His thoughts were exactly as Aokiji had surmised.
The Navy Headquarters had already been beaten by him numerous times, and it was almost time to lend a hand to clean up the New World pirates.
But the ocean is vast.
Even though the Endgame is large and resourced, a widespread crackdown is ultimately too inefficient.
So it's better to lure them into a trap; perhaps some clever and smart pirates will see his malicious intent.
But it doesn't matter, because this is an open conspiracy.
There will always be ambitious people who, despite being battered and bruised, will insist on squeezing into this trap.
The intelligence department will carefully screen, using past intelligence information and further confirmation by Angewomon and Shiryu during onsite registration.
These people will ultimately be divided into three groups—
Those with the pirate title but who haven't committed any wrongdoing will be gently rejected and persuaded to leave;
Those who have committed misdeeds but whose crimes are not punishable by death will be more suited for prison or ideological reform;
And those whose hands are stained with the blood of innocent civilians, irredeemably wicked criminals.
Only the third kind will be allowed to enter the challenge arena.
To avoid killing the innocent, the screening criteria are actually quite lenient, inevitably letting some slip through.
But even so, those classified into the third category exceed eighty percent!
To be sure.
The New World is indeed the New World; the concentration of scum among the pirates here is still too high.
"Yes, Master."
Angewomon nodded respectfully, "Additionally, Robin just mentioned to me about Mr. Kuzan joining us..."
"I already know about Aokiji."
Shano waved his hand, "Gather everyone for the evening banquet. Before that, I need to solve these pirate issues first."
He stood up, glanced at the bustling scene outside the window, and grinned:
"Let's go, and see those audacious scumbags."
......
The venue for the challenge tournament was set on Wuxing Island.
Because on the southwestern coast of this island, there is a massive Ancient Beast Fighting Arena capable of accommodating tens of thousands of people simultaneously.
Unlike the one in Dressrosa, though.
This one has been abandoned for decades until these past few days, when it was brought back into operation.
Over ten thousand pirates gathered here, bustling and clamorous.
Among them were Great Pirates with bounties exceeding billions, and even the highest two, with bounties over 800 million Belly, eyes glittering with greed and ambition.
After waiting for so long without any start in sight, someone got impatient and began to agitate.
"Hey! When is Shano coming out!"
"Could it be that he's afraid? Haha!"
"Exactly, no matter how strong he is, he's still human. Guess he didn't expect so many of us to show up. Hey, everyone's spit would drown him!"
Amid the noise, suddenly—
Boom!
A black-red lightning bolt struck down, shattering the entire arena, dust flying everywhere, and the pirates instantly fell silent.
When the smoke cleared, a tall figure already stood in the center of the arena.
Black hair fluttering, cape billowing.
Shano held both hands in his pockets, calmly surveying around.
No one dared make eye contact with him.
Those pirates who were shouting the loudest earlier, one by one, sweated profusely with heads down, afraid of being noticed by this big shot.
"Why is it suddenly so quiet?"
Shano finally withdrew his gaze and spoke indifferently:
"So, who wants to go first?"
——————
——————
[PS: A chapter with monthly ticket side story will be updated punctually at 12 o'clock. Like usual subscription, click the bottom of that chapter to automatically cast monthly tickets to unlock.]
[Monthly tickets cast outside the chapter won't be visible, it's a Qidian rule, author-kun has no control, sob sob.]
[This side story is titled — Parallel World: The Bastard Lacking Virtue Version of Shano, about Shano starting a second playthrough with even darker hands.]
[Previously promised Nami side story will be completed, this book is expected to finish before New Year's Day, by then I will strive to complete all side stories and update them freely for everyone.]