More than half a year had passed since the fall of the Big Mom Pirates, and only now had the chaos truly begun to settle.
The tides of the sea had shifted once again, and the title of the "Four Emperors" was restored to its rightful place.
During this time, the alliance between Konoha and the Revolutionary Army had been steadily preparing for an uprising, everything was ready; they were simply waiting for the right moment.
That morning, high above the clouds on Sky Island, in the Hokage's office of Konoha, Arima was, as always, buried in endless paperwork.
Knock, knock, knock!
"Come in."
Without even looking up, Arima continued to handle the stack of documents before him. He had lived this way back in the Shinobi World as well, habits died hard.
"Arima, here's today's newspaper!"
Kushina stepped in, a steaming cup of hot drink in her left hand and the latest issue of the World Economic Journal in her right.
"Kushina? How come you're the one delivering the newspaper today?"
"Tsunade-nee is training Yuna in Haki, and I happened to be free."
"Anything interesting in today's news?"
Setting down his pen, Arima rose from his chair, stretching lazily before taking the drink from Kushina's hand.
"Most of it matches what the Intelligence Division reported, but there are two things worth special attention."
"Oh? Something special, huh? Let me see."
Arima flipped through the paper, his eyes quickly scanning the relevant articles.
The first report: Marshall D. Teach had formed the Blackbeard Pirates and clashed with the Whitebeard Pirates' Fourth Division in the East Blue.
Division Commander Thatch was killed in the battle.
The second report: The Revolutionary Army's leader, Monkey D. Dragon, had suddenly appeared in Loguetown and injured Marine Captain Smoker.
Arima frowned slightly. He had little impression of the "Blackbeard Pirates."
Even the Intelligence Division's reports on them were scarce. What intrigued him more was Dragon's sudden move to Loguetown.
"Kushina, have you ever come across the name Monkey D. Luffy in the intel archives?"
"Monkey D. Luffy? Same family name as Dragon… You mean that kid living in Foosha Village?"
"Mm. That's right. Dragon's little excursion to the East Blue this time, there's no doubt he went there for his son, Luffy. Did you guys perhaps overlook intel related to the boy?"
"Umm… well, you know how it is, every day the Intelligence Division receives enough reports from around the world to fill an entire palace.
It's easy for a few things to slip through the cracks…"
Kushina's face turned sheepish. She really had been working hard, but somehow she'd missed that child's file.
Arima had mentioned Luffy's name to her more than once in the past, after all, the boy was Dragon and Garp's family, and even had close ties with one of the Four Emperors, Shanks.
He was definitely someone worth paying attention to.
Arima reached out and tousled her hair, smiling softly. "Silly girl, I'm not blaming you. If we missed it, we missed it, it's not the end of the world."
Kushina's cheeks flushed a faint red. "Arima, I, I'll go to the Intelligence Division right now to check!"
Before he could say another word, she turned and bolted out of the office, accidentally knocking over a pile of documents on her way.
Arima sighed, bending down to gather the scattered papers. 'What's gotten into that girl lately? She's been so shy these days.'
Before long, Kushina returned, clutching a folder, the latest report concerning Luffy's activities over the past half-year.
She set the file on his desk and called out, "I'm going to play with Natsumi!" Then she hurried off again like the wind.
Arima stared after her, puzzled. He could only assume it was that time of the month for her, and thought nothing more of it.
"Let's see… the Straw Hat Pirates. Captain: 'Straw Hat' Monkey D. Luffy, bounty thirty million Berries; swordsman 'Pirate Hunter' Roronoa Zoro; navigator Nojiko; shipwright Usopp; cook Sanji. …Wait, the navigator is Nojiko?"
That actually made Arima pause for a moment.
"Heh, how amusing. Did I accidentally steal the navigator who was supposed to join the Straw Hats? …Judging by their sailing route, they should be entering the Grand Line next.
Sooner or later, they'll cross paths with Crocodile. I wonder if that boy will be the one to stir the tides of this era."
Arima had originally planned to send Kushina to deal with the Warlord Crocodile, both to remove a threat and to ignite a little chaos.
But after reading about the Straw Hat Pirates, he felt that boy, Luffy, might bring some interesting results of his own. It was worth observing a bit longer.
Still, there was something else on his mind.
The Marines had begun deploying flying warships. With that, the once-impenetrable Sky Island had become as exposed as a harbor on the open sea, its strategic advantage gone.
"The Five Elders really are going all out against me. Their schemes are clever enough… but I'll make sure mine are one step ahead!
Arima silently refined his plans, determined to leave no loose ends.
Half a month later.
During dinner one evening, the family sat around the table together. Arima turned to Nono and asked, "Nono, want to come with me to Drum Island?"
"Drum Island? What for?"
Nono usually spent her time studying medicine, or visiting the Princess of the Tontatta Kingdom to research healing potions. She rarely paid attention to world affairs.
"Did you forget? I told you before I'd show you the medical arts of this world. Drum Island is known as the 'Holy Land of Medicine.'"
Nono adjusted her glasses with a small smile. "Then thank you, Brother."
"You're always so into medical research, why do you sound so unenthusiastic?" Arima asked, puzzled.
Nono hesitated for a moment, then finally betrayed her partner in crime.
"Brother… I heard from Kushina that there's only one doctor left on Drum Island!"
Kushina, sipping red wine beside them, nearly choked upon hearing that.
"Cough, cough! Um, ah, Arima, why are you suddenly so interested in these minor details lately? You caught me completely off guard!"
"Yes, yes, my fault," Arima said with a mock-innocent shrug. "I shouldn't trouble our hardworking Kushina."
"Hmph. As long as you know! The medical books from Drum Island were sent to Sky Island ages ago, you've been studying them yourself, haven't you?"
"So that's why I suddenly had a pile of strange books on my desk…"
The truth was, Arima had been busy these past six months, largely because of the ancient weapon, Uranus.
He'd scoured nearly the entire ocean looking for clues, but still came up empty-handed.
Then a thought struck him. Turning to Nami, he asked, "Nami, have you been in touch with your family lately?"
Nami shook her head. "I asked Kushina to get me some meteorology books from Weatheria, so I've been studying non-stop."
"Then you probably haven't seen the news. Your sister, Nojiko, has set sail, she's now the navigator of the Straw Hat Pirates."