"The world's new order revealed: the Sea Emperors ruling the New World!"
"A man who fought two Emperors alone! The uncrowned king who once glimpsed One Piece!!!"
"The strongest of the new generation..."
"Today's feature: The legendary few with bounties over 4 billion berries..."
"A net worth in the hundreds of trillions?! Ozz tells all: 'Honestly, I don't care about money.'"
"Two subordinates with ten-digit bounties each an invincible and despair-inducing crew!!!"
Thanks to Morgans' relentless hype campaign, Ozz's name after two years out of the spotlight had once again become the hottest topic in the world.
Naturally, Mihawk and Crocodile, as the boss's lieutenants, were also being massively elevated by Morgans. The way he painted it, either one of them could easily go solo and become an Emperor.
And just like that, the world was flooded with headlines, one after another.
New World - Moby Dick
"Kurararara... That little brat from Roger's ship sure turned out to be something!"
Edward Newgate, the man currently known as the world's strongest, one of Roger's old rivals, and someone who had once crossed paths with young Ozz, chuckled as he read the front page.
"Ozz from Roger's crew? That guy's been a monster since back then..."
Standing in front of him, a man with a pineapple-like hairstyle crossed his arms, clearly still sour about Ozz's terrifying power and especially that black rifle that fired Sea Prism Stone bullets. The memory still stung.
The other division commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates, particularly those who had joined early and had clashed with Ozz before, couldn't help but recall that black-haired brat they'd once encountered in the seas near Wano.
Especially those who had actually fought Ozz they weren't exactly fond of the memories.
"No doubt the guy's strong, but still...
That bastard! Bragging in the papers about being stronger than the Emperors he's practically saying he's above Pops!!"
"Next time we see him, I swear we're throwing down! Not even Roger ever claimed to be stronger than Pops!!"
Though the commanders acknowledged Ozz's strength, this whole "crowned king" narrative was rubbing them the wrong way.
There was no way Big Mom and Kaido could match Pops' strength today!
"Kurararara... That's right!!!"
Whitebeard grinned, his expression full of dominating confidence.
"If that brat Ozz has the guts to show up, I'll see just how far behind Roger he really is! Gurararara..."
He downed another massive swig of sake this was the confidence of the world's strongest man.
As for the whole "Emperor of the Seas" title?
Whitebeard couldn't care less. The only things he truly valued were his family his sons like Marco.
But if Whitebeard didn't care about titles, the same couldn't be said for the other so-called Emperors. Kaido and Big Mom were livid.
"One man versus two Emperors, and he won?! You've got to be kidding me!!!"
Kaido's club came crashing down, smashing the ground into a fractured crater. The shockwaves trembled across hundreds of meters. Around him, the Beast Pirates quaked in fear as their captain spiraled into one of his drunken rages.
"Ozz, that bastard!!! How dare he insult me like this!!!"
"Waaaaahhh!!! You damn bastard, you just vanished without even finishing the fight!!!"
Swaddled in bandages, Kaido clutched his sake gourd and wailed with wide-open sobs.
Nearby, King himself covered in thick, elite-level medical wraps could only watch with helpless exasperation.
Good thing Wano was still a closed country. If Oden and the others learned that their terrifying captain had been this badly wounded, it would spark a whole new set of problems.
Still, in terms of public perception across the seas, Ozz had stomped Kaido and Big Mom's reputations into the dirt and stood tall atop them.
As King and Kaido stood wrapped head to toe in gauze, a hulking, blond, cyborg-limbed, sunglasses-wearing fat man looked on in sheer disbelief.
"To injure both Kaido-nii and Charlotte Linlin, and then just walk away?! If I ran into that guy, I'd be dead for sure!"
Queen the Plague had no idea just how accurate that prophecy would turn out to be.
"Good thing I couldn't fly. Dodged a bullet not going along..."
On the other side of the sea, things weren't any better.
Compared to Onigashima, Totto Land was in even worse shape.
Whole sections of Cake Island were practically rubble. The relocation effort alone was a logistical nightmare requiring a massive number of Homies.
And with Big Mom critically injured, precious time was being drained just trying to stabilize her condition.
In the end, it fell to Katakuri wrapped in elite bandages himself to oversee the relocation of their base to the surrounding islands.
On top of that, he still had to keep the dessert shipments coming, just to keep Big Mom pacified and prevent her from snapping again.
He was doing the work of both a father and a mother.
No matter how the world's great powers responded, the Oro Jackson had already soared over the Red Line and returned to the first half of the Grand Line:
Sabaody Archipelago.
Compared to when Ozz had last departed, the area hadn't changed all that much just a touch more prosperous.
With Ozz's towering reputation behind him, Sami had kept this zone running with exceptional order.
Plenty of underworld big shots had chosen to set up shop here, and naturally, the economic boom followed.
As they walked through the streets, people kept greeting Ozz left and right. Some women even approached, stars in their eyes, squealing that "Lord Ozz is back!"
"When did he get this popular?"
Little Sand scowled as a swarm of fangirls gathered around Ozz, her dark aura keeping most people at a distance.
He's just a sharp-tongued jerk with a nasty personality, after all...
Mihawk, by contrast, didn't even react used to the spectacle, he simply kept his cool and kept his distance from the mobbed Ozz.
"This whole area... it's basically all his turf now. His businesses, his people."
"No wonder..."
Little Sand exhaled smoke, remembering the mountain of wealth Ozz had shown her when he tricked her into joining his crew and now, considering what he was about to do...
"What a filthy rich bastard..."
Still, thinking about how she might soon go from debt-ridden to unimaginably wealthy herself, she held her tongue.
People don't really hate the rich. They just hate that they're not the rich ones.
"Lord Ozz!!! You're so cool!!!"
"You won again, didn't you?! No wonder they call you Lord Ozz!!!"
"Of course!!! Just a couple of Sea Emperors, nothing more!"
"Alright, alright..."
Ozz sighed. The enthusiasm from these young women was always a little overwhelming, but they made their living thanks to him, and under Sami's management, their admiration was genuine he couldn't exactly get mad.
In the end, he simply teleported them at random to nearby alleys and street corners, finally breaking free from the crowd to rejoin his companions.
He could indulge in soft pleasures later this visit had a purpose.
First things first: time to inspect his own operations. A proper field review.
Sure, he often let his people handle things...
But if he didn't occasionally show up and lay down the law, they might start thinking their boss was just some lazy slacker.
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