On Thunder God Island, Souta Kiryuu had transformed into a colossal dragon, soaring among the thunderclouds. Lightning coiled around his massive body as he relentlessly tempered himself, mastering the power of thunder.
"Thunder Dragon Torch!"
Imitating Kaido's famed Flame Dragon Torch, Souta wove lightning into his dragon form, turning himself into a monstrous Thunder Dragon. The overwhelming aura he exuded made Ghiberkun and Capone Bege gulp nervously.
Inside Bege's fortress-body, the men trembled in silence, unable to even form words. With such terrifying strength, why should they fear Doflamingo at all? They could simply crush him head-on.
"Two Hundred Million Volts—Raijin!"
Enel, too, transformed, becoming a giant of lightning nearly forty meters tall. Yet compared to Souta Kiryuu's thousand-meter-long Thunder Dragon, he looked no more than an insect.
"Our boss is a god…" Enel muttered in awe, his heart burning with desire. In truth, Souta's form looked more divine than his own so-called Thunder God. Enel absorbed the island's lightning with reckless abandon, straining his body past its limits.
"Five Hundred Million Volts—Thunder Emperor!"
Enel's giant form expanded again, now towering over a hundred meters. Though still dwarfed by Souta's dragon, it was enough to make Bege's men shiver uncontrollably.
"What power… his Goro Goro no Mi ability is incredible!" Ghiberkun thought. Enel's strength rivaled that of the Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division Captain—easily worth a 500 million bounty. The Souta Pirates now had another Warlord-class powerhouse. With Bartholomew Kuma and Enel at his side, Souta Kiryuu could overwhelm nearly any Shichibukai. If they recruited another strong officer, their crew would be a fledgling version of the Beasts Pirates—perhaps even a future Yonko.
"Fufufu~ Ghiberkun, maybe it's time you joined our boss for real," Bege sneered. "Hell, bring your brother Ghiberson too." Having cast his lot with Souta, this so-called God-Slayer, Bege had no way back. All he could do was follow the madman to the top, step by step, until Souta claimed the Yonko throne. If Red-Haired Shanks could rise in just a few years, why couldn't Souta drag him down?
"..." Ghiberkun stayed silent. His family belonged to the shadowy underworld, a gray force that dealt with governments, Marines, pirates, and bandits alike. Pirate eras changed constantly—Rocks, the three legendary pirates, the Pirate King, the Yonko—but the underworld emperors had lasted for centuries.
The Yamikin family dominated finance, ruling black-and-white banks and loan shark empires. The Umi family controlled oceanic shipping, monopolizing deep-sea currents and global trade routes. The Drag family specialized in poisons, trafficking humans and organs, and running assassin guilds. Ghiberkun's clan, while slightly below these three, still commanded the vast fields of commerce and storage. Compared to them, newer underworld players like Stussy the Queen of Pleasure District, Joker the broker, and Big News Morgans were still climbing toward monopoly.
Souta and Enel trained for days, wholly consumed by their pursuit of strength. Bege and the others could do nothing but wait… and wait. Nearly ten days passed.
Elsewhere, Caesar Clown returned secretly to Punk Hazard with Monet and the Donquixote Family. For all his arrogance, the self-proclaimed "world's second scientist" still possessed real skill. He had partially mastered Vegapunk's method of fusing Zoan fruits with objects. With Doflamingo's support, Caesar obtained the Salamander Fruit and fused it with concentrated poison gas, birthing a purple sludge-like slime.
This poisonous creature roamed Punk Hazard, devouring toxins and purifying the island's deadly fog, starting with Caesar's long-abandoned laboratory. To his surprise, he discovered survivors inside—crippled test subjects who had resisted the poison but lost the use of their legs. With silver-tongued lies, Caesar convinced them he was their savior. Like Buggy before him, he stumbled into a stroke of absurd luck, and the prisoners swore loyalty to him.
Fitting them with floating balloons to assist mobility, Caesar raised a small army to guard Punk Hazard. Under Doflamingo's orders—and Monet's watchful eye—he began new experiments. Soon, he was producing SAD, the artificial bloodline factor crucial to man-made Devil Fruits.
Back on Thunder God Island, Violet, the user of the Glare-Glare Fruit, intercepted a passing News Coo with Bege. A bounty poster caught their eyes: Caesar Clown, former government scientist, now wanted for 300 million. Specialist in weapons of mass destruction. Logia of Gas. Extremely dangerous.
When Souta finally rested and saw the poster, he smirked. He hadn't known which prison Caesar was locked in, but now the fool had revealed himself.
"Let's go," Souta ordered Enel, his voice rumbling like thunder. "We're heading for Punk Hazard."
He didn't know exactly where Caesar was, but the odds were high he had returned there. Souta even hoped to run into Doflamingo and the Donquixote Family—things would get interesting fast. After all, there was no way he would ever do business with Doflamingo.
With a deafening roar, Souta Kiryuu rose into the sky, taking Enel and Bege with him as he streaked toward Punk Hazard.
Meanwhile, Caesar reveled in his reclaimed laboratory. With Doflamingo's protection outside and his new followers inside, he felt untouchable. His slime grew larger by the day, steadily cleansing the air but also evolving into a monstrous toxic beast.
"Shururururu! Vegapunk, I'll surpass you!" Caesar howled as machines roared to life. The success of Experiment 88 had shown him the path to mass-producing powerful subordinates. He would not be outdone by Queen the Plague or Judge of Germa. Caesar would forge an army of his own.
And so, the dark tide surged once again.