Shar Pei-Class Warship
"Mr. Garp! The leader of Fairy Tail is approaching aboard a pirate ship!"
Adjutant Bogard's voice broke the sea's calm.
"I'd like to see what kind of stunt that kid plans to pull this time!"
Garp grunted and stood up, his familiar grin returning.
Moments later, Sugisawa Yuuto steered a captured pirate ship between two Marine warships.
The sailors' jaws dropped at the sight before them—mountains of bound pirates stacked like piles of human cargo on deck.
"The Big Mom Pirates' Charlotte Daifuku… the Beasts Pirates' Jack the Drought… Captain of the Minion Pirates…"
The usually calm Ensign Peacock trembled as she read the names of the infamous pirates one by one.
"Are all of these bounty criminals?" Hina asked in disbelief.
"That's right," Sugisawa Yuuto replied casually. "A total of 897 bounty targets. The combined value? Roughly ten billion berries—give or take a little."
Hissss—!
The Marines gasped audibly. Even seasoned sea veterans felt their scalps go numb.
A bounty haul worth ten billion berries…?!
Even Garp, who had spent a lifetime chasing down the most fearsome pirates on the Grand Line, had never seen such a sight.
"President Sugisawa Yuuto… you are—"
Vice Admiral Gion's voice faltered as she stared blankly at him.
"I deliberately fished these bounty criminals out of the sea," Yuuto said with a faint smile. "Of course, I expect the Marines to exchange their bounties accordingly. Do you think I did all this out of charity? Or is your bounty exchange system fake?"
Gion quickly waved her hands. "Of course it's not fake—but… we don't exactly have ten billion ready to hand over right now."
Yuuto shrugged. "That's fine. Monks can't run away from temples, right? I'll give you half a month to prepare the funds. If I don't receive payment after that, don't blame me for visiting your Naval Headquarters personally."
He spoke lightly, as if discussing the weather.
With that, Sugisawa Yuuto left one of the captured pirates behind as proof, turned his ship around, and sailed off.
The Marines exchanged uneasy looks.
"What… what should we do?"
"It's our own bounty system. We can't exactly refuse to pay!"
Even Garp scratched his head, looking torn.
"Ten billion berries, huh? Tch… just think how many boxes of senbei I could buy with that…"
And so, Fairy Tail set sail once more.
The Hundred Regiments Alliance incident had finally come to an end.
The sea fell silent again…
But the calm was only temporary.
The storm that would shake the entire world had only just begun.
Dressrosa – Underground Trading Port
On this critical day, the leaders of the dark underworld were gathered in a long-distance video conference.
As the intermediary of the underground world, Donquixote Doflamingo was, of course, fully online—after all, he'd personally invested in the recent scheme.
For the past two hours, the heads of the major criminal empires had been fiercely debating how to divide the spoils. None were willing to back down.
And still, they had reached no agreement.
"Enough arguing," said the Loan Shark King Lu Field. "We'll divide the profits once everything's secured. By now, the first stage of the operation should be nearly complete."
Just then—
Chi-chi!
One of the darkened screens suddenly flickered to life. The image of a man with a bird's head appeared.
"Morgans!"
"Bastard! Morgans, how did you get into this call?!"
"You were expelled from the Underworld long ago! You dare show your face here?!"
"You really have a death wish!"
The crime lords shouted, their tones full of menace.
"Wahahaha! You're the ones who should be worrying about death!" Morgans laughed, his wings flaring with excitement.
"Hmph, the backer you're relying on—the so-called Fairy Tail Guild of the Five Emperors—must be on the verge of collapse by now. What's so funny?" sneered Umit, the Shipping King.
"Wahahaha! Collapse? You still don't know? The entire Hundred Pirates Alliance has been wiped out by Fairy Tail!"
"What?!"
"Nani?!"
"Impossible!!!"
"Don't be ridiculous, Morgans! It must be Fairy Tail that was destroyed by the Alliance!"
The underworld leaders roared in disbelief.
At that very moment, Doflamingo's transponder snail rang.
"Young master! Dover! Something terrible's happened! The first half of the Grand Line—there's been a disaster!" cried Torrebol, one of his top executives.
Almost simultaneously, other underworld leaders began receiving similar reports from their own networks.
"Nani?!"
"This can't be true!"
"All that careful planning—ruined?!"
"Morgans, you're making this up!"
"Try contacting the Alliance again!"
"No signal?! Keep trying!"
Panic filled the room. None of them wanted to believe it—none could accept the truth.
"I told you," Morgans sneered, "you never even understood who you were dealing with. Oh—and by the way, President Sugisawa Yuuto asked me to give you a message: Fairy Tail will be coming to the New World soon… to clean house."
"You traitor!"
"You sold us out, Morgans!"
"How could you?!"
Their enraged voices overlapped, but Morgans only laughed louder.
"If you wanted to keep secrets, maybe you shouldn't have been so arrogant. And as for you, Joker—Doflamingo—looks like even you finally kicked an iron plate! Wahahaha—!"
BOOM!
Doflamingo fired a string bullet through the screen, blowing it apart.
"Torrebol… what's our next move? If Fairy Tail's set their sights on us—" Torrebol's voice trembled. His usual arrogance was gone, replaced by real fear.
After this event, no one could dismiss Fairy Tail as a "pseudo-emperor guild."
"Don't panic," Doflamingo said coldly. "Even if Fairy Tail is strong, behind me stands one of the true Four Emperors—Kaido, the strongest creature alive."
Wano Country – Beasts Pirates' Base
"Nani?! The Fairy Tail Guild wiped out the entire Hundred Pirates Alliance?!"
"Impossible! How could they have done that?!"
"Where's Lord Jack? What about Lord Runti?"
"They can't be dead! Jack's a top All-Star!"
Panic rippled through Kaido's forces.
"Sister… could it be… Kaido-sama…" Peggy Wan turned toward the massive figure before him.
Oooooooooooh!
The drunken roar of Kaido of the Beasts echoed through the base.
"Jack lost because he was too weak! But weak or not, he's still my subordinate… and I'll remember this grudge!"
Totto Land – Cake Island
"Brother Snack!"
"Brother Daifuku!"
"My brothers and sisters!"
The ministers and children of Big Mom's crew shouted in rage and disbelief.
"Maybe Brother Snack alone couldn't defeat Fairy Tail, but this time… Fairy Tail faced the entire Hundred Regiments Alliance!"
"How could they possibly have won?!"
The room filled with furious voices—until a thunderous command silenced them.
"Quiet. All of you."
The massive hall fell silent instantly.
The one who had spoken was Charlotte Katakuri, Big Mom's most respected son and second-in-command.
"Mondor," Katakuri said calmly, "tell us what you've found."
"Yes, Brother Katakuri," said Charlotte Mondor, trembling as he stepped forward.
He took a deep breath. "According to our intelligence network, the truth about the Enies Lobby incident… Morgans reported that Sugisawa Yuuto fought Admiral Aokiji evenly. But that was false. In reality… he destroyed Admiral Aokiji within minutes."
The hall went dead silent.
Even the senior ministers of the Big Mom Pirates stood frozen, unable to speak.
"My brothers were defeated, my sister Brûlée's fate is unknown," Katakuri said quietly. "Of course I'm furious—but Fairy Tail is beyond anything we can handle."
He paused.
"President Sugisawa Yuuto, the Fairy Queen Erza, and the demon Mirajane—those three alone surpass any of the existing Emperor crews in overall power."
Holy Land – Mariejois, Pangaea Castle
Inside the hall of the Five Elders, tension hung thick.
"Damn it! My bad feeling was right after all!" snarled Jaygorusia Saturn.
"It's not that they were overthrown," said the white-bearded Elder calmly, "it's that they planned the whole thing. They set up the Hundred Regiments Alliance from the start."
"The demon Mirajane killed a senior Four Emperor officer in one strike," the blond Elder said gravely. "We've never seen anyone of that level hiding in their ranks before."
"First Sugisawa Yuuto and Erza, now Mirajane too," said the swordsman Elder, frowning. "How could such a terrifying guild exist without our knowledge?"
"They appeared out of thin air," muttered the bald, scarred Elder. "And the powers they wield… multiple types—completely unnatural. Heretics, all of them. It may be time to seek Lord Im's judgment."
Marineford – Naval Headquarters
"Mirajane… truly a demon. No one should underestimate Fairy Tail," sighed Fleet Admiral Sengoku, rubbing his temples.
"By our count," said Vice Admiral Tsuru, "Fairy Tail now possesses two confirmed Admiral-level fighters besides their president—two generals and one emperor. That's more than even the Red Hair Pirates."
"Not just two generals," Tsuru added. "Mirajane guards their guild. Erza commands the external missions. And don't forget—there's another captain."
"You mean this child?" Sengoku pointed at a photograph of Wendy on his desk.
"You said it yourself—never underestimate anyone from Fairy Tail," Tsuru replied. "If Sugisawa Yuuto made her a captain, she must be extraordinary. Perhaps she's the trickiest one of all."
"Heh… I get your point," Sengoku muttered with a strained smile.
Fairy Tail wasn't a guild of one emperor and two generals.
It was two emperors and two generals.
Just then, a green-haired officer rushed in.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku! Urgent news from Vice Admiral Gion! Vice Admiral Garp just had a clash with Fairy Tail's president!"
"What?!" Sengoku shot to his feet.
"What was the result?" Tsuru asked sharply.
"According to Gion's report, nothing irreversible happened," the officer said quickly, recounting the details.
When he finished, Sengoku let out a long sigh of relief—then glared daggers at the officer.
"You nearly gave me a heart attack…"
"Sengoku," Tsuru said gently, "what about the ten billion berries Gion mentioned?"
Sengoku paused, then spoke decisively.
"Pay it. Fairy Tail earned every last berry."