Fate is something elusive—impossible to clearly explain or predict.
In the end, after the events of Dressrosa, the Heart Pirates and the Straw Hat Pirates formed an alliance.
An alliance between two pirate crews who honor their word meant that, from this point onward, their paths were bound together—sharing both life and death.
For the Straw Hats, this outcome wasn't something they reacted to strongly. As for the Heart Pirates, who had always followed Law's lead, they naturally had no objections.
After two rounds of celebratory feasting, the two crews had already grown close.
When Luffy woke up, Zoro handed him the compass and relayed the words King had left before departing.
With Luffy's personality, there was, of course, no way he'd simply follow someone else's instructions.
Just as he was about to toss the compass away, Robin—who rarely voiced objections—spoke up to stop him.
"Luffy, this time, we can't allow you to be willful."
"We may not have fully analyzed why they've done this, but it's not hard to infer that the other routes are in trouble."
"As for what kind of trouble…"
At this point, a flicker of fear appeared in Robin's eyes. She continued:
"It should be war."
"If I'm guessing correctly, battles have already broken out along the other routes."
"And whether it's the Great Kingdom, the World Government, or the Marines—this is not the sort of war a crew like ours can take part in."
"This is the kind of conflict that individual strength alone can't change."
"If you recklessly dive into it, you could drag the entire crew into an abyss… and that's no exaggeration."
Within the Straw Hats, Robin's intellect was undoubtedly among the highest. Her assessment of the situation was, more or less, spot on.
After all, the sea route following Dressrosa was part of Ghidorah's logistical supply network, and was therefore heavily protected.
That said, even if the Straw Hats tried to deviate from the route, they would likely be unable to break through the blockade anyway.
What none of them realized, however, was that all of this was actually orchestrated by the Monkey family's ancestor—Musend. Ghidorah, in truth, had little to do with it.
Recently, Ghidorah—busy as he was—had run into a group of rather interesting little punks.
The "Red Flag" X Drake.
The pirate Eustass Kid.
And the mafia boss Capone Bege…
Perhaps because of Ghidorah's appearance during the Marineford War, this group of infamous Supernovas from the original events hadn't quite captured the world's attention again.
What caught his interest, however, was the man these three were attacking: former Warlord Crocodile—along with his subordinate, Daz Bones.
Rumble…
"Damn it, is it going to rain?"
As a Sand-Sand Fruit user with a natural aversion to water, Crocodile's face darkened the moment storm clouds gathered overhead.
"Heh… looks like even the heavens are on our side."
"You washed-up relic!"
Kid, with his blazing red hair, raised a massive arm of magnetized metal weapons and swung it down toward Crocodile without hesitation.
Faced with the terrifying force of that magnetically forged arm, Crocodile didn't so much as flinch. The scar across his face twisted in a slight sneer.
"Brat… don't get cocky in front of me!"
Whatever else could be said about him, this was a man who had once crossed blades with Whitebeard himself—how could he possibly be bullied by a pack of rookie pirates?
A gust of wind surged up as golden sand roared like the fury in his heart. In an instant, he unleashed a massive sand slash, shattering Kid's metal arm with a thunderous impact.
For all his infamy, Crocodile's strength was nothing to scoff at.
As the metallic arm crumbled apart, Crocodile turned into a stream of sand, riding the wind to appear beside Kid. His golden hook swept toward the younger man's abdomen.
Crack—!
Suddenly, a bolt of golden lightning crashed down from the sky, striking Crocodile's hook dead-on.
A tingling numbness shot through him, locking his entire body rigid. His eyes filled with shock.
Kid wore the same expression. As a Magnet-Magnet Fruit user, he knew the nature of electricity well.
But even with his magnetic powers, there was no way he could call lightning down from so far away…
Bzzt… bzzt… bzzt…
While he stood frozen in thought, countless electric serpents began slithering across the black clouds overhead.
As Supernovas, they had seen their share of naturally occurring freak weather—storm-ridden islands, bizarre environmental phenomena.
But something like this appearing over this island? Impossible.
Crocodile, however—shaking off his paralysis—looked up at those writhing electric serpents with a dawning horror. It was as if he had recalled something truly dreadful.
The arrogance in his gaze vanished at once. He shouted to Daz Bones in the distance:
"Bones—RUN!"
No sooner had he spoken than he, too, turned to flee at full speed.
But the heavens clearly had no intention of granting his wish. Several bolts of lightning lanced down in front of their escape path—thin, almost delicate-looking golden bolts, yet unmistakably deadly.
Crocodile's initial grim suspicion was now confirmed. He knew he couldn't get away. He stopped short, grabbed the stubborn Daz Bones by the arm, and said with a grave expression:
"We're not getting out of this."
Among the Supernovas, Kid was the reckless brawler type. Seeing this, he thought even the heavens were helping him. His heart leapt as he charged at Crocodile—two legs pumping, eager to finish him off.
Killing Crocodile would skyrocket both his bounty and his infamy.
That was, in fact, the main reason the three of them had targeted him.
Yet, strangely, Crocodile made no move to counterattack. He just stood there, watching Kid's approach.
Had he been frightened senseless by the lightning?
That thought had barely formed in Kid's mind when he suddenly felt a massive pressure bearing down from above.
Before he could react—numbness swept through him, and his ears rang with a deafening buzz.
"H-he got… struck!"
Bege and Drake, who hadn't yet made a move, stared wide-eyed.
"Heh… what an ignorant brat," Crocodile sneered, entirely unsurprised by Kid's fate.
The sudden turn of events left everyone reeling.
As Kid collapsed to his knees, Bege and Drake seemed to realize something. Almost involuntarily, they looked up at the slowly churning clouds above.
They were not left disappointed.
Before long, the rolling storm clouds split apart, revealing a colossal, gleaming golden silhouette through the rift.
"D… d… dr—dragon…!"
The moment they saw that fearsome head, the two spoke in unison, horror-stricken.
A moment later, as they realized there were three such heads, their bodies trembled uncontrollably, beads of cold sweat breaking out on their foreheads.
"Ghidorah!"
No matter how hard they tried, they could never have imagined that the rarely seen terror would appear before their very eyes.
As the clouds rolled back, the colossal figure descended from the sky.
A razor-sharp gale blasted across the battlefield, making everyone's skin sting as if sliced by blades.
Kid—still reeling from the lightning—looked up at the three-headed figure. His eyes burned with a crimson light…