-Broadcast-
The broadcast focused on Kozuki Momonosuke reached its conclusion. The Sky Screen faded to black momentarily, then text began scrolling across the void—bold characters that commanded attention through sheer presence.
What followed was not a simple "next episode" preview. It was a comprehensive historical summary. A glimpse into futures both near and distant. Information that should have remained hidden for decades revealed casually, as if the Sky Screen delighted in spoiling history before it could unfold naturally.
[HISTORICAL SUMMARY: KOZUKI MOMONOSUKE - THE FIVE YEAR TRANSFORMATION]
During the five years following his arrival, Kozuki Momonosuke endured the most unforgettable—and most painful—training period of his life. Multiple times, Douglas Bullet's "instruction" nearly killed him outright. Broken bones were so routine that weeks without fractures felt abnormal.
Later, with the addition of Monkey D. Luffy to Iron Island, Momonosuke gained a training partner closer to his own age and temperament. The two grew stronger together, pushing each other past perceived limits through competition and camaraderie.
The inhuman training regimen accelerated his development exponentially. By the end of the five-year period, Kozuki Momonosuke had reached what historical combat analysts classify as "Vice-Emperor Level"—a tier of strength sufficient to establish himself as a legitimate power in the survival-of-the-fittest world of piracy.
The text paused, allowing that information to settle. Then it shifted to a new topic.
[POWER CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM - GREAT PIRATE ERA]
Evaluating combat strength has always been subjective, varying by era and methodology. However, most classification systems share fundamental similarities. Later generations typically rename categories rather than restructuring the hierarchy itself.
Using the Great Pirate Era as reference, the generally accepted tier system is:
KING CLASS Representatives: Marshall D. Teach (Blackbeard), Kaido of the Beasts, Edward Newgate (Whitebeard - deceased), Gol D. Roger (deceased)
King-class fighters are individuals who can defeat millions through personal combat capability alone. Each represents a world-shaking figure whose impact transcends their era. History dedicates entire volumes to their achievements. From a purely combative standpoint, human wave tactics cannot kill them—they possess the stamina and power to slaughter armies until the armies break.
These are the undisputed peak powers. The individuals who define their generations. People living in their era cannot avoid their influence regardless of how hard they try. They are the centers around which history revolves.
ADMIRAL CLASS Representatives: Sakazuki (Akainu), Artoria Pendragon, Galdino (Mr. 3 - future advancement), Douglas Bullet
Admiral-class fighters stand half a tier below Kings. They have carved brilliant achievements into history and left marks that cannot be erased. Unlike Kings, historical records show Admiral-class fighters can be killed through sustained group combat. Exhaustion becomes their vulnerability—fighting for hours or days until stamina depletes completely.
Most Admiral-class fighters' final moments involve being overwhelmed after prolonged combat. They die standing, surrounded by corpses, having taken hundreds or thousands with them before falling. Each deserves comprehensive study by future historians.
VICE-ADMIRAL CLASS Representatives: Charlotte Katakuri, Crocodile (Sir Crocodile), Marco the Phoenix, Kozuki Momonosuke (future)
Vice-Admiral-class fighters represent the upper echelon of combatants without quite reaching legendary status. They can dominate battlefields and serve as pillars for major organizations. In most conflicts, they represent the highest tier of power actually present.
These individuals leave impressions on history—their names appear in records of major events, their achievements are documented, their defeats are analyzed. But they lack the transcendent quality that elevates fighters to Admiral or King status.
CAPTAIN CLASS Representatives: Gecko Moria, Foxfire Kin'emon, Portgas D. Ace (deceased), Roronoa Zoro (future)
Captain-class fighters form the backbone of powerful organizations. Strong enough to lead crews independently, command respect from subordinates, and survive encounters with higher-tier opponents through tactics and luck.
History mentions them in passing—a few lines in comprehensive chronicles, footnotes in major events. Some leave lasting impressions. Most fade into the masses once their era concludes.
BELOW CAPTAIN CLASS Everyone weaker than Captain-tier combatants is functionally irrelevant to history. They exist as unnamed masses—the millions who die in wars without earning individual mention. The soldiers who perish in battles dominated by higher-tier fighters. The pirates who vanish without making any meaningful impact.
Harsh, but accurate. History is written by the strong. The weak are forgotten.
The classification system faded, replaced by a new section of text.
[KOZUKI MOMONOSUKE - POST-WAR TRAJECTORY]
Kozuki Momonosuke achieved Vice-Admiral-class strength by systematically overdrawing his natural talents. The brutal training compressed years of normal development into months, forcing evolution through repeated near-death experiences. The result was impressive power gained impossibly young.
However, this accelerated growth came with severe limitations. Having pushed his potential to its limit prematurely, further advancement became extremely difficult. He lacked the time and opportunities necessary to break through to Admiral class. His ceiling had been reached.
After participating in the successful campaign to seal Kaido of the Beasts and restore Wano Country to independence, something fundamental changed within Kozuki Momonosuke. The fire that had driven him—the ambition, the determination, the warrior's spirit—extinguished completely.
Perhaps it was exhaustion. Perhaps achieving his life's primary goal left him without purpose. Perhaps the trauma of everything he'd endured finally caught up with him.
Regardless of cause, Kozuki Momonosuke abandoned all pretense of being a serious leader or warrior. Instead, he embraced the worst traditions of the Kozuki bloodline and spent the next ten years engaging in systematic debauchery.
The text continued with clinical detachment, describing behavior that should have been shocking but instead felt grimly inevitable.
Wine. Women. Extravagant waste. Kozuki Momonosuke indulged every vice with the enthusiasm of someone making up for a childhood spent suffering. He fathered children with shocking frequency—official records document hundreds of acknowledged offspring, with countless others presumably existing among the common population.
For a full decade, Wano Country's Shogun was functionally absent from governance. The nation operated through its bureaucratic systems and surviving retainers while its nominal leader pursued pleasure with single-minded dedication.
Then, on his thirtieth birthday, something shifted. Whether through genuine epiphany or simple boredom with debauchery, Kozuki Momonosuke abruptly changed course. He began implementing sweeping reforms that would fundamentally restructure Wano's government and society.
[THE YAMATO RESTORATION]
The reforms Kozuki Momonosuke enacted are known to history as the "Yamato Restoration"—a top-down revolution that modernized Wano Country's medieval systems.
Historical consensus generally views the Yamato Restoration positively despite its brutal implementation. The assessment can be summarized thus: "The sins of the present are the merits of future generations."
Key reforms included:
1. Abolishing Wano's isolation policy and opening borders to foreign trade
2. Restructuring the samurai class from hereditary warriors to salaried government officials
3. Implementing industrial development and modernized infrastructure
4. Establishing standardized education accessible beyond noble families
5. Abolishing the hereditary Shogunate position
This final reform was particularly significant. Rather than maintaining the traditional Shogun title, Kozuki Momonosuke crowned himself as Wano's first Emperor—establishing a new dynasty and explicitly breaking with the governmental structures that had enabled Kurozumi Orochi's usurpation.
The Kozuki clan would rule Wano as an imperial family for generations to come. Their position, paradoxically, would outlast their actual power.
The text shifted again, addressing the dynasty's strange trajectory.
[THE KOZUKI DYNASTY - DECLINE OF POWER, PERSISTENCE OF THRONE]
Following Kozuki Momonosuke's death, subsequent emperors of the Kozuki line were... inadequate. None possessed his strength, his vision, or his ability to command respect through personal capability.
Real power gradually shifted to appointed ministers and bureaucratic institutions. The Emperor became a symbolic figurehead—honored, supported financially by the state, but lacking genuine authority over governance.
Strangely, this arrangement persisted for centuries. Even after the Kozuki emperors became completely powerless, Wano's population continued supporting the imperial family financially. The people had grown accustomed to having an imperial dynasty above them. The tradition felt natural, comfortable, right.
Each era's Kozuki emperor lived comfortably on state stipends, performing ceremonial duties while actual governance occurred elsewhere. It was a gilded cage, but comfortable enough that none seriously attempted to escape it.
The next section addressed a biological mystery that had puzzled historians.
However, the imperial bloodline faced persistent difficulties with reproduction. The second emperor fathered two sons and two daughters—a normal family by any standard. But subsequent emperors almost universally produced single heirs. One child per generation, barely maintaining the bloodline.
When the main line finally failed to produce any offspring, cadet branches would elevate themselves to the throne through elaborate succession ceremonies. This occurred repeatedly throughout Wano's history, each transition requiring complex genealogical justifications and ritual legitimizations.
Later historians speculated extensively about this reproductive difficulty. The most accepted theory suggests that Kozuki Momonosuke—the first emperor—had somehow exhausted the family's reproductive capacity for future generations.
Official records document hundreds of acknowledged children from his decade of debauchery. Unofficial estimates suggest thousands of descendants scattered throughout Wano's population. Perhaps the ancestors had enjoyed all the blessings meant for their descendants, leaving nothing for those who came after.
Biological karma, as it were.
[KOZUKI HIYORI - THE SCANDALOUS PRINCESS]
The second emperor's reign is barely worth discussing. Far more historically significant—and dramatically interesting—is Kozuki Momonosuke's sister, Kozuki Hiyori.
The legends surrounding the First Princess have been embellished and distorted by countless retellings. What remains historically verified is disturbing enough without exaggeration.
The text adopted a more cautious tone, as if reluctant to detail what followed.
The permanent rupture between Kozuki Momonosuke and his sister originated from a single incident: Hiyori became pregnant by an enemy of Wano and chose to bear the child. When Momonosuke discovered this—and learned the father's identity—he flew into a rage that historians describe as "unprecedented."
The child was Kozuki Hikaru, born of a union that Momonosuke viewed as the ultimate betrayal. In his fury, the First Emperor personally threw his infant nephew from the heights of the imperial palace.
Kozuki Hikaru did not survive the fall.
This fratricide—killing his sister's child—created a hatred between siblings that never healed. But the scandal deepened further.
Persistent rumors suggest Kozuki Hiyori and her brother engaged in an incestuous affair at some point during or after the Hikaru incident. Multiple historical sources reference this, though details remain deliberately vague. Whether the relationship was consensual, coerced, or entirely fabricated by political enemies cannot be definitively determined.
What is certain: the accusation of brother-sister incest became an indelible stain on Kozuki Momonosuke's legacy. Despite centuries of descendants attempting to rehabilitate the First Emperor's reputation, they could never fully erase this particular scandal.
Kozuki Hiyori herself became a cautionary tale—the beautiful, talented princess whose choices damaged her family's honor across generations. Whether she deserves the harsh judgment of history or whether circumstances forced impossible decisions upon her remains debated by scholars.
One thing is undeniable: never underestimate a woman's capacity for revenge.
The historical summary concluded, replaced by a new announcement.
[UPCOMING BROADCAST - THE MARY GEOISE INCIDENT]
Kozuki Momonosuke and his allies participated in the conflict that would define their generation: the assault on Mary Geoise.
A war that influenced an entire era. A battle that permanently weakened the Celestial Dragons beyond recovery. The beginning of the God Clan's withdrawal from history's stage after eight hundred years of absolute rule.
Ten days from now, the Sky Screen will broadcast comprehensive coverage of the Mary Geoise Incident.
Twelve Admirals and the Five Elders defending the Holy Land versus the Pirate Alliance led by Buggy the Clown. Winner takes everything. Loser loses everything. In this world where the strong prey on the weak, the weak have no seat at the table.
As Kozuki Momonosuke would later reflect: "If you don't sit at the table, you appear on the menu." No era stops for any individual. When history's wheel turns, the masses have no agency. Going with the flow is the only choice available to the powerless.
The text faded, replaced by a preview image.
[MARY GEOISE INCIDENT - OPPOSING FORCES]
The Sky Screen displayed a split image showing both sides of the coming conflict.
LEFT SIDE - WORLD GOVERNMENT FORCES
At the center stood Acting Fleet Admiral Artoria Pendragon, her distinctive blonde hair and armored appearance commanding immediate attention. She wore the Fleet Admiral's coat of justice draped over her shoulders like a cape.
Surrounding her were twelve figures, each wearing Marine justice cloaks. The Twelve Admirals—an unprecedented concentration of top-tier power assembled to defend Mary Geoise. Their faces weren't clearly visible, but their postures radiated confidence and readiness for war.
In the background, almost as an afterthought, stood the Five Elders. They occupied a surprisingly small portion of the image—five ancient figures whose political authority far exceeded their visual prominence in this combat-focused composition.
The background showed Mary Geoise's distinctive architecture: white stone buildings, ornate decorations, the symbol of absolute power made physical.
RIGHT SIDE - PIRATE ALLIANCE FORCES
Buggy the Clown dominated the center, his theatrical appearance somehow more menacing than ridiculous when surrounded by context of genuine power. His grin was visible even in the preview image—confident, manic, delighted by the chaos he was orchestrating.
Behind him flew the flags of multiple pirate groups. Four in particular stood out as prominently displayed:
The Beasts Pirates (Kaido's skull symbol)
The Big Mom Pirates (Charlotte Linlin's jolly roger)
The Blackbeard Pirates (Marshall D. Teach's distinctive flag)
The Buggy Pirates (the clown skull that had become terrifyingly significant)
Each flag represented a Yonko-class organization. The fact that they were fighting together—unified under Buggy's leadership—was unprecedented in pirate history.
Surrounding Buggy were dozens of other figures. Important cadres from each organization. Legendary pirates who'd joined the alliance. A coalition of the world's most dangerous criminals assembled for a single purpose: destroying the World Government's seat of power.
The background for this side showed the same Mary Geoise architecture, but transformed. Buildings burning. Streets running with blood. The pristine holy land converted into a battlefield of unprecedented carnage.
The preview image held for several seconds, allowing viewers to absorb every detail. Then text appeared across the bottom:
MARY GEOISE INCIDENT - TEN DAYS
THE WAR THAT ENDED AN ERA
THE BATTLE THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
The Sky Screen faded to complete darkness.
Across the world, millions of viewers sat in stunned silence, processing what they'd just witnessed.
Twelve Admirals. The Five Elders. The entire might of the World Government's military and political leadership.
Against four Yonko crews unified under Buggy the Clown.
Fighting on Mary Geoise itself. The holiest ground in the world. The place that had remained inviolate for eight hundred years.
The implications were staggering. The World Government commanded resources that dwarfed any pirate organization. They had the Marines, CP0, the Holy Knights, unknown weapons developed over centuries. They had defended their position against countless challenges and never lost.
But this alliance... four Yonko working together represented more concentrated power than any previous threat. If they could coordinate effectively, if they could avoid infighting long enough to complete the mission...
It might actually work. They might actually pull it off.
And if they succeeded? If the Pirate Alliance conquered Mary Geoise? If the Celestial Dragons fell and the World Government collapsed?
Everything would change. Eight hundred years of history, ended. The entire world order, shattered. A new era beginning from the ashes of the old.
Some viewers felt excitement at the prospect. Others felt terror. Most felt both simultaneously—unable to separate hope for change from fear of chaos.
But everyone agreed on one thing: the Mary Geoise Incident would be the most important event in living memory. Possibly the most important event in centuries.
And in ten days, they would witness it unfold.
The countdown had begun.