"I recognize you—Basil Hawkins, the 'Magician'. One of the Worst Generation Supernovas currently scaling the charts. What's the matter? Did your calculations prompt you to enlist under Kaido's fleet as well?" Ace asked, his sharp gaze instantly locking onto the man's identity.
The solitary reason he had filtered Hawkins out of his previous lethal purge was because the man still possessed a sliver of baseline utility. Since he had finalized his strategic decision to wage a total war against Kaido, it was logistically sound to leave a messenger alive to map back to their high command.
Staring at the heap of tiny, sliced straw voodoo dolls littering the parched sand at his feet, Hawkins felt his heart sink straight to the bottom of his internal ledger. Yet, on the surface, his expression remained as unreadable as ever.
Slowly shuffling a deck of tarot cards with his left hand, he drifted them into the air and systematically drew a solitary card.
"Win probability... Zero percent."
The exact microsecond his eyes processed the card's data, Hawkins' pupils narrowed by a fraction of a millimeter. Maintaining his pristine, liquid-smooth composure, his fingers slid across the deck to extract a second card.
"Survival rate... Thirty percent." Looking at the card's parameters, a faint, subtle smirk tugged at the corners of Hawkins' lips. He shifted his gaze back to the Emperor. "You hold zero intent to terminate my life signs."
Perched against Ace's chest infrastructure, Tama slowly blinked her big eyes open, only to discover that the overwhelming sea of terrifying invaders that had completely encircled her coordinates had been reduced to a solitary survivor.
"Are we omitting the final execution?"
Ace offered a warm, reassuring smile to Tama, shifting his weight to smoothly place her onto his shoulder. He turned a flat, authoritative glare toward Hawkins. "I am permitting you to exit this sector alive. Map your coordinates straight back to Kaido and deliver a blunt data point: I refuse to tolerate the presence of a single member of the Beast Pirates within the borders of Wano Country moving forward."
"My deployment to this country carries zero complex motivations; I am explicitly here to initiate the opening of Wano's borders."
"Take those words and deliver them directly to Kaido's database."
"Ace..." Staring at his profile as he delivered such a colossally dominant decree with an entirely casual, level tone, Tama's eyes filled with a fresh wave of moisture.
Hawkins' jaw twitched violently. So that is the exact calculation underlying the thirty-percent survival metric.
Staring at Ace's relaxed posture, Hawkins' internal processors fluctuated wildly between flight-or-fight simulations, though every algorithm returned a bleak outlook. The sheer disparity in their baseline metrics was too vast. Although Ace was currently projecting an absolute zero wave of internal energy, the crushing, atmospheric pressure that had torn through the air during his previous sub-second deployment had left Hawkins completely suffocated.
Mounting a single movement under that weight had been structurally impossible.
This was the unadulterated, suffocating aura of an active Emperor of the Sea. Previously, when the global intelligence networks reported that a rookie of Ace's generation had suddenly ascended to claim the throne of a Yonko, Hawkins had calculated that the data might be heavily laced with hyperbole.
But at this exact microsecond, every single doubt within his database was permanently erased.
The entity standing right before him was a sovereign monarch who possessed the legitimate authority to rule over the architecture of the New World! This data point was absolute.
"What's the matter? Do your algorithms suggest a scenario where you trade blows with me?" Ace asked, a sharp smirk playing on his lips as Hawkins remained frozen in his tracks.
With a casual thought, a brilliant, roaring vortex of incandescent crimson fire erupted across his palm.
The exact microsecond the flames manifested in Ace's grip, thick beads of cold sweat broke out across Hawkins' forehead, as if responding to a thermal command. Within seconds, his entire formal attire was thoroughly drenched.
And that moisture was purely the biological feedback of extreme, instinctual terror.
Do not engage under any parameters!
This was the solitary, screaming command that flashed through Hawkins' cognitive centers. Previously, he had been struggling to calculate an explanation to present to his high command regarding the failure of the mission. Now, that bottleneck held zero weight. His thirty-percent survival rate depended entirely on the immediate emotional variance of the Fire Emperor; if Ace's system decided to switch to a lethal output, even if Kaido compressed his coordinates to reinforce the sector personally, it wouldn't save his life.
Say what you want about Hawkins' status as an occult eccentric, but his capacity to calculate the safety metrics of his own life signs was flawless. He might represent a highly volatile, unreliable asset to a coalition, but he was an exceptionally skilled fortune-teller who valued his own survival above all else.
"Your exact phrasing shall be logged and delivered to our command structure without a single decimal of alteration," Hawkins reported. Without wasting another microsecond, he violently wrenched his mount around, fleeing the sector at maximum velocity as he rode his giant lizard beast through the foliage.
His frantic acceleration made it blatantly clear that he calculated a high probability of Ace suddenly re-calibrating his parameters to launch a lethal pursuit.
"Ace-aniki... this time... you have to take me along when your fleet unmoors from the coast," Tama said, suddenly dropping down from his shoulder to land on the parched earth. Her small hands flickered into a succession of intricate hand signs. "Look at my execution! I've successfully graduated into a highly alluring kunoichi!"
Compressing her hands into a tight seal, she squeezed her eyes shut. "Nin-nin-nin... NIN!"
A moment later, Tama popped her big eyes open, staring up at Ace with absolute anticipation. "So this time... your deployment blueprint includes enlisting me as a core crewmate, correct?"
Staring down at the vibrant, unyielding spirit of the child, Ace lowered his frame into a smooth crouch. Reaching out with a gentle hand to massage her small head, a profoundly warm, soft smile spread across his face. "As I articulated moments ago, my primary operational objective for entering this hot zone is explicitly to terminate Wano's dark regime."
"The exact microsecond this nation is restored to a state of absolute equilibrium—where the citizens can secure an abundant livelihood—if your internal logic loops still dictate a desire to sail the open seas, then... you shall officially enlist as my comrade!"
Tama's emotional parameters had begun to experience a sharp downward dip, assuming Ace was going to reject her application once again. But hearing his updated criteria, her big eyes instantly illuminated with a blinding brilliance.
Snapping her gaze up to lock onto that familiar, freckled smile, she burst into a magnificent, wide-mouthed laugh, launching her tiny frame forward to wrap her arms securely around his neck.
"Ace... I'm sailing with your fleet! I'm officially enlisting as your comrade! Wahahaha...!"
Ace scooped her up into his arms, his voice dropping to a soft, melodic pitch. "Deal. Let's move; I'll introduce your system to the core vanguard of our coalition."
Meanwhile, on the adjacent quadrant of the Kuri highway, Hawkins was pushing his mount through a frantic sprint. Glancing back through the dense tree line to verify that zero pursuit signatures were tracking his coordinates, he let out a massive sigh of relief.
The sheer, suffocating pressure Ace radiated during that encounter felt mathematically superior to the aura he had logged during his interactions with Kaido. That suffocating, heavy sensation of absolute dread was something his processors never wanted to endure again.
But in the next microsecond, Hawkins' internal danger-radar triggered a massive, high-priority alert. The incoming threat metric was so extreme it caused his scalp to tingle with pure panic.
His system was currently operating with a grand total of zero voodoo straw doll backups! If his structural integrity sustained a lethal hit under these conditions, his life signs would be permanently terminated.
BOOM!
Following a thunderous concussive impact, Hawkins was violently unseated from his mount, his frame hurtling through the air.
"Gah...!" Executing a ragged maneuver to stabilize his descent, his boots touched the dirt. But before his cognitive functions could choose a counter-action, a sharp, whistling破空声 tore through the air adjacent to his ear.
A spectacular, high-velocity air-shattering slash sliced across the horizon, making direct contact with his left shoulder.
SLASH!
A thick arc of crimson blood erupted across the field, and a severed arm, heavily stained with gore, vaulted high into the upper atmosphere.
The sudden, intense wave of neurological agony caused Hawkins' features to contort into a hideous, mangled mask of pain. Forcing his head up through the blinding strain, his cognitive processing stalled completely.
Standing a short distance away was a lone silhouette stepping slowly through the settling dust. He was calmly sliding a long katana back into its scabbard—and secured firmly against his waist were two additional blades.
The vanguard combatant of the Straw Hat Pirates, the "Pirate Hunter" Roronoa Zoro!
"Your trajectory just ruined the baseline cleanliness of my meat..." Zoro muttered, emerging from the smoke haze to close the distance to Hawkins.
Clutched firmly in his grip was a colossal bone of meat.
Which currently featured a light dusting of dirt particles.
As it turned out, Zoro had been enjoying a pristine, isolated barbecue session in the brush. Suddenly, a giant lizard beast had come charging through his quadrant like a runaway train, kicking up a massive wave of grit that rained straight down over his position and the wild boar he was meticulously roasting.
Zoro, who had been leisurely throwing back a bottle of high-grade sake, had ended up with a mouth full of dry sand.
How the hell was a grand master of the blade supposed to tolerate a variables shift of that nature!?
He had launched an immediate, retaliatory slash. Which mapped perfectly to the fallout that had just manifested.
"Ah, it's you," Zoro noted, his eye blinking slightly as he analyzed Hawkins' kneeling, battered frame.
He held a clear index on Hawkins' profile; after all, their biographies were both registered under the elite header of the Worst Generation.
"Damn it...!" Hawkins growled, his glare locking onto Zoro with absolute, unadulterated venom. He had entirely failed to calculate the sudden manifestation of an elite wildcard like the Pirate Hunter within this sector.
However, running a rapid cross-reference of the relationship parameters linking Luffy and Ace, his analytical systems quickly expanded the macro-equation.
Previously, his strategic logic had returned a massive error loop regarding why an Emperor of the Sea like Fire Emperor Ace would suddenly launch an unprovoked offensive against Kaido's regime. But evaluating the current board, the data was glaringly clear: the Whitebeard remnants had already forged a synchronized military alliance with the Straw Hat Pirates!
"Roronoa Zoro... your unit entered this hot zone in total synchronization with Fire Emperor Ace, correct? What exact strategic objective does your coalition target!?"
Draped in a heavy layer of irritation over his ruined lunch, Zoro's brain stalled entirely at the prompt.
What the hell is this guy talking about?Fire Emperor Ace?
At this exact timeline on the board, the scattered members of the Straw Hat Pirates were entirely blind to the data that Ace had officially claimed a throne among the Emperors.
On the adjacent sector of the sea, Luffy and the core extraction unit had only just run the file a few hours ago.