The Fourth Emperor

After watching Gawain enter the captain's cabin, Tiago gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly.

Pulling the whip from behind his back, Tiago turned around and slowly walked toward the slave traders, who were frozen with panic.

Doberman followed Gawain toward the captain's cabin. As he passed Tiago, he could not help quietly advising him.

"Saint Gawain may not have protected these people, but don't make too much noise."

"I know!"

Tiago nodded in response, then gave a cold smile.

"Saint Gawain is far more decisive than you, Vice Admiral. I like his orders! He's different from the other World Nobles. I'm already beginning to respect him!"

With that, Doberman nodded and left, entering the captain's cabin.

As for Tiago, he carried his whip over to the nearest slave trader.

Looping the whip around the slave trader's neck, Tiago pulled hard as he gave orders to the surrounding Marines.

"Take these damned bastards off the deck and execute them on the dock. Don't disturb Saint Gawain."

"Yes, Lieutenant Colonel Tiago!"

The Marines immediately grew excited. Suppressing their cheers, they gagged every slave trader.

During the battle that morning, all of them had lost comrades they had spent every day with.

Of course they were furious!

Meanwhile, inside the captain's cabin, Gawain stood by the window when Doberman entered, gazing out at the sea beyond the dock beside the ship.

Looking at Gawain's back, Doberman swallowed. Although Gawain smiled most of the time, he somehow felt far more frightening than the other Celestial Dragons.

After forcing down his nerves, Doberman spoke softly.

"Saint Gawain, the warship will be setting sail shortly, and the process may cause some slight movement on deck. You should rest in my office chair for a while."

"Very well."

Gawain nodded and calmly sat on the sofa. Only then did he realize that his legs had gone weak.

As a modern person, even though his experience as a diplomat had exposed him to small-scale wars and casualties, he still was not used to corpses lying so close at hand.

Doberman did not know what Gawain was thinking. Seeing him sit down, he walked to his desk and bent over to rummage through a drawer for liquor and snacks.

Gawain did not recognize the liquor, but he was very familiar with the snacks: potato chips, shrimp crackers, crab sticks, and takoyaki.

After placing the snacks before Gawain, Doberman brought over a stack of newspapers.

"Saint Gawain, please have some humble wine. There are newspapers from the past few days for you to read. If you have any other requests, please do not hesitate to tell me."

"This is enough already."

Gawain nodded and took the newspaper Doberman offered him. As he laid it on the table, he continued.

"I have no special requests. Just get us to Marineford as quickly as possible."

"Thank you for your generosity and magnanimity, Saint Gawain."

Doberman let out a breath of relief, then silently stood beside Gawain without moving.

Gawain did not actually like this atmosphere, but there was nothing he could do. After all, they did not know each other.

So Gawain silently began reading the newspaper as well.

These newspapers were from the World Economic Journal, the only newspaper in the world of the Pirate King.

That was right, the only one!

After all, the pirate world was vast, and transportation was incredibly inconvenient. Logically speaking, there should have been no conditions for selling newspapers in this world.

Even if newspapers were printed, no one could find every ship or visit every island to deliver them.

But the World Economic Journal was different.

The president of that newspaper was called Morgans, a gigantic Albatross dressed in a suit and top hat.

Just from his appearance, there was no way to tell whether he was a person who had eaten a Zoan Bird-Bird Fruit, Albatross Form.

Or a bird that had eaten a Zoan Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Beast Type, Jingwei Form.

In any case, he looked like a bird, and he truly could command countless seagulls.

Under Morgans's leadership, tens of millions of seagulls gathered outside the World Economic Journal's headquarters every day, waiting for reporters to hang newspapers for sale around their necks.

The seagulls would then fly across the entire sea, delivering newspapers to every island and every ship.

Even if you were only sitting in a skiff, you would definitely receive a newspaper from a seagull. There had never been an exception.

Thus, ever since Morgans appeared, the World Economic Journal had rapidly grown into an essential part of people's lives.

At that moment, the first page of the World Economic Journal Gawain was reading featured someone he knew exceedingly well.

The headline accompanying the photograph read:

<One Year Later: On the Changes the Fourth Emperor Has Brought to the Seas!>

That was right. The man in the photograph was Red-Haired Shanks.

Seeing this, Gawain did not continue reading the article. Instead, he casually asked Doberman.

"Vice Admiral, could you tell me what you know about Red-Haired Shanks?"

"Of course."

Doberman thought for a moment before answering softly.

"Red-Haired Shanks had some reputation in the New World long ago, but at the time, he did not even count as a Supernova. He did not seem like much.

Who would have thought that he would return directly from the New World to the Grand Line, brazenly break through our blockade, rob a World Government transport ship, and then hide in the East Blue for two full years?

Because of that incident, his bounty first rose to the level of eight hundred million.

When he reappeared from the Reverse Mountain direction of the East Blue, he did not linger in the Four Blues or the Grand Line. Instead, he quickly returned to the New World, then immediately challenged Kaido and Big Mom at the same time.

After several years of war, until one year ago.

The Red-Haired Pirates tore enough territory away from Totto Land and the Beasts Pirates. His vice-captain, Benn Beckman, had even fought Big Mom alone without falling behind.

After confirming the Red-Haired Pirates' achievements, Morgans first used the title of Fourth Emperor for Red-Haired Shanks in the newspapers around a year ago!"

"Wait."

Gawain noticed something.

"You mean Red-Haired Shanks became the Fourth Emperor one year ago, rather than becoming one of the Four Emperors?"

"That's right, Saint Gawain. Before that, pirates had only ever had three so-called Emperors.

Long ago, the three Pirate Emperors were Roger, Whitebeard, and Shiki.

After Roger became the Pirate King and was later captured and executed by the hero Garp, Shiki was also captured after storming Marineford alone.

From then on, the three Pirate Emperors became Whitebeard, Kaido, and Big Mom.

The three Pirate Emperors and our three Marine Admirals had maintained this standoff for a long time.

It was not until a year ago, after Red-Haired Shanks secured his position and Morgans publicized it, that the seas gained the concept of a Fourth Emperor."

"Oh, so Red-Haired Shanks had only been the Fourth Emperor for one year?"

After hearing Doberman's explanation, Gawain muttered thoughtfully.

"Then, Doberman, what year of the Sea Circle Calendar is it now?"

"Uh, Saint Gawain, it is now the year 1517 of the Sea Circle Calendar."

"1517... I understand!"

Gawain nodded, then continued reading the newspaper.

Seeing that Gawain had stopped speaking and was absorbed in the paper, Doberman fell silent once more.

Before long, the warship gradually began to sway.

Feeling the movement, Doberman quietly asked Gawain for permission.

"Saint Gawain, the warship is ready to depart. I need to go to the helm and give the order to set sail.

Please allow me to leave for a moment."

"Mm, do as you please. Just pretend I'm not here."

Gawain waved without looking back, and Doberman immediately left.

The moment he exited the captain's cabin, Doberman hurriedly wiped his forehead. After wiping away the fine sweat, he looked at the tightly shut cabin door with lingering fear.

"This one's presence is truly overwhelming!"

After sighing, Doberman arrived near the helm and spoke to Tiago, who was smoking a cigar with a relieved smile on his face after taking revenge.

"Luckily, you dealt with the slave traders quickly enough for me to get a chance to come out and sail the ship.

Otherwise, if I had stayed in that cabin any longer, I probably would not even have been able to stand steady!"

"How could that be?"

Tiago laughed heartily and made a gesture to set sail. The moment his hand fell, a thunderous horn blast made Gawain in the captain's cabin jolt.

After the horn faded and Gawain resumed reading the newspaper.

Tiago continued speaking to Doberman.

"Stop joking, Doberman. Are you showing off because you can chat and laugh with Saint Gawain, whom I've decided to respect?"

"I'm not joking. Saint Gawain gives off a very unusual feeling. The pressure I feel facing him is greater than when I face the Five Elders!"

"Ah-ha, you've met the Five Elders?"

"I have. Three years ago, during the previous Reverie, I was assigned to guard the representatives of the World Government's member nations. That was when I met the Five Elders."

As he said this, Doberman reached into his coat pocket and took out his Den Den Mushi.

As he dialed, he said.

"I won't chat with you any longer. I need to inform Fleet Admiral Sengoku as soon as possible that Saint Gawain is heading to Marineford.

By the way, after the call, I still need to return to the captain's cabin to attend to Saint Gawain. While I'm gone, you must keep the ship on course."

"Don't worry. I'll do my best to keep the ship steady," Tiago replied.