Mission complete, job done.
Loot secured, time to retreat!
At this moment—
The Beasts Pirates aboard the Straw Hat warship were celebrating without restraint, reveling in their triumph with a grand feast.
But they had no idea...
That the brief skirmish that had occurred today—
Would send ripples across the seas, eventually affecting the Summit War at Marineford just three days later.
The butterfly's wings had fluttered.
A chain reaction was already quietly unfolding.
---
That afternoon, chaos erupted among the three great powers of the New World.
As night fell—
Roughly a dozen nautical miles away from the recent battle zone, near a remote, uninhabited island—
A wounded warship sat anchored by the shore, its hull covered in scars.
This was the last intact vessel of the Big Mom Pirates that had survived the conflict.
Perospero's candy ship and Cracker's biscuit warship—along with their captains—had all fallen.
Only the General Snack and his ship had come through relatively unscathed.
Naturally so.
After all, Snack hadn't faced any captain-level monsters during the ambush.
While General Franky and Brook were formidable—
Snack, as one of the Big Mom Pirates' Four Sweet Commanders, was no pushover.
During their battle, he had even managed to gain a slight upper hand.
"Damn it! What the hell is going on with the Beasts Pirates?! I've never even heard of them having so many unknown powerhouses!"
Snack growled through clenched teeth, his face a mixture of frustration and confusion.
"Lord Snack!"
A subordinate from the Big Mom crew rushed over.
"How are Lord Peros and Lord Cracker?!"
Snack asked sharply.
"They've both pulled through! Their lives are not in danger!"
"Good!"
Snack exhaled, visibly relieved.
What was supposed to be an easy task had turned into a nightmare.
Who could have predicted this outcome?
Thankfully, Perospero and Cracker had survived.
Because if he had been the only one to return...
Facing Big Mom's wrath alone, Snack might have had his lifespan drained on the spot.
Once his fellow commanders recovered, the burden wouldn't fall entirely on him.
"Lord Snack!"
"What now? Did we get a message from Totto Land?" Snack asked anxiously.
"No. As per your orders, we've held off reporting to Mama. This is from the intelligence division—some of the attackers' identities have been uncovered!"
A nervous crewmate handed over a report.
"What?!"
Snack's eyes bulged as he snatched the document.
Moments later...
"Ha ha?! What kind of twisted joke is this?!"
Snack's face contorted with disbelief.
"Bounty 300 million—Straw Hat Luffy.
Captain Eustass Kid—316 million...
You're telling me these upstarts—rookies of this generation—took down elite members of a Yonko crew?!"
He shouted in utter denial.
He couldn't accept it.
To him, those so-called Supernovas from the first half of the Grand Line were nothing but jokes.
Rulers of the Paradise Seas?
Meaningless in the face of the New World and the Yonko crews that ruled it.
If word got out that they'd been defeated by Supernovas—
It wouldn't just be about lost lives or lost titles.
They would be burdened with lifelong shame, ridiculed and mocked for the rest of their days.
"But... based on their appearances, the attackers really were..."
"No 'buts'!" Snack snapped.
"Don't send anything to Totto Land. We'll wait for Peros and Cracker to wake up before making any reports!"
Suddenly—
Snack's expression changed.
He spun around sharply, eyes narrowing at the dark forest nearby.
"Who's there?! Show yourself!"
Muscles tensed.
He was ready for combat.
His instincts screamed danger.
WHOOSH!
Without warning, flames burst forth deep within the forest.
From the shadows—
A towering figure emerged, clad in black armor from head to toe.
Most bizarre of all—
Flames burned freely from his back, with no visible source.
"You're..."
Snack's pupils contracted.
"One of the Beasts Pirates' Three Disasters—
King the Conflagration!!"
His shout echoed—
The entire Big Mom encampment was stunned.
Every combat-capable member of the crew rushed out to surround King.
"So it really was the Beasts Pirates behind this!
King! You helped the Navy attack us?!
What's your game?
Do you really want war with the Big Mom Pirates?!"
Snack barked, furious.
A tense silence followed.
Then King finally spoke.
"Four days ago, our Beasts Pirates stronghold in Wano was attacked by unknown assailants.
Two warships went missing."
His voice was calm and steady.
"Hah?!"
Snack blinked, confused.
Then realization struck.
"You're saying this wasn't your doing? You expect me to believe that? Where's your proof?"
Snack frowned.
"I'm simply stating the facts.
Believe it or not—it's up to you."
King remained unfazed.
He bent down and picked up the intelligence report Snack had dropped, skimming it quickly.
As he read—
The flames on his back began to flicker and fluctuate.
A rare reaction—
A sign that his normally calm heart had been stirred.
As the Beasts Pirates' No. 2,
he instantly recognized—
That the warship in the blurry photo was indeed one of theirs.
And the girl on board who called herself "Oden"—
There was no mistaking it.
That was Yamato.
But...
Why were there two of them?
And those other so-called Supernovas...
King didn't know much about the others.
But the Straw Hat crew?
They were supposed to have been annihilated at Sabaody a week ago.
So how were they here?
And not just here—
In Wano, of all places?
Just to steal a few warships?
What was their real objective?
Logically—
It made no sense.
And why would they return to Paradise—the first half of the Grand Line—after making it this far into the New World?
It defied all reason.
No matter how he thought about it, nothing added up.
This investigation was far from over.
"Big Mom Pirates...
Given the circumstances—
Shall we work together?"
King asked calmly.