Five days after the world was shaken by the Dressrosa incident,
another explosive piece of news dropped: the World Government had extended an invitation, and Demon Ren had agreed at lightning speed to become one of the Warlords of the Sea.
"Hey, hey… it's that Demon again?!"
Inside a tavern, a half-drunk resident saw the familiar name "Ren" in the newspaper headline and sobered up on the spot from sheer fright.
But when he noticed the words "Warlord of the Sea" sandwiched in the middle, disbelief replaced the fear.
"No way… Aren't guys like that supposed to be wild and untamable? How could he submit to the World Government…?"
A neighboring drinker also cried out in shock, though for a different reason.
"This guy… he's only nineteen?!"
The two voices instantly set off a storm of chatter throughout the tavern.
"The only people who could compare to this monster would be the Yonko back when they were young, right?"
"You're overthinking it. Even the Yonko didn't have fame like his when they were young."
An older, more experienced drinker corrected them. "That guy called Ren might end up becoming a serious challenger to the Four Emperors."
"That's terrifying. When I was nineteen, I was still fooling around in women's beds…"
"You were doing fine. When I was nineteen, I was repairing houses for other people."
The drinkers talked over one another, but some quickly caught the most important point.
One of them slapped his thigh and shouted excitedly, "Isn't this a good thing?! A monster like him became one of the Warlords!"
"Yeah! What are we even worried about? The Demon Pirates never seem to bother attacking civilians anyway."
"…Really? Aren't they pirates?"
"Read it yourself. This is a report from a World Economic Journal journalist!"
"Huh… it really is."
The tense atmosphere in the tavern abruptly shifted into one of ease and cheer.
For ordinary people at the bottom of the world, a terrifying disaster turning into a Warlord of the Sea was, in fact, a good thing.
If nothing else, Warlords usually took action against pirates when they encountered them.
Their positions were naturally opposed.
And the appearance of this report brought more than just joy and celebration to the common folk.
It also placed even greater pressure on pirates everywhere.
"If a Warlord runs into that guy, we're dead, right?"
"…Definitely dead. That's a monster who fought Kaido and walked away in one piece."
A pirate muttered those words, his gaze fixed on the paper with naked fear.
This was the New World. The pirates living here had seen enough of the world to understand just how terrifying the emperors standing at the summit of piracy truly were.
And because they were pirates themselves, they knew the Beasts Pirates were searching for the whereabouts of the Demon Pirates.
Not in the furious way some reckless upstarts used a famous name as a stepping stone,
but with real caution and seriousness—the attitude one reserved for a true enemy.
That alone proved that the World Economic Journal's report was not fabricated. Everything was real.
"He's only nineteen… how is that even possible…"
The pirates simply could not comprehend just how freakishly gifted this man named Ren had to be.
To achieve all of this at such an age, and wield such unbelievable power, was almost impossible to imagine.
But whether they could accept it or not, Ren becoming a Warlord of the Sea was now a fact they could not change.
"How about… we just become civilians? Wash our hands of this and quit?"
Suddenly, one pirate voiced that suggestion.
The pirates present looked at one another, but no one answered.
This was the New World, paradise for scum and sin alike.
Yet no one stood up to loudly denounce the idea either. The moment they thought about possibly running into Ren, fear rose uncontrollably from the bottom of their hearts.
This was a man who had been targeting pirates all along.
Someone like Doflamingo wasn't too bad as long as you stayed away from his territory.
You might even have a chance to join him.
But this one… this one seemed to genuinely dislike pirates.
Still, no matter what anyone thought, one fact could not be changed: with his appointment as a Warlord of the Sea, Ren had already gained worldwide fame.
In the New World, however, the territories of the Four Emperors remained outwardly quiet.
Kaido merely glanced at the news and said, "Looks like I'll have to beat him half to death first if I want a chance."
BIG MOM ordered Perospero to speed things up.
Red-Haired Shanks had just recalled his messenger.
That unlucky fellow had delivered a letter to Whitebeard.
Whitebeard had not even read it. He tore it up on the spot, saying he already knew what it was about.
The newly joined youngster had very much wanted to make a move—
if the one on the other side had not been Whitebeard, one of the Four Emperors.
On the surface, the world was in turmoil because of Ren.
But the true undercurrents were still surging beneath the sea, about to form a wave that would change the world itself.
"Achoo—! Who's talking about me behind my back?"
Ren sneezed, frowned, and shut the window, blocking out the fierce gale blowing in from ten thousand meters up in the sky.
At that moment, he had already returned to the base in the sky.
Not Angel Island or Upper Yard in the land of Skypiea, but Punk Hazard.
After the Judgment had been completed, Ren's side had finished its transaction with Gan Fall.
The people of Angel Island no longer owed Ren and his group anything.
Still, considering their previous relationship—and a variety of manpower-related issues—
under Robin's direction, they had maintained a certain bridge of contact with Gan Fall's group.
For example, Angel Island's people could be hired with soil as payment.
After all, moving an entire island up into the sky was not impossible for Ren.
Kuma was still busy handling what he considered necessary cleanup and needed a little more time.
After that, there was no doubt he would become one of Ren's crew.
It was precisely because of that that Ren had established a temporary base on the outskirts of Punk Hazard.
The reason it was not the main base was simple: Sky Islands were too far from the sea. Doing anything meant constantly going up and down, which was incredibly inconvenient.
So his true main base was going to be established in the Blue Sea.
As a side note, Caesar, completely immersed in his work, had finally succeeded in re-cultivating the artificial Devil Fruit tree.
He had even managed to produce a fruit-bearing tree ahead of schedule and handed it over to Ren so he could use it to report to the people above him.
Yeah.
He was really dedicated to his work.
Though, of course, there was no one above Ren.
After handling matters on Caesar's end, the World Government came knocking.
Ren had deliberately left a few "traces" in the Blue Sea, and the CP agents had followed the scent right to him.
As for the matter of becoming a Warlord of the Sea,
though Ren agreed, he bluntly pointed out the possibility of the Marines stabbing him in the back.
Thinking about it carefully, the Seraphim in the original story had been cloned using the then-current Warlords of the Sea.
But how exactly those Warlords agreed to be researched and cloned… that was something worth thinking deeply about.
Setting everything else aside, would Mihawk really allow himself to be cloned?
Would Hancock, with her overwhelming pride and self-obsession, allow a child version of herself to exist?
There was much to investigate there, but Ren had no interest in doing so, nor did he intend to create unnecessary risks for himself.
So the appointment process for his Warlord position was simplified. The so-called formalities from the Marines and the World Government were merely for show.
In exchange, Ren promised he would hand the Marines the head of a heavyweight pirate.
That's right—
Edward Weevil.
Once again, he had pulled off his one fish, two meals trick.
The Marines simply did not know about that little "surprise" yet.
At the same time,
Tesoro had also begun to move. Even in defeat, he had not gone back on his word.
He secretly contacted Ren once, and after seeing a glimmer of hope in him, decided to take a risk and place a bet.
That said, Tesoro had not offered up everything.
What Ren's camp possessed had not yet reached the point where Tesoro believed victory was guaranteed.
Under the condition that the World Government would not notice anything unusual, he needed to provide support little by little.
His first investment—or donation—was ten billion Beli.
It was not an enormous sum, but the key was that more support would keep coming afterward.
Most importantly, Tesoro had also agreed to Ren's request and would use his own resources to help the Revolutionary Army develop.
For Ren, a massive flood of money arriving all at once would not actually mean much in the short term. He needed time to digest it gradually.
Reality was not a game. Many things had to be mastered with his own hands.
Of course, when it came to talent and resistance, he had every intention of pushing that path to the very end.
Spending money?
Ren, with Tesoro backing him, had money to burn.
Because Tesoro had promised to send over another thirty billion Beli as soon as possible.
It could be said that this was one of the greatest gains to come out of the Dressrosa incident.
Aside from that, different developments were happening on other fronts as well.
Not long after Ren returned to the Sky Island, Karasu came to visit again.
Previously, because Ren had asked for help locating Issho, he had handed over a Chester before setting out, and Karasu had returned to report back to the Revolutionary Army.
But it seemed they had not immediately put it into use. Instead, they had studied it first.
That ordinary Chester's first mission was to bring ten billion in cash to Ren at Tesoro's request.
And so Karasu appeared once more, this time also bringing an unknown Devil Fruit.
Its strength and use were both unknown.
The kind of blind-box prize that depended entirely on luck.
Considering that Ren's side had now recruited a major financial backer in Tesoro, Dragon decided to respond in kind and traded over that Devil Fruit, though he did take away one Chester.
Still, it was hard to say whether the value of a Chester could really be considered equal to a Devil Fruit.
In any case, the Revolutionary Army felt that although they had paid with a Devil Fruit, Chester's unique usefulness meant they had come out ahead.
As for Ren, he had profited cleanly and completely.
Just based on cost alone, he had won again and again.
Trading one million Beli for one hundred million—he'd be crazy not to call that a profit.
Still, he mostly viewed that Devil Fruit as a consumable, something he could offer to the Mazu Golden Idol for a wish.
Once the next thirty billion arrived, he was planning to go big with a massive draw.
Of course, that did not mean Ren had no intention of drawing right now. With ten billion already in hand, he still intended to make a few pulls.
At this moment, he opened the Dimensional Roulette and began considering what direction this round of draws should take.
First, after fighting through Dressrosa, clashing head-on with Kaido, and then escaping from a lineup of a Yonko, an Admiral, and Issho—his current fortune had to be incredibly strong. It could be said that whatever he wanted, he could get.
Naturally, he could not just draw randomly. Fortune, too, could be depleted.
Second, draws had to be based on his current needs.
And what Ren currently needed was to make use of the one fish, two meals strategy again—kill Edward Weevil first, and ensure that Cavendish and Urouge successfully took their places.
But one thing had to be kept in mind: Edward Weevil was not some random side character.
Or rather, by the later stages, even side characters were far from weak.
A man capable of severing one of Zephyr's arms at the very least possessed enough strength to roam freely beneath the level of the Four Emperors and Admirals.