"Jack, this really puts you on the spot. You're not good at coaxing kids, are you?
Actually Melo isn't that petty. Give it a few days and he'll probably forget."
"It's fine. As long as it's resolved."
"You're 27 already, right? Fishman Island's got tons of beautiful young Mermaids. Never thought about it?"
"Forget it. Right now I only want Big Bro Kaidou to realize his dream. Strength is what matters most."
The topic of Mandfeish made Jack uneasy. He'd rather go out, find a ship, and pick a fight than waste time on this kind of thing.
"If you're not interested, then drop it. Get ready—Big Bro Kaidou should be personally fixing your spot among the Disasters."
"Yeah. See you around, Big Bro Mandfeish."
Jack patted the dust off himself and walked toward the highest stage. Queen was already up there ready to go.
This time wasn't like before. Over nearly a year, Apoo had perfectly settled into his role as DJ, his chemistry with Queen getting better and better—he could even follow up Queen's lyrics now.
With a professional team backing him, Queen's showbiz career made huge progress, and he valued Apoo more and more.
At the same time, Hawkins had also earned Queen's approval. Even though his divination couldn't help Queen avoid disasters, it could at least give advance warning so he didn't have to live on edge every day. Even if he got beaten, he'd be mentally prepared.
The only one feeling troubled was Hawkins. Queen had only one demand for him: keep strengthening his divination.
Under the lights, Jack stepped forward toward the front of the stage, while his underlings had just snapped out of it.
"Sheepshead, did you see that?"
Ginrummy rubbed her eyes. Jack lying on the ground had practically shattered her worldview.
"I saw it. Big Bro Jack actually... actually coaxed a kid that way..."
Sheepshead's reaction was even more direct—he slapped himself. His impression of Jack was pure battle maniac, someone who never allowed retreat in a fight, which made Jack's Steel Mammoth easy to earn military merit, but also the ship with the highest death rate.
Even though Alcremie had already proven Jack had a sliver of gentleness in him, that gentleness didn't belong to them. Today Melo had once again shown that side.
"We'd better just think about getting stronger. That kind of treatment will never be ours."
"Yeah, but now that Big Bro Jack's been promoted to Disaster, he should take a break, right?"
"No way. Unless it's Big Bro Kaidou's order, going by Big Bro Jack's habits, he'll definitely go looking for stronger opponents to clash with. We're probably gonna have to refill our numbers again."
Sheepshead's tone was full of certainty. But that was all for later—today, the only thing they had to do was party.
"Jack! Jack! Jack!"
"Fourth Disaster! Fourth Disaster!"
Guided by the cheers and spotlights, Jack walked out in front of everyone, and Queen ceded the key spot to him.
"Brats! Keep cheering! Our little bro Jack has finally clawed his way up to a Disaster's seat on his own power! After so many years, the lineup of the Three Disaster finally gets a new member!
Next up we've got a prize quiz—let's see what title that bunch of Navy bastards will slap on our little bro Jack!"
Kaidou's officers were originally just jointly called the Three Disaster. Their bounty epithets were actually coined by the Navy based on how they fight.
King, who loves using fire, Queen, who specializes in gas weapons, and Olga, who hides behind illusions, all got their titles for that reason.
If the Navy refused to play along, who knows what it'd look like now.
"Big Bro Queen! What's the prize?!"
"A chance to share the stage and dance with yours truly!"
The hall, which had been excited, fell silent at Queen's words. Only with Apoo's music driving them did they get lively again, which made Queen even more satisfied with Apoo.
"What's with that attitude?! This is a rare chance, you better appreciate it! You buncha fools who don't understand art!"
After yelling a few lines at the crowd below, Queen handed the mic to Jack.
"Enough crap. Let today's main character speak."
"Wait, Big Bro Queen, we even have this segment?"
Jack had never imagined he'd have to give a speech for something like this. For him, this was a hell mission on the same level as coaxing kids.
"Of course. You're the first person ever to be promoted to a Disaster. How can you not say something at a time like this?"
Queen forcibly shoved the mic into Jack's hands. Jack hesitated for a long moment, then finally shouted only one sentence.
"For Lord Kaidou! For Lord Arceus!"
"Oh!!!"
...
"Guhahaha, that brat Jack really is simple."
Listening to Jack's speech, Kaidou, off to the side, laughed as well, but soon thought of something else and turned to ask Arceus:
"By the way, that girl Yamato hasn't really come back at all this past year, has she? She's not even here this time."
"She's traveling around with Robin to broaden her horizons. Nico Robin should be able to smooth out some of her flaws."
"Doesn't matter. I haven't trained with her lately; she seems to have gotten pretty slack. When she comes back, she'll find out what a 'surprise' is. I'm gonna go give that brat Jack some encouragement—this drive of his is rare."
Kaidou got up and went onto the stage, publicly acknowledging Jack's strength. That triggered a new wave of frenzy among the underlings below—especially Sasaki, who happened to be on Ghost Island. As a hardcore Kaidou fan himself, his eyes were already shining.
This ceremony officially fixed Jack's spot as a Disaster. After that, according to pirate custom, they started their banquet—except after a few drinks Jack left Ghost Island and headed alone for the Udon Mine.
The Disaster seat had been set. Next he was going to use battle to make the Navy give him a new title; in order to define different pirates' roles, the Navy will still change bounty epithets.
Jack hadn't come here to stroll around. He was here to recruit a batch of cannon fodder and pick out a few valuable people from among them.
The method was brutally simple: these people would be forced to take part in near-suicidal missions. If they survived, their past crimes would be pardoned—but so far, there hadn't been a single successful case.
Jack's arrival drew the attention of some prisoners. They had no idea what had become of the people Jack had taken away. And being honest with themselves—if they ever left this place, they sure as hell wouldn't come back to visit.
But they also understood that choosing this path meant insane danger.
Yet among the prisoners swinging picks at the mine face, one person was extremely excited—that was Drake, forgotten for a whole year and mining here the entire time. He had finally spotted a faint glimmer of hope.