The New World. Gran Tesoro.
Inside the opulent gold office, the gaping hole in the wall had been patched over with fresh slabs of solid gold. Gild Tesoro sat behind his sprawling desk, fingers tapping a slow rhythm against its surface. His ribs were still wrapped in medical bindings, but they no longer kept him from managing his affairs.
"My lord. A special edition from the News Coo. Just arrived."
Baccarat stepped in on clicking heels and placed a newspaper on the table beside his hand. "Marine Headquarters has set his bounty at three billion. And Morgans has gone ahead and slapped the title 'Fifth Emperor' on him."
"Three billion. Fifth Emperor."
Tesoro let out a cold laugh, staring at Ace's stone-faced photograph on the page.
"Sengoku, that old fox. He's throwing the kid onto the fire. The monsters of the New World don't sit back and watch someone else carve up their territory."
"Shall we still send someone to track the Eclipse's heading?" Baccarat asked quietly.
"Track them? You think we've lived too long?"
Tesoro waved a dismissive hand. "That ten billion. Consider it an investment. Send word to every branch of our operation in Gran Tesoro. Any ship flying the Eclipse flag gets a green light, no questions asked. I want to see if this madman with the guts to draw steel on the Five Elders can actually drag those garbage in Mary Geoise to the bottom of the sea."
---
In the shadowed corners of the New World, the rulers of the underworld received the same paper.
"A three billion rookie. And he's got his hands on bloodline factor technology."
Stussy, Queen of the Pleasure District, tapped her cigarette ash with elegant precision. Her gaze lingered on the bounty photos of Jeno and Caesar. A faint, knowing smile crossed her red lips. She said nothing more.
"Deep Sea Current" Umit set the paper down. "This kid," he said in a low voice, "touched the World Government's lifeline and walked away clean. Not the kind of man you want to cross." He paused, staring out toward the distant sea. "Still... the more chaos he stirs into these New World waters, the better it is for us."
---
Somewhere in an uncharted stretch of ocean, aboard a battered pirate ship, a tiny, wrinkled old woman in sunglasses was shrieking.
"Weebil! My darling boy! Get over here!"
Miss Buckin jabbed a finger at Ace's photo on the front page and stomped her foot in fury. "This brat Ace is Roger's deadbeat son! And he's been at sea less than a year, and his bounty is already three billion!"
"Three billion... how much money is that, Mama?"
A hulking blob of a man with a blonde braid and a dull expression lumbered over, dragging an enormous naginata and sniffling. Edward Weebil. The self-proclaimed "Whitebeard Jr."
"A mountain of money! Enough to buy all the meat in the world!"
Buckin slapped Weebil's knee. She flipped to the inside page and spotted Caesar's photo. Her screeching got worse.
"And that idiot Caesar! Back in the MADS days, his cloning tech couldn't hold a candle to my toenail clippings! Now he's running around with this brat and got himself a three hundred million bounty?!"
Buckin gnashed her teeth. She stared at the Eclipse Pirates' stacked lineup, and a flash of naked greed flickered in her eyes. It was swallowed just as fast by deep, calculating caution.
"Weebil, listen to me. That crew is riding high right now. We stay clear of them. There are plenty of nobodies out there sailing under Whitebeard's name. We go after their treasure first. Once you get stronger, then we go cut down that three billion brat, strip him of every last berry, and prove you're the strongest bloodline on the seas!"
"Okay, Mama. I'll cut them all down." Weebil nodded dumbly. He swung his naginata once and split a massive reef rock clean in two.
---
The Calm Belt. Amazon Lily.
Deep within the palace of the Kuja, the former empress Gloriosa sat hunched over her snake-headed cane, her reading glasses perched on her nose. She stared at the newspaper in her gnarled hands.
"Roger's son. Still alive. And he's already grown to this."
Elder Nyon's wrinkled face twisted with complicated emotion. The face of that man who had stood before her laughing, a straw hat on his head, surfaced in her memory like a ghost.
"He even inherited the blade. A troubling fate, this one. Hancock is still out raiding. I only hope she doesn't cross paths with that calamity in this storm."
---
The Grand Line. Kuraigana Island.
Home of the World's Greatest Swordsman. Hawkeye, Dracule Mihawk.
In the gloom of the ancient castle's great hall, Mihawk sat in a single armchair, a glass of red wine in his hand. The newspaper lay discarded on the table.
His eyes weren't on the astronomical three billion figure. They were fixed on the two bounty photos: Ace, and Leonora.
The Supreme Grade blade, Ace, at the young captain's hip. And the exaggerated, edgeless greatsword strapped across Leonora's back. Meteor.
"Roger's sword. And a dual-blade swordswoman forged through the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi."
A rare flicker of interest passed through those hawk-sharp yellow eyes.
"At last. The sea has a few more prey worth cutting."
---
Back in the Florian Triangle.
The eerie castle courtyard was littered with unconscious bounty heads.
Moria stood stripped to the waist, drenched in sweat. The brutal training of the past weeks, combined with the physical rebirth forced by the Limit Breaker serum, had melted the blubber from his gut into solid slabs of muscle.
He clutched the paper the News Coo had delivered and let out a roar of laughter that shook the walls.
"Captain Ace! You really went and set the whole damn world on fire!"
"Lord Moria, Captain Ace's bounty is ten times higher than your peak ever was. Horohorohoro." Perona drifted overhead, twirling her parasol and delivering the deadpan gut punch.
"Shut it, Perona! That's my captain!"
Moria wasn't angry. He was electrified. He snatched the Black Blade Shusui from the ground and stared out into the permanent fog beyond the castle walls.
"Kishishishi... looks like I didn't bet on the wrong horse. That ship really does have the weight to flip the world. You see this, Kaido?! Once I finish fusing my shadow with Armament Haki, I'm coming back to Wano. And I'm twisting your dragon horns off with my own two hands!"
---
Fishman Island. Ryugu Palace.
"Three billion..."
King Neptune stared at the paper. His hands were trembling. He turned to Jinbe beside him. "Jinbe... did we turn down an invitation from a monster of that magnitude? He's seventeen years old!"
Jinbe sat on the sofa, looking at Shark's bounty. Four hundred thirty million. He let out a bitter laugh.
"If it were just power, I wouldn't lose sleep. But the man stormed a World Government research facility for a set of medical equipment to treat Bonnie. That kind of unhinged loyalty to his own... it commands respect."
"Still. Fishman Island has its father's flag. That's enough. We are not the kind of men who play both sides." Jinbe sighed.
On the balcony of the Hard-Shell Tower, Princess Shirahoshi held the bounty poster in her enormous hands. Ace's face stared up at her. Her blue eyes shimmered with a light they had never held before.
"Lord Ace... is already an emperor of the sea."
She touched the ancient manuscript about Poseidon tucked against her chest and clenched her fists.
"I have to work harder too. Once I can control the power of the Sea Kings... once I'm as strong as Shark and the others..."
"I'll go to the surface. I'll become a crewmate worthy of this ship."
---
In the deepest depths of Fishman Island, the Fishman District.
Several thousand newly inducted soldiers of the Fishman Legion were stripped to the waist in the plaza, drilling their bodies in a storm of sweat and will.
"Look! It's Captain Ace and Boss Shark's bounties!"
A few fishmen on logistics duty burst in waving the newspaper, shouting at the top of their lungs.
"Four hundred thirty million! Boss Shark's got a bounty! The photo is incredible!"
"Captain Ace is three billion! The Fifth Emperor!"
"ROOOOAR!"
Thousands of fishman thugs... no. They were the Fishman Legion now, sworn under the Eclipse Pirates.
They stared at the image of that black warship printed on the page. And as one, they loosed a roar that shook the deep sea.
"Train harder! Boss Shark said the moment we forge real discipline and coordination, we become the Eclipse's ace battalion in the depths!"
"We're going to live on this sea with dignity! We will not disgrace Captain Ace!"
That fever. The hunger for a real banner to believe in. The desperate need to crush oppression with their own strength.
It swept through the deep like a tidal wave.
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