"That old bastard..."
"Borsalino... Kuzan..."
"Sounds familiar."
"The Marines are getting further and further behind, huh."
"Barororororo!!!"
At this moment, a black-winged dragon flew in from outside the hall.
Whoosh—
It slowly landed and transformed into human form. King opened his mouth and said:
"Kaido-san."
"The remnants of the Roger Pirates—Red-Haired Shanks—just entered our territory."
Kaido's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Hmm?"
...
Grand Line, Revolutionary Army Headquarters, Baltigo.
After many days of investigation, it has been confirmed that Ivankov and Inazuma have now been imprisoned in Impel Down.
Attacking Impel Down was clearly unrealistic and impractical.
They could only start with the prison guards...
Dragon was deep in thought when the intelligence officer suddenly stood up.
"Supreme Commander!"
"The Marines have suddenly announced the appointment of a new Fleet Admiral."
"It's the former Marine Admiral, Sengoku!"
"And the new Admirals will be Borsalino and Kuzan."
The Revolutionary Army members organizing documents for the meeting all looked shocked.
"What!"
"Why so sudden!"
"The plan needs to be readjusted, Supreme Commander!"
"Borsalino... wasn't he the one who hunted down Fisher Tiger?"
"Yes, yes, that's why the name was so familiar."
"So it was that guy. Damn it."
"Government lapdog."
Dragon narrowed his eyes slightly. Sengoku, huh...
"The plan remains unchanged."
...
North Blue, aboard a slave ship.
The noisy shouts and killing cries gradually disappeared.
This group of slave masters and their subordinates, who specialized in collecting beautiful female slaves—
Had all died at the hands of Tesoro, who had escaped from Mary Geoise years ago.
At this moment, he had completely severed ties with his past. Relying on ruthlessness and cunning, he had gathered a group of vicious underlings.
The slaves in the cages looked at him with hope in their eyes.
They thought this was salvation... little did they know... it was only another kind of hell...
A thug licked the blood off his face and walked over.
"Boss, all done."
"What do we do next?"
Tesoro revealed a cruel smile.
"Gather all the ship's records."
"These lovely slaves will be our starting capital."
The thug grinned ferociously.
"Got it!!!"
Tesoro walked to the railing, narrowed his eyes, and spread his arms wide.
As if he could already see the day he became the world's greatest slave master... for a long time...
"Stella..."
"I miss you..."
Unlike in the original story—
At this point, the Gold-Gold Fruit, after the downfall of the Donquixote Family, had fallen into the hands of Sakazuki.
There was no auction for the Gold-Gold Fruit to attract buyers anymore.
Tesoro had taken another path entirely...
...
New World, Steam Pirates base.
Knock sat in the massive hot spring with his eyes closed, resting.
"Enter."
Swoosh—
The sound of the wooden door opening echoed.
An underling stepped inside, standing respectfully in the distance with his head bowed.
"Boss."
Knock gave a faint grunt.
"How's the cleanup?"
The underling's voice carried a hint of joy.
"Our business is developing exceptionally well."
"We've already taken back the shipping industry and other enterprises. The territories and businesses we control have returned to the state of sixteen years ago."
"Only the weapons sector remains unchanged, since one of the other Three Emperors, Kaido, controls the weapon factories."
"And in the first half of the Grand Line, due to the interference of Warlord Crocodile—"
"The flow of goods into the New World has decreased somewhat."
"But our people have already developed another trade route. If all goes smoothly—"
"We'll no longer be restricted by the Grand Line Marines and Warlords' blockade."
He finished speaking, but after a long time, there was no response.
The underling only felt the air grow heavier and heavier... cold sweat dripping down his back.
Suddenly.
Knock laughed, his tone crazed and venomous.
"Sixteen years..."
"SIXTEEN YEARS!!!!"
"That damn Sakazuki!!!!"
Boom!
An eruption of Conqueror's Haki, laced with murderous intent, recklessly exploded in all directions.
The underling collapsed directly to the floor...
Knock's bloodshot eyes slowly calmed down after a long while.
If not for being schemed against by Sakazuki sixteen years ago—
Forced into war with Charlotte Linlin and Shiki, surrendering half his businesses and industries just to make peace—
With the manpower, wealth, and resources he now controlled... he would be the only king of the New World... maybe even go further beyond!!!
Knock was different from Charlotte Linlin, Kaido, and the others.
He had no dream of Totto Land, freedom, or peace.
In his eyes, nothing mattered more than tangible control. And the more, the better.
Dreams? What a laughable thing.
He wanted to become the underground king of the world!
And this goal had a very high chance of being realized.
But Sakazuki's scheme had suppressed him for sixteen years before he could recover.
Life is finite... Sixteen years wasted...
How could I not resent it...
...
Marine Headquarters, Sakazuki's home.
On the second floor, inside the study, Sakazuki stretched his neck a little:
"Report everything at once."
Karol frowned slightly, hesitated for a moment, but finally spoke:
"It's about the issue of corruption."
"Although the soldiers originally sent to the Four Seas branches..."
"...were all carefully selected orphans..."
"...even the strongest will can sometimes waver, and some forget their original purpose."
"After a secret investigation of all Four Seas branches..."
"...we found corruption issues among the branch leaders in 27 branches."
"That's nearly thirty percent."
Sakazuki let out a low snort:
"This is inevitable."
"Only saints have no desires."
"Thirty percent... not bad."
"As long as there are no crimes."
Karol shook his head:
"No, just corruption—some of them heavily corrupt."
"Your deterrence is still deeply imprinted in their hearts."
"They wouldn't dare commit actual crimes."
Sakazuki sneered:
"Talk to them."
"Corruption, I can ignore, but if there's even a hint of negligence when it comes to killing pirates..."
"Death."
"Don't even think about exposing them."
"Living a life worse than death is far more painful than dying."
Karol said:
"Understood."
"But if we silently tolerate this, some might go even further."
Sakazuki shook his head:
"That doesn't matter. Capability is what matters."
"After all, they were the best picks. Right now, the priority is stabilizing the Four Seas."
"We need to ensure we can swiftly march in and take control of most of the kingdoms."
"The Four Seas hold the majority of the world's kingdoms and population."
"As for settling accounts... that can be done anytime. Killing is the easiest thing."
Karol nodded:
"I understand."
Suddenly, Sakazuki remembered something:
"Have the people secretly helping Knock develop the sea routes been withdrawn?"
Karol said:
"Yes. His competitors on the Grand Line have all mysteriously died."
"Very soon, there will be a route bypassing both the Government and the Seven Warlords, leading straight to Fish-Man Island."
Sakazuki chuckled softly:
"Good... let it grow fat before slaughtering..."
"That's when it tastes the best..."
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The fanfic is Finished on p@treon/tambeerg. 414 chapters in total