Chapter 48
BOOM!
The noise vibrated as the huge fist of the giant man met Bartolomeo's transparent barrier.
"This strength...!"
Bartolomeo was sweating profusely, trying his best to maintain the barrier. However, the extent of stamina that the barrier chipped away from him every time the giant man punched his barrier was simply excruciating.
Bartolomeo couldn't help but think,
'This guy... his strength is on the same level as captain!'
BOOM!
Another strike was inflicted onto his barrier, and Bartolomeo found his breath quickening.
Meanwhile, the giant man too seemed frustrated, unable to believe that he was unable to break the thin barrier in front of him.
"How ridiculous..."
Just then, the sky was filled with bounty posters—ones that were released by news coos who went past the sky above them. Halting the fight momentarily, the giant man and Bartolomeo looked up.
Gulping in nervousness, a curious civilian gathered up the scattered bounty posters and lifted them up. He then widened his eyes as he looked back and forth between Bartolomeo and the bounty posters in his hands.
"Jean Bart!"
Then, the civilian cried at the giant man,
"That guy whom you're facing, he's 'Cannibal' Bartolomeo who has 33 million Beli on his head! Watch out!"
"But I haven't done anything here!!"
Growling in frustration, Bartolomeo retorted. The giant man, whose name was revealed as Jean Bart, glared back at him.
"But soon, you will."
"No, I won't!"
"And how do I trust the words of a criminal? One with quite a sum of bounty on his head?"
"Uh, um..."
Bartolomeo paused there. He thought a little, and eventually concluded,
"...Huh."
that Jean Bart's hostility was completely understandable.
"Glad to see that you've understood your situation."
Jean Bart then raised his fist back up,
"And therefore, let us continue."
"W-Wha?! Wait wait wait!!"
In panic, Bartolomeo frantically shook his head.
"I'm not here to do anything harmful to you folks!! I was just here to enjoy my time, and my money was stolen!! Do you get it?! I'm the victim here, not—"
As Bartolomeo's eyes nervously rolled all over his surroundings, he found one bounty poster that was present on the ground. Frowning, he lifted it up and saw,
*'Hammer Fist' Jean Bart. 68 Million Beli. Wanted Dead or Alive.*
"..."
In silence, Bartolomeo raised his head and blankly stared at Jean Bart. Jean Bart seemed confused, and Bartolomeo then roared,
"You're a pirate?!"
"And what if I am?"
"And what do you mean 'unable to trust the words of a criminal' when you ARE a criminal yourself?!"
Immediately after Bartolomeo's words, the civilians who's been spectating them shouted.
"Don't call Jean Bart a criminal!"
"Yeah! He's the one who kicked out those despicable marines out of our land!!"
"So what if he's a pirate captain?! I prefer good pirates over evil marines!!"
Bartolomeo was stupefied. Taking an unconscious step back, he was filled with nothing but frustration from his head to toe.
Under the bombardments of the words, Bartolomeo sighed deeply before crossing his fingers, knowing that there was only one option left for him.
Without any further words, Jean Bart then proceeded to punch forth, intending to subdue Bartolomeo. However, he was then forced to stop as someone interfered,
"Jean Bart, hold on for a second!"
Stepping right in-between Jean Bart and Bartolomeo was the woman—one whom Bartolomeo bumped into just a second ago. Jean Bart, with widened eyes, stopped his fist before it ended up crashing into the woman.
"Kumi! What are you doing?!"
Bartolomeo, on the other hand, pointed his shaky finger at the woman and cried,
"Y-Y-Y-Y-You!!! You're the one!! Give my money back to me, thief!!"
The woman, called Kumi, sighed in guilt before throwing the pouch at Bartolomeo. Seeing that, Jean Bart muttered,
"So you really did steal?"
"...Sorry."
Jean Bart then stared at Bartolomeo, who was hugging and kissing on his pouch in an exaggerated manner. People around sweatdropped, wondering if this guy had few screws loose in his head.
In the end, Jean Bart couldn't help but scratch the back of his head. He was about to say something to Bartolomeo, before,
BOOM!
a noise was heard from distant, which instantly earned everyone's attention.
"What's happening?!"
Bartolomeo yelped as he jumped up from his spot. He turned to look at the direction in which the noise came from, and found his eyes popping out,
"Nami?!!"
Just as he said, Nami was combating a burly woman who was wearing a thick metal armour.
"...'Weather Witch' Nami."
Eyeing Bartolomeo, Jean Bart opened his mouth,
"Isn't she your crew member?"
"Yes she is! But,"
Bartolomeo pulled his hair, filled with confusion,
"Just who is she fighting?!"
__________
"Baroque Works...!"
Nami glared at 'Ms.Thursday' whom she was facing.
"For what reason are you targeting us?!"
Said Ms.Thursday, though not in a good state due to Nami's fire, snorted back at her,
"Isn't it natural for bounty hunters to hunt pirates? We attacked you for money and nothing more!"
She then mumbled to herself,
"...Though there is a certain reason for us coming to this island."
Dismissing her thought, Ms.Thursday then narrowed her eyes at Nami.
"I too have a question for you then. How is it that you know us? From where have you heard the name Baroque Works from?"
Nami, in response, simply stuck her tongue out playfully.
"Beh~ why would I tell you that?"
Ms.Thursday growled.
"Why you little...!!"
Then, the torrent of fire rushed over her. Ms.Thursday clicked her tongue before raising her guard and curling up her top-half of her body. Brazenly, she then began to charge through the fire, intending to do a body slam onto Nami who should be at the end of this fire torrent.
"You aren't that bright, are you?"
However, Nami's voice was heard from elsewhere as Ms.Thursday ended up slamming into the wall.
"Is it that you've never experienced logia-type devil fruit before, or that you simply can't think of a better way to battle against me?"
The fire began to sip into the armour. The armour itself has become hot to an extent it began to scorch Ms.Thursday's skin. Unable to endure the pain, Ms.Thursday screamed in horror.
Watching this from some distance away, Nami couldn't help but laugh dryly, wondering where her foe got the confidence from.
Finally, the fire was subdued upon Nami's will, and all that remained in place was the unconscious Ms.Thursday who was overly cooked.
"...This ended a lot quicker than what I expected."
Dismissing Ms.Thursday, Nami was about to get back to her belongings that were on the ground and salvage what she could. However,
"Nami!"
upon seeing Bartolomeo who was running at her with the huge man next to him, Jean Bart, Nami had to postpone her plan.
__________
Mr.11. He, along with Ms.Thursday, were the frontier agents of Baroque Works.
As Ms.Thursday takes all the attention and tanks, he were to snipe the enemies from far away. Even if he were to be targeted, he could easily escape and continue his role using the power of his devil fruit: Clone Clone fruit.
Currently, he was capable of producing two clone bodies at once from 300 meters away. Those clone bodies, though their durability far lacks in comparison to him, possessed his skills and experiences—because he was the one to 'remote control' them.
Precisely, he was able to get clones working only by shifting his consciousness from his original body to said 'clone body'. When he does so, his original body becomes non-functional, and as such, it was necessary to ensure that his original body was kept hidden in a place where no one could find.
Reloading his sniper rifle with a grim expression, Mr.11 thought,
'There is no way that you'll be able to find my original body! And as long as that's the case,'
the clone body which Nami previously burned away has already regenerated, and if this clone body were to fall under attack, he could always shift his consciousness into the other one!
'there is no way that I'd lose against someone like you!'
However, there was a problem: Mr.11 lost the sight of Deuce. The latter was nowhere to be seen, and Mr.11 couldn't help but raise his caution, knowing that Deuce can pop out from anywhere.
Then, he abruptly began to cough blood out of his mouth.
"...What—"
Mr.11's vision shifted, before he found himself inside a trash can with a bullet right in his chest. Above him stood Deuce, who was holding his nose with his other hand.
Mr.11 realized that he's returned back to his original body which received a critical damage.
"How..."
Mr.11, with bloodshot eyes, snarled at Deuce,
"How did you find me..."
Deuce, who didn't lower his caution, replied stoically,
"I checked that your first body that was burned away has been regenerated at the same place, but was unresponsive. Based on that, I was able to confirm my hypothesis that you are able to make a physical clone of yourself, but can only control one by one. I thought that your actual body should be the same—unable to move when you control your clone. Furthermore, based on said regeneration, I deduced that you can generate a clone from some distance away. However, there must be a limit, right?"
Deuce then reached into his pocket and revealed a roughly drawn diagram on top of a wrinkled paper slip.
"I drew circles around the location of these two clones. Though I don't know the specific range, I calculated that you must not be too far away from that armoured woman, who'd be able to protect you if something were to go wrong. Combining that with the area in which two circles overlap, I came to conclude that somewhere within this alley is the mostly likely to be the place where you hid your actual body."
Throwing the paper away, Deuce then shrugged,
"But I guess it's largely by luck that I managed to find you."
"Damn... it..."
Mr.11 gritted his teeth, but there was nothing he could do. His view was fading, and eventually, he fell into the world of unconsciousness, as Deuce put the pistol back in his holster and proceeded to walk away.
__________
"Baroque Works is a large, hierarchical syndicate that actively participates in numerous criminal activities. This organization values secrecy above all, and all members are to hide their identities by using 'code names' instead of their actual names."
The blue-haired woman, Ms.Wednesday, explained to Rowan.
"The agents in the organization are classified as Millions, Billions, Frontier Agents, Officer Agents, and Administrators. Millions are composed of the agents with lowest statuses and can be promoted to Billions. Millions and Billions are where most of the agents belong to, and Billions, if they showcase their exceptional capabilities, get to be promoted to Frontier Agents. If Frontier Agents reach the rank of Mr.5 and onward, they are considered the Officer Agents—the top elites.
Frontier Agents and Officer Agents are considered the 'executives' of the organization. They directly receive orders from the messenger of the administrator whose code name is 'Ms.All Sunday'. In this organization... Ms.Tuesday was the one who found us and helped us in getting promoted from Billions to Frontier Agents, after finding out that we share the same goal."
Rowan didn't say anything, and Mr.12 gulped. Taking a breath, Ms.Wednesday then continued,
"We aimed to destroy the organization from the inside. To do so, we thought that assassinating the man who was speculated to be the administrator of the organization, Mr.1, would suffice."
Mr.Wednesday's face darkened. She, in a shaky voice, spoke,
"However, Ms.Tuesday, a month ago, was somehow caught and locked. Before that happened to her, she left a message to us—that if something were happen to her, we should seek for you and ask to find her at the basement of Rainbase—a city in Alabasta kingdom."
"..."
Rowan couldn't help but chuckle dryly.
Carina did mention that she planned on taking her revenge on Baroque Works, but still, to receive her news in this way... he felt like sighing.
As Mr.12 and Ms.Wednesday stared at Rowan in nervousness, Rowan finally spoke up.
"Is it only the three of you? Is there no one else who's taking a part of this plan?"
Ms.Wednesday said in caution,
"There is one more, but I am unsure if it will be fine for me to reveal his identity to you."
"Then,"
Rowan gazed at the forest behind Mr.12 and Ms.Wednesday,
"Who are they?"
Wondering what Rowan was saying, the two of them froze. At the same time, voices were heard from their back,
"Buhahaha! Who knew that Mr.3's hunch would've been correct?"
"I told you that something was off about these two!"
Turning around, Ms.Wednesday's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Mr.7... and Ms.Father's Day..."
Mr.12 and Ms.Wednesday were filled with horror. In contrast, however, Rowan simply sat in a dull expression, being unable to feel any sort of alert against those who stood ahead of him.
He simply yawned as he watched the scene unfold.