I am the Bandit King of the East Sea.

For Dressrosa, Doflamingo possesses overwhelming power and can easily manipulate the country.

For the Donquixote Family, Sigurd possesses overwhelming strength, allowing him to use Conqueror's Haki to intimidate the crowd. Crucially, he also possesses information about the Hobby-Hobby Fruit, enabling him to directly breach the royal palace and easily achieve victory without harming innocent civilians.

These words startled Kella and the others, who then shook their heads with wry smiles.

In the midst of a massive war with the World Government, one cannot expect a savior to descend from the heavens, someone who, like Sieg today, directly defeats the World Government.

"That idea is too naive." Kella and the others also realized how naive their previous thoughts were.

The dragon spread its arms wide, its tone gradually becoming more impassioned:

"You saw the Pirate King in person yesterday, right?"

"For pirates, the Pirate King is a legend. The way to become the Pirate King is to use ONE PIECE to stir up trouble, attract others to the sea, increase the number of pirates, and start the Great Pirate Era. Quietly wait for the right time to come, wait for a successor."

"The Mountain Bandit King's method is to intensify conflicts through a series of grand plans that have been laid out over a long period of time, to split the Navy during the Marineford War, to weaken the World Government's power, and to strengthen the pirates' power, in preparation for that final war."

"So, what about our revolutionary army's methods?"

"What our revolutionary army should do... is to get the people to take up arms, not rely on some vague, ethereal savior descending from heaven," Long continued.

"If the masses do not actively participate in the struggle, they will only wait forever for a savior to appear."

"In the future, we will be enemies of the World Government and the Navy... but as revolutionaries, we cannot be naive."

Although the bandit king has left, his influence continues.

Dragon is using the Dressrosa incident as a teaching material in an attempt to continue spreading his ideas.

After all, the Revolutionary Army's elaborate efforts in Dressrosa weren't aimed at restoring King Riku's power...

far away.

King Riku and Zephyr stood side by side, watching the dragon giving his speech, both of them with thoughtful expressions.

Zephyr's defection from the Navy was merely to uphold justice; he hadn't thought too much about it. However, the statements of Dragon and Siegfried made him reflect.

King Riku also fell into deep thought.

King Riku is old. Is he really going to reclaim the throne?

800 years ago, the Celestial Dragons, the Donquixote Family, ruled the Dressrosa Kingdom on the premise of exploiting the Tontatta slaves. In this respect, Doflamingo can only be considered to be carrying on the tradition of his ancestors.

After the World Government was established, the Donquixote Family abandoned their secular power and went to the Holy Land to become Celestial Dragons. After the first King Riku obtained the throne, he freed the Tontatta slaves until Doflamingo Donquixote made a comeback.

King Riku reflected on the decade of shadows that had shrouded the kingdom. Although he was also a victim, as king, he still felt guilty about the suffering of his people.

He's getting old; perhaps he should look to others to see if they can bring new changes to the kingdom...

..................

A few days later, rumors about the Dressrosa incident gradually spread through the newspapers.

"The Mountain Bandit King is a complete war maniac! The Marineford War only ended a little over a week ago, and he's already attacking the allied nations again?"

"What NEO Navy? They're definitely in cahoots with the Mountain Bandit King! They're all birds of a feather!"

While the world's attention was focused on Dressrosa, another battle, unknown to most at the time, had already come to an end.

Punk Hazard, once the experimental base of the great scientist Vegapunk, is now nothing but ruins. The entire island's landscape has been altered by the battle between the two admirals, with one half being glaciers and the other half lava.

"You actually held back? Sakazuki, that's not like you."

Aokiji, covered in blood, lay on the ground and looked at Akainu, who was also covered in wounds.

Both sides were generals, and the battle lasted for three days and three nights before a victor emerged.

The winner of the duel was Akainu. According to Aokiji's original expectations, if Akainu had lost, his own injuries would have been more severe, and he might even have lost his life.

"The only difference between us is our understanding of justice," Akainu said slowly, catching his breath.

He paused for a moment, then reached out his hand to Aokiji, who was lying on the ground.

"Would you like to talk to me?" Akainu asked in a deep voice.

Compared to Akainu and Aokiji in their youth, they are not as irreconcilable now.

Even the World Government was unaware that after three days and three nights of fierce fighting, these two generals, who were sworn enemies, would actually sit down and have a conversation.

...........

"If Akainu is the winner, then he is the candidate for the new Fleet Admiral."

In the Holy Land, World Government Commander-in-Chief Steelbone glanced at the report in his hand and nodded secretly.

Such a chaotic world is the perfect opportunity for a hardliner like Akainu to become Fleet Admiral.

Some time ago, two admirals, Zephyr and Fujitora, defected together. One of them was a veteran from the same era as Sengoku, which caused a huge upheaval within the Navy.

But now this turmoil should come to an end.

The CP0's major internal investigation of the Navy has come to an end. Among the many high-ranking Navy officials who were investigated, it can be confirmed that Garp has some issues. He raised Roger's "orphan," namely Fire Fist Ace.

However, due to Garp's reputation as a hero, the World Government ultimately only took the matter lightly.

Of the other three admirals, Akainu, Aokiji, and Kizaru, the one most likely to be the mole, based on preliminary assessment, is Kizaru.

Even Kizaru, who was suspicious of Kong, couldn't find any evidence.

"Although the Marines lost many elite troops and their strength declined considerably due to the Marineford War and the subsequent division."

Steelbone Kong comforted himself, "If you look at it on the bright side, the people left now are all trustworthy and trustworthy, none of them are traitors."

After the previous internal strife, Steelbone Sky is no longer obsessed with blindly expanding its army... If they recruit another mole like Fujitora or Higuma, things will get really messy.

He put down the report in his hand and his gaze fell on the relevant report on Dressrosa.

"Sieg is starting another war... This man is too enthusiastic about intrigue and war, and is indeed a major threat, but now is not the time to pay attention to him." Kong shook his head secretly. He only intended to make a show of it and had no intention of starting a war with Sieg at this time.

After the Marineford War, both the World Government and the Navy needed time to recuperate and replenish their forces.

With Akainu becoming the new Fleet Admiral, only Aokiji and Kizaru remain as the next two Admirals, leaving one of the three Admiral positions vacant.

Next, we should seriously consider promoting from among the candidates for generals like Momousagi and Chaton, or recruiting from around the world as before.

In addition, the Five Elders have decided to expand CP, this intelligence agency, which may eventually evolve into a military institution directly controlled by the World Government...

"The World Government possesses unparalleled war mobilization capabilities. Time is on our side." Kong rubbed his temples and continued dealing with military affairs.

...........

At an altitude of 10,000 meters, the floating island group of Vermeer.

"Boss Shiki, I got the footage you wanted."

A pirate jogged over and handed over a printed photo.

The man in the photo has a white beard. He is sitting on the deck of the Moby Dick, laughing and drinking amidst his sons, and starting a feast.

Whitebeard's condition was much better than it was during the Marineford War; the age spots that covered his skin had disappeared, and the knife and gunshot wounds on his body had been treated.

But what caught Shiki's attention the most was... Whitebeard had untied his turban!

On the top of the white-bearded man's scalp, a small patch of fine golden hair had already grown.

In his prime, Whitebeard had a head of brilliant, thick, golden hair and a heroic appearance. Although not as impressive as Golden Lion, his hair was still quite substantial.

He has never taken off his turban since he turned white-bearded and bald more than ten years ago, until now.

"Is that really so?" Golden Lion looked at the white-bearded hair and remained silent.

He certainly wasn't envious that the white-bearded man had grown his hair back.

As someone who experienced it firsthand, he naturally knew what Whitebeard had gone through.

“This is the influence of Sig; he really does remember his grand plan.” A hint of confusion flashed in the Golden Lion’s eyes.

To this day, he still doesn't understand why, at the end of the Marineford War, Sieg suddenly attacked him, and why he had no will to resist and was beaten to a pulp by Sieg.

He shook his head to stop thinking about him, and instead recalled a long time ago, when he and Sieg drank and discussed heroes, high in the sky.

Advanced Martial Arts Project.

It was this plan that initially impressed the Golden Lion, leading him to regard Sieg as one of the world's greatest rivals and become enthusiastic about Sieg's grand scheme.

After that conversation, Shiki and Sigurd joined forces to destroy Impel Down, release the Fifty-Six Emperors, reverse the course of history, and bring back the old era.

And this is only the first step.

Those who lived in the same era as Shiki have all grown old. The most obvious example is Whitebeard during the Marineford War. Even someone as strong as Whitebeard could not escape the passage of time.

Whether they admit it or not, the most glorious and radiant time for characters like Shiki, Roger, and Whitebeard was in that bygone era, not in the present.

So the second step... is to use their abilities to make Shiki, Whitebeard, and others return to their prime.

When the heroes of the old era return to their peak and gather with the strong of this generation on the same sea, an unprecedented era of great contention will be created.

This is the so-called Global Advanced Martial Arts Program.

Golden Lion flipped through the documents at hand and found an old newspaper from ten years ago.

It was a tabloid with the headline: "Top 10 Strongest Devil Fruits! Eat This and You Can Defeat the Pirate King!"

The real owner of this tabloid is actually Sieg... This is certainly no secret to Golden Lion.

He flipped through the newspaper and found a particular item.

NO.10 Reverse Fruit.

"The essence of that bottle of wine that Sigmund gave me back then was probably the power of the Rewind-Rewind Fruit. I've been tricked by Sigmund again," Shiki sneered.

He continued flipping through the documents in his hand.

Over the past ten years, he certainly hasn't just been spying on the Japanese bear from the sky all day long.

As the emperor of the sky, the Golden Lion possesses top-tier strength and immense power in the ocean, and its intelligence capabilities are also quite impressive.

Ain, who had always been by Higuma's side and had been adopted by him as his goddaughter, had long since come into Shiki's sights.

"The Rewind Fruit is the ability of a little girl named Ain in the NEO Navy. She is one of Sigurd's adopted daughters."

"This young girl's abilities are a crucial part of the High Martial Arts Project, but her existence has been kept secret by Sigri Xiong, and her reputation remains unknown. This is probably a form of protection."

The golden lion seemed to be deep in thought.

"Let's keep waiting." Golden Lion closed his eyes, but the scene at the end of the Marineford War reappeared in his mind.

"I hope he still remembers this plan; I don't want to overstep my bounds again," the Golden Lion muttered to himself.