Aside from Maude—
The sudden appearance of Aokiji sent a shockwave through everyone present, including Sabo.
Shing—!
Zoro instantly drew his sword once more.
Everyone else moved just as quickly, snapping into combat readiness without hesitation.
Bartolomeo reacted even faster, instinctively throwing up a barrier to shield everyone inside.
It was a reflexive move—yet he failed to consider the consequences: if Aokiji unleashed his freezing powers and iced over the barrier, they might not die from the cold... but suffocation was another story entirely.
"Arara…"
Aokiji scratched the back of his head out of habit as he looked at the Straw Hats, who had prepared for battle in an instant.
From their tense reaction, Aokiji quickly realized: this group clearly had no idea he'd joined the Maude Pirates.
He cast a quick glance toward the visibly pale Robin, then turned to Maude at his side.
Better to let Maude do the introductions.
It'd carry more weight that way.
Catching Aokiji's gaze, Maude smirked slightly and looked toward the alarmed Straw Hats.
With a soft chuckle, he said, "No need to get so worked up. Kuzan's no longer a Navy Admiral—he's one of my crewmates now."
"WHAT?!"
"Aokiji's not an Admiral anymore?!"
"Hold up—him joining the Maude Pirates is the bigger shock here!"
The revelation left everyone reeling—their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
An Admiral, joining a pirate crew?
And not just any crew—Maude's?
This was earth-shattering news for the Straw Hat Pirates at this stage of their journey.
Robin stared at Maude in disbelief.
When Aokiji had first appeared, she thought he'd come for her—perhaps a change of heart after allowing her to escape Marineford had brought him here to undo that decision.
But never—not in her wildest dreams—did she imagine this man, whom she feared more than anyone, had left the Marines and chosen to become a pirate under Maude's banner.
If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she'd have dismissed the very idea as sheer fantasy.
"Well, like you see—I'm now a pirate with the Maude Pirates."
Looking at the stunned Straw Hats, Aokiji said lazily, "That said, even though I'm not a Marine anymore, if I come across pirates I don't like, I'll still step in. My captain here is pretty lenient about that."
"Huh?!"
The Straw Hats, who had only just started to relax, immediately tensed up again.
Right—just because Aokiji had resigned from the Marines didn't mean he'd abandoned his sense of justice…
And it wasn't uncommon for pirates to kill each other.
They cast wary glances in Aokiji's direction.
"Arara."
Noticing their suspicion, Aokiji shrugged and said coolly, "No need to be so on guard. Like I said—I only deal with pirates I don't like. As of right now, I don't dislike any of you."
"Huh?"
That caught them off guard.
Even Chopper started shyly doing a little seaweed dance.
But among the crew, only Robin, Zoro, and Sanji—those more perceptive than the rest—caught the underlying implication in Aokiji's use of "right now."
As those words settled in, the sky suddenly darkened.
A massive shadow loomed overhead, blotting out the light.
It was Gaya, using her Float-Float Fruit powers to guide the Thriller Bark down from the clouds, lowering it slowly onto the island below.
"!!!"
"That's…!"
Recognition struck the Straw Hats once again—their emotions were being pulled like a ship in a storm.
This was the third heart-stopping twist in less than half an hour.
"Yohohoho!"
A loud, cheerful laugh rang out from above.
A black-and-white figure leapt from the side of Thriller Bark.
Boom. Boom.
The figure stepped down gracefully on Geppo, descending as if stepping upon invisible stairs, each movement elegant and weightless.
Everyone turned to look at the source of that strange laugh.
It was Brook.
Thriller Bark had yet to land, but Brook—well-practiced in Geppo—had descended ahead of the others, following after Maude and Aokiji.
"A laughing skeleton?"
"It's moving...!"
Once they saw he was a walking skeleton, Luffy's eyes lit up like stars, while Zoro and the others narrowed their eyes.
As for the more timid ones—Nami, Usopp (who was no longer the same coward as before), and even the normally unflappable Bartolomeo—they all turned pale at the sight of Brook.
Chopper, predictably, fainted on the spot.
And just like that, Brook—now one of Maude's crew—made his first ever appearance before the Straw Hats in rather dramatic fashion.
Sanji silently observed Brook's precise, fluid use of Geppo, a glint of interest flashing in his eyes.
He couldn't help but think—it was a technique that could be incredibly useful for him, too.
Brook landed gently on the ground.
Behind him, Thriller Bark slowly touched down near the island's edge.
From above, it looked like two mismatched tables had been pushed together.
In truth, Maude had been toying with an idea: since they'd had no luck finding an island suitable for the upcoming Pirate Festival, he'd considered asking Gaya to use her Float-Float Fruit to gather fragments of islands along their journey and fuse them into one massive island.
That plan hadn't been set in motion yet, though.
Still, with time and Gaya's increasing precision, a Floating Island Assembly Project like that wouldn't be too difficult.
Thriller Bark settled steadily onto the sea's surface.
Then, led by Gaya and Lafitte, Maude's crew began disembarking, one by one, making their way toward him.
"The Straw Hats?"
Law, clutching Kikoku, glanced sidelong at Luffy, his fellow Supernova.
"What?" Luffy blinked, puzzled by the look Law gave him.
But Law averted his eyes, saying nothing more.
Luffy tilted his head, confused.
Maude looked up at the still-young sky and, mindful of the number of people present, turned to Gaya and said, "Gaya, we can probably start prepping dinner."
"Got it," Gaya nodded.
"Dinner?"
Luffy perked up instantly, lighting up. "If we're cooking, there's this kind of long-horned rhino in the island forest—its meat is amazing! We ate it before!"
"Rhinos, huh…" Gaya tilted her head, glancing toward the dense forest.
The idea of game meat stirred her curiosity.
Suddenly, Sanji spoke up. "Strictly speaking, you're all guests. Guests shouldn't have to cook for their hosts."
"…"
Gaya turned to Sanji and said calmly, "You're a chef too, right?"
"Yeah," Sanji replied, surprisingly serious—unusual for him when talking to a woman.
Gaya paused, then asked, "Do you know how to prepare restorative cuisine?"
"Restorative cuisine?" Sanji frowned. "What's that?"
"In that case, just wait for the food. Of course—if you want to help out, I won't stop you."
With that, Gaya turned and headed for the forest.
Sanji watched her go, brows furrowed.
That phrase—restorative cuisine—had piqued his interest.
Because of Maude, the massive butterfly effect was already in motion—twisting the original plot in unexpected ways.
Though Luffy had successfully saved Ace from death as he'd always dreamed, the Straw Hat crew had, in turn, lost out on many of their previous opportunities for growth.
Even with Sabo now involved…
The truth was, the Straw Hats still weren't ready to enter the New World.
But the arrival of the Maude Pirates—
Just maybe, it would become the turning point that changed everything.
At the very least, after being effortlessly defeated by Maude, Luffy now felt that burning drive once again—the desperate urge to sprint headlong toward strength.
Deep in his subconscious, he had already set Maude as his new goal.
...
Elsewhere—
Maude walked up to Usopp.
"Usopp, I heard from Chopper that you've made yourself a cool new weapon?"
As he spoke, Maude glanced at the staff-like weapon Usopp was shyly trying to hide behind his back.
"M-Master, I... I..."
Usopp stammered, unable to finish a sentence, looking like a kid caught doing something wrong.
"What's wrong?"
Maude tilted his head, puzzled by Usopp's reaction.
Eyes cast downward, Usopp muttered, "I... I gave up on using guns..."
"Is that so..."
Hearing this, Maude looked again at the weapon Usopp was hiding, then smiled. "Sounds like you found a weapon that suits you better."
"Huh?"
Usopp looked up, startled.
Only when he saw the smile on Maude's face did Usopp realize—Maude wasn't angry at all about him giving up firearms.
Back then, Usopp had chosen guns because he dreamed of becoming a sniper as powerful as Maude.
But his journey through the Grand Line and into the New World had opened his eyes. He'd encountered enemies with terrifying strength and had come to fully understand just how weak he truly was.
He knew this much—
If he couldn't coat his bullets with Armament Haki, then he'd never truly step through the gates of the New World.
And no matter how hard he tried... he just couldn't do it. Wrapping Haki around bullets—was simply too difficult.
With no other choice, Usopp had abandoned firearms and switched to a weapon more like a giant slingshot.
Compared to guns, slingshots or bows made it significantly easier to channel Haki through the projectile.
This change was Usopp's way of adapting—his desperate bid to strengthen himself as quickly as possible.
But when he saw Maude again, all Usopp could think was... this change felt like a betrayal of the belief that had once been born from Maude himself.
Maude, of course, had no idea Usopp's mind had run off in such a dramatic direction. Looking at the weapon behind Usopp, he simply reached out his hand.
"Let me see it."
"Ah, y-yeah!"
Usopp scrambled to hand over his new weapon.
Maude took it in hand—it was surprisingly heavy. Its structure was similar to a slingshot, but the most striking difference was—
While normal slingshots had a Y-shaped fork at the top, this one had five outstretched "fingers" at its head, forming a claw-like structure. Five rubber bands stretched between the fingers and connected to a pouch that appeared to be embedded with Dials from Skypiea.
And not just the pouch—even the staff itself was lined with small Dials, embedded in an orderly pattern along its shaft.
From the look of them, most were probably Jet Dials and Impact Dials.
The former, as the name implied, could unleash powerful gusts of wind and were typically used to power small ships or Wavers.
Maude had actually been considering outfitting the Thriller Bark with Jet Dials during its overhaul.
The latter—Impact Dials—were combat Dials capable of absorbing physical impacts and then releasing that force in a blast.
Strictly speaking, if the Impact Dials were of sufficient size, quantity, and absorption capacity, they might even be able to neutralize shockwave-based attacks like Hakoku Sovereignty.
Usopp had installed Impact Dials along the weapon's shaft—likely to give himself a way to fight back in close combat if an enemy got too near.
He really was running full speed down the path of becoming stronger.
Maude smiled knowingly and asked, curious, "What's this weapon called?"
"Black Kabuto!" Usopp blurted out excitedly.
"Black Kabuto, huh? Not bad. That's a solid name."
Maude examined the weapon a bit, then asked, "Mind if I give it a try?"
"Of course not!"
Usopp's eyes lit up with excitement.
There was nothing more rewarding for him than being recognized by Maude.
"Law, get me a stone about the right size."
Maude shifted Black Kabuto to his left hand and held out his right to Law, who stood a little ways off.
Law's mouth twitched slightly at the request, but he still obliged—activating his Room and teleporting over a rock roughly the size of a fist into Maude's open palm.
"Thanks."
Maude smiled at Law, then placed the stone into the pouch. There was a soft click, indicating that one of the Impact Dials had been primed for release.
"First... pull it back."
Gripping the staff with his left hand and the pouch with his right, Maude pulled the band back with the fluid grace of a seasoned archer.
"Next... coat it in Armament Haki."
With a mere thought—
Shhhkt—
A deep black sheen radiated from his fingertips, coiling around the stone like a dragon.
"And then—"
Maude locked onto a mountain peak to the left side of the island.
With precise aim, he released the pouch.
THWACK—!
A razor-sharp sonic boom tore through the air.
The stone, cloaked in dense Armament Haki, blasted forward like a comet, whistling violently as it ripped through the atmosphere.
Trailing behind it was a vortex of visible shockwaves—white rings expanding outward in its wake.
BOOM!
In the blink of an eye, the Haki-infused projectile smashed into the mountain.
A monstrous burst of force exploded from the point of impact.
In an instant—half the mountaintop disintegrated into a cascade of rubble, crashing down like a torrential storm of stone.
"AHHH!?"
Usopp—and Bartolomeo and the others—gaped in disbelief, their jaws practically hitting the floor.
"Wait, Black Kabuto is that powerful!?"
Everyone turned in awe toward Maude, who was casually admiring the weapon, still whistling at its power.
"No way... It's gotta be the user that's broken!"
Usopp groaned inwardly, overwhelmed.
Still, after watching Maude's demonstration—a hands-on lesson if there ever was one—Usopp felt something ignite in him again. A clear goal.
"One day... I'll reach that level too!"
Usopp clenched his fists, silently giving himself a pep talk.
To be able to meet his mentor right when he'd made the decision to switch weapons—was truly a stroke of fate.
Maude's return seemed to mark a new turning point for the Straw Hat Pirates.
Because when they finally step onto a battlefield even more merciless than the Summit War—a stage crafted by Maude himself—perhaps then, they'll no longer be powerless...
And they'll no longer be just background characters in someone else's story.
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