After the Battle of Acropolis Port, Magnus had been recuperating.
That last desperate strike shattered Imu's encirclement plan, but it also left Magnus's body heavily damaged.
A few new wrinkles had carved into his face, making him look far more weathered.
Fortunately—
The aftereffects weren't irreversible. Magnus's tremendous regenerative ability finally won out. After half a year, he returned to his pre-war state.
Of course, the system's boost to his cellular activity deserved much of the credit.
[Sea Circle Calendar 1485. An unprecedented war erupted at Acropolis Port. Marines, the CP organization, the Holy Knights, pirates, giants of Elbaf, and samurai from Wano all took the field. Its result split the world cleanly in two and reshaped everything.]
[In this war, you single-handedly faced the Holy Knights led by the world's sovereign, Imu, cementing your standing among pirates.]
[Countless fates will change because of you!]
Seeing the big, bold "1485" on the interface, Magnus only snorted. That dumb system was good at puffing itself up for moments like this.
[Ding~ Congratulations on becoming overlord of the New World—one-tenth of the World's King—and achieving the impossible!]
[You have fully mastered the use of Haki, forged the black blade—Frostveil, and seized the Zoan Devil Fruit—Fish-Fish Fruit, Mythical Model: Azure Dragon.]
[Your cellular activity has increased greatly.]
Magnus hadn't yet sensed what the "greatly increased cellular activity" would change—it likely offset the losses he suffered at Acropolis Port. How much it would enhance him beyond recovery remained to be seen.
But the Haki leap? That was tangible.
Before, his Conqueror's Haki was about on par with Ryuma's, still a touch below Imu's. After truly mastering Haki's principles, a flood of knowledge surfaced in Magnus's mind.
How to store Haki. How to speak across distances with Haki. How to compress and concentrate it to the limit.
And it wasn't only Conqueror's Haki—his Observation and Armament Haki also spiked, the effects immediate.
You could say that, post-recovery, Magnus had surpassed his Acropolis Port self by a wide margin. If he faced the lineup Imu led back then, he could now break through without staking his life.
He had a hunch: the system could probably only carry him this far.
Magnus mocked the system often, but he wasn't blind—without it, he'd likely be tucked away somewhere, waiting out his twilight years.
"Thanks, partner."
He raised an invisible toast to the system, then looked at the new fruit in his hand.
Fish-Fish Fruit, Mythical Model: Azure Dragon.
No doubt, a top-tier Zoan.
Leaving a fruit unused is pointless.
He still remembered that "Song-Song Fruit" the system dumped on him—good luck finding the right user for that. In this whole world, there were only a handful who could make it shine.
But this Azure Dragon was different.
A few candidates sprang to mind at once.
Kaido-sensei was out.
At this point in time, Kaido-sensei was probably still fighting kids for candy.
Decision made.
"Hey, Harald, want a fruit or not?"
Magnus found Harald and tossed him the fruit. Harald might not be his subordinate, but years of fighting back-to-back had made them inseparable comrades.
"What is it?"
"A pretty good Devil Fruit."
He thought of six-meter-tall Kaido turning into a dragon hundreds of meters long after eating the Azure Dragon. Then a sixty-meter-tall Harald… that might be a behemoth big as an island.
Harald eyed the nail-sized fruit and suddenly asked, "Magnus, do you want to rule this world?"
"Why ask that?"
"Isn't everything you've done aimed at seizing it?"
"Pfft."
Magnus couldn't help but laugh.
"Even you think that?"
"Isn't it true?"
"Haha, let's say it is. If there's no better candidate, having me rule the world doesn't sound so bad."
He smiled.
"But I'm lazy. If the day comes we actually take down the World Government, I'll most likely be a hands-off boss."
The World Government's system wasn't wholly bad. Its biggest rot was the Celestial Dragons, raised as parasites.
When power ossifies, arrogance follows.
Rather than being the ruler—
Magnus would rather be the Damocles sword hanging over the ruler's head.
Of course—
Wanting to be the sword of judgment was arrogance in itself.
Right and wrong would be for later generations to judge.
"Anyway, even if I did want to rule the world, I'd need to beat Imu first. That old woman still has a few trump cards. Toppling her won't be easy."
"By the way, you've been away a while. Everything okay in Elbaf?"
"I hear your two wives don't get along."
Harald's eyes bulged.
"Who said that?"
A big mug downed in one go, and Harald began railing against Elbaf's cursed bloodline laws. As king, to preserve the bloodline, he had to marry women with giant blood.
So even though he and Hajrudin's mother had Hajrudin first, because she lacked giant lineage, they couldn't even live together.
That's why, when Magnus took Rocks to Elbaf a few years back, Harald's firstborn, Hajrudin, lived in the giants' village instead of with his father.
Sometimes, Harald envied Magnus.
A pirate is free—chase the woman you like, boldly.
"Speaking of which, Ripley's been with you this long and still isn't pregnant. Old man, don't tell me you can't…?"
With enough drinks in him, Harald started talking nonsense.
Not that his point was baseless. Ordinary humans don't even reach a century; a man who still has full fertility at seventy is a rare bull.
"Get lost. That's called being responsible!"
With battles breaking out at any time and death always looming, how could Magnus casually let Ripley get pregnant? That was far too dangerous.
"You, on the other hand—your main wife isn't even half your height, right? Thick-browed, bright-eyed king—don't tell me you're a loli-con?"
"W-what con!?"
"Means you like little girls."
"Magnus!!!!"
Enraged, Harald swung a fist down at him. Magnus refused to be outdone and answered with a punch to Harald's jaw.
Two men, drinking and brawling in the same breath.
"Tch."
Not far away, with a bruised nose and swollen face, Rocks tossed back his own drink.
"Boys, get ready to set sail!"
"Huh?"
"Why?"
"Isn't it nice staying here?"
"…"
A cluster of young pirates hesitated to leave. Sphinx's service industry was… robust, and as the hands under Rocks, many locals treated them like the White Wolf Pirates' core cadre—pouring out endless enthusiasm.
After six months of that, it was hard to tear themselves away.
"You can't get stronger in a cushy place like this."
Rocks snorted.
A week ago, he fought Harald. By taking advantage of Harald's bad leg, he barely managed a six-to-four—six to Harald, four to him.
That result made Rocks very unhappy.
If he couldn't even beat Harald, how could he challenge Magnus?
But the most galling wasn't that.
The real irritation was Newgate. Magnus had said the White Wolf Pirates wouldn't be in major fights for a while. If Newgate wanted to grow, he'd need to seek strong opponents on his own.
So Newgate chose to sail by himself rather than follow Rocks.
That stung.
Then Rocks invited Linlin. Same answer—no.
"Following you means missing meals. I'm not going."
At twelve, Linlin already had power second only to Newgate within the White Wolf Pirates. Ripley was no longer her match.
Rocks believed if you swing the hoe right, no wall can't be dug out from under.
He invited Shiki, Zephyr, and Tsuru next.
Rejected across the board.
Shiki: "Tch. Beat that grumpy old man first, then come talk."
Zephyr: "Sorry, aniki Rocks. I still want to follow Captain Magnus."
Tsuru: "You're too ugly."
Five rejections in a row. Rocks decided to leave this heartbreak behind.
He fumed.
Newgate and Linlin turning him down—fine.
They'd joined the White Wolf Pirates in the same batch as him. Give them a few years and they might not lose to him. They were just young.
Even so, both Newgate and Linlin were already top-tier pirates with bounties of 200 million. What did second-batch rookies like Shiki and Zephyr amount to?
Especially Tsuru.
"She actually called me ugly!"
Rocks ground his teeth. He'd already avoided inviting Ripley and Stussy because he knew they were tied to Magnus and wouldn't leave the crew.
He didn't expect the newly joined Tsuru to be a face snob too!
And as much as he felt he was closing the gap with Magnus, one glance at bounties killed the mood.
Captain of the White Wolf Pirates, Magnus.
Bounty—
1,390,000,000!
His own bounty barely scraped a fraction of that. And still, he ranked among the highest-bountied pirates on the seas.
To that, Magnus could only say: inflation.
Though for now, it seemed only he was experiencing it.
Ten billion, twenty billion—at those heights, a bounty was more symbol than substance.
Who actually expected someone to go and kill him?
By contrast, the rest of the White Wolf Pirates' bounties still reflected their current strength, more or less.
Crew, Edward (Newgate).
Bounty—
250,000,000!
Crew, Linlin.
Bounty—
210,000,000!
Crew, Ripley.
Bounty—
215,000,000!
As they matured, some also earned more settled epithets.
Whitebeard.
The title that would one day shake the seas, appearing in this era at last.
Linlin's epithet—
Pirate Princess.
Give her a little time and more strength, and "Pirate Princess" might well become "Pirate Empress."
Assuming she managed her figure.
As for Ripley, she cared far less now about strength or titles.
At first, she had wanted fame across the seas. But after living among the monsters on Magnus's ship, even with giant blood, it was hard to muster the urge to keep chasing.
Her growth was already staggering.
In just six years, she'd gone from first grasping Haki to awakening her fruit and even developing a variant of future-sight.
Among short-lived humans, that was jaw-dropping; among giants, even more so.
Across Elbaf, only King Harald and the two captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates were clearly above her now.
As for Jorul and Jarul?
Without the youth elixir, they were simply elders past their prime.
Even with it, at their age it would be hard to shoulder a top-tier battle again.
Beyond the first batch of recruits—
After the Iron Country war, the second batch began earning their own bounties.
White Wolf Pirates trainee, Shiki.
Bounty—
90,000,000!
White Wolf Pirates trainee, Zephyr.
Bounty—
75,000,000!
White Wolf Pirates trainee, Tsuru.
Bounty—
66,000,000!
The veterans had grown and begun leaving the White Wolf Pirates' nest to hone themselves further.
The newcomers refused to lag behind, steadily making their names in the New World.
A new era's winds were rising.
But before the next storm, calm is the rule.
Two years later—
Sea Circle Calendar 1468.
Perhaps it was Harald's teasing, or perhaps the quiet days finally settled him—Magnus's children were born.
Not one child—an armful.
Lily, Ripley, Toki, and Stussy.
Only Rona, buried in running the New Navy and adamant about not raising kids, dodged the bullet. The other four, having skipped proper precautions, were squarely hit by Magnus's "bullseye."
Only after the babies arrived did he fully grasp how maddening childcare could be.
So—
Magnus carted the little ones to Sphinx and dumped them in the care of the senior crew.
Then he took their moms—
And set sail again!
(End of Chapter)
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