Three Major Powers of the West Blue

On the first day at sea, he drank.

On the second day at sea, he drank.

On the third day at sea...

The captain of the Acne Pirates raised his bottle. "Drink?"

Jogo looked up at the still-dark sky, lowered his head, and continued doing one-armed push-ups on the deck with three fingers supporting him. "Sorry, but when it comes to drinks, I only approve of milk and cola."

Morning drinking, noon drinking, and drinking again at night... He was practically sick of this damn rum!

He had even gotten a trait from it.

[Obtained trait: "Drunkard (White)"]

[Trait effect: Gives Conqueror's Haki the aura of a drunkard.]

"Tch~" The captain leaned against a mast with his bottle in hand, picked up two newspapers from a wooden barrel, and shook them out.

He gulped down his drink while reading.

The News Coo had delivered these papers early in the morning. Jogo had bought two copies.

One was the world-renowned and authoritative World Economy News Paper, while the other was the bestselling West Blue Times.

He found news concerning Ohara in a secondary section of the West Blue Times.

—Chest Hair Pirates Wiped Out in Ohara.

In the interview, Dr. Clow claimed that he had single-handedly dealt with all the pirates, seized a large amount of supplies, and warned all pirates not to set their sights on Ohara.

The captain of the Acne Pirates was thoroughly amused.

"Ha~ Not a single one of those bastards made it out alive!"

He had thought he would see some sort of celebratory announcement from a Marine branch.

After all, Chase Hail had a bounty of fifteen million Berries on his head. He was a somewhat famous pirate in the West Blue.

Who would have thought that Clow would wipe them all out himself?

"What a ruthless old bastard... Hahahaha! That's exactly why I'm willing to do business with Ohara!"

Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp~

Jogo was a little curious. "Do the Chest Hair Pirates often attack other pirate crews?"

"Not really."

"How could Chase Hail possibly think highly of little pirates like us whose bounties haven't even broken ten million?"

The captain's tone was dripping with bitterness.

"But..."

He shook the newspaper in his hand, his smile carrying a hint of ill intent.

"Didn't the Marines just graduate a new batch?"

On the front page of the World Economy News Paper,

the enlarged photograph showed row after row of young, resolute faces. Dressed in Marine uniforms, they stood proudly in neat formation, solemnly swearing an oath beneath a massive banner bearing the word "Justice."

At the top was a bold, black headline—<Upholding the Original Aspiration of Absolute Justice: A New Generation of Marines Reports to Their Posts>.

Beside it was a graduation-season report from the Marine school, heavy with official rhetoric.

"You've never seen them before. Those interns are rabid dogs!"

The captain clicked his tongue several times and shook his head with the air of an experienced veteran.

"They'll do anything to earn merit!"

"I heard that if they rack up enough achievements, they can become full-fledged Marines right after graduation or something... Anyway, they're all lunatics who don't value their lives."

"Hehe~ Those Chest Hair Pirates must have been too scared to make a living on the shipping routes, so they came after us instead."

"Isn't that bad?" Jogo asked steadily, without stopping his movements, after having the captain add a dumbbell plate to his back. "Aren't you afraid of running into the Marines?"

The captain burst out laughing. "What's there to fear?"

He pulled out the West Blue Times and tapped the paper with his finger.

"Look at this!"

Jogo glanced up.

The front page of the West Blue Times was plastered with the flag of the Flower Country, with the pirate flag of the Happo Navy beneath it.

Above them was a prominent bold headline—<The Happo Navy Changes Generations: Who Will Become the Next Pillar?>.

"A few years ago, Garp supposedly had a huge fight with Chinjao, the leader of the Happo Navy. Somehow, he offended the Happo Navy badly."

The captain swayed his bottle.

"Now the Marines and the Happo Navy can't stand each other."

"And with the Happo Navy changing generations right now, hahahaha, who knows how badly they'll fight!"

"As long as we stay off the trade routes and don't dock too often, the Marines won't have the time to bother with us."

Jogo knew about this.

Back then, Garp had punched Chinjao's pointed head so hard that it retracted into his body.

That directly caused Chinjao to lose the ability to open the treasure vault buried beneath the Ice Continent, and the entire Happo Navy had declined year after year as a result.

Looking at it that way, it truly was a deep-seated grudge.

At this point, the captain sighed as well.

"The three major powers of the West Blue... With the Marines and Happo Navy locked in conflict, we really have become nothing more than little pirates. Even getting caught in the edges could get us wiped out..."

"Three major powers?" Jogo sharply caught the key phrase. "Who's the third?"

"The third... the third..."

The captain drank for a few seconds in a daze, but his expression gradually darkened. He glanced at Jogo, who was still training.

"The third is the one you need to watch out for most."

He spoke each word distinctly. "The Five Great Mafia Families of the West Blue underworld!"

Jogo raised a brow. "Oh?"

"I heard the Chest Hair Pirates have some connection to one of the Five Great Mafia Families, the Capone Family." The captain frowned deeply.

"You defeated the Chest Hair Pirates, so they might come looking for trouble with you... Though right now, they're more likely to go looking for trouble with Ohara."

"Anyway, don't underestimate these people."

"Some of them have bounties higher than pirates, and their influence spreads across the West Blue. Their intelligence network is extensive, and assassination is what they do best."

"If you offend them, you can basically forget about docking anywhere on land in the West Blue."

Jogo's movements paused slightly.

So this was the trouble behind the Chest Hair Pirates?

The Capone Family...

He recalled the Fire Tank Pirates from the original anime.

As one of the Eleven Supernovas, the captain of the Fire Tank Pirates seemed to be the then-head of the Capone Family—Capone Bege, the user of the Castle-Castle Fruit!

He really is a troublesome opponent, Jogo thought.

Most importantly, he was fairly capable of countering someone who relied on Conqueror's Haki like Jogo did.

After all, even an ordinary person could resist the suppression of Conqueror's Haki as long as they were close enough to Jogo in strength and possessed sufficiently firm willpower.

Not to mention a Devil Fruit user.

"Willpower is an amplifier. It can amplify the soul's resistance."

"And Devil Fruits directly and drastically strengthen the soul's base attributes. Then, once willpower amplifies that... Theoretically, when the gap in strength isn't large, Conqueror's Haki would need to output several times more power to suppress a Devil Fruit user."

"But in reality, that's basically impossible."

Jogo had studied this matter thoroughly.

"There is an upper limit to a person's Conqueror's Haki. It isn't as if you can simply increase the output severalfold whenever you want."

It could be said that the opponents Jogo feared most right now were those who could resist his Conqueror's Haki and suppress him in either close combat or at range.

If he had to rank opponents from strong to weak:

Anyone who had awakened any type of Haki or possessed a Devil Fruit, plus proficiency in close combat or long-range sniping, could be ranked as strong.

They were the kind of opponents he was best off not confronting head-on.

Martial arts experts with firm willpower could be ranked as top-tier.

A fight against them would be evenly matched and depend heavily on condition and who struck first.

Everyone else was trash.

They could not withstand even one round of Jogo's Haki impact.

As for the Capone Family,

judging by the strength displayed in the original story, Capone Bege's two subordinates, Gotti and Vito, were both New World-level powerhouses. Including him, a Devil Fruit user, they were a force not to be underestimated even on a Yonko's territory.

Although Luffy had not even been born yet, these people were certainly far weaker than they would be in the story.

But they were still enough to pose a threat to Jogo.

Could Ohara really defeat opponents of that level?

I'm a little worried... but for now, all I can do is trust the old man's wisdom, Jogo thought.

Since the old man had not allowed him to get involved, he must already have a solution.

The captain thought the same way.

"Don't worry too much. Ohara isn't easy to mess with either."

"Conflicts between forces like these usually don't involve everyone going all out."

"They'll send their subordinates to fight, then offer some compensation, and that'll be the end of it. Hehe, old Clow has been playing this game for a long time."

Jogo said nothing and simply continued training.

For him, the most urgent matter was not getting involved in these messy conflicts, but improving his strength as quickly as possible.

"For me right now, the fastest way to improve my strength is to awaken Observation Haki and Armament Haki!"

"After all, the same trait produces different effects when equipped to different types of Haki."

"Only after all three types of Haki are awakened can the Haki Panel reach its maximum potential."

"Unfortunately... Awakening Haki on my own is still too difficult."

Even with his peerless talent, he had yet to awaken it. That meant he could only find another way.

Jogo had long made up his mind—if he wanted to learn Haki, he needed a famous teacher!

As everyone knew, there were three famous teachers on these seas... Though at this point in time, there should be four.

Two of them were in the Marines: Black Arm Zephyr and Iron Fist Garp.

Both were approachable, patient, and excellent teachers.

But unless Jogo joined the Marines, there was no way he could receive instruction from either of them.

The other two were pirates.

One believed Haki was supreme to the bone: Kaido of the Beasts, Teacher Kaido.

To receive guidance from this famous teacher, one needed a solid foundation in sit-ups. Jogo did not think he was quite up to it.

That left the simplest option: the old gambling addict of the Sabaody Archipelago, Dark King Rayleigh, Teacher Rayleigh!

Jogo was heading for him.

Therefore, he did not intend to linger in the West Blue for long.

"Since it isn't such a huge problem, I'll leave it to the old man."

"My destination is the Sabaody Archipelago!"