Ten thousand meters beneath the sea, the light of Sunlight Tree Eve penetrated the bubble membrane, bathing the streets of Fish-Man Island in a warm, pale gold.
Aaron Ball soaked in a hot spring at Ryugu Palace, with a chilled Sea-Current Brew beside him, handed over by Prince Manboshi.
His body was submerged in the hot spring, leaving only his shoulders and head above the water. His short, silvery-white hair was damp with steam and plastered to his forehead. His eyes were half closed, tiny droplets clinging to his eyelashes, and his whole body was completely relaxed.
Meanwhile, in the distant New World, the sky over Hachinosu was a heavy gray.
More than ten thousand pirates were crammed into a single harbor.
The sailors glared at one another, their hands constantly gripping their weapons.
The tavern brawls had gone from three or four a day to thirty or forty, from fists and feet to blades, and from blades to fights to the death.
Every morning, people were found in the alleys. Some had lost hands or feet; others had lost their lives.
Whitebeard had issued an absolute order forbidding infighting. But giving an order was one thing; enforcing it was another.
Telling pirates accustomed to lawlessness not to fight was like telling fish not to swim or birds not to fly.
They simmered with anger, frustration, and the irritation of having to squeeze in with all these bastards, like fighting cocks stuffed into the same cage, ready to flare up at any moment.
And amid this chaos, someone was quietly sowing seeds.
When night fell, a tavern in Hachinosu's East District blazed with light.
The tavern had originally been one of the island's largest buildings. Once the Crazy Bee Pirates' headquarters, it had now been converted into a place offering