Now that Kozuki Sukiyaki had admitted his true identity, he found himself at Kaido's mercy. Unwilling to see his granddaughter meet a tragic fate, he had no choice but to submit. Kaido imprisoned Kozuki Hiyori, using her life as leverage to force Sukiyaki into obedience. Though filled with regret, Sukiyaki ultimately conceded.
During a raid, Enel, tasked with searching the Kozuki estate, returned with three swords that were clearly no ordinary weapons. Kaido examined them and immediately recognized two of them—Enma and Ame no Habakiri—the famed blades once wielded by Kozuki Oden. The third was the cursed sword Nidai Kitetsu.
Jack decided to keep the Nidai Kitetsu for himself, while Enma and Ame no Habakiri were given to Rim. Overwhelmed with emotion, Rim gripped Jack's hands tightly, vowing to fight and die for him. However, Jack, noticing Rim's heavy dark circles and increasingly well-developed hips, slowly withdrew his hands.
Meanwhile, Queen had long since given up on finding the Okama King, much to Jack's relief, as it meant he no longer had to keep his distance from him.
When Rim attempted to wield Enma, he immediately ran into trouble. The blade nearly drained him of all his Armament Haki. If he hadn't been strong enough, Enma might have outright killed him. After an exhausting struggle, Rim finally managed to subdue the blade. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he caught sight of the Nidai Kitetsu at Jack's waist and quickly warned him.
"Jack-sama!" Rim called out.
Jack turned, raising an eyebrow. "What is it?"
"No matter which generation, the Kitetsu swords are all cursed." Rim's expression was serious. "Every wielder of these blades has met a tragic end."
"Cursed?" Jack glanced at the sword at his waist, his face filled with skepticism. "You're telling me this thing has some kind of supernatural death wish for its owner?"
After a brief pause, he casually tossed the Nidai Kitetsu onto the ground.
"Jack-sama! What are you—" Rim gasped.
"I know exactly how to deal with curses." Jack smirked. "You usually use a child's urine, but if you don't have that, a grown man's will do just fine."
"…Huh?"
"If that doesn't work, just toss the thing into a latrine and let it soak for a while. That'll fix it."
A hush fell over the room as everyone processed what they had just heard. Rim stared down at Enma in his hands, suddenly questioning his life choices.
With Enel now stationed in Wano, the remnants of the loyal Kozuki retainers were being systematically rooted out. Even King had been temporarily reassigned to assist in the purge—some tasks required a specialist, after all. This left Jack in charge of training their newer recruits.
Kaido had high hopes for Enel, even claiming he had the potential to reach the pinnacle of the seas. The problem was that Enel had always been lazy and detested physical training. His body wasn't particularly strong, which had always been his biggest weakness. However, after undergoing rigorous training under King's tutelage, he had not only grown significantly stronger but had also developed a newfound passion for exercise.
Jack had fought many powerful individuals and had come to realize something—no matter the fighting style, battles always boiled down to raw physical ability. Those at the top of the world all possessed extraordinary physical strength. Even if someone had a unique physique, there was no such thing as an invincible warrior who could single-handedly defeat every opponent. To Jack, standing at the peak of the world meant having UR-tier physical stats. The only difference between individuals at that level was whether or not they had reached the absolute limits of human potential.
At that level, fights were decided by mistakes or endurance. Even if his Conqueror's Haki reached its peak and his other abilities improved, it still wouldn't be easy to defeat someone like Mihawk in a single blow. If he truly wanted to reach that level—where he could take down Mihawk with a single punch—he would have to surpass his limits and push his body to an entirely new level of strength.
For now, though, the tasks assigned by the system were proving difficult. Short of declaring war on the World Government or provoking all the other Emperors at once—something far too risky—there weren't many feasible options. Jack couldn't help but wonder how much longer Kaido planned to bide his time, gathering power. In the meantime, he idly considered whether he should have a couple of kids to pass the time.
Following last year's disastrous Fire Festival, where spoiled food led to mass food poisoning, Onigashima had established a new department dedicated to food safety. There was no choice—Queen had somehow procured tainted meat, and even the highest-ranking officers had been hit with severe diarrhea.
This year's Fire Festival unfolded as usual, with performances, drinking, and feasting. Franky's band put on a wild show, but some attendees complained that last year's spectacle had been better. Jack, recalling Franky's infamous 'Butt-Geyser' act from the previous festival, lost his appetite.
Because Kaido had ordered extra training for Enel and the Ulti siblings, Jack remained stationed in Wano. Life was peaceful—days were spent training Enel and the others, while nights were devoted to training Yamato and Black Maria, along with crafting materials for the lab.
The cloning project was progressing well, but it required an increasing amount of raw materials. Kaido played a crucial role in supplying these—after all, he had been drinking nothing but tonics for the past six months, and the sheer amount of kidney-boosting food he'd consumed could probably circle Onigashima three times.
With the growing number of artificial Devil Fruit users, Jack and Black Maria had amassed quite the army of bizarre-looking subordinates. Among them, Rim had taken a particular interest in Black Maria's subordinate, Tenjoka, who possessed the powers of the artificial White Snake Fruit. Her long, forked tongue drew a lot of attention, and lately, Rim had been getting quite close to her. Even Queen, rather than being jealous, seemed intrigued, much to Black Maria's silent exasperation.
However, not all of these new recruits were as appealing. One unfortunate recruit, who had eaten the artificial Boar-Nosed Snake Fruit, had an even longer tongue but was far too hideous for Rim to tolerate.
After months of grueling training under Jack, the Ulti siblings finally earned their place as members of the Tobiroppo. They achieved this by defeating dozens of Tobiroppo contenders in consecutive battles without a single loss.
Meanwhile, after a period of personal training under Kaido, Enel was deemed worthy of a promotion. Kaido gathered his top officers for an important meeting, announcing that Enel would be officially joining the All-Stars as the Beast Pirates' fourth calamity—Thunder Calamity. His role would be to lead the combat support division.
Given Enel's ability to fly and the immense power of his Devil Fruit, no one objected. The raw destructive force of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit was well-known—it was capable of wiping out entire islands with ease. More importantly, flying Devil Fruit users were rare, and Enel's current strength had already surpassed that of the Tobiroppo.
Thus, following the Wildfire, Plague, and Drought, the Beast Pirates welcomed their newest All-Star—Thunder. With this addition, their reputation grew even more fearsome, drawing the attention of ambitious pirates newly arrived in the New World, eager to test their strength against the infamous crew.
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The fanfic is Finished on p@treon/tambeerg