Ares' mastery of the Elbaf Spear did not come by chance.
It was forged in the land of giants.
To push Ares beyond his limits, Marshall D. Teach had personally suggested that he travel to Elbaf. In the year following the Swordsmanship Tournament, Ares spent most of his time there, throwing himself into relentless training.
He fought the giants.
Again and again.
The warriors of Elbaf were simple in nature yet fiercely devoted to battle. They respected strength above all else. Ares' arrival was not met with suspicion, but with enthusiasm.
He proved himself the only way that mattered.
Through combat.
During that time, Ares absorbed the combat philosophy of Elbaf, refining his own style with every clash. It was through this process that he learned one of their most feared techniques.
The Elbaf Spear.
A devastating killing move, designed for those with immense physical presence. For someone like Ares, it was the perfect weapon.
Elbaf did not hold back.
By the time his training ended, Ares had earned not just experience, but the friendship of the giants themselves.
The Nightfall Pirates did not waste this opportunity.
Whenever supplies were sent to Ares, they deliberately included additional provisions for the giants. Food, equipment, and materials that Elbaf lacked were delivered in generous quantities.
Relationships were built not only through strength, but through mutual benefit.
As a result, the bond between the Nightfall Pirates and Elbaf grew steadily stronger.
At the very least, it became far easier to recruit giants.
The treatment offered by the Nightfall Pirates was exceptional. Custom-forged armor, oversized weapons, and ample food supplies removed the greatest obstacle giants faced when venturing to sea.
Even among the giant race, many longed for adventure.
But their size made survival difficult. Without sufficient strength or resources, starvation at sea was a real threat. Only a place like Elbaf, rich in Sea Kings and natural resources, could sustain them in large numbers.
Now, two giants had already joined the Nightfall Pirates.
Teach's vision of forming a unit of eight giant "goalies" was no longer a distant dream.
Not everyone watched this development calmly.
Charlotte Linlin, known as Big Mom, narrowed her eyes as she observed Ares from afar.
Her interest was obvious.
It was not Ares himself that drew her attention.
It was the giants.
The missing piece in Totto Land had always been the giant race.
Her past, especially her childhood, had left her with a deep and complicated obsession with them. Yet that same past had also sealed her failure.
She had killed one of Elbaf's revered elders.
From that moment on, reconciliation became impossible.
The giants despised her.
Now, seeing the Nightfall Pirates succeed where she had failed stirred something unpleasant within her.
Envy.
Even jealousy.
No other pirate force possessed the strength of the giants, not even the crew of Edward Newgate. At most, they had individuals like Little Oars Jr., but he was an exception, not a representation of the race itself.
And now, the Nightfall Pirates had begun to bridge that gap.
Far away, at the Marine stronghold.
Inside the G-4 Branch, the aftermath of battle lingered heavily in the air.
Monkey D. Garp stood with arms crossed, his usual carefree expression replaced by quiet concern.
"Zephyr, are you holding up?"
Before him stood Zephyr, his body visibly worn, though his posture remained firm.
"I'm fine," Zephyr replied.
The words came easily.
The truth did not.
His chest had partially caved in from Ares' strike. Several bones were cleanly broken, and internal damage lingered beneath the surface. The Elbaf Spear had lived up to its reputation.
Beside them, Tsuru frowned slightly.
"That asthma of yours is the real problem," she said quietly. "If it flares up again in the middle of a fight, the consequences will be worse than any injury."
It was not something that could be ignored.
For ordinary soldiers, it was a weakness.
For someone of Zephyr's level, it was a fatal flaw.
Even now, the outcome of his battle with Ares remained uncertain. Without that sudden attack, the result could have gone either way.
But reality did not allow for hypotheticals.
Zephyr himself had only become aware of the condition recently. It had never shown before, only emerging under the strain of prolonged, high-intensity combat.
And time was not on his side.
Three days later, Kaido launched another assault.
There was no room to recover.
No time to rest.
The war pressed forward relentlessly.
Across the New World, chaos deepened.
The Golden Sea conflict might have shown signs of reaching a conclusion, but beyond it, the greater war had no end in sight.
Pirates poured in from every direction.
From the Four Seas.
From Paradise.
They flooded into the New World in waves.
The Marines, stretched thin and battered, could barely defend what remained under their control, let alone push back.
At the same time, the Nightfall Pirates continued their expansion.
Within half a month, they had claimed five islands.
The pace was controlled, deliberately restrained. They targeted weaker territories first, advancing step by step rather than overextending.
Only two islands chose to resist.
The other three surrendered without a fight.
Faced with overwhelming power, resistance was nothing more than suicide.
The remaining forces of the Nightfall Pirates were more than enough. Even with multiple fronts active, their core strength remained terrifying.
Figures like Iron Wallace, Emperor Crocodile Slada, Mostima, and Mobius held the line effortlessly. Each of them was a well-known powerhouse in the New World.
Against such a force, surrender became the rational choice.
Their true enemy was never these smaller factions.
It was the domain of Edward Newgate.
Though direct conflict had yet to begin, the expanding territory of the Nightfall Pirates was already pressing against Whitebeard's borders.
It was only a matter of time.
Night fell.
In a dimly lit chamber, Teach leaned back in a large bath filled with ice water. His body was bare, steam rising faintly as the cold soothed his muscles after intense training.
A Den Den Mushi sat nearby.
Stephanie's voice came through it.
"No new developments?" Teach asked lazily, eyes half-closed.
On the other end, Stephanie sat in the upper level of a grand casino, gazing out over a city glowing with lights. The scene resembled the famous Glittering Street of the West Blue.
Her domain had expanded rapidly.
With covert support from the World Government and open backing from the Nightfall Pirates, her influence spread like wildfire. Casinos bearing her name appeared across multiple islands.
The title "Glittering Queen" had begun to circulate widely.
"There might be movements," she replied softly, "but I can't access that level of information."
Teach let out a low chuckle.
"That's expected. Once they know there's a leak, they won't let anything slip easily."
Stephanie fell silent for a moment.
Then she asked the question that lingered in her heart.
"Are you confident?"
Her tone carried a trace of concern.
Her position was delicate. Though she maintained ties with the World Government, her cooperation with Teach had already crossed a line she could not step back from.
If the World Government discovered the truth, her fate would be sealed.
At the same time, she did not want them to win.
Not anymore.
Freedom, once glimpsed, was difficult to abandon.
Teach opened his eyes, a faint smile forming.
"Of course."
His voice was calm, yet absolute.
"No matter how this plays out, the ending won't change. The only difference is how much it costs."
He had already considered every possibility.
Every hidden card.
Every potential variable.
From the beginning, he had never doubted the outcome.
Victory was inevitable.
The only question was how the world would look when the dust finally settled.