As Teach and Beckman finished their speeches one after another, the venue erupted into noise.
Some were drooling over Teach's offer of a hundred million berries, while others were stunned by the sheer scale of Shanks' current influence.
"Rayleigh, why don't you say something? You're the Pirate King's right-hand man. If you took the chairman's seat, everyone would accept it. What do you say? Want me to put in a word for you?"
Caesar grinned at Rayleigh, who had remained silent the entire time.
Rayleigh adjusted his round-framed glasses and let out a wry chuckle.
"Don't joke around, Caesar. I'm too old for this. I can't handle sneak attacks from Marine Admirals. This chairman's seat is a hot potato—let the three of you fight over it."
Gaban suddenly frowned and barked, "Enough! Hurry up and write down your votes. Quit dawdling—it's already noon, damn it!"
"Zehahaha! In that case, let's get this over with! Once we're done, we'll throw a feast to celebrate!"
Immediately, the pirates lowered their heads and began writing.
Before long, once everyone had finished, King took on the role of a runner, collecting the ballots one by one and stepping onto the stage.
He then began tallying the votes openly.
"Marshall D. Teach—three votes."
When King announced the first count, Teach nearly collapsed on the spot.
"Hey! Are you fucking blind? I only got three votes? You bastard!"
Though Teach hadn't seriously expected to win, three votes was absurdly low.
Especially since Van Augur and Doc Q were in the audience—meaning only one other pirate had voted for him.
"Shanks—thirty-seven votes."
King continued reading.
Shanks shrugged, pursed his lips, and spread his hands toward Beckman.
"Beckman, looks like we're done for."
"Next time. This term's chairman was always going to be Caesar. Honestly, I expected this."
Beckman wasn't surprised at all.
For Shanks to get thirty-seven votes was already impressive—largely thanks to his earlier speech.
As for Caesar…
"Barbarossa Caesar—three hundred and ninety-eight votes!"
King barely suppressed his excitement as he read the number, his face brimming with joy as he glanced at Caesar.
Feeling the weight of countless gazes upon him, Caesar allowed a faint smile to curl his lips, as if everything had gone exactly as planned.
"Silvers Rayleigh."
Rayleigh's mouth twitched.
He hadn't expected to receive any votes at all—who the hell had written his name?
Beside him, Teach felt another stab to his pride.
What the hell? I offered money and promises, and still no one voted for Barbarossa Teach?
That old geezer Rayleigh just stood there like a mascot—why does he get votes?
This is rigged! Absolutely rigged!
The final election results were announced.
The first chairman of the Pirate Council was none other than the captain of the Beast God Pirates, Barbarossa Caesar, with an overwhelming three hundred and ninety-eight votes!
Thud!
Caesar took a step forward, meeting the eyes of the crowd before finally flashing a bright grin.
"Borororo! I'm honored by your support!"
"Ah, ever since Caesar appeared, my influence has started to lose its effect."
Teach wore an expression of unwillingness on the surface, but secretly, he was quite pleased.
Caesar is my old man. Whether it's him or me as the council leader, it's all in the family anyway.
Although last night, we agreed to push Shanks up as the shield.
"Shanks, you're truly hopeless, can't even be propped up, huh!" Teach muttered under his breath.
Shanks: "?"
I'm hopeless?
I got thirty-seven votes, and you got a measly three, two of which were from your own people.
...
"Captain Caesar, may I ask how one can become a vice council leader? Does it really require defeating a Navy Admiral?" Crocodile suddenly stood up and asked solemnly.
Caesar glanced at Crocodile.
He was quite interested in this former Seven Warlord of the Sea who possessed the Logia-type Sand-Sand Fruit powers.
Although Crocodile's Haki wasn't particularly strong yet, with his Logia abilities, his combat prowess should still be above that fraud Moria.
With a bit more training, he could become another potential God-level Member.
Thus, Caesar patiently answered Crocodile's question.
"No, defeating a Navy Admiral is the requirement to become a God-level Member of my Beast God Pirates. As for becoming a vice council leader..."
Caesar pointed to the people around him and said with a smile, "Well... any of the vice council leaders here. You can pick one. You don't need to defeat them—just hold your own for a certain period. Note that you can't resort to any stalling tactics. Alternatively, you can challenge a Navy Admiral or a Revolutionary Army commander. Anyone who can fight them to a standstill can become a vice council leader."
Gaban cracked his knuckles with a sinister grin.
"Crocodile, what's the matter? Want to challenge us? Come on, I'll be your opponent."
Crocodile remained expressionless, simply sitting back down without paying Gaban any mind.
"Hahaha! If it weren't for this mission, I'd fight you right now!"
A wild, arrogant voice suddenly rang out from the crowd.
Everyone was startled and turned to look.
It was Gin, sitting beside Moria, grinning widely without a trace of nervousness. His sinister eyes were filled with bloodthirsty battle lust.
Gaban was taken aback, then burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! Good! I've been back at sea for a while now, originally planning to fight Caesar here, but it seems I'm no match for him."
Gaban openly admitting he wasn't Caesar's opponent didn't draw any scorn from the crowd.
Who was Caesar?
The pirates present had witnessed his strength firsthand over the past two days.
Even Blackbeard and Red Hair together had been utterly crushed.
"Young punk, you're pretty bold for your age. Good! More guts than Crocodile. Since you've got a mission, I'll stick around on this island for a few days. Once you're done, we'll have our fight!"
"Hahaha, no problem! Give me three days!"
As Gin's wild laughter faded, Moria beside him was drenched in sweat, feeling as if needles were pricking his back.
"Fufufufu, Beckman, got time in the next few days? I'd like to fight you too," Doflamingo chimed in.Beckman was taken aback.
He glanced around and immediately understood why Doflamingo had chosen him.
"No problem, I'm at your service anytime," Beckman reluctantly agreed.
In Caesar's mind, the Vice-Chairman's strength should be on par with the Admirals to maintain an intimidating presence.
Currently, both Gin and Doflamingo still fell short of Admiral-level strength.
Gin stood no chance against Gaban, while Doflamingo might be able to hold his own against Beckman for a while.
Beckman's strength lay in his Haki-infused firearms.
Without his modified guns, he was now forced to fight with melee weapons, which significantly weakened his combat prowess.
"Alright! I hereby declare the first session of the Pirate Council officially concluded. Over the next three days, everyone is free to leave Totto Land or stay on the island. All food, lodging, and expenses will be covered. King, Doflamingo—arrange a banquet. I have some matters to attend to."
Caesar promptly announced the end of the meeting.
Then, he approached Shanks and the others, grinning widely.
"Shanks, Teach, Rayleigh—after today, we'll be enemies again. Be prepared for me to come knocking. Borororo! Next time, it might be a fight to the death!"
"Zehahaha! Captain Caesar, I won't be sticking around. I've got things to do, so I'll take my leave now."
Teach was the first to speak up, shooting a glance at Van Augur and Doc Q in their seats before turning on his heel and making a swift exit.
Shanks watched Teach's fleeing figure with disdain before looking up at Caesar.
"Hahaha! Caesar! I'm not afraid of you. The next time we meet, I'll face you with even greater strength! Beckman, let's go! My Griffin is broken—I need to find another sword that suits me!"
"Hey, Shanks, I still have to fight Doflamingo!" Beckman hurried after Shanks.
Rayleigh gazed at Caesar with a complicated expression, sighing.
"Caesar, by all accounts, I should hold a grudge against you—whether it's because of Luffy or myself. But I still want to say this: the world is fragile. Whether you aim to dominate or rule, tread lightly. Don't shatter it."
"Huh? Shatter the world?"
Caesar scratched his head, wondering if he'd misheard.
Rayleigh didn't elaborate further, leaving the venue with Gaban, Isaac, and the others.
"Kaido, Linlin, Ganzui—you all go ahead and eat. I need to talk to Morgans about something."
Caesar addressed the few still lingering beside him before turning his gaze toward the back rows.
There, Morgans was holding a Den Den Mushi camera, about to leave with the other pirates.
Beside him stood a disheartened Stussy.
When Caesar's eyes landed on Morgans, the latter felt a sudden chill run down his spine, making him shiver involuntarily. He followed the source of the cold sensation—
—only to see the demonic, towering figure on the platform staring at him expressionlessly.
"Ca... Caesar."
Morgans' face instantly paled, beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead.
"Morgans? What's wrong? Why did you stop?" Stussy, lost in thought, bumped into Morgans when he suddenly halted.
She looked at him in confusion.
However, her question went unanswered by Morgans. Stussy followed his gaze and instantly froze.
Caesar exchanged a brief glance with Stussy's evasive eyes, and a strange feeling suddenly arose in his heart.
'That woman... there's something off about her.'
Whether it was intuition or an effect of the Memory-Memory Fruit's power, Caesar sensed her abnormality just from that fleeting look.
Immediately, Caesar leaned in close to Linlin's ear with a smile and whispered.
"Linlin, keep that woman here."
Linlin was taken aback. "Stussy? What do you want with her? She's the Queen of Pleasure Street—did you take a fancy to her?"
"Fancy my ass! Just keep her here. There's something wrong with that woman," Caesar snapped, glaring at Linlin.
"Hmph, fine. I'll give her a thorough inspection later and see what's so 'wrong' about her."