A raven flapped its wings and landed among the lush branches. The oily black of its feathers seemed to melt like ink in water, diffusing through the air like dark smoke.
"Caw—ah, caw—ah, caw—ah—"
It let out an eerie cry before being overtaken by a higher will. The bird tilted its head slightly, blinking its crimson eyes from time to time, gazing fixedly at the distant hill.
"Whoosh—thunk!"
After her initial excitement at eating the Target-Target Fruit, Porche had begun to train hard, developing her Devil Fruit powers.
Bartolomeo, who could create "barriers," cheerfully volunteered to be her practice target.
One was eager to hit, the other eager to take it.
Porche hurled her iron rod again and again, throwing it in every direction, yet each time the weapon unfailingly flew toward Bartolomeo—the "target."
With his barriers protecting him, Bartolomeo felt no fear at all and was even having fun, while Porche grew steadily more comfortable and proficient with her Target-Target Fruit ability.
Inside the Haunted Mansion, Davy Jones silently watched through the eyes of the raven.
He would occasionally send his ravens to fly in directions across Thriller Ghost Island that piqued his interest, observing all that transpired through their gaze.
But they could not stray too far from Davy Jones—if they did, their existence would dissolve like smoke.
Knock, knock, knock—
A steady, rhythmic knocking came at the door. Davy Jones broke off his connection with the raven and, standing by the window, spoke without turning around.
"Come in." He already knew who it was—he could sense it.
Alvida entered, her favorite white hat tucked under her arm. She lightly shook her wavy black hair before greeting her captain with careful respect.
Then she got straight to the point. "Captain, Jinbe says he'll arrive at Thriller Ghost Island soon—he's bringing along six new ships built on Fish-Man Island."
With that, the Terror Ghost, the Supernova crews' ships, the seized vessels, and the newly built ones now totaled twenty-five ships in all.
That was the current size of Davy Jones's pirate fleet.
And that count was only for warships—there were even more if you included cargo and passenger vessels.
At its peak, the Whitebeard Pirates had forty-four warships. The Big Mom Pirates now commanded thirty-five, giving "Big Mom" a numerical advantage.
It wasn't that the other Emperors couldn't build more ships—maintaining them was simply prohibitively expensive.
But Charlotte Linlin's fleet size didn't matter to Davy Jones. He never intended to compete in a battle of numbers.
"Mm." Davy Jones nodded. "Any movement from Charlotte Linlin's side?"
"Captain, that's exactly what I came to report," said Alvida. "She's made her move—and it's a big one."
"What do you mean?"
"The ships of Totland have all set sail, looting every nearby island for resources. Everywhere they go becomes a sea of fire and ruins."
Alvida paused before continuing.
"In previous years, the Big Mom Pirates only acted on this scale right before a Tea Party. This sudden mobilization caught many islands completely off guard."
"The Big Mom fleet is gathering. They're most likely sailing toward us."
The "Tea Party" Alvida referred to was Charlotte Linlin's bizarre, self-indulgent event—a kind of "make-believe" gathering forced upon her family and subordinates to satisfy her gluttonous whims.
The rule was absolute: no one could defy Big Mom, and everyone had to fulfill her wishes—no matter how outrageous.
Some outsiders were invited; some took it as an honor, while others felt only dread.
Because they had seen firsthand Charlotte Linlin's unreasoning fury and deranged outbursts.
She was, without question, a terrifying monster.
That was the infamous Big Mom's Tea Party.
"Keep gathering intel," Davy Jones ordered. "Tell Crocodile to be ready. Once Jinbe arrives, we set sail for the front lines tomorrow morning."
"Yes, Captain." Alvida bowed and quietly withdrew.
By midday, Jinbe arrived at Thriller Ghost Island with the six ships in tow, and went straight to meet Davy Jones.
Accompanying the fleet were groups of fish-men and merfolk pirates, the North Sea Kraken Kraken, the Sea Cow Momoo, and other sea beasts.
Aladdin and part of the Sun Pirates remained on Fish-Man Island to maintain order.
Davy Jones instructed Jinbe to rest first, then confirmed with Crocodile that preparations were complete. Crocodile's reply was firm: everything was ready.
At dawn the next day, while fog still lingered over the sea, Davy Jones's fleet departed Thriller Ghost Island en masse—an imposing armada.
But their destination was neither Black Pearl Island, Thunder God Island, Terror Ghost Island, nor Punk Hazard. Instead, they set course for a desolate island beyond their current territory.
This island lay just outside the borders of Davy Jones's domain—not far from Thunder God Island and Punk Hazard—and directly along the route Big Mom's forces would have to take to attack.
Davy Jones named it Silent Island—the place where Charlotte Linlin would be silenced.
It took the fleet nearly a full day to reach Silent Island from Thriller Ghost Island.
By then, Kuro and Law had already arrived ahead of them, establishing a base camp—a gray fortress nestled within the surrounding mountains.
Davy Jones assigned Crocodile to manage logistical supplies and ordered Jinbe's fish-men, merfolk, and sea beasts to patrol underwater around Silent Island's perimeter.
Alvida continued to gather intelligence through underworld brokers and passing merchants or travelers.
This wasn't particularly difficult—after all, Big Mom's forces were anything but subtle.
Before Whitebeard attacked Marineford, he had at least made an effort to conceal his movements—coating his ships and avoiding detection by the Navy.
It wasn't until the last moment that the Whitebeard Pirates surfaced from below, breaching Marineford's defenses through the undersea route.
In contrast, Charlotte Linlin's eldest son, Perospero, in his rush to gather everything needed for war within a single week, had no choice but to mobilize openly—loudly and completely.
The scale of this mobilization even exceeded that of the pre–Tea Party resource raids for desserts and sweets, drawing intense attention from across the seas.
And since Charlotte Linlin's appetite was insatiable—and her eating disorder made her go berserk if denied the food she craved—if she fell into one of her frenzies, she might even destroy her own thirty-five ships without a second thought.
This hurried, chaotic assembly of a fleet—plundering everything in sight and making sure the world knew it—made it easy to track their movements.
The more people they killed, and the more islands they destroyed, the harder it became to hide their trail.
Meanwhile, those who arrived at Silent Island ahead of Davy Jones were not idle.
Kuro and Law were drilling the fleet—not to perfect obedience, but at least to ensure everyone could understand and follow basic commands.
Their lieutenants each took command of one or several ships.
At this point, neither the Davy Jones Pirates nor the Big Mom Pirates had formally declared war—but both sides knew full well that the mask was off.
The storm was coming.
The people of the New World sensed the looming clash of Emperors first—then the rest of the Grand Line, and finally even the Four Seas beyond.
All eyes turned toward the brewing conflict.
No one had expected that, barely a year after the Paramount War—which had left both sides crippled, the Whitebeard remnants scattered, and the Navy pulling back its lines—
Now, at the start of this new year, another war of Emperors was about to erupt: a clash between the old and the new.
No matter who triumphed, at least one Yonko would surely fall.
People began to realize that these next few years would be the most turbulent, complex, and consequential era since the dawn of the Great Pirate Age.
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