"Weren't you out of gas?"
"...Yeah."
"Then what was that last warp?"
Facing Little Hawk and Little Sand's scrutiny, Aus calmly swallowed his seafood fried rice.
"Out of gas, but not completely out."
A careful guy like him? How could he not keep an ace up his sleeve?
Either way, the result was solid.
Jumped by two sea overlords—even with Aus deliberately brawling head-on—they still got out!
Aus caught the sea breeze while eating to refuel and patch himself up.
Right now...
He could probably claim Emperor status in a few years, right?
Hell, King Luffy got chased out by Big Mom without even scratching her and still got called a Sea Emperor.
So Aus grabbing that title? Easy money.
After all,
The guy who'd prop up King Luffy to Emperor was currently Aus's subordinate.
Thinking about it,
Aus glanced at another group on deck.
All shapes and sizes, mostly dressed like circus rejects, standing rigid and proper off to one side.
The underworld crew.
Aus still needed them, so he'd casually warped them onto the Oro Jackson.
Otherwise, as his people, falling into Kaido and Big Mom's hands meant death sentences.
"Hey, you guys..."
Hearing Aus, everyone straightened up. The underworld bosses led by Stussy approached with bowed heads.
Even knowing this guy might not be fully recovered,
Nobody dared twitch wrong.
After the Totto Land throwdown,
Even the most stubborn bastards in the underworld would need to seriously ask themselves if their bones were harder than two sea overlords'.
Watching these "big shots" standing meek as kittens, not even daring to light up, Aus munched on fruit.
"You guys, off at the next island."
"Yes! Lord Aus!"
The bosses couldn't have asked for better.
Sure, they'd joined Aus's camp, but they were genuinely terrified of this boss—straight-up traumatized.
Getting a chance to bail? Hell yeah.
Just as they secretly celebrated, a blonde beauty stepped forward in a short cape and skirt, looking like everyone's gentle big sister.
"Lord Aus, your injuries haven't completely healed. If we could remain here..."
Stussy at this point was still reasonably loyal. From any angle—World Government or Vegapunk—she had zero reason to cross Aus.
The World Government had friendly ties with Aus, who ruled a member nation.
Vegapunk's current biggest money source, whose massive funding bankrolled plenty of research with "special additions."
So this was genuinely well-meaning advice for Aus's situation.
"Injured? Who said that?"
Aus held an apple, his somewhat dull, indifferent eyes sweeping over her.
"Fighting a couple of Four Emperors—you think that could keep me down?"
"Four Emperors?"
Stussy found the term odd.
Actually, the Four Emperors title wouldn't hit the seas for several more years, probably after Shanks peaked and stood alongside Whitebeard, Kaido, and Big Mom.
But Aus dropped this concept first—probably said it casually once, and that Morgans guy memorized it.
That sensationalist would probably blast this concept in an upcoming paper, completely igniting these already boiling seas.
"Don't sweat that. What I'm saying is..."
"Unless I'm dead, I'm always at full strength!"
With massive food intake, as his stamina recovered, Aus had plenty of time and energy to repair his body.
Unless it was a killing blow, he could fully recover over ninety percent of his damage within a day.
How to put it...
His Warp-Warp Fruit development was basically a discount Op-Op Fruit.
Scanning the underworld bosses before him, meek as house cats, barely breathing,
Aus pulled a Den Den Mushi from his coat.
"Buru buru buru..."
"Click."
A bird face popped up on the snail, radiating pure excitement.
"Lord Aus! You're walking big news!"
"Next World Economic Journal's gonna sell till the press catches fire! Hahaha!"
Morgans couldn't help gushing, but seeing that silent, flat face on the other end and those crimson eyes,
His laughter died down. He coughed.
"So... Lord Aus, what do you need?"
"Nothing major. Two things, like always."
Hearing Aus, Morgans barely reacted. Totally used to it.
Almost every call, Aus made two demands.
"First, don't list my name with the Four Emperors."
"Uh... yes, Lord Aus."
Morgans froze, confused, but answered on autopilot.
In his head, Four Emperors meant four emperors ruling the seas,
The peak of pirate status, especially now with the Pirate King dead and no new king crowned...
Getting there, Morgans suddenly stopped cold.
Right...
Mere Four Emperors—
How could that describe this monster boss who solo'd two Emperors and became king as a kid?
What was this?!
Total insult!
He'd almost screwed up massively!
After realizing this, he started thinking—
What title could possibly fit Aus's legendary life? No, wait...
His legendary youth.
Morgans's brain churned on new headlines when he heard Aus already moving to the second thing:
"Second, I need you to notify every major player in the underworld. Anyone under me attends the Underworld Conference.
Anyone who dares skip—either hand over all your business and get out, or off yourself.
I'm redrawing some rules for this world's profits and operations."
At those words,
Morgans, Stussy, Field—all their faces changed, staring at Aus in shock.
They heard right, yeah?
The underworld...
Was finally getting truly unified?
After this shake-up, the underworld controlling countless cash cows would completely transform!
"Then... Lord Aus, when and where's the conference?"
"One month out. Location..."
"Let's go with Sabaody Archipelago."
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
Read up to (40+ ) advanced chapters on Patre\on
Visit us here: patreon.com/DarkGolds
Happy reading, everyone!