Sabaody Archipelago, Area 51.
"Doffy, looks like the people hunting us have finally disappeared."
Trebol spoke with snot hanging from his nose, his face full of excitement.
Doflamingo sat sunk into a sofa, his body hidden in shadow, making his expression impossible to see.
But his signature laugh still echoed through the room.
"Fuffuffu… Something huge happened in Mary Geoise. Even more people died this time than when we made our move."
"Doffy, the news hasn't been confirmed yet."
Hearing Doflamingo's words, Trebol quickly reminded him.
"The fact that we can hear it from here already proves plenty. They definitely don't want this kind of news leaking out."
"Then what do we do next, Doffy?"
Trebol looked at Doflamingo, who had become gloomier than before, and asked again.
"The Hunter Exam is about to begin. We'll go join the fun."
"Maybe we can just join them directly."
"No need. For now, all we have to do is head to Sky Island in secret."
Doflamingo still felt fear toward Cyrus's overwhelming strength.
More than that, he felt this Hunter Exam might be hiding a deeper purpose.
They did not have many places left where they could safely stay.
If they only wanted to hide their names and live quietly, they might be able to manage it.
But Doflamingo had no intention of hiding for the rest of his life.
If taking some risk could change their situation, then he was willing to gamble.
"Got it, Doffy."
Trebol did not raise any more objections.
And on this sea, Doflamingo was far from the only person thinking this way.
...
On Thriller Bark, a crowd of zombies surrounded several figures.
"This is the third group already."
Floating in midair, Ghost Princess Perona looked at the Guild Hunters lying all over the ground, her small face drooping with frustration.
"We can't stay here anymore."
Gecko Moria was getting a headache too.
He had defeated these Guild Hunters, but he did not dare kill them.
If killing them only drew more Hunters, that would still be manageable. But if it drew that man here again, then Moria was not confident he would survive!
"We're going back to Paradise," Gecko Moria said through gritted teeth. "To Sky Island."
"Piracy has no future anymore. We might as well become Hunters too."
Hearing those words come from Moria left Perona and the others staring at one another.
His status as one of the Seven Warlords might have become meaningless, but Gecko Moria was still a notorious pirate.
Hearing him declare that piracy had no future was enough to leave his crew wondering whether they had heard him correctly.
"But we really are pirates, and we've already met that man before."
Perona still shuddered whenever she remembered their encounter with Cyrus several months earlier.
The first attack on Mary Geoise had not happened yet, and Cyrus's name had not spread across the entire sea, but his strength had already been terrifying.
Hawkeye had even been traveling with him at the time.
"Captain, he already knows we're pirates," Perona reminded him quietly. "And he's the chairman of the Hunter Guild."
Moria bared his teeth and looked around at his remaining crew.
"We can't keep living as pirates unless we find somewhere to hide for the rest of our lives."
Moria had lost his nerve again—or perhaps he had never truly recovered it after losing to Kaido.
He had survived one setback after another, but he no longer had the ambition to keep challenging the sea.
Besides, they all knew how aggressively the Marines and the Hunter Guild were hunting pirates now.
The Hunters who had come after them so far were not especially powerful, but sooner or later, someone far stronger would appear.
"Changing our identity might be the only way out."
Moria rubbed his round belly, his eyes flickering with thought.
"Don't forget, that crocodile used to be a Warlord just like me. Now he's the Hunter Guild's vice-chairman."
That made Perona and the others pause.
When he put it that way, perhaps the idea was not completely ridiculous.
"Should we give it a try?" Dr. Hogback spoke cautiously.
"The Hunter Guild is making such a huge spectacle out of this exam that all kinds of people are bound to enter. Even if we can't officially join, winning one of the prizes would still be worthwhile. They're offering Devil Fruits."
The others were not particularly desperate for Devil Fruit powers, but no one could deny how valuable the fruits were.
"Perona will follow whatever Moria-sama decides."
Holding her small parasol, Perona drifted back and forth through the air as she looked at Moria.
Moria had raised her from childhood, and she saw him as both a captain and something close to a father.
"Then it's decided. Turn us around and head back to Paradise."
Moria gave the order, and Thriller Bark slowly began to change course.
…
More and more people across the sea were beginning to think like Moria and Doflamingo.
Whatever their previous identities, they wanted to try their luck in the Hunter Exam.
Winning a Devil Fruit could transform an ordinary person into a powerful fighter overnight, while becoming a genuine Hunter was something many people now dreamed of.
That was especially true for those who idolized strength.
Cyrus himself was still active across the sea, and he had become a living symbol of just how far a person could rise.
There was no shortage of people who admired him.
Cyrus had not yet left for Wano, but the message he asked Morgans to deliver had already reached the Marines.
Aboard Sengoku's flagship, the highest-ranking Marine officers had gathered in the conference room.
The atmosphere was heavy enough to make every breath feel restrained.
"That is the current situation. Morgans also mentioned Kaido. He never said it outright, but Kaido has most likely died at Cyrus's hands."
Vice Admiral Tsuru finished her report with a grave expression, then fell silent.
Everyone around the table looked equally troubled.
Whitebeard and Big Mom had already been sent to Impel Down by Cyrus, and now Kaido might be dead as well.
Under normal circumstances, the fall of those three monsters would have been excellent news for the Marines.
But with Cyrus still standing above the sea, the balance of power had not improved much from their perspective.
More importantly, none of that was the immediate problem.
They might soon be facing Cyrus themselves.
Crunch. Crunch.
The crisp sound of senbei breaking interrupted the silence. Garp sat in his chair with a large bag in his hands, chewing without pause.
When he noticed everyone looking at him, his mouth stopped for a moment before he shook his head.
"Don't look at me. I'm not young anymore. I exchanged blows with Cyrus at Impel Down, and I could tell I wasn't his match, even if I went all out."
Garp shook his head so hard that crumbs sprayed from his mouth in every direction.
"That man has reached a level where numbers no longer matter to him," Kizaru said, pursing his lips.
"Anyone who isn't strong enough probably can't even get close to him. His mastery of the Flame-Flame Fruit is frightening. Even magma burns away quickly in those flames."
Akainu's expression darkened at once.
Kizaru's words sounded suspiciously aimed at him, but there was nothing he could say in response because they were true.
He had felt it himself during their last battle.
Some time had passed since then.
It had not been very long, but Cyrus's rate of growth was absurd. He was almost certainly stronger now than he had been back then.
"I wouldn't be much help either," Kuzan said, shaking his head. "Ice can counter fire to a certain extent, but the reverse is also true. Since he's stronger than me, his flames would overwhelm my ice."
The other Vice Admirals exchanged uneasy looks as two Admirals openly admitted they could not handle Cyrus, but none of them spoke.
"He may be difficult to deal with, but sooner or later, we'll still have to face him," Sengoku said, seemingly unconcerned by Kizaru and Kuzan's lack of confidence.
"If you ask me, we should just watch," Garp replied, pointing in the direction of Wano. "Letting those monsters spread across the sea won't do anyone any good. If Cyrus wants to get rid of them, let him."
By now, the Marines knew what had happened to the people inside Wano.
They still looked human, but they had become violently unstable, almost like monsters, and their regenerative ability was horrifying.
Even the Marines found them extremely difficult to handle, and anyone who approached too closely would immediately be attacked.
For the moment, the fleet could only keep its distance from the demon-infested country.
Garp could say something like that, but the others could not.
This operation had come directly from the World Government, and the Marines still had to obey its orders.
They had never possessed much freedom to act on their own.
"We can't keep avoiding him forever," Sengoku said with a shake of his head.
He agreed with Garp in principle, but unlike Garp, he had little room to ignore his orders.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, nearly all of Marine Headquarters' strongest officers are gathered here," Vice Admiral Chaton said from the side, carrying the same laid-back air as Kizaru. "Are you saying all of us together still can't deal with one man?"
Several Vice Admirals showed their agreement.
He had a point.
Almost every top fighter in the Marines was present.
Could all of them truly be powerless against a single person?
And if that were the case, what purpose did the Marines even serve?
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