At this time, Ace was sixteen and Luffy was thirteen. Neither of them had the slightest idea that even before they set sail, someone had already begun coveting their hands and feet. If they had known, the two of them would probably have chased Ash down with knives just to thank him properly.
Time continued to pass quickly in the middle of everyone's busy lives. In the blink of an eye, another month had gone by.
That month was far from dull. The first piece of good news came from Sali's side. His wife was pregnant.
The entire village celebrated the news. The old village chief was so happy that he laughed until his face turned red, saying that the Okenbo family had finally gained an heir.
When the news spread across the Dawn Ship, Tsuki's expression immediately darkened.
He complained loudly to everyone, saying that the old man's words made it sound like their family would be completely finished if his brother did not have children. Had the old man forgotten that he still had a grandson who had not even reached adulthood yet?
On the other side, while everyone was joking and celebrating, the Dawn Ship continued to move steadily across the Grand Line. During this period, Ash visited several islands that he had never seen before.
Among all of them, the places that interested him the most were naturally the islands where the Straw Hat crew had trained for two years after the Summit War in the original storyline.
The first stop was Kuraigana Island, the territory of Dracule Mihawk.
Unfortunately, Mihawk was not there when Ash arrived. What greeted him instead was the eerie and abandoned ruins of the Shikkearu Kingdom and a group of strange baboons that carried enormous swords as if they were trained warriors. The entire place felt gloomy and unsettling, so Ash did not stay long before leaving.
The next destination was the Boin Archipelago.
From a distance, the islands looked beautiful, blooming like giant flowers floating on the sea. But the truth behind that beauty was far more dangerous. The entire archipelago was made up of massive carnivorous plants known as Stomach Barons.
Despite knowing how dangerous the place was, Ash became extremely interested the moment he heard that the plants inside the Allurement Forest produced food that could tempt anyone who saw it.
When it came to delicious food, Ash's interest instantly skyrocketed.
The Stomach Barons used the fragrance of those foods to attract sea beasts and even Sea Kings. Once enough prey gathered on the island, the plants would open their massive mouths and suddenly close their petals, swallowing everything inside.
Ash spent several days there without holding back. He ate his way through the island like someone on vacation rather than someone exploring a deadly trap.
After that, the Dawn Ship continued sailing and eventually reached Namakura Island, where the Harahetania Kingdom was located.
The kingdom was incredibly poor, but it was still famous across the first half of the Grand Line for a rather ridiculous reason. It was known as Lazy Man's Island.
Ash lost interest almost immediately after arriving. Since the Longarm Tribe had not invaded the island yet like they did in the original storyline, there was nothing worth staying for. He simply left a spatial coordinate there and returned to the Boin Archipelago.
A week later, the Dawn Ship arrived at Sword Mountain Island. Ash saw the Tenna Kaina Kingdom that had been completely built by the Longarm Tribe.
At first, seeing someone with three-jointed arms felt strange.
But when everyone around you had three-jointed arms, the feeling quickly changed from curiosity to discomfort.
After the novelty faded, Ash only felt disgusted. Even the idea of returning to the Boin Archipelago to enjoy more food suddenly lost its appeal.
Without hesitation, he returned to Gourmet Island.
The moment he picked up Robin and Bonney and prepared to head to Carnival Island to relax for a while, the Den Den Mushi suddenly rang again.
The moment he saw the snail's face, Ash felt his scalp go numb.
"I have been eating and drinking every day, doing absolutely nothing. Sali has been staying honestly at Twin Capes for nine months without going anywhere. If you don't believe me, go ask that old man Garp. He met Sali there last month."
Ash spoke so quickly that he did not even wait for the other side to say a single word.
The previous call had left a deep psychological shadow on him. Even after nine months, seeing Sengoku's Den Den Mushi still made him uncomfortable.
On the other side, Sengoku remained silent for a few seconds.
He was completely speechless at how openly Ash exposed everything without even trying to hide it. After calming his breathing, he finally spoke in a tired voice.
"This matter is indeed related to Sali, but the problem is not coming from him. I am calling you to warn you to be careful."
Ash froze for a moment, then immediately became serious.
"What happened?"
Sengoku sighed.
"One of the Four Emperors, Kaido, somehow learned that White Lion Sali and his bounty hunter subordinates are all Zoan-type Devil Fruit users."
Ash's eyes narrowed slightly.
"You also know that Kaido wants to build a pirate crew made entirely of Zoan users. After hearing this news, he planned to fly directly over the Red Line into Paradise and forcibly recruit Sali's group. Fortunately, Akainu discovered him while patrolling the sea and stopped him before he could cross."
Sengoku paused for a moment before continuing.
"But you should understand the situation in the New World. Kaido has just emerged victorious in a massive war and officially became one of the Four Emperors. He also gained the title of the Strongest Creature. In the New World, if Kaido does not provoke someone first, no one dares to provoke him. The Marines are different. Akainu cannot focus on Kaido alone."
After he finished speaking, Sengoku went silent again.
Ash understood immediately.
It was the Marines' responsibility to stop a Yonko from entering Paradise, but Akainu's fight with Kaido could not possibly be meaningless. By informing him in advance, Sengoku was doing him a favor while also making sure the effort Akainu put into stopping Kaido was not wasted.
Ash once joked that the people in the pirate world had very low political intelligence. But now he had to admit that those who truly played politics had extremely dirty hearts.
"So what you mean is that Kaido might still come to Paradise later to cause trouble for Sali. Next time, he might not be stopped by Akainu, right?"
"Exactly. Inform Sali and make sure he is prepared."
"Understood. Thanks for the information."
After hanging up the Den Den Mushi, Ash sat quietly for a while.
Then he suddenly laughed.
The most important sentence Sengoku had said was the very first one.
Kaido got the information from somewhere.
That alone revealed everything.
Sali's two most famous battles were defeating Crocodile and Doflamingo. During those battles, the New World was in complete chaos. Kaido could not possibly have paid attention to something happening in Paradise at the time.
That meant someone had deliberately passed the information to him afterward.
And with Kaido's personality, ordinary people would never dare provoke him like that.
At this point, only two people could have done it.
One was Charlotte Linlin, the one who gave Kaido the Azure Dragon Fruit in the past. The other was Donquixote Doflamingo, who had a long-term arms trade with Kaido and was known in the underworld as the Joker.
There was no connection between Big Mom and Sali's faction.
But there was absolute hatred between Sali and Doflamingo.
Did he even need to guess who leaked the information?
Ash laughed coldly.
It seemed that after more than nine months, Doflamingo's injuries had completely healed.
The irony was almost ridiculous. The original purpose of the Shichibukai system was to balance the Four Emperors and the Marines. Yet most of the Shichibukai stayed quietly in Paradise. Only Doflamingo had chosen to build his base at the entrance of the New World.
Now that Doflamingo was stirring up trouble again and Kaido had begun to take action, Ash did not mind making a trip to the New World himself.
After all, you cannot guard against a thief for a thousand days. But you can eliminate the thief completely.
More importantly, after several years of growth, Sali, Pini, Youki, and the others had already reached a bottleneck in their strength. Instead of letting them slowly struggle to break through on their own, it would be better to take them directly into the New World and test the results of the Hundred Teachings Class in real combat.
After making up his mind, Ash immediately gave the order.
Every member of the Dawn Faction began preparing for battle.
The moment had finally arrived. They were going to enter the New World.
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