The breeze was gentle, the sun warm, and the Twilight slowly cruised along the Grand Line.
Shano had just finished his morning training. He leaned against the ship's railing, holding a steaming cup of coffee in his hand, enjoying the ocean view and this rare moment of peace.
Someone tiptoed closer and reached a little hand from under his armpit, aiming for the coffee cup.
But the moment the fingers touched the cup, Shano slapped the hand away without mercy.
"Ow—! That hurt!"
"What are you doing? Even bitter coffee without sugar, you're trying to steal it?" Shano said grumpily. "Uncle Zeff brewed a whole pot of coffee early this morning. If you want some, go pour it yourself."
"The kitchen's too far…" Nami popped out from his arms, looking up at him pitifully.
"You're so lazy it's amazing."
Shano was already immune to her antics and didn't bother entertaining her.
He suddenly noticed the newspaper in Nami's hand and raised an eyebrow. "You already ran into the news birds this early? Still no report on Crocodile?"
"I looked through the whole thing from front to back—didn't see a word."
Nami, puffing her cheeks in frustration, rolled the newspaper into a tube and smacked it loudly against the railing. "It's already been a whole week! The World Economic News is so slow!"
Seriously, what is Morgans doing?!
Her big bro might not be in a rush, but she was!
More than anyone, she wanted to see her big bro's bounty jump up again and shake the whole Grand Line.
And yet, something this huge didn't even cause a ripple?
"It's been a week already, huh…"
Shano slowly sipped his black coffee, letting the bitterness spread over his tongue. "If things are still quiet after all this time, it's not about Morgans being slow anymore—it's obvious someone up top is deliberately suppressing the news."
"He's dead already, how can they suppress it?"
Nami pouted.
"They can hold it down for a while."
Shano thought out loud. "Looks like Marine HQ is trying to buy time. Before the news leaks, they want to save a bit of face."
Crocodile's conspiracy hadn't been exposed, so in the Navy's eyes, he was still a model of the Seven Warlords—practically one of their own.
Even more so, he had died because he followed orders from HQ to go capture Shano.
Even the most heartless company would call that a workplace accident. There's no way they'd let him just die for nothing.
So right now, Marine HQ's biggest wish was probably to catch Shano as soon as possible.
Then, they could follow up with the announcement of Crocodile's death—at least that way, they wouldn't look too embarrassed.
"Oh…"
Nami replied weakly, unclear if she was even listening.
She was sprawled over the railing like a seaweed drying in the sun. Even her orange hair seemed to lose its shine.
No new bounty posters. Life had lost all its flavor.
Just thinking about how no one knew her big bro had defeated a Warlord so awesomely—ahhhh! She just couldn't stand it! So frustrating!
"Where's your sister?" Shano asked. "She was up at 4 a.m. training, and now it's breakfast time and she's still not out?"
"Not yet." Nami propped her chin up. "She's been training harder every day lately. Doesn't stop until ten at night. I think she'll keep going like this until she finally masters Armament Haki."
Shano didn't respond—he could understand Nojiko.
She was just like he had been back then. A strong and prideful person.
Not like the shameless, carefree Nami.
Watching the rest of the crew mastering Haki one by one while she remained the only one without it… it was eating her up inside.
Yes—
Right now, the Twilight Adventurers had basically achieved full-team Haki, thanks to the buff from the Falcon Statue.
Smoker didn't even count—he came on board already having it.
That guy was one of Zephyr's top students. Even before graduating from the Marine elite camp, he had already mastered both types of Haki.
Among the other crew members, the first to learn Armament Haki was Kuina.
Her talent as a swordswoman was enviable. Just three days after leaving Twin Cape, she could already use hardening and coating.
Now she was trying to master external emission and merge Haki with sword aura—her progress was impressive.
Next came Zeff. The old man learned it after they left Whisky Peak.
As for Gin…
That guy's talent was a total mystery. As he got older, his physical strength just kept going up like a balloon inflating. He didn't even need to train.
And his Armament Haki? It was like he felt embarrassed watching everyone else get it—so he somehow just learned it too.
"Go call her for breakfast."
Shano sighed and said, "If she won't come out, just bring her three meals—don't forget."
"Mhm." Nami nodded. She was used to food delivery. Back when they were kids, she and Nojiko had taken plenty of meals up the mountain to their big bro during his grueling training.
Once Nami disappeared from sight, Shano took another sip of coffee and opened his system panel.
It had already been a month since the last market refresh. He had originally planned to sip his coffee while browsing, if Nami hadn't interrupted him.
—A bluish translucent interface unfolded before his eyes.
The first six items didn't interest him at all. He swiped past one after another, frowning. Something felt off.
There were only ten items total. If over half were duds, would he walk away empty-handed again?
Thankfully, the seventh item finally made his eyes light up the moment it appeared.
[High-Grade Pet Egg]
[Type: Special Item]
[Price: 4000 Points]
[Description: Upon purchase, a high-grade pet cub will be randomly rolled. Low-grade bloodlines are excluded. The lowest possible grade is A-rank. Initial loyalty depends on species and host's first impression.]
[Seller Notes: None. Sold directly by system.]
...
Another pet egg?
And a high-grade one too… Shano couldn't help but be tempted. This was a guaranteed high-rarity draw!
Back in Cocoa Village, he had used a normal pet egg to get Gin with an A+ bloodline. That alone had already burned through all his luck.
If this had just been a normal pet egg again, he would've hesitated. The odds of getting trash were just too high.
But this one had a guaranteed A-rank?
He was buying it!
Shano immediately spent the 4,000 points. Back then, that would've been a huge sum, but now… it was manageable.
If he got unlucky and lost a few points, that was fine. But if he managed to hatch a partner and fighter as good as Gin again, that would be a massive win.
He couldn't resist his curiosity and didn't even add it to his cart—he bought it on the spot.
He planned to check the rest of the market after cracking the egg.
4,000 points gone. The high-grade pet egg arrived. Without hesitation, Shano chose to hatch it.
[Rolling for pet… please wait]
[You've obtained a new pet: SnowBotamon]
[Hatching in progress…]
The dice vanished. A silver-white pet egg appeared and began cracking from the top.
In just a few seconds—
The top of the egg shattered completely. A fluffy snowball creature jumped out, blinking its big black eyes and curiously looking around.
"This is it?"
Shano stared dumbfounded at the little guy in his hand.
Cute?
Of course it was cute. It looked like a soft mochi ball, round and fluffy.
Even Gin, back when he was a piglet, couldn't compare to this in terms of cuteness.
If this were a girl's pet, she'd definitely love it to pieces.
But this thing… didn't look like it had A-rank bloodline. And it definitely didn't look like it was worth 4,000 points!
This was a scam!
As if to respond to his grumbling—
The pet egg dissolved into a phantom and disappeared from the system interface. A new row of text immediately popped up:
[Bloodline Rating: S+]
[Initial Loyalty: 80]
[Description: A Digimon baby covered in fluffy white fur, believed to be a variant of Botamon. It was named SnowBotamon due to its white body. If its bond with its master becomes strong enough, this exceptionally gifted Digimon will naturally evolve into its final form.]
[Evolution Path: SnowBotamon → Nyaromon → Salamon → Gatomon → Angewomon]
Shano's expression froze instantly.
Wait, what mon?
Angewomon?!!!
"So it was you!"
Shano instantly switched to an Ochuomelov-level face turn. Smiling brightly, he picked up the little SnowBotamon and gave it a huge affectionate squish.
"Aww, why didn't you say so earlier? What an adorable baby—welcome to this world!"