“Gladius, bring me a copy of the newspaper every day from now on. The world is changing too fast. It feels like if I skip the paper for even one day, the whole world becomes a different place.”
After finishing all the news, Doflamingo picked up a bucket of ice water nearby and poured it directly over his head.
From the Dressrosa incident until now, not even two full months had passed, yet the Revolutionary Army had launched a massive operation, three Emperors of the Sea had formed an alliance, the hero Garp had been defeated, and it had even been revealed that gods truly existed in this world.
The countless changes made him feel as if he had entered an entirely new world.
“Understood, Young Master. Then are you going to Udon to take a look?”
“There’s no need. Let’s go to the hospital instead and see how Senor has been doing lately.
Whether Garp lives or dies has nothing to do with me.”
Casually tossing the newspaper aside, Doflamingo watched it fly away in the wind, a strange smile appearing at the corner of his lips, as if he were anticipating something amusing.
Along the way, he also overheard many discussions among the residents of Wano Country.
【Lord Wise King is amazing.】
【Those guys must’ve been terrified by Lord Wise King.】
Bounties hold different meanings in different countries. In Wano Country, a closed-off nation, Berry is just worthless paper. Moreover, most of its citizens have never left Wano Country, so the numbers on bounty posters are nothing more than power level indicators to the people here.
The higher the number, the stronger Kaido was.
The people here knew nothing about the World Government. In the eyes of Wano’s citizens, it was the World Government that represented the “unjust” side.
As he passed a dojo-like building, Doflamingo saw a group of ducks swinging weapons around.
“Sir~fetch’d!”
Sirfetch’d waved the leek blade in its hand, persisting in free-form training day after day. Unlike the newly born Sirfetch’d, the leek leaves wielded by these Sirfetch’d had already undergone changes.
The earliest Sirfetch’d wielded only straight-edged blades, and their fighting styles contained many thrusting techniques.
But every Sirfetch’d had developed different styles. Aside from the traditional Sirfetch’d, a new style had now emerged. The leek blades in their hands were no longer straight, but curved to a certain degree.
Some had even abandoned their original leek shields entirely, instead taking up dual leek blades. This was the greatest transformation among the Sirfetch’d of Wano Country.
Pokémon had never been creatures bound to a single form forever. Influenced by Wano Country’s native swordsmanship, these Sirfetch’d had made new choices and even found a new teacher—Hyogoro.
“Very good. The arc of your swings can be even smaller. Even if you’ve abandoned the shield, dual swords have their own defensive methods.”
Elderly people often keep birds to ease their minds, and Hyogoro could be said to have achieved his own unique way of walking birds from an alternative perspective. Back then, his former subordinates had even witnessed the sight of Hyogoro leading a flock of Sirfetch’d in morning exercises early in the day. [TN: In China, it refers to a hobby where older men take their pet birds (often in cages) for a walk or to a park. The goal is to let the bird get fresh air, socialize with other birds, and sing.]
There was nothing bad about Wano Country’s development. Even though Hyogoro knew there were undoubtedly mysteries behind what had happened in the past, he had no desire to investigate them. He only wanted to bury those questions together with himself someday.
The current Wano Country was an ideal nation in an ideal state. Aside from a select few individuals, nobody wanted it to return to what it had been decades ago.
Originally, Hyogoro had only intended to pass down certain things through Kojiro alone, but now it seemed this flock of ducks could also help him realize some remaining value in life.
“Old man, latest news! Lord Wise King’s bounty seems to have increased again.”
“It went up again? That’s nothing strange. Though the frequency’s definitely slowing down.”
Hyogoro was about to continue speaking when a sudden commotion erupted outside. Following the cries of the Sirfetch’d, he soon discovered a Sirfetch’d that had just finished a battle staring at the leek in its hand in confusion, while trying to wash it clean inside a water vat.
“Let me see that.”
Looking at the giant leek stained pitch-black, Hyogoro seemed to realize something. After taking the leek from the Sirfetch’d’s hands, he swung it twice in disbelief.
“A powerful samurai can leave their Ryuo within their weapon and forge a one-of-a-kind Black Blade, so this is… a Black Leek?!”
Hyogoro himself didn’t even notice that his voice was gradually getting louder. He knew these ducks were special, but he never expected them to be special enough to master something like this. Perhaps plants were easier to imbue than metal by nature, but it was still something difficult to comprehend.
Faced with a flock of quacking ducks crowding around him and asking for an explanation, even Hyogoro fell into deep confusion.
“Black Leek? This world is getting stranger and stranger…”
Passing by outside, Doflamingo heard the exclamation. After shaking his head, he once again let his mind wander.
Meanwhile, while Doflamingo was indulging in his mental fantasies, Kuzan himself had already arrived in Udon.
“Lord Kuzan, is there something you need?”
“Nothing special. I just came to see some old friends.”
“Understood. Please wait a moment, we’ll open the gate right away.”
The heavy stone gates of Udon slowly opened, and Kuzan walked inside alone. He could clearly feel that the pirates of Udon now treated him with an entirely new attitude. Even the way they addressed him had changed from “Mr. Kuzan” to “Lord Kuzan.”
While earning the Marines’ fear, Kuzan had also gained the pirates’ respect.
“Lord Kuzan, your ice hasn’t shown any signs of melting these past few days. They still look exactly the same as before.”
“I know. Leave this place to me, you don’t need to worry about it.”
Kuzan’s ice differed from ordinary ice as well. Depending on how much power he used, it possessed varying levels of strength. The ordinary kind could be eaten as shaved ice and would melt with a splash of hot water.
But when Kuzan truly unleashed his power, he could even freeze surging magma and create frozen roads across the sea that wouldn’t melt for days.
The ice freezing Garp was his highest-grade ice. At the very least, ordinary sunlight could never melt such solid ice. Even when freezing the others, Kuzan had used more power than usual. The reason he had come today was to thaw these people out.
People’s constitutions could not be generalized. Some people, in a burst of rage, could tear a tiger apart with their bare hands, while others would only become an extra meal for the tiger. Garp would be fine even if frozen like this, but if the others stayed frozen any longer, something bad would probably happen.
Besides turning their own bodies into elements and creating elements, Logia users also possessed the power to control identical elements in nature. Under Kuzan’s control, the ice covering SWORD members gradually began to melt.
Moments later, aside from the melted ice water, all that remained was a group of shivering people. Although the ice outside their bodies had disappeared, the cold that had seeped into their bones was not so easy to dispel.
“A prison, huh? You really found us a great place, Kuzan.”
Bogard recovered first. Though Bogard looked young, his seniority was extremely high. When he had already been serving in the Marines, Kuzan hadn’t even entered the boot camp yet.
Looking at Garp, who was still sealed in ice, and the young people trembling nearby, Bogard spoke expressionlessly.
“I don’t want to explain myself, but you’re all still alive. Just watch what happens next, Bogard. The era has already changed.”
Kuzan sat cross-legged on the ground and tossed over the newspapers from the past few days.
“Garp-san’s unauthorized actions probably gave Sakazuki one hell of a headache. Encountering a maritime disaster is a pretty good excuse. If I remember correctly, even Golden Lion lost to Roger because of something like that.”
“Kuzan, are you proud of this?”
“Proud? Not really. I just came to advise you to recognize reality and avoid making things too difficult for me.”
Watching Bogard raise his own bounty poster, Kuzan said nothing. Instead, he casually complained, “Seriously, those people… The Marines should have plenty of photos of me, right? Couldn’t they have picked a better-looking one?
You’ve seen the news too. This pirate alliance has officially formed now, and the Marines are bound to respond. We’re all just chess pieces in this process. Since you’ve already exited the stage, stop overestimating your importance, Camel.”
Kuzan called out to his penguin, and then a pair of handcuffs was brought before Bogard. Since they were made of Seastone, Kuzan himself wasn’t suited to handling them directly. Outside Wano Country, Seastone reserves weren’t that abundant, so only Devil Fruit users were usually restrained with Seastone handcuffs.
But as the birthplace of Seastone, Wano Country had an overflowing supply. Anyone thrown in here was bound to receive a fresh pair of cuffs.
“You can tell too, this is a prison. Don’t make things difficult for me. None of you are escaping anyway. If you don’t want me to freeze you again, cooperate and put the cuffs on first.
If the pirates are the ones who do it, the process probably won’t be so pleasant.”
As long as you were alive, there was still hope. With even Garp frozen solid, Bogard did not choose to throw an egg against a rock. Instead, he chose to compromise, allowing Camel to place the handcuffs on him. At least in terms of comfort, he was much better off than the other prisoners. [TN: It is an idiom used to describe a situation where someone attacks a much stronger opponent or attempts a hopeless task, inevitably resulting in their own defeat or destruction. ]
“Kuzan, what exactly are you planning to use us for?”
“How would I know? I heard the food here is enough to keep people full. At least nobody starves to death.”
Kuzan stood up, preparing to leave, but just as he turned around, a voice questioned him from behind.
“Admiral Kuzan, have you truly abandoned justice? Because you failed to become Fleet Admiral? Because you saw pirates forming alliances, so you gave up your resolve as a Marine?”
“Your body is still trembling from the cold, yet you can still say something like that. That’s impressive in its own way. But Koby, you seem to misunderstand something. My ideals differ from Sakazuki’s, that’s nothing new. I realized that all the way back during Ohara.
And my choice today has nothing to do with the pirate’s alliance. Once a person finds something they truly want to protect, they won’t give it up even if the whole world stands against them.
As for justice… your justice right now is a laughable kind of justice. Come speak to me again when you truly understand what those two words mean.”
Kuzan paid no mind to Koby’s words. Smoker had once said similar things to him as well. He had long since given up arguing. The world’s understanding and the limitations of the Marines trapped many people inside that circle for their entire lives.
Those who could truly step outside that circle were exceedingly rare.
“Lord Kuzan, should we take special care of them, or…”
“No need. Just treat them however they’re normally treated. Consider them ordinary prisoners.”
“Understood.”
“Just don’t let them end up missing any body parts. Your Lord Queen already agreed to that.”
Kuzan had seen countless people twist their superior’s intentions, especially in places like prisons. While sentencing was decided by higher-ups, how things were actually carried out depended entirely on the jailers.
Impel Down was a perfect example. Even before prisoners were officially executed, Shiryu had slaughtered people freely when he served as Head Jailer. By the time reports were submitted, the victims were already long cold.
For now, it seemed Udon did not have anyone prone to overinterpreting things.
Some time later, the King of the Beasts was approaching Onigashima. Originally, Kaido could have simply flown back directly, but on a whim, he decided to inspect his territory by ship instead, greatly slowing their return.
“This is ridiculous! Why the hell did Queen’s bounty increase more than mine?!”
At this moment, Yamato was loudly voicing her dissatisfaction aboard the King of the Beasts. Kaido and the others were just the pirates whose bounties had increased the most; everyone else’s bounties had gone up due to their association with them.
But for some reason, Queen’s increase was actually higher than Yamato’s, suddenly giving her a strong sense of imbalance.
“Come to think of it, this bounty poster feels a little strange… what exactly is different about it?”
Looking at Queen’s bounty poster, Yamato felt as if she had forgotten some important detail, but couldn’t recall it immediately.
“I remember there should be a record of it somewhere…”
Skillfully taking out her Rotom and opening Queen’s profile page, Yamato quickly found Queen’s previous bounty poster. After comparing them, she finally noticed the change in wording.
The “Only Alive” on Queen’s bounty poster had disappeared. It had now returned to the standard format of “Dead or Alive.”
From mandatory live capture to dead or alive, Queen had officially shaken off the blame at the government level.
“That’s not right! Queen’s bounty was clearly due to being scapegoated! How is his bounty still higher than mine after losing the scapegoat mark?! That makes even less sense!”
The Marine Intelligence Branch’s reasoning was actually quite simple. The intelligence Drake sent back proved that Queen was not the root cause of everything. However, they could not completely deny all of Queen’s technology because of that, resulting in this outcome.
At that moment, the King of the Beasts finally returned to Onigashima. Tyranitar, after a long absence, returned to land and looked exceptionally happy.
Yamato planned to use this opportunity to thoroughly irritate Queen, but upon arriving at Onigashima, she found a very different scene.
On the rooftop of Onigashima, only Arceus and a Lunarian man she did not recognize were conversing about something, while Shayna stood guard alone near the entrance.
At first, Yamato assumed it would only take a dozen minutes or so, so she simply waited nearby. Yet even as the sun sank below the horizon, their conversation still had not ended.
“Who’s that guy? Why is Dad talking with him for so long?”
“An old senior. But you’re right, it’s been a very long time since I last saw Lord Sacred Beast speak with someone for this long.”
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