[Boom!]
"Huff—huff—huff—"
Blood trickled from the corner of Hanzō’s mouth as he suddenly dropped to his knees on the warm, golden sand.
His trembling arms barely supported his pain-wracked, heavy body. With his chest heaving violently, sharp breaths rushed from his mouth and nose.
Hanzō stared blankly at the blood dripping down, slowly dyeing the gravel red.
Why?
Did I... actually lose?
Why?
Why was the enemy so much stronger than him—so powerful that he couldn’t even put up a fight?
I am Hanzō!
How could such overwhelming strength exist in this world?
Hanzō slowly lifted his battered face and looked up at the towering figure of the Third Raikage, who stared down at him coldly.
That tall, imposing fra blocked out the sunlight, casting a vast shadow over him.
"If you’re this powerful, how could you have ever been pushed back by Sunagakure? How could soone like you be defeated and captured?!"
Hanzō couldn’t understand it at all.
If the Third Raikage was truly this strong, shouldn’t Kumogakure have already unified the shinobi world?
And to say he was once pushed back by that so-called Fourth Kazekage, Rasa? What a joke!
"You’ll find out soon enough."
The Third Raikage said calmly, looking down at Hanzō. "But for now, you’ve lost. So I’ll give you two choices."
"Let’s hear them."
Hanzō’s face turned ashen. He clenched the warm sand in his fist.
"The first one, of course, is that I send you on your way—to the Pure Land."
At those words, Hanzō’s body stiffened instantly.
Because he didn’t want to die.
Whether it was for Agakure or for power—it didn’t matter what the reason was.
The truth was, he feared death.
That’s why, whether at ho or on the move, he always kept over a hundred shinobi guards around him.
No matter what, Hanzō was not the type of man who would sacrifice his life for honor or go bravely to his death.
A forced smile appeared on his face. "Sounds like the second option might be a bit more agreeable.
"The second choice is to bring all of Agakure under my command. First, we’ll crush Iwagakure, then take on Kirigakure, and finally suppress Konoha—unifying the entire shinobi world!"
A blazing fire called ambition burned in the Third Raikage’s eyes.
Although the task he had received from the World Governnt was to lead Kumogakure in assisting Sunagakure to conquer Iwagakure—
He thought it could go even further than that.
He had been Raikage for decades—his political instincts were far from dull.
By now, he understood that conquered nations could join the World Governnt. In fact, entire countries might beco mber states.
Their leaders could even represent their world at the so-called World Summit.
That gave the Third Raikage a new goal:
To do everything in his power to make himself and Kumogakure that representative—before the World Governnt deployed its full military might.
Back when he was in the World of the Titans—
The people from the Other Worlds Strategic Committee had already told him that the World Governnt wasn’t keen on sending large military forces for now.
They preferred to use local forces within the shinobi world to achieve their goal of unification and conquest.
This was actually a new approach brought to them by Amatori Biba and Crocodile.
Of course, it was also related to the small size of the mini Dinsional Gates.
Then the Third Raikage recalled what General Crocodile had done—crushing Sunagakure and killing the daimyo of the Land of Wind.
Naturally, he realized that the World Governnt likely wanted the Land of Wind and Sunagakure to act as the representatives of this world.
But he believed—if Kumogakure could suppress Iwagakure, Kirigakure, and even Konohagakure more quickly—then perhaps the World Governnt might reconsider its choice.
In the Third Raikage’s eyes, what was Sunagakure worth? And that Fourth Kazekage?
What right did they have to be the representatives of this world?
After coming up with this idea, he didn’t hide it. Once he made his request to join the World Governnt, he revealed everything without holding back.
Naturally, the Other Worlds Strategic Committee didn’t reject the proposal—nor did they object to it.
They imdiately contacted the CIPHER POL headquarters. Once he gave his approval, CIPHER POL ordered Umigakure to register the Third Raikage’s identity.
As for the Third Raikage’s greater ambition, the Other Worlds Strategic Committee, after so internal discussion, gave a neutral reply: neither support nor opposition.
The Third Raikage understood imdiately—that was why he hadn’t simply killed Hanzō.
Though he had already injected himself with a perfected Type-I cellular enhancent serum—
And had begun awakening both Armant Haki and Observation Haki, while also learning the basic techniques of the Six Powers and mastering the fundantals of Thunder Breathing—his strength was now vastly beyond what it used to be.
But conquering Iwagakure, Kirigakure, Konohagakure, and the smaller shinobi villages in a short ti—
That was not sothing he could do alone.
And Hanzō—though cowardly before the strong and ruthless to the weak, and terrified of death—was still quite powerful. He could be put to good use.
"..."
When Hanzō heard the second option proposed by the Third Raikage, he let out a breath of relief.
Though submitting was humiliating, it was still better than death. As long as he stayed alive, there was still hope—maybe he could even gather intel from the enemy and stage a reversal later on.
"Very well. I, Hanzō, pay my respects to Third Raikage-sama!"
Gritting his teeth, Hanzō lowered himself into a half-kneeling position under the shocked gazes of Yahiko, Nagato, and A in the distance.
anwhile—
The gates of the central tower in Rōran swung open once more.
Marshall D. Teach wore a gloomy expression, ignoring the curious questions of the army colonel from earlier, and silently made his way toward the western district.
At the top floor of the central tower, at the window, Sakazuki stood expressionless, watching Teach’s retreating figure.
"Hehehehe... May I ask why you rejected him?"
"I can sense his strength. With the power of three Devil Fruits, he could at least be grood into a general."
Shiryu, chewing on a smoking cigar, spoke to Sakazuki’s back.
"It’s precisely because of those three Devil Fruit powers that the higher-ups want him to be a quiet architect, not a soldier."
Sakazuki answered in a low voice without turning his head, though his determined eyes flickered slightly with uncertainty.
"I see... But still, with soone who can consu three Devil Fruits—wouldn’t it be smarter to cultivate such a monster?"
Shiryu assud that when Sakazuki said ’the higher-ups’, he ant the High Command or the Five Elders.
"I don’t know either. But it’s not sothing we need to know."
Sakazuki suspected it was likely the will of Imu-sama.
Although he didn’t know why Teach was being targeted, he wasn’t interested in digging deeper—after all, the military wasn’t lacking manpower right now.
And a strong infrastructure-building ability was indeed very important.
"How’s the situation with Aramaki?"
Seeing that Sakazuki didn’t want to talk more about Teach, Shiryu answered promptly, "The latest report from yesterday said he’s already engaged Konoha’s ten-thousand-strong army and has the upper hand."
"Hmm. Keep monitoring. I’ve got a feeling Aramaki’s going to suffer a setback over there."
Sakazuki gazed through the window at the distant desert. The battle there seed to be winding down, with thousands of shinobi beginning to retreat eastward.
He quite liked people like the Third Raikage—straightforward and forceful in character.
Unfortunately—
The higher-ups didn’t seem to want to assign him to the military, but instead handed him over directly to Umigakure, under CIPHER POL.
...
Teigu World, Noah’s Ark.
Imu was playing tennis with Historia.
Esdeath was gone.
That’s right—she had ultimately defeated Doflamingo.
Then she took Guren, Aka, Kuro, and a personal Empress-class airship, and headed for the Shinobi World.
Speaking of which, Imu was left speechless.
Not at Esdeath—but at that bastard Doflamingo.
This bastard actually ’faked the match’ right in front of him.
He made it look like he had awakened his String-String Fruit and was fighting Esdeath seriously, with grand displays and fanfare.
But he hadn’t even used Conqueror’s Coating or Internal Destruction Armant Haki.
In the end, he got hit by one of her attacks—Imu still wasn’t sure if it was on purpose or not—and was sent flying.
Then he simply announced that he had lost.
Esdeath, not knowing Doflamingo well, and seeing him panting heavily with sweat pouring down, didn’t notice anything unusual—since she had gone all-out on her end.
Later, Imu called Doflamingo alone to the Ark’s Grand Hall and questioned him. That bastard just laughed and said:
"Fufufufufufu~~"
"If Empress Esdeath were stronger than , that’d be fine. But she isn’t. So how could I go all out? I might’ve hurt her!"
Imu could still rember the proud expression on that bastard’s face.
Ever since regaining his status as a Celestial Dragon—and becoming one of his Ōka Shichibukai—Doflamingo’s arrogance had grown year after year.
Though he never openly proclaid it,
He had long since beco a staunch defender of the Celestial Dragons’ privileged class.
It seed that during this ti, it wasn’t just his body and abilities that had been tempered—but also the once-agitated heart shaped by his dark past.
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