North Sea Branch N-11.
Among the four seas, the North Sea was the most chaotic and most powerful. Its navy stood above the rest, its prisons more fortified, its soldiers more ruthless.
Even monsters like Admiral Sakazuki, the Red Dog, and Admiral Borsalino, the Yellow Monkey, hailed from the North Sea. Sakazuki had been fighting since the age of seven, his monstrous physique terrifying from childhood.
And then there was Germa 66—the so-called Evil Army. They had long entrenched themselves in the North Sea, scheming to revive their fallen kingdom and reclaim the glory of unifying these seas. Over twenty years ago, Vinsmoke Judge rose to power, slaughtering four allied kings in succession. His terror left scars that lingered in the hearts of all who dwelled in the North Sea. For a time, Germa 66 became the nightmare of these waters.
Even in storybooks and comic strips, Germa 66 were painted as villains.
The infamous Donquixote Family, too, had grown out of the North Sea, spreading chaos through years of pillaging, arson, and massacre. Even elite Vice Admirals like Tsuru could not eradicate them. Donquixote Doflamingo himself escaped these waters, carving his name on the Grand Line and the New World, rising as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea—licensed pirates under the World Government.
Slaughter had become the language of the North Sea.
As in the original tales, when Trafalgar Law met other Supernovas at Sabaody, his first words had been: "How many did you kill today?" He had earned the epithet "Surgeon of Death" through more than just his scalpel—it was soaked in blood.
Inside the branch base, a Rear Admiral in a marine cloak trained relentlessly.
For two years he had guarded the North Sea, capturing countless pirates, carving out achievements. This year, his efforts would earn him a transfer to Marine Headquarters at Marineford, where he would be promoted to Headquarters Rear Admiral—an essential step toward a lasting career.
Officers born of the North Sea were almost always hardline hawks, cut from the same steel as Admiral Sakazuki. They were decisive, merciless, striking down pirates without hesitation. Only such men could keep this sea in check.
"Rear Admiral Kino, orders from Headquarters!"
A marine signal officer, cap pulled low, hurried in with the latest directive from Marineford.
"Next month, when you return to report to Headquarters, you are to escort all pirates in North Sea prisons with bounties over 15 million berries to Enies Lobby for trial!"
"Fifteen million?" Kino snarled, smashing his fist into an iron sandbag. "What do they take us for, East Blue weaklings? In the North Sea, a pirate isn't even worth noticing until he's past thirty million! And those are the ones we send to Impel Down!"
Kino's face twisted in frustration. Their prisons held dozens of pirates worth ten to twenty million. If they emptied the cells of those over fifteen million, then what would the new officers train on? Headquarters' order felt like coddling the weaker seas.
The East Blue's most notorious bounty barely topped twenty million. Here, that was the mark of a middling pirate.
"There's more." The signal officer continued. "Any Devil Fruit user—no matter the bounty—is to be escorted to Impel Down."
After saluting, he left Kino to digest the order.
"Finally… it's reacting!" Kino's eyes lit up as energy shimmered around his fists. Years of slaughter in the North Sea had finally forced his Haki to awaken. In the peace of the East Blue—even stationed at Loguetown for five years—he might never have awakened Armament Haki.
"This… is the power taught only to Headquarters officers."
The dark energy wrapped his fists, the fruit of blood-earned merit and desperate training. Yet when Kino thought of the four Vinsmoke siblings, his pride wavered. Their superhuman exoskeletons and transformation suits made them more formidable than many Vice Admirals.
Kino had once faced Germa's armies at sea—he had seen firsthand the terror of the Vinsmoke children.
"Even with Armament Haki, I doubt I could wound them…" he muttered bitterly. Some people were simply born stronger, their very bodies engineered for war. What he had bled for, they wielded effortlessly.
But before his thoughts could deepen, the alarm howled across the island.
Kino's head snapped upward.
A colossal crimson dragon coiled among violet flame-clouds above. Its scales gleamed like forged steel, an indestructible wall of living metal.
"Beast Kaido?!" Kino gasped.
"No…" another marine whispered. "It's him—the abomination who declared war on the Celestial Dragons—the most dangerous experiment of all: Souta Kiryuu!"
Kino's fists clenched. The name alone chilled his bones. Souta Kiryuu, the 88th experimental subject, a man whose bounty had soared to 500 million berries. Though he had little record of open victories, his very presence radiated overwhelming dread.
Suddenly, a torrent of dragonfire cascaded from the heavens, tearing through the base's fortress and consuming the marine flag. The stronghold erupted in flames as panicked soldiers fled in every direction.
"Damn it!" Kino roared. "Why did he come to the North Sea now?! Just one more month and I'd be at Headquarters!" His path to promotion, ruined in a single day.
Whispers spread: according to Marineford's intelligence, Souta Kiryuu's strength might even surpass the Vinsmoke family's most powerful creation.
How was Kino—a newly awakened Rear Admiral—to face such a monster?
"Rear Admiral!" several colonels rushed in, their blades trembling. "The dragon… it transformed into a half-dragon man! He's attacking the prison!"
Kino's heart sank. If Souta freed those criminals, the North Sea would collapse into chaos.
"Call for reinforcements from Headquarters—now!" he barked, sprinting toward the prison. He could not allow this abomination to unleash the worst of the North Sea's scum.
Inside the North Sea prison, Souta Kiryuu strode through the cells like a man walking a market street. His presence alone was suffocating—guards collapsed under the weight of his gaze, without him needing to fire a single laser.
"Where is Bark?!" his voice thundered. "And where are the Devil Fruit users?"
Terror-stricken inmates scrambled to answer.
"I-I know! Bark's in the last cell! Please, let me out—I'll serve you faithfully!"
Faces battered and bruised lit up with desperate hope. To them, Souta Kiryuu was not a destroyer, but salvation. To escape. To burn the navy that had caged them. To breathe freedom once again.
The dragon of vengeance had descended, and the North Sea would never be the same.