Two days later, on the open sea, a news bird swooped down from the sky. Nelson tossed it a few Berries and received the latest issue of the newspaper, along with a thick stack of wanted posters.
His eyes lit up immediately. "Boss Teach! We've got bounties!"
His excited shout echoed across the entire ship. The crew stopped their training and duties, curiosity sparking as Nelson rushed to hand out the posters.
They were all Nightfall Pirates bounties. "Captain of the Nightfall Pirates, Magic Claw Marshall D. Teach - 99,000,000 Berries."
"Officer of the Nightfall Pirates, Mink Tribe, Hunter Gar - 67,000,000 Berries."
"Officer of the Nightfall Pirates, Cat Woman Pito - 58,000,000 Berries. Zoan-type Cat-Cat Fruit user."
"Officer of the Nightfall Pirates, Steel Wallace - 63,000,000 Berries. Paramecia-type Steel-Steel Fruit user."
"Officer of the Nightfall Pirates, Transfer Nelson - 51,000,000 Berries. Suspected Teleportation-type Devil Fruit user."
"Officer of the Nightfall Pirates, White-Haired Devil Kaguya - 18,000,000 Berries."
"Officer of the Nightfall Pirates, Gunner Instant Roar Van Augur - 59,000,000 Berries."
"Officer of the Nightfall Pirates, Lucky Girl Baccarat - 23,000,000 Berries."
The rest of the crew had smaller bounties, ranging from hundreds of thousands to several million. For most of them, this was their first time being wanted and they couldn't contain their excitement.
The officers, on the other hand, had seen wanted posters before, yet even they were impressed by how much the numbers had grown.
When totaled, the Nightfall Pirates' combined bounty surpassed 400 million Berries, with Teach alone taking nearly a quarter of it. In the East Blue, such numbers were unheard of.
Teach smirked as he examined the posters. "Not bad… the Marines' intel is sharper than I thought. But they still don't know everything."
If the Navy had dug deeper, if they'd connected him to Whitebeard's crew, his bounty would've skyrocketed. But most Marine intelligence assets were focused on the New World, and the East Blue wasn't a high priority.
If they knew what I really was, Teach mused, they'd be sending Admirals already.
In Marine terms, a 100 million bounty was the dividing line, the mark of a pirate recognized as a legitimate threat.
Still, the Navy was busy chasing a ghost: the unborn son of Gol D. Roger. Marines and Cipher Pol agents were combing through the South Blue, obsessed with finding Roger's "heir."
All that effort for a child not yet born. Teach found it both amusing and disgusting.
"Not even a hundred million, huh?" Teach chuckled darkly, tossing the poster aside. "Guess I'll have to make them raise it myself."
The photo on his poster showed him seated on a mound of corpses, shadows curling around him, a chilling yet strangely regal image.
He poured himself a glass of wine and leaned back. He wasn't angry, just calculating.
He couldn't reveal his full strength too soon. But staying idle meant stagnation. Battles were the whetstone that honed his Haki and his crew's power.
He needed the Marines as much as he despised them.
The Lucky Goddess creaked softly beneath his feet, a grand double-decked ship with two levels below deck. It could hold 250 men at full capacity, though Teach preferred 200 for comfort and efficiency.
They had cooks, a doctor, and craftsmen among them, all ordinary humans, but loyal.
Across the East Blue, invisible currents stirred. Marine spies and bounty hunters watched the Nightfall Pirates closely, sending daily reports to various superiors. The sea looked calm, but everyone sensed it: a storm was coming.
The calm before the chaos.
Half a month passed.
The Nightfall Pirates had sailed from island to island, nearing their final destination, the Bocaboca Kingdom.
Their numbers had grown; Teach had recruited another hundred crewmates, selecting only the most elite from among thousands of applicants.
Those who had been with Teach from the start, veterans forged through months of training and battle, were now called elite crew members. The rest were newcomers, still rough and untested.
They would be tempered soon enough.
Soba Island, a barren, uninhabited patch of land in the East Blue. Once home to villagers, now abandoned.
Twenty-three Marine warships surrounded it, their sails like a wall of white steel.
"Will that man really come?" one colonel muttered.
"He will," another snapped. "He's destroyed three Marine warships in just two weeks. A pirate like that doesn't run."
"Our scouts report his ship heading this way," a third said grimly. "But… it's possible he already knows about the operation."
"So what?" a sneer spread across a colonel's face. "Once he's in this sea zone, he's ours. No pirate escapes the Navy. If he dies here, that's a fitting end."
They didn't know Teach had already heard every word.
His Observation Haki blanketed the sea like a second sky.
"Let's give these Marines a proper lesson," Teach said, watching the faint line of the island grow on the horizon. His lips curled into a cruel smile.
"Yes, Captain!" the crew roared behind him.
They knew the odds, over ten thousand Marines, twenty-three warships. But they were the Nightfall Pirates. They'd crushed thousands before; this was just a larger feast.
Gar flexed his clawed gauntlets, muscles tensing with excitement. "Another good hunt."
Wallace snorted. "Hunt? No… this is a massacre."
Kaguya's crimson eyes gleamed. "Anyone who defies Lord Teach… dies."
Teach could have erased the entire fleet with a wave of his Conqueror's Haki, but he refrained. The crew needed blood and battle, the living would grow stronger; the dead were of no use.
"Leave twenty men aboard," Teach ordered. "Baccarat stays with them. The Marines will go for the ship first."
He turned to his officers. "Gar and Pito, take the deep line. Sink their warships. Leave no survivors."
He stepped forward, boots crunching on the deck. "This island will be their grave."
Nelson frowned. "Captain, you sure this is a good place?"
The island was small and dry, with sparse jungle and a single slope cutting through its center, a natural barrier that hid the warships on the far side.
It looked barren, lifeless. But that was exactly what made it perfect.
Across the distant waters, small boats hovered, spies and reporters from every corner of the East Blue. Den Den Mushi cameras whirred softly, broadcasting the scene live to taverns, kingdoms, and even the Grand Line.
The largest pirate-Marine battle in East Blue's modern history was about to begin.
The Lucky Goddess docked quietly on the island's edge. Teach led his crew ashore.
They were sharper now, faster, harder, stronger, honed by half a month of constant combat.
High above, flocks of news birds hovered, their Den Den Mushi broadcasting the live feed even to Sabaody Archipelago.
"Over ten thousand Marines versus two hundred pirates," someone whispered in awe. "It's insane…"
Even veterans of the Grand Line stopped to watch.
"Let's go," Teach said calmly, stepping onto the barren sand. "We'll remind them what it means to challenge the Nightfall Pirates."
The crew followed, a dark tide rolling toward destiny.
On the opposite shore, Marines bristled with tension. Rifles clicked. Swords gleamed.
"Report! Any sign of them?" one colonel barked.
"Sir… the scouts we sent ahead aren't responding," the adjutant said, pale. "Their Den Den Mushi went silent."
Gasps rippled through the ranks. Then, from atop the slope, dark silhouettes appeared against the light.
"There! It's them!" a Marine shouted.
The crowd parted as Marshall D. Teach strode into view, long black coat billowing, hair whipping in the sea wind. His grin was cold, confident, unstoppable.
Behind him stood Wallace, arms folded like iron; Gar, eyes burning with predatory hunger; Nelson masked and unreadable; Van Augur, calm and sharp as a gun barrel; Pito, silent and deadly.
Across the seas and screens of the world, people watched, breath held.
In the North Blue, a man in a flamingo-feather coat laughed. "Fuffuffuffu! Interesting. So that's the one causing waves in the East Blue."
Diamante glanced at him. "You know him, Young Master?"
Doflamingo smiled, eyes gleaming. "No. But I will."
In the Sabaody Archipelago, standing before a massive screen, a lone swordsman watched silently - Dracule Mihawk.
"So," he murmured, eyes narrowing, "the East Blue isn't as quiet as it used to be."