"That monster brat is finally entering the Grand Line?"
Marineford, Fleet Admiral's office.
Kong of the Steel Bone, not yet Commander-in-Chief, looked at the day's paper and sighed. "He's got a physique like Big Mom's and ate a Mythical Zoan rarer than a Logia, a fusion of two monsters. If we don't deal with him early, he'll become a threat on the level of Whitebeard."
"Too late."
Sengoku, holding the fort at Headquarters, shook his head. "The best window was when he made a name for himself in the West Blue at six."
"Back then, the attention of both the Marines and CP was locked on the Roger Pirates."
"Even Charlotte Linlin, another natural destroyer, never managed to shake the standings of Roger, Whitebeard, Shiki, and the Red Count, so no one took that kid seriously."
"After I brought the Roger Pirates to heel, CP turned its gaze to the brat."
"But by then he'd eaten a Zoan, Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Mythical Model, Heavenly Dragon, and gained telekinesis akin to the Paramecia Float-Float Fruit."
"A natural destroyer already boasts the world's top-tier physical stats. One trait of a Mythical Zoan is to maximally boost the user's physique, granting tremendous recovery and endurance."
"Put together, that kid Cross Kahn could, even at ten, lift staggering weights with telekinesis."
"On land, he can whip up hurricanes and hoist a mountain. At sea, he can toss five warships with ease, raise multiple waterspouts, even heave countless tons of seawater to spark tsunamis."
"Giant-level strength, skin that shrugs off blades and bullets, stamina like the ocean, flight as a Heavenly Dragon, and last year it was confirmed he has Conqueror's Haki…"
Sengoku exhaled. "If a monster like that is set on escape, I can't guarantee we keep him unless Garp and I act together."
His appraisal of Kahn could hardly be higher.
The last man who forced Sengoku and Garp to join forces was the Golden Lion, Shiki.
Shiki was one of the four legends of the previous era and the first to break out of Impel Down.
In Sengoku's eyes, at fifteen this year, Kahn is a threat on par with a legendary pirate.
"Forget it."
After hearing Sengoku out, Kong first frowned, then spread his hands. "The Devil's Child is aboard that brat's ship anyway. Let CP, who are in charge of the Devil's Child, have the headache."
Sengoku stared, speechless. "If the Five Elders hear you say that, it'll be trouble."
"Afraid?"
Kong gave him a crooked grin. "I'll retire in a few years. If we don't take a shot at that kid now, once he grows into a Whitebeard-class menace, CP won't be the only ones with a headache."
Sengoku said nothing.
Not only the fleet admiral and the marines were talking about Kahn.
For a whole day, powers across both halves of the Grand Line and the entire world discussed him.
News of Kahn's push into the Grand Line had been splashed on the front page by the so-called world's number one newspaper, the World Economy News Paper, and spread everywhere.
Anyone who bought today's issue saw the bold headline on the front page — The Strongest Supernova in History, the Man Bearing Two Monster Templates — the Walking Calamity, Cross Kahn.
The cover carried three photos.
The Walking Calamity Cross Kahn, Big Mom Charlotte Linlin, and Kaido of the Beasts.
Beneath the pictures an entire page of text.
It recounted the legends around Kahn and laid out all his known abilities except his innate Observation Haki.
Readers realized the boy who shocked the world last year was a monster by birth.
Standing moments after birth, lifting an adult before his first year, and at five a terror with boundless strength and a body immune to blades and bullets.
At six he began running his mafia family's business, at ten he ate a Mythical Zoan rarer than a Logia, and by fifteen he ruled over more than two hundred towns in the West Blue.
His immense strength and impervious hide marked him as a natural destroyer like the long-famed Pirate Empress Big Mom, Charlotte Linlin.
His fruit put him among Mythical Zoans like Kaido of the Beasts.
With potential like that, no wonder a boy who hadn't even entered the Grand Line drew a three-hundred-million-Beli bounty.
So long as Cross Kahn, the man with two monster templates, neither dies young nor is captured, he is destined to become a great pirate no less than Charlotte Linlin or Kaido.
With Roger's death, the Golden Lion's retreat from center stage, and the Red Count's capture, Whitebeard alone stands as the sea's king of the Great Pirate Era.
Below Whitebeard, the two most prominent names now are Charlotte Linlin and Kaido.
At their current pace, neither will be long in growing into overlords to rival Whitebeard.
Then the New World will settle into a three-way balance.
As a super rookie forged from the molds of two overlords, once Cross Kahn realizes all his gifts, he may well join them as an overlord.
Bearing witness to the future kings of the sea, he officially set sail to circle the Grand Line.
Buoyed by the World Economy News Paper's fanfare, Kahn became the brightest Supernova the moment he entered the Grand Line.