The casually delivered question, was like an invisible noose tightening around the necks of everyone in the Big Mom Pirates.
'Continue?'
'With what?'
Those bizarre, inescapable thirty seconds had already crushed the pride and fighting spirit of a Yonko crew into fine dust.
Charlotte Linlin's chest heaved violently.
She wanted to roar.
She wanted to swing Napoleon and cleave this lazy man, along with the entire G-5 fortress, straight in half.
But she didn't dare.
That sensation, as if even her soul had been frozen, made her feel something she had never known in decades at sea.
Fear.
Watching the pirates opposite her, each one red-faced, furious yet unable to speak, Renzo yawned, as though even looking at them was too much trouble.
"Since we're not fighting anymore…"
He slowly turned around, like someone heading back to his room for a nap.
The Big Mom Pirates also began preparing to withdraw, shaken and uneasy.
But after only a couple of steps, Renzo suddenly stopped, as if he had remembered something important.
"Oh right. You're not thinking of just leaving like that, are you?"
The pirates froze.
Not leaving?
Were they supposed to stay for dinner?
Perospero, the eldest son, forced down his fear, stepped forward, and plastered on a stiff smile.
"Then… Admiral of the Marines, what exactly do you mean?"
Renzo raised a finger and began counting things off, perfectly calm and reasonable.
"First. You came uninvited. You sailed massive ships in here, made a huge racket, cannon fire everywhere. You scared the flowers and grass at G-5. How do you plan to settle that?"
The Big Mom Pirates: "..."
'Scared the flowers and grass?!'
'What kind of insane excuse was that?!'
Even Kizaru's mouth twitched slightly.
He thought: 'G-5 is basically bald. What flowers and grass?'
'At most… maybe a few scallions behind the cafeteria.'
Renzo ignored their dumbfounded expressions and continued leisurely, "Second, and most importantly, you severely disrupted my precious afternoon tea and nap. This caused me great emotional distress and serious mental trauma."
He pressed a hand to his chest, looking deeply aggrieved.
"Do you have any idea how important an admiral's mental health is to maintaining world peace? You're shaking the very foundation of the world. Can you bear that responsibility?"
Perospero's smile was about to crack.
'Shaking the foundation of the world?'
'Because you couldn't sleep?'
'Isn't that pushing it a bit too far?!'
"So," Renzo concluded.
"Out of humanitarian concern, I won't sink all of you into the sea to feed the fish. That would be too much trouble. Pay up. Pay, and you can leave."
He casually took a piece of paper and pen from Monet, scribbled rapidly, and handed the list back through her.
Perospero took the thin sheet with trembling hands.
After just one glance, his eyes nearly popped out of his skull.
The list read: [Compensation List for the Big Mom Pirates' Invasion of the G-5 Sea Area and Severe Interference with Admiral Renzo's Afternoon Tea]
Mental distress compensation: 5 billion Berries
Compensation for disrupted afternoon tea and nap: 2 billion Berries
G-5 flowers and trees fright compensation: 2.5 billion Berries (friendship discount)
Conqueror's Haki environmental pollution cleanup fee: 300 million Berries
Psychological counseling and nutritional supplements: 1 billion Berries
Total: 10.8 billion Berries
"Pff!"
'Ten billion?!
'Why don't you just rob us?!'
'…Wait, this is basically robbery!'
"Ma ma ma ma ma!!!"
Charlotte Linlin finally snapped.
The rage she had been suppressing erupted like a volcano!
"You bastard Marine!!! You dare extort me?!"
Black-and-red lightning wrapped around her once more as terrifying Conqueror's Haki surged skyward, threatening to tear the heavens apart.
"Mama! Please calm down!"
Katakuri flashed in front of Big Mom instantly, his expression grave.
"Perospero! Calm Mama down!" Smoothie shouted anxiously.
They knew better than anyone how utterly foolish, and fatal, it would be to anger the man before them.
Yet faced with Big Mom's towering fury, Renzo's reaction was infuriatingly flat.
He didn't even raise his eyelids.
He simply stated, matter-of-factly:
"You're loud."
"Fighting is troublesome, you know? You have to move around, you sweat, your clothes get dirty. I hate trouble more than anything."
He slowly lifted his head.
For the first time, those ancient, well-like eyes focused seriously on Charlotte Linlin.
"So I usually prefer simpler, more permanent ways of solving problems."
He extended his right hand toward her and made a gentle motion, as if grasping something… and taking it away.
"For example, making some unnecessary things completely disappear from this world."
"How about those two annoying arms of yours?"
The moment the words fell, an even more horrifying chill, deeper and more soul-piercing than the Sloth Decree, enveloped everyone.
If Sloth Decree was pause…
Then what radiated from Renzo now was erasure.
Finality.
Big Mom's rage was instantly doused, as if icy water from the abyss had been poured over her head.
"You… what are you saying…?"
"Don't understand?" Renzo said impatiently. "Guess I'll need to give you an example."
He scratched his head, as if trying to remember.
"Oh right. Not long ago, there was a guy named Marshall D. Teach, Blackbeard, I think? He was pretty loud too. Shouting about 'dreams never ending' right in front of me… damn annoying."
The name hit everyone like a thunderbolt.
Blackbeard Teach!
The man who stole Whitebeard's power at Marineford, and was later captured and imprisoned in Impel Down!
"I heard…" Renzo continued lazily, with a hint of cruel amusement.
"He's been having trouble eating lately. His favorite cherry pie, can't hold the fork properly."
"After all, without arms, a lot of things become inconvenient, don't they?"
BOOM!
Perospero, Katakuri, and the others felt their minds go completely blank.
Renzo didn't casually erase people, the cost to him was high.
He only did it to those who truly angered him.
After all, he was a kind Marine.
Which made it all the more terrifying.
That wasn't a threat.
It was a calm statement of something he had already done,
and would have no problem doing again.
"MAMA!!!"
Katakuri turned and screamed at the top of his lungs, louder than he ever had in his life.
"GIVE IT TO HIM! WE PAY!!!"
Perospero completely lost it, crawling toward Big Mom in tears.
"Mama! Money can be stolen again! Arms can't be grown back! Think of Blackbeard! He can't even eat cherry pie anymore, Mama!"
Charlotte Linlin stood frozen, her body trembling with terror and rage.
She stared at Renzo's outstretched hand, as if already seeing her proud arms vanish into nothingness, just like Blackbeard's.
A long silence passed.
At last, her thunderous voice was reduced to a single sentence, forced out through clenched teeth, soaked in humiliation.
"…Give it… to him."
Renzo nodded in satisfaction, as if concluding a trivial transaction.
He lowered his hand, returned to his lazy demeanor, and turned to Sanji.
"Alright. That's settled."
"Sanji, remind me. Tonight's seafood gratin. Double cheese."