"Move, move! Patch every line into me! Boost the signal output!"
At the World Economy News Paper headquarters, Morgans was roaring himself hoarse at his staff. His bird face was lit with pure, manic excitement, every feather standing on end.
On the massive projection screen before him, the earth-shaking battle above Onigashima was being broadcast live.
From that black, myth-descended flying dreadnought, to Kael and Kaido's Conqueror's Haki collision that threatened to tear the heavens apart, to one legendary monster after another leaping off the ship like dumplings dropping into a boiling pot and pairing up to slaughter the Beasts Pirates' officers…
Every single frame sent Morgans trembling, inspiration exploding in his head like a volcano.
"My god… my god!" he babbled at the screen, incoherent with awe. "This is news! This is the kind of news that makes the world shake!"
What was he looking at?
That man of legend, the sea's taboo itself, the "Wave King," Aaron Kael, was finally no longer alone!
He had brought his crew.
He was officially announcing his existence to the entire world!
"World's Greatest Swordsman, Hawk-Eye Dracule Mihawk!"
"Desert King Crocodile!"
"Heavenly Yaksha, Donquixote Doflamingo!"
"Underworld Nightmare, Gecko Moria!"
"Golden Emperor, Gild Tesoro!"
"God of Skypiea, Enel!"
Every time Morgans spoke a name, his heart pounded harder.
"He's insane! Kael is completely insane! This isn't a pirate crew. This is an alliance made of kings!"
He could not contain himself anymore. Snatching up a Den Den Mushi, he issued orders to every branch office across the world.
"Listen up! Immediately, right now, broadcast this footage everywhere!
No cuts! No filters! I want every single person on this sea to witness this historic moment with their own eyes!"
"Boss! If we do that, we'll offend the World Government and the Beasts Pirates!" a subordinate warned, shaking.
"Offend them?" Morgans let out a strange laugh. "That's exactly the point! For big news, I'd throw away my life!"
"Headline! Headline will be… 'Wave King Descends on Wano, World Tree Pirates Declare Total War on Kaido of the Beasts!'"
"No, no! Not explosive enough!" Morgans immediately rejected his own line. "Make it… 'A New Emperor Ascends! The Legendary Pirate Aaron Kael Brings a Monster Legion to Rule the Seas!'"
"Zoom in! Get me close shots of those people! What kind of freak lineup is this!"
With Morgans' command, public visual Den Den Mushi screens across the world abruptly switched away from boring ads and routine reports.
…
Grand Line, somewhere on an island.
In a tavern, pirates were drinking themselves senseless.
Suddenly, the wall-mounted screen flickered, and the image shifted to the black colossus hanging over Onigashima.
"Hey, hey, is this some stage play trailer?" a rookie pirate laughed. "Pretty good props."
The older pirate beside him crushed his cup in his hand, eyes locked on the man standing at the prow.
"No… it's not special effects…" The veteran's voice shook. "It's the Wave King! Aaron Kael! That man of legend… he really formed a pirate crew!"
When the broadcast showed Kael and Kaido's Conqueror's Haki colliding and the sky itself splitting, the entire tavern fell into a deathlike silence.
Mouths hung open. Cups slipped from numb fingers and shattered on the floor.
…
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
In the Fleet Admiral's office, Sengoku was nursing a headache over paperwork when an intelligence officer burst in, frantic.
"Fleet Admiral! This is bad! Look!"
The huge monitor Den Den Mushi on the wall flickered. The Marine propaganda reel vanished, replaced instantly by a battlefield drowned in storm clouds and lightning.
The moment Sengoku saw that line of familiar yet horrifying figures behind Kael, his face turned heavy.
"That bastard… he actually gathered all these monsters in one place…" Sengoku's rice cracker slipped from his fingers. He murmured, eyes wide with shock.
The last time… the last time he'd seen a lineup this terrifying, when was it?
A gate in his memory slammed open. A nightmare that once smothered the entire sea rose again, along with a name that had made even the World Government tremble.
"Rocks… D. Xebec."
In the meeting room, the three Admirals on standby were watching too.
Borsalino had been lounging with one leg crossed over the other, lazily filing his nails while humming off-key.
The sudden switch made him pause.
When he took in the monster lineup, he slowly nudged his sunglasses up. For the first time, genuine surprise touched his usually sleepy face.
"Oy oy… that's scary…" he drawled. "That kind of roster… it's like they want to wipe out the world…"
Sakazuki's fists were clenched tight, magma surging along his arms. He stared at the figure battling Kaido, hatred nearly solid enough to drip.
Kuzan crossed his arms, expression grim. "Yeah… this is getting out of anyone's control."
…
Holy Land, Mary Geoise.
Inside the Room of Authority, the air was crushed under suffocating pressure.
Five… no, four of the World Government's highest authorities sat in silence, watching the live broadcast.
The man who had once stormed into their sanctuary, who had even killed one of their own, was now stirring another tsunami of chaos.
"Aaron Kael…" Saint Nusjuro, hand on the Shodai Kitetsu, rasped softly. "He's even more dangerous than we assumed."
"We must… at any cost, erase him." Saint Saturn's eyes glittered with venom. The clawed leg that had been severed had regenerated, but the humiliation would never fade.
"Right now, the entire world is focused on Wano," Saint Warcury said. "We cannot move recklessly."
"Let them fight," said Saint Mars coldly. "Whether it's Kael or Kaido, both are poison to the world. If they cripple each other, that is the outcome most favorable to us."
"Send the order. Have CP0 watch closely. And have the Marine fleets assemble near Wano, ready to intervene at any moment."
…
Revolutionary Army headquarters.
Monkey D. Dragon stood before an enormous world map, silently watching the projected footage.
"Eeek! Kael-boy is totally out of control! He actually went to war with Kaido!" Ivankov shouted dramatically at the side.
A clear laugh rang out. On Kuma's broad shoulder, a pink-haired Bonney was holding a slice of pizza, shoving it into her mouth while patting the man's head beneath her.
"Hey, Dad, can you beat him?"
Kuma smiled politely, offering no answer to the question that made everyone sweat.
"This is who he is," Dragon said, voice low and calm. "Ever since the day he tore through Mary Geoise, I knew this world would eventually be flipped upside down because of him."
…
Somewhere in the New World, aboard the Red-Haired Pirates' Red Force.
The banquet was in full swing. Meat and liquor flowed, rough songs and laughter blending into the kind of wild freedom only the sea could offer.
Shanks tipped back a huge gulp of alcohol, about to tease Lucky Roux for losing at finger-guessing, when the visual Den Den Mushi in the cabin flickered without warning.
The noisy celebration cut off as if strangled.
"Hey! Who the hell messed with my news channel?" a drunk officer shouted.
No one answered.
Everyone's gaze was seized by the black flying dreadnought hanging in the heavens.
"Captain…" Yasopp's eyes narrowed. His extraordinary sight made him the first to make out the figure at the prow. "That guy… is that Mr. Kael?"
Shanks lowered his bottle. The background noise on the ship felt like it vanished in an instant.
He stared at the familiar man on the screen. The haze of alcohol drained from his face, replaced by something complicated and unmistakably delighted.
"Yeah."
He nodded. A moment later, a wide grin cracked across his face. He took another swig and sighed.
"He really did reach this step… man, what a headache."
He scratched his red hair and, putting on a show of misery, asked his first mate, "Oi, Beckman. If we run into Kael-bro out there, do we fight first and surrender after, or do we just hand over all the booze on the ship and beg for mercy?"
The officers burst into laughter, and the tension on deck loosened at once.
"The Yggdrasil Pirates…" Benn Beckman ignored the joke. A cigarette hung from his lips as he slowly exhaled a long stream of smoke, eyes behind his lenses fixed on the figures standing behind Kael.
"World Tree… that's a name arrogant to the bone."
He ground the cigarette butt into the railing, voice stripped of humor.
"But looking at the monsters behind him… he's earned it."
…
In an instant, from nameless small-timers in the four seas, to pirates on the Grand Line, to the World Government's highest authorities…
All eyes across the ocean turned toward the island called Onigashima.
Everyone was shaken by the new pirate crew name that had appeared out of nowhere.
"Yggdrasil."
The World Tree Pirates.
On this day, that name thundered across the entire world.