The next three months passed without incident. The officers continued their philosophy training in addition to honing their physical skills. Eventually, the weakest of the crew were able to shatter a hundred bricks in a single blow. Even Puerco was able to hold his own in a fight without getting completely destroyed by Sogyon or Masagyoshi (though, to be clear, he still lost).

The stronger members of the crew besides Shaska (Schwarz, Lulupo, and Zinnia) eventually got down the basics of Observation and Armament Haki. They were also able to defeat not only the top students of the dojo, but also Funagyoshi himself in one on one combat, much to the old man's delight.

Shaska, for her part, managed to work back up to her former strength from before she was imprisoned… though she didn't manage to go beyond that.

On the last day of their training, Shaska sat down with Funagyoshi for one last talk of philosophy over some sake. They were standard sized sake cups, so they looked positively tiny compared to the ten foot tall fish people.

"So, Shaska, what else do I have to teach you…?" Funagyoshi asked, pouring her a cup. "We've gone through the entire book, page by page. And yet you still want more?"

"Thing is, thanks to my little 'detour', I'd still get creamed in a one on one fight with the king guy," Shaska said, finishing her cup in one sip. She blew smoke, then grabbed the bottle and started drinking straight from it as soon as Funagyoshi poured his own cup.

"Then don't fight him yet," said a somewhat incensed Funagyoshi.

"But I need to fight him. I need to take his head so the government knows I'm not to be messed with. My employees are stronger, so we'll be able to take out his army… but as for the man himself, and his creepy sister, I'm not sure."

"Hm. You need to find out more about him then."

"Only way to do that would be to find the Twilight Kingdom and ask around," said Shaska. "But it's in the New World. I have a New World log pose, but what we need is an Eternal Pose, a pose locked on to that specific island."

"That is the conundrum then," said Funagyoshi.

"Although… In the six months we've been gone, it's entirely possible that his influence has spread far enough that we can more easily find one of his liaisons. We can put the hurt on them and extract info about this guy and how to find the Twilight Kingdom!" Shaska said.

"There you go!" Funagyoshi exclaimed.

"But first… tomorrow's the day we get my business back. And I'd like to do it while leaving behind as few bodies as possible."

"All warfare is based on deception, Shaska. Remember that. If you can properly deceive your opponent, you can win the battle without a single shot being fired," Funagyoshi explained. "Tell me, what do you know about the current administration of your business?"

"Well, now it's run by that snake, Miwagyo. She was my second in command in terms of operations. And she's almost certainly the one who gave the signal to the board to kick me out after it came out that I was… getting creative with the government's tax code," said Shaska.

"Why do you owe taxes to the World Government anyway? The Ryugu Kingdom isn't part of the World Government. At least not until Queen Otohime gets her wish."

"Even though Kemurchant Enterprises is based on Fishman Island, the government's allowed to steal from me because I have locations all over the world," she explained, drinking more sake and flicking ash off her cigar. "Point is, my berries were funding the crooked shit the government does, and I wasn't happy about it."

"So it looks like you and this king have more in common than you realize," said Funagyoshi.

"We both hate the government, yes. But he wants to knock it over and replace it with something even more oppressive; I just want to be left alone."

Shaska finished the sake, turning over the bottle just to make sure none was left.

"Miwagyo probably knows I'm here by now. Honestly, after all I did for her. It's like my kids all over again. Although… I… was pretty nasty to them… hm…"

—

"Achoo!" Miwagyo sneezed. As she rubbed her nose, a transponder snail call came in.

Purupurupurucaaaaaaaalick!

"This is Miwagyo."

"Miss Miwagyo! There's someone here to see you! Claims to be from the government's tax collection agency!"

"Hm? That's quite unusual. Normally they don't go directly to the CEO," said Miwagyo, puffing her cigar.

"He says it's about Shaska!"

Miwagyo's eyes shot open at this. "Send him up immediately!"

Soon enough, the agent was escorted into Miwagyo's office. He resembled his father almost exactly, except he stood eleven feet tall (as opposed to his father's seven), and had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He reached into his suit's breast pocket and pulled out a badge.

"The name's Zeimaru. I come representing the Worl-"

"Zeimaru, we've already met numerous times, there's no need for introductions," Miwagyo interrupted. "I know your mother and how you're working for Cipher Pol W2 now."

"Government protocol says I should do that every time I meet someone," Zeimaru responded, blowing smoke.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Zeimaru?" Miwagyo asked, leaning forward with all of her six hands tented.

"I was coming by to collect Kemurchant Enterprises' taxes… but then I saw something interesting. My mother's ship docked in Coral Hill."

Zeimaru started drumming his fingers on Miwagyo's desk.

"Any idea what that's about?"

"If you're insinuating that I'm harboring her, you'd be wrong. Shaska's name is PR poison after that incident in the Mazurka Kingdom. I wouldn't be caught dead with her," Miwagyo explained. "No, according to my intel, she's been training at the Fishman Karate Dojo for the past six months. Most likely to take back Kemurchant Enterprises by force."

"And you just left her there…?"

"Because I want to see if she actually has the stones to try and raid her precious business!"

Zeimaru's eyes shot open. "I'm sorry, have you met my mother?! Of course she has the stones!"

"While leaving behind as few corpses as possible. If there's one thing she hates besides losing money, it's having to explain how her employees died to their grieving families."

Miwagyo puffed on her cigar, then continued.

"I have something she wants. Now I want to see what she's willing to go through to get it. Without leaving a massive trail of blood."

"Fair enough. Well, I want to fight her too, as long as she's here," Zeimaru said. "After the childhood she gave me and my sister… There's no love lost between us."

"Mom! Good news! I got a girlfriend! She's-" exclaimed a fifteen-year-old Zeimaru.

"Will this make me money?" interrupted a thirty-three-year-old Shaska, not looking up from her work.

"N-no… but…"

"Then I don't care. Go away, brat."

Zeimaru shuddered and flicked ash off his cigarette.

"I want to bring her in. After what she did, between evading taxes, slaughtering a city, and what she did to my sister recently, she deserves to rot in Impel Down for the rest of her days."

"I like that attitude," said Miwagyo. "Saves me the trouble of having to actually rally the troops."

"You said she's at the Fishman Karate Dojo?"

"Of course."

"Well then. It was a pleasure seeing you again, Miwagyo. I'm glad you don't cheat on your Heavenly Tribute the same way my mother did. If you did, I'd have to bring you in too," said Zeimaru.

"Oh, trust me, things run much smoother with Shaska gone. She was always too busy with her own little adventures to actually run a company this size," said Miwagyo, flicking ash off her cigar. "You can collect your payment downstairs, Zeimaru."

Zeimaru bowed and went on his way. As soon as he left, Miwagyo put her feet up on her desk.

"Ugh… I can't believe Shaska's kids work for the freakin' government. They were so cute when they were younger, but now they're basically race traitors at this point. At least when I work with humans, I'm not indirectly supporting my peoples' enslavement. Pity, really. I guess they really hate their own mother that much."

—

The sun began to set. The officers of Worldwide Smoke finished their meditation for the last time. As they began to get ready for dinner, Lulupo started talking to Johnson.

"Well, Mister Navy Man, how have you been handling this training? Haven't heard much from you since you joined Worldwide Smoke."

"That's because I prefer to keep to myself," Johnson replied. "You all can be friends all you like, but my goal is only to help bring down Balthasar von Esens. Nothing more."

"Darling, that doesn't mean you have to be so cold," said Lulupo. "We may like Miss Shaska's money more than her, but that doesn't mean the rest of us can't become close."

"Why would I get close to people who are just going to die anyway?"

"Whoa! Where did that come from?!" Lulupo exclaimed, visibly taken aback.

"I don't know if I told you about this, but I don't make friends easily. The only friend I ever made as an adult is being used as a science experiment by the World Government… and I just have a feeling we're going to run into him again," said Johnson.

"Okay… but what does that have to do with us dying, darling?"

"Because everyone I get close to dies…" Johnson said cryptically. "My parents… my brothers and sisters…"

"Let me guess, darling, killed by pirates?" Lulupo asked.

"How…?"

"Because that's a dreadfully common occurrence," said Lulupo. "Poor Miss Ren lost her family in a pirate raid, too."

"Hm. Well, forgive me for not wanting to get close," said Johnson. "Von Esens is one tough customer. Even without Haki, I could feel his overwhelming presence. We'll be lucky if we all survive our next encounter with him."

Johnson bowed his head for a moment, then continued with "the reason I became a Marine is because I had no other choice. I wanted to see pirates brought to justice. But, after seeing what the World Government did to Captain Franco, making him a walking experiment for life, I had to stop and question what I was truly fighting for."

"Darling, the government allows much worse things to go on. But they're the only people standing between pirates and hapless civilians most of the time," said Lulupo.

Lulupo clapped his hands and said "but enough about this! What can Charles Lulupo do to put a smile on your face, darling?"

"You can leave me alone."

Lulupo was once again taken aback. "Well… alright then, darling. Try to feel better. I'll always be here if you need someone to talk to. Have a good night. We have a big day tomorrow!"

"Good night, Lulupo," said Johnson.

—

Zeimaru headed for Coral Hill from Fishverly Hills, where the HQ for Kemurchant Enterprises was located. He briefly stopped for an early evening coffee at the Mermaid Cafe, then headed toward the Fishman Karate Dojo.

As the students and teachers of the dojo were eating their dinner, they heard a knock on the door. Masagyoshi answered.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

Zeimaru produced his badge and said "the name's Zeimaru. I've come representing the World Government's Cipher Pol W2. I'm here-"

"A fishman? Working for the World Government?" Masagyoshi interrupted, somewhat nonplussed. "What are you, some kind of race traitor? They enslave us up there!"

"And you'll see I'm walking around a free man," Zeimaru casually responded, blowing smoke. "I'm here for one reason only: to see the one known as Shaska the Greedy. I know she's here."

"Never heard of her," said Masagyoshi.

Zeimaru leaned down to get on Masagyoshi's eye level and blew smoke in his face. "You don't want to cross an agent of the World Government. I've seen her ship in the port."

"And you assume she's here becau-"

"I have intel from her former business. She's wanted for numerous crimes. The one in my jurisdiction, though, is for evading her Heavenly Tribute. Now, you will let me in so I can investigate. You don't want things to get ugly."

Masagyoshi said nothing and assumed a fighting stance. Zeimaru, for his part, simply used his Shave technique to go around him.

"What the-?!" was all Masagyoshi could get out before he received a Finger Pistol in the back.

"A two-berry martial arts student can't stand up before Cipher Pol. Just give up."

Masagyoshi collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain. Zeimaru turned on his Observation Haki and began to scan the grounds for Worldwide Smoke. He found the outline of his mother in the dining hall, and promptly made his way over.

Worldwide Smoke was happily eating their dinner when Zeimaru casually opened the door (as opposed to his mother's habit of kicking in doors).

Instantly, Zeimaru locked eyes with Shaska and flicked ash off his cigarette. Shaska couldn't hide her shock at seeing him.

"Hello, mother."

TO BE CONTINUED