Chapter 81: The Beast Vanguard and the Emperor's Rampage

[Victor’s POV]

The afternoon sun filtered through the massive, iridescent soap bubbles of Grove 13.

I stood at the door of Shakky’s Rip-off Bar, adjusting the collar of my Warlord coat.

Inside, Rayleigh had just finished off the last of his rum.

The Dark King gave me a quiet, respectful nod, an unspoken acknowledgment between two men who understood the sheer weight of the era we were about to walk into.

“Take this,” Shakky said, walking around the bar and tossing a small, complex compass into my hand.

It didn’t have one needle; it had three, all housed within a glass sphere.

“A Triple Log Pose,” Law noted, stepping out of the bar beside me.

“Standard navigation is completely useless where you’re going,” Shakky explained, taking a drag from her cigarette.

“The magnetic fields in the New World are erratic.

Islands shift, currents warp, and a single needle will just lead you into a whirlpool.

You follow the needle that moves the least if you want to play it safe.

Or, follow the one spinning out of control if you want an adventure.”

“We appreciate it, Shakky,” I said, pocketing the compass.

I looked back at Rayleigh one last time.

“See you around, Uncle Ray.”

“Give the New World hell, kid,” Rayleigh smiled.

We made our way back to Grove 10.

The hidden inlet was completely untouched.

Standing perfectly still on the deck of the Titan’s Glory was the Unicorn Jade Clone, its glowing green horn sparking with kinetic energy, daring any local bounty hunters to approach.

I dismissed the construct with a thought.

The jade energy dissolved into green smoke.

“Alright,” I told the Verdant Abyss crew as they boarded.

“Brace yourselves.

We’re skipping Fish-Man Island.”

I drew The Jade Wings, channeling a massive surge of Fa-Jin directly into the air.

The green smoke spiraled and condensed into the colossal, majestic form of the Sky-Rift Roc.

The giant bird let out a piercing shriek, hooking its dark talons into the ship’s heavy-lifting harnesses.

With a hurricane-force beat of its wings, the Titan’s Glory was ripped from the water.

We ascended rapidly, leaving the soap bubbles of Sabaody behind as we scaled the towering, dark red stone wall of the Red Line.

Gwen, Laura, and Perona stood by the railing, watching in absolute awe as we broke through the cloud barrier.

We were flying over the absolute peak of the world, miles above the ocean.

But as we crossed the continent’s zenith and began our descent on the other side, the serene, sunny skies instantly vanished.

“Incoming!” Law shouted, his grip tightening on his Nodachi.

We plunged into the New World, and the ocean rose up to greet us in the form of an apocalyptic nightmare.

It wasn’t just a storm.

The gravity itself was fractured.

Massive, jagged peaks of ocean water were floating in mid-air, defying physics.

Above us, the storm clouds weren’t dropping lightning, the lightning was striking upward from the ocean’s surface, massive bolts of purple electricity tearing into the sky.

“Stabilize the ship!” I roared over the deafening thunder.

The crew operated like a perfectly oiled, lethal machine.

“Forcefields!” Gwen commanded.

She and Perona raised their hands, their golden Nega-Rings flashing brilliantly.

A massive, shimmering dome of golden kinetic energy projected outward, forming a hard-light umbrella over the ship.

Dozens of upward lightning bolts slammed into the shield, violently dispersing into harmless sparks.

The erratic gravity waves threatened to rip our mainmasts out of the hull.

“I’m on it!” Laura yelled.

She tapped her ring, utilizing the ten-meter teleportation to blink seamlessly through the air.

She appeared halfway up the mainmast, using her adamantium claws and immense physical strength to manually lock the heavy Adam Wood riggings and structural supports into place, bypassing the need for traditional sails entirely.

Brook utilized his ring’s limited flight, hovering effortlessly around the hull and using his spectral ice to freeze the surrounding, floating water peaks, preventing them from crashing into our broadside.

We cut through the apocalyptic anomaly in less than five minutes, the Titan’s Glory remaining completely pristine.

We had passed the New World’s brutal entry exam without a single scratch.

The chaotic storm gave way to a dark, rolling ocean.

In the distance, the first island of the New World came into view.

It was a jagged, rocky landmass constantly bathed in a relentless shower of ambient lightning.

Raijin Island.

“Take us down,” I ordered the Roc.

The ship landed smoothly in the water, anchoring just offshore.

“Are we exploring?” Bepo asked, tilting his head.

“No.

We’re establishing a beachhead,” I replied.

I grabbed the heavy, brass-and-wood housing of the Portal Gun and hopped off the ship, walking across the electrified rocks until I found a deep, cavernous inlet completely shielded from the weather.

I aimed the gun at a flat, solid rock face deep inside the cave.

I pulled the trigger.

The fixed-point multiversal sphere embedded in the gun whirred.

A beam of concentrated spatial energy struck the rock, tearing a hole directly through the fabric of space.

A swirling, stable blue portal sparked to life.

On the other side, I could clearly see the messy, tool-covered interior of Dock 1 in Water 7.

“Portal anchor established,” I muttered.

I immediately pulled the trigger a second time, snapping the portal shut.

Maintaining an open spatial tear drained a massive amount of the gun’s energy accumulators, but the anchor point was now permanently logged in the matrix.

We had a secret, untraceable supply line and an instant doorway back to Paradise whenever we needed it.

As I walked back out of the cave and climbed aboard, the ship’s main communications Den-Den Mushi began to wail frantically.

“Mayday!

Mayday!” a desperate voice screamed through the static.

“This is the port of Chibar!

We are under attack by the Beast Pirates!

They’re burning the city!

Anyone receiving this, please…!”

The transmission cut to the sound of roaring flames and feral laughter.

I looked out toward the horizon.

A thick, black plume of smoke was rising from an island a few miles east.

“Set course,” I ordered.

When we arrived, the port kingdom was entirely engulfed in flames.

Docked in the harbor was a massive fleet of galleons, their prows carved into the shape of giant mammoths.

Swarming the burning docks were hundreds of bizarre, laughing pirates.

Some had the heads of wolves, others had gorilla arms sprouting from their waists, and one man literally had a lion’s head growing out of his stomach.

“What the hell are those?” Penguin gasped, drawing his sword.

“Beast Pirates,” Law answered, his expression darkening.

“Specifically, Kaido’s Vanguard fleet.

Those freaks are ‘Gifters’.

They’ve eaten Artificial Zoan Devil Fruits.”

I sat on the wooden railing of the ship, looking down at the chaos.

“Sengoku wanted me to handle Kaido’s temper tantrums,” I told my crew, a dangerous smile touching my lips.

“Consider this our formal introduction.

Clear the docks.”

The Verdant Abyss crew dropped directly into the burning port.

It was an absolute massacre.

Laura hit the ground and instantly unleashed her Gamma form.

Her skin turned deep green, her muscles swelling into a towering, hulking mass of raw power.

A Gifter with the lower body of a centipede charged her, swinging a heavy iron mace.

Laura didn’t even dodge.

She caught the mace with one hand, crushing the iron head into dust.

With a feral roar, she coated her adamantium claws in pitch-black Armament Haki and drove them through the Gifter’s reinforced chest plating, tearing the pirate in half before teleporting ten meters into the center of a sniper squad and turning them to ribbons.

Law walked calmly into the center of the harbor.

“Room.” His massive blue sphere enveloped three of the mammoth ships.

A dozen Gifters leaped at him, but Law simply vanished, swapping places with a falling piece of debris using Shambles.

Reappearing above the ships, he drew his Nodachi.

“Amputate.” With three surgical, Haki-laced horizontal slashes, he dismantled the ships’ keels, masts, and hulls perfectly.

The massive galleons fell apart like sliced bread, sinking into the harbor without touching the civilian docks.

“My turn!

My turn!” Gammamon cheered, bounding off the boarding ramp.

A massive Gifter, sporting the torso and arms of a silverback gorilla, roared and brought two massive fists down toward the little white dinosaur.

“Breclaw!” Gammamon shouted.

His small horns ignited with intense, concentrated crimson flames.

He flew forward, launching a concentrated fireball directly into the gorilla-Gifter’s face.

As the pirate stumbled backward blind and burning, Gammamon spun in mid-air.

“Horn Attack!” He coated his triceratops horns in rudimentary Armament Haki and rocketed forward like a bullet, driving his hardened head straight into the giant’s sternum, sending the massive pirate flying through three brick walls.

Bepo, Penguin, and Shachi also fought flawlessly.

Bepo’s martial arts, enhanced by both Armament Haki and his Nega-Ring’s kinetic boost, sent wolf-headed pirates flying into the ocean with a single strike.

I walked down the boarding ramp, approaching a towering pirate with a rhino horn growing out of his forehead.

He was the Vanguard’s Captain.

He charged at me, swinging a spiked club.

I didn’t draw The Jade Wings.

I raised my right hand.

The Nega-Ring flashed.

A dense beam of golden kinetic energy shot from my fist, slamming into the captain’s chest with the force of a cannonball, violently pinning him against a burning stone wall.

“Tell me about your Artificial Devil Fruit supply chain,” I demanded casually, stepping up to him.

The captain spat blood, laughing arrogantly despite being crushed by the forcefield.

“In your dreams, Warlord!

You can’t beat Kaido!

Our army is infinite!

As long as Joker keeps supplying us with the Fruits, the Beast Pirates will never stop growing!, and you think ill just tell you everything!”

Law walked up behind me, his eyes narrowing at the name.

“Joker,” Law murmured.

“That’s Donquixote Doflamingo’s underworld alias.

Victor, if we want to cripple Kaido’s army and draw Doflamingo out of Dressrosa simultaneously, we need to attack that supply line.”

Law looked at his Triple Log Pose, pointing to a needle that was barely moving.

“I know where the main ingredient is manufactured.

An off-the-grid, restricted island called Punk Hazard.

We destroy the lab there, we cut Doflamingo’s strings.”

It was a brilliant plan.

Strike the shadows, break the supply chain.

It’s what they did in the original timeline and it worked out for them, I don’t see a reason it won’t work for us.

But before I could give the order to set a course for Punk Hazard, the encrypted Marine Den-Den Mushi inside my coat began to scream.

It wasn’t a standard ring, it was the frantic, high-pitched wail of an unencrypted, localized SOS from a Marine frequency.

I pulled it out and clicked the receiver.

“Any Marine vessels in Sector 4!

This is Outpost G-7!” a voice shrieked through the static, completely blinded by terror.

“We are under siege!

He just dropped out of the sky!

We have civilian evacuation ships in the harbor, but he’s targeting the shelters!

We need Admiral-level backup immediately!

It’s oh god, he’s breathing fire…..IT’S KAIDO!”

The snail screamed in static before the line violently went dead.

Silence fell over our crew amidst the burning port.

The Vanguard fleet was defeated, but the true threat had just revealed itself.

We stood at a massive crossroads.

We could stick to the shadows, sail to Punk Hazard, and quietly dismantle Doflamingo’s empire from the inside out.

Or, we could answer the distress call, step directly into the light, and face the strongest creature in the world head-on.

I looked down at the leather pouch tied to my hip, feeling the solid glass vials of the super soldier serum resting safely inside.

Nineteen minutes of absolute, god-killing power.

I looked at Law, Laura, Gwen, Robin, Perona, Brook, Bepo, and Gammamon.

Not a single one of them was stepping back.

They hadn’t survived Goliath’s Rest just to hide from a fight.

“Change of plans,” I announced, turning my back on the path to Punk Hazard.

I looked up at the sky, a surge of Conqueror’s Haki leaking from my form, cracking the stone beneath my boots.

“We’re skipping the strings.

We’re going straight for the Dragon.”