"Special Instructor…"
Momonga's brow arched slightly. Darren—a teacher at the Marine Training Camp?
If that were true…
His mind, ever sharp and calculating, immediately grasped the weight of that possibility.
The Marine Training Camp was the cradle of the Marine's elite—the officers destined to become the next generation of Admirals, Vice Admirals, and Captains. If Darren were to truly serve as a special instructor there, he wouldn't just be shaping the future. He'd be binding it to himself.
Every cadet trained under him, every officer molded by his hand—those would become allies, comrades, perhaps even disciples. Within a few years, the influence of "Instructor Rogers Darren" would spread like wildfire throughout the entire Marine system.
Combined with the bonds forged among the second Training Camp cohort—the so-called Golden Generation—Darren would soon command not just fleets, but loyalty.
It was, politically speaking, a masterstroke.
"This is an excellent opportunity," Momonga said after a moment, his voice low but firm. His political instincts, honed during his years overseeing the North Blue, told him exactly what this meant.
Darren smiled faintly, brushing ash from his cigar. "Perhaps. But don't expect too much from it."
He blew out a thin plume of smoke, his tone light yet distant. "The bond between teacher and student is… overrated. It's just a formality. The North Blue Fleet—our men, our command—that's our real foundation."
Momonga's frown deepened, but he said nothing.
He could feel it again—that faint, almost imperceptible tension Darren always carried. It was the quiet, restless energy of someone who trusted no one, not even his own uniform.
Momonga knew where Darren's suspicion of the World Government came from. The Celestial Dragon Assassination Incident had made that distrust inevitable. But his growing wariness toward the Marines themselves… that, Momonga couldn't quite understand.
Did Darren really think the organization he served so loyally would one day turn against him?
He couldn't see it. But he wouldn't question him either.
Their years fighting side by side had forged a bond that didn't need words—or explanations. Trust was enough.
"I'm heading out," Darren said, stretching and snuffing out his cigar beneath his boot. "Gecko Moria's your problem now."
He gave Momonga a lopsided grin. "I'll visit the North Blue often. Don't slack off while I'm gone. Even if you can't leave the region for Headquarters, I'll handle your training myself."
Momonga's lips twitched, but before he could answer, Darren was already gone—rocketing skyward and vanishing into the distant clouds.
---
The New World — Wano Country.
A violent storm clawed across the sky, splitting the heavens with lightning.
Bolts of violet light danced through the clouds, their thunder shaking the mountains. Winds howled like maddened beasts, forming pillars of swirling green energy that ripped across the plains. Factories, fortresses, and entire ridges were uprooted and hurled into the storm, reduced to rubble before they even struck the ground.
"DAMN YOU!"
Kaido's roar ripped through the chaos, rolling across Wano like the cry of a furious god.
Lightning crackled around his massive frame, his body coiled in its fearsome Dragon-Human form. Blood-red veins bulged around his eyes, his expression a mask of wrath and disbelief.
The cloaked figure standing ahead of him, wreathed in dark green energy, didn't flinch.
For the past month, this intruder had been appearing across Wano like a plague—slipping into Kaido's territory week after week, wreaking havoc and vanishing before the Beast Pirates could capture him.
Each time, Kaido had fought him off. But each time, the damage had grown.
Each time, the stranger had returned stronger.
Now, Kaido's fury boiled over.
Violet lightning surged along the length of his kanabo, arcs of energy hissing through the air. With a single step, the ground shattered beneath him—then he vanished, his colossal form turning into a streak of light.
"THUNDER BAGUA!!!"
BOOOOOOM!!
The explosion that followed wasn't sound—it was annihilation.
Lightning and wind collided, blasting the land apart in a vortex of devastation. The shockwave leveled the hills, turning the landscape within a kilometer into a storm of dust and flying stone.
Then, through the smoke—
A massive, jet-black dragon claw caught the kanabo mid-swing, halting the blow with a deafening clang!
Sparks of violet and green lightning surged between them, the air trembling under the pressure.
Kaido's eyes widened.
"Dragon… Claw Fist?!"
He recognized the technique instantly. The signature strike that had once haunted his nightmares.
"How the hell do you know that brat Darren's moves?!" Kaido bellowed, veins bulging in his neck.
The hooded man lifted his head slightly. Under the flickering lightning, his face emerged—sharp features, cold eyes, crimson markings like webs etched across his skin. His smirk was calm, confident, and chillingly familiar.
"The Dragon Claw Fist isn't Darren's," the man said coolly. "It's mine. My own martial art."
In that instant, his aura erupted—an immense wave of will that tore through the battlefield. His Conqueror's Haki crashed against Kaido's like a green tempest, colliding in a blinding explosion of color.
Purple and green lightning intertwined, splitting the heavens as the two monstrous auras devoured the sky.
The clash divided the world into two halves—Kaido's dominion of thunder and the intruder's storm of emerald fire.
The clouds over Wano shredded, scattering like smoke under the weight of their combined fury.
Far off in the distance, three figures watched from a ruined cliff—King, Queen, and Jack.
Their expressions twisted between awe and fear.
"Damn it… that bastard's back again!" Queen roared, his jowls trembling with rage. "How many times is this?!"
"That man…" King's voice was low, heavy with disbelief. "His presence is even stronger than before. He's not the same as the first time."
He remembered that first invasion clearly. The mysterious figure had been overwhelmed in minutes—barely surviving three blows from Kaido before fleeing in defeat.
But now—now, he stood against the Emperor of the Sea as an equal.
His Haki burned brighter. His movements sharper. His aura—the sheer pressure of his existence—felt heavier than ever before.
If King hadn't witnessed it with his own eyes, he would have thought it impossible.
No one could grow this fast. No one could climb this high in mere weeks.
And yet, before them stood living proof.
The stranger had returned to Wano a monster reborn.
To be continued...