Chapter 8: Blood On The Waves
"I didn't expect to run into Doflamingo's lackey from the original story," Mio muttered as he walked back to the ship, wiping blood from his blade with a cloth.
Bellamy, at this point in the timeline, hadn't eaten the Spring-Spring Fruit yet. He was nothing more than a petty thug with delusions of grandeur. His strength was pitiful—completely lacking any pressure or challenge. In the Four Seas, he might seem like a big deal to locals, but to someone like Mio, he was no more than a clown.
Shaking his head, Mio dismissed the thought.
When he returned to the boat, he was met by an unexpected sight.
Warwick was sitting at the edge of the ship, holding a fishing rod with exaggerated focus. As Mio stepped aboard, the hulking beast turned with sparkling eyes and pointed at a pile of fish near him.
"Master! Fish! Fish!"
"I know, I see them," Mio replied with a sigh and a helpless smile.
After settling in and storing away the supplies he'd bought in town, Mio got the ship moving again. His next destination was the Kingdom of Skanda.
He couldn't afford to waste time—if he was too late and Vegapunk left the island, it would be a huge missed opportunity.
Of course, Mio had no delusions about keeping someone like Vegapunk for himself. Even if by some miracle he convinced Vegapunk to join him, there was no way he could protect such a dangerous genius. Sooner or later, Vegapunk's talents would be noticed by the World Government.
And once that happened, there were only two possibilities: the government would either claim him for their own or eliminate him outright.