Updated Shichibukai Candidates

In the first year after the explosive news was announced, the world did not collapse as civilians had initially imagined.

There were no out-of-control scenes of "Shichibukai rampaging through cities," nor was there any chaotic situation in which the Marines suffered a complete defeat.

On the contrary—

A strange balance emerged across the seas.

The once-rampant small pirate crews largely disappeared, and attack rates along certain routes dropped noticeably.

Some merchant ships even chose to sail close to "Shichibukai territory," asking only that they not run into truly insane pirates.

In port taverns, the discussion gradually shifted from "The government has gone mad" to—

"At least the shipping routes have been a little safer lately."

Of course, the price was plain to see.

The existence of those "legal pirates" was forced into becoming an accepted rule.

They were no longer criminals hunted by the entire world, but "official weapons" draped in gray.

The World Government had not been idle, either.

Since the Shichibukai nominally answered directly to Rock, their "member composition" became a new bargaining chip.

Whom to choose.

How to choose them.

That in itself was a calculation of power.

There were only three principles.

—They had to be strong enough.

—They had to possess a natural hostility toward the Marines.

—Ideally, they could become an unpredictable factor capable of restraining Rock when necessary.

Within a year, two names were successively added to the Shichibukai roster.

—Hanafuda.

—Dracule Mihawk.

The great pirate Hanafuda possessed a physique so powerful it was nearly monstrous.

His fighting style was savage and direct, concerned only with crushing his opponents.

He had once been surrounded by Marines while slaughtering a village, then escaped after killing several officers.

After that—

His hostility toward the Marines was practically written on his face.

That was precisely what