"Hahahaha! Crew, raise your glasses and drink heartily to welcome our new executive in the Rocks Pirates—Beast Brian!"
"Ooh~~~"
"Cheers~"
In the central hall of Hachinosu, Rocks sat imposingly on the main seat, raising his glass to his subordinates below, celebrating Brian's joining with this banquet.
To his left and right sat Whitebeard and Shiki respectively, facing each other directly.
Beside Whitebeard sat Charlotte Linlin, while beside Shiki sat Brian, their seats also directly opposite each other.
Further down sat executives like John, Wang Zhi, Silver Axe, and even Stussy and Flame Flower.
Notably, the tall Kaido sat at the far end of the banquet—the only intern present.
The seating arrangement clearly revealed the extreme survival-of-the-fittest nature of the Rocks Pirates.
Pirates without sufficient strength didn't even qualify to sit at the table.
They could only cheer loudly outside the hall, drinking and eating voraciously.
Two days had passed since the great battle between Shiki and Brian on the sea.
After that day's fight, Rocks and Brian had "mutually chosen" each other, seeing eye to eye.
They hit it off immediately, and Brian became one of the executives of the Rocks Pirates.
Rocks valued Brian highly, immediately making him the fourth top executive of the Rocks Pirates.
He ranked only below Whitebeard, Shiki, and Big Mom, surpassing ordinary executives like John, Wang Zhi, and Silver Axe.
This move sparked strong dissatisfaction from John and the others.
Unfortunately, since Rocks had directly appointed him, they had no means or reason to protest.
However, they had held grudges all along, and when today's banquet seating was arranged, they could no longer sit still.
"Hahaha, Captain, today is the welcome banquet for Brian joining our pirate crew. I boldly wish to liven things up for everyone aboard."
"Following our ship's tradition, I'm willing to be Brian's debut opponent after joining the crew."
"After all, none of us aboard are familiar with our new executive—it's everyone's first time meeting him."
Silver Axe, one of the executives, was the first to lose patience and step forward.
His words seemed polite but were actually pointed and confrontational.
In essence: You've had no reputation before—why do you get to become an executive, and one of the highest-ranking ones at that, as soon as you arrive?
Don't bring up your "Beast" title; you were only slightly famous before.
In the New World, bounty is the most important measure—what was your Beast bounty anyway?
Facing this situation, Brian looked up, cast a disdainful glance at Silver Axe and the two behind him, Wang Zhi and John, and said nothing.
He turned to Rocks to see what he would say.
On this ship, there were only four people he would face directly.
The one he strongly feared and even felt a death threat from was Rocks.
"Wahahaha! Since Silver Axe volunteered, Brian, why don't you show us what you've got? It is indeed our crew's tradition after all."
Rocks laughed heartily. He liked subordinates who challenged each other like this—it made him feel secure.
If his subordinates became too close, it would actually make him wary.
The Rocks Pirates had a tradition: newcomers must accept their first challenge upon joining and emerge victorious.
If you died during this challenge, that just meant you were weak.
In the past, these challenges were usually just formalities, with senior officers rarely participating personally.
Today, Silver Axe's move clearly showed he was fired up.
"In that case, let's do it. How do we fight?"
After learning about this tradition from Shiki nearby, Brian realized he needed to make a strong impression today.
He agreed directly—just Silver Axe, why should he be afraid?
"Then let's follow tradition. First, our subordinates fight, then we'll have our match."
"To the death?"
"To the death!"
"Excellent, I like that. Let's go, assemble at the combat arena."
"Hmph, let's go. I want to see what you've got to challenge me with."
And so, halfway through the banquet, most pirates present moved to the combat arena. Everyone was accustomed to such interruptions.
At the training ground, Silver Axe addressed Brian, who stood alone across from him.
"What's wrong, kid? Where are your subordinates? Don't tell me you're a commander with no troops, wahaha!"
"I have hundreds of pirates under my command. Look at this formation!"
Silver Axe waved his hand grandly, and hundreds of pirates behind him stepped forward onto the combat arena.
These were elite fighters Silver Axe had specially selected from his crew, each one a formidable pirate.
Even the weakest among them had bounty of tens of millions, though in the New World that only placed them at the bottom tier.
"You're in quite a hurry—rushing to your death?"
Clap clap clap
Brian clapped his hands, and four figures descended rapidly from the sky, landing behind him.
"Master, master! Bat Girl reporting!"
"Master, Dog Girl reporting!"
"Master, Tiger Girl reporting!"
"Master, Leopard Girl reporting!"
All four of Brian's current Beast Girls made their appearance. Though only four in number, they carried the presence of an entire army.
The appearance of these four figures immediately captured the attention of everyone present.
Even those seated at the high table—Rocks, Whitebeard, Shiki, Big Mom, and others—expressed surprise.
None of the pirates present had ever seen Beast Girls like these, who perfectly blended animal wildness with feminine beauty.
The fluffy appearance in particular struck a chord with many pirates' particular fetishes, nearly driving them wild.
"Gehahaha, even Brian's subordinates are this unique."
"Are they from the Mink Tribe? But they don't quite look like it."
Shiki watched the four Beast Girls with great interest.
"Gurarara, Mink Tribe members are covered entirely in fur, and there's never been a bat species among them."
"These subordinates of young Brian don't seem to have the Mink Tribe's structure."
Whitebeard, who had considerable experience with the Mink Tribe, confirmed they weren't the same—similar, but fundamentally different.
"Mamamama, putting aside everything else, these women aren't weak either. Quite interesting."
Sensing that each of the three Beast Girls possessed combat power at the peak of rear-admiral level, Charlotte Linlin became intrigued.
Such unified combat prowess is truly rare, and it sparked some other thoughts in my mind.
As for Rocks, aside from a brief moment of surprise at the beginning, he quickly returned to indifference.
Although the Beast Girls' appearances and strength were indeed distinctive, they were ultimately nothing more than junior officers.
With a single punch, he could smash hundreds of junior officers to death.
"Hahaha, four people? Four people fighting against hundreds of my subordinates? What a joke."
Silver Axe grew even more displeased. This brat must be looking down on him.
Right? Right? Damn it, this was nothing short of a tremendous insult to Lord Silver Axe.
"Even if there are more pieces of trash, they're still just trash. Wait until your subordinates survive against them before you dare speak such words to me."
"Fine, fine, fine! Then you just wait and watch as these four women get completely torn apart by my subordinates."
"Men, kill those four women across from us!"
"Ooh ooh ooh~~"