"So? What is she doing here?" Alvida looked at the drenched lemon as Brody, already having changed his clothes in the hut, grinned, "Oye, tell her your abilities! Everyone, this woman is amazing! Go on!"

Feeling stifled while sitting on her knees as she was surrounded by several women, Miss. Valentine heaved a deep breath to recollect herself and then remarked quietly, "My kilo kilo no mi allows me to freely manipulate the weight of my body until 10000 kilograms."

"See?" Everyone looked at Brody who had a hard time containing his excitement, "The highest I can train with to condition my whole body is just only 1800 kilograms! Now I can train and train until I lift 10000 kilograms!"

"Just 1800?" Letting the sarcasm known from her tone, Nami hummed and looked at the Log Pose in her hands, "But with this, we can finally set our destination and leave. Crocus-san said that Twin Capes has seven different locations where we can set our course for seven different islands... with Luffy and others destroying one of them, we still have six choices."

"Wait, are we really going to ignore the fact that there is a criminal organization that is after Brody-san?" Tashigi inquired as Carmen shrugged, "Who the hell cares about code names and stuff like that? Ideal Nation? Nothing is more ideal than Pinky."

*Gghrrghff*

Pinky nodded.

Crossing her arms under her bosom, Reiju narrowed her eyes, "Organizations like these usually have a greater reach. And with how they can send two devil fruit users, this boss of theirs may have more devil fruit users under his command. Captain, do you want me to test my new poison on her?"

"Hey, come on, they did share a Log Pose with us," Brody sighed, "We should treat kindness with kindness."

"Didn't your jacket get destroyed?" Nojiko inquired.

"Let's clip their fingers," Brody stared at Miss. Valentine, "Sorry, I forgot about the jacket."

"Listen now, if you forgot about the jacket then it truly wasn't that important," Nami sighed and massaged her forehead, "And you said your other mission is to hunt down Laboon?"

"No. I and Mr. 5 only had two orders. First is to recruit Devil Back Pirates."

"And the second?" Brody inquired.

"I cannot reveal that. Secrecy is the motto of our organization!" Miss. Valentine frowned.

"You could have just said you had one mission," Reiju pointed out, "and would have avoided our suspicion. But now, we can't let you go until we hear about this second objective of yours."

Miss. Valentine's expression froze.

"Haha! See, I told you all four of them were idiots!" Brody chuckled and devoured another pork banana while Nojiko inquired, "So? Where's the other three?"

"I left them. After all, she looked the most interesting."

"I won't join your crew!" Miss. Valentine frowned, "Do you want to turn me into another bounty for Boss to hunt? He doesn't take the news of traitors kindly, I would know, I was sent here to finish a spy, after all!"

Feeling others' gazes on her, Valentine frowned, "What is it?"

"So? There is a spy amongst the three that are swimming in this direction. Captain, we finally have everything we need to set sail except your orders," Nami smiled carefreely and looked at Brody who gazed at Miss. Valentine, "Tell me something. Is that all that's stopping you from leaving this... Baroque Works?"

Feeling something unusual for the first time after seeing the youth in front of him kick back and relax most of the time, Valentine gulped and hissed, "I will never betray the organization. No traitor has left us unpunished! Boss has eyes everywhere and he hears about everything so, yes! You better believe that Boss is the figure I fear and will not betray!"

"I see," Brody narrowed his gaze.

"Nami," He continued looking at Valentine while speaking, "That Cactus Rock Island is one of the seven first islands, right?"

Nami smirked, "I believe so."

"Then, we set sail to this Whiskey Peak built on the island where they invited me in that letter. Let's go and meet that boss!" Brody turned to look at his crew, "Listen up! It starts now! Keep sharp! Remain cautious! Win! And most of all—"

Grinning broadly, Brody shouted, "Let's have the best time together!"

"YEAHHH!!"

---

After packing up everything they could find, appropriately paying Crocus for their value in return while a few more books went missing from his personal collection, the Devil Back Pirates got ready to sail as the Log Pose in Nami's hand had already noted the direction to Whiskey Peak.

Before they left, however, Crocus called out from behind, "Oi, Devil Back Punk!"

"Hm?" Brody looked back to find Crocus standing at the coast with his arms crossed, "You never really did tell us why you entered Grandline, right? What Ambitions sunk their teeth into you, huh?"

Standing up with a smirk, Brody waved his hand, "Thank you for everything, Old Man Crocus! I'm Bro D. Hanma. Age 20. Blood Type: U+. Leo—"

"Bastard, that isn't what I asked!" Crocus raged.

"Hehe, I know, you old bastard! But Karma's a bitch!" Brody shouted and sat back on his special seat while Crocus watching them leave couldn't help but chuckle and then laugh out loud.

"That punk got me good... sigh, haven't had a good laugh in a while, not since that day... Roger. But U+, huh... Everything comes to a full circle, I suppose. If you get too deep into advanced practices then you'll only uncover archaic ingenuities... Though, I hope, he doesn't succumb to it... should have also charged that thief for all the books she stole."

Meanwhile, the first thing Brody did was pick up the remaining three agents of Baroque Works which certainly made things more amusing given why the two devil fruit users were even sent to the mission.

On the other hand, everyone failed to notice the vulture that wore goggles passing over them as a bespectacled otter in a purple-dotted jumpsuit began to scribble down the perfect sketch of Pinky on a paper and fly away.

---

The high of leaving Twin Capes soon waned slightly as Brody sat on a large rock while digging his finger into it and carving the giant rock-shaped chocolate before licking his finger.  Carmen would usually 'adventure' and 'explore' Pinky's back to understand the materials she had devoured and even get Pinky's input at times to avoid human meat which she rooted out a lot in the past week! Their current location was closer to the edge of the shell as Brody was accompanied by Alvida and Reiju.

Of course, they didn't volunteer. He asked for them. Fully aware of his own tendencies even if he doesn't show such clarity usually, he wanted someone like Reiju and Alvida next to him in situations that involved actually being a pirate. Tashigi wasn't up for it. Nojiko and Nami, too, were more 'innocent' of such things. And Carmen was busy cooking for them.

Reiju and Alvida on the other hand... were different. And it showed when they stood next to him on both sides as they stared at the four.

"Let's make one thing clear. The two of you are devil fruit users and your weakness lie there," Alvida pointed to the ocean behind them, "While our captain will not kill because the act and the word have no place in his goals, I won't hesitate."

"So, let's start from the beginning," Reiju smiled.

"We're to really be afraid of a has-been whose mind is addled with the convenience of so many women?" Mr. 5 frowned with veins bulging over his head as Brody smiled and warned, "Don't interrupt when they are speaking," before licking his fingers once again but the satisfaction that once filled his red pupils was nowhere to be found as he continued to stare at Mr. 5.

"Let's start with your real names," Reiju chuckled.

"What?!" Valentine frowned.

"Idiots!" Alvida snapped, "Your real names! Can't you hear the first time?"

"And that's what we're trying to say! We cannot easily reveal our real names, baby!" Mr. 9 shouted, too.

"So? You guys don't even know each other's names? What a weird group." Brody frowned.

"I see," Reiju's gaze twinkled, "Then let's talk about the traitor, hmm? Mr. 9, Miss. Wednesday, your superiors came to, first, recruit us, and second, execute either one of you or maybe even the both of you."

Both of their lips parted in surprise when Mr. 5 growled, "Don't mess with our plans!" His hand instantly stretched out and he held Miss. Wednesday by her neck before growling, "Shit, the entire plan is messed up! Miss. Wednesday, your—"

The blue-haired woman suddenly fell to the ground as she gasped for breath and coughed while Mr. 5 looked at his decapitated wrist with blood suddenly flowing out in great pressure.

"W- Ughhh! Who the hell?!" Mr. 5 looked sideways to see Reiju holding a palm in her bloodied hand as she looked confused, "Maybe you didn't hear my Captain order you to not speak out of turn?"

"Dude, you should have listened," Brody shrugged, "Reiju can get really authoritative against strangers."

Holding his bleeding arm, Mr. 5 suddenly grinned as the remaining three from Baroque Works were still in shock.

"Go to hell! Hand explosion!"

*Bang*

A large explosion suddenly engulfed Reiju, Brody, and Alvida and also cleared a large portion of material trees on Pinky's back as Mr. 5 laughed, "Serves you right! I'm Explosion man! Any part of my body will turn into an explosive and the larger the body part the bigger the explosion—"

A figure shot out from the flames and struck the man's chin with an animalistic growl as the entirety of Pinky's body sunk into the ocean slightly as if something unimaginably heavy pushed her down!

"Stop ruining my limited wardrobe already, bastard!"

Valentine, Wednesday, and 9 closed their eyes as a gust of 'wind' suddenly rose around them, and by the time they looked up, only Mr. 5's flying figure greeted them as it didn't seem he would be stopping anytime soon!

"Hmph!" Brody snorted and looked at Alvida, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, thanks for covering me, Captain," Alvida sighed and clenched her fist.

"Ara~ I barely felt a thing," Reiju, in her raid suit, winked.

"So? You're the traitor?" Reiju looked at Miss. Wednesday with a short smirk.

'Oh... no... these guys are trouble...' Valentine's lips remained parted.

---

"No good... we've started sweeping the front of Grandline for Devil Back Pirates but in turn, lost Straw Hats and Trump Brothers!"

"Shh, don't say that in front of the Commodore..." The other marine soldier hissed as they both continued to scout from the crow's nest.

Meanwhile, leaning against the railing, a silver-haired man continued to watch the ocean with his gaze almost dull. Commodore Smoker... looked like a shell of his former self due to the recent events.

"Sir, the bounty hunter we caught calling himself Mr. 11 still hasn't revealed anything," A soldier jogged upto Smoker and saluted as he nodded calmly.

"Leave him be for now... I just can't imagine which Island the Devil Back Pirates chose after they entered Grandline."

"Sir... we still haven't checked the Twin Capes," The soldier replied as Smoker frowned, "That man isn't the kind to stay in a place. The moment he entered Grandline, I was prepared to search the seven islands instead of wasting time on Twin Cape... besides, ever since he escaped, there hasn't been any news on him, unlike Straw Hat Luffy."

*Phew*

Smoker and the soldier looked at a dark shadow suddenly crash into the ocean not far from the ship and their eyes widened!

"Send men for rescue this instance!" Smoker ordered.

***

Alternative Title: And the Ocean Recycles Fools

***

Shoutout to Basilisk Basilisk, runningFree, Thed Nilson-strang, Sakuya, Matthew S Crowe, Franzisko, and Brandon Dixson!!

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***

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