New World, Wano Country.
Under the night sky, countless sky lanterns rose into the heavens, lighting up the entire sky.
That scene marked not only the official end of Wano Country's Fire Festival, but also the arrival of a new year.
Time had passed from Sea Circle Calendar 1498 into 1499.
In the blackness of night, at the highest point of Onigashima, inside the Japanese-style pavilion atop the giant skull, Kaidou, captain of the Beasts Pirates, stared solemnly at the sky lanterns drifting across the sky. He picked up the huge sake gourd beside him, drained several gulps in a row, then smashed it hard to the floor in irritation and roared,
"Another year's gone by. Too slow. It's all too damn slow..."
After speaking, he turned his gaze back toward the people behind him.
No, to be more accurate, toward three people.
These three, two men and one woman, were all powerfully built and brimming with raw strength.
They were Kaidou's newest promoted subordinates, men and women who had been granted the title of Shinuchi and had eaten the three Zoan Devil Fruits obtained in the trade with Yemu.
Ranked by strength, they were:
Gedra, the heavily built man who had eaten the Kaba Kaba no Mi (Hippo-Hippo Fruit).
Ira, the long-limbed man of the Longarm Tribe who had eaten the Saru Saru no Mi (Monkey-Monkey Fruit).
Karami, the alluring and beautiful swordswoman with a snake-like tongue, who had eaten the Hebi Hebi no Mi, Model: Rattlesnake.
It had to be said that, at least for now, in this cooperation between the Beasts Pirates and the Sky Pirates, the Beasts Pirates had gotten the better end of the deal.
Even for a great pirate like Kaidou, obtaining three Zoan Devil Fruits all at once was no easy thing.
To begin with, not many people on the seas even knew Devil Fruits existed. And even among those who did, most people who found one would simply eat it themselves. Those willing to trade them were exceedingly rare.
So after obtaining those three Devil Fruits, Kaidou had immediately selected the three strongest and most trustworthy subordinates from among all his men and had them eat the fruits.
The benefits were obvious.
Those three had not been weak to begin with, and after eating Zoan Devil Fruits, their strength had advanced by leaps and bounds.
Although they were still far behind King and Queen, within the Beasts Pirates they had already become figures beneath only four and above ten thousand.
That had greatly eased the manpower shortage within the Beasts Pirates.
And suppressing the disobedient samurai in Wano had also started to become much easier.
But even so, Kaidou was still deeply dissatisfied.
According to the intelligence he had received, the New World had by now fallen completely into chaos.
If the pirates of the New World had still been relatively restrained in their struggle for territory after the Marines and the World Government withdrew,
then one month ago, when Captain John, one of the three giants of the Silver Axe Pirates and a man worth 2.38 billion Belly, was cut down by Yemu of the Sky Pirates, the whole New World had descended into turmoil.
Captain John's death meant that the Silver Axe Pirates had effectively lost one of their arms, and their strength had suffered a drastic decline.
Countless great pirates who had long bowed beneath the authority of those overlords, unwilling but unable to act on their own ambitions, had finally started to move.
The fastest of them was someone Kaidou knew well, Charlotte Linlin of the Big Mom Pirates.
The moment that old hag heard of John's death, she immediately led her pirate crew out of Totto Land and launched a campaign against the Silver Axe Pirates.
The other pirate crews followed right behind her.
The Silver Axe Pirates had always been riddled with internal contradictions because of their system of three giants.
If those contradictions had not fully erupted while John was alive because the three-way balance still held,
then after John's death, the conflict between Silver Axe and Ochoku had exploded completely.
Faced with both internal strife and outside enemies, the Silver Axe Pirates had lost more than half their territory in the span of a single month.
They had completely fallen from their position as one of the overlords of the New World.
Looking at those reports, there was no way Kaidou could remain unconcerned.
No matter how one looked at it, the more chaotic the world became, the better it was for pirates like them.
If he waited until everything settled down, then although Kaidou did not fear war, the price of taking someone else's place would definitely be enormous.
That was why Kaidou was dissatisfied, why he kept saying it was too slow.
Now more than ever, he wanted Wano in his hands as soon as possible.
Only after taking this country for himself would he be free to turn his attention to the other pirates.
"How are the talks with Orochi going? Has he agreed to let us build the weapons factory?"
Seated in front of the three Shinuchi, Queen, one of the All-Stars, naturally knew Kaidou was speaking to him, so he answered,
"That brat Orochi is slippery. He keeps using Kozuki Oden as an excuse to stall us. If we don't get rid of Kozuki Oden, I'm afraid he'll never agree."
Kaidou's aura instantly sharpened, making cold sweat pour down the backs of the three newly promoted Shinuchi.
"Any intelligence from the Sky Pirates?"
"Well..."
Queen thought for a moment before answering.
"They seem to have vanished. Not just us. Even the Marines and the World Government can't find them. Lately, World Government spies have been very active in the New World."
"Is that so? Where do you think they're hiding?"
"That's hard to say. The New World is just too vast. If even the Marines and the World Government can't find them, then it'll be even harder for us. But I do have one guess. They might be hiding in the Calm Belt."
"Hm!"
Not only Kaidou, but everyone present, including King and the three Shinuchi, was visibly startled.
As pirates, how could they not understand the dangers of the Calm Belt?
Even ordinary Sea Kings were already nightmares for many pirates, let alone those colossal Sea Kings that lived in the Calm Belt.
Seeing their reaction, Queen added uncertainly,
"I can't be sure either. It's only a guess. When I traded with the Sky Pirates, I followed their ship for a few days. During those days, I kept watching their pirate ship. I never went inside, so I don't know its internal structure, but from the outside alone, it was obviously different from an ordinary pirate ship. I used to work with that man, Vegapunk..."
At that point, Queen cautiously glanced at Kaidou and King. Seeing that they merely kept dark expressions without reacting much, he continued,
"He once proposed a technology that would allow ships to sail through the Calm Belt. Back then, I thought it was complete fantasy. But after coming back from meeting the Sky Pirates, I started gathering intelligence on them more carefully. That's when I realized they may really have mastered that technology. Not to mention that even in the first half of the Grand Line, the Marines had already exhausted themselves trying to capture them and still accomplished nothing. Just the fact that they first appeared on the Grand Line and then reached Loguetown in the East Blue only fifteen days later is direct evidence that they crossed the Calm Belt."
At that point, Kaidou and King genuinely found Queen's theory somewhat convincing.
Then Queen continued, still sounding uncertain,
"But if that's true, it might not be a good thing for us Beasts Pirates..."