One Piece: My Evolving Aircraft

Next Bonus, 100!!

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Time waits for no man.

Puru puru puru...

The Den Den Mushi rang.

"Hello?"

"Fuffuffuffuffu... Jin, you bastard. Bet you weren't expecting a call from me."

That distinct, grating laugh could only belong to one man.

Jin's expression remained perfectly neutral. "Doflamingo... To what do I owe the pleasure? Did you miss me?"

"Miss you?" Doflamingo sneered. "Don't make me laugh. The only thing I'm missing is the sight of your corpse."

His tone hardened. "You've got my subordinates. I want them back. Name your price."

Although Doflamingo had been officially sentenced, he hadn't spent a single day in a cell. The World Government had merely snapped a mugshot for the papers, and he had quietly slipped into the ranks of the God's Knights.

The Cipher Pol agencies had quickly realized a glaring problem. After Doflamingo's 'downfall,' a syndicate of 'rookies' had rapidly swept in, devouring his massive share of the underworld market.

The Five Elders found this unacceptable. They needed that chaos controlled. Thus, they had decided to let Doflamingo operate from the shadows under a new alias.

But a king without his pieces is useless. To execute his new mandate, Doflamingo needed his old 'Family.'

"They're already dead," Jin said flatly.

A vein throbbed on Doflamingo's forehead. "Dead?"

"Yeah. You called a bit too late. If you'd been quicker, I might have held out for a few Devil Fruits."

Doflamingo's face darkened.

He abruptly changed the subject.

"The son of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger. The Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. That brat, Ace."

"He's going to be publicly executed at Marineford in two days."

"I know," Jin replied, unfazed.

"It's a trap, and Whitebeard has no choice but to walk right into it! You know exactly what that means!" Doflamingo's voice rose with manic excitement. "The storm of the new era is finally here!"

"And?" Jin prompted.

"Are you interested in a partnership?" Doflamingo offered.

"A partnership for what?"

"The world, of course!"

"The world?"

"That's right..." Doflamingo continued, his tone turning persuasive. "I know we have history. We've been at each other's throats. But..."

"I'm not like these naive children who don't understand the true nature of peace, or the harsh reality of war."

"Only those who stand at the absolute pinnacle have the right to define what is good and what is evil."

"Where interests align, there are no eternal enemies."

"This world belongs in the hands of men like us. It shouldn't be ruled by a bunch of pathetic Celestial Dragons."

"You must know by now, don't you? Just how utterly repulsive and idiotic those 'gods' truly are!"

Jin chuckled. "Hey now, aren't you one of them?"

"That's merely a temporary compromise!" Doflamingo spat.

"You really are an ambitious bastard..." Jin murmured.

"Tell me," Jin asked suddenly, "what do you think of the commoners who overthrew your rule in Dressrosa?"

Doflamingo was taken aback. "They're ants, naturally."

"If you hadn't been pulling the strings from the shadows—if you hadn't neutralized Sugar, the absolute core of our control over Dressrosa—even with King Riku and his army of a hundred thousand, I would have crushed them without breaking a sweat."

"Heh... ants, you say?" Jin laughed softly.

"Then you're no different from the Celestial Dragons."

"I might not be a saint, but I'm absolutely certain of one thing: I am nothing like you."

Jin's voice turned cold. "We're done here. This conversation is over."

He hung up the Den Den Mushi.

The capture of Ace was the spark that ignited the inferno known as the Summit War!

In the end, it would conclude with the tragic deaths of the Yonko, Edward Newgate, and "Fire Fist" Ace.

But Whitebeard's dying declaration—that the "One Piece" was real—would send shockwaves across the globe.

It was a fatal, final blow delivered straight to the heart of the Marines and the World Government.

And with that, the delicate balance of the world would be shattered forever.

If Gol D. Roger had ignited the "Great Pirate Era"...

Then the era spanning from Roger's execution to Whitebeard's death could only be described as the "Twilight of the Remnants."

Whitebeard's death would symbolize the absolute end of Roger's generation—the fading light of the old guard.

A new breed of monsters would set sail, stepping over the corpses of the past to fight for the empty throne!

The ambitious and the ruthless would carve their names into history, heralding the dawn of the "New Era"!

As a die-hard fan of the original story, Jin knew every single beat of this grand narrative.

A faint smile played on his lips as he strode into the conference room Marine Headquarters had prepared for the Seven Warlords.

He scanned the room.

Jinbe, Crocodile, and Boa Hancock—his people.

Dracule Mihawk, the Hawk-Eye.

And finally, the man who had murdered Ochoku, delivered Ace to Impel Down, and usurped Doflamingo's vacant seat: Marshall D. Teach, Blackbeard!

The World Government had issued a mandatory summons for the Warlords.

Six were present.

The only absentee was the disgraced shut-in, Gekko Moria. He had recently been humiliated by the "Straw Hat Crew" and unceremoniously stripped of his Warlord title by the World Government.

The World Government had two reasons for assembling the Warlords. First, they were an extra layer of insurance against Whitebeard's wrath. Second, keeping these unpredictable wildcards contained here prevented them from exploiting the chaos of the impending war to further their own agendas.

Jin stepped fully into the room. His gaze locked onto the newest addition, Blackbeard Teach.

He was a hulking brute, towering over three meters tall.

Compared to his days with the Whitebeard Pirates and his brief stint on Sosonir Island, his appearance had changed.

He was sporting a scruffy beard now. He had swapped his plain white shirt for a gaudy red one, draped beneath a heavy black captain's coat.

He looked far more dangerous, far more arrogant.

Two heavy necklaces hung around his neck, and a green bandana was tied around his head.

'Green...' Jin thought. 'A bit of an odd choice.'

"So, the traitor of Whitebeard's ship actually has the gall to strut into a Marine conference room and take a seat?" Jin's voice cut through the silence, dripping with raw contempt.

Nobody likes a traitor.

It wasn't just Jin. Not a single person in that room had an ounce of respect for Blackbeard.

Even if they had no personal ties to Whitebeard, the act of betraying one's own 'father'—selling out a former comrade for a shot at power and glory... it was a universally despicable act.

But while Jinbe and Mihawk kept their disgust relatively restrained, Jin had no such reservations. He called it exactly as he saw it.

Hearing this, Teach, who had actually harbored a sliver of respect for Jin, flared with anger. "Shut your mouth! What the hell do you know??"

"If we're talking about betrayal, then it was..."

Teach caught himself, snapping his mouth shut.

The others looked at him with renewed curiosity. Was there a hidden motive behind Teach's betrayal of Whitebeard?

Jin smiled faintly. He knew exactly what Teach had almost blurted out: 'Whitebeard betrayed us first.'

Decades ago, during the God Valley Incident... the sudden discovery of Rocks' wife and child, the inexplicable kidnapping of Shakky... all these anomalies pointed to a singular, undeniable truth: there had been a traitor within the crew.

And from Teach's perspective, not just Ochoku, but potentially even Whitebeard himself, were among those traitors.

Therefore, Teach felt absolutely zero remorse for stabbing Whitebeard in the back. If anything, he reveled in the twisted satisfaction of long-overdue vengeance.

"Don't get your panties in a twist," Jin said smoothly.

"Are you trying to lecture me?" Teach shot back.

"Heh."

Teach heard the sudden chuckle and paused. He looked up.

Then, his pupils dilated in shock.

Jin was standing directly in front of him.

Teach instinctively snapped his gaze back to where Jin had been standing a millisecond ago. The spot was empty.

Teleportation??

DANGER!

Panic seized Teach, his survival instincts screaming at him to retreat.

He had sailed with the Whitebeard Pirates; he had witnessed Jin's terrifying power firsthand. He knew full well he didn't have the strength to take him on right now.

But he was sitting in a chair. Where was he supposed to run?

His panicked flailing merely resulted in a loud CRASH as the chair tipped over backwards, sending Teach sprawling unceremoniously onto the floor.

"Don't be scared..." a gentle, almost mocking voice murmured.

Jin crouched down, bringing his face level with the fallen pirate. "If I wanted you dead, you'd already be a corpse."

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