Ultimate

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At the New World Marine HQ, on the eve of the raid elsewhere, the Marines feel the world shift under them. Sengoku says to Issho, "I suppose you're quite pleased, Issho." He knows Issho and others had longed for the abolition of the Shichibukai system, but admits, "I, myself, was against it, but... the will of the kings cannot be overturned." The old order has been cut away, and all that is left is trust in the SSG. Sengoku warns that the balance of power in the world will surely shift greatly. Elsewhere in the base, a Marine complains to a grinning Garp that the "sacrifices" were necessary for the continued existence of the Shichibukai, but Garp snaps back that the man has never been on the chopping block himself and has no idea what it is like.

The news from Wano slams into Marine HQ. Marines scramble as someone asks, "Aye, in directions we cannot predict!" Another says, "I hear tell that in Wano, Big Mom and Kaido intend to join forces." The words hit like an alarm: "What the--?!" "Rocks' second coming?!" Garp tells them not to speak of it like some sort of fable. This is real. When the rains of disaster come, he says, "They pour!"

The Marines clarify that Big Mom and Kaido have not simply joined hands, but seem to plan to join forces. They have not yet caused any real damage, and the Marines do not know what they intend to achieve or how best to counter them. The officers know far too little about the legendary Rocks Pirates. Sengoku explains that long ago, the Rocks Pirates formed when a band of pirates gathered on Pirate Island Beehive for a particular get-rich-quick scheme. They were a unique and violent crew who constantly killed each other, even at sea on the same ship. Big Mom and Kaido had hated one another for years, so their current alliance is something most Marines of this age have never even heard of Rocks enough to understand.

Sengoku names the impossible crew. With their captain Rocks at the lead, their members included Whitebeard, Big Mom, and Kaido in their younger years. The room erupts: "Whaaaaaa--?!" Sengoku continues that others from the Rocks Pirates later made names for themselves: the Golden Lion, Silver Axe, Captain John, and Wang Zhi. The Marines can hardly believe that so many people came from the same dark corner of history. Sengoku explains one reason so few people lived long enough to tell the tale: all those pirates got along so badly that their captain, Rocks, bared the fangs of his crew at the World Government almost like a terrorist organization, and aimed to become Pirate King.

The enormity of the Rocks Pirates once reached everyone's ears, but many of their incidents were wiped from the pages of history by the World Government. The fateful clash happened 38 years ago on God Valley. On that day, news that the strongest crew in the world, the Rocks Pirates, had been crushed at God Valley spread across the world. The advance of evil had seemed nearly unstoppable, but it was stopped by a Marine vice admiral named Garp. From then on, Garp's name spread everywhere, and he became known as the "Hero of the Marines."

To the younger Marines, that is only the beginning. They already know many legends of Garp's heroic deeds, and Sengoku admits that if they ask the man himself, Garp will be tight-lipped on this subject. He offers only the historical facts. Big Mom and Kaido came one after another from that past. The first reason the full truth never made it into the papers is that Garp had to fight alongside a pirate in that battle.

The room recoils: "A pirate?!" Sengoku says the other reason is even more uncomfortable. Garp fought to protect Celestial Dragons, though protecting them is supposedly the duty of the Marines. Garp's moral code does not permit him to fulfill that duty, and that is in fact the reason he has continually refused the rank of admiral: becoming one would place him directly under the thumb of the Celestial Dragons. Despite that, his achievement at God Valley cannot be shaken. The truth is this: at God Valley, to protect Celestial Dragons and their slaves, Garp and Roger happened to meet there, joined forces, and wiped out the Rocks Pirates. That is the full story of the God Valley incident.

The Marines can barely process it: "He fought alongside the Pirate King?!" "What a cast! Celestial Dragons, Roger, and Rocks?!" Some have never even heard of a place called God Valley. Sengoku explains why. The location of the island of God Valley is no longer depicted on any map, and in reality the entire island itself has vanished without a trace. An island whose existence the World Government wanted very much to keep secret has vanished. Still interested in asking questions, Sengoku turns the tale back to the pirate at its center: once upon a time, a buccaneer by the name of Rocks sought to become the Pirate King.

Because Rocks touched too many of the stones the World Government would rather leave untouched, no information about the Rocks Pirates remains intact. Only fragments survive in the memories of Marines from Sengoku's generation. Whether past or not, the idea that one man once led three pirates who would later become Yonko leaves the room stunned. Sengoku says Rocks was Roger's first and perhaps greatest enemy. Though he is no longer of this world, he is one of the pirates who carried the name of D: he was never called by any name other than Captain Rocks, but his full name was Rocks D. Xebec.

Sengoku returns to the present danger. Big Mom and Kaido were once part of the same pirate crew, and if their alliance is real, they are far stronger now than they were 38 years ago. The most fearsome crew the world has ever seen is about to take shape again. The Marines then shift to bounties, because the new bounties of recently driven individuals have been printed and Shichibukai postings must be recalculated. Sengoku tells the room to go over the numbers, starting with Blackbeard, who has been a Yonko for about a year.

Sengoku begins with the youngest of the current Yonko. Following his ambush at Impel Down about two years ago, Marshall D. Teach gained several powerful subordinates, and at present he is the de facto boss of Pirate Island Beehive. He is a new power still growing, risen to fill the void left by Whitebeard. His title is admiral of the Blackbeard Pirates, and his bounty is 2,247,600,000 berries. Next comes a man called a Yonko for about six years: Red-Hair Shanks. Beckman, Roux, Yasopp, and Shanks's other executives each have their own fame, and his crew boasts a high average bounty, perhaps the most well-balanced, impenetrable pirate crew of the four.

The leader of the Red Hair Pirates, Red-Hair Shanks, carries a bounty of 4,048,900,000 berries. Sengoku then turns to the captain of the Big Mom Pirates, Charlotte Linlin, whose bounty is 4,388,000,000 berries. She is described as a born monster who attacked the giant village of Elbaf as a mere child, refusing to trust anyone she is not directly related to, and she and her 85 offspring created the strange little country called Totland, where she became the one-woman queen herself.

Sengoku continues with Kaido, who was once only a pirate-in-training during his time in the Rocks crew. That beginning did not remain small. Afterwards, with his own strength alone, he won the respect of many cruel pirates and eventually came to be called a Yonko. The captain, or viceroy, of the Hundred Beast Pirates is Hundred Beast Kaido, and his bounty is 4,611,100,000 berries.

Sengoku warns that in the future the Marines will no longer be able to deploy the Shichibukai to curb the power of the Yonko. Whether drawing out the poison from within their ranks is the correct move will be decided in the future by the Special Science Group, the SSG. Then he reminds everyone of the bounties of two legendary men. First is the captain of the Whitebeard Pirates, Edward Newgate, with 5,046,000,000 berries. Then comes the captain of the Roger Pirates, the Pirate King Gol D. Roger, with 5,564,800,000 berries.

No bounties in all the history of piracy surpass Whitebeard's and Roger's. But if Kaido and Big Mom truly ally, Sengoku says their total bounty will surely surpass either of those two. That is exactly what is about to occur in the non-allied country of Wano. When Sakazuki orders the Marines to leave Wano for now because they do not have the manpower, a Marine protests, "To tear apart those two?! Sengoku!" Sengoku answers that he only wanted to impart the wisdom of an aged former Marine for the young future of the Marines. Pirates have interpersonal relationships too, and without understanding the past, the future will remain forever dark.

Sengoku remembers that Whitebeard, Roger, and Red Hair were all quite fond of one pirate from Wano. Sakazuki realizes he must mean Kozuki Oden, who was once a captain on one of Whitebeard's ships and was later picked up by Roger for the Pirate King's last voyage. Sengoku says he does not believe Oden has anything to do with the most recent development, but he also says, "I, for one, do not believe it to be a coincidence, Sakazuki." Too many powerful individuals are connected to Wano.

The chapter closes on the question that matters most to the Marines: why are so many powerful individuals connected to Wano? Sengoku leaves the room with that warning hanging in the air, and Sakazuki has no easy answer. The story points directly back to the closed country, where Oden's past, Roger and Whitebeard's history, and the present alliance of Kaido and Big Mom are all converging.

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