Aboard the Tequila Pirates' main ship, Tequila.
Back on Earth, Louis had never been fond of exercise.
Partly because he preferred staying indoors.
Partly because progress was invisible.
But the pirate world was different.
After regaining his memories post-transmigration, something about his body had changed. Louis could sense his own strength with microscopic precision.
Every improvement.
Every fraction of growth.
There was an old joke on Earth:
If students could see their learning progress bar, most underachievers would become top scholars.
Louis could feel his training progress bar in real time.
He didn't know where the endpoint was.
But feeling it rise was enough.
It was like grinding levels in a game—no matter how repetitive or dull the mechanics, as long as the experience bar ticked upward, motivation never ran dry.
Otherwise, how could an ordinary man with average willpower push himself daily without fail?
In Robin's quarters, Louis slowly practiced his sword swings.
Technically, he was "serving" her.
In reality, the attentive service masked surveillance and house arrest.
Medica had modified part of the ship to create an inner and outer chamber. Until Robin provided a proper pledge of loyalty, Louis was not allowed to leave her unattended.
"Vice-Captain."
Robin's voice drifted from the inner room, pulling him out of his focused rhythm.
Louis casually opened the partition door and stepped inside.
Without ceremony, he dragged over her snack plate and grabbed a piece of cod.
Ever since Robin boarded, his quality of life had improved noticeably.
Whatever he wanted to eat, he simply relayed it to the kitchen in her name.
Robin had grown used to his shamelessness.
But today, she asked something different.
"I've noticed you train every day. Without interruption. Tell me… why do you work so hard? For ambition?"
Ambition?
If you could feel your stats increasing every second, you'd train too…
Wait.
She barely left this room.
How did she know he hadn't stopped training outside?
He had never practiced in front of her.
He made no noise in the outer chamber.
A realization struck him.
He didn't answer her question.
Instead, he asked quietly:
"You've been gathering information on me?"
Under normal circumstances, Robin would never expose the ability that kept her alive.
But today, she needed something.
She believed Louis was smart. If she spoke in a certain way, he would inevitably ask.
And he did.
"I only see what I can see," she replied calmly. "Just because you believe you're outside my line of sight… doesn't mean you are."
She closed her eyes.
An eye opened on her collarbone.
Then another opened on the desk across the room.
The first vanished.
Louis watched in stunned silence as she alternated vision between them, erasing blind spots through simple rotation.
He followed the eyes around the room.
Walls.
Ceiling beams.
The corridor outside.
A dim candle sconce.
They moved outward—
Onto the deck.
An eye opened on the mast.
Then looked skyward.
A seabird flew past.
Louis' sharpened vision caught something unsettling:
An eye briefly opened on the bird's underside.
Only then did he understand how vast the phrase "within line of sight" truly was.
It was dizzying.
This ability… was terrifyingly practical.
Robin's power came from the Hana Hana no Mi.
She could bloom parts of her body anywhere within view.
Eyes.
Hands.
More.
As long as she could see it—even indirectly—she could reach it.
Just as Louis turned to head back—
The newly appointed boatswain, Hill, approached with a mocking grin.
"What's wrong? Not standing guard like a loyal dog outside the lady's door today? Slacking off?"
Louis glanced at him.
Ignored him.
Walked away.
Hill tilted his head, amused.
After Louis left, he spoke quietly to one of his men.
"Keep an eye on him. If he keeps straying from that woman's room, report to me immediately."
The pirates exchanged uneasy glances.
They were Hill's people.
Louis was Vice-Captain—but not their faction.
They nodded reluctantly under Hill's sharp stare.
Medica had deliberately placed Hill in the boatswain position.
To prevent Louis from influencing the crew.
Medica loved power.
He would never allow anyone to share it.
The Vice-Captain position was dangerously important.
If anything happened to the captain—
The Vice-Captain assumed command.
So when Hill was promoted, Medica had even hinted that he should provoke Louis occasionally.
Isolation was the goal.
Make Louis dependent.
Make him rely solely on Medica to function within the crew—and in the future pirate alliance.
Ironically—
After layers of overanalysis and wild assumptions, Marine Intelligence had only correctly deduced one thing:
Medica truly did intend to form a pirate alliance.
With Robin's 79 million bounty added to his own, the possibility was real.
He even intended to use Louis as an administrator to mediate disputes between pirate crews.
Which meant—
Louis' personal prestige had to remain limited.
Assigning him to "guard" Robin carried deeper meaning.
Meaning Louis had never once perceived.
Something's off.
Hill might hate him, but he wouldn't openly violate ship regulations in front of common pirates.
Unless—
He'd received backing.
Or instruction.
Did the captain put him up to this?
Worry flickered.
If Hill reported his "dereliction of duty," that could become trouble.
Louis hurried back toward Robin's quarters.
The moment he entered—
Robin delivered a sentence that struck like lightning.
"Like I showed you earlier," she said evenly, "when I was surveying our surroundings half an hour ago… I discovered ships belonging to the World Government."
Louis froze.
The progress bar in his mind didn't pause.
But everything else did.
The Marines weren't guessing anymore.
They were moving.
And for once—
The intelligence analysis that had been "fierce as a tiger" might actually collide with reality.