. Crimson energy curled around the pages as they turned on their own every few seconds.
The air around you always felt… wrong.
Not dangerous exactly.
Just unpredictable.
Reality itself seemed uncertain whenever you used your Devil Fruit powers too long.
The Chaos Chaos no Mi.
The fruit that earned you names whispered across the Grand Line with genuine fear.
“The Crimson Witch.”
“The Chaos Empress.”
The woman who could twist probability until cannonballs missed by inches… or entire ships exploded from impossible accidents.
Penguin started reading the posters aloud dramatically.
“Captain Trafalgar Law! Bounty increased to—”
“Get to the important ones!” Shachi interrupted.
“Fine, fine…”
Paper shuffled rapidly.
Then silence.
Complete silence.
You finally glanced down from your floating book when nobody said anything for several seconds.
Bepo stared at one poster with wide eyes.
Shachi looked like his soul had left his body.
Penguin physically checked the number three separate times.
Law frowned. “What?”
Penguin swallowed hard.
“…You might wanna see this yourself, Captain.”
Law snatched the poster from his hands.
For the first time in a long while, genuine surprise crossed his face.
A massive photo of you stared back from the page. Your eyes glowed an unnatural crimson in the image while red tendrils of chaotic energy spiraled around your body like living shadows.
Below it, in thick black letters:
“CHAOS EMPRESS”
DEAD OR ALIVE
2,970,000,000 BERRIES
The deck exploded.
“ALMOST THREE BILLION?!”
“THAT’S HIGHER THAN CAPTAIN’S!”
“WHAT DID YOU EVEN DO?!”
“DID YOU DESTROY A COUNTRY?!”
“I HEARD A RUMOR YOU TURNED A VICE ADMIRAL INSANE!”
“That was ONE time!” you called back lazily.
Bepo looked horrified. “THAT DOESN’T HELP!”
Law continued staring at the poster, expression unreadable.
“…Tch.”
Which, coming from him, was basically open shock.
You closed your floating book with a flick of your fingers. The crimson aura vanished instantly.
Then you tilted your head slightly.
“That’s it?”
The entire crew froze.
Penguin blinked slowly. “That’s… it?”
You shrugged one shoulder.
“I thought it’d be over three billion at least.”
Dead silence.
Then Shachi pointed at you aggressively. “YOU CAN’T SAY ‘AT LEAST’ LIKE THIS IS DISAPPOINTING!”
“I literally watched you rewrite gravity last week!” Penguin shouted.
“You made a Marine battleship sink WITHOUT TOUCHING IT!”
“You hexed a guy into punching himself for twenty minutes!”
You looked thoughtful for a moment.
“…Okay that one was funny though.”
Bepo clutched his head. “We’re never surviving this…”
A low chuckle suddenly came from nearby.
Everyone turned.
Law lowered the bounty poster slowly, the corner of his mouth twitching upward in rare amusement.
“Almost three billion…” he muttered. “Guess the Government’s finally catching on to how dangerous you are.”