It has begun.
...
Two hundred nautical miles east of Dressrosa, in the Qunxierde Sea.
The massive White Wolf cut through the waves.
Griffin stood on the deck, gazing into the distance.
When he learned that Kuzan had teamed up with someone from above to hunt Kari, he had already conceived the plan to push events toward their current development.
It wasn't hard to guess the identity of someone who could have Kuzan playing a supporting role.
Either one of the Five Elders or a member of the God's Knights, possibly even the current captain—Shanks' twin brother, Stanks...
Wait, no. That guy seems to be called Sharm or something. Whatever, it's not important.
Hmm... still not quite right.
What's certain is that he would become the captain over a decade later, but not necessarily now, just like how Shanks hadn't become one of the Four Emperors yet.
Regardless of who showed up, it would definitely be someone significant enough—essentially a Celestial Dragon possessing the Pentagram Teleportation Mark.
Based on available intelligence, that 'Mark' was likely the 'anchor point' for Imu's possession and descent, and only the Five Elders and members of the God's Knights possessed it.
...
Griffin had never forgotten his goal: to exterminate the Celestial Dragons.
Each Celestial Dragon was like a golden treasure chest to him—kill one, and it would drop equipment.
The Fire Release, swordsmanship, and Shaped Magic Puppet obtained from the Luo treasure chest had directly boosted his combat power by a significant margin.
Unfortunately, ordinary Celestial Dragons who were easy to kill only provided one-third of a lottery chance...
According to the system's explanation, the number of chances was based on the difficulty of the kill. So, did increasing the difficulty himself count?
He had tried, and it didn't.
The incident at Sabaody was an experiment: his main body protected Shalria, while Kari was responsible for the attack.
To make it more realistic, he even instructed Kari to go for the kill.
Unfortunately, the system's assessment of Shalria remained unchanged, still a pitiful 'Simplistic,' with the system directly indicating she was only worth one-third.
It seemed that only difficulties like Luo's, or extreme crises like Shanks', would display 'Non-Single Choice,' indicating more than one chance.
...
In any case... according to the Pythagorean theorem, the stronger the Celestial Dragon, the more chances they would drop—this much was certain. After that, it was up to luck.
With three golden cards from the start, my luck was clearly incredibly European, with no relation to being a non-European.
...
Doflamingo's plan had given Griffin inspiration.
It was the classic case of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
The initial bait was the Famous Sword, used to lure out an ordinary Celestial Dragon to kill... So, why not add another layer? Use Kari to lure out the Celestial Dragon from Kuzan's side?
Luring them out wasn't difficult; the hard part was how to reel in this big fish.
Although the God's Knights were mockingly called the Rocks speed bump, making them seem weak...
But in that era, who wasn't a speed bump for Rocks?
Even a Marine Admiral was casually slaughtered by Rocks on his way out of the Room of Flowers. It was unclear whether Rocks was too strong or that Admiral was too incompetent.
...
Aside from the commander and the captain, the other members of the God's Knights could tentatively be considered entities with immortality, possessing strength above Vice Admiral level, equal to or slightly below candidate Admirals.
If that were all... Griffin really wanted to contact Kuma and attempt a righteous gang-up to take him down.
The troublesome one was Kuzan!
Though his military rank hadn't been promoted yet, his combat power had long been firmly at Admiral level.
...
So what should be done...
Griffin recalled a phrase he'd seen in his previous life.
"You just initiate the fight - the system will match you with suitable teammates."
This saying seemed surprisingly applicable in the maritime world...
When he wanted to kill Luo, Griffin could find Kuma as his teammate.
During the Sabaody incident, Griffin hadn't even thought about calling for help, yet King and Hancock showed up unprompted.
This wasn't unique to Griffin - in the original timeline when Luffy beat up the Celestial Dragons and attracted Marine Admirals, the system also matched him with Rayleigh and Kuma.
At God Valley when Imu possessed Saturn and descended, the six top-tier experts who had been fighting each other to the death immediately joined forces.
...
As long as you're attacking Celestial Dragons, we're brothers!
This had almost become the world's fundamental logic.
Thinking about it... who would be the most likely teammate to recruit...
The plan returned to its starting point.
Wano Country, swordsmith... I choose you, Teacher Kaido!
...
Just as expected - how could experts of that level resist the temptation of "knowing everything"?
Kari's role was to be the trigger.
With everyone gathered, given Kaido's personality, it would be strange if a fight didn't break out - otherwise how would he have gotten his record of being captured 18 times?
...
Even if he couldn't kill a God's Knights member this time, Griffin could still obtain what he wanted.
By borrowing Kaido's power to probe their reality and gather intelligence - if it didn't work this time, there would be next time. Commonly known as scouting.
The battle against the World Government was predictably going to be a protracted war.
This fell within Griffin's area of expertise.
On Protracted War—
When the enemy is strong and we are weak, we retreat when the enemy advances. When the World Government conducted large-scale searches, Griffin had Kari hide and not go out.
When the enemy is stationed, we harass. Such a massive organization couldn't maintain high-pressure operations indefinitely - there would always be times for rest and relaxation.
That's when work should begin, not giving them time to properly recuperate.
Maintaining this rhythm, dragging the war into the second phase: when the enemy is exhausted, we attack; when the enemy retreats, we pursue.
...
Throughout this process, improving one's own strength was most important.
Griffin rubbed his chin, thinking...
Should he take a hit from Teacher Kaido when the fight was almost over? Maybe he'd learn Haki Infusion!
Heh...
Griffin nearly laughed at his own thought.
If he entered the fray as a Marine, he might just get beaten to death by a frenzied Kaido with one strike.
Before obtaining Susanoo, it was better not to test Thunder Bagua - the risk was too great.
Calling Kaido "teacher" was just online banter - in reality, who wouldn't want teachers like Zephyr and Rayleigh?
...
Rather than dealing with a Pirate Emperor in his prime, maybe he should go bother Shanks instead?
With my current strength, even if I can't defeat him, I could leave whenever I wanted and he couldn't stop me.
...
...
——
Several dozen nautical miles west of Dressrosa.
"Achoo!!"
On the Red Dragon's deck, Shanks sneezed loudly.
"How strange, did I catch a cold..."
Beckman, cigarette in mouth, laughed: "Must be Miss Makino thinking about you."
Shanks laughed heartily, nearly inhaling his own snot before hastily wiping it away with his hand. "Ugh... Haha! That would be great if it were true, but it's probably just from sleeping drunk on the deck last night."
He gazed toward the distant port, noticing numerous ships docked there, and asked curiously, "Was this the same port we visited last time? Were there this many ships back then?"
...
Just then, a crew member approached with a newspaper. "Seems like Dressrosa is hosting some grand tournament these days. The prize is a famous sword crafted by a renowned artisan."
"Oh! That sounds really interesting. Does anyone here want a famous sword?"
"What are you talking about, Shanks..."
Beckman grinned widely. "We're Pirates! Even if we don't need it, we can always snatch it and sell it for money!"
"You're right! Let's dock quickly and join the tournament!!"
...
Bzzz—
A faint hum reverberated, spreading all the way to the coastline.
Shanks looked toward the direction of Dressrosa's mainland, where a thin white line was rising faintly in the distance, resembling smoke billowing after some kind of explosion.
"For a celebratory firework standard, that's way too big..."
...
Meanwhile, at the royal capital's coliseum...
Residents of this tropical island were experiencing sub-zero temperatures for the first time.
The stands, stone pillars, ground—even the dust particles floating in the air—were all frozen solid.
A thick layer of ice enveloped the entire coliseum, and even flames lost their color under this absolute cold.
A massive, pierced Ice Wall stood horizontally at the center of the arena, with a giant steam column rising high into the sky.
...
"Ara ara—"
"What a ferocious glare you have there, Kari..."
A broad palm pressed down on Kari's fist, and ice began spreading from the point of contact.