Back at the Wano shogunate, Gusion was still in a daze.
He'd just casually given Kaido a strategy, and now he was the Beasts Pirates' strategist, All-Star, the Fourth Calamity.
Now Kaido fully trusted him—but dumped all the work on him.
Clearly, that simple-minded strongest creature didn't really grasp the plan, he just wanted results.
"Well, it's more work, but at least it's worth it."
Gusion had given up on sailing away; not only was he deeply tied to the Beasts Pirates, but he realized there were more benefits than he'd imagined.
Not just the power of being a Calamity, but also the rewards from his exploration percentage.
In a vast world like One Piece, he'd already reached 47.8% world exploration, which would greatly boost his end-of-world rewards.
World exploration was hard to get in big worlds. In smaller worlds like Demon Slayer or Kengan Ashura, it was easy—interact with key figures, kill the world's core holder, and you get a high percentage.
But in Bleach or One Piece, it was different. He'd interacted with many plot characters in Bleach, but barely got any exploration points.
That's because he hadn't changed the story enough—he hadn't had enough impact.
Now, it's different. He's a Beasts Pirates All-Star, a strategist, and is reforming Wano.
Long term, his impact will be huge, so he'll get lots of exploration points.
If he goes further, reforms Wano, and helps Kaido overthrow the Celestial Dragons, he could rewrite One Piece history and get 100% exploration.
Already, a prosperous Wano is taking shape. In five or six years, the people might not hate Kaido at all, but thank him for their good lives.
And twelve years from now, when Luffy arrives, Momonosuke will have no chance to restore the Kozuki.
First, Luffy isn't unreasonable—if he sees the people living happily, he wouldn't help Momonosuke ruin that peace.
Then, if Luffy and Kaido talk about their dreams… who knows, maybe they'll join forces and attack Mary Geoise together…
"Gusion-dono, what are you thinking?"
Yamato entered and saw Gusion staring blankly.
"I'm wondering how to handle Wano's infrastructure."
Gusion replied, troubled. Though he'd talked big to Kaido, he knew it would be hard in practice.
Especially infrastructure—he knew nothing about it.
Building factories was easy—just use the polluted land. No need to plan much.
But upgrading Wano's infrastructure meant urban planning, rivers, reservoirs, and more.
He had no clue how to handle that. Knowing what's needed and knowing how are different things.
"Well, I saw Mr. Yasuie today. He said he wanted to discuss infrastructure with you. Why not meet him?"
Yamato suggested.
"Good idea, Yamato, you're getting smarter."
Gusion praised her and left for Yasuie's place.
He finally met Yasuie late at night.
After some discussion, Gusion was delighted to find Yasuie knew urban planning well.
Makes sense—he'd managed Hakumai port city excellently in the past.
Not only was he a competent manager, he had the craftsmanship spirit of Wano and knew what to look out for.
After staying with Yasuie for a few days, Gusion had a preliminary plan for Wano's infrastructure, ready to mobilize workers and the unemployed.
…
As the reforms boomed, Marine HQ was also in an uproar.
Because of Kaido's strength and open hostility to the World Government, he'd long been a key target.
So the government had long sent spies to monitor Wano.
When they heard that Kaido made his daughter Yamato shogun, they sensed something unusual.
Sure enough, within a month or two, Wano changed rapidly. Kaido seemed to have turned over a new leaf, showing benevolence to the people.
For many just Marines, seeing Kaido improve life for Wano's people was a good thing—they felt less guilty.
But as more reports arrived, the World Government grew alarmed.
Kaido, as if guided by a mastermind, was governing Wano better and better. The people supported him, factory output rose, and his power grew quickly.
The World Government didn't care about Wano's people, but if Kaido's power grew, they couldn't accept that.
They knew what Kaido wanted to do. Letting a warmonger like him quietly build up in Wano was unacceptable.
So, meetings were held non-stop, debating how to respond.
But internal divisions meant no decision to go to war with Kaido—only continued surveillance.
When news reached Marine HQ, they too were shocked by the Beasts Pirates' change, but their job wasn't to fight Kaido—it was… to update bounties.
After heated discussion, new wanted posters were finalized and sent by seagull all over the world.
...
At the Grand Line entrance, an explorer from the Divine Space stepped into this vast world, hoping to make a name and raise his world rating.
He was a second-rank explorer from the North Blue, who'd quickly made a name for himself, and, with two other explorers, formed a pirate crew.
All three were top-tier second-rankers here. Together, they swept the North Blue and earned high bounties.
Now they were aiming for the Grand Line, both for the sights and the potential rewards—especially higher bounties.
They'd realized that in One Piece world, there was no main quest, but upon meeting certain conditions, they'd get hidden or side quests.
For example, all of them had a side quest after getting their first bounty: the higher their bounty, the better their world rewards.
Riding the currents through the Red Line, into the vast Grand Line, they looked at the clear sky, smiling in anticipation.
Because they saw the seagulls—the ones delivering wanted posters.
"We did plenty of big stuff. Our bounties should be updated, right?"
One explorer jumped up and grabbed a stack of posters from a seagull, excited.
"Should be. I'm guessing at least twenty million," another laughed, joining him.
Wanted posters were only distributed when bounties were updated, so if they didn't see their names, their bounties hadn't changed.
They were sorted low to high, so soon they found their own.
"Haha, thirty million! I'm at Luffy's level now!"
"Only thirty million? I got thirty-five! That means I'll be Pirate King, right?"
"Why are your bounties higher? We did the same stuff and I only got twenty-eight?"
The three bantered, flipping through more posters for info.
Since their names differed from locals, the posters helped them track other explorers and compare achievements.
"Whoa, Black Lily's here? That's trouble. I don't want to meet her at sea."
The leader frowned at a certain poster.
"A famous third-rank?" someone asked.
"No, she's second-rank, but her powers are weird. I met her once in a world war—barely survived."
He looked wary. "But she's in West Blue. We probably won't meet."
"Black Lily… Is she from the Botanical Garden?"
The other pondered.
The leader nodded, "Yeah, best not to get involved. That crew's full of lunatics. Let's just raise our bounties and maybe score a Devil Fruit."
"Hey! Look at this!"
The short one shouted, "Did I read the wrong manga?"
The other two stopped and crowded around. The short one was pointing at the New World section.
It was clearly the Beasts Pirates' posters, but that wasn't surprising—ten years before canon, their bounties changed often.
But when they saw the poster, they were stunned.
The face on the poster wasn't any known Beasts Pirates officer, but it clearly said: the new All-Star of the Beasts Pirates!
A handsome, tough-looking man, youthful face with sharp features with short black hair, sharp eyes, dressed in black, holding a black blade—a real badass.
Below was his title and name: The Thunderstorm—Gusion.