Time always passes inadvertently, and those who are alive always do something meaningful to prove the existence of time, but cannot capture its true form.
More than a month has passed since the last great battle involving Pain and others, and Pain and the others have entered a silent cultivation mode on Sky Island. Only Golden Lion was an exception, as his strength could not improve due to the ship's rudder on his head. Everyone else had gained something. It is worth mentioning that in this past month, the names of Pain and Akatsuki have been circulating and inquired about throughout the New World.
The seventh day after Pain's great battle with CP0.
In a certain sea area of the latter half of the Grand Line, the "New World," Red-Haired Shanks, one of the Four Emperors, was holding a newspaper and looking at the prominent headline.
Shanks has a well-proportioned Physique, a head of Red Hair, and three scars over his left eye, which was injured by Marshall D. Teach. He has short stubble around his mouth, and his left arm was bitten off by the "Lord of the Coast" when he saved Luffy.
He wears a white shirt, often with only half the buttons fastened, sometimes a long black cloak, white three-quarter pants with patterns, flip-flops, and the famous sword "Griffin" at his waist. In his youth, Shanks always wore Roger's Straw Hat, which he later gave to Luffy. Shanks is boisterous and generous, not bothered by trivialities, and often appears relaxed in both his attire and demeanor.
Shanks has an excellent temper, always smiling, treating his subordinates as equals, and not getting angry at others' rudeness. Even losing an arm didn't seem to affect him. The seemingly carefree Shanks values friendship greatly and will never let go of anyone who harms his friends—these traits seem to be inherited from Gol D. Roger, not only creating a cheerful atmosphere for the Red Hair Pirates but also greatly influencing Luffy's character development.
Shanks carefully read the information in the newspaper. The headline was: "World Government's Secret Organization CP0 Utterly Defeated by New Organization [Akatsuki]!"
The specific content was as follows: "The World Government's secret organization CP0 mobilized all its members, possibly engaging in a great battle in secret to contend for information about the Ancient Weapon 'Pluton' with the new organization. However, due to the new organization's formidable strength, and the presence of mysterious powerful individuals among its members, CP0 was utterly defeated!" Attached were the personnel details of Akatsuki members, excluding Kozuki Oden.
Shanks continued to turn to the back page, where, to his surprise, was a photo of Pain, the leader of the new organization [Akatsuki], accompanied by a bounty amount: "380,000,000 Berries..."
Shanks didn't care about this bounty amount; what he was interested in were the strange eyes of this organization's leader, Pain, and the mysterious powerful individuals mentioned in the report.
Shanks had previously interned with the Roger Pirates. After the Roger Pirates disbanded, he formed the Red Hair Pirates and became one of the Four Emperors six years ago. His current bounty is "4,048,900,000 Berries."
However, contrary to this reputation, there is no pirate in the world who embodies "freedom" more than Shanks. If the definition of the "Pirate King" is "the freest person on this sea," then it can be said that Shanks is the existence closest to that throne.
"What an interesting young man... It seems this world is getting even more chaotic!" Shanks exclaimed.
At the same time, on Cake Island in the latter half of the Grand Line, the "New World."
Another of the "Four Emperors," Charlotte Linlin, was also holding a newspaper and carefully reading the information. Charlotte Linlin is a Soul-Soul Fruit Ability User and was once a member of the Rocks Pirates.
As a child, she was abandoned by her parents due to her unusual nature. Later, she established Totto Land, which includes various races, with her base located on Cake Island in the New World. Her family includes 39 daughters, 46 sons, and 43 husbands, totaling 129 people. Some of her sons and daughters have also married and had children, so in terms of Bloodline, the family should be even larger.
Other subordinates who are not her relatives also refer to her as "Mama." She currently possesses one of the four "Road poneglyph" essential for reaching "Laugh Tale." However, with Oden alive, Charlotte Linlin's poneglyph has become insignificant. Charlotte Linlin is tall and corpulent, wearing thick lipstick and light purple eyeshadow. She wears a pirate hat and a wide, pink dress. In her youth, she was a beauty. Charlotte Linlin is even larger than Whitebeard; her height is 8.8 meters (880cm). Adult Giant Race members are at least 12 meters (1200cm), so Big Mama and Whitebeard are just giant human variants, not Giant Race.
Charlotte Linlin has an extreme craving for sweets, with the specialty desserts from Fish-Man Island being her favorite. Whenever she gets excited about eating sweets, her stomach acid surges uncontrollably. She specifically demands that territories under her command regularly pay tribute of sweets to her every month; if a territory fails to provide sweets even once, it faces the crisis of being annihilated.
Charlotte Linlin suffers from a food craving disorder that flares up from time to time. Once it flares up, she falls into a frenzy, smashing and hitting things everywhere, causing destruction.
When the disorder strikes, she recognizes no one, even killing her own children, and refuses to listen to anyone. Her combat intelligence is zero during an episode; she won't dodge or defend, only attacking wildly. There is no way to restore her sanity except by letting her eat the specific food she craves.
Charlotte Linlin can freely manipulate people's Souls, allowing Souls to inhabit various objects, anthropomorphizing them. However, she cannot place them into human corpses or into anyone other than herself. These anthropomorphized objects are called "Homies." Residents of Totto Land pay Mama one month's worth of Soul every six months in exchange for their safety.
Charlotte Linlin flipped to the back of the newspaper, and upon seeing Pain's face, she couldn't help but let saliva drip from the corner of her mouth, softly murmuring.
"What a delicious Soul... I really want to taste it... mamamama!"
The eighth day after Pain's great battle with CP0.
Located on Onigashima in Wano Country, in the latter half of the Grand Line, the "New World," this island is perpetually covered in lightning, resembling a monstrous beast with an open maw, seemingly ready to devour someone.
In a cave on the island sat a tall, burly man with long black hair, a pair of horns, a long, dragon-whisker-like mustache, and a dragon scale tattoo on his left arm. His upper body was bare, with an X-shaped scar on his right abdomen. A purple shirt hung from his waist, with two golden chains dangling from its hem. He wore wide, dark green pants. A shimenawa rope was tied around his waist, and this demon-like man sat on a mountain-sized chair, drinking sake and listening to his subordinate recite the contents of the newspaper, occasionally letting out a burp.
This person is none other than Kaido of the Beasts, one of the Four Emperors, known as the "Strongest Creature" among all living things on land, sea, and air.
Kaido is renowned for his immense physical strength and his immortal Physique. In a one-on-one duel, people in this world would likely consider Kaido to be the strongest.
38 years ago, he was an apprentice with the Rocks Pirates. After leaving the Rocks Pirates, his strength did not decrease but increased, earning the respect of many fierce pirates solely through his formidable power.
As a pirate, he has suffered 7 defeats, been captured 18 times when challenging the Marine and Four Emperors alone, and endured over a thousand tortures. He has been sentenced to death 40 times, yet even when hanged, he broke the chains; when placed on a guillotine, he shattered the blade; and when pierced by spears, the spears broke. He has sunk as many as nine giant prison ships. No one has ever been able to kill him, not even Kaido himself.
Kaido's personality is volatile; he sometimes cries and sometimes rages. He loves to drink, enjoys suicide, likes to fight against many opponents, and challenges the Marine alone without his subordinates.
Kaido appears crude but is actually very shrewd. He allied with the Wano Country shogun to eliminate the Kozuki Family, stealing the strategically important, resource-rich Wano Country, which also possesses advanced Sea Stone processing technology, to serve as his base. At the same time, he suppresses public opinion and news, preventing the populace from developing interest in the outside world to facilitate his rule.
Kaido likes to recruit strong fighters. He repeatedly expressed his willingness to overlook past grievances and invited Shutenmaru, who had been defeated by Kozuki Oden and possessed considerable strength, to join his subordinates. For disobedient enemies, after defeating them, he would aim to win them over before using them for his own purposes. After hearing his subordinate's report, Kaido grabbed the newspaper, glanced at it, and muttered to himself.
"A new organization?! Their strength seems decent... Should I recruit them into my ranks?"
"Hee hee hee hahahaha..."
To be continued...