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World's cry seemed to startle the short, unassuming old man, who showed no outward signs of being a powerhouse.
"Naguri?" Arthur glanced at him, a flash of surprise in his eyes.
It was currently Sea Calendar 1498.
More than a decade ago, around 1480, the pinnacle of the New World was dominated by four figures: Whitebeard, the Golden Lion, the Red Count, and Roger.
Below them were a dozen or so other great pirates, including Byrnndi World, Don Chinjao... and Naguri was one of them.
Of those dozen-plus figures below the absolute peak, most had already been killed or had gone into hiding. Not a single one was currently active on the seas. There were only an endless stream of newcomers and the legends who were now approaching their twilight years.
The reason Arthur recognized Naguri was because... this man would one day train Luffy!
Shanks was undoubtedly the one who set Luffy on his path to becoming a pirate. His tenacious life force was forged by Garp's training, and his Haki was guided by Rayleigh.
But when he was a child—right after eating his Devil Fruit and unable to control it, it was Naguri who guided Luffy and his two brothers, Sabo and Ace, for a time.
Naguri was also a user of Conqueror's Haki.
What surprised Arthur most was that this man had once challenged Roger.
After his defeat, he had vanished without a trace. To think he would be in Impel Down, and had already been imprisoned for over a decade.
According to the original timeline, wasn't he supposed to be in the Goa Kingdom in the East Blue? How did he end up so ignominiously in Impel Down?
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"So... for the four of you still alive... are you prepared to die? Or will you become members of my Thunder God Pirates?" Arthur was growing impatient.
He wouldn't ask the same question multiple times. His patience was wearing thin. If he didn't get an answer soon, he wouldn't waste any more time here.
"Ah... I've been discovered!" A heavy, childish voice came from the giant cell. From the shadows emerged a behemoth five or six times taller than a giant.
Colossal Battleship Sanjuan Wolf!
His super-giant body was three times larger than that of the legendary giant "Continent-Puller" Oars. A single glance told you he was at least six hundred, approaching a thousand, feet tall.
Sanjuan Wolf had long hair, a head shaped like a pointed chestnut, and a chin like a human's backside. He was timidly peeking at the "Dwarf" Arthur—who was more than a hundred and fifty times smaller than him.
"What is this thing?" Arthur asked, not understanding, his brow furrowed slightly.
In this world, there were all sorts of strange races: Humans, Fish-men, Long-arm and Long-leg tribes, dwarves, minks, giants, the three-eyed tribe, and Skypieans, among others.
Coupled with the various strange abilities, Arthur wouldn't be surprised by the appearance of any bizarre person. But Sanjuan Wolf was truly strange.
A body this size, so much larger than a giant's, could only be described as terrifying.
But Arthur was only momentarily surprised. Big Mom's body was also huge, but she was a pure-blooded human, just one who had undergone a mutation.
Perhaps Sanjuan Wolf was also a mutated giant.
"Murufufufufu!" Catarina Devon seemed to have made her choice. Even if she wasn't forced to join, she no longer dared to harbor any thoughts of challenging Arthur. Her entire will had been crushed by him.
She even said with some delight, "To be able to join the Thunder God Pirates is my honor!"
"It seems this is the only choice, meow!" The Corrupt King Avalo Pizarro quickly followed suit. "Although I'm not happy about being defeated by you, the gap between us is despair-inducing. I hope Captain Arthur will take good care of me, meow!"
The comical sound at the end of his sentence, paired with such a domineering man, was simply chilling.
"If I follow Captain Arthur, can I get out?" Sanjuan Wolf pressed his entire body against the wall, peeking out with his head and asking timidly.
It was impossible to imagine why someone with such a colossal body would be so timid, or perhaps, so mentally immature.
"EXCELLENT!" A smile gradually spread across Arthur's face.
When he came to recruit crew members, he had prepared for the worst. He didn't expect the result to be a little better than he had imagined.
Shiryu of the Rain.
"Heavy Drinker" Vasco Shot.
"Crescent Moon Hunter" Catarina Devon.
"Corrupt King" Avalo Pizarro.
"World Destroyer" Byrnndi World.
"Colossal Battleship" Sanjuan Wolf.
And, two years ago in the West Blue, the Happo Navy under Don Chinjao had submitted to him.
The power of Arthur's Grand Fleet was beginning to take shape!
Aside from Don Chinjao, all of these individuals still had the potential to become even stronger, which would make his foothold in the New World more and more secure.
"And you? Old man Naguri. Are you prepared to die an unknown death in Impel Down, or will you follow me back to the sea?" Arthur asked with a smile, but his eyes remained as cold as ever.
If he refused, he could die. To live in this place, permanently deprived of freedom—for a pirate, it was truly worse than death.
Shiryu seemed to understand Arthur's meaning. A bloodthirsty smile gradually rose on his lips, a glint of red flashing in his eyes. For him, killing was a form of enjoyment.
Naguri's short figure slowly sat up from his reclining position. His gray hair covered his small eyes, and with the dim light, it was impossible to see the expression on his face.
After a long silence, perhaps weighing his options, just as Arthur's patience was about to run out and he was about to give the order to kill, Naguri finally spoke.
"Arthur, if I join your pirate crew, I won't be restricted in my freedom, right? If I don't even have basic freedom, I'd rather choose to die in Impel Down!"
"As long as what you do doesn't harm the interests of the Thunder God Pirates, I don't care what you do, and I won't stop you. But whenever there is a war, you must come and fight..." From these words, Arthur could hear that he had softened.
"That is my inescapable duty!"
As expected, after hearing Arthur's words, Naguri also agreed to join the Thunder God Pirates.
"It seems it's time to get out and stretch my legs. A great man like Roger being publicly executed by the Marines... no matter what, I have to go and see it with my own eyes!"
Almost all the pirates who had been defeated by Roger were utterly convinced of his strength.
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Sea Calendar 1498, July.
Arthur single-handedly broke into Impel Down and, in the great underwater prison, recruited the first core members of the Thunder God Pirates, raising the curtain on the struggle for supremacy in the New World.
"Hahahaha, excellent!"
Arthur looked at these pirates, each one capable of holding their own in the New World—and laughed uncontrollably. With a swing of his sword, he cut through their chains and shackles and prepared to leave without looking back.
He walked at the very front.
Shiryu, Avalo Pizarro, Catarina Devon, Byrnndi World, Naguri, and Vasco Shot followed closely behind him—along with the incomparably massive Sanjuan Wolf.
Along the way, perhaps due to Hannyabal's orders, not a single guard dared to stand in their way. Shiryu retrieved his Nodachi from the Head Jailer's office.
A GROUP OF INFAMOUS, HEINOUS PIRATES WAS THUS UNLEASHED UPON THE WORLD!
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