Meanwhile, five days had passed since the 'Blonde Lady' arrived at Little Garden when the Officer Agents, represented by Mr. Three, finally explained the reason for such a massive operation.
Among members of the organization, Mr. Three—Galdino, known as the 'Loan Shark', with a bounty of twenty-four million berries—was considered the smartest, and he certainly looked the part. White trousers, a blue sleeveless shirt with white stripes, stylish blue-framed glasses, a Log Pose on his left wrist, and... the number three woven from his own hair atop his head.
Mr. Three might have been weaker than Mr. One and Mr. Two, but he surpassed both of them by a wide margin when it came to public speaking, planning, and understanding people. When Galdino announced the reason Baroque Works had gathered its forces before all the assembled captains, the first and last of those qualities became particularly important.
No other Officer Agent in his position would have bothered with additional explanations. Nor would they have been able to explain things properly, because they themselves did not understand much of it. Galdino simply began improvising.
"You heard correctly," he said with a calm nod after an almost deafening silence fell over the small clearing following the announcement of their objective. "Our primary target is the 'Pirate Slayers'. Mr. Zero gathered all of us on this island because of them. The 'Pirate Slayers' are expected to arrive in several days, and by then we need to prepare properly."
Despite everything Galdino had already said, the people still looked bewildered. The words themselves were perfectly understandable, but the meaning kept slipping away. Why gather forces like these against some conceited idiot? Any single Officer Agent should have been more than enough.
Murmurs began spreading through the crowd, everyone convinced there had to be some catch. Fortunately for all of them, Galdino's reputation as the smartest member of Baroque Works was not exaggerated in the slightest.
"I can see that many of you still don't understand!" Mr. Three reacted instantly, catching the mood of the crowd. "To begin with, allow me to point out that each of the two giants fighting on this island carries a bounty of one hundred million berries."
Little Garden. Long ago the island had been given that name by one of the Grand Line's most famous explorers. The explorer had chosen the name after meeting the two giants who lived there, because to them the island—hardly small by any ordinary standard—really did resemble nothing more than a modest garden.
For perspective, the average adult giant stood twenty-three meters tall. Little Garden was a prehistoric island, complete with the appropriate flora and fauna, yet among all the enormous dinosaurs living there, only a few exceptionally large long-necks could even come close to matching the height of the island's true masters.
"You don't need to worry. Nobody is going to make you fight those two giants," Mr. Three continued. "I developed a plan to eliminate them a long time ago, and I've already put it into motion. Those two idiots have already lost. They simply don't know it yet."
That timely clarification greatly relieved the assembled captains. None of Galdino's listeners had any desire to test their strength against actual giants.
Dorry and Brogy, as they had introduced themselves, had become curious about the unusually large concentration of people and had visited the Baroque Works camp several times over the last few days. Aside from the opportunity to acquire free alcohol, however, almost nothing else particularly interested them.
They had both found it highly amusing to learn that their island had been chosen as the site of a future battle. The reason was obvious. Dorry and Brogy had been fighting one another for an entire hundred years, and Little Garden had served as their battlefield throughout that time.
"I would also like to remind each of you that Roronoa Zoro, better known to the world as the 'Pirate Killer', has a bounty of two hundred million berries," Mr. Three continued calmly. "Add to that the bounties on Yosaku the 'Butcher' and Johnny the 'Beheader'. The Government values them at fifty million berries combined, which, together with their captain and the giants, gives us a total of five hundred million berries."
The eyes of the gathered men practically lit up as greed flared inside them. Five hundred million berries was an astronomical sum even when divided among all the forces of Baroque Works. If split equally, every single person could receive more than fifty thousand berries. Naturally, everyone understood perfectly well that there would be no 'equal' division. And that was wonderful.
From the point of view of everyone present, an unequal split was much better than an equal one. The clearing was full of captains and commanders, some of whom were no worse than the Blue-Haired Devil himself, who had more than two hundred people under his command.
If the reward were divided equally, the Blue-Haired Devil's crew alone would receive more than ten million berries.
Who in their right mind would honestly divide money like that? An unequal split was much better. You could throw the crew a magnificent feast, give a few people small bonuses—or not—and pocket the remaining millions yourself.
"I see that you're beginning to understand the main reason we're on this island," Mr. Three said with some smugness, noticing the shift in everyone's mood. "Even so, don't forget that this operation will also serve as excellent training for all our forces. Every one of you knows the Boss's plan has reached its final stage, so mistakes are unacceptable. Once we're finished with everything on Little Garden, all of us will immediately redeploy to Alabasta. And then our reward won't be long in coming!"
A joyful roar swept across the clearing in response to Galdino's final words.
"And finally, allow me to share one more very pleasant piece of news," Mr. Three continued, his smugness reaching its absolute peak. "As you know, the 'Pirate Slayers' have among their crew a certain 'Queen' Nami, whose Government bounty is twenty million berries. Compared with the other members of the crew, that bounty hardly seems noteworthy. In reality, however, things are somewhat different."
He paused for effect.
"Rumors have spread around the world that the 'Queen's' beauty may rival that of the legendary 'Empress' Boa Hancock, who bears the title of the Most Beautiful Woman in the World. Naturally, rumors like that attracted the attention of many wealthy people. No, that's not quite right—allow me to correct myself. The 'Queen' attracted the attention not merely of wealthy people, but of extremely wealthy people."
The men's attention sharpened instantly.
"Which is why I can promise you, here and now, that if you manage to capture the 'Queen' alive, your final reward will increase several times over. To put things in perspective, one man offered to buy the 'Queen' from me for an absolutely incredible sum." Mr. Three smiled. "One billion berries."
For the first couple of seconds, everyone simply stared at Mr. Three in stunned silence. Then a new deafening roar shook the clearing, several times louder than the last.
"The 'Pirate Slayers' are expected to arrive within a few days, so by then you must be at maximum combat readiness," Galdino added after waiting for the men's excitement to settle somewhat. "Killing them won't be a problem for us, but ideally we should take all of them alive. Especially, as you understand, the 'Queen'."
Another roar answered Mr. Three, only this one was less joyful or delighted and far more ferocious.
The gathered men were already calculating in their heads how much money they personally might receive from the rewards. Now they were ready to do absolutely anything to capture the 'Pirate Slayers'. Need to motivate people properly? Promise them mountains of gold and a bright future. A method that had worked flawlessly since the dawn of time.
"We still have plenty of work ahead of us, but as I already said, the reward won't be long in coming. That's all from me. Now disperse and share the news with your people. I'm sure they've been waiting impatiently."
With those words, Galdino ended his mostly improvised speech.
Jumping down from the enormous boulder that had served as a natural podium, the man headed straight toward a nearby 'house'. Against the bright green colors of the prehistoric jungle, the so-called 'house' stood out like a sore thumb. White, as though cast entirely from wax, it was shaped like a long rectangle. Only a pair of windows and the light glowing inside made it look like a house rather than something else entirely.
"A wonderful speech, Mr. Three!" The instant Galdino stepped inside, he was greeted by a tall, beautiful woman with blue hair arranged in an elaborate style and dressed in a highly provocative outfit. It consisted of a short, long-sleeved jacket trimmed in pale fur, a bikini top with an unusual pattern resembling a spiderweb converging around her navel, tight low-rise trousers, and platform shoes.
She looked about twenty-five. Her name was Zala, nicknamed the 'Poisonous Spider', with a bounty of thirty-five million berries. Her Baroque Works codename was Miss Doublefinger.
"Sending you was definitely the right decision," she continued. "You're exceptionally good at filling people's heads with nonsense."
"You're absolutely right, Miss Doublefinger!" Galdino replied without the slightest embarrassment.
"Mr. Three, I want tea!" a small girl sitting at the table interrupted their conversation while staring at a cup of tea... which was sitting on that same table within easy reach of her hand.
"Miss Goldenweek, really, you shouldn't be this lazy." Galdino sighed heavily, yet still walked over to the table, picked up the cup, and handed it to the girl.
"Thank you."
Marianne, nicknamed the 'Flag-Bearer of Freedom' and known within Baroque Works as Miss Goldenweek, carried a bounty of twenty-nine million berries and was already in her seventeenth year of life. You would never have guessed her real age by looking at her. At most, she appeared ten years old.
Dark-red hair was gathered into two braids beneath a wide-brimmed pink hat. She wore a dark-blue T-shirt beneath a light-blue shirt decorated with clouds, a dark burgundy skirt, striped white-and-blue tights, and large red shoes with white soles.
The funniest thing was that despite looking like an elementary-school student, she somehow did not seem out of place among the people around her. And it was a remarkably colorful group.
"You spoil her too much, Mr. Three," said a huge, completely bald man calmly.
Had any member of the Straw Hat family been present, they would have been surprised by how strongly the bald giant resembled Zoro. Not physically. It was the aura around them. Both men strongly resembled razor-sharp blades drenched in blood. Looking at either of them, the word 'killer' came naturally to mind.
And if anyone dug a little deeper, they would be surprised to learn that behind the identity of Mr. One stood Daz Bones, once a famous bounty hunter from West Blue nicknamed the 'Killer'. There was also a seventy-five-million-berry bounty on his head—not all that far below Zoro's own recent bounty.
"I'm not spoiling her. I'm simply choosing the lesser of two evils," Galdino objected.
"..."
Purely in terms of appearance, however, Mr. One stood noticeably taller than the green-haired swordsman, while his massively overdeveloped arms and legs were hardly inferior to Johnny's or Yosaku's. His expression was indifferent: square jaw, large lips, and dark-brown eyes staring at the world from beneath a single connected brow.
An open dark sleeveless coat revealed a huge tattoo covering the man's entire chest, shaped like an archaic symbol representing the number 'one'. Loose beige trousers, secured by a white belt around his waist, were tucked into the wrappings encircling his calves. Combined with his powerful build and sun-darkened, weather-beaten skin, the outfit made him look like some sort of 'desert wanderer'. Or a bandit, considering the aura around him and his perpetually grim face.