"This one does not mind hearing you out."
Hancock pricked up her ears.
An enemy of her enemy should be someone she could cooperate with, right?
In that case, perhaps—
"It's the World Government, and the Celestial Dragon system they lead."
Ren killed the budding thought in Hancock's mind cleanly and decisively.
"You were thinking about something along the lines of betrayal just now, weren't you? If you think you can work with the Celestial Dragons, I'd actually like to see what you look like when you stab me in the back."
"…"
Hancock clenched her fair fists, her beautiful eyes widening in fury.
"This one would never cooperate with the Celestial Dragons!"
After that surge of emotion passed, she immediately realized something.
"You were deceiving me?"
"It's the truth."
"You, a Warlord of the Sea, are actually saying you want to become enemies with the World Government? Are you joking?"
Hancock's elegant brows knitted together. She believed he was lying to her.
"The title of Warlord is only an 'identity' necessary for playing chess. Once the pieces are arranged, that identity loses its usefulness."
Ren shook his head and walked out of the treasury.
"If you want to understand, you'll have a chance to see it for yourself in a couple of days.
"But before that, change out of those ugly clothes. Since when did the proud Empress start liking old women's attire?
"Don't you believe even jewels are unworthy of your beauty?"
"Hah."
Hancock sneered, unwilling to pay him any attention.
If not for this man, why would she ever wear clothes she would never even have looked at in the past?
Besides, being able to see a different side of her should already make this man deeply grateful—
"Change. That's an order."
"…"
"Your answer?"
"Hmph!"
Although Ren was not sure whether a "hmph" could count as a substitute for "yes."
At the very least, not long after leaving the treasury, Hancock was made to change her clothes.
Yes.
Granny Nyon had come over herself to persuade her after hearing about it.
The warriors of Kuja would not question their emperor. At least for now, the emperor's authority still remained.
They also had no idea how those matters were supposed to be handled. After all, they were a group that lacked understanding of men.
At most, they merely distinguished Ren from the men of the outside sea.
But Granny Nyon was different. She knew the past of the Hancock sisters, and she understood exactly how terrifying Ren truly was.
As the person on Kuja Island who understood the outside world best, she had done a great deal of psychological work on Hancock during this period.
For example, telling her that there was nothing wrong with selling a little charm, that she should try seeing whether she could exchange her beauty for something in return, and that if all else failed, even offering herself up was worth it if it preserved the country.
This caused the conflict between Hancock and Granny Nyon to grow even greater.
But no matter what, someone of Granny Nyon's special background and position ultimately served as the lubricant between Ren and Hancock.
Otherwise, no one knew whether some future mishap might cause Kuja Island to vanish on the spot.
At the very least, many Kuja warriors were worried about exactly that.
If their emperor could not lead them to victory, then at the very least, she could not cause the nation's destruction, right?
Otherwise, what was the point of being emperor?
In the end, Hancock changed into a white coat with golden epaulets on both shoulders.
Then she put on her usual dark-red outfit.
Its style resembled the tight dance dress of an ethnic minority. The neckline of the upper garment opened all the way down toward her abdomen, while the northern and southern hemispheres were each concealed beneath white fur trim.
The cuffs were like wings spreading in flight, embroidered with feather-like patterns.
The hem was so short that it stopped at her abdomen, revealing her small and adorable navel.
It was roughly like this.
Ren gave her a thumbs-up in response, indicating that it was indeed very beautiful.
He did not hide the wavering caused by beauty, but repeated experiences had also told Hancock that this was not someone who could be made to achieve every goal through beauty alone.
At the very least—
Whenever Hancock developed such thoughts, her forehead and the back of her head would begin to ache faintly.
Left, right, left, right—he had beaten a psychological shadow into her. The damage itself had not been great, but the humiliation was extremely strong!
The greatest proof was that after Ren raised his thumb and expressed his admiration, he went to the mountaintop of Kuja Island.
The outside of the mountain had been carved by the Kuja into several snake heads.
Above the largest snake head was the placement site Ren had selected.
He set the Glory Sanctuary there. The palm-sized cube sank into the ground the moment it landed.
What followed was a faint tremor through the island.
Ren expanded his Premonition Perception to explore for a bit and roughly confirmed that the cube had already entered a very deep place underground.
It seemed to be absorbing geothermal energy and using the minerals within the earth to build its most basic framework.
From this step onward, the entirety of Kuja Island had become the landing site of the Glory Sanctuary.
If someone wanted to destroy this thing, they would probably have to destroy the entire island along with it.
"Interesting."
Ren gave his evaluation, then returned to the palace of Kuja.
The three goals of this operation had already been completed. Next was waiting.
Mm.
Considering Hancock's prickly attitude, Ren felt it was necessary to free up some time to discipline her.
But before that, he needed to obtain something that could mark faction affiliation.
And at that moment, the new Warlords of the Sea were announced as well.
Warlord of the Sea—White Horse Cavendish!
Warlord of the Sea—Mad Monk Urouge!
The consecutive emergence of two new Warlords of the Sea stirred up an enormous uproar across the world.
However, compared with the commotion when Ren became a Warlord, the waves caused by Cavendish and Urouge were much smaller.
After all, they had merely killed Gecko Moria, as well as a large number of pirates.
That could not compare at all to Ren directly clashing with Kaido head-on.
Even so, it was still a battle achievement of defeating a Warlord of the Sea. Even if they had joined forces, no one could deny the strength of the two men.
At least in the eyes of the outside world, this was very normal. It was the World Government's effort.
They had eliminated two pirate threats and transformed them into Warlords beneficial to the public.
Although, of course, the current reputation of the Warlords among the various Member Nations was not exactly good.
Behind the scenes—
It could only be said that the two men's selection was as full of shady dealings as a certain competition.
Ren himself could not possibly appear personally, nor could he use the channels in his hands to help the two become Warlords of the Sea.
On the Marines' side, they would only give up out of wariness. Forming factions was not in line with the interests of either the Marines or the World Government.
To ensure success, Ren first mobilized his own network of connections.
Then he activated the wishing machine, which had repeatedly proven effective.
Aside from devouring money far too fiercely, this thing could be called a true divine artifact. It could silently manipulate the direction of events.
The price was that all the Beli obtained from Kuja's treasury was consumed, and the chip balance on his account returned to zero once again.
Ren, having returned to poverty, became much more concerned about the financial support on Tesoro's side.
His one call per day turned into two calls per day.
Even Nami and Nojiko did not speak to him that often in their daily calls!
Next was Tesoro's move.
He controlled twenty percent of the world's Beli, as well as a vast number of industries. His network of relationships spread all across the world.
No matter what he himself thought, he inevitably possessed an extremely powerful influence over the outside world.
The World Government in particular was even more easily swayed by vast amounts of Beli.
Tesoro disguised his surface intentions very well.
He presented himself as an investor who hoped to gain the friendship of the Warlords of the Sea to do certain things.
Finally, there was Stussy!
This was a direction that exceeded expectations. As a CP agent, Stussy's rank was extremely high.
With the resources from Tesoro's side and the radio-wave technology of the Angel of Glory, she managed to influence the thoughts of decision-makers from the side.
Or rather, she made subtle alterations to the content of the channels through which they obtained information.
If explained in detail, it would be extremely complicated, practically reaching the level of an intelligence war.
Ren handed all of these matters over to Robin to handle. In the end, he only read an extremely concise report.
Mm.
This secretary truly did save him worry and effort.
While he waited, the wheels of the plot came rolling onward. The incident at the Sabaody Archipelago still occurred.
The difference lay in many subtle details.
Because the Straw Hat Pirates lacked a reliable navigator, they spent a great deal of time before finally leaving the East Blue, and they suffered greatly under the terrifying weather of the Grand Line.
Because their route frequently deviated, they encountered all sorts of things.
Although this caused their fame to soar, if not for the fact that their captain, Straw Hat Luffy, was an astonishingly powerful monster, this pirate crew would likely have already sunk to the bottom of the sea.
For example, their battle with Bege had caused the Straw Hat Pirates to suffer greatly.
Of course, after defeating Capone Bege, Luffy naturally became a Supernova.
At the same time, pirates from the other five routes also became Supernovas.
Among those five routes were Hawkins, Apoo, Law, Drake, and Kid and Killer from another route.
Gathered at the Sabaody Archipelago were seven Supernovas.
The World Economic News wrote extensively about this and began to create the term "Worst Generation."
Interestingly, Ren, Cavendish, and Urouge, who had recently become Warlords of the Sea, were also mentioned.
After all, the three great powers publicly recognized by the world were the Marines, the Four Emperors, and the Warlords of the Sea!
[The newly born Warlords of the Sea and the newly born Worst Generation—which side will take the lead first?]
"Boring news. Once I reach the New World, I'll just take care of that Ren."
Kid tossed the newspaper to one of his subordinates and looked toward the auction house ahead.
"Now, item number fourteen. This time's product is a human woman. It goes without saying that she can do housework, and from poker to chess, she is skilled in every kind of game. Perfect for passing the time—"
The auction host was still shouting with all his might, while the men and women below the stage bid frantically.
"The evil of humans truly has no end. But…"
Kid glanced toward a corner.
"That big guy over there is the one who really makes people unable to ignore him."
In the direction of his gaze was an enormous man with both hands folded against each other, his entire body radiating an oppressive presence.
"Just from sensing him, I can tell he's insanely strong… but his hostility isn't directed at us."
Killer also glanced over.
The one they had noticed was a man whose outfit was mainly black and white, with a target at the center of his shirt.
"Do you think he'll make a move?"
"There are plenty of people with a sense of justice in this world, but not everyone has the courage to act.
"But if he does make a move, this place is going to fall into chaos, right?"
Kid sneered.
Then he heard the main doors being pushed open. Turning his head, he saw that it was the Straw Hat crew, fellow Supernovas.
And every single member was present.
(End of Chapter)