"Then, the alliance is formed!"
The next day, Marian Island. Shiki firmly grasped several large barrels of Wood Release fine sake as he floated in the sky, a happy smile on his face. "I'm heading to Wano first. Just use the Den Den Mushi to contact me when you arrive."
He reached into his chest, pulled out a scroll with a Den Den Mushi number, and tossed it to Sakura. Then, using his Fuwa Fuwa no Mi's ability, he hurried off with several floating islands in the sky toward the latter half of the New World route.
Down below, Sakura lightly tapped her fingers on the desk, calmly leafing through an illustrated guide to Devil Fruits. A small treasure chest sat beside her hand.
After a moment's thought, Sakura called out through Chakra sensing: "Leviathan!"
"Here~, what's up?"
The shadows in the room surged. The languid ship spirit, drawing out her words, stepped gracefully out of the shadow, a skewer of grilled squid legs in her mouth and pastries made by the Sky Island winged tribe in her hands.
"Without affecting the island's defenses, pull out a unit of the winged tribe."
Sakura considered and adjusted the responsibilities within her power. "You, Sato Sakura, Ace, and I are going to Wano. Entrust the coordination of personnel to Enel for now. Have Yamato temporarily take over the defense of the Sky Realm. Tell Kuina and Thormud to watch the factory in the Underworld!"
"Got it!" The ship spirit girl's eyes lit up at the prospect of leaving the island to sail.
She gave Sakura a crooked, stumbling salute, didn't even spare the snacks on the table, and eagerly dove into the shadow, disappearing.
Sakura then picked up the small treasure chest and stepped out, arriving at the Underworld's pharmaceutical factory.
She was about to look for Ace when she noticed Sato Sakura and Yamato acting sneakily. The two white-haired girls slipped out of the factory room, having smirks on their faces.
"Cough!" Sakura concealed her presence, quietly walked behind the two, and gave a loud cough.
"Wah!" The previously excited Yamato was startled, jumping and bumping into the funny bone in Sato Sakura's elbow.
The giant girl's twitching hand then sent the prefabricated room in front of them flying, revealing Ace lying inside, covered from head to toe in drawn-on tattoos, still sleeping deeply.
"You two... how immature can you be?" Sakura gave them a displeased look.
"Hehehe~" The two girls stuck out their tongues and scratched their heads sheepishly.
"Alright, both of you go report to Leviathan and follow her arrangements. I need to speak with Ace alone." She waved her hand to dismiss them.
After they left, Sakura approached Ace's bedside, a malicious smile on her face. She leaned down and whispered in his ear, "My dear disciple, time to get up for class~"
"!!!"
In an instant, the boy's figure blurred.
Armament Haki flowed from his arm to his famous blade, which was kept close to his body. He carved elegant, brutal arcs and deadly pitch-black glimmers in the air, unleashing a metal storm centered on himself.
From rising, coating with Haki, to swinging the long sword, the entire process was smooth without any obstruction. More importantly, Ace was still in the midst of a dream at this point.
"Good. At least my efforts weren't wasted."
Sakura nodded with satisfaction. Her pair of fair hands shattered the storm. Amidst the screeching sound of metal friction, she clenched her fists and struck downward!
"Wake up!"
Bang!
Extreme violence shattered the boy's deep sleep, sending him flying with her to the open space outside the factory, where the ground collapsed and shattered with a sound that could burst eardrums.
"Ugh..."
Ace, whose body was once again torn to shreds, woke from his dream, looking around in confusion.
When his gaze fell on Sakura, he held his head and climbed up from the broken earth.
"Sakura-nee, what are you doing here?" Ace limped toward Sakura. "Why does my body hurt so much? Sakura-nee, do you have any idea?"
"Yes, it was probably Sato Sakura and Yamato stretching your muscles and bones last night!"
The beautiful girl wove her lie with an unchanged expression, raising her hand to infuse Yang Release Chakra into Ace to heal his injuries.
After healing his wounds, Sakura patted him on the shoulder and spoke, "Back to business. Next, you're going to sail with me to Wano."
"Yes!" Ace immediately perked up. "Sakura-nee, are you planning to liberate Wano?"
"Unfortunately, as a pirate, I'm more likely to go there to carve it up."
Sakura sat down on the ground, ignoring the dirt and dust, and patted the ground to signal Ace to come over and sit.
"Why, Sakura-nee? Are you going to ravage Wano like Kaido did?"
Ace felt a fire burning in his chest and couldn't help but harden his tone.
"We're pirates. Isn't looting and plundering our primary job?"
Seeing Ace throw a childish tantrum, Sakura found it amusing. "And even if you don't go looting, you have no obligation to protect Wano anyway!"
"Of course I do! I promised Yamato I would help her liberate Wano!" Ace frowned, looking determined to draw a clear line with Sakura.
"And then what?"
Sakura smiled warmly, deciding to give this presumptuous young man a dose of reality.
"What do you mean, then?" The boy was confused.
"After you liberate Wano, how will you construct a new order?"
Her green eyes reflected the boy's face, calm as a placid lake. "The pirate crew that dominated there was highly bound with Wano's shogunate institutions. When you deal with the pirates, you'll inevitably overthrow the shogunate. Then what kind of new shogunate do you plan to establish?"
"This..." Ace was at a loss for words.
"And what about the food, energy, safety, and production for the tens of millions of people in Wano? You haven't considered any of that, have you?" The girl let out a strange laugh, crossed her arms, and couldn't stop shaking her foot.
"Well... Yamato and I will guard the place!" Ace's confidence waned further, his voice growing softer. "Everything else... we'll figure it out..."
This was a forced statement, hiding weakness behind a show of strength.
Those with power could indeed change many things with conviction and ideals. But after Sakura's prompting, Ace could also realize that passion alone clearly wouldn't put rice cake soup to fill their stomachs on the table.
"Foolish disciple. Neither you nor Yamato have any experience managing territory. If I let you two loose, you'd only collapse Wano into a state even worse than it is today."
Sakura stood up and lightly punched Ace's head with a loosely clenched fist. "So when you come with me to Wano, watch and learn carefully. If you truly consider this your goal, at least raise your abilities to the level where you can do it properly, right?"
Ace, argued into silence, looked dejected. He sat cross-legged on the ground, elbows on his knees, ruminating on what Sakura had just said.
Seeing that Ace had indeed listened to her words, Sakura nodded with satisfaction. "Also, I was originally going to have you eat this fruit before we departed. But now, it depends on what kind of answer sheet you hand me in Wano. I'll decide whether to give it to you or not based on the situation."
Sakura raised the small treasure chest in her hand. The shadow on the ground rose and swallowed it.
Leviathan had already arrived beside Sakura with Sato Sakura and several hundred elite fully armed winged tribe members.
"All done, Sakura!" Leviathan, who couldn't wait to go out and play, affectionately leaned against Sakura and took her arm.
"Good!"
Standing in the snowstorm of the Underworld, Sakura took a deep breath. Her gaze swept over the many members of her pirate crew gathered around as she loudly announced:
"Higanbana Pirates, set sail!!!"