After speaking, Doflamingo casually hooked his threads onto the clouds in the sky. In the blink of an eye, he vanished.
Watching him come and go so abruptly, Chenos couldn't help muttering to himself, What is this, a bathroom break?
But in the very next second, Chenos understood why Doflamingo had left in such a hurry.
Because Chenos sensed it—
The Marines were already rushing this way.
And at the front was someone wearing the unmistakable Justice cape.
"…Damn it. Did I really draw a Marine Vice Admiral?"
Chenos immediately dropped his sarcasm, spun around, and sprinted toward where Tesoro was waiting. The moment he reached him, Chenos grabbed him and bolted.
It wasn't that Chenos couldn't fight the Marines.
But winning against them wouldn't bring him anything good—only a bounty and permanent attention from the Navy. Right now, that was the last thing he wanted.
After all, even someone as strong as Doflamingo had once been chased across the seas by Vice Admiral Tsuru, only finding peace after becoming one of the Seven Warlords.
With the treasure chest in one hand and Tesoro in the other, Chenos burned stamina without restraint, sprinting straight toward Shakky's Rip-off Bar.
If there was one place on Sabaody that could be called absolutely safe, this was it.
With the Dark King Rayleigh stationed here, even a Marine Admiral wouldn't dare do anything reckless.
Seeing the two of them burst into the bar, Shakky smiled.
"You little brats really stirred up something huge on the island," she teased.
"Looks like after today, you're going to be famous."
Having just fought Doflamingo and then sprinted nonstop with Rebound Step while dragging Tesoro along, Chenos collapsed flat on the floor.
"I don't want that kind of fame…"
"Chenos… I'm sorry," Tesoro said guiltily.
"This is all because you were helping me get the Devil Fruit. You worked yourself to exhaustion, and I—"
Chenos glanced at the still-empty bar before cutting him off.
"If we're brothers, don't get all awkward like that. Hurry up—eat the Gold-Gold Fruit."
Taking the fruit from Chenos's hands, Tesoro looked at him with deep emotion, then nodded heavily.
"…Yeah."
He opened his mouth wide and took a massive bite.
Then he chewed.
Halfway through, Tesoro's face instantly turned pitch-black.
An indescribably nauseating sensation erupted—not from his tongue, but from deep within his soul. It completely ignored his sense of taste, making resistance impossible.
Still, Tesoro knew how much Chenos had gone through—fighting a great pirate like Doflamingo just to obtain this fruit.
Clenching his teeth, he forced himself to swallow.
Then, gritting his teeth, he took another bite.
And another.
Chew. Swallow.
Before long, he had eaten the entire Gold-Gold Fruit.
Chenos reached out to stop him—but Tesoro ate far too fast. By the time Chenos opened his mouth, it was already gone.
"…Uh, Tesoro. Actually… you only need one bite to gain a Devil Fruit's power—"
"Pfft—HAHAHAHA!"
Seeing Tesoro's expression—like someone who had just eaten something unspeakable—Chenos tried to hold it in, but completely failed and burst into laughter.
Shakky covered her mouth, laughing softly as well.
Though he was being mercilessly teased, Tesoro didn't mind. Instead, he began checking his body anxiously, trying to sense any changes.
After a long moment, he frowned.
"…Nothing's different."
Chenos laughed.
"The Gold-Gold Fruit lets you freely control gold. If there's no gold around, of course you won't feel anything. If you want to train your ability, we'll need to make some money first."
Tesoro broke into a confident grin.
"Haha! In that case, leave making money to me from now on!"
Chenos rolled his eyes.
"That's the whole point! Why else would I go through all that trouble getting you the Gold-Gold Fruit? I'm counting on you to earn money and support me!"
"Hahaha! No problem—I'll take care of you from now on!"
After the laughter died down, Chenos ordered two beers from Shakky. Sitting together with Tesoro, he began laying out their future plans.
"Tesoro, our ultimate target is the Celestial Dragons. That means we need power—and to get power on the sea, the fastest way is to form a pirate crew."
"But right now, it's just the two of us. That's far too thin."
"We need strong companions. And I already have someone in mind for our next member—Brother Fisher."
"Both of us are Devil Fruit users. We must have someone capable of rescuing us in the sea. Brother Fisher is a powerful Fish-Man—he's exactly who we need."
At first, Tesoro felt excited. Both Chenos and Fisher were benefactors he deeply respected. If Fisher joined, he'd be thrilled.
But then Tesoro frowned.
"Chenos… Brother Fisher… really hates humans."
Chenos understood the implication immediately.
No matter how good their relationship was, convincing someone who despised humans to board their ship wouldn't be easy.
Chenos knew this better than anyone.
From what Chenos remembered, Fisher had died because he refused to receive human blood. But that was only the surface.
The truth was that Fisher had already lost the will to live.
He had once opened his heart—escorting Koala, a fellow former slave, back to her hometown—only to be betrayed by the villagers, who reported his location to the Marines.
That betrayal shattered him completely.
From that moment on, he sought death.
It was precisely because Chenos didn't want to see Fisher walk down that tragic path again that he had never stopped thinking about bringing Fisher aboard.
Fisher was also the lifesaving benefactor of both him and Tesoro.
No matter what, Chenos wanted to stop Fisher from walking that tragic road again..
Chenos said firmly,
"I'll convince Brother Fisher to join us."
Tesoro nodded just as resolutely.
"Yeah. Let's invite Brother Fisher together."
At that moment, Shakky—who had been listening with interest from behind the bar—pulled out a wanted poster.
"The Fisher you're talking about… is it this guy?" she asked.
"He's currently wanted by the Marines. Bounty: 330 million Beli."
She chuckled lightly.
"Quite the character. He stormed Mary Geoise, and a Celestial Dragon later died from the incident. Impressive."
Chenos stared at the poster, stunned.
"…Huh? Brother Fisher is being blamed for a Celestial Dragon's death too?"
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