How Were the Four Emperors Born?

At Cake Island's docks, Ortolan once again boarded Katakuri's bizarre ship, the Donut.

"Right now, the outcome of the Ed War Sea Battle has stirred up the entire New World—no, perhaps the entire world. This will undoubtedly be a major factor affecting the balance of power across the seas. Mama happens to be on the front lines, so she probably won't be back anytime soon. That means if you want to discuss your plan to join the Marines with her, as you mentioned before, you'll have to go to the front lines yourself," Katakuri said as he directed his men to raise the sails and set off.

Ortolan nodded. "That's why I'm going with you."

After a brief pause, Ortolan asked, "So, given the current situation, are you planning to start a war against Shiki's territory and seize the profits?"

"That's part of it. Opportunity doesn't come twice. Shiki controls the broadest and most prosperous territory in the New World, but his forces have been severely damaged. I heard he himself was seriously wounded and nearly died in that storm. Many of his powerful officers either vanished or died at Ed War, and the fleet that once dominated the New World has been reduced to scraps. There's no better time to strike him!" Katakuri said, somewhat excitedly.

After taking a breath, a vicious glint flashed through Katakuri's eyes. "On the other hand, Mama is planning to make a move against Wang Zhi!"

"Huh?" Ortolan froze for a moment. "Didn't you say before that Wang Zhi was an ally of the Big Mom Pirates?"

If Ortolan remembered correctly, Charlotte Linlin had headed to the front lines precisely to rendezvous with Wang Zhi and deal with Shiki together.

"Calling him an ally would be going too far. At most, we were partners cooperating against Shiki's threat, banding together for warmth. We've had no shortage of conflicts in normal times..." Katakuri immediately shook his head.

Pirates rarely had allies. On the surface, the Big Mom Pirates had never truly entered into a formal pirate alliance.

Ortolan naturally understood what Katakuri meant. Back when Shiki was overwhelmingly powerful, none of them could stand against him alone, so under the right circumstances, they had naturally joined forces to withstand his oppression.

But now, let alone oppressing them, Shiki would already be lucky if he wasn't oppressed by the lot of them.

That made these so-called "partners" meaningless. Wang Zhi happened to be there, and Charlotte Linlin wanted to reduce the number of competitors while also driving Wang Zhi out of the race to carve up Shiki's enormous cake, so she had simply decided to strike him directly!

Thinking of this, Ortolan could not help but sigh. The pirate world truly was brutal—sinister, despicable, cunning beyond measure, and constantly filled with plots of betrayal.

"Still, Wang Zhi is a Great Pirate who has been famous for a long time. He was also one of the people on Rocks's ship. How could he possibly not be on guard?" Ortolan remarked.

"That may be true, but I heard Mama is already planning to join forces with Kaido!" Katakuri added.

"Kaido?" Ortolan raised a brow. "Is that guy more trustworthy than Wang Zhi?"

"At least to Mama, he is. Compared with Wang Zhi, Silver Axe, John, and the others, Mama trusts Kaido more. Back on the ship, Kaido was also the one closest to Mama..." Katakuri said.

Back when they were on Rocks's ship, Charlotte Linlin had taken great care of Kaido and regarded him as a younger brother. Even the Mythical Zoan Fish-Fish Fruit, Azure Dragon form, which she had seized at God Valley, had later been generously given to Kaido when the Rocks Pirates disbanded.

And according to some of the gossip recorded in that book about Rocks, Ortolan had reason to suspect that Kaido truly had a bit of a crush on Charlotte Linlin.

In terms of build, the two were quite well matched. They also had some history together, their ages were relatively compatible, and their strength was evenly matched as well.

But clearly, while Kaido might have been interested, Charlotte Linlin had not accepted him. She was a woman determined to become the ruler of the seas. Judging from how she had spent so many years seeking out different husbands, Charlotte Linlin probably could only accept people weaker than herself. In that kind of relationship, she needed to hold absolute dominance.

Kaido was a suitable choice, but because he was powerful and unwilling to lower himself, the two of them were instead unlikely to end up together.

Putting all that aside, among all the ambitious heroes of the New World, Kaido was indeed one of the few people capable of establishing a foundation of trust with Charlotte Linlin and engaging in deep cooperation.

"So this time, she plans to join hands with Kaido and swallow up Shiki's enormous cake together?" Ortolan asked again.

"Mm. Although I haven't spoken with Mama face-to-face yet, based on my understanding of her over all these years, that should be the case. And no matter how you look at it, it's the choice that benefits both sides the most," Katakuri said.

Ortolan fell into thought. He suddenly realized that this major event might be one of the foundations that would establish the future balance of the Four Emperors!

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They had all been powerful figures who stepped off Rocks's ship, so why, twenty years later, had people like Silver Axe and Wang Zhi failed to become Four Emperors? John, who had even been called the "Treasure Captain," had died outright.

Before the Ed War Sea Battle, they had all been roughly on the same level. They were all fellow sufferers oppressed by Shiki, so how had things ended up like this later on?

Very likely, the gap between them had begun to widen with this very event.

Shiki was seriously injured, while Charlotte Linlin and Kaido joined forces and took the greatest share of the profits from this chaos, rapidly expanding their own power. In comparison, Wang Zhi and Silver Axe probably had not gained much at all.

They may even have lost some of their strength because of it.

In the end, Wang Zhi failed to become a Four Emperor, lingering on Hachinosu Island until more than twenty years later, when Teach took care of him.

Silver Axe was probably much the same.

After this, Kaido and Charlotte Linlin would likely become the biggest winners!

The facts proved that the impact of the Ed War Sea was indeed enormous.

At Marine Headquarters, Marineford, Admiral Zephyr, who had previously been away from the base, had returned two days ago.

He was now sitting in the Fleet Admiral's office, discussing the current situation with Fleet Admiral Kong.

"Sengoku and the others still arrived too late in the end..." Fleet Admiral Kong sighed.

Although they had set out several days in advance, no one had expected the Ed War Sea Battle to end so quickly. It had been completely unexpected.

The victor had been decided in less than half a day.

Based on their previous estimates, given the combat strength of the Roger Pirates, fighting against Shiki's massive fleet would surely end in their defeat according to the Marines' projections. But to take down Roger and the others, wouldn't it take at least ten or twenty days of fierce fighting?

They were all top-tier powerhouses, each at the height of their prime. Who among them had never fought a drawn-out battle?

If that had happened, the Marines might have had a chance to swoop in at the end, arriving at the scene just as both sides were exhausted and wiping out the Roger Pirates and the Flying Pirates in one stroke!

But clearly, the idea was wonderful, while reality gave the Marines no such opportunity at all.

Holding a cup of hot tea, Zephyr chuckled. "It's probably for the best that we didn't make it. In a storm of that caliber, even with our warships' superior performance, we would definitely have suffered devastating losses..."

"That's true. Shiki really is unlucky enough. Still, this is good news for us. Once he falls, no one among the New World pirates will be able to keep the remaining silver medal contenders in check anymore. What comes next will probably be a fierce civil war among those pirates..." Fleet Admiral Kong said as he lit a cigarette.

"Don't forget Whitebeard. He has both the qualifications and the strength," Zephyr reminded him after thinking for a moment.

"Whitebeard was certainly formidable, but he didn't have the ambitions of Shiki, Charlotte Linlin, Kaido, and the others. That was enough," Fleet Admiral Kong said at once.

The Whitebeard Pirates were very strong. In the many years since leaving the Rocks Pirates, Newgate had gone everywhere searching for family and taken in a whole bunch of sons. Many of them were powerful fighters. In terms of sheer influence, he was in no way inferior to Shiki.

Yet the Marines did not fear Newgate the way they feared Shiki, because after all these years, they had basically concluded that Newgate was not an ambitious man who wanted to seize the world through violence.

Basically, as long as no one provoked the Whitebeard Pirates, the Whitebeard Pirates would not cause any earth-shaking incident.

Unlike Shiki, who was always itching to blast someone, constantly declaring that he would flatten Marine Headquarters, sweep through Mary Geoise, slaughter every Celestial Dragon, and leash the Five Elders like dogs.