One Piece: The Archangel's Guide

Chapter 11: The Roger Pirates and Baal

Nightfall

In the stone village on the plateau, the air was filled with the aroma of roasted meat, various pastries, and extremely rare vegetables.

The few remaining survivors of the Canaan Kingdom, having experienced two joyous occasions in just two days, all wore smiles that hadn't been seen for a long time. The happiness of the night's banquet gradually dispelled the fear that had accumulated over many years. It wasn't until the delicious food touched their lips, and a sense of joy spread from their taste buds to their hearts, that they truly felt the events of the past few days were not just a beautiful dream.

Louis, however, was not paying attention to any of this.

His focus was entirely on Red-Haired Shanks, who was sitting beside him. He was deep in thought. Next to Louis sat the young man who always had a toothpick in his mouth, his medium-length black hair tied back in a ponytail. There was also a little girl in a yellow dress with two-toned long hair. They were the future user of the "Don't Move" fruit and the young songstress who would one day draw 70% of the world's population into a virtual world—Uta.

Just as Louis was lost in thought, he sensed a curious gaze fall upon the wings on his back. He turned his head and met a pair of purple eyes.

Realizing she had been caught, the red-haired songstress stood up unabashedly and pointed at Louis's snow-white wings with a face full of curiosity.

"Louis, are the wings on your back a decoration?"

"Where did you buy them? Do they come in a black and white style?"

Louis raised an eyebrow at her question. Then, under Uta's watchful gaze, he unfurled one of his wings, revealing the neat, full feathers under the firelight.

"They're real?" Seeing this, Uta was not disappointed. On the contrary, a different kind of light shone in her purple eyes. She looked eager, as if she wanted to reach out and touch them, but her good manners held her back.

Beside her, Benn Beckman also stared at Louis's wings, a thoughtful expression on his face.

On the other side, Shanks noticed what was happening and a smile spread across his face. He clapped Louis on the shoulder and asked cheerfully, "Little bro Louis, are Arcordon and the others doing well?"

"..." That settled it. Louis was now certain that Shanks truly knew where he came from. Furthermore, he probably had a good guess about the connections involved.

With a long sigh, Louis nodded and replied, "He's fine. He's already the strongest in our tribe."

Hearing this, the smile on Shanks's face grew even wider, as if he was genuinely happy to hear news of his friend.

Louis, seeing this, took out the Vivre Card with the name on it and threw a question back at Shanks. "Were you the ones who accidentally visited Baal all those years ago?"

Shanks stared at the Vivre Card in Louis's hand, stunned for a moment, before breaking into a brilliant smile. "Ah, Momora's Vivre Card..."

Shanks's mind recalled the uncle who now shouldered the heavy responsibility left by Captain Roger. Then, he looked up at Louis and said with a laugh, "That's right. I followed Captain Roger and the others to Baal back then. We met your people and made quite a few friends."

"..." Louis's vision went dark. His clansmen were too tight-lipped. In all these years, not a single one had ever mentioned the name "Roger." When Louis got the Vivre Card, he had assumed some unknown powerhouse had visited Baal. How the hell was he supposed to know who Mr. Momora was! None of the fan-made content he had read ever mentioned this name, let alone that he was part of Roger's crew.

"Just now, when I saw the color of your wings, your hair, your skin, and the lack of fire on your back, I didn't recognize you at first," Shanks explained, pointing at Louis's clothes. "But then, I noticed the toga you're wearing. It's a favorite style of the Skypieans on Baal."

The branch of Skypieans on Baal was extremely reclusive; not even other Skypieans knew of their existence. Their style of clothing was unique, with no imitators.

"..." Louis fell silent again.

Seeing this, the corner of Shanks's mouth turned up. "Speaking of which, this is the first time I've seen one of your people wear these clothes."

Louis said, "My mother is a native of Baal, so I'm not opposed to this style of clothing."

"Is that so? So that's why you look different from the others I've met. I thought you had dyed yourself as a disguise!" Shanks had a sudden realization. He had thought Louis had colored himself to hide his identity.

Louis glanced at him, his wariness turning into speechlessness.

Beside Louis, Beckman and Uta were already stunned. They hadn't expected to meet two people connected to Shanks on one trip.

"Little Louis, is Arcordon as strong as I am now?" Without realizing it, Shanks's way of addressing him had become much more familiar.

Beckman shook his head. He felt Shanks was a lost cause, asking a child such a question. How would he know how strong Shanks was...

"You're a little bit stronger," Louis replied after a moment of thought.

Beckman: "..."

Shanks, however, was even more delighted to hear this, his face wrinkling with laughter, which earned him an eye-roll from Uta. He then explained to his crew that back when he was young, he and another friend couldn't win against the man he was talking about, even when they fought together. He didn't blame the Lunarians' flight or fire for being impossible to break through; he simply said that he lost.

"He told me back then that if I could beat him, he'd consider joining my crew."

"Beckman, we're going to have another powerful nakama soon!"

Louis raised an eyebrow at that, then said meaningfully, "Is that so? Then you'd better go find him soon."

After all, although Louis was born on a sky island, he had made some changes to this world. For example, finding a certain sky island and intercepting a certain Devil Fruit...

"..."

Shanks heard this and sensed something was off. He was about to ask something, but just then, a crisis occurred.

A piercing scream suddenly rang out, capturing everyone's attention.

Louis's pupils constricted. One hand went to the spear on his back as his Observation Haki instantly locked onto the source of the disturbance. In an instant, Louis's face darkened.

The entire Red Hair crew also became alert at once. Beside them, Yelena's expression changed, and she instinctively ran toward the source of the commotion.

Then, a second, a third, and more and more screams followed.

Louis narrowed his eyes, and specks of holy light began to appear around his body. The next moment, a pale-golden light blossomed, spreading out to envelop the surroundings. Specks of light fell from the sky like snowflakes, merging into the bodies of the people rolling on the ground. A warm life force bloomed, rushing toward the area Louis's senses identified as the source of the problem: the stomach.

But soon, Louis's brow furrowed again. He slowly uttered a single word. "Poison."

It was a potent poison, one of unknown origin, and it was taking effect in the stomachs of a dozen people. Louis's ability could only sustain their lives. After all, Louis, who had dropped out of his prenatal education, knew nothing about medicine and could hardly handle anything beyond external injuries.

Shanks, who had already reached the scene before Yelena, heard this, and the smile vanished from his face. His expression became cold, grim, and terrifying. After hearing Louis's assessment, Shanks didn't doubt it for a second. He turned to his crewmate and urged, "Hongo!!"