CHAPTER 77: CHAPTER 77: BIG SHOT KARL — THE TRUE BRAIN

"Hey, hey... are my eyes playing tricks on me?"

"That giant Golden Bell, and that dragon—no mistake... that guy is Dragon Knight Karl!"

"A big shot who hasn’t even entered the New World and already has a first bounty of 1,011,000,000—why is he here?"

"When did he slip into the New World, and why was there no word?"

"Did Mary Geoise and Marine Headquarters just watch him get coated and head to Fish-Man Island?"

"......"

After Karl’s crew finished anchoring and came ashore,

Karl, in knight’s armor with Little Dragon perched on his shoulder, caused an instant stir at the harbor.

With a bounty of 1,011,000,000 on Karl and 500,000,000 on the white dragon on his shoulder, the one man and one dragon totaled a staggering 1,511,000,000.

That bounty alone made Karl a world-class big name without even needing the New World’s stamp of approval.

Seeing the man who made history by killing a Celestial Dragon, escaped intact from a cordon led by an admiral, and ate the legendary Logia Rumble-Rumble Fruit, people nearby—especially the timid—shrank back under the pressure of his reputation and quickly opened a path for the crew.

Maybe it was because Karl had become a big shot, or maybe people of the New World knew their limits.

Unlike the fools of Paradise, though Karl sensed plenty of greed, it was far less than in the first half.

Some eyed the Golden Bell or his head, but they lacked the guts to act.

Not like the idiots of Paradise who treated Karl and Little Dragon like lambs to the slaughter and tripped over each other to die first.

With no fools blocking the way, the crew bought a map from a stall on the pier and headed straight to the island’s largest navigation shop.

With the ship full of gold and the deck half-occupied by the Golden Bell, they had no intention of staying the night.

"Do you have Eternal Log Poses for the Kingdom of Dressrosa and for Gran Tesoro?"

At the counter, Karl glanced at the glass orbs in the display and asked the clerk, who had clearly recognized him and looked tense.

"Y-yes..."

The clerk nodded quickly. "Both are famous New World resorts. Each is run by a world-renowned big name. Their Eternal Poses are always hot sellers here."

Karl nodded, satisfied, then said to Karina and Nami, "Those two are musts. The rest—pick as you like."

Like Vivre Cards,

as long as you have the materials, any magnetic island on the Grand Line can have an Eternal Pose made.

Even Laugh Tale can have an Eternal Pose made.

In the film Stampede, someone in the Roger Pirates secretly made an Eternal Pose to Laugh Tale. Roger found out and threw it into the sea. Douglas Bullet, after escaping Impel Down, later found it inside a Sea King.

Although Gran Tesoro is a ship-island, its ground carries a magnetic field.

So an Eternal Pose can be made for it, too.

After buying a batch of Eternal Poses, Karina and Nami picked up some New World navigational tools.

Leaving the shop, the crew replenished food and water and returned to the harbor.

While they were gone, crowds of civilians and pirates had been sneaking peeks at the Golden Bell on the deck.

But not a single soul dared try to steal the ship.

This was the New World—pirates and hyenas here weren’t Paradise simpletons.

They might not know the Rumble-Rumble Fruit if they hadn’t studied a Devil Fruit encyclopedia or Logias in general,

but they knew the Glint-Glint Fruit and Admiral Kizaru.

If the Rumble-Rumble Fruit could match light in a standstill, it wouldn’t be slower than light in speed.

Even if someone got lucky and stole Karl’s ship, they wouldn’t escape his pursuit.

Maybe that was why he’d left no one aboard to guard it.

If Karl had heard their thoughts, he would have smiled in relief.

It looked like there would be fewer nuisances in these waters.

Back aboard, the crew sailed straight away from their first New World stop.

News that Dragon Knight Karl had appeared in the New World spread from this "starter" island across the sea.

Word of mouth, Den Den Mushi to Den Den Mushi—

In less than half a day, the news reached the big names of every major power.

All eyes turned toward Karl’s heading.

Among them were the masters of the two islands whose Eternal Poses Karl had bought.

As one of the first big names to take note of Karl, Donquixote Doflamingo had watched the Dragon Knight’s rise with his own eyes.

From catching a ride on the fame of a Barrier-Barrier user and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon to get a small mention in the World Economy News, to becoming the first rookie to defeat a Warlord, to being hailed alongside Fire Fist Ace as one of the "Twin Stars of the East Blue," to killing a Celestial Dragon, crossing swords with an admiral and coming away unbowed, then escaping a Marine encirclement intact.

In just two battles, Dragon Knight Karl had leapt from a minorly known bounty hunter to a big shot with a first bounty breaking a billion.

Such feats, such a path—

In Doflamingo’s eyes, it was a legendary ascent.

As long as Karl didn’t die along the way, by the time he reached a certain age—perhaps even before then—he would be able to contend with the sovereigns.

As long as his strength met the bar and he added a bit more to his record,

one shout in the New World would bring countless pirates to his banner,

and a newborn hegemon would be born.

A master investor and deal-maker, Doflamingo had his eye on this stock. He wanted ties with Karl before the rise.

Best would be a close cooperation like his with Kaido.

Then both this era’s hegemon and the next would be his backers.

Gild Tesoro’s interest was even simpler.

He’d dreamed of the legendary Golden Bell for ages.

Over twenty meters tall, taking up half the deck of a large three-master, forged entirely of gold.

How many tons of gold did it take to make that bell?

If he could acquire it, his strength would rise sharply.

As a Gold-Gold Fruit user, the more gold Tesoro commands, the stronger he becomes.

That’s why he’s been buying up gold worldwide at high prices for years.

As the world’s richest man, he already treated belli like scrap paper.

Money no longer mattered.

He could toss away hundreds of billions—enough to buy a small kingdom—without blinking to please Mary Geoise and the Celestial Dragons.

What he needed now was power, and power was tied to gold.

If he could purchase large stores of gold, he’d gladly pay one time over, several times, even over tenfold.

Thus—

Once he heard Karl had somehow entered the New World, Tesoro immediately sent people to where Karl’s crew might make land next, ready to offer sincere terms for buying the Golden Bell.

But neither Doflamingo nor Gild Tesoro knew

that while they turned their gaze toward Karl, Karl’s crew were holding a discussion.

"Karl, why are the Dressrosa Eternal Pose and the one for Gran Tesoro ’must buys’?"

On the long sofa with the Golden Bell behind her, Karina toyed with the two Eternal Poses, eyes intent on Karl. "Gran Tesoro makes sense. Even though Nami’s a Float-Float user now, the world’s richest man, the ’Emperor of Gold’ Gild Tesoro, runs the biggest gold exchange on earth."

"But what about Dressrosa?"

Tilting her head, Karina asked curiously, "If I’m not wrong, the king of Dressrosa is the Warlord Heavenly Yaksha, Donquixote Doflamingo. Back on Jaya I took down one of his men and robbed billions in belli. I should be his enemy, right? Are we going to take him out?"

"No. Quite the opposite..."

Using "training" as an excuse to have Nami float fruit one by one with the Float-Float, Karl munched the snacks drifting into his mouth and waved a finger. "I plan... to make a friend."

"Eh?!"

All four, Robin included, blinked.

"Did I mishear?"

Karina dug at her ear and asked, "Swallow first and say that again—make a friend with who?"

"Gulp... Doflamingo, of course."

Karl swallowed the not-quite-chewed fruit.

Karina, now sure she hadn’t misheard, palmed her forehead. "I stole billions from him. Best case he lets it slide without killing me—how could he be friends with us?"

"If he meant to deal with me, he would have sent someone before I got famous."

But Karl, who still remembered Doflamingo vividly, smiled with full confidence. "He didn’t then, and he won’t now."

"Why?"

"Because he can’t beat me."

Karl grinned, as if it were obvious. "If he can’t beat me, he won’t—and doesn’t dare—try. That’s the key to making him a friend."

"Karl, why suddenly befriend a ’legal pirate’?" Robin asked.

After so long together—even Karina, the childhood friend, could tell Karl had stopped playing dumb months ago.

The boy who acted straightforward on the surface moved every step by design now.

Especially Robin, who’d sworn to help keep secrets—she’d seen him lie without blinking more than once.

Put simply, he shouldn’t be called Dragon Knight; he should be Black Knight—the kind with a pitch-black mind.

The Nefertari royal he targeted not only took him to the Poneglyph but gifted him their hereditary black stone sarcophagus.

The sky lord he targeted and the Golden Lion both saw their fruits appear with Little White and Nami.

He even targeted Little White’s racial talent and used that special gift to find a loophole in Devil Fruits, making himself the only ability user in the sea unfettered by seawater or Sea Prism Stone.

Karina wasn’t the crew’s brain—Karl was. Robin wasn’t either.

Her scope and means couldn’t keep up with him.

One thing was sure: if Karl wanted to befriend Doflamingo, he had an agenda.

Perhaps Doflamingo was the next poor soul in his sights.

"Because it lets me avoid a long, rough detour in the strongest sea."

Karl laced his fingers behind his head. "The Celestial Dragon incident made it clear: until my fist is stronger than everyone’s, one man’s fist cannot block a coalition of fists of the same level—or even a bit weaker."

"The overlords of this sea are the latter."

"My current strength can injure them, and the Rumble-Rumble keeps me un-defeatable, but overall I’m still short of them—while they aren’t alone, and command many strong subordinates."

"On my side I have Little White and Karina. Once my overall strength catches up, even with just a few of us, I won’t fear an entire pirate crew."

He looked at the women and gave the reason he wanted Doflamingo as a friend: "So I need external force to raise my strength."

"The best way is to complete a third evolution."

He shook his head. "But it’s only been a few months since the second. I’d have to go to the Boin Archipelago and eat for a year or more to touch the bottleneck. I won’t choose something so timid and dull."

"Ruling out evolution, I can only sharpen Fruit mastery and martial skill—grow my Haki."

"Especially body arts and Haki. I need stronger techniques and applications."

"Doflamingo straddles both the lawful world and the underworld—a pirate, a member-nation kingmaker, and a shadow king all in one. He’s my shortcut."

"I see."

The women finally understood.

Expanding connections and befriending a figure who operates in both light and shadow was far more beneficial than not.

"What about Gran Tesoro?" Karina asked. "Are you going to befriend the Emperor of Gold too?"

"No..."

Karl smiled, meaningful. "He’s not worthy to be my friend—he’s only worthy to be the bridge for ’eternal friendship’ between me and Doflamingo."

"...There lies a key step toward my dream."

"???"

Big question marks popped over the women’s heads.

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