An island in the New World, near the Sageros sea.
At this moment, the island's most prosperous city had already been reduced to ruins. Fires burned across shattered streets, smoke rose into the sky, and the royal palace stood drenched in blood and fear.
The king who had once ruled the entire nation lay sprawled on the floor with a boot pressing down on his head, yet he did not dare move even slightly.
Around him, nobles and ministers knelt across the hall like lifeless statues. Their faces were pale, their bodies trembling faintly as they watched their king being humiliated before them.
Terror was deeply buried in their eyes.
It was a power they could not resist.
"What a weak army," Mobius sneered as he sat upon the throne that once belonged to the king. "Wouldn't it have been smarter to surrender to the Nightfall Pirates from the start? Do you really think this is still the Four Blues?"
He leaned back casually, his cold gaze sweeping across the palace.
"You saw those fools building navies and started dreaming yourselves into becoming some kind of world power? You actually believed a few warships could stop us?"
Everywhere his eyes landed, heads lowered even further.
This was yet another kingdom conquered by the Nightfall Pirates.
Why "yet another"?
Because this was no longer the first.
However, this particular kingdom had been exceptionally foolish. Even after the arrival of the Nightfall Pirates, they still dared resist under the banner of being a World Government affiliated nation.
Or perhaps it was simply the king's arrogance.
His status had blinded him. He looked down on pirates by instinct and completely ignored the advice of his ministers. He refused to become an affiliated territory of the Nightfall Pirates and instead chose to rely on the kingdom's military strength.
The result was obvious.
The Nightfall Pirates shattered everything with overwhelming force.
Their fledgling navy was destroyed.
Their army collapsed.
Even the pride in the king's heart had been crushed completely.
Now he lay trembling on the floor as the smell of blood filled the palace.
At that moment, a pirate rushed into the hall.
He ignored the kneeling officials entirely and went straight toward Mobius.
"Lord Mobius, a highest-level directive has arrived from the Night Palace."
Although he bowed respectfully, he could not hide the excitement on his face.
"Oh?" Mobius raised a brow with interest. "What is it?"
"The Dominator is preparing for war against the Whitebeard Pirates. We are to accelerate the territorial occupation mission and complete it before the official war begins."
The moment he heard those words, Mobius clenched his fists tightly.
His eyes gleamed with excitement.
"Hahahaha! I've waited for this day for a long time."
He slowly stood from the throne.
"It's finally beginning."
His smile widened with anticipation.
"Then let's move faster and finish the expansion mission first."
As soon as his words fell, Mobius cast a cold glance toward the ministers kneeling below.
A blade flashed.
Blood sprayed.
The king's head rolled down the palace steps with a terrified expression frozen on his face, finally stopping near the bottom of the hall.
The surrounding officials nearly collapsed from fear.
"Since you dared oppose the Nightfall Pirates," Mobius said indifferently, "there's no reason for you to continue existing."
His blade pointed downward.
"Kill them."
A black streak instantly flashed through the palace.
Voss, who had remained silent beside Mobius the entire time, finally moved.
Like a venomous viper erupting from darkness, he passed through the crowd in an instant.
One after another, the kneeling officials lost their lives before they could even react.
Bodies collapsed onto the bloodstained floor.
Voss calmly sheathed his short blade, Night Raid.
On his forehead was a strange crack-like mark, as though something terrifying slumbered beneath it.
"Eliminate every high-ranking official in this kingdom. Leave no survivors," Mobius ordered slowly.
"Completely uproot them."
He looked toward the pirate responsible for recording commands.
"Raise our flag on this island. Announce two years without taxes. Stabilize the middle and lower-level officials and wait for administrative personnel from the rear to take over governance."
"Yes, Lord Mobius."
The pirate quickly recorded everything.
This was one of the Nightfall Pirates' defining traits.
Whenever they launched campaigns, cadres were accompanied by personnel similar to civilian administrators whose responsibility was recording, organizing, and transmitting orders.
After all, the Nightfall Pirates governed occupied territories very differently from ordinary pirate crews.
With the kingdom's upper echelon completely wiped out, new personnel naturally had to be sent to maintain order. Otherwise chaos would spread rapidly.
"So," Mobius said with anticipation, "which island is next?"
He was already eager for another conquest.
The Nightfall Pirates' expansion campaign was extremely dispersed. Their major cadres were separated across many regions, dramatically increasing efficiency as long as enough combat strength was available.
Now that war against the Whitebeard Pirates was approaching, the main combat forces would gradually gather along the borders of Whitebeard territory.
At the same time, all designated islands also needed to be occupied beforehand.
This was Teach's strategy.
First stabilize every surrounding region.
Then turn toward the Whitebeard Pirates.
At present, further expansion for the Nightfall Pirates was already becoming difficult.
To the west were the Beast Pirates.
To the north were the Whitebeard Pirates.
To the east stood Wano Country and numerous independent forces.
Now that Wano Country had opened its borders, it would never allow the Nightfall Pirates to expand endlessly.
Although relations between both sides were good, that friendship was largely personal.
Teach had helped Wano Country greatly and opened trade routes, especially regarding seastone commerce.
But comparatively speaking, Wano Country was still far closer to the Whitebeard Pirates.
Or rather, in Kozuki Oden's eyes, the Nightfall Pirates were nowhere near comparable to Whitebeard.
If war truly broke out, Oden would very likely assist the Whitebeard Pirates and perhaps even actively hinder the Nightfall Pirates.
For Teach, Wano Country was a major obstacle.
Beyond Wano Country, many powerful pirate crews also occupied the eastern regions of the New World.
The Satan Pirates.
The Demonic Sword Pirates.
And numerous others.
These forces survived in isolated corners of the latter half of the New World while avoiding direct confrontation with the Emperors.
Furthermore, the kingdoms in those regions were also quite powerful. Even the Nightfall Pirates would not provoke them casually.
Because of this, the territory Teach had designated was already close to the Nightfall Pirates' practical limit.
And it was more than enough.
Once these territories were fully occupied, they likely would not expand much further unless something unexpected occurred.
Territory that became too massive was not necessarily beneficial.
It complicated management and would also attract the greed of countless forces.
Meanwhile, similar orders were delivered elsewhere.
"Iron" Wallace.
"Emperor Crocodile" Sladar.
"Blood Azure Dragon" Mog Raddon.
Gar.
Shiryu.
And many other cadres.
The expansion speed of the Nightfall Pirates suddenly accelerated dramatically.
However, amid the chaos of the current New World, such movements did not attract excessive attention.
At the same time, preparations for the war against the Whitebeard Pirates officially began.
Resources.
Attack routes.
Intelligence gathering.
Military deployment.
Every aspect moved simultaneously.
Combined with the time needed for the dispatched cadres to occupy their assigned territories, several more months would still be required before the war truly erupted.
For the Nightfall Pirates, however, the most important issue was not the Whitebeard Pirates themselves.
It was Wano Country.
If Wano Country launched an attack from behind during the war, or coordinated with Whitebeard in a pincer attack, the consequences would be catastrophic.
The Nightfall Pirates had maintained unstoppable momentum ever since their rise.
Once that momentum broke, many hidden enemies would immediately emerge to resist them.
That would create endless trouble.
Fortunately, Teach had already prepared for this possibility.
"Spread the information secretly," Teach ordered calmly within the Dominator's Hall.
"And eliminate any force capable of interfering with us in advance."
Mostima, dressed in white robes, nodded silently.
Then his figure vanished from the hall in an instant.
This mission was extremely important.
To ensure no unexpected incidents occurred during the war, Mostima personally handling it was the safest option.
Soon afterward, shocking intelligence suddenly began spreading throughout the New World underworld.
And from there, it rapidly swept across the entire world.
The information concerned the legendary Great Treasure itself.
The final island, Laugh Tale.
The island containing the legendary treasure known as "One Piece."
According to the intelligence, nobody could locate Laugh Tale through ordinary methods, nor could an Eternal Pose guide anyone there.
The only way to reach the island was through four special red Poneglyphs known as Road Poneglyphs.
Each Road Poneglyph recorded the location of a specific island.
When the four locations were connected, the point where their lines intersected would reveal Laugh Tale itself.
The Roger Pirates had reached the final island precisely by collecting rubbings of all four Road Poneglyphs.
And according to the leaked intelligence:
One Road Poneglyph was in the possession of the Big Mom Pirates under Charlotte Linlin.
One belonged to the Whitebeard Pirates under Edward Newgate.
The remaining two were held by Kozuki Oden of Wano Country.
Evidence accompanied the information.
Before Roger became Pirate King, the Roger Pirates had caused massive chaos in Whole Cake Island and stolen a Road Poneglyph rubbing from Big Mom.
At the time, the incident had shocked the New World.
Later, Roger also fought a great battle against the Whitebeard Pirates and ultimately obtained another Road Poneglyph rubbing.
As for Wano Country, Kozuki Oden's ability to read Poneglyphs had always been central to Roger's journey.
After the Battle of Edd War, Roger specifically traveled to Wano Country for the final Road Poneglyph.
The conclusion was obvious.
Anyone who wished to become Pirate King had only two choices:
Defeat these forces and seize their Road Poneglyphs.
Or steal the rubbings from them.
The moment this information spread, the entire world was shaken.
For most people, this was the first time they had ever heard of Road Poneglyphs.
The information released by the Nightfall Pirates mixed truth and falsehood, but ninety percent of it was genuine.
Precisely because of this, most forces believed it.
At the very least, the evidence itself was extremely convincing.
Roger's invasion of Totto Land had indeed happened. And now, looking back, people realized how strange it had been.
The Roger Pirates and Big Mom Pirates rarely clashed, yet Roger had suddenly invaded Whole Cake Island for seemingly no reason.
Now everything made sense.
Likewise, the existence of a Road Poneglyph within the Whitebeard Pirates could also be believed.
Although there were no visual records of Roger's clash with Whitebeard, the Whitebeard Pirates themselves had later acknowledged the battle after Teach's rise.
As for Wano Country, its credibility was perhaps even higher.
Kozuki Oden could read Poneglyphs. And the destruction of Ohara was still fresh in the world's memory. If merely studying Poneglyphs could provoke annihilation from the World Government, then Wano Country, which had isolated itself for centuries, likely possessed ancient secrets as well.
Only a year had passed since the Golden Sea Battle.
Now, because of this information, a new undercurrent began spreading throughout the seas.
At the same time, pirates everywhere finally gained a true direction.
Previously, "One Piece" had felt vague and unreachable.
Now they understood.
Their methods had simply been wrong from the start.
However, the forces possessing the Road Poneglyphs were all monstrous powers.
The Whitebeard Pirates.
The Big Mom Pirates.
And Wano Country under Kozuki Oden.
None of them were easy targets.
Even so, countless forces secretly began taking action.
If force could not seize the Road Poneglyphs, then perhaps they could steal them.
Or trade for them.
The locations of the Whitebeard Pirates' and Wano Country's Road Poneglyphs remained unknown.
But Big Mom's Road Poneglyph was likely hidden somewhere within Totto Land's treasury.
Inside Whole Cake Chateau, Charlotte Linlin erupted in fury.
"DAMN IT!"
Terrifying waves of Conqueror's Haki exploded through the castle.
"Which bastard leaked this information?! I'll kill them!"
Big Mom's massive eyes burned with rage.
"And Roger! That bastard stole a rubbing from me without even telling me what that stone was for!"
Around her, her children lowered their heads nervously.
An enraged Big Mom could kill someone at any moment.
"Mama," Katakuri said calmly, remaining completely unaffected by her aura, "this situation may not necessarily be bad for us."
"Oh?" Big Mom narrowed her eyes. "Explain, my good son."
The pressure within the hall eased slightly.
Many of her children secretly exhaled in relief.
Katakuri continued calmly.
"Knowing the purpose of the Road Poneglyphs benefits us as well."
"Even if the world knows we possess one, stealing it from Totto Land is nearly impossible. Anyone attempting it would have to face our entire pirate crew."
"It will create trouble, but not enough to threaten us directly."
"Future tea parties will simply require stricter security."
Big Mom nodded slowly.
Katakuri's reasoning made sense.
"Compared to us," he continued, "Wano Country is the real problem."
"If this information is true, then Wano Country possesses two Road Poneglyphs."
"That alone is enough to make them a target for countless forces."
"The only question is this."
Katakuri's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Who leaked this information?"
"And what exactly are they trying to achieve?"
Big Mom snorted coldly.
"Forget that for now."
A greedy look appeared in her eyes.
"What about the other Road Poneglyphs? Let's seize them ourselves."
Katakuri immediately shook his head.
"That would be unwise."
"We still cannot decipher the Poneglyphs. Possessing too many would only attract unnecessary hostility."
"If possible, obtaining rubbings would be far safer."
Big Mom reluctantly abandoned the thought.
Even she understood that directly starting wars over Road Poneglyphs would create enormous problems.
Then Katakuri paused thoughtfully.
"However…"
Big Mom looked at him again.
"What?"
Katakuri spoke slowly.
"Mama… have you ever tried turning a Road Poneglyph into a Homie?"
The room fell silent.
"If it succeeds…"
A strange look appeared in Katakuri's eyes.
"…perhaps the Homie born from it might actually be able to read the Poneglyphs."