"...That's the situation." The Den Den Mushi perfectly imitated Sengoku's furious and anxious expression, his features all scrunched together.
"Fleet Admiral Kong's orders are: do not actively participate in the battle. Wait until both sides are weakened, then launch our attack!"
"Understood." Garp responded in a low voice and hung up the call.
The sea wind howled past, sweeping up several pieces of scrap paper on the deck. Garp maintained his casual stance, the bag of rice crackers in his hand rustling loudly in the wind. He kept his head down, the shadow cast by his hat brim hiding his eyes.
The Marines, who had just been stifling laughter moments ago over Kane's special training beatdown, now had their smiles frozen on their faces.
No one spoke.
A suffocating pressure spread abruptly from the man in the suit without any warning.
The dust in the deck crevices stopped swirling, and even the news birds circling in the distance seemed to sense a natural predator, letting out mournful cries as they desperately flapped their wings to flee the airspace.
Kane felt as if a lead weight were pressing on his chest, his breathing becoming thick and labored.
The frivolous uncle who was always laughing and stealing snacks from his subordinates was gone.
In his place stood the Navy Iron Fist who had repeatedly driven Roger into corners, the strongest gatekeeper of the Marines in this era.
"Bogard."
Garp's voice was low, betraying no emotion.
"Here."
His adjutant Bogard adjusted his sunglasses, having already closed his notebook, his hand resting on the hilt of the sword at his waist.
"Notify the engine room. All power furnaces at full capacity. Spare no cost, full speed ahead to the Edd War sea area."
Garp turned around, his Justice Coat flapping loudly in the windless air.
"Also, contact the nearest G-3 and G-5 branches. Have them handle the perimeter blockade. They don't need to participate in the battle. At that level of combat... they'd just be going to their deaths."
"Yes, sir!"
As the orders were given, the Dog-head warship beneath their feet let out a groan of strain. The massive power furnaces began operating beyond their limits, the entire ship cutting through towering waves as it charged toward that sea in the New World.
In the corner.
Kane, who had just finished his special training with bruises covering his face, leaned against a pile of ropes. While he appeared to be panting in pain, his fingers were actually digging fiercely into his thigh, using the sharp pain to forcibly suppress the mad impulse to grin.
"The Edd War..."
As a transmigrator, he knew all too well what was about to happen.
This was the final echo of the old era, the prelude to the dawn of the Great Pirate Era!
Shiki the Golden Lion, commander of the Flying Pirate Fleet, wanting to dominate the world, had invited Roger to join him. After being refused, he led his massive fleet of dozens of warships to completely surround the Roger Pirates, who had only a single ship.
By normal logic, the Roger Pirates should have been doomed.
But it was in this battle that a sudden, completely unexpected catastrophic storm destroyed more than half of the Golden Lion's fleet, allowing Roger to miraculously break through the encirclement.
Because of this accident, the Golden Lion even had the misfortune of getting a ship's rudder stuck in his head, greatly reducing his strength and causing him to withdraw from the race for the title of Pirate King from then on.
Everyone says Roger was just lucky.
Others claim it was the destiny of the D. clan.
But now...
Kane lowered his head, staring at his palm.
A faint, almost imperceptible cyan vortex danced at his fingertips—the embryo of a storm.
"What if that storm wasn't a natural disaster?"
"What if the battle that decided the fate of the world happened because I gave it a push from behind?"
Kane licked his chapped lips, his eyes gleaming with calculation.
The balance on his system panel was just over 80,000 points. To live comfortably in this monster-infested New World and exchange for those legendary divine artifacts and abilities, this amount was far from enough.
And now, a massive goldmine lay ahead.
Based on the system's nature, the core calculation of "Violation Value" relied on influence and the Subversion Coefficient.
What if he not only participated in this war but even used his Devil Fruit ability to orchestrate that storm?
Right before the eyes of Garp, Roger, and Golden Lion—the pinnacles of the old era—forcibly rewriting the course of the battle.
"The Subversion Coefficient... would probably go off the charts, right?"
Kane swallowed hard, already picturing the Violation Value column scrolling frantically before settling into a long string of astronomical digits.
Top-tier Haki, god-like abilities, black-tech artifacts...
After this job, I'll buy them all!
"Kane!"
A furious shout interrupted Kane's daydream.
Garp had somehow appeared at the ship's bow, his gaze fixed intently on the gloomy horizon in the distance.
"Here, Vice Admiral!"
Kane snapped to attention, immediately adopting an expression of fearless determination as he responded loudly.
"To the Lookout Platform!"
Garp pointed upward at the towering mast that pierced the clouds.
"Even though your Haki is still half-baked and you're useless in a fight, no one has a better sense of airflow than you with your Devil Fruit ability!"
"Keep your eyes glued to that sea! I want to know exactly where that bastard Roger is!"
"Yes, sir! Mission guaranteed!"
Kane couldn't have asked for more.
That position was the perfect vantage point to unleash his ability and control the entire situation.
"Storm Wings!"
Whoosh!
Cyan air currents instantly condensed behind him, forming a pair of translucent wings.
After days of intense training, Kane's mastery over his Devil Fruit ability had clearly leveled up. The wings' patterns were sharper, their edges even carrying a hint of cutting sharpness.
With a flap of his wings, Kane shot upward like a cyan peregrine falcon, tracing an erratic zigzag through the gale before landing steadily atop the warship's highest Lookout Platform.
...
The warship raced through the raging waves of the New World.
As they drew closer to the Edd War sea, the surrounding environment grew increasingly hostile.
The once-azure seawater had turned into an abyssal black. Howling winds swept across the surface, and mountainous waves crashed relentlessly against the warship's hull.
The sky was choked with dark clouds, violet lightning snaking through them. Deafening thunderclaps boomed, each flash illuminating the sea in a stark, ghostly white.
It was the fury of nature.
Kane sat cross-legged at the Lookout Platform's peak, letting the torrential rain soak him completely.
For ordinary people, this was the apocalypse.
But for him, it was paradise.
Every restless particle in the air, every chaotic current of wind, whispered information to him.
Closer.
Even closer.
"Distance to contact... fifty nautical miles."
Kane's eyes snapped open, a vertical cyan streak igniting deep within his pupils.
He didn't need Observation Haki.
Through the layered rain curtains and towering waves, through the feedback of massively displaced air currents, he had already "seen" that massive fleet.
Kane licked his rain-soaked lips, a flicker of fanaticism flashing in his eyes.
At their current speed, it would take at least one or two hours to reach them. By then, it would be too late. If he waited until they were truly "mutually wounded" as Fleet Admiral Kong had said, the Violation Value gains would definitely be greatly reduced.
If he was going to do it, he'd go big.
A cold smile formed in Kane's heart as his right hand quietly pressed against the crossbeam at the top of the mast.
Hum—!
A wave of energy instantly spread through the mast, covering the entire warship.
It was the rhythm of the wind.
"Since this is the prelude to a storm, it's only logical for the wind to be a bit stronger, right?"
Devil Fruit ability—[Favorable Wind · Super Acceleration]!
BOOM!!!
The dog-head warship, already tossing in the raging waves, suddenly lurched as if kicked from behind. The entire stern sank sharply downward, followed by the bow rising high into the air!
"Waaaah! What's happening?!"
"Why did the ship suddenly accelerate?!"
The Marines on deck were caught completely off guard, tumbling over each other like rolling gourds.
Behind the warship, the chaotic gales seemed to obey the command of some monarch, converging into a terrifying unidirectional thrust that pressed firmly against the ship's sails and stern!
The white waves parted by the hull instantly stretched into two straight tangent lines, and due to the extreme speed, the seawater emitted a piercing tearing sound!
The Den Den Mushi in the engine room screamed: "Reporting to Vice Admiral Bogard! The power furnace... the power furnace readings are normal, but our speed has broken through fifty knots! And it's still rising! This isn't scientific! How can we achieve this speed in such heavy waves?!"
Bogard gripped the railing tightly, watching the wildly spinning compass and speedometer in his hands. For the first time, his usually calm face showed terror.
"This is too fast..."
He abruptly looked up toward the somewhat blurred figure at the top of the lookout post in the wind and rain.
Was it that kid?!
But this wasn't the end.
"Only this much speed? That's not enough." Kane grinned, sensing the distance through the wind. "If Admiral Sengoku catches up, the show won't be as entertaining."
"Let's go... even faster!"
The airflow wings behind him suddenly doubled in size as he fully manipulated the wind pressure within ten kilometers, creating a continuously moving "low-pressure zone" in front
of the warship.
Push from behind, pull from the front!
BOOM—!
A sound approaching a sonic boom exploded across the sea surface.
The entire massive steel warship actually lifted briefly into the air, performing "leaps" across the turbulent waves.
"Fifty nautical miles... ten minutes! Just ten minutes!"