The next day.
Katakuri seemed determined to turn the ache of parting into fuel. He trained like a man possessed.
Bruises bloomed across his body blue here, purple there.
Bang, bang, bang!
A wooden club kept slamming into him as he tempered his physique!!
Creak
The door was pushed open. Perospero walked in, tongue out as he licked a lollipop, and stared at Katakuri's desperate training.
He clicked his tongue. "Hey Katakuri, at this rate you're gonna turn into a lunatic just like Ares!"
"Don't interrupt my training," Katakuri said.
Perospero chuckled. "Kukukuku… Want to see the news about Ares?"
"Big Brother Ares?" Katakuri dropped the club and rushed over.
He snatched the newspaper from Perospero's hands.
The next second
His eyes went wide.
"War God… Ares!? Bounty: 3.5 billion Beli!?"
"What did Big Brother Ares even do!?" Katakuri blurted out. "His epithet changed and his bounty jumped this high!!"
"Not sure," Perospero said. "But it's probably connected to God Valley. And yesterday their ship was packed with slaves one look and you can tell they were taken right out of the World Government's hands."
"That's probably why his bounty rose to 3.5 billion!"
Katakuri's pupils contracted, and then he smiled. "War God… It fits Big Brother Ares perfectly…"
"Looks like I have to train even harder. Otherwise, one day I'll be left so far behind I won't even see his back!!"
"You…" Perospero jolted, then sighed helplessly. "You're influenced by Ares way too deeply. Still getting stronger is a good thing. Just don't push yourself too hard."
...
Hachinosu, Skull Castle.
Staring at the chaos Skull Castle stripped clean Rocks ground his teeth so hard they creaked.
"That bastard Ares… Damn him!!"
"He got here first and looted Hachinosu before I even returned!!"
His teeth clacked like he wanted to chew Ares to pieces.
Captain John said with a wry face, "Ares' ability lets his ship fly. His mobility's insane. Finding him won't be easy."
Wang Zhi frowned. "He didn't just loot Hachinosu he even cleaned out Marine G-1. He took tens of thousands of slaves with him. Who knows where he's going?"
"Tens of thousands isn't a small number. Even if only a third or a quarter end up becoming Ares' followers, that's enough to raise an army of ten thousand…"
He knew very well what looting Marine G-1 meant.
Guns. Ammunition. Weapons by the crate.
Rocks' face darkened. His original plan had been to get rid of Ares.
But instead…
Ares became the biggest winner.
Devil Fruits stolen from God Valley.
Tens of thousands of slaves brought under his banner.
Rocks' treasure stolen.
The Marines' weapons stolen.
Rocks understood with absolute clarity Ares' future…
No.
Not "future."
Even now, Ares was already his greatest enemy.
His strongest rival.
Linlin was furious. "Ares has already shaken the Rocks Pirates' rule in the New World!"
"If he's allowed to grow, he'll become a disaster!"
Rocks' expression turned cold. He barked an order immediately. "Silver Axe send people to track Ares. Find out exactly where he is!"
"We can't let him build his own power base!"
"Yes!" Silver Axe answered.
Suddenly, a Rocks Pirate came sprinting in, newspaper in hand.
"Captain Rocks! Ares' new bounty poster is out!"
"Hand it over."
The moment Rocks saw it, rage exploded.
"War God!?"
"The World Government changed his epithet to War God are their brains kicked by a donkey!?"
Captain John saw the number and his face changed drastically.
"3.5 billion?!"
"This bastard's bounty…"
He glanced at Rocks, swallowed the rest of the sentence, and forced it down.
Ares' bounty was almost on par with Rocks'.
And this wasn't an era where bounties were inflated into absurdity yet.
A bounty like 3.5 billion carried real weight.
It shocked even Captain John.
But then he remembered everything Ares had done fighting Saint Garling, Saint Saturn, and Sengoku at God Valley, taking multiple Devil Fruits, raiding Marine G-1, freeing tens of thousands of slaves…
And he found himself accepting it.
After a chain of earthquakes like that…
3.5 billion Beli really wasn't outrageous.
"Ares…" Linlin's fury burned hotter.
She should've gotten a Devil Fruit.
Instead, Ares stole it and even gave one away to a slave.
Infuriating.
Linlin's eyes glowed red. "We have to find Ares and eliminate him!!"
...
On a pirate ship.
A red-haired baby crawled on all fours across the deck.
Roger and the others were beyond exasperated.
"How is there a baby on our ship!?"
"Waaah !"
Roger picked the baby up.
The next second, the baby sprayed him with a stream of pee then laughed happily.
The crew burst into roaring laughter.
Rayleigh smiled. "This little guy's identity isn't simple. He's probably a Celestial Dragon. Roger, ever since we left God Valley, the Marines and the World Government haven't stopped chasing us."
"So what?" Roger grinned. "With Rocks, Ares, Whitebeard, and Shiki running around, do you think the Marines can even keep up?"
"Besides, even if he's a Celestial Dragon being raised by pirates is still better than becoming one of those God Valley bastards."
Rayleigh just chuckled at Roger's recklessness, then brought up something else.
"As for Ares… he really surprised me. Saving tens of thousands of slaves…"
"It's unbelievable."
Rayleigh still remembered the first time he met Ares.
That guy was a pure battle maniac.
Aggressive. Addicted to fighting.
But now Ares seemed smarter strategic, calculating.
That kind of transformation made Rayleigh sigh.
"Could Ares become the next Rocks?"
Just then
Several Marine warships appeared out on the sea.
The warships gave chase. After a bout of fighting
A pirate held up a bounty poster.
"Hey Captain Roger! Ares' new bounty!"
"Let me see!" Gaban said.
But the moment he looked, his eyes bulged.
He nearly choked.
"3.5 billion!!"
"Ares' bounty is almost running neck and neck with Rocks'!"
The crew swarmed in.
"Hey, hey War God as an epithet… isn't that a bit much!?"
"War God… that name's going to shock the entire world!!"
"Ares is young and his combat power is insane. War God fits him!"
"If it's a one-on-one, maybe only the Captain and Rocks even have a chance of beating Ares!?"
"That monster physique… maybe even the Captain couldn't take him in a true duel!"
"Hey! Watch your mouth the Captain's right here!"
...
Roger grinned. "Three and a half billion… Ares is making this sea more and more interesting."
Rayleigh nodded. "It used to be the Rocks Pirates far out in front. But now Ares is rising fast. Whitebeard and Shiki won't stay quiet either…"
"The world's getting more and more fun."
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