Rayleigh and Cain slowly opened their eyes inside the cage at the auction house.
That banquet in the dream had lasted for days and nights, but in reality, only a single night had passed.
Rayleigh suddenly burst out laughing and spoke to Cain with a sigh.
"You really did prepare me a pretty good apprenticeship gift. In that case, I won't charge you tuition."
Cain immediately shot back, "Shanks was the one who asked you in the first place. With a mutual connection like that, you were still thinking of charging tuition?"
"One thing is one thing," Rayleigh replied casually. "For acquaintances, I usually only give a twenty percent discount. Waiving it entirely this time is already an exception."
Cain muttered inwardly that Rayleigh had never treated Luffy this way.
Then again… maybe Luffy only trained halfway because he never paid tuition fee!
'A useless teacher indeed.'
Just then, the auction house owner came running over in a panic, clutching a Den Den Mushi.
The line connected, and Doflamingo's voice came through.
"Hey, hey, hey. Why did you end up at my auction house? I already handled the favor you asked for. What, now you want to ruin my business too?"
Cain recognized the voice immediately.
Realizing they had ended up on Doflamingo's turf, he sighed at the coincidence and explained.
"You can't say that. I didn't come here on purpose. I got sold off by this lousy old man beside me for gambling money. I just happened to be unlucky enough to land here."
Hearing that, Rayleigh coughed lightly.
He didn't deny it—instead, he simply spread his hands with a grin.
Doflamingo immediately ordered the owner to prepare a large sack of beli and get the two of them thrown out as fast as possible.
He wanted nothing more to do with this walking calamity!
...
Early the next morning, Rayleigh strolled leisurely through Sabaody, with Cain following behind him in speechless irritation.
He noticed quite a few people around them wearing earphones and listening with obvious delight.
After asking around, he learned it was Uta's singing.
It seemed Uta's career had truly gotten on track.
He couldn't help feeling genuinely happy for her.
But the moment Cain looked up again, Rayleigh had disappeared.
Turning his head, he saw the old man already heading toward the gambling district, his steps noticeably faster than before.
"YOU ROTTEN OLD GEEZER! I'M THE ONE WHO GOT THAT MONEY FOR YOU—QUIT THINKING ONLY ABOUT THE CASINO AND HURRY UP AND FIGURE OUT HOW YOU'RE GOING TO TRAIN ME!"
"Oh, right, I almost forgot," Rayleigh said with a smile over his shoulder. "That banquet got me a little too worked up."
...
After that, Rayleigh brought Cain into the Calm Belt—or rather, Cain carried Rayleigh there—and they finally reached an island.
Looking at the scenery where all four seasons seemed to exist at once, Cain immediately recognized it.
This was the very island where Luffy had trained in the original story.
He had no doubts about how well hidden the island was.
What he did wonder was whether it could survive if he started training Conqueror's Haki clashes there.
At that moment, Rayleigh said, "I figured it out from yesterday's dream. You don't know the advanced application of Conqueror's Haki. Even if the people in the dream can use Conqueror's coating, and even if the power is there, you still can't truly grasp what that force feels like."
"And how are you planning to teach me that?" Cain asked.
"I have a faster method. With your Zoan fruit, your body can take a beating."
"So?"
"I'll beat you until you learn it."
…
A few weeks later, only one month remained until Ace's execution.
Just like in the original story, Luffy and the others had taken Franky aboard and gotten a new ship.
They left the Going Merry behind in Water 7, waiting for Cain to come retrieve it, and were now on their way to Thriller Bark.
News of Ace's imprisonment had, just as expected, appeared in the papers.
So had the news that the Blackbeard Pirates had become one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
"YOU DAMNED BIRD! I ALREADY CAUGHT YOU, AND YOU STILL DARED PUBLISH THAT NEWS?!"
Cain had Morgans by the throat and bent one of his wings, threatening him coldly.
"IT HURTS, IT HURTS, HAVE MERCY!" Morgans cried out in pain and hurriedly defended himself.
"THE REPORT ON ACE WAS A TEMPLATE PREPARED LONG AGO—IT GOT PUBLISHED AUTOMATICALLY WHEN THE TIME CAME! HAVEN'T YOU NOTICED MY PAPER HAS BEEN PRINTING A LOT LESS LATELY? I REALLY HAVEN'T BEEN MAKING THINGS UP!"
After thinking about it, Cain realized that apart from the wanted posters distributed by the Marines, Morgans's papers really had been appearing less often.
Only then did he slowly loosen his grip.
Morgans instantly dropped to his knees and begged for mercy.
"I'LL NEVER WRITE NONSENSE AGAIN! PLEASE LET ME GO! I'VE BEEN EATING ROASTED BIRD MEAT EVERY DAY LATELY—I'M ABOUT TO PUKE FROM IT!"
Cain hesitated for a moment.
Right now, Morgans had no real use, but when the Summit War broke out, news of it would still need to spread through his papers.
In the end, Cain decided to let him go.
The moment the chains were removed, Morgans hurriedly flapped his wings and glided low across the ground.
Since he couldn't really fly, all he wanted was to get as far away as possible!
Yet inwardly he sneered.
'Hmph. You think I'll stop reporting just because you tell me to? Who do you think I am? I'm Morgans! Even the Marines and the Emperors don't threaten me like this!'
Cain naturally knew exactly what he was thinking.
He opened his mouth and fired off a blast of heat breath, knocking Morgans straight out of the sky.
Not caring whether the bird lived or died, Cain turned and went back into the bar.
Then he began contacting the people he needed for the war to come.
…
"So that's how it is. One month from now. Understood. I still don't know how many people I'll be able to bring—I'll need to ask Mother first. Don't worry. I understand how you feel. Wanting to protect your brother, not wanting the people around you to get hurt… I've felt that kind of fear myself."
Katakuri spoke in a low voice into the Den Den Mushi.
"Then thank you. I'll treat you to donuts sometime. The old man at my place likes them the most…"
Hearing that, Cain's heart eased a little, and he quickly thanked him.
Then he hesitated for a long moment before forcing out, in an extremely stiff voice.
"…Katakuri… nii-san."
Katakuri was older than Shanks—a full-grown middle-aged man.
Calling him nii-san made Cain feel uncomfortable all over.
The moment he said it, he quickly turned his face away, afraid the awkwardness would be obvious through the line.
On the other end, Katakuri paused for two seconds after hearing that nii-san.
Then, at the mention of donuts, he smiled faintly, a trace of warmth slipping into his expression.
He answered with a simple, "Mm."
After hanging up, Katakuri put away the Den Den Mushi and turned toward the central castle of Whole Cake Island.
Even though he had agreed, he still needed to ask Mother for permission before going to war.
Inside the castle hall, Big Mom—Charlotte Linlin—was holding the newspaper about Ace's imprisonment in one hand, her eyes sweeping across the page as her trademark wild laughter echoed out.
"MAMAMAMA! KATAKURI, PERFECT TIMING!"
Katakuri walked before her and lowered his head.
"Mother."
"LOOK AT THIS PAPER!"
Big Mom slapped the newspaper onto the table.
"The Marines captured Fire Fist Ace and are announcing it this openly. It's obvious they're planning to wipe out the Whitebeard Pirates! We can't let an opportunity this good go to waste!"
If Whitebeard died, his territories would become leaderless.
Totto Land could seize the moment to swallow them up and expand its sphere of power.
Big Mom raised her eyes and fixed Katakuri with a hard stare, issuing an order that allowed no refusal.
"You told me before about that favor Cain asked of you. I'll allow you to go. And while you're at it—kill Whitebeard on that battlefield!"
"Yes, Mother." Katakuri answered without the slightest hesitation.
But just as the words fell, two younger members of the Charlotte Family crashed through the castle doors in panic and tumbled into the hall, shouting at the top of their lungs.
"MOTHER! KATAKURI-NII-SAN! IT'S BAD! SOMETHING TERRIBLE'S HAPPENED!"
"What are you panicking for?!" Big Mom barked, her brows tightly furrowed.
The younger brother, panting hard, hurriedly blurted out.
"BISCUIT ISLAND! A STRANGE GUY SUDDENLY BARGED ONTO BISCUIT ISLAND AND STARTED WRECKING EVERYTHING WITHOUT A WORD! ALL THE BISCUIT SOLDIERS ON THE ISLAND HAVE BEEN DESTROYED! CRACKER-NII-SAN TRIED TO STOP HIM, BUT HE'S ALREADY BEEN DEFEATED!"
"WHAT?!"
…
Biscuit Island.
Having been surviving on little fish from the sea and starving on the ocean for ages, Yamato had finally stepped onto a place with food.
Munching on the biscuits scattered everywhere, she shouted at the top of her lungs.
"FOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!"
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