"So that's Wano Country? Awesome!"
Having passed through Zou, the Straw Hat Pirates, following the Mink Tribe's ship, soon reached the outskirts of Wano Country.
Looking at the island surrounded by cliffs and waterfalls, the adventure-loving Luffy's eyes instantly lit up as he shouted.
"Wano Country is an island without a conventional coastline. To enter, outsiders must sail their ships up the waterfall," Kin'emon explained with a smile. "But I know an entrance that allows for safe entry into Wano Country."
"How about I make the Merry fly in?" Luffy said, his eyes still sparkling.
Hearing this, Franky's forehead was instantly covered in black lines as he shouted, "Idiot, do you want the Merry to crash and be destroyed? Remember, the Merry has been completely modified, and its keel isn't entirely made of Adam Wood. The Coup de Burst shouldn't be used unless absolutely necessary."
"Give me a break, you idiot!" Usopp and Chopper chimed in, giving Luffy a karate chop.
Watching Luffy fooling around with his crew, completely devoid of any captainly dignity, Sabo and Ace, who had grown accustomed to the atmosphere of the Straw Hat Pirates, both smiled as they looked at their younger brother.
Then, as if remembering something, Sabo tipped his hat down, his expression turning grave. "Next, I'll have to face the new World's Strongest Man."
"Yeah..." Ace nodded in agreement and also said in a deep voice, "I've always wanted to see him, the man who killed Pops and who even Teach fears so much!"
Standing beside Sabo, Koala asked with a worried expression, "Sabo, are we really going to war with the Impaler Pirates?"
"Yes, this is a battle I cannot avoid."
Sabo nodded firmly. "After Doflamingo took over the archipelago ruled by the Impaler Pirates, the Donquixote Family became branded as part of them."
"Fighting has always been strictly forbidden in the Impaler Pirates' archipelago. I was the first to break that rule, a slap in the face to their authority."
"Whether it's because I touched their cash cow or for the sake of upholding their prestige, the Impaler Pirates will come to討伐討伐 me."
"Rather than wait for that, I'd rather take the initiative."
As he spoke the last sentence, Sabo's eyes filled with a sharp glint.
As the second-in-command and chief of staff of the Revolutionary Army, Sabo was one of the people in this world who understood the Impaler Pirates best.
He knew how powerful the Impaler Pirates were, and he knew even better that Link and Hancock were super-powerful individuals they could not hope to defeat.
In their group, only Ace had mastered Conqueror's Haki Coating.
Even with him, Marco, the Mink Tribe, and the vassals of the Kozuki Clan, they were definitely no match for Link.
They wouldn't even need Link to act; his subordinates, the Pirate Empress and the Nine-Tailed Fox, were beings they couldn't handle.
Therefore, Sabo had already planned everything in advance.
If his plan succeeded, there might be a glimmer of hope in overthrowing the Impaler, Link.
And so, the tale of the hero versus the evil dragon was about to unfold.
Under Kin'emon's guidance, the Going Merry and the Mink Tribe's ship successfully passed through a special entrance and secretly slipped into Wano Country.
However, the group led by the three sworn brothers didn't know that they hadn't slipped into Wano undetected; they had been discovered by the Impaler Pirates.
But Link's group did not act to eliminate them immediately.
He allowed them to move freely in Wano, gathering the other vassals of the Kozuki Clan.
As for Kozuki Hiyori, she had been brought to Amazon Lily by Rebecca before the Straw Hat Pirates and the others arrived, and was then "played with" by Link until she passed out.
This time, she would remain unconscious for a long time, only waking up after the incident was over.
"This is too much! They don't treat the people here like human beings at all!"
At this time, Luffy and the others had begun their investigation of Wano Country.
Seeing the lives of the Wano residents, whose hearts had been stolen and who toiled every day for a scrap of food, Luffy, who considered Momonosuke a friend, was instantly filled with rage.
Kin'emon and the others were also filled with indignation.
Just as Roger could destroy a country for a friend, it was in Luffy's nature that he could ignore the suffering of others, but not the suffering of his friends.
And so, the simple-minded fellow, just as in the original story, decided to help Momonosuke by beating up Link and taking back Wano Country.
Seeing that the powerful three sworn brothers had agreed to help the young lord reclaim his country, Kin'emon was secretly overjoyed.
In the following days, Kin'emon personally went out and convinced Kawamatsu and Ashura Doji, other members of the Akazaya Nine whose hearts had also been taken. They gathered all the surviving vassals of the Kozuki Clan, preparing to set out for Amazon Lily to subjugate the evil dragon, Link.
Due to Kurozumi Orochi's death, Kanjuro, who was currently very confused, was still in character and prepared to follow Kin'emon and the others to protect Momonosuke.
Creeaak—
Just as they had gathered their forces and were preparing to head to Amazon Lily, much like how they entered Onigashima in the original story, a piercing sound of a door opening suddenly reached everyone's ears from above.
The eyes of the powerful Haki users, led by the three sworn brothers, all glinted.
Their Observation Haki seemed to sense something, and their expressions all turned grave.
An air door appeared in the sky above, and a white-haired figure in a robe of black and white slowly floated out from within.
Behind him, within a green dimensional space, were numerous powerful presences.
But those presences did not emerge.
When the air door closed, those presences also vanished.
But the faces of the powerful Haki users on the scene were covered in cold sweat.
Kin'emon and the others had eyes filled with even more terror.
Even the simple-minded Luffy, as if realizing something, now had an incredibly serious expression.
"What... what's going on?"
The two rulers of the Mink Tribe said in disbelief, "Why can't I sense his presence?"
"It's not an illusion; he's real," Sabo said in a deep voice. "But this form... I've never seen it before."
"Is this his true form?"
Only Ace showed no fear on his face; instead, his eyes were filled with fighting spirit. "He's as strong as they say!"
Link, in his Six Paths Sage Mode, looked down from on high at the army of heroes below. His Six Tomoe Rinnegan swept across the faces of the three sworn brothers as he said with a faint smile, "Good eyes. It wasn't a waste for me to wait so long."
"If that's the case, then I'll give you a chance to challenge me! Of course, only the strong are worthy!"
BOOM—
As his words fell, Link's eyes widened, and a pressure different from Conqueror's Haki suddenly erupted from his body, slapping down towards the group below like an invisible hand.
"Pfft..."
In the next second, the elite subordinates of the Mink Tribe and the Kozuki Clan all spat blood and collapsed.
Except for a few weaker individuals Link had deliberately avoided, the others, who would be considered elite even in a Four Emperors' crew, all fell to the ground, their internal organs shattered, dead on the spot.
No one had realized the terror of this pressure, not even having time to defend with Haki before they were instantly killed by the shockwave.
This move was none other than—Rinnegan Pressure!
Just like how Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's Byakugan pressure could kill people, Link's Rinnegan pressure could also kill.