The Contest for the Fifth Emperor

The Red-Haired Pirates wanted to continue growing, but Demon Caesar wasn't going to let Shanks have his way.

The New World has stabilized somewhat, but disputes will soon arise again.

There have been five Sea Emperors in total, but only four remain. This means there is still a vacancy on the throne. How can the New World truly be at peace until a fifth Sea Emperor is born?

Like the Night Pirates before him, Shanks is also being called the next Sea Emperor. Although that time hasn't come yet, isn't it just a matter of time for Shanks?

Even with a missing arm, his strength has not diminished; he possesses even greater potential.

Because this is the opinion of many people, the Red-Haired Pirates have become a thorn in the side of many who aspire to the throne.

Moria didn't want it, Caesar didn't want it, and neither did other newly rising powers.

Although they are not yet strong enough, they hope that the position will remain vacant until they grow up and are able to take it.

Once the position of the fifth Sea Emperor is occupied, their path to ascension will be blocked.

After becoming emperors, they all experience a period of rapid expansion of power. This is true for the current four Sea Emperors, as well as the Whitebeard Pirates, who are keen on adopting sons, and the Big Mom Pirates, who believe in blood ties and are associated with women.

While Big Mom Pirates few affiliated forces, this is only relative to other pirate crews; compared to other powerful pirate groups, it is an astonishing number.

At that time, it would be even more difficult to become emperor again; the only way would be to defeat one of the Sea Emperor.

There can only be a maximum of five Sea Emperors in the New World. This is the unspoken rule of the New World. The news came from within the Night Pirates and came from the mouth of Dark Emperor Teach.

This directly set a limit on the number of people who could claim the highest position in the New World; no matter how many sea rulers there were, there could only be five Sea Emperors.

Only in this way will the throne truly be precious, instead of having a sixth or seventh emperor, causing a wide disparity in the strength of the emperors. This is Teach doesn't want to see, nor does he want some "weaklings" to be ranked alongside him.

Meanwhile, Teach's words were endorsed by the other three Sea Emperors and spread throughout the New World and the high seas.

Thus, the last spot for the Sea Emperor becomes even more precious, and the competition will be fiercer than ever before.

Defeating the current Sea Emperor is extremely difficult, so it's better to eliminate the rival first, before he grows to that level.

Pirates are driven by self-interest, and the throne is the greatest self-interest.

The struggle surrounding it has begun, and it also revolves around the three pirate crews: the Red-Haired Pirates, the Moonlight Pirates, and the Demon Pirates.

Is that all? This is a great sifting process, and there are also emerging forces eyeing the throne, as well as some established powers.

Even those who know they have no chance will still place bets among themselves, increasing their stakes.

"World Destroyer" Bondy a's public challenge for the throne caused an uproar in the ocean, and this veteran powerhouse was not to be outdone.

Although he is already 66 years old, he was frozen in Impel Down for many years. When he left Impel Down, his physical functions were still in their youth. Now, his physical condition is actually only 55 years old, which can be said to be at its peak.

After being frozen for many years and recovering his body, Bondy's strength actually increased further.

During the freezing process, Bondy's consciousness remained active. During this time, his Observation Haki significantly improved, and the development of his More-More Fruit ability progressed further, reaching the level of Awakening.

During the war between the Flying Pirates and the World Government, he used his abilities to amplify the power of Uranus's cannon fire three times.

Three times is already a terrifying number, especially for Uranus such terrifying energy.

Ultimately, the reason why Uranus's power is so terrifying is mainly due to Bondy. If it weren't for his Awakening abilities, he wouldn't have been able to even double the power; at most, he could only increase Uranus's power slightly.

Bondy is incredibly strong, undoubtedly among the top tier of the Overlords. His More-More Fruit ability, combined with his powerful physical skills and Haki, makes even Garp hesitant to claim he could suppress Bondy at full power.

His participation will undoubtedly make this battle for the throne even more intense.

Over the years, apart from participating in the war against the World Government, in the process of restoring his strength, Bondy rebuilt the Bondy Pirates and, after the destruction of the Flying Pirates, forcefully occupied a large piece of territory that originally belonged to the Flying Pirates.

The title of "World Destroyer" attracted many pirates to join his cause, and in terms of power, the Bondy Pirates were no weaker than the Moonlight Pirates.

Moreover, many people know that Bondy a's goal is to overthrow the rule of the World Government; as for establishing a New World, that's just talk.

Overthrowing the World Government was originally impossible, but now that the World Government has power, it actually becomes possible.

If we were to unleash a weapon similar to the Uranus's, and catch the World Government off guard, a few shots into the Holy Land would wipe out the Celestial Dragons.

While he was called Emperor, his true intention was to expand his power and oppose the World Government. He was already a mortal enemy of the World Government, not to mention that a spy had been planted in his pirate crew, who betrayed him at a crucial moment.

Golden Lion Shiki's defeat did not discourage Bondy a, nor did it affect his goals.

He is now actively seeking powerful weapons and searching for traces of Ancient Weapon. Having witnessed the terrifying power of the Uranus, he naturally has no interest in those cannons.

Having already reached the pinnacle of his strength, he needed even greater destructive power and more powerful weapons. He used money to pave the way, ordering massively powerful weapons from the Beasts Pirates and the Night Pirates.

Then, relying on his own abilities, he inflicted heavy damage on the Navy and the World Government.

Bondy a's orders are worth hundreds of millions, even billions of Beli, and neither the Night Pirates nor the Beasts Pirates would refuse them.

They could manufacture some things, it was just a matter of whether they wanted to or not, since the cost-effectiveness wasn't high. But Bondy only had one requirement: immense destructive power. He didn't care about size or anything like that.

By starting manufacturing early, the results could soon be delivered to Bondy a.

They are both weapons, but the ones manufactured by the two sides are different.

The Beasts Pirates created their specialty: viruses. They spread plagues, causing terrible casualties, and could quickly spread to cover an entire island. Combined with Bondy's abilities, the power would only be greater.

Most importantly, the cost of the virus is very low, and they possess the core technology, which is equivalent to getting it for free; it's like Bondy handing over the money.

The only drawback was that the Plague Bomb was a bit large, but Bondy didn't care about that.

The Night Pirates took out Dyna Stone, changed its appearance, and made slight modifications to turn it into a terrifying bomb.

Meanwhile, the Night Pirates also secretly obtained information about the Dyna Stone and its location from the Navy's storage Dyna Stone through Bondy.

The Dyna Stone are Night Pirates must deal with; a large quantity of Dyna Stone poses a significant threat.

The Night Pirates have acquired the technology to mine the Dyna Stone, but mining it is extremely difficult, the most important factor being the selection of the mining Dyna Stone.

The navy only has one location for mining Dyna Stone, which is the secret island where the Dyna Stone is stored.

Not only do the Dyna Stone need to be dealt with, but the island where they are Dyna Stone also needs to be destroyed. Once this stuff appears on your own territory, unless it's right in front of Teach, it's hard to react when it explodes.

So why does it even need to exist? Wouldn't it be better to just keep it buried deep in the ocean?

The Night Pirates can't easily get involved in this kind of thing; staying behind the scenes is their style.

Since Bondy a wants powerful weapons, let him go get the Dyna Stone! Let him confront the World Government and the Navy.

Furthermore, Teach was also curious about the world's reaction when they learned that the Navy and the World Government possessed terrifying weapons comparable to Ancient Weapon.

Ancient Weapon threaten the world? Indeed, the power of the Uranus has fully demonstrated the terrifying nature of Ancient Weapon and their threat to the world.

But what about Ohara? It was destroyed simply because it was researching Ancient Weapon, while the World Government and the Navy truly possessed power no less than that of the Ancient Weapon.

With one side gaining and the other losing, it won't be easy for the Navy and the World Government to regain their strength. The World Government will eventually become a thing of the past.

With such a madman who's determined to bite you, how could the World Government and the Navy possibly feel at ease? And his strength and abilities are extremely formidable.

Bondy a was also under their surveillance. The Bondy Pirates also had World Government intelligence agents hiding within them. Compared to the Sea Emperor, infiltrating the Bondy Pirates was far too easy.

But they don't know what Bondy a is plotting now. Having experienced betrayal, Bondy a no longer trusts anyone.

Aside from a few who found him immediately after he escaped from Impel Down.

Actually, there aren't many people left who originally belonged to the Bondy Pirates. After all, so many years have passed, and those who didn't perish at sea are quite old and have begun to live in seclusion, no longer venturing out to sea.

In his eyes, the newly rebuilt Bondy Pirates were mostly tools, and he didn't care about them at all; he wouldn't mind if many of them died.

Those pirates who wanted to follow this veteran powerhouse to make a name for themselves in the world have completely miscalculated.

But venturing out to sea is a high-stakes gamble, putting one's life at risk. Everyone must be responsible for their choices, regardless of the outcome.

Besides the Bondy Pirates, another powerful pirate crew has officially risen to prominence in the New World, and they have a considerable chance of competing for the throne.

This is a young pirate crew, formed only six or seven years ago, around the same time that the Red-Haired Pirates and the Clown Pirates officially entered the New World.

Rising rapidly in the last two years, "Wendigo the Evil" is the captain of the Evil Spirit Pirates and Paramecia Devil Fruit User the Evil-Evil Fruit, a peculiar and powerful Devil Fruit ability that is even somewhat evil.

In addition to possessing immense power himself, he can bestow abilities upon others, similar to the Soul-Soul Fruit, a power known as evil spirits.

A person imbued with an evil spirit can transform into an evil spirit covered in holes and engulfed in eerie blue flames.

Although it looks a bit scary, it can enhance a person's strength to a certain extent and speed up the recovery from injuries.

This is equivalent to everyone having superpowers.

At the same time, similar to Gecko Moria's Shadow-Shadow Fruit ability, he can turn corpses into human-like evil spirits that he can control, and they will not die, possessing an immortal army.

The difference is that the resurrected evil spirits are puppets controlled by the Wendigo and have no consciousness.

The powerful undead army, along with the ability of each member to become a demon, allowed the Evil Spirit Pirates to expand extremely rapidly in a short period of time, coupled with Wendigo's formidable strength.

The Evil Spirit Wendigo also aspires to the throne, but he has not had enough time to mature. Although he is the ruler of the sea, he cannot compare with Shanks and his crew in terms of strength.

But he was never afraid of war; war only made him stronger. Whether it was his own crew members or the enemy who died, their corpses would eventually turn into evil spirits under his blue flames, becoming members of the undead legion.

Of course, this situation also makes many people unwilling to join the Evil Spirit Pirates; no one wants their corpse to be controlled by others even after death.

But this doesn't change the fact that the Evil Spirit Pirates are constantly expanding.

More importantly, evil spirits can grow stronger through killing, absorbing the resentment of others to increase their power. Although the rate of growth is relatively slow, they can indeed become stronger.

Therefore, as long as there is war, Wendigo's evil spirit army will continue to expand. Now the Evil Spirit Pirates has 30,000 evil spirits. This number is terrifying and incomparable to those dominant forces. Only the Red-Haired Pirates, with their many subordinate forces, can compare.

Moreover, the Evil Spirit Fruit can be considered a growth ability; as its power increases, the number of evil spirits it protects expands, constantly expanding and absorbing negative energy.

The evil power within Wendigo can continue to grow stronger, and it's unknown if there's a limit. However, Wendigo, who has already grown up, has shown the potential to reach the peak, coupled with his already very strong potential.

Furthermore, just as Gecko Moria could absorb shadows to become stronger, Wendigo also has a similar method: he can absorb evil spirits to temporarily enhance his own strength.

Similar abilities have led to considerable friction between the two pirate crews in the New World, with frequent small-scale battles.

The main reason is that the Evil Spirit Fruit suppresses the Shadow-Shadow Fruit's power. Moria's zombies have no ability to resist Wendigo's Ghost Flame and are easily transformed into ghosts.

Wendigo's purpose is easy to guess: he has his sights set on the three veteran overlord zombies under Moria, in order to enhance the high-end combat power of the evil spirit army.

Regardless, Moria's zombies and Wendigo's evil spirits are abilities that the sea loathes, and both of them are manipulating the corpses of others.

The difference is that Moria doesn't care about weak pirates; he only focuses on the corpses of powerful pirates.

Wendigo didn't mind, but he also exercised restraint and remained rational. The evil spirits he turned into were mostly his dead subordinates or enemies who died on the battlefield. He didn't attack ordinary people or other common pirates indiscriminately.

It was precisely because of this approach that he has survived until now; otherwise, if he had acted recklessly, he would have been killed long ago by righteous individuals or other pirates.

It is precisely his rationality that gives him the potential to reach the top, but he needs time to grow. His current combat strength is still quite different from that of others.

The Evil Spirit Pirates are located slightly north of the Moonlight Pirates and the Demon Pirates' territories. Without provoking the Big Mom Pirates, they only need to expand southward.

Thus, there are now five clear contenders for the throne, which is quite interesting.

Bondy a, the "World Destroyer," A veteran monster from the same era as Whitebeard.

The current New World's old overlord, "the devil" Caesar.

Moria, the "Moonlight" who rose to prominence in the early days of the new era.

Shanks "Red-Haired" who rose to prominence during the Golden Sea Battle.

Wendigo, the "evil spirit" who rose to prominence during the reign of the Night Pirates.

Ultimately, only one person can claim the throne. Who will it be?