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Year 1509 of the Sea Circle Calendar. Atop the Red Line, the Holy Land of Mary Geoise.
This was the seat of the world's highest authority, the Five Elders and the World Government.
It was home to the most venerated people in the world, who owned the world and possessed the special privilege of enslaving it.
But this group, the so-called descendants of the Twenty Kings, the so-called World Nobles, were nothing more than trash and idiots.
Mary Geoise, the Holy Land coveted by all, was a picture of unparalleled luxury as far as the eye could see.
Magnificent palaces gleamed with gold, and the servants who came and went were all handsome men and beautiful women, creating a dreamlike world.
But beneath the glamorous facade of these beautiful palaces were piles of bones and countless layers of filth and squalor—a list of sins too long to write down!
As night fell and the lamps were lit, the rows of palaces became even more mysterious and beautiful.
In the dark alleys, groups of slaves scurried about, driven like cattle by guards cracking their whips. Any slave who fell slightly behind was met with a brutal lashing.
Even covered in wounds, they had to force themselves to get up. Blood trickled down their bodies, but their numb, vacant eyes seemed to have lost the ability to feel pain.
As for their fate… hah, the high and mighty World Nobles wouldn't waste medicine on a single slave.
In this Holy Land high above the clouds, slaves were always the cheapest of commodities. Yes, commodities.
In the eyes of the Celestial Dragons, they were not the same species as the other people of the world.
They were gods! The descendants of the Creator Gods who could enslave all things!
The slaves were herded into dim dungeons, huddled together in cramped spaces.
Their dinner was nothing but scraps and leftovers, barely enough to fill their stomachs after a day of hard labor, just sufficient to sustain their most basic biological functions.
But they had no right to be picky. As for praying for a savior to descend? Perhaps they held onto such fantasies for the first few years after arriving…
At the same time, in a dim dungeon, there were no crowded slaves; only three young girls were sitting together.
In the middle was a stale-looking steamed bun, with flies occasionally buzzing around it, a clear sign of its unappetizing nature.
Nevertheless, the stomachs of all three girls rumbled in unison, and the saliva they swallowed showed their desperate craving for the unappealing bun.
"Big sister, you should eat it. We… we're not that hungry," one of the younger sisters said, forcing herself to stop swallowing as she looked at the eldest of the three.
Following her gaze, one's eyes would land on a young girl with long black hair. Even the grime on her face could not hide her delicate, pretty features.
Her entire being exuded an invisible, irresistible allure. Hearing her sister's offer, the eldest girl frowned unhappily.
Her ruby lips parted, and a voice as pleasant as a singing oriole emerged.
"Marigold? What nonsense are you talking about? I… I'm already full."
Grrrroowl~
As soon as she spoke, three loud rumbles echoed from their stomachs.
The three girls looked at each other in embarrassment, then broke into laughter through their tears.
"How about… the three of us share it…"
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
The weather today was especially gloomy. Dark clouds shrouded the sky, and the sea was enveloped in darkness.
A few occasional flashes of lightning brought fleeting moments of light, as if trying to shatter the silent darkness…
Suddenly, high on the towering Red Line, a red, webbed hand gripped the edge of the continent…
CRACK!
Another clap of thunder rang out. The momentary flash of white light illuminated the owner of the webbed hand. It was a sea bream fish-man!
--Marineford, Admiral's Office--
"Headquarters has decided to station you at the Sabaody Archipelago. Normally, Sabaody is guarded by a Marine Rear Admiral."
Atlas was confused by this. He looked directly at Sengoku, as if trying to find the answer on his face.
Sengoku didn't keep him in suspense and stated his intentions directly.
"The Sabaody Archipelago is the only gateway for pirates to enter the New World."
"Your job is to stop the vast majority of them at the gates of the New World, cutting off the flow of fresh blood to the Whitebeard Pirates, the Big Mom Pirates, and the Beasts Pirates!"
"We suppressed the three great pirate crews in the New World, but if a steady stream of new pirates keeps pouring in, all the work we did will have been for nothing. This is especially true for the so-called Supernovas among the pirates!"
Hearing this, Atlas couldn't help but admire Sengoku's strategic mind. He was truly worthy of his title, "The Resourceful General."
This move was a masterstroke designed to outmaneuver them.
The three Emperor crews were not only frequently at war with the Marines, but they also constantly fought amongst themselves.
Without a fresh supply of recruits, their massive crews would eventually be reduced to nothing but a few commanders.
Whitebeard and Kaido were more than happy to accept new pirate crews into their ranks, and even the seemingly ruthless Big Mom did the same, just in their ways.
Whitebeard preferred to beat his opponents into submission, letting them join if they wished, relying mainly on his powerful charisma.
Big Mom's method was two words: political marriage. If she took a liking to someone, she would marry off one of her less-favored daughters to them.
It was ironic that a cold-blooded tyrant placed her most significant trust in blood ties, which was likely why her daughters, once married, dedicated themselves entirely to their husbands, even to the point of betraying the mother they feared most.
Kaido's method was more straightforward: hit them with his club. Still not submitting? Send them to the mines.
Still not submitting? Keep them mining until they break. Most eventually chose to join the Beasts Pirates. Moria was an exception because of his crew; he could never bring himself to submit to Kaido.
'Hm? Moria.' The name sparked a thought in Atlas's mind. 'He should be escaping from Wano soon. After digging up the country's ancestral graves. He must have gotten his hands on quite a few famous swords.'
The Sandai Kitetsu in Atlas's hand had long since felt inadequate. The black blade, Shusui, would suit him very well.
Buru buru buru… Buru buru buru…
Just as Sengoku cleared his throat, preparing to launch into a long lecture, the Den Den Mushi on his desk suddenly rang.
"Moshi moshi~ This is Sengoku!" Sengoku snatched the receiver, his voice as composed as ever.
"This is Saint Nusjuro."
A Five Elder! The term flashed through Atlas's mind. To call oneself 'Saint' and be able to contact Sengoku directly—it could only be one of the world's highest authorities, the Five Elders!
"Is there something I can help you with?" Sengoku unconsciously sat up even straighter.
"Mary Geoise is under attack…"
....
Drip… drip… In a dark and damp dungeon, the darkness was deep enough to swallow everything.
"Stella… Stella…" A young man in his twenties, huddled in a corner, muttered to himself. His eyes were vacant, his face sallow, his eye sockets sunken.
His clothes were tattered, and his skeletal body looked like a candle in the wind, ready to be extinguished by a single puff.
Only his grayish-green hair was a notable feature.
It was dinnertime. Some rotten cabbage and a fly-covered steamed bun were placed carelessly in the center of the cell.
But the young man paid no mind to his hunger, simply repeating the name over and over, a few tears occasionally escaping from his bloodshot eyes.
"Hey! Aren't you going to eat?" a fellow slave asked, grabbing the food from the floor and stuffing it into his mouth as he looked at the young man in the corner.
"Newbie?" a hoarse male voice came from the darkness. A tall man emerged.
In the faint moonlight filtering through a crack in the wall, one could vaguely make out a man in his late thirties.
His eyes were calm, lacking the usual vacant despair of a slave.
"Yeah, my name is Kori. I was just captured," Kori said, scratching his head in embarrassment. He reluctantly offered the food in his hand.
"Are you hungry? You can have this…"
"Tch~ I can't eat this garbage. You have it," the middle-aged man sneered, refusing the offer.
"What's wrong with him? He's so thin, why won't he eat anything?" Kori asked, pointing at the grayish-green-haired young man in the corner.
"Don't mind him," the middle-aged man said, glancing at the still-muttering young man with a mocking curve to his lips.
"His name is Tesoro. I think he came here five, no, six years ago. When he first arrived, he was always shouting about finding a woman named 'Stella'."
"Hey, guess what happened in the end?" the middle-aged man asked Kori with a wicked sense of humor.
"I don't know. The woman probably died; otherwise, he wouldn't be like this," Kori guessed uncertainly.
"Bingo! That's right. That woman, Stella, was mauled to death by a beast in the Celestial Dragons' fighting pit five years ago. Ever since then, he's been this crazy, broken mess."
As if the painful memory had been stirred again, the vacant gaze of the huddled Tesoro flickered slightly, a hint of obsession and madness in his eyes.
"And I was a slave in that fighting pit. I happened to see it all," the middle-aged man continued. "I saw this guy go from full of life to this numb, hollow shell. Damn it!"
He cursed, it was unclear if he was cursing Tesoro's foolishness or the Celestial Dragons' cruelty. Hearing Tesoro's story, Kori felt a wave of pity.
He wanted to go over and comfort him, but looking at Tesoro's 'stay away from me' aura and his rumbling stomach, he hesitated for a moment before sitting down cross-legged and continuing his battle with the food on the floor.
"Kid, eat up and get some sleep. There's heavy labor waiting for you in the morning. Not like me… heh…"
"What did you do in the fighting pit?" Kori asked curiously.
"Heh, what do you think you do in a fighting pit? You kill each other for the amusement of those bastard Celestial Dragons!"
After speaking, the middle-aged man found a pile of straw and lay down on it.
The fighting pits might sound exciting, a dream for some men, but… the fighting pits of Mary Geoise were nothing but bloody slaughterhouses to provide a little entertainment for bored Celestial Dragons.
Every day, the middle-aged man had to face not only other slaves but sometimes also beasts if a Celestial Dragon took an interest in man vs. beast fights.
He walked the edge of death every single day. He had no time or energy to wallow in self-pity like Tesoro, even though his wife and son had also died at the hands of the Celestial Dragons.
As long as you were alive, there was hope…
Soon, the sound of the man's snoring filled the dungeon. Kori quickly finished his food, his eyes staring blankly at the cell bars.
Freedom? He was still young and didn't have a deep-seated hatred for the Celestial Dragons. His life as a slave had only been a few days long.
He didn't have a great longing for the freedom others spoke of. Maybe… spending a lifetime here wouldn't be so bad…
Kori thought with a self-deprecating laugh. For someone with no family, it was the same everywhere.
At least in Mary Geoise, he got a bite to eat, and maybe he could even see the legendary World Nobles. Kori was from West Blue, a sea rife with gangster culture.
He had been captured by slave traders and sold here. Like most ordinary people in the world, he had never seen a real Celestial Dragon, only hearing bits and pieces from others—some hated them, some yearned to be them, some were disdainful.
Suddenly, as Kori was lost in thought, a flicker of fire broke through the darkness that had swallowed his vision.
The fire spread faster and faster, as if it would shatter the night and sound the horn for the dawn!
Kori was jolted awake. He shot up from the ground and shouted, "There's a fire! Is Mary Geoise being invaded?"
He couldn't believe it. In the minds of the world's people, Mary Geoise was the home of the descendants of the Creator Gods.
How could anyone possibly invade this so-called Holy Land?
"Hm?" The middle-aged man, who had just fallen asleep, was awakened by Kori's shouts.
He instinctively scanned his surroundings, and his attention was quickly drawn to the fire in the distance.
A way out… A flicker of hatred flashed in the middle-aged man's eyes. His relaxed hands clenched into tight fists, the veins on his arms bulging.
His eyes turned red, and his body began to tremble uncontrollably. As if having made a momentous decision, he let out a long breath, a great weight seeming to lift from his shoulders.
He looked toward the thick dungeon wall, as if his gaze could pierce through the stone and see a palace in Mary Geoise… the residence of the Celestial Dragons.
In the corner, Tesoro also stirred. He moved his stiff limbs, and a spark of life seemed to return to his eyes. It was as if he had found a new belief, or rather… an obsession…
(T/N: Please give me some power stone, I hope it can at least reach top 100)
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