Surging

"Yo, Cifer, our new report is out. This god looks pretty good on camera, huh? Yeah~ hahahaha~"

Enel had already become familiar with all sorts of common knowledge about the Blue Sea. After receiving the latest newspaper from a News Coo, he laughed at Cifer, who was busy fishing.

Three days had passed in the blink of an eye since the Loguetown incident. After Cifer's declaration of singular evil had fermented, it spread throughout the world under the push of Morgans and Marineford.

Through his account, Marineford finally learned that the other person they had been searching for—the one who had fought Whitebeard in the New World and destroyed an unknown island—was Cifer.

Thus, Cifer's exploits were compiled once again and printed in the newspapers:

One of the Shichibukai, Black Winged Great Demon - Ulquiorra Cifer, had declared himself the world's sole evil.

Beneath the headline were his various deeds, embellished by the Marines: he encountered one of the Four Emperors, Whitebeard, on an island in the New World and drove him back;

he provoked Marineford Admiral Kuzan in the Sabaody Archipelago and fought him to a draw before vanishing without a trace;

he encountered and defeated the former Shichibukai, the Tyrant—Bartholomew Kuma—on the Grand Line, striking fear into his heart;

on an isolated island near the G-8 Marine branch, he was defeated by another Marineford Admiral, Sakazuki. He was then invited by him to replace the Tyrant as the new Shichibukai.

What the newspaper described in especially bold print was Cifer's slaughter of pirates on the Grand Line and in the East Blue, along with his exact words during the Loguetown incident.

On the back of the newspaper was Enel's photograph and a brief introduction—one who walked alongside evil.

From that day forth, the name "Thunder God" would spread across the world with him.

"As expected of the World Government. They really do only pick the parts that benefit them!"

Cifer took the newspaper from Enel and revealed a disdainful smile.

As one of the people involved, all he could say after reading it was that it was complete bullshit. The incidents were mostly correct, but every outcome had been twisted in their favor.

"Hey, Cifer, did you really lose to this guy called Sakazuki?"

Enel pointed at the report concerning the battle at Rexeno, which Sengoku had suppressed at the time.

In his eyes, if the other man could even defeat Cifer, who stood at the pinnacle, then wouldn't he truly be the strongest in the world?!

"Everything you see in this newspaper is basically just what the World Government wants you to see!"

Morgans did indeed pursue the truth as much as possible, but the World Government had plenty of ways to make him change his tune.

Even what one saw with one's own eyes might not be true, much less altered news.

"Then which one of you is stronger?"

Enel was very curious. Though he wanted to see Cifer suffer a setback, he did not want his captain to lose to someone else.

"I would win."

Cifer remained calm. He had indeed been at a disadvantage back then, but if Joni had not come out to cause trouble, he would have shown Akainu what it meant to be haunted by nightmares.

"Yeah~ hahahaha~"

Enel would never doubt Cifer. Since he had boarded his ship, he had to place absolute trust in him.

Behind the two's pleasant conversation, the world was surging.

New World, Whole Cake Island.

"Mamamama~ What do you all think about marrying that brat into the family?"

Her obese body trembled as she continuously stuffed all kinds of pastries into her mouth. The woman looked down at the people below, who sat as if on pins and needles.

"Mother, that guy won't agree to it."

The five-meter-tall man with a thick scarf wrapped around his neck answered while looking at the newspaper.

"Go give it a try! That guy must belong to some powerful race we've never seen before!"

"Mamamama~"

The entire hall then fell silent, save for the sound of chewing.

Dressrosa.

"Singular evil? Fuhahahahaha~"

The man sitting with one leg crossed over the other, draped in a flamingo-like coat, let out a wild laugh.

"Young Master, we still need to be careful around this madman."

The sleazy middle-aged man beside him, with snot hanging from his nose, offered a reminder. He felt that the man in the newspaper was no good, and cooperating with him would be no different from seeking a tiger's hide.

"A madman? That's right, we're going to be friends with this madman! Nghahahahaha~"

Doflamingo let out a crazed laugh.

To him, the stronger Cifer was, the more excited he became. That man was certainly not one to stay quiet and obedient.

"Come on! Turn the world ruled by those bastards upside down!"

Reports about Cifer and Enel flooded the world, and for a time, countless pirates and former evildoers were gripped by panic.

That man was completely different from the other Shichibukai. He had no territory of his own. Every day, he simply wandered the seas and killed people.

In just two or three months, his traces had appeared in the East Blue, Paradise, and the New World. There was no logic whatsoever to his route.

No one could guess which sea he would appear in next, or which island he would show up on.

People could not even know how he defined evil. To the weak, Cifer was a demon obsessed with slaughter.

"I'd better not go to sea and become a pirate... No! I don't want to be an evil person anymore!"

Words like these frequently appeared throughout the Four Blues. For people who had yet to witness the vastness of the world, Cifer's slaughter was utterly terrifying.

He had destroyed two isolated islands in battle, wiped out several pirate crews renowned throughout the Four Blues at sea, and carried out a massacre of ordinary evildoers in Loguetown.

All these actions made those weak yet greedy people desperately want to keep their distance.

The somewhat stronger pirates who had seen more of the world, however, held completely different views.

On a ship in Paradise.

"What fighting an Admiral to a draw, driving back Whitebeard? The World Government really loves flattering itself!"

The red-haired man with spiky hair and goggles hanging from his forehead threw the newspaper to the ground, his face filled with disdain and suspicion.

"If that guy really had that kind of strength, he'd have gone to the New World to become a Sea Emperor long ago. Why would he be playing house with a bunch of small fry in Paradise!"

"When we run into him, we'll kill a Shichibukai for fun too!"

Since setting sail, he had never encountered a powerful opponent. Along the way, anyone who dared question his dream had been ruthlessly killed by him.

In his eyes, he himself was the embodiment of evil. It was only a matter of time before he clashed with that Shichibukai, and he did not believe he would lose.

He was the man who would become the Pirate King!

Marie Geoise.

"Is it really okay to keep letting this brat remain a Shichibukai?"

Though they had approved the report themselves, one elderly man looked at Cifer's gaze of contempt for the world in the newspaper and felt a trace of unease.

"Let him make trouble! As long as he guards Paradise obediently this year, that's enough!"

Another elderly man, dressed in a white robe, bald, wearing glasses, and carrying a sword in his arms, did not care.

"The problem is the D. That family has started becoming active again."

An elderly man in a black suit, with curly white hair, a bushy white beard, a flat cap, and a scar across his left cheek, slapped another wanted poster onto the table.

Monkey D. Luffy!