The image projected by the Camera Den Den Mushi did not freeze because of Akainu's doubts.
High in the sky, Blackbeard continued to laugh wildly, raising a massive arm that looked almost mismatched with his body.
"Zehahahahaha—!"
A dazzling light bloomed from the device embedded in his palm. In the next instant, it released a terrifying shockwave. Like a raging gale sweeping across the land, a thunderous roar erupted as the blast scoured everything below.
At the sight of this, Akainu's expression changed instantly.
He had felt a sense of familiarity from the very beginning—but only now did he finally confirm it.
"That is… Instructor Zephyr's Iron Arm Crusher!"
"Why is it in Blackbeard's hands?!"
Akainu's eyes widened, shock and fury surging across his face.
Ever since Zephyr and Kizaru had been defeated by the Straw Hat Pirates at Enies Lobby, the Navy had poured enormous manpower and resources into search-and-rescue operations in the surrounding seas.
In the end, they found nothing.
At that time, Akainu had been locked in a fierce struggle with Aokiji for the position of Fleet Admiral, and neither of them paid much attention to this matter.
Later, after Akainu officially took office under the Five Elders' appointment, he became buried under World Government pressure and endless handovers. The incident was quietly shelved.
And yet now, he was seeing a clue related to Zephyr—on Blackbeard's side.
"What exactly is going on…?"
Akainu frowned, his gaze locked firmly on the projection.
At that moment, resistance finally erupted on Amazon Lily.
A pair of long, beautiful legs suddenly entered the frame.
Boa Hancock appeared out of nowhere, launching a powerful kick straight at Blackbeard.
"Perfume Femur!"
However—
Bang!
A deafening explosion echoed as Hancock's devastating kick was stopped head-on by the Iron Arm Crusher.
"Zehahahahaha—!"
"As expected of the Pirate Empress. Your strength is impressive!"
Despite his words, Blackbeard swung his heavy arm with brute force, sending Hancock flying. She slammed into the ground below, carving a massive trench into the earth.
The battle was completely one-sided.
But it wasn't over yet.
After blasting the Empress away, Blackbeard laughed arrogantly once more.
"Give it up, Pirate Empress!"
"You and I aren't even on the same level!"
"And since we're at it, I'll tell you—besides using the Dark-Dark Fruit to steal Devil Fruit powers, I've also developed a way to replicate abilities!"
"I've created an army of ability users that belongs to me alone!"
"Come out and show yourselves—my masterpieces!!!"
Rumble—rumble—rumble!
As Blackbeard's words fell, a vast shadow suddenly swallowed the area shown on screen.
The camera shifted skyward.
A colossal ship slowly emerged above Amazon Lily.
In the next instant, hundreds of figures rained down from the sky, crashing toward the city below.
The image suddenly became blurry.
Then, with a flash of white light, the projection stabilized again—
But the time was clearly out of sync.
What appeared now was nothing but a ruined city.
And this time, the camera finally captured the figures Blackbeard called his "masterpieces."
They wore loose cloaks and strange masks, concealing their faces, bodies, even their genders.
Yet amid the chaos, one thing was unmistakable—
Each of them wielded extraordinary powers.
Flames. Lightning. Gales. Ice.
Abilities that weren't rare individually—but terrifying in their collective might—were unleashed one after another.
And at that moment, the projection cut out.
Silence engulfed the Fleet Admiral's office.
"..."
Akainu stared at the place where the image had vanished.
Thin wisps of smoke drifted up from beside his Marine cap, curling against the ceiling.
Bang!!!
Suddenly, a massive crash echoed.
Furious beyond restraint, Akainu slammed his fist down, shattering one leg of his brand-new desk.
Scorching heat surged from his body, flooding the entire office.
His eyes burned with rage as he clenched his fists and roared through gritted teeth:
"Damn pirates!!!"
"Damn you, Blackbeard!!!"
The next second, he grabbed the Den Den Mushi on his desk and shouted without waiting for a reply:
"Call that bastard back from vacation—now!"
"Tell him that if he doesn't want to be a Marine anymore, he'd better submit his resignation early!"
"And if he still remembers his duty—have him mobilize his forces and head straight for Amazon Lily in the Calm Belt to arrest Blackbeard and his crew!!!"
Bang!
Akainu slammed the receiver back onto the Den Den Mushi.
The "bastard on vacation" he referred to was naturally the other admiral who had lost the Fleet Admiral battle—
One of the few top-tier forces Akainu could still command: Aokiji, Kuzan.
Because of Red's butterfly effect, the duel between Aokiji and Akainu hadn't been as brutal as in the original timeline.
They still fought with everything they had, but for various reasons, neither had gone for the kill.
Thus, after recovering, Aokiji didn't leave the Navy. Instead, he stepped back from all duties under the guise of taking a vacation.
But now, Blackbeard's displayed power made Akainu feel true danger.
Though he constantly belittled pirates, Akainu knew all too well that Boa Hancock was among the strongest even within the Seven Warlords.
And yet she had been effortlessly blown away.
Blackbeard's strength had reached a level the Navy could no longer ignore.
Even Aokiji alone didn't feel sufficient.
After hesitating again and again, Akainu grimaced and placed another call.
"Hello? Vice Admiral Garp…?"
...
...
"Good work. You've already sent the footage to the Navy, right?"
At the same time—on Amazon Lily.
Red, who was helping arrange the aftermath, saw Hancock approach and offered her a warm smile.
"He smiled at me!"
"He likes me!"
The usually icy Hancock flushed instantly, blooming like a flower as sweet air radiated from her entire being.
"I… I've already sent it to the Navy," Hancock replied shyly, her steps unconsciously drawing her closer to Red.
"Uh…"
Red froze awkwardly.
As a reincarnator, he could clearly tell something was off.
He didn't know why feelings that originally belonged to Luffy had somehow landed on him—but seeing such a breathtaking woman like him was impossible not to enjoy.
That said, just as Granny Nyon had guessed, compared to romance, what Red wanted right now was to push the Straw Hat Pirates to the pinnacle—not get lost in matters of the heart.
And without the influence of the Love-Love Fruit, Hancock was simply a woman slightly more beautiful than Nami or Robin in his eyes.
Attraction, after all, was subjective.
Compared to a tall, long-legged queen, Red personally preferred someone petite and cute.
Ignoring Sanji grinding his teeth nearby, Red nodded calmly at Hancock and continued planning:
"Based on what Blackbeard showed, the Navy will definitely send reinforcements soon."
"And Devil Fruit replication is also a key World Government research project…"
"So this time, what's coming might not be just the Navy."
"Hancock, the rest is up to you and Moria."
"We need to set sail—immediately!"
"Ah?!"
Though she knew they wouldn't stay long, hearing Red say he was leaving right away still filled Hancock with disappointment.
But as the woman behind a successful man, she knew she couldn't hold him back from the sea.
After hesitating, she finally nodded, biting her lip:
"I understand, Red."
"I've already had supplies loaded onto your ship. You can depart anytime."
"Thank you, Hancock."
Red smiled, satisfied with her understanding.
If only all his ex-girlfriends had been this considerate, he might not have broken up so many times.
"Then…"
Red suddenly turned and shouted toward Luffy, who was helping clean up the battlefield:
"Luffy, we're good!"
"Pack up—we're setting sail!!!"
Boom!!!
A colossal Gum-Gum · Giant punch smashed down onto the shoreline, leaving a terrifying crater behind.
Luffy retracted his enlarged fist, looked toward Red, and grinned.
"That's awesome!"
"We're finally starting a new adventure!!!"
He jammed his straw hat onto his head, excitement blazing across his face.
After all, Red had told him—
The next island would be their final stop in the first half of the Grand Line!
Which meant—
They were about to enter the latter half of the Grand Line, the legendary sea only the strong could survive—
The New World, the so-called Pirates' Graveyard!!!
...
...
"Goodbye, ladies!!!"
"I'll miss you all! Write to me, okay?!"
Near Amazon Lily, Sanji stood at the stern of the Going Merry, waving a handkerchief—no one knew which girl had given it to him—crying his heart out toward the island.
This past week had been the happiest of his life.
Even though Red hadn't had Hancock announce Amazon Lily's allegiance—
Between the Straw Hats driving off the Black Lion Alliance and Hancock allowing the men to stay—
Both Sanji and the island's women had indulged themselves thoroughly.
Thus came his current pitiful state.
"Hmph. What an idiot."
Zoro, shirtless and lifting massive dumbbells on deck, snorted in disdain.
Beside him, Chopper—lifting a much smaller dumbbell—let out a long sigh of relief.
"That's a relief!"
"At least now we don't have to worry about Sanji bleeding to death."
No one knew how many liters of nosebleed Sanji had lost that week.
If not for his modified body and awakened genes, he'd have died from blood loss alone.
"Yohohoho~"
"I can relate to Sanji-kun~"
"Amazon Lily really is a wonderful place!"
Brook sighed contentedly while brewing tea.
Across from him, Robin nodded thoughtfully.
"I never imagined the Kuja Tribe had such a history."
"A few short lines… yet generations of sorrow."
"Thank you~"
She accepted the tea Brook poured, smiling gently.
"Still, we finally don't need to hide anymore!"
"With Moria and Hancock drawing the Navy's attention, we can show ourselves openly!"
Nami stretched with both arms raised, her figure forming an alluring curve.
Turning to Red, she said:
"Alright, Red. Let's continue training."
Her fight with Hancock had exposed her weaknesses.
Forbidden spells were powerful—but her fragile body was a fatal flaw.
So starting days ago, Nami had temporarily set aside the Clima-Tact and Pokémon moves—
Focusing instead on close-combat training.
And Pokémon from the Pokémon world were the perfect sparring partners.
Different opponents, real combat experience, and experience points afterward—
A perfect win-win.
"Alright."
"Franky, Usopp—send your finalized plans to Hogback first."
"I don't really understand this stuff. You three decide."
"OK~!"
"Leave it to me!!!"
Franky grinned, giving a thumbs-up.
In seven days, Franky, Usopp, and Hogback had completed the Tailed Beast blueprints and gained massive experience in biomechanical engineering.
Next—once Moria successfully produced the shadow-based bio-weapon and everything checked out—
They could begin modifying Laboon.
With the captured elites from the Black Lion Alliance, Moria no longer worried about shadows.
He now possessed dozens of shadows from pirates with bounties over 100 million—
Including several former billion-berry monsters defeated by the Straw Hats!
This time, Moria struck gold.
"Oh right, Merry."
Just as Red was about to head into the cabin with Nami, he stopped and called out.
The next instant, a beautiful young girl materialized beside him.
"What is it, Red?"
Merry asked curiously.
"Nothing big."
"Just remind Luffy to prepare in advance."
"When we reach Sabaody Archipelago, I'll take him to meet an old master."
"If he has any questions about Conqueror's Haki coating, he can ask freely."
"Okay~"
Merry smiled sweetly and vanished, heading for Luffy's meditation room.
(End of Chapter)