Chapter 57

The waterfall of Wano was a chaotic upward spiraling tunnel of water. The giant koi pulled the *Clockwork Rose* vertically, gravity screaming against the hull.

"We're going to flip!" Perona shrieked, clutching the railing as the ship crested the peak.

"Brace for impact!" Kurumi shouted, locking her boots to the deck with Haki.

The ship launched into the air, soaring over the whirlpools, and crashed down into the turbulent waters of the inland sea. The current grabbed them, dragging them toward a desolate, gray beach.

*CRUNCH.*

The *Clockwork Rose* ran aground on the sandy shores of Kuri, tilting dangerously to the side.

"Status!" Kurumi barked, dusting off her dress.

"Hull is intact," Carmen reported, her hands steaming as she checked the wood. "But we're stuck. And… hey, isn't that the *Sunny*?"

A few hundred meters down the beach, the *Thousand Sunny* lay on its side, silent and empty.

"Luffy is already here," Laki noted, jumping down from the crow's nest. "And based on the footprints… he was dragged off by something big. A giant dog? And a monkey?"

"Wano is strange," Kurumi adjusted her eyepatch. "Perona, scout the perimeter. Use *Negative Body* to stay invisible. We are in Kaido's territory now."

**The Welcome Wagon**

Before Perona could leave, the rustling of the bamboo forest grew loud.

"Gahahaha! Look what washed up! Another pirate ship!"

A squad of **Gifters**—Beast Pirates who had eaten artificial SMILE fruits—emerged. They were grotesque chimeras. One had a crab claw for a head. Another had a gazelle growing out of his stomach.

"New slaves for the factories!" The Crab-Gifter shouted. "Seize them! Take their weapons!"

Fifty Gifters charged the beached ship.

Kurumi didn't move. She sat on a crate, checking her flintlock.

"Laki. Carmen. Show me the results of three months."

**The Heat of the Inside**

"I'm hungry," Carmen hopped over the railing, landing in the sand.

The Crab-Gifter snapped his massive claw. "I'll pinch you in half, little girl!"

He swung. His claw was hard as steel.

Carmen didn't dodge. She caught the claw with her bare hand.

"Atsu Atsu no Mi…" Carmen whispered.

She didn't ignite her arm. There were no flames. No visual cue.

"…Convection Oven."

She pumped heat directly into the crab shell.

"GAAAAH!" The Gifter screamed. His claw turned bright red, then white. Steam erupted from the joints. The meat inside was cooking instantly, boiling in its own juices.

"Armor doesn't matter if you're the ingredient," Carmen smirked, shoving the cooked Gifter aside. He collapsed, foaming at the mouth.

**The Flowing Bullet**

A Bat-Gifter flew overhead, aiming a bow at Kurumi. "Die, Captain!"

He had a steel shield covering his body.

Laki, standing on the deck, didn't aim at the Gifter. She aimed *through* him.

"Mosa Mosa: Flowing Shot."

She fired.

The bullet was coated in an invisible aura of *Ryou* (Advanced Armament Haki). It hit the steel shield.

It didn't dent the shield. It *passed through* the molecular structure by destroying the bonds from the inside, shattering the steel into dust before piercing the Gifter's shoulder.

"My shield… turned to dust?!" The Bat-Gifter fell from the sky.

"Internal Destruction," Laki blew smoke from her barrel. "New World standard."

**The Probability of Death**

The fodder was dealt with in seconds. But as the dust settled, a heavy pressure descended on the beach.

Walking calmly out of the bamboo forest was a tall man with long blonde hair, tattoos above his eyes, and a stoic expression. He was surrounded by straw.

**Basil Hawkins.** Headliner of the Beast Pirates. One of the Worst Generation.

"The probability of a second ship arriving at this precise location was 1%," Hawkins said, shuffling a deck of tarot cards. "Kurumi Tokisaki. The Time Witch. Bounty: 850 Million."

He looked at her with dead eyes.

"Bounties are just numbers. Against Kaido, your survival rate is 0%."

"Hawkins," Kurumi stepped off the ship, her heels sinking slightly into the sand. "The Magician. You bent the knee to Kaido. Disappointing. I thought you had more backbone."

"I chose survival," Hawkins drew his sword. It was a strange blade made of straw. "Resistance leads to death. Calculation leads to life."

He drew a card.

"The Hierophant. Guidance."

Suddenly, his sword transformed. The straw blade elongated, becoming a whip-like entity.

"Warabide-to (Straw Sword)."

He swung. The attack was erratic, changing direction mid-air.

**The Eye of the Mind**

Kurumi didn't draw her guns. She watched the sword.

*Observation Haki: Active.*

*Accessing Archive: Wano Swordsmanship. Straw manipulation physics.*

She saw the twitch in Hawkins' wrist. She knew the tensile strength of the straw. She calculated the wind resistance.

*The strike will curve left, then snap downward.*

Kurumi took one step to the right.

*Whoosh.*

The straw blade missed her nose by an inch, burying itself in the sand where she had been standing.

"Probability isn't fate, Hawkins," Kurumi said, walking toward him. "It's just math. And I'm better at math than you."

Hawkins narrowed his eyes. "You dodged without looking."

He drew another card.

"The Fool, Reversed. Chaos."

His straw avatar grew massive. A giant demon of straw rose behind him. **Goma no So (Strawman's Card).**

The giant straw monster raised a spiked club.

"Let's see you calculate raw power," Hawkins commanded. The monster swung down.

**Mind vs. Magic**

The club was huge. It would crush the beach.

"Carmen, Laki, stand down," Kurumi ordered.

She drew her rapier.

*Calculation: The Strawman is linked to Hawkins' life force, but likely redirected to his subordinates via his Voodoo ability. Physical damage is useless unless I kill him ten times.*

*Solution: Sever the link.*

Kurumi activated her **Analytical Foresight**. She scanned the straw monster. She didn't see straw; she saw the flow of energy—the Devil Fruit connection—holding it together.

*There.* The knot of energy at the effigy's neck.

She coated her rapier in Haki.

"Zafkiel: Temporal Edge – Phantom Cut."

She didn't move fast. She moved *precisely*. She lunged at the empty air in front of the monster.

To Hawkins, it looked like she missed.

But Kurumi’s Haki *delayed* the cut. She slashed the space where the monster's neck *would be* in 0.5 seconds.

The monster moved forward. It walked right into the delayed slash.

*RIP.*

The straw head fell off cleanly. The monster collapsed into a pile of dry grass.

Hawkins flinched. A small cut appeared on his own neck. He touched the blood, his eyes widening.

"You cut the Strawman… and the damage transferred directly to me? You bypassed my substitution dolls?"

"Your dolls protect you from physical trauma," Kurumi explained, flicking straw off her blade. "But I cut the *time* your technique was active. I severed the cause before the effect could transfer to your subordinates."

She pointed her rapier at his throat.

"Your cards say I have a 0% chance. My clock says you have five seconds to leave before I make you draw the 'Death' card."

**The Retreat**

Hawkins stared at her. He looked at his cards.

*Probability of victory: 12%.*

*Probability of evasion: 90%.*

"You are dangerous," Hawkins sheathed his sword. "Kaido is currently drunk in Onigashima. But Jack the Drought is nearby in Kuri. If you stay here, the Calamities will descend."

He turned around.

"I will report that the ship was empty. Do not make me regret my calculation."

He vanished into the bamboo forest.

**The Plan**

"He let us go?" Carmen asked, powering down her heat.

"He's a pragmatist," Kurumi sheathed her sword. "He knows he can't win without risking his own life, and he's not loyal enough to Kaido to die for a patrol."

She looked at the *Thousand Sunny*.

"Luffy is gone. Probably inland. We need to hide the *Rose*."

"Hide it?" Laki asked. "Where?"

"Underground," Kurumi pointed to a cave system near the cliffs. "We camouflage it. Then… we split up."

She pulled out three kimono disguises she had prepared.

"We are in enemy territory. We need intel on the Fire Festival. We need to find the Red Scabbards."

"I'll go to the capital," Kurumi decided. "The Flower Capital. I need to find a certain Komurasaki… and the Shogun Orochi."

"I'll go to the leftovers town," Carmen said, sniffing the air. "It smells like hunger. They need a cook."

"I'll take the forest," Laki checked her rifle. "High ground. I'll watch for the Calamities."

"And me?" Perona floated over.

"You stick with me," Kurumi handed her a kimono. "You're going to be my 'ghostly' attendant. We're going to be geishas."

"EHHH?! I have to wear a kimono?!" Perona whined, but then sparkled. "Wait… is it cute?"

"It's pink," Kurumi sighed.

"I'm in!"

Kurumi looked toward the distant Flower Capital, where the cherry blossoms fell like snow.

"Wano Country Act 1," she whispered. "Start."