"World power structure locked in—the Sea Emperors ruling the New World!"
"One man battles two Sea Emperors—the uncrowned king who's seen the One Piece!"
"The strongest man of the next generation..."
"Today's ranking: Legendary figures in history with bounties exceeding four billion..."
"Net worth in the hundred trillions?? Aus's own words: 'I don't actually love money. No concept of it.'"
"Two vice-captains with ten-digit bounties—a crew with zero weaknesses!"
Under Morgans's hype machine, Aus's name became the world's top trend again after two years.
Mihawk and Crocodile were the boss's right hands, after all. Naturally, Morgans went all-out elevating both to legendary status.
Making it sound like either one could go solo and easily qualify as a Sea Emperor.
Countless stories flooded the seas through newspapers.
...
New World Waters, Moby Dick
"Gurararara... That brat from Roger's ship really made something of himself!"
The current world's strongest man—also one of Captain Roger's rivals who'd met young Aus before—Whitebeard held the newspaper with a massive grin.
"Aus from Roger's crew? That guy's been a monster forever..."
In front of him, a pineapple-headed man crossed his arms, voice flat.
Obviously still had vivid memories of that terrifying strength and that dirty Seastone bullet.
Other division commanders who'd joined the Whitebeard Pirates early also recalled that black-haired brat they'd run into in Wano's waters back then.
Especially the commanders who'd fought Aus—unpleasant memories bubbled up.
"Sure, Aus is strong, but...
This bastard! Actually claiming in the paper he's stronger than Sea Emperors, basically saying his status is higher than Pops!"
"Next time we meet, we're having a proper fight. Even Roger wouldn't dare say he's stronger than Pops!"
The division commanders acknowledged Aus's strength, but this whole king-crowning propaganda pissed them off.
How could Charlotte Linlin and Kaido possibly compare to Pops now!
"Gurararara... Damn right!"
Whitebeard's lips curled up, face radiating unmatched confidence and dominance.
"If that brat Aus dares show up, let me test how big the gap is between him and Roger! Glug glug glug..."
Chugging liquor—that was the world's strongest man's confidence!
As for the Sea Emperor title...
He didn't give a damn. What truly mattered were family like Marco.
...
Whitebeard didn't care about titles, but Kaido and Big Mom—who got slapped with the same label—were pissed as hell.
What "one man battles two Emperors, total domination"!
A club smashed into the ground. The massive crater and cracks made everything shake for a hundred meters. Countless Beasts Pirates grunts trembled, watching their raging captain in terror.
"That bastard Aus! Making me look like trash!"
"Worororo! We haven't even fought to the death yet—where the hell'd you disappear to!"
Throwing a drunken fit, bandage-wrapped Kaido clutched his sake gourd, opened his mouth wide, and bawled.
King, wrapped in supreme-grade bandages, saw this and felt helpless.
Good thing Wano was still locked down. Oden and the others didn't know about the boss's injuries yet, otherwise there'd be massive trouble.
But this time, at least in public opinion, Aus had thoroughly made his name by stomping on Kaido and Big Mom's faces.
Looking at the thick bandages wrapped around King and Kaido, a huge blonde fat guy with sunglasses and mechanical limbs showed pure shock.
"Facing Kaido-bro and that Charlotte Linlin, he could still wreck them and escape clean. I'd be dead meat if I met this guy!"
Current-era Queen didn't know yet what miserable state he'd be in when he eventually met Aus.
"Good thing I can't fly and didn't tag along back then..."
Meanwhile, Totto Land's situation was even worse than Onigashima.
After all, even Cake Island was mostly trashed. Just the relocation work needed massive amounts of Homies.
The real problem was Big Mom's severe injuries, which ate up tons of time.
In the end, they could only have Katakuri—wrapped in supreme bandages—personally direct moving headquarters to other islands around Totto Land.
On top of that, they had to keep sending cake desserts to Big Mom to calm her down, preventing her from going berserk at this critical moment.
Playing both dad and mom.
No matter how the world's big shots reacted, the Oro Jackson quickly flew over the Red Line, returning to the Grand Line's first half—
Sabaody Archipelago.
Compared to when Aus left, the changes weren't huge. Just more prosperous.
Backed by Aus's massive reputation, Sami managed this district perfectly.
Plus, plenty of underworld big shots chose to set up shop here, naturally boosting the economy.
Walking through, countless people greeted Aus. Some women actively approached, eyes full of stars, squealing that Lord Aus was back!
"Since when's this guy so popular?"
Little Sand looked with disdain at the fangirls swarming Aus. Her gloomy aura kept people from getting close.
He was clearly a sharp-tongued asshole with a shit personality...
Mihawk wasn't surprised, just coolly distanced himself from the mobbed Aus.
"This whole area's basically Aus's people and businesses."
"Figures..."
Little Sand slowly exhaled smoke, remembering the pile of property certificates Aus showed when tricking her onto the ship, then thinking about what this guy was about to do...
"Rich bastard..."
But thinking she'd also get wealthy from it—going from trillions in debt to trillions in assets—she shut up.
People don't hate rich people. They hate not being rich themselves.
"Lord Aus! So handsome!"
"Back victorious again—totally worthy of Lord Aus!"
"Right! Just some Sea Emperors!"
"Alright, alright..."
Aus sighed. Young women's enthusiasm always gave him headaches. But since they relied on him for their livelihoods and genuinely admired him under Sami's guidance, he couldn't get mad.
Finally, he randomly teleported them to various streets before escaping with his two companions.
Enjoying fan service was fine, but not now. Aus came back with actual business.
First, inspect his operations. Do some on-site checks.
He trained his subordinates' abilities regularly, but if he didn't actually manage things, did they really think Aus just slacked off all day?!
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