"Shock! Great Pirate Gecko Moria challenged the Emperor Kaido and lost!"
"Victoria Hindoli accidentally fell off the stage and died!"
"Big event! The Sun Pirates' captain, Fisher Tiger, died from serious injuries, and the remnants are being hunted down!"
Shimotsuki Village!
Summer has gone, and winter has come, in the blink of an eye.
Snow fell.
The sword-casting furnace roared with life.
Leno sat by the fire, reading the newspaper.
The news wasn't timely; some of it was already two or three months old before reaching East Blue and being published in the newspapers.
For example, the defeat of Gecko Moria.
That happened five months ago.
The high-spirited pirate Moria challenged the great dragon Kaido, but was thoroughly defeated.
Victoria Hindoli, a world-renowned stage actress, once performed at East Blue's Glass Ball Island.
Koushirou was actually her fan. Hearing that she died in the crash, he drank a lot of wine.
The captain of the Sun Pirates became the focus of the world's attention after he climbed to the holy land of Mary Geoise.
On the Red Line, he unleashed a horde of Celestial Dragons' slaves, and delivered a powerful punch to the face of the Celestial Dragons.
All countries in the world paid great attention to it.
Some underground companies even offered odds, betting on whether he could stay alive and keep fighting.
Obviously, the Celestial Dragons and the World Government would never allow Fisher Tiger to live.
One more day for him to live is one more day of fear for the Celestial Dragons and the World Government.
Since the establishment of the Sun Pirates, Marine Vice Admirals Kuzan, Sakazuki, and Borsalino went all out to chase and intercept him, finally bringing him down.
Yes, Kuzan, Akainu, and Kizaru, now Vice Admirals.
The current Marine Marshal is Kong.
There are two Admirals, Sengoku the Buddha and Zephyr, and a seat, which is said to be reserved for Garp, but he firmly refuses to accept it.
Currently, in the Marines, no one can match Sengoku the Buddha and Zephyr in terms of military exploits and seniority.
No one dared to bypass Garp to take that Admiral position, so the World Government had to leave it empty.
But in the newspapers, there's already momentum building for Sakazuki, Borsalino, and Kuzan.
They appear with increasing frequency.
Reports on Kong and Sengoku the Buddha remain unchanged.
Reports on Zephyr and Garp have almost disappeared.
In Leno's view, this is a signal.
The World Summit held this year has already hinted at the need to adjust the Marines.
In the newspaper corner, Leno found out about the Red Hair Pirates.
"Supernova Pirate, Red-Haired Shanks Shines Again!!!"
The news content was quite short.
The general idea was that the Red Hair Pirates entered the Grand Line and defeated a well-known pirate who controlled the first half.
It has to be said that there are talented people in every generation.
The Grand Line is a place where thousands of sails race and hundreds of boats compete for the current.
Marine leadership is beginning to change.
Pirates are about to be replaced.
The names of many strong men—such as Golden Lion, Captain John, Ochoku, Silver Ax, Byrnndi World, Patrick Redfield, Bullet, and many others—have disappeared over the past ten years, which is regrettable.
The picture above the newspaper shows Shanks raising a sword and celebrating with his crew.
"Wait?"
Leno was surprised—Shanks' left arm wasn't broken?
He looked again.
The arm around Beckman's shoulder was indeed Shanks' left hand.
Leno frowned.
"Is this the butterfly effect?"
"Because I killed Higuma, the bandits broke up, Luffy wasn't captured, and the King of the Sea didn't bite off Shanks' arm?"
(King of the Sea: No one speaks up for me?)
"Fortune and misfortune depend on each other. What I have to face in the future is actually a complete Shanks. The pressure is definitely higher!"
Leno clicked his tongue.
The grievance between him and Shanks was forged with that wine bottle, and when they meet again in the future, there will inevitably be a battle.
Leno knew that if he remained unknown, always just a small fry, someone like Shanks wouldn't take him seriously.
Who cares about ants?
Looking down, Leno felt tired.
But he just wants to be famous.
That bottle of shame—Shanks won't forget it.
Kindness should be repaid with kindness, and grudges with revenge.
It's the simplest law in the pirate world.
Do you regret it?
Of course not!
If he could go back, Leno would still do the same.
The opportunity flashed by.
Because of that wine bottle, he was able to break away from Higuma's bandits, leave the Kingdom of Goa, and become even stronger.
In fact, Higuma would have acted the same way without the bottle.
Then the plot would have developed as expected, he would have been coerced by the bandits, and eventually given up his head.
He might have taken the opportunity to escape, but that's another story.
But many assumptions don't hold.
There is no "if" in life.
When Leno picked up that bottle, he was ready to give it his all.
That was the beginning of his integration into the pirate world.
Want to be famous and rich but also want to do nothing, just lie down and wait for luck to fall into your lap?
That's only possible with the luck of a Conqueror.
Like Buggy?
He really just laid down and got mixed into the Four Emperors!
But Leno prefers to fight for himself rather than passively wait for something.
He put down the newspaper and stretched.
Then he lifted his coat and stood up, revealing his strong, bronze-colored upper body.
His abs were defined and chiseled.
The sea breeze, the sun, and the flames forged a body like steel.
He is now two meters tall, with a resolute face and short, ear-length hair that adds an unruly masculinity.
If he went back to his previous world, he would definitely be a handsome man who made women's hormones go wild.
Leno walked to the sword stove, holding the sledgehammer in one hand.
"Armament Haki!"
The big hammer, weighing one ton, turned as black as ink with Armament Haki wrapped around it.
"The wind is coming!"
The Wind's Blessing appeared out of thin air and poured into the hearth, the charcoal fire raging, red as blood.
Observing closely, the wind was neither too fast nor too slow, just enough to stimulate the highest temperature of the fire.
It was evident that Leno's control over the wind was very subtle.
The Body of Sword in the furnace became more and more red.
Leno took it out with pliers, placed it on the steel ingot, and began hammering, sending sparks flying everywhere.
With every strike, he listened to the Iron Body with Observation Haki.
Only with the most appropriate force could the most beautiful notes be played.
With each hammer strike, Armament Haki penetrated the Iron Body, forming a secondary hammer forging from the outside in.
Not only that, he also experimented with hammering the Conqueror's Haki into the Iron Body, trying to give it a "living" quality.
He hadn't succeeded yet.
However, the sword he was now casting was deeply loved by the disciples in the dojo, who found it inexplicably easy to use.
Of course, these achievements of Leno were inseparable from an S-level talent obtained from Koushirou, the Craftsman Soul!
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