"What? Clouds falling? What kind of strange thing is that?"
The eight pirate divisions, just arriving at the Kano Country's port, all turned to look at the clouds growing larger and larger in the sky.
At this moment, the 12th leader of the Happo Navy, Chinjao, stood on the deck, raising his head to look at the anomaly above.
"Report, Leader, we don't know what's going on either..." one of the pirates under him said. "Right now, the citizens of the Kano Country are panicking because those clouds... they look pretty solid."
"Alright, you can leave. I'll handle this myself!"
After saying this, Chinjao unconsciously rubbed his slightly protruding head.
More than ten years ago, his head had been the legendary "Drill Chinjao" pointing straight to the heavens.
But after encountering that bastard Garp...
The Drill Chinjao had fallen.
He could no longer use his most powerful technique.
And as the strongest man in the Kano Country, his weakening meant the country would gradually decline.
The Kano Country had tried countless methods, hoping to help Chinjao restore his head to its original state.
But after over ten years, there was no effect whatsoever.
From the First Happo Navy to the current one, they had completely given up on this matter.
So to protect the safety of the Kano Country, they had no choice but to abandon the lands they originally controlled and retreat back to the Kano Country's mainland.
No longer, like before, were the eight pirate divisions stationed in eight different regions around the Kano Country.
"The New World... it's getting stranger and stranger." Chinjao muttered as he jumped off the ship.
"Whether it's the Marines cooperating with the Whitebeard Pirates, or these giant clouds falling from the sky... none of it has ever been seen before."
He even started to feel that maybe he really was getting old...
Old enough that he couldn't quite understand the world anymore.
"Sigh, might as well just smash this weird thing apart."
Muttering to himself, Chinjao gathered Armament Haki into his fists.
It was only clouds, after all — no need to use Hasshoken, or the techniques derived from it that required the now-bent head of his.
With a sudden leap, Chinjao's fists struck at the enormous cloud above.
"Oh! It's Chinjao-sama taking action!"
"Looks like Chinjao-sama plans to blow that cloud apart directly!"
"To be honest, this cloud doesn't look light at all — more like a solid... island."
As the citizens of the Kano Country kept talking, sudden change erupted.
Just as Chinjao's Haki-covered fists were about to strike the cloud, the thick mass — heavy as a small island — dispersed instantly on its own.
The feeling of the sky being blocked vanished at once.
The sun, which had been covered, reappeared in everyone's view.
But against the sunlight, Chinjao squinted and saw a figure hovering in the air, backlit by the sun.
On this person's back were enormous wings —
Looking closely, there was one pair of large wings and one pair of smaller wings.
Chinjao instantly felt threatened...
Why had this person been hiding behind the cloud?
Was he planning to attack the Kano Country?
But there was no time to think.
His fist, already thrown, couldn't be stopped midair, so it kept going straight toward the stranger.
Just before it could land, the man spoke.
"Yo, old man, you sure have a temper."
"Seems even though Garp bent your head back then, he didn't break your spirit completely."
Chinjao froze.
Who was this man talking about?
Garp!?
Before he could ask, the stranger had already drawn the long sword at his waist.
"Slash."
A few indistinct runes lit up along the blade, followed by a massive slash of white Holy Light flames.
At that instant, Chinjao felt a threat to his very life.
Instinctively, he poured out every ounce of Armament Haki, crossing his arms to defend himself.
But facing this terrifying slash, even resisting with everything he had, Chinjao was finally overwhelmed.
Boom!
Though the slash was slowly dissipated by his defense, the remaining force still smashed him into the ground.
Before losing consciousness, the last thing he saw was the man in the sky reaching a hand toward him.
...
"Huuh!"
Chinjao shot upright, only to find himself lying in the Kano Country's hospital.
Checking himself instinctively, he found no injuries at all.
As if that terrifying slash had never happened.
"Could it be... I'm getting old enough to dream weird things like this?"
"Hmm, at least your brain isn't broken yet. You know you're not young anymore."
A voice Chinjao had never heard before spoke. He turned to see a man sitting beside the bed.
Platinum-blonde hair.
Marine uniform.
Pure white wings...
"Who are you? That slash just now... it was you!"
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Michael, Vice Admiral of Marine Headquarters. As for the slash you mentioned..." Michael shrugged casually. "Yeah, that was me. But hey, you're the one who swung at us first for no reason."
Chinjao's mouth went dry.
He knew the man was right, but he didn't care about that right now.
Instead, he grabbed Michael by the collar, white beard bristling, face turning red like a demon.
"You mentioned Garp's name earlier, didn't you!? What exactly is your relationship with him!?"
"Tch. Isn't it obvious?"
Michael impatiently gripped Chinjao's hand. At once, Chinjao felt an irresistible strength force him to let go.
"Marine Hero Garp? If I have to say, he's the cranky old man next door and half my teacher." Michael smirked. "But do you really hate him that much? He just flattened your head, didn't he?"
"You don't get it! That was not only my strongest weapon — it was the pride of me, the 12th pillar of the Happo Navy!"
Michael pointed at Chinjao's face.
"Winners and losers. You lost, couldn't get revenge, and you still think you have the right to hate Garp?"
"In the end, isn't all this because you're too weak?"
"Weak!? Even Garp himself would never use that word on me!"
Chinjao roared, throwing a punch at Michael.
Michael sighed, not even bothering to defend.
"You Happo Navy folks sure share the same rotten temper... You've been awake this long and haven't noticed anything strange?"
Chinjao's punch froze midair.
Because behind Michael was a mirror.
And in that mirror, Chinjao saw himself...
The head that should have been slightly dented — had been completely restored!
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