Everyone's gaze snapped to Ares at once.
Even the slaves packed shoulder-to-shoulder on the deck countless faces had light returning to their eyes. They stared at him, burning.
In those eyes was only one thing.
Hunger.
"Marine G-1 Base."
Ares spoke the name with crisp certainty, and instantly, smiles broke out across the group.
Kaido slapped his forehead. "Hey how did I not think of that?! G-1's got a ton of Marines stationed there. There has to be massive stores of food!"
"Not just food there'll be warships too. Then we won't have to cram everyone onto this one ship!"
This warship was a top-tier Marine vessel worth a billion berries. Packing it tight for a short time to hold tens of thousands wasn't a problem.
Slardar's eyes lit up. "Brilliant!! The Marines' main force is still at God Valley. If we hit G-1 now, those guys won't even have time to react!"
Then
Kaido and Slardar both froze, turning to stare at Ares.
They exchanged a glance.
For some reason… Ares felt
Too smart.
Completely different from before.
And when they thought back to everything on God Valley how he dealt with the Barrier Fruit, how he seized Devil Fruits, how he chose to save the slaves…
Kaido's heart jolted.
Could it be… Big Brother Ares fully awakened back at Marine G-1?!
Then joy surged up inside him.
Good.
If Big Brother Ares gets smarter, then he can truly stand against Rocks… even surpass the Rocks Pirates!
Because Kaido knew what Ares was carrying.
Two terrifying Mythical Zoan Devil Fruits.
One: the Mythical Zoan, Model: Yamata no Orochi.
One: the Mythical Zoan, Model: Okuchi no Makami.
Add Kaido himself and Ares, add Slardar, and Kuma with the Paw-Paw Fruit…
Surpassing the Rocks Pirates wasn't a dream anymore.
Suddenly, Kaido remembered something else.
"Oh right King! That guy's still on Hachinosu!"
"We'll pick King up later. Once our crew grows, we won't be any worse than the Rocks Pirates!"
(Author's note: Sorry, I suddenly remembered King. With the inconsistent updates before, I totally forgot this. I'm patching it in now so I won't have to write a separate "King joins" scene later and risk contradicting earlier parts. I'll start adding King into the plot going forward. Wano will mainly be about development. Of course, that development won't be limited to Wano only. Wano will be the center, with Onigashima and other islands forming the outer ring. It won't be as many islands as Totto Land, but there'll still be several.)
Just imagining that future made Kaido excited, almost giddy.
Later…
He'd be the mighty vice-captain, feared and revered.
"Since it's decided, then we move!" Ares seized a ring of flame clouds and wrapped the massive warship in them.
The ship rose into the sky, racing at full speed toward Marine G-1.
With Ares controlling it on purpose, the ship flew frighteningly fast.
Kaido asked eagerly, "Big Brother Ares, since we've left the Rocks Pirates and we're forming our own crew, we should name it!"
Slardar nodded hard. "Right. We should have our own banner."
Ares thought for a moment, then said, "The War God Pirates."
"I hope that everyone in our crew… can become a War God."
Kaido muttered, "War God… Pirates. Not bad."
Then he grinned. "Worororo so from now on, we're the War God Pirates!"
"Mm! That name is going to shake the world!" Slardar said, thrilled.
Kuma whispered, "So from now on… I'm a pirate too."
"They say pirates are free. Then… we should be free, right?"
Ivankov laughed. "Hey Kuma. From now on, we don't have to watch Celestial Dragons' faces anymore."
"No more letting them beat us and curse us whenever they feel like it!"
"That's freedom!!"
Ginny nodded like a pecking chick. "Yes! From today on, we're finally free!"
"Whatever we do, we won't have to live under those cruel rules anymore…"
Like canaries released from a cage, they played and joked on the deck laughing and shouting like they'd forgotten what fear felt like.
…
Elsewhere
Captain John reported with an ugly expression. "Captain Rocks… Ares and the others… flew away."
"…!" Rocks' face went dark. He'd intended to intercept Ares, but Ares had simply flown off.
Leaving him with nothing.
He knew it.
Letting Ares go was a massive problem.
Ares was a ticking disaster the greatest hidden threat to the Rocks Pirates.
Rocks crushed down his fury. "Ares got away. Then we go after the Roger Pirates. They seized a Devil Fruit…"
With Ares gone, Rocks could only settle for second best.
He turned his sights on the Roger Pirates planning to take the Devil Fruit they had obtained from God Valley.
…
The Roger Pirates.
On the ship
Rayleigh gazed out at the sea and sighed. "Never thought the Rocks Pirates would actually fall apart."
"Whitebeard, Golden Lion, Ares… all leaving one after another."
"Those monsters… it's like dragons returning to the ocean, tigers retreating to the mountains."
"Especially Ares. He was unexpectedly calm this time."
"Completely different from our last meeting like he's matured a lot."
"I'm afraid… he'll be a major rival to the Roger Pirates in the future."
"Hahahaha " Roger grinned widely. "Hey doesn't that make it more fun?!"
"Whitebeard, Golden Lion, Ares… they're all chasing their dreams now."
"The sea is going to become even more spectacular!"
Gaban clicked his tongue. "Captain Roger, don't be so happy."
"Ares is too much of a monster. And at God Valley… he grabbed two Devil Fruits…"
"…!"
Roger's smile froze.
Then he spoke. "Didn't we grab a Devil Fruit too?"
"Besides, we're not like them. Our goal is the Poneglyphs!"
"Oh right back then it was chaos. We didn't even get the chance to look inside the chest and see what it held," Gaban reminded him.
Suddenly
A baby's cry rang out.
Everyone's faces changed.
They opened the chest.
Roger's eyes nearly popped out of his skull. He stood there completely stunned.
"What the hell?!"
"Why is there a baby in the chest?!"
…
The next day.
Marine G-1 Base.
Large numbers of Marines were busy repairing the damage and rebuilding structures torn apart by the war.
Everyone worked like their lives depended on it.
As one of the New World's most important bases, G-1 wasn't something the Marines could simply abandon.
Gion reported, "Sister Tsuru, all the wounded have been settled."
"Battlefield cleanup is basically finished too. The only thing left now is repairing the base facilities."
Tsuru nodded, her expression complicated. "We already received word from Kong the Steel."
"That Ares not only seized several powerful Devil Fruits from the World Government…"
"He also freed tens of thousands of slaves from God Valley."
"I suspect he freed those slaves for a purpose. And if that's true…"
"It will be terrifying."
Her emotions were tangled.
As a Marine commander, her duty was to uphold justice.
Yet in the end…
A pirate had freed tens of thousands of slaves from God Valley.
And tens of thousands was not a small number.
Anywhere they went, that many people could quickly become a significant force.
Thinking of Ares
Tsuru's heart felt heavy.
"That man's style… seems completely different from before. Back at G-1… those strange actions he took…"
In her mind, she saw it again Ares unconscious, Sengoku striking him again and again.
Even then…
Ares didn't fall.
And after that, he still fought a war on God Valley pressing down countless powerhouses…
Even the Five Elders themselves…
Just as Tsuru fell into thought, Gion's face changed violently.
Her pretty face turned paper-white in an instant, her voice shaking.
"There's a ship…"
"And the figure on it is… is Ares!!"
In that instant
Tsuru's eyes widened, horror slamming through her as she stared at the gigantic warship in the sky.
It was the very same warship that had flown from Marine G-1 to God Valley before.
"This is bad!!"
Cold sweat poured down Tsuru's back.
"Ares is back."
"He's coming for a second strike hitting us on the return!!"
Her heart shot up into her throat.
Right now…
Every top-tier Marine force was concentrated at God Valley.
The highest-ranking commander left at Marine G-1 was Tsuru.
After her were only a few Marine Vice Admirals.
No one here could stop Ares.
At that moment
The Marines repairing walls and fortifications below all turned pale, panic spreading like wildfire.
"That monster… the monster is back!!"
"Blood-Hand Ares… weren't they supposed to be at God Valley?! Why why is he here?!"
"We're finished! Fleet Admiral Kong and Admiral Sengoku aren't here there's no one who can stop that monster Ares!"
…
The floating warship hadn't even arrived yet, and it was already suffocating them with pressure.
Gion, her face drained of color, asked tremblingly, "Sister Tsuru… what… what do we do now?"
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