"What's he doing here?"
Orochimaru's expression turned serious when he saw Haku.
He hadn't interacted much with Haku, but because of his deep dealings with Shanks, Orochimaru already understood how powerful this young man in front of him was—just from what he'd learned through Shanks.
Not everyone can walk the path that Shanks chose, but this boy clearly was following that same road.
Even with Shanks leading the way, not everyone qualifies to walk it. Zabuza, for example, doesn't.
"Didn't expect to see you guys in a place like this,"
Orochimaru said, looking down at Haku.
"Only Captain Zabuza and I made it back. And honestly, the situation in East Blue really needs us to step in,"
Haku replied calmly, neither humble nor arrogant.
"So I guess me showing up messed up your plans?"
Orochimaru sat down, and Haku took the seat across from him.
"Not at all. Actually, you being here helps us.
Our plan was always to gather the major pirates."
Hearing that, Orochimaru frowned. Clearly, Shanks' plan was more complicated than it looked.
"But Orochimaru-sama, your presence might just make the plan work,"
Haku continued. That was one of the reasons he had come looking for Orochimaru—having him involved would greatly increase their chances.
"And how do you know I'll help you?"
"Because, Orochimaru-sama, you trust Captain Shanks. And besides, you'd never pass up a chance to get stronger."
"Captain Shanks awakened the power of the Dragon Vein in the New World. That power, through the will of the world, is now spreading to powerful pirates across the seas. It responds to their will."
"But…"
At this point, Orochimaru understood.
The will's response wasn't something simple.
"To activate that kind of response, you need a large gathering of strong wills—or one extremely powerful will. Shanks' will is too strong. That's why you need to gather everyone."
"And me… I'm the one with that strong will? The one who's supposed to take on the heaviest hit?"
Orochimaru got it right away. There's always a price to pay for this kind of will-based power.
He'd already learned that during the Dragon Vein situation—the side effects from the world's will weren't small. And now, this red will from the New World probably wouldn't be any lighter.
So someone had to act as the buffer.
But if there's a price to pay, that also means there's a reward to be gained.
"Looks like you understand, Orochimaru-sama."
Haku didn't go on, and Orochimaru now knew why he had shown up in East Blue.
This battle was clearly not going to be simple.
"That guy Shanks… really is a wild one!"
Shanks' whole plan was simple—sneak in and take everything.
After all, the situation in the New World really takes time, and the pirates being weaker is just a fact.
If a large number of pirates in East Blue respond to the will of the New World, the World Government's forces will get dragged in, and the pirates will gain a big power boost in East Blue.
As for the final outcome of all this?
There's only one ending: all the pirates will be pushed out, and this war will definitely end in failure.
Even Shanks can't hold out forever. Once the will fades, the pirates are bound to lose.
Of course, even if the will doesn't disappear, the pirates still might lose. After all, they're basically fighting right outside the World Government's front door—of course they're at a disadvantage.
It's the same for the sages in the New World.
They're pretty much knocking on Shanks' front door, and before the will of the Land Sage Nation fully takes hold, they don't dare to make any big moves either.
So both sides are in a hurry, but it's the kind of situation where everyone knows the other side is rushing too, so they're trying to hold back.
But for East Blue, they don't need that much time to get ready.
Because there's no way to have unified command. Pirates are pirates, Marines are Marines. In the end, it's the Marines calling the shots.
And now that the Marines suddenly started pulling back, the pirates had no choice but to start gathering quickly too.
By early the next morning, Ross Jess's ship was drifting on the sea. It looked like it had just come out of a tough battle, and the crew was lying asleep all over the deck.
Even Ross Jess himself had dozed off.
But as the ship drifted along, it suddenly bumped into something and came to a stop.
In the next moment, everyone on the ship snapped awake.
"Get ready to fight!"
Ross Jess stood up right away, and as soon as he reached out his right hand, a huge domain spread out.
Three dice floated in the air.
"Gambler's Domain!"
As the dice fell, everyone stared at the numbers, holding their breath.
"High numbers, come on! Give us high ones!"
"Nothing bad's gonna happen, right?"
"..."
Everyone already knew how their captain's power worked.
Once the Gambler's Domain is active, luck starts to affect reality. The higher the numbers, the better things will go next.
The lower the numbers, the worse things will get.
Now, the three dice were slowly coming to a stop.
"Five?"
"Six?"
"They stopped…"
As soon as the dice stopped rolling, everyone froze.
"Why… why is there a seven on the dice?"
All three dice showed seven dots on the top. Not only was everyone else stunned—Ross Jess himself was totally shocked.
Like—wait, what kind of game are we even playing now?
But in the next moment, Karin's words snapped everyone out of their shock.
"It was the Red-Haired Pirates who stepped in."
Karin now looked much more mature, like she had gotten used to life among pirates on the sea.
"The Red-Haired Pirates?"
Seeing Karin standing by the edge of the ship, everyone walked over.
In the distance, there was a small island.
But the sea surface was frozen solid.
"There's only one person who could do this—Haku, the vice-captain of the Blade-less Pirates.
He's a powerful Logia user and the youngest top fighter under the Red-Haired Pirates."
"So the Red-Haired crew… has shown up?"
Ross Jess looked out.
Breaking through a situation like this—was this the strength of the Red-Haired Pirates? How could anyone in this world be this strong? Was that guy stronger than the world itself?
As Ross Jess arrived, pirates from all over also began to gather.
Kagero Pike soon brought his own fleet, and by noon, One-Eyed Ghost Dragon arrived with his massive fleet as well.
By this point, there were over 50,000 pirates gathered on the island. All the pirate captains were meeting to discuss what to do next.
That was the plan—or at least, that was how things were supposed to go. They originally needed Orochimaru to join in, and even had to wait for his decision.
But now, seeing the young-looking Haku standing beside Orochimaru, many of the captains were starting to feel uneasy.
"Let Orochimaru-sama handle the lead. I'm still young. I should stay with the younger ones."
Haku stood up gently and looked at everyone.
He smoothly stepped down from the captain's seat and sat with the vice-captains from each pirate crew.
Most of the people here were young, talented, and strong.
To put it simply, this was the "no drinking" table.
But the moment Haku sat down, the vice-captains started sweating.
"Hey!! What's up with this guy? Just sitting near him makes the pressure intense."
"Seriously, why would a monster like him want to sit with us?"
"It's scary. He doesn't give off a threatening aura, but his presence is way too strong. It's that calm but dominating vibe that only the truly strong have."
"…"
The vice-captains were quietly panicking. Just because he looks young doesn't mean he belongs at our table. Can he please understand where he really stands?
"Bai…"
Karin spoke up. To be honest, she was feeling a little weird too.
"Hmm?"
Haku turned his head, confused.
Looking at his calm and beautiful face, Karin felt uncomfortable. He was clearly a powerful man—but he looked and acted so gentle, like a big sister.
Having someone like that sitting next to her was really hard to get used to.
"Here!!"
Karin shut her eyes tight and slapped the fake mustache onto her face.
People like this shouldn't even be allowed in our youth division!!
...
Seeing how their vice-captains were reacting, the ship captains couldn't say much either.
With Haku here, they were under pressure too—not just the vice-captains.
But while the meeting on the island was still going on, out at sea, someone had already started running.
The last group left in this battle… was Mountain Bandit King Higgs.
"Higgs!! You really think you can escape on the open sea?!"
"Boom!!"
An Immortal stood at the front of the ship holding a cannonball. A huge burst of lightning surged from the cannonball, sparked by the power flowing through the Immortal's arm.
The cannonball, packed with Inazuma's power, shot toward Higgs' ship in the distance.
As it flew, the sea split open under the force of the lightning, and the tearing sound echoed across the water.
In the next moment, a flash of a blade appeared, and Higgs' strange, flat face showed up at the back of the ship.
Then the cannonball exploded on impact.
Around Higgs' ship were dozens of other ships—this was the last of their remaining forces.
"You think you can catch me all by yourself?!"
"By myself?"
"Higgs… You're the first target we're going all in on. You really thought you could still regroup with the pirates?"
At that moment, more Marine warships appeared on the sea.
They hadn't gone straight to the main battlefield. They came here early—to take down Higgs.
That was the smartest move.
But what the Marines could think of, the pirates could too.
By now, the pirates had already left the island and were heading toward the Land. Higgs just didn't know it.
Almost everyone's communication had been cut off.
So when Higgs heard what they said, he had no choice but to keep running. If he got surrounded, it'd be over.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the large force that had left the island had already run into the first Marine fleet.
And it was… Kakashi's fleet.
Seeing that huge group of dark warships across the sea, Kakashi's scalp went numb.
With him were reinforcements from Kirigakure Village, led by Chojuro and the Marines.
They had over ten ships, and more than 2,000 people. A lot of strong fighters too—more than twenty Devil Fruit users.
These were the same people who had chased after Orochimaru earlier, and the first group sent to surround Higgs.
But then…
"Run!!"
Kakashi didn't hesitate for a second.
The next moment, a wave of frost spread across the sea, instantly freezing the surface. A freezing wind swept across the water.
The entire sea surface froze!!
It happened too fast—Haku's speed was just too fast.
Right after Kakashi spoke, the sea froze over completely. The ship didn't even have time to react.
Now, with so many pirates in front of them, even the strong fighters from Kirigakure felt nervous.
But there was no more time to hesitate.
*Boom!!!*
Dark clouds rolled across the sky, and that familiar pressure returned.
On the distant ice, a huge crowd was walking toward them.
Among them, Orochimaru's tall figure stood out. His wild white hair waved in the wind.
Black flames began to rise, wrapping around his body.
"Hahaha! Kakashi!! After chasing us for so long, now that you finally see us, you want to leave?"
Orochimaru grinned.
After being chased like this, there was no way he wasn't angry.
He led the charge straight at the Marines. In midair, a giant Kusanagi sword appeared.
Under its terrifying power, the whole ice surface started to shake. At the same moment, Kakashi vanished from where he stood.
*Boom!!*
Countless white slashes flashed out. Waves of white light crushed and broke apart Orochimaru's massive sword strike.
Kakashi stopped Orochimaru's first attack by himself. And right behind Kakashi, more people charged in.
"Move!!"
"Stop Orochimaru!"
"Get ready to fight!!"
"Boys, go!! Zehahaha!!"
On the other side, the one-eyed Ghost Dragon gave the order, and the pirates joined the fight.
At that moment, the real battle began.
At the same time, the Kirigakure ninja on the ship passed the message out, and the Marines heading toward the mainland quickly changed course.
"Move!!"
"Orochimaru has already started attacking—get there fast!"
"The pirates are all gathering. We're running out of time."
Seeing the dark clouds rolling in from the sky, all the support troops started to feel uneasy. Most of them had never felt this kind of pressure before.
In that moment, it was like their mental defenses started to crack.
But a lot of them pulled themselves together—this was the first time they were truly facing powerful enemies. After fighting so long in East Blue, anyone still standing wasn't weak mentally.
Meanwhile, on the main battlefield, Kakashi and the others were still holding out.
They were trying to focus their strength to take out Orochimaru first, but the pirates had strong fighters too.
Right now, Ross Jess was going head-to-head with Chojuro.
Elsewhere, Naruto and Sasuke had already taken down a few pirates—and then stopped in place.
Haku stood in their way.
"Haku…"
Naruto and Sasuke were already sweating. Haku's power was way beyond what they could handle.
"I'm not Haku. I'm Whitebeard."
Seeing Naruto and Sasuke, Haku quickly denied it, wearing a fake mustache.
But the moment he spoke, Naruto and Sasuke had already moved to his left and right sides.
---
You can read 50 advanced chapters at my patreon.com/YeyeQiu