Inside Marineford, Fleet Admiral Kong sat in the meeting room with a grave expression.
Below Kong's left eye was a stitched scar. He wore a sleeveless black shirt decorated with medals that exposed his powerful arm muscles, a dark-green armband, a light-yellow scarf wrapped around his neck, and the white and dark-gray coat of the Navy draped over his shoulders.
As a Marine and a top-tier World Government official, Kong possessed a fierce sense of justice—which was precisely why he had promoted Garp, Sengoku, Zephyr, and Tsuru as the core backbone of the Marines.
"To be able to escape from Garp's hands, and to be Mythical Zoan capability users on top of that... this new generation of pirates is truly trouble."
Kong shook his head. Based on the Mythical Zoan capabilities displayed by Aoki Shiraishi and Uchiha Madara so far, one appeared to be an ice-element sub-species of the Phoenix, while the other resembled a sub-species of the Nine-Tailed Fox.
Both the Phoenix and Nine-Tailed Fox fruits had known histories and documented locations. The sudden emergence of these two sub-species fruits forced Marine Headquarters to update its Devil Fruit Encyclopedia while closely monitoring the movements of this rookie pirate crew.
After a moment of deliberation, Kong finalized the initial bounty amounts for the two rookie pirates.
"Aoki Shiraishi: Suspected user of the Mythical Zoan Ice-Bird Fruit. Bounty: 50,000,000 Berries."
"Uchiha Madara: Suspected user of the Mythical Zoan Dark Nine-Tails Fruit. Bounty: 45,000,000 Berries."
Because the exact details of their fruit abilities were not yet fully confirmed, the descriptions on the posters remained somewhat vague.
Soon, as these new wanted posters were distributed en masse alongside the morning newspapers, the entire East Blue learned of the formidable pirate crew that had recently surfaced.
A bounty of 50 million and 45 million Berries in this era was considered exceptionally high, even within the Grand Line—a clear indicator of the Marines' initial assessment of their threat level.
On the other hand, the hijacked Marine warship was undergoing a major overhaul. As the crew's sole technical expert, Shiraishi worked to strip away the Marine insignia and decorations, reinforce the hull structure, and adjust the artillery mounts to drastically increase their precision.
The Sunagakure pirate flag continued to fly at the bow. Although lacking a skull symbol made it somewhat unconventional for a pirate flag, it was by no means unacceptable.
After navigating through several islands, Shiraishi utilized the Den Den Mushi contact provided by Ivankov to recruit a few talented shipwrights. During the process of upgrading the vessel's hull, he also took note of their newly released bounties.
The Marines had acted swiftly. Thanks to Uchiha Madara's brilliant slaughter earlier, they had drawn immense heat from the Marines—though, because of that exact reputation, ordinary Marines didn't dare lightly provoke them.
Garp had been pursuing them relentlessly throughout this period. The two sides had engaged in several chases, but Shiraishi's specialized freezing abilities continuously flash-froze the sea surface, frustrating Garp's pursuit time and time again.
Still, Garp's tenacity was undeniable. Despite multiple failures, he refused to let go, causing the reputation of the Sunagakure Pirates to surge dramatically across the East Blue.
Over this period, Shiraishi had given the matter deep thought and set their ultimate objective on the final island of the Grand Line: Laugh Tale.
At this point, Gol D. Roger was roughly a year away from reaching that final land, meaning the main historical storyline of the Pirate Age would soon begin.
To reach that place, Shiraishi needed to gather the four Road Poneglyphs, which pointed to four distinct islands whose intersecting 'X' marked the location of Laugh Tale.
In any case, entering the Grand Line came first before worrying about other matters.
However, before doing so, Shiraishi needed to find a qualified navigator within the waters of the East Blue.
The world was divided into four seas—East, West, North, and South—by the Grand Line and the Red Line. The Grand Line was a belt-like ocean that intersected the Red Line perpendicularly, known as the most miraculous and dangerous waterway in existence!
Flanked by the treacherous Calm Belts, the first half of the Grand Line was known as Paradise, while the second half was called the New World.
The magnetic fields, weather, currents, and air currents were completely chaotic, making it difficult to even confirm one's own position, let alone locate islands.
Traditional navigation techniques and experience were entirely useless—only Log Poses and Permanent Poses could be trusted.
For people from the Four Blues to enter the Grand Line, aside from crossing the Calm Belts, the only path was through Reverse Mountain, which served as the starting point of the Grand Line.
From Reverse Mountain, seven magnetic currents radiated outward. One could choose any route at the start, but once chosen, the path could not be changed until reaching Sabaody Archipelago, where all seven routes converged.
Only upon reaching the New World could a new route be selected, leading ultimately to the end of the Grand Line—Laugh Tale.
The Seven Warlords of the Sea (Shichibukai) policy later established by the World Government was originally intended to use pirates to check other pirates, assigning seven powerful figures to guard the seven magnetic routes—though that policy ultimately ended in complete failure.
In the East Blue, Shiraishi could still navigate relying on the makeshift crew he had recruited. But once they entered the Grand Line, a professional navigator would become indispensable.
Over the Den Den Mushi, Ivankov provided a solution: "Hee-hahaha! On Cartier Island, there is an exceptionally skilled navigator who might be able to help you, boys!"
Cartier Island was a massive island nation located in the western sector of the East Blue, ranking as the second largest island in the region with an immense landmass.
As their vessel drew closer to the island, Kikyo's expression suddenly grew heavy.
"Kikyo, what's wrong?"
Throughout this period, Kikyo had quietly accompanied the group. The few times she had taken action were merely to assist in sniping incoming cannonballs, rarely taking the initiative to participate in daily affairs. But today, Shiraishi noticed her emotional state was off.
"A thick stench of blood."
As a shrine maiden, Kikyo possessed an accurate intuition for ominous occurrences. Even before drawing close to Cartier Island, she had detected the presence of something deeply foul.
"Then I'll trouble you to investigate once we arrive, Kikyo."
Kikyo's sudden surge of righteous intent was likely tied to her instincts as a priestess; after all, the Soul Goeworms (Shinigami-mushi) within her frame were beginning to stir restlessly, indicating a massive number of recent deaths in the vicinity.
Following Ivankov's directions, Shiraishi's group docked at the eastern harbor, immediately attracting a crowd of curious onlookers...
Through recent news, many residents of the East Blue knew of the formidable Sunagakure Pirates. Paired with their unique pirate flag, many villagers—though fearful of pirates—could not suppress their curiosity and gathered to watch.
Just as Shiraishi's group set foot on Cartier Island, several warships bearing entirely different flags appeared in the distant waters, gathering around the outer perimeter of the island.
Standing on the deck of his ship, the silver-haired man looked toward the Sunagakure Pirates at the distant pier, a strange smile gracing his lips.
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