After leaving the South Blue and riding the Reverse Mountain current, the east blue emperor entered East Blue waters for the first time.
At the bow, Seven stood with hands in pockets, cloak billowing, eyes on the calm sea ahead while replaying the two recent battles.
Swordsmanship and Armament—Mihawk's stronger.
Haoshoku, Observation, and raw physique—I'm ahead.
Black-haired Garp really packs a punch.
Still, cutting him and making him bleed puts me at least at Axe-Hand Morgan's level—solid emperor tier.
As for who's stronger between an Emperor of the Sea and an Admiral—
It's like asking whether Whitebeard or Akainu wins; there's no clean answer.
Bring either up and you can bet a flame war starts.
They were the best bait for replies in his past life, and even here Seven can't give a precise verdict.
Change the question, though—Rocks or Whitebeard?
Easy call.
That alone shows emperors and Admirals sit in the same weight class.
Parenthetical armor: probably.
At that tier, fights rarely end quickly unless you reach Rocks level and one-shot an Admiral.
Rocks has the feats on record.
Even a desk-job Admiral is still an Admiral.
Yet peak Rocks, with Roger, Garp, Whitebeard, Linlin, and Kaido all present, still couldn't beat Im possessing Saint Saturn.
In the end Im turned him, then Roger and Garp finished him off, with Saint Garling landing the final blow.
In short, Seven isn't ready to face Im yet.
With enough points to clear the system shop and fuse all Musou no Hitotachi experience, maybe.
[Awakened Devil Fruit: 100 000 points]
[Haoshoku Defense: 100 000 points]
[Observation Haki Future Sight: 50 000 points]
[Observation Haki Telepathy: 20 000 points]
[Armament Haki Internal Destruction: 20 000 points]
Just maxing the Three Types of Haki costs about 200 000; add the fruit and you're near 300 000.
That's five and a half top Mythical Zoans on the trading platform.
Selling Sky Island Shells—without crashing the price and with infinite stock—would take fifteen years.
Of course that's the theoretical maximum.
Parts of the higher Haki realms he can train himself.
The platform also offers bounties: Momonosuke and the Deserter King together net 20 000 points.
So surpassing Im is only a matter of time.
Time itself makes Seven feel a surreal thought:
The protagonist crew's cheat looks even wilder?
Straw Hat sails two years and becomes one of the Four Emperors; in three he'll probably be Pirate King and face Im.
"Damn, did I install a bootleg cheat?"
If his cheat can't keep up, the old legends stand no chance.
Kaido, touted as the strongest creature, schemed and trained for decades, seizing Wano.
Then a two-year rookie does a few push-ups, rubber turns into Nika.
Kaido roars that Haki reigns supreme—then loses to Nika-Luffy.
Who do you even complain to?
Complaints aside, Seven's sincerely grateful; without the system how could he have grown this far in two years?
"Captain, Captain, big news!"
Ginny hugged six fresh papers, opening a door beside him.
"Captain, the pirate Golden Lion just broke out of Impel Down!"
Seven took the paper.
[First ever escapee from Impel Down, Float-Float Fruit user, Captain of the Flying Pirate Crew, legendary pirate Golden Lion...]
"Tsk, a steering wheel in the head and now no legs—Shiki's a hardcore man."
Once he stood beside Roger and Whitebeard as one of the three legends.
Now he's the battle-damaged version.
That wheel came when the Roger Pirates met the Flying Pirates; Roger rejected Shiki's alliance, fleets clashed, Shiki was winning—
—until a freak storm sank half his armada and a falling wheel speared his skull.
Removing it would kill him, so the wheel stayed.
To escape Impel Down he severed his own legs... strength surely faded.
Truth be told, Seven wants the Float-Float Fruit, but can't guarantee getting it.
The two-year-ago gorilla fruit was pure luck.
No method now doesn't mean none later; after tagging Shiki in his mind, Seven checked his Log Pose and shouted to the helm.
"Mihawk, set course for Loguetown first."
Mihawk gave a slight nod.
Two years ago in Loguetown they, with countless others, watched Pirate King Roger die and the Great Pirate Age begin.
This return to East Blue
has one main goal: dig up Roger's blade Ace; second, recruit some trainees; third, show Kuma around the sea.
So Kuma can bounce him back later.
Weakest of the four, East Blue has produced plenty of notables—
Roger, Garp, Dragon, Luffy across three generations, Zoro, Nami, Yasopp and Usopp.
Show-off Van Auger, Axe-Hand Morgan.
Sword-god Joseph, Blade-saint Johnny.
Sword-god & Blade-saint
And the mountain-bandit king Higuma, who soloed fifty emperors.
Count Seven and it's a star-studded lineup.
Yet Seven crossed between the post-Rocks and Great Pirate eras; most of the new gen aren't born.
Van Auger is five.
What can a five-year-old do? Even cheering's too quiet.
Much like the Morning Star Pirates' trainee Robin, who mostly reads with her mother.
Sometimes Seven can't imagine
how helpless eight-year-old Robin felt fleeing the World Government alone.
At eight he was selling fishballs in Housha Town, not fearing arrest daily.
Being cornered by punks and hunted by the World Government are leagues apart.
And that's the smallest of the Government's crimes... Back in Loguetown after two years, everything feels changed.
He isn't the only one shaken.
Former CP9 agent Rukia Ichijou froze at the bar when he heard the new emperor Barzeb Seven had arrived aboard the east blue emperor.
"Barzeb..."