Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku the Buddha, holding the day's latest newspaper, trembled with rage.
"The Super 'Admiral'—White Dragon!"
An admiral? White Dragon?
Was this "White Dragon" the same "Vongola Storm" he knew?
Could someone please explain to him, the Fleet Admiral of the Marines—
Who the hell made Vongola Storm one of the Royal Seven Warlords of the Sea?!
Fuming, Sengoku grabbed the Den Den Mushi beside him and furiously dialed a number.
The moment the call connected, he exploded.
"Kuzan, you damn bastard!!"
"Ara ara..."
Aokiji stared blankly at the Den Den Mushi in his hand.
Seriously, who could understand? Waking up first thing in the morning only to be cursed out by his superior.
This authoritarian Marine organization—so cold, so heartless.
Even the "Ice Man" felt a bone-chilling frost creeping over him.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, did someone provoke you? Did Vice Admiral Garp steal your senbei from the office cabinet again?"
Aokiji threw out wild guesses before grumbling,
"Don't just blame everything on me! I've been working hard lately!"
Working hard? How could those words even come out of your mouth?
Working hard? Then how the hell did a Marine from the SWORD Unit end up as one of the Royal Seven Warlords of the Sea?!
Aokiji's excuse only made Sengoku angrier.
"Vongola Storm!"
Sengoku laughed bitterly in fury.
"That brat—he's become one of the Royal Seven Warlords of the Sea!
"The Five Elders appointed him directly, and even I, the Fleet Admiral, wasn't informed!"
"You just said it was the Five Elders' doing, so why are you yelling at me..."
Aokiji "muttered" under his breath.
"I don't have any authority over Warlord appointments anyway.
"But speaking of which, Fleet Admiral Sengoku, Storm becoming a Warlord might not be such a bad thing."
"Not a bad thing?"
Sengoku lamented in despair.
"A Marine, now a government-sanctioned pirate—and you call that not a bad thing?"
"At least from the Marines' perspective, we won't have to send people to fight Storm anymore, right?"
Aokiji replied leisurely into the Den Den Mushi.
"Besides, Storm has been actively fulfilling his Warlord duties.
"Lizard King Hanafuda—one of the Warlords the World Government ordered to be revoked—
"Storm captured him and all his subordinates.
"I've already dispatched a warship to Banaro Island."
Finally, some good news!
Sengoku's expression softened slightly.
No matter what, Storm had always been relentless in hunting down pirates.
From Impel Down's prisoners to the Royal Seven Warlords of the Sea...
From that perspective, Storm was doing a decent job...
"Who did you send to Banaro Island?"
"Grizly!"
Calm Belt, Impel Down.
The wardens had already delivered the day's newspaper to the Chief Warden's office.
The pot-bellied Hannyabal entered the office and immediately spotted the glaring "Headline of the Day" the moment he picked up the paper.
When he read the headline's contents and saw that all-too-familiar, impossibly handsome face—
Hannyabal's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
The next moment, the Chief Warden abandoned all pretense of slacking off at work and rushed straight to the warden's office on the fourth level.
"Magellan!"
Hannyabal barged into the office waving a newspaper, shouting as he ran.
"Something terrible has happened!"
Magellan was enjoying his breakfast—one of the rare moments in his day when he didn't need to visit the toilet. At the sight of Hannyabal, his good mood instantly soured, and he let out a long sigh.
"Ah..."
Thick purple poison mist sprayed from Magellan's mouth, instantly contaminating the bowl of chicken soup before him. What had been a perfectly good bowl of soup was now a lethally toxic "farewell broth."
"What's happened now?" Magellan asked wearily, looking at Hannyabal.
"Did Sadie get hurt again? Did Shiryu kill someone? Or is there another riot?"
"No, none of that!"
Hannyabal covered his nose to avoid inhaling the poison gas and slammed the newspaper onto Magellan's desk.
"It's Storm! That kid made the headlines!"
"Did the government finally decide to put a bounty on that lawless bastard?"
Magellan was startled and immediately grabbed the newspaper, scanning the front page.
"Nani?! Vongola Storm has become one of the Royal Seven Warlords of the Sea?!"
What were the Royal Seven Warlords of the Sea?
They were super pirates officially recognized by the government—licensed to plunder legally!
The moment Magellan saw that Storm—the man who had nearly wiped out the entire Infinite Hell—had been legitimized as one of the Royal Seven Warlords, a fragment of the beliefs he had held onto for years silently crumbled away...
All these years, the wardens had guarded the depths of hell with unwavering diligence.
What did all that hardship, all that effort, all that sacrifice...
What did any of it mean in the eyes of those in power?
Magellan remained silent for a long while before setting the newspaper down with a complicated expression.
"The world is unpredictable..."
"Storm! Storm! Storm!"
Unaware of the warden's expression, Hannyabal paced back and forth across the office, muttering under his breath.
"The Royal Seven Warlords can extract prisoners from my Impel Down.
"Storm wouldn't actually come back to my prison, would he?
"Damn it! I haven't even become warden yet, and he's already a Royal Warlord!"
Hearing this last remark, Magellan finally lost his patience.
"Oi, you idiot Hannyabal, what exactly are you worried about?"
Magellan rapped his knuckles sharply against the desk, producing a series of loud thuds.
"If you really have nothing better to do, go check the fifth level.
"The Queen of Kamabakka Kingdom is still missing."
"The fifth level?"
Hannyabal stopped in his tracks, turning to Magellan with a shrug.
"You want me to go to the Extreme Cold Hell? How am I supposed to do that?"
...
Paradise, Alabasta.
Sand Crocodile stared at the day's newspaper, his expression darkening so much that he lost all interest in his cigar.
"That bastard White Dragon actually became a Royal Warlord too..."
"He straight-up killed the Lizard King..."
"95 million Belly bounty... Hmph!"
Not far from him, two bandaged-up giants recovering from their injuries burst into laughter.
"Kaba-ba-ba! The Royal Seven Warlords of the Sea! Sounds like a mighty impressive title!"
"As expected of the man we both acknowledge! Storm! Ee-ga-ga-ga!"
Crocodile looked at Red Ogre Brogy and Blue Ogre Dorry.
Using "recuperation" as an excuse, he had forcibly kept the two giants in Alabasta.
His original intention was to use this brief time to subdue the giants and make them his subordinates.
However...
The giants didn't seem to like the Sand Crocodile type very much.
Although Crocodile could easily defeat these two giants with the power of the Sand-Sand Fruit, neither Red Ogre Brogy nor Blue Ogre Dorry fully acknowledged his strength.
They recognized his power but didn't consider him truly formidable.
Crocodile cursed inwardly.
Two muscle-brained idiot giants!
I'll send you out of Alabasta today!
...
Paradise, Kuraigana Island.
Hawkeye Mihawk gazed at the newspaper in his hands.
His sharp, eagle-like yellow eyes lingered for a moment on the corner of the White Dragon's bounty poster.
"That's… a sword hilt? This new Royal Seven Warlord of the Sea… is a swordsman?"
Paradise, Florian Triangle.
Gekko Moriah also received today's newspaper.
"Kishishishi! A dragon… That stupid Lizard King actually lost to a rookie? I'd love to turn him into a zombie!"
Paradise, Calm Belt.
The former empress of Amazon Lily raised the newspaper toward Boa Hancock.
"A new Royal Seven Warlord of the Sea? That has nothing to do with me! And… a dragon?! I hate dragons most of all!"
New World, Moby Dick.
Knight of the Sea Jinbei read today's paper, his wave-like eyebrows furrowing tightly.
"The Navy's greatest disgrace… Even a Marine can become a Royal Seven Warlord now. This pirate world has truly gone mad…"
Nearly all active Royal Seven Warlords of the Sea took notice of the news regarding the White Dragon.
But most members merely skimmed the headlines without taking further action.
Except for one.
...
New World, Dressrosa.
"Young Master."
The snow woman Monet, dressed in a fiery outfit, entered the room with a chilling breeze.
"There's a new 'Warlord'!"
"Hm?"
Donquixote Doflamingo raised his right hand, and Monet promptly placed the newspaper in his palm.
"White Dragon? Fufufufu! What an audacious title!"
Monet stood quietly by as Doflamingo read through the article.
The title Vongola Storm piqued his interest enough to continue.
But after finishing the entire report,
(Latest updates at 6-9 Book Bar!)
Doflamingo found himself fixated on something else entirely.
The White Dragon became a Royal Seven Warlord because he took down that short-armed lizard?
At this, Doflamingo could no longer sit still. He immediately rose from his plush chair.
"Ah—"
Violet, the dancer of Dressrosa who went by the alias "Viola," couldn't suppress a gasp.
But knowing the rules of the Donquixote Family, she quickly sealed her lips, afraid of interrupting Doflamingo's thoughts.
"White Dragon! The Lizard King! Fufufufu…"
Doflamingo rolled up the newspaper and strode swiftly toward the exit. Monet dutifully draped his pink feathered coat over his shoulders.
"That brat has no idea who he's messed with, does he?"
As the king of the underworld,
Doflamingo had overseen countless shadowy transactions through his hands.
Through these dealings, he had woven a vast network that spanned nearly half the world.
Naturally, he also possessed a wealth of intelligence that ordinary people could never access.
For example—
Doflamingo knew very well.
That guy, the Lizard King Hanafuda.
Though nominally one of the Royal Seven Warlords of the Sea.
In truth, he was the "gray glove" used by the Pirate Emperor Kaido of the Beasts to collect Zoan-type Devil Fruits!
Over the years,
Hanafuda had gathered an untold number of Devil Fruits for the Beast Pirates.
According to Doflamingo's latest intel,
just a few days ago, Hanafuda had secretly dispatched a ship from Paradise into the New World.
That ship was rumored to be carrying a Devil Fruit!
And not just any Devil Fruit—it was an Ancient Zoan-type, Kaido's favorite!
Thinking of this, Doflamingo smirked again.
Hanafuda's defeat was undoubtedly fantastic news for him.
Having lived in the New World for so many years,
Doflamingo had come to understand the concept of "the strong devouring the weak" all too well.
The Marines were the overlords of the seas.
But this was the New World.
Here, the power and status of the Pirate Emperors were absolute!
Whitebeard!
Kaido!
Big Mom!
And Red Hair, who had risen to prominence just this year!
These four, these four Pirate Emperors, were the true superpowers who dictated the New World's landscape.
And what about Doflamingo?
The Heavenly Demon? King of the Underworld? Royal Seven Warlord?
To ordinary people, these titles might sound impressive.
But in the eyes of those true monsters—
What kind of pathetic sea scum was he?
Nothing at all!
In the years since entering the New World,
Doflamingo had been busy both "reclaiming" the throne of Dressrosa and expanding his family's business.
But after all this time,
his influence had hit a bottleneck.
If he wanted to climb higher…
Relying solely on his own strength was nowhere near enough to compete for resources on that terrifying scale.
Thus,
Doflamingo needed to find a stronger support outside his family.
Or rather…
A powerful backer!
The four Pirate Emperors of the New World.
They were, in Doflamingo's eyes, the most suitable candidates for collaboration.
It wasn't like he could partner with the World Government, the Marine Headquarters, or even the Revolutionary Army, right?
However.
Even though Doflamingo and the Pirate Emperors were both part of the "pirate faction,"
getting close to them was no easy task.
The Whitebeard Pirates? To join, you had to become Whitebeard's "son"…
The Red Hair Pirates? They had no known history of recruiting outsiders…
As for the Big Mom Pirates—
Doflamingo considered them the easiest to approach.
Because Big Mom had a well-known obsession—collecting every race in the world.
Couldn't "Celestial Dragons" be considered a special race?
But if he went that route…
Doflamingo couldn't help but feel it was far too humiliating.
Because if he wanted to "offer" a Celestial Dragon to Big Mom,
he couldn't exactly kidnap someone from Mariejois.
He could only "offer" himself to Big Mom.
To put it simply.
He would make the Heavenly Demon become one of Big Mom's loyal subordinates.
Though… but…
Even with Doflamingo's thick skin and ambition, he found this task far too challenging.
Among the four Pirate Emperors of the New World.
After careful consideration, Doflamingo concluded that the Beast Pirates were still the most "suitable" option.
However, this posed a problem.
The Beast Pirates already had a "gray glove" in the legitimate world to collect resources—
The existence of the Lizard King, Hanafuda.
Unintentionally, this stood in the way of Doflamingo's plans to advance further.
Both the Heavenly Demon and the Lizard King were members of the Royal Seven Warlords of the Sea.
Moreover, the Lizard King was a Zoan-type Devil Fruit user, which inherently tied him closely to Kaido of the Beasts.
It would be difficult for Doflamingo to snatch business from the Lizard King's grasp…
But now.
The Lizard King was dead.
"My chance has come! Fufufufu…"
Doflamingo stepped outside the palace of Dressrosa and raised his right hand, releasing several ultra-thin strings from his fingertips.
The threads connected to the white clouds in the sky.
With a light tug, Doflamingo immediately soared into the air.
This was one of the skills he had developed based on his [String-String Fruit]—
Cloud Walk!
Using Cloud Walk, Doflamingo flew high into the sky, swiftly moving toward the sea.
He intended to meet Kaido in Wano Country and form an alliance with the Beasts.
But since he was going to meet a "big shot."
Doflamingo had to bring a suitable "gift."
For the Beast Pirates.
The most fitting "gift" would undoubtedly be an Ancient Zoan-type Devil Fruit!
Although the Donquixote Family was a powerful organization where "every member was a Devil Fruit user."
Ironically, not a single member of the Donquixote Family possessed a Zoan-type ability.
Nor did their family treasury contain any Zoan-type Devil Fruits.
But that wasn't a problem.
In the world of pirates, if you didn't possess a c
ertain treasure, you just had to take it from someone who did.
Doflamingo's target was crystal clear.
The ship that the Lizard King had sent into the New World a few days ago!
That ship must be carrying a Zoan-type Devil Fruit!
He would steal the "tribute" meant for the now-deceased Lizard King and then present it to Kaido of the Beasts.
This would allow him to forge a connection with Kaido.
This was Doflamingo's plan for ascension!
High in the sky, the Heavenly Demon laughed wildly.
"Fufufufu…"
"I will twist the [strings] in my grasp."
"Into a [rope] strong enough to leash a monster!"