c12 – Shocked Xia Qi
"What did you just say?!"
Xia Qi widened her eyes at Carl's words, the name he had uttered striking her like a lightning bolt she was visibly startled.
Their voices weren't loud, but the tension in the air drew immediate attention from the bar's scattered patrons.
"Hey, what the hell are you beggars doing here!"
"Scram! I told you already, this place is under our control paupers aren't welcome here!"
"Our boss is a notorious pirate with a 130 million Berry bounty if you know what's good for you, get over here, kneel down, and beg for forgiveness! Or you're dead!"
The thugs began rising from their seats, ready to throw Carl out with force.
But their aggressive posture clearly displeased Xia Qi her bar, after all, had been the unofficial sanctuary for pirates and bounty hunters alike since the days when she and Rayleigh operated in the shadows of the Sabaody Archipelago.
Carl glanced at Xia Qi and chuckled, completely unfazed. "Looks like Mr. Rayleigh isn't around. If he were, they would've been long gone."
He tilted his head slightly and added with a casual smile, "Tell you what I'll get rid of them. In exchange, you treat me to the finest wine in this place?"
"Can."
Xia Qi nodded coolly, crossing her arms, though her curiosity was already piqued.
Carl smiled. Without so much as lifting a foot, two blades Deadwood and Sakura flew from their scabbards at his waist, hovering ominously in the air before locking themselves against the necks of the arrogant men.
"You have a choice walk away and live or take one step forward and die."
The words barely left his lips before Deadwood suddenly lunged forward, plunging into the thigh of the loudest thug, drawing a howl of agony as blood spilled onto the wooden floor.
The group fell silent eyes darting toward their fallen comrade uncertainty and panic replacing bravado.
The wounded man glared at Carl with a mix of fear and fury. "Tch! So you're a Devil Fruit user fine! You're ruthless, we get it!"
He turned as if to retreat but Carl didn't budge. With a flick of his finger, he commanded Deadwood and Sakura to block the exit.
"What now?!"
The man spun back around, anger flaring only to see Carl smiling, finger calmly pointing at the floor.
"I said get out."
"You bastard! You've gone too far I'm gonna kill you!"
Driven by humiliation, the man lunged forward in blind fury but Carl's expression didn't even change. Sakura pierced through his chest cleanly from behind stopping him mid-charge.
The remaining pirates stood frozen in horror, realizing escape was impossible but Carl wasn't interested in letting them go anyway.
"It's not good to attract the Navy by killing people here..."
Xia Qi narrowed her eyes, voice low and measured.her concern more practical than moral. But Carl casually retracted Deadwood and Sakura, brushing her off with a relaxed grin.
"Do you recognize these two blades?"
"How could I..."
Xia Qi started to dismiss the question but her eyes suddenly locked onto the swords with recognition and horror. Her breath caught in her throat.
"You—you're the Navy officer who killed Golden Lion Shiki and tried to arrest Straw Hat Luffy?!"
"Not yet." Carl leaned on the table, still smiling. "But soon I will be a Navy. For now? I'm just a pirate hanging out in a pirate bar. No problem, right?"
His grin widened, revealing gleaming teeth nonchalant, confident, and absolutely dangerous.
Xia Qi took an instinctive step back her composure briefly cracking.
Carl rapped on the table lightly, not bothering to follow up. "So, where's that good wine?"
"Ma coming right up."
Xia Qi, though seasoned from her years with the now-retired Dark King Silvers Rayleigh and her own past as a pirate under the Rocks Pirates' banner, still felt a ripple of unease. Her strength wasn't top-tier but her instincts were razor-sharp.
Yet as she poured the wine, she regained her composure the same calm she'd mastered during the darkest years of the Grand Line.
"You're definitely not ordinary anyone tied to Rocks would be terrifying. That strength… You're something else."
"Who are you really and how do you know about Rocks?"
Her voice trembled slightly as she said the name, and her eyes never left his face.
The Rocks Pirates an infamous crew from over 40 years ago, destroyed during the God Valley Incident, and almost erased from the world's memory were known only to a select few.
Carl looked no older than twenty. By all accounts, he shouldn't even be aware the crew existed.
"I know more than you think. Suppose I said I'm related to Rocks D. Xebec would you believe me?"
Xia Qi: ...
She fell into stunned silence expression blank, but heart racing.
Carl let out a hearty laugh and downed the glass of wine in one gulp.
"Don't take it seriously I'm kidding. I only heard the name Rocks from Golden Lion's last words before he died."
His voice dropped slightly, more curious than mocking.
"I just want to know what kind of pirate group could burn itself into the memory of a man like that?"
And the news that you and Rayleigh were here was what he told me when he died. I have to say that what this old relic said before his last breath was true!"
Carl sighed.
Xia Qi was relieved.
If it had all come from Golden Lion Shiki's mouth, then Carl likely did know everything after all, Shiki was once a peer of Gol D. Roger and Whitebeard in the era of the Rocks Pirates, and he wouldn't speak lightly on his deathbed.
But what puzzled her was why Golden Lion would confide those things to Carl, especially when Shiki had always held deep disdain for the World Government and the Navy.
But she did not ask.
The main reason Xia Qi could survive on Sabaody for so long was precisely because she understood when to speak and when to stay silent!
"I should go. Originally, I wanted to see the Dark King Silvers Rayleigh, but since he isn't here, there's no need to remain any longer."
Carl stood up, stepping casually past the corpses strewn across the floor, and walked out of the bar, unfazed.
After watching Carl leave, Xia Qi picked up a Den Den Mushi and calmly made a call.
"Rayleigh, have you been to Amazon Lily recently?"
"There's something you need to know about a Navy recruit. He knows who we are. And worse he knows about Rocks..."
---
At the same time.
After Carl exited Shaqi's Rip-off Bar, he ran into an unexpected figure.
Judging from the direction the man was heading, it was obvious his destination was the same bar Carl had just left!
The two locked eyes and froze at the same moment.
"Portgas D. Ace, the Fire Fist with a bounty of 550 million Berries?!"
"And you, you're the Navy dog who captured my little brother?!"
Their glares clashed like drawn swords. Neither had expected to run into the other here on Sabaody Archipelago.
But within seconds, Carl gripped Deadwood and Sakura tightly in his hands, his eyes narrowing in focus.
A wave of fire surged from Ace's body as his expression turned cold and angry embers trailing behind him like a warning flare.
"Since you're here let my brother go!"
"Your brother? Who?"
Carl tilted his head mockingly, playing dumb.
Ace didn't reply with words—he swung a flaming punch directly at Carl, the blaze expanding into a wall of fire.
The flames roared and lit up the street but Carl easily dodged the attack, his feet gliding smoothly like a swordsman using Soru.
"My brother is Straw Hat Luffy! You bastard!!!"
Ace bellowed furiously and launched another flaming punch, this one igniting into a blazing spiral that spiraled into the sky.
Carl couldn't afford to take it lightly anymore.
He immediately activated his dual sword technique, combining it with his Devil Fruit powers. A violent whirlwind erupted around him, pushing him backward but also creating a tornado infused with sharp sword aura!
The hurricane surged forward, roaring toward Ace like a cyclone of blades and wind.
But the strike passed through Ace harmlessly his body flickering as the attack phased through.
After all, Ace had eaten the Mera Mera no Mi—a Logia-type Devil Fruit, allowing him to become fire itself.
And Carl's Haki wasn't yet at the level of external emission (Ryō)—meaning his long-range attacks couldn't touch a true Logia user without direct contact or advanced Haki mastery.
"This is troublesome. Ace's strength right now isn't below mine but Logia users are a pain to deal with.
If I went all-out, I might overpower him... but it's going to be messy. Should I just back off for now?"
Carl frowned slightly, preparing to disengage and vanish into the alleys of Sabaody.
But just as he was about to retreat
The sound of the system echoed in his mind clearly timed to crush his hesitation!
---