Reactions from All Sides

Marine Headquarters' massive World Military Draft was a major event that drew the attention of the entire world.

Its impact was comparable to, if not greater than, when Sengoku, then serving as Fleet Admiral, had established the Shichibukai system.

This World Military Draft broke from the traditional methods of naval recruitment. The Marine higher-ups might have needed to give greater consideration to stability, but for pirates, this was absolutely not good news.

Somewhere in the Grand Line.

A two-masted ship cut through the waves. Even more striking was the red dragon figurehead at its bow, while a pirate flag bearing a skull with crossed swords and two red stripes fluttered in the wind.

Anyone who saw it would surely cry out in surprise, because this was the ship of the Four Emperors' Red-Hair Pirates, the Red Force.

Benn Beckman looked over the newspaper, then turned to Red-Hair, who was drinking. "I didn't expect the Marines to abandon tradition and conduct a World Military Draft. Marine Headquarters will become stronger than it has ever been in any previous era. We need to be wary of this."

"Haha, as long as we've got you thinking about that stuff, we can just drink. Besides, even if the Marines as a whole are stronger now than they were before the Paramount War, there's no need to worry for the time being. We won't be facing them head-on right now." Red-Hair took a drink and laughed.

Benn Beckman smiled and shrugged helplessly. His captain really was a headache. Ignoring the group of people coming over to join the feast, a contemplative look appeared in his eyes as though he were calculating this event's impact on the balance of the world.

Whole Cake Island, Totto Land, in the New World.

One figure inspired terror. She was tall and obese, with thick lipstick and light purple eyeshadow, a pirate hat on her head, and a billowing pink dress. She was none other than one of the Four Emperors, Big Mom, Charlotte Linlin. She was happily eating cakes and pastries, while the mess around her was the result of her earlier rage when no delicious sweets had been made.

"Peros~ Mama, Marine Headquarters' World Military Draft is nearing its end. Shouldn't we make some preparations?" Charlotte Perospero, the eldest son of the Charlotte Family and one of the thirty-four ministers, the Candy Minister, looked up and asked.

"Sweets~ Delicious sweets." Big Mom did not take in a word he said. She was immersed in the deliciousness of the cake, her face full of bliss.

At the same time, in a certain country, there stood a tall, powerfully built figure with shoulder-length black hair, a pair of horns, long whiskers like a dragon's, and a scale-pattern tattoo on his left arm.

His upper body was bare, with a purple shirt hanging from his waist. He wore loose dark green pants below, with a shimenawa rope tied around his waist. He looked like an ancient demon god.

The Four Emperor Kaido's eyes were filled with madness. His voice was like rolling thunder, even scattering the dark clouds overhead. "That World Military Draft is useless. No one can stop our plan, Joker! Get started already, I can barely wait!"

"Fufufufufu, don't worry. No one can stop our plan. We'll achieve our goal very soon." Standing opposite him was a blond man in sunglasses, wearing a pink feather coat and cropped trousers. He kicked at a small stone with his pointed shoes and let out his distinctive laugh as he looked at Kaido.

Elsewhere, in a prison holding captives, Kidd, with his red spiky hair, was covered in blood as he was imprisoned in a cell belonging to Kaido's forces. He remained expressionless at the sounds outside.

Wuli walked alongside Hina, but to his surprise, she had brought him to the Marines' cafeteria. It seemed the celebration would be held here.

There were quite a lot of people inside. They were on the first floor and casually found a seat. Wuli then opened the system interface in his mind.

Sword Master: Lv2 (122/500)

Name: Wuli

Skills: Shigure Soen Ryu (Ultimate), Floating Rain Divine Wind Sword (99%)

Chivalry Points: 53

Mission: Participate in and pass the World Military Draft (200)

What puzzled Wuli was that he had clearly already passed the assessment, yet the World Military Draft mission in his system interface, worth a full 200 experience points, had not been completed.

What was going on? Didn't it say that participating in and passing the World Military Draft would complete the mission? Hadn't he already met the requirements?

"It'll be soon. Once the World Military Draft is over, Marine Headquarters should assign you a position. We just don't know what kind of position it'll be." Hina looked at Wuli.

"Right!" Wuli suddenly realized. Since the mission required him to participate in and pass the World Military Draft, he obviously still needed an official position. That would only be assigned after the draft ended. It seemed he had been too impatient.

When he looked up, he found Hina staring at him with a puzzled expression. Wuli felt a little embarrassed because he had shouted that "Right!" out loud on instinct.

"Ahem, it's nothing. What should we eat?" Wuli changed the subject.

Only when Hina began seriously considering it did Wuli breathe a sigh of relief. Then he thought about finally getting to try Marine food and could not help feeling happy.

They did not know that someone on the second floor was watching Hina. On the first floor, the Hypnotist Jango and Iron Fist Fullbody glared at Wuli with flames in their eyes, gritting their teeth. If looks could kill, Wuli would have died countless times over.

He actually came here for a candlelit dinner?!!