The New World, aboard the Moby Dick.
The great white whale of a ship rocked gently with the waves, but the deck lacked the usual clamor of a family feast. Clutching a thin intelligence report with his brow furrowed, Marco strode toward the mountain-like figure at the bow.
"Pops." He handed over the report, his voice unusually grave. "We have news from the West Blue. It's... even more astonishing than we imagined."
Edward Newgate-the man hailed as the "World's Strongest Man"-slowly opened his eyes. His signature crescent-shaped white mustache stirred slightly in the sea breeze, and the hand that took the report was steady as a rock. Yet as his gaze swept over the words on the page-[Lü Bu split the sky, Dian Wei shattered mountains, Ma Chao broke armies, Guan Yu subdued the world with his azure dragon]-even his eyes, accustomed to every kind of storm, could not help showing the faintest flicker of surprise.
Especially the final description of Guan Yu and Lü Bu's duel: "Two suns shared the sky, dragons battled in the wilds, and the aftershocks split the sky for three hundred li." Such might was far beyond what an ordinary clash between powerful fighters could describe.
"Gurararara." Whitebeard's low laughter broke the silence, carrying a barely perceptible note of reflection. "A place like the West Blue actually raised monsters like these? Several Admiral-level fighters. Gurararara, this sea really never gets boring."
He set down the report and looked toward the surging waves in the distance, as though he could see through the Calm Belt to that unfamiliar stretch of sea that had suddenly risen to prominence. "A country?" he mused. "Not a pirate crew, not the Revolutionary Army, but Chen Yu of 'Hua Country,' wielding such terrifying military power while flying the banner of 'governing