The first half of the Grand Line, Paradise.
On Amazon Lily, the Island of Women had now become an empty city.
Led by Sandersonia, Marigold, and Elder Nyon, the entire population of the Kingdom of Women had relocated to Fish-Man Island.
Waiting to move together with the Fish-men to Totto Land.
On an island named [Rusukaina Island] not far from Amazon Lily-
Boom-!
A wild boar the size of two elephants was sent flying by a rubber fist over ten meters long and wreathed in flames.
The giant boar flew like a bowling ball, smashing through countless trees along the way.
"Yosh!"
Luffy excitedly pumped his fist.
Rayleigh sat silently on a large rock nearby.
If it were before, he would have been quite satisfied with Luffy's current progress.
But now...
Every time he recalled the scene at Sabaody, where Jin stood atop that bull-headed octopus and released that strange energy armor, and then looked at Luffy now, he couldn't help but sigh repeatedly.
'Not good, the gap is too far.'
"Hmm?"
Noticing movement above, Rayleigh looked up into the sky.
A row of News Coos flew overhead.
Noticing Rayleigh waving below, one dropped a newspaper.
"Free again?"
A strong sense of foreboding surged in Rayleigh's heart.
Given Morgans' money-grubbing nature, free newspaper distribution only happened when events significant enough to affect the world's trajectory occurred.
Since the Great Pirate Era began, having one of these every six months was considered fast.
Often, it was only once every two or three years.
For a troublemaking crew like the Straw Hat Pirates, after traveling for over half a year, only the Enies Lobby incident and the Summit War incident had received such treatment.
However, Jin, a rookie who had only been active for three months, had already been featured twice.
The first time was at Sabaody Archipelago when he fought against the Red Hair Pirates and the Marines led personally by Garp.
The second time was a month ago, at Gran Tesoro, where he killed Aramaki and a Celestial Dragon.
"It couldn't be that kid again, could it..."
Rayleigh muttered as he opened the newspaper.
However, when he saw the headline, even Rayleigh, who had long been accustomed to major scenes, couldn't help but tremble.
Because the commotion caused this time might be even greater than the previous two.
The leader of the Revolutionary Army, Monkey D. Dragon, the man dubbed the [World's Worst Criminal] by the World Government…
Also considered by the world to be the only existence capable of directly defeating the World Government.
This was the highest honor not even given to the Four Emperors crews.
Yet, this very existence, whom the World Government feared greatly, was suspected to be dead!
That's right, being conservative, Morgans did not officially announce Dragon's death.
After all, he hadn't seen Dragon's corpse either.
But later in the report, Morgans provided highly substantial evidence-
Kurenai's wanted poster!
In the photo, a little girl of about six or seven years old floated in mid-air, raging winds blowing her slightly curled black hair straight up.
[Wind Girl] Yuhi Kurenai!
Bounty: 31,000,000 Berry!
So far, Kurenai, who followed Jin, hadn't shown much strength.
And Konan stole too much of the spotlight.
Neither she nor Rin had been wanted by the World Government after the two major incidents.
Their presence was too weak, after all.
But the Logia Type alone was enough to warrant a bounty over 30 million.
Morgans wrote in Kurenai's column:
"Very few people know that Wind Power was precisely Monkey D. Dragon's ability."
And the evidence didn't stop there.
On the second page, the portraits of Jin and Blackbeard were placed side by side.
With an even more explosive headline-
[[God of Destruction] Jin and [Blackbeard] Marshall D. Teach Suspected to Form a Pirate Alliance! Thousand Sunny and Saber of Xebec Are Heading Towards Totto Land!]
Good grief!
Countless spectators around the world exclaimed 'Good grief'!
First, it said the wind power Kurenai now used resembled Dragon's-
Then came the report of Jin and Blackbeard acting together.
In the two years since the Summit War ended, who hadn't heard of the Blackbeard Pirates' reputation as [Ability Hunters]?
String these events together, and the answer could only be one-
Dragon was killed by Jin! And his ability was transferred to Kurenai by Blackbeard using the power of Yami Yami no Mi!
...
"Rayleigh, does the newspaper have any news about my crewmates?"
At that moment, Luffy came over and asked.
Originally, he didn't care about news reports.
But now, with the Straw Hat Pirates' [3D2Y] reunion day approaching, Luffy was curious if any of his crewmates had already set out.
"N-no! It's just some insignificant gossip, haha..."
Rayleigh forced a smile uglier than crying.
He never expected that Dragon was killed.
This was something Rayleigh dared not tell Luffy.
Fortunately, Luffy himself was a careless person.
He completely failed to notice the strangeness in Rayleigh's tone.
After saying 'Oh,' he turned and went back into the forest to continue his special training.
But to be honest, it felt like even if Rayleigh had told him, Luffy wouldn't have reacted too strongly to his father's death.
In the original work, when he saw the report that the Revolutionary Army base had been wiped out by the Blackbeard Pirates and Dragon was missing, he had a confused look on his face and asked, "Who's that?"
He didn't even remember who his own father was.
If it's Sabo who died, only then he would show a reaction.
"First Shanks, then an Admiral, now Dragon... Is Big Mom next?"
Rayleigh gulped down a mouthful of saliva.
His voice trembled slightly.
Compared to Jin's troublemaking ability, forget Roger, even Rocks was just a little brother.
'Damn, has it even been half a year since his debut?'
'Every time he's in the news, he kills at least one world-class big shot!'
Rayleigh felt that if this continued, the Fleet Admiral and the Five Elders probably weren't far off.
'Why does it feel like everyone connected to Luffy will suffer...'
Rayleigh suddenly noticed a problem.
He felt Jin was very keen on targeting Luffy's 'relatives'.
'The first one he dealt with was Shanks, Luffy's guide.'
'Then he captured the Straw Hat Pirates' navigator, Nami.'
'Then he stole Hancock, who originally had her eyes on Luffy.'
'Now, he even killed Monkey D. Dragon, Luffy's father!'
'Is he really just targeting Luffy alone?'
If Jin were to heard Rayleigh's thoughts, he would just shrugged and said:
"Who told Luffy had so many opportunities attached to him?"
"So many benefits around the world were taken by him alone."
"Shouldn't I take a bit more?"
...
"Hahahaha!"
Meanwhile, in Pangaea Castle, Holy Land Mary Geoise.
In the office of the Five Elders, continuous, hearty laughter sounded.
Clearly, the Five Elders were in a good mood.
They never expected that Dragon, who had given them headaches for over twenty years, would be killed by Jin.
For the World Government, this was undoubtedly a windfall.
"Hahaha! Good thing we weren't in a hurry to move against this kid. Who would have thought he'd deliver such a huge surprise to us?"
Shepherd Ju Peter, the [Warrior God of Agriculture] among the Five Elders, the only one with blond hair, laughed heartily.
Jin had long wanted to complain that the Five Elders' titles like [Warrior God of XX] were incredibly lame.
"Garp must be furious, right? Over the years, he's secretly colluded with his son quite a bit. It was only because of his [Hero of the Marine] title that we hesitated to act against him. But to think... Haha!"
Topman Warcury, the [Warrior God of Justice], looked gleeful.
Marcus Mars, the [Warrior God of Environment], added:
"According to intelligence from CP, the leader's position has been taken over by Chief of Staff, Sabo. Although he may not reach Monkey D. Dragon's level, we cannot relax. After all, the Revolutionary Army's influence is not something disorganized pirates can compare to."
Jaygarcia Saturn, the [Warrior God of Science and Defense], nodded in agreement, squinting his eyes:
"Quite right. However, this Uchiha Jin is suspected to form a pirate alliance with Blackbeard and heading towards Big Mom's territory, Totto Land. How do you think we should respond to this matter?"
"They're all scum pirates anyway. Letting them fight like dogs isn't a bad thing, is it?"
Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro, the [Warrior God of Finance], holding a large tachi, frowned.
"Not necessarily. If Big Mom dies, her ability will definitely fall into Jin or Blackbeard's hands. This would reshuffle the structure of the Four Emperors."
Ju Peter said solemnly:
"I'm worried the situation might spiral further out of control."
Of course, the death of that madwoman Big Mom would be beneficial and harmless to the World Government.
But they also feared Jin and Blackbeard growing too powerful.
One was the craziest rookie in history who killed anyone who opposed him.
The other was the ultimate schemer who orchestrated the Summit War two years ago, playing both the Marines and the Whitebeard Pirates.
Neither was easy to deal with.
"Beat the drowning dog! Wipe out the Revolutionary Army first!"
Mars decided decisively:
"Now is when they are weakest. If not now, then when?"
This proposal received nods of approval from the other four.
Indeed.
Whether it's Jin, Blackbeard, or Big Mom, they are currently at their peak.
Taking action against them carries significant risk.
But the Revolutionary Army is different.
Dragon just died, and Sabo just took over.
They are in a vulnerable period of transition, which is the perfect time to remove this thorn in the World Government's side that has been there for twenty years!
"F-five esteemed sirs, terrible news!"
At that moment, an agent rushed into the Five Elders' office, shouting as if his mother had died.
"Silence! What is this behavior? How dare you barge into our room! Do you want to be thrown into Impel Down?"
Warcury scolded.
"V-very sorry, but... but it's truly a matter of great importance..."
The agent stammered, taking several deep breaths before reporting, sweating profusely:
"Aokiji... no, Kuzan... has joined the Revolutionary Army!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the Five Elders jumped up from their chairs in shock.
…
"Aokiji joined, huh? Good, good. It seems your persuasion skills are quite good, Koala."
On the Sunny, Jin sat on the sofa, legs crossed on the table in front of him.
His left hand pressed against Hancock's slender waist, his right arm draped over Nami's delicate shoulder.
He pressed the speakerphone button on the Den Den Mushi, talking to Koala.
Hancock glared displeasedly at Nami.
'Damn vixen.'
'Ruining my alone time with Jin-chan.'
Nami, on the other hand, looked extremely awkward.
Because Robin was sitting on the other side.
The Den Den Mushi on the coffee table imitated Koala's expression and said:
"Kuzan-san was surprisingly easy to talk to. But Jinbei-san is currently a member of the Big Mom Pirates, so we can't invite him..."
"Don't worry. In as little as two weeks, or at most a month, the Big Mom Pirates will disappear from this world. You can then come to Totto Land to pick up Jinbei."
Jin laughed.
Silence fell on the other end of the line for a moment. After a while, the question came:
"Why... why are you helping us so much? You know, because of Dragon-san's passing, many people within the Revolutionary Army now want to kill you to avenge him..."
"Didn't I say? My position aligns with the Revolutionary Army's. We both dislike the World Government, don't we?"
Jin said with a laugh:
"And I really like you too, Koala. Why don't you dump that kid Sabo and be with me? We'd be close relatives, and we could wipe out the Celestial Dragons and the World Government with a laugh."
"Wh-what nonsense are you talking about?! Sabo and I aren't in that kind of relationship! And don't you dream! Also, don't call again! You dead scumbag!"
The Den Den Mushi imitated Koala's angry and embarrassed expression, then closed its eyes and fell asleep.
Clearly, Koala on the other end had hung up.