I am the Bandit King of the East Sea.

Now, what exactly is preventing him from achieving "complete justice"?

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

The meeting at the Naval Headquarters was destined to yield no real results.

On the high seas today, the real decision-makers are in the Holy Land of Mary Geoise.

Deep within Pangu City, in the Void Throne Hall.

The five elders knelt at the bottom of the steps, their faces solemn and cold sweat beading on their foreheads.

On the empty throne at the top, a man in a long robe was sitting.

The person in the long robe was completely shrouded in his robes, making it impossible to see his specific appearance and figure. Even his height and gender were difficult to determine. Only a pair of indifferent eyes with double-circled pupils could be vaguely seen.

"Lord Im," the Five Elders with swords spoke first.

"Currently, the member states of the New World are all requesting our assistance, demanding that we send troops to quickly eliminate the mountain bandits and sea pirates..."

The member states paid "heavenly gold" to the world government, which was essentially a protection fee.

Only after receiving protection fees will the World Government's navy or the CP new army fulfill their responsibility to protect member states.

However, the situation this time is different from the past.

“Of course we should respond to their requests for help, but we must first encourage them to take up arms and fight against the enemy,” Im said calmly.

"This..." The five elders looked at each other in bewilderment.

“Do as I say,” Im said calmly.

In name, the many member states are the masters of the world government, controlling its direction through a world conference held every four years.

The Celestial Dragons are merely honorary world nobles, possessing only prestige and status but not real power.

But in the eyes of those in real power, the member states are nothing more than pigs that are constantly being fed by the world government.

Normally, we need to coax and appease them, and a world conference is held every four years. But when it comes to this, the world government's strategy naturally has to take a backseat.

"Compared to these... it's surprising that Sieg and his team's primary objective was the three endpoint volcanoes," Im asked.

"Have you found out their true purpose?"

The five elders with swords hesitated for a moment and said:

The specific reasons are still unclear.

"However, according to CP0 intelligence, Liangshan Marsh has established a heavily fortified defensive line around the three volcanic islands, seemingly intending to turn them into three impregnable fortresses."

"Rather than saying they wanted to find a way to die together, it's more like... it's more like they were trying to prevent others from getting close to Endpoint Volcano and keep these three strongholds in their hands."

After the Five Elders finished speaking, a slight ripple appeared in Im's usually indifferent eyes on the throne.

"Understood, you may all leave."

After the Five Elders left, Im stood up from the Void Throne.

A moment later, he went down the steps and pushed open the door to a basement.

A chill permeated the air; the basement itself was a freezer, and the temperature was very low.

Ignoring the chill around him, Im stepped inside.

On the floor of the underground freezer, there was a huge straw hat, its brim covered with frost, indicating it had been there for many years.

Im gazed silently at the enormous straw hat, muttering to himself:

"They chose to attack Mount Doom immediately, fearing that others would beat them to it... Were any of them knowledgeable about that period of history?"

"Was it Roger? He learned the truth of history on the final island through the so-called Poneglyphs...but..."

Im remained silent.

In fact, she had already considered another possibility.

In this world, there exists a small group led by a mysterious figure who may know the truth about what happened back then...

Could it be him? Shan?

Those indifferent eyes now seemed somewhat profound.

Eight hundred years ago, a group of mysterious people appeared. They were the key to rescuing her and Xin from the laboratory.

To the test subjects back then, Shan and the others possessed incredible power, making them people they could only look up to. They were also likely the first immortal beings to escape from the laboratory.

As they grew up and became stronger, the powerful image of those mysterious figures from their childhood did not fade with time; instead, it became even more astonishing and mysterious.

Their motives are shrouded in mystery, their strength is formidable, and their abilities are uncanny, yet they remain hidden behind the mists of history, their whereabouts unknown.

At first, Im even suspected that they were a different lineage of high-ranking members from the Ancient Kingdom, distinct from the Star Labs, but even after the flood engulfed the New World and the Ancient Kingdom was completely destroyed, Shan and the others never reappeared...

This matter happened 800 years ago, but for some reason, it has resurfaced in my mind.

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

"The new world has completely gone berserk."

Red-haired Shanks sat cross-legged on the ground, disregarding his image, his sword Griffin planted diagonally in the ground, the ground within a kilometer radius filled with deep and shallow ravines of various sizes.

Ignoring his surroundings, he simply raised his wine bowl and clinked it against Hawkeye Mihawk's across from him.

Shanks has both arms; he has not lost any.

Therefore, Hawkeye Mihawk considers him a formidable rival and has challenged him to many duels over the years... Especially after each fight with Siegfried, he always has to come and have some fun with Shanks, to experience a normal swordsman's duel.

"This has nothing to do with you or me," Hawkeye said nonchalantly.

Hawkeye has no interest in vying for supremacy and has always worked alone, only showing interest in skilled swordsmen or rising stars.

He didn't care much about the war between the World Government and Liangshan Marsh.

"You're quite detached." Shanks smiled and shook his head, but his expression was no longer as carefree as usual; it appeared somewhat profound.

Shanks is one of the older generation of the Four Emperors of the Sea.

His pirate crew is not large; it is the smallest of the Four Emperors' pirate crews, but also has the highest average bounty.

Although he wasn't many people, his position as one of the Four Emperors wasn't earned through mere prestige.

Hawkeye is a lone former Shichibukai, but Shanks is one of the Four Emperors, a leader of a powerful force.

Even if Shanks is usually carefree and detached, he can't act as recklessly as Hawkeye when faced with such a major event.

Over the years, Shanks has been maintaining the fragile balance on the sea in his own way.

He dissuaded Ace from chasing Blackbeard, stopped Kaido and Big Mom from participating in the Marineford War, and even later had contact with the Five Elders of the Holy Land.

As the order he painstakingly maintained crumbled and war swept through the New World, he, as one of the Four Emperors, naturally wouldn't stand idly by...

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

An island in the New World.

At the mouth of the coast, a massive fleet of dozens of warships gathered, their sails adorned with a striking image of a giant bear.

The Land of Bears, one of the member states under the World Government, is known throughout the world for its martial arts.

When the World Government called on the many member states of the New World to take up arms to protect themselves, this was one of the few countries capable of organizing a massive fleet and responding proactively.

"There is a naval branch fortress near the kingdom's base. As long as our army joins forces with the naval branch, we can wipe out those ubiquitous revolutionary forces..." The king of the Bear Kingdom stood on the deck, gazing out at the sea with a somber expression.

For many years, the revolutionary army led by revolutionary leader Long has been active around the world and has so far overthrown dozens of countries.

The Land of Bears was almost overthrown by the revolutionary army, and the rebellion was only quelled with the help of the navy.

In the king's view, this incident was merely a matter of the revolutionary army having a slightly larger number of fighters than before.

Once he joined forces with the local branch navy, he planned to request the navy's assistance in suppressing the revolutionary sparks within the country, in the name of the king of the constituent republic.

"This might be an opportunity..."

As the king stood on the bow deck, preparing his words and how to communicate with the navy, he was completely unaware that an enormous shadow was appearing on the sea below and rapidly expanding.

Boom...

The once calm sea suddenly bulged, and a huge, terrifying crocodile-shaped head emerged from the surface, with an eye larger than the flagship at the king's feet, staring intently at the warship in front of it.

Gudong.

Many people, including the king, swallowed hard.

This sea king was enormous; its eyes were larger than a large warship, and its entire size far exceeded that of these dozens of warships combined, making it comparable to a small island.

"How could such a colossal sea king be here?" The king broke out in a cold sweat.

Sea kings of this size are not to be trifled with, and are quite rare even in the New World, where monsters abound and the climate is unpredictable. Such an outrageous size usually only inhabits the deep sea and the calm zone.

"Don't disturb it. This sea monster is too big. It may not have noticed us yet..." someone said.

Sea creatures are at the top of the food chain in the ocean.

Because of their enormous size, they are considered the kings of the sea and are thus called sea kings.

If a creature is large enough, it will naturally possess unparalleled power; for example, Zunesha's trunk could destroy Jack the Drought's fleet with a single blow.

Although the sea kings are not as large as Zunesha, they are still more than a hundred times smaller than the warship in front of them.

However, things did not go as planned.

Rumble...

Vast shadows emerged from beneath the sea surface, the water surged upwards, and one after another, enormous and terrifying sea king heads rose from the water.

Countless colossal sea monsters emerged from the seawater, crowding around the kingdom's fleet that was sandwiched among them.

They didn't even need to attack; the massive waves they created when they emerged from the seabed swallowed up several of the kingdom's warships.

"How could sea kings of this size appear in such large numbers? That doesn't make sense!"

"How could such a massive creature at the top of the food chain live in groups, unless... unless it's a calm zone!"

As the king struggled amidst the giant waves, a terrifying thought crossed his mind.

"Could it be that the sea kings of the Calm Belt have left the Calm Belt? Only the Calm Belt could possibly have such a large number of giant sea kings!"

At this moment, more than a dozen giant sea kings around him turned their heads in unison, their eyes, larger than warships, staring at the king from all directions.

These sea kings, whose eyes had been somewhat dull and lifeless, suddenly burst through the waves and crashed into us.