"That many Sea Kings???"
Standing atop a magnificent, massive battleship, Orin raised a hand to his forehead, gazing into the distant battlefield with a flicker of excitement in his eyes.
The scale of this war was beyond anything he had ever witnessed.
Warships filled the skies and seas, their firepower roaring madly into the distance—while their opponents were enormous shadows looming beneath the ocean's surface.
Even in the movies, they never went this big with the map, did they?
"It's coming!!!"
Among the Twenty Kings, one man's expression suddenly shifted. He, too, had sensed what Orin had moments before, and quickly began barking out orders to his troops.
Everyone else looked utterly confused.
But in truth...
Orin stood calmly with his arms folded, not the least bit flustered. In fact, he glanced down at the sea before him, eyes calm and analytical.
The view zoomed out from his perspective—higher, and higher, and higher—
Until the mighty warships became mere black specks against the vast blue. And then, the full outline beneath the waves came into view—
A colossal, terrifyingly massive fish's mouth!!!
"So this is the power of the Sea Kings... controlling titanic beings the size of entire islands!!!"
Finally realizing that they were surrounded by an army of gargantuan Sea Kings emerging from the deep, several of the Kings' expressions grew heavy, even grim.
Such creatures—perhaps they couldn't kill them, but the casualties they could cause would be catastrophic.
Lily instinctively spread her wings wide, her overwhelming Conqueror's Haki Infusion radiating outwards, powerful enough to blanket an entire island.
It looked like she was trying to intimidate them.
"That's useless..."
Orin's hair whipped through the air under the storm of her Haki. He looked at the furious Lily with a touch of helpless amusement and shook his head.
"Mm? I don't understand you."
Lily's eyes went round as she stared at him. A massive pentagram magic circle appeared in her hand—clearly, she was about to cast a spell.
But these ancient, supermassive Sea Kings—beings that had lived for countless ages and gained wisdom—along with the primeval Sea King herself, were not foes that Lily in her current state could simply pacify.
They had their own masters behind them.
This was no longer a problem that Conqueror's Haki could solve. Though Orin didn't know how the original timeline's Twenty Kings had dealt with the Sea King's pets, he naturally had his own way.
He took a single step forward.
And before everyone's astonished eyes, Orin stood tall—slowly raising his hand.
The fleet...
Began to rise into the sky!!!
...
"Oh!!! It's Dr. Vegapunk! And Kuma!!!"
"Hello."
Over time, Kuma had grown somewhat accustomed to this new life. After all, the laboratory's conditions were quite good.
Vegapunk, as always, was deeply immersed in his research, ensuring the embryonic developments followed the parameters Orin had demanded.
Only one problem continued to plague him—
The issue of Devil Fruit awakening.
"No, no, no, no..."
Vegapunk scribbled frantically across his papers, filling lines with symbols no ordinary person could comprehend, before tearing sheet after sheet to shreds. Sweat drenched his forehead.
"The experimental results show it's just an ordinary Gum-Gum Fruit, no matter how I look at it!!!"
Frowning at the reports and data, Vegapunk's expression tightened.
He could, of course, distinguish between Nika and a regular rubber fruit—their manifestations were entirely different.
But if all he produced was a giant made of plain rubber... that would be a complete failure to deliver what Orin required.
The other problems, by comparison, were easy. Even the supposedly impossible issue of wielding two Devil Fruits had been resolved, thanks to the methods Orin provided.
"No helping it..."
Vegapunk tore another draft to pieces, his face slick with sweat and resignation.
"It seems we won't have results anytime soon. I'll just have to shift my focus to the [Seraphim · Shichibukai] project for now."
During this same period—
The seas remained restless. The number of pirates was growing at an unprecedented rate, especially among the younger generation—each of them chasing dreams deep into the ocean.
In the first half of the Grand Line—Alabasta—
The rustling of a newspaper echoed through smoke-filled air. A pair of cold, sharp eyes scanned its front page.
"Whitebeard Pirates, Second Division Captain?"
Crocodile froze for a brief moment at the headline, then sneered coldly.
Her broad hand clenched the paper, and it crumbled away into sand.
That's right—broad.
"Boss, the Dance Powder has been distributed. The rebels are in chaos again."
At the voice, Crocodile didn't move—only shifted her gaze sideways.
A slender, dark-skinned beauty walked through the door, reporting crisply as she came.
"Is that so... well, as expected."
Crocodile rose slowly, passing by the massive sand-colored crocodile beside her, and came to stand at the window.
"Even though I can't use Haki right now, a tiny country like Alabasta doesn't require that kind of power from me."
Watching the chaos unfold beyond the glass, a cold smile of ambition curved her lips.
"Hahahahaha... now this is the kind of militarized nation I desire!!!"
Behind her, Nico Robin stood silently, her eyes unreadable as she watched Crocodile's back.
...
New World — Dressrosa.
"Hey, Doffy, ever since Caesar left, our artificial Devil Fruit factory's output has plummeted! We're relying on old stock now~"
Sniveling as always, Trebol stood beside Doflamingo, reporting nervously.
Following his gaze, a young man with golden hair and a defiant spirit sat there, his fingers toying with threads of shimmering silk as he thought silently.
His trademark grin was gone. Behind his sunglasses, his eyes were locked on a newspaper, and the faint downturn of his mouth betrayed his mood.
Hearing Trebol's words, Doflamingo replied lightly,
"If production's down, so be it. Can't be helped. Since Orin requested it, Caesar had to go. As for Kaido..."
He paused to think.
"If he has any complaints, tell him to take it up with that guy, Hawk-Eyes."
Having given his orders, Doflamingo's gaze returned to the newspaper.
Curious, Trebol shuffled over to look from another angle—
And froze when he saw the familiar face printed on the page.
"Th-this... isn't that Law!!!"
"Yeah."
Doflamingo's voice was low, his eyes narrowing behind his shades. Veins bulged on his forehead as he stared at the man wearing a spotted hat, his gaze shadowed and grim.
"Back then, when I saw him, Orin stopped me from killing both him and Corazon. But they weren't the only ones under Orin's protection..."
His expression twisted into fury.
"Anyone who betrays the family—whether they live or not, they'll never live in peace!!!"