The Five Elders' debate had raged through the entire night. When dawn finally broke over Mary Geoise, most had reached a consensus—Kaido was the most likely candidate for Joy Boy's successor. After presenting their findings to Lord Imu, the supreme ruler offered no objection to their proposed course of action.
The fact that even God seemed uncertain about Joy Boy's identity was a troubling question the Five Elders chose to bury in their hearts. Instead, they focused on issuing battle directives with the urgency of a ticking time bomb.
First, the World Government would dramatically reduce its global footprint. All agents not assigned to critical positions would return immediately to Enies Lobby for centralized deployment. These loyal operatives would then be redirected toward a singular target—the Beast Pirates.
Doflamingo had provided Kaido's detailed itinerary to the Five Elders as penance for his involvement in the Sky Screen revelations. Despite their antagonistic relationship, they were all Celestial Dragons—family disputes that remained within their exclusive circle.
Joy Boy represented a guillotine blade suspended above every Celestial Dragon's neck. Even if the Heavenly Yaksha claimed indifference to his noble privileges, Doflamingo understood that losing that protection would leave him utterly vulnerable.
While he might dream of watching the world burn, facing a liberation fighter willing to overturn the entire table gave him pause. Unlike true revolutionaries, Doflamingo wouldn't sacrifice everything—including his life and wealth—for ideological purity.
The anti-Kaido conspiracy took shape in shadows and whispered conferences. As the Yonko of Onigashima became the World Government's primary target, another Emperor faced mounting pressure from a different source.
5 years in the future, the Red-Haired Pirates had suffered devastating losses. Though not yet completely annihilated, their diminished reputation had emboldened subordinate crews to test the waters of rebellion.
"We're not dead yet, but these idiots below are already acting dishonest," Benn Beckman muttered, blood still staining his clothes from personally executing a recently affiliated pirate crew that had dared to challenge their authority.
Brutal suppression remained the only language these opportunists understood. Let them know that a Yonko crew's dignity was inviolable—if they wanted independence, they could wait until the Red-Haired Pirates were actually extinct.
Lucky Roux, the crew's rotund navigator, worried more about their captain's mental state. Ever since learning that Kaido might be Joy Boy, Shanks had locked himself in his quarters with nothing but alcohol for company.
"The Sky Screen's revelation hit him too hard," Lucky Roux observed sadly. "He wants to verify the truth, but he can't disprove it either. That uncertainty is eating him alive."
Alone in his cabin, Shanks pressed against the window with a half-empty bottle in his remaining hand. The potent liquor had failed to drown the crushing doubts that plagued his every waking moment.
"Did I make the right choice betting my arm on Luffy?" Shanks wondered aloud, his usual confidence completely shattered.
The Sky Screen's revelations had demolished everything he'd built his life around. This Yonko who had spent years "playing at being a pirate" was actually another soul waiting for Joy Boy's return. Everything traced back to his former captain, the Pirate King Gol D. Roger.
Though Shanks hadn't accompanied the crew to Raftel, he'd learned the truth afterward. Roger had discovered that he wasn't the figure the final island awaited—only Joy Boy's return could unlock whatever secrets lay hidden there. Even the Pirate King couldn't escape that damned destiny.
Knowing his terminal illness left little time, Roger had surrendered himself to the Marines, using his execution to spark the Great Pirate Age. By accelerating global chaos, he hoped to hasten Joy Boy's emergence and topple the Celestial Dragons' stranglehold on the world. Whether the future would prove better or worse wasn't something a dead man needed to worry about.
Shanks's thoughts inevitably returned to Monkey D. Luffy. Was that boy truly the chosen one Roger had been seeking? Had giving him the straw hat been a terrible mistake?
If a brutal man like Kaido could somehow embody liberation, what did that say about Joy Boy's true nature? Perhaps the ideal of universal freedom couldn't survive contact with harsh reality. On these seas, only the strong could truly claim freedom.
"Sky Screen," Shanks whispered to the empty room, his voice thick with alcohol and desperation. "If you can hear me, show me more. I need to see that fight with Kaido. Maybe I'll sail to Onigashima myself to confirm whether he's really Joy Boy."
The Sky Screen's revelations had shattered Shanks's fundamental beliefs. He'd become a Yonko through a complex web of circumstances, content to wander his territory and build bonds of friendship while waiting for Joy Boy's arrival. That passive existence now felt hollow and meaningless.
Yet Shanks wasn't the person most devastated by Kaido's supposed identity. That distinction belonged to Bartholomew Kuma, the Shichibukai known as the Tyrant, who felt the revelation like a personal betrayal.
Currently undergoing Vegapunk's cyborg modifications while his emotions remained intact, Kuma had sacrificed everything for his daughter Bonnie's sake. Following Joy Boy's historical footsteps, he'd spent years mastering the Drums of Liberation dance and embodying the ideals he believed in.
Kuma's good deeds were legendary among those who knew to look. In terms of implementing Joy Boy's spirit, he stood unmatched anywhere in the world. He'd silently liberated countless innocents, even saving five hundred people during the chaos at God Valley shortly after consuming the Paw-Paw Fruit. Here was a man who truly understood what liberation meant.
A true liberation fighter destroyed the old world to build something better, possessed the courage for self-sacrifice, and pursued freedom until death. A false god of liberation merely eliminated immediate threats to his friends, ignored long-term consequences, threw a party, and sailed away shouting about becoming Pirate King.
Currently stationed on an uninhabited Grand Line island, Kuma methodically catalogued potential safe havens for future use—one of many duties he performed in preparation for an uncertain tomorrow.
"Is Dragon's son really Joy Boy?" Kuma murmured, recalling his visit to Windmill Village years ago. He'd dedicated his life to waiting for Joy Boy's emergence, hoping to create a world with less slavery and more freedom.
Lost in contemplation, he was interrupted by an unexpected Den Den Mushi call. The voice belonged to someone he'd hoped never to hear from again.
"Kuma, we need your strength," Saint Jaygarcia Saturn commanded with typical Celestial Dragon arrogance. "Return to Paradise immediately. You must do your part in defeating Kaido."
This wasn't a Revolutionary Army communication—Kuma had severed those ties years ago after fulfilling his obligations to Dragon. The caller was one of the Five Elders, a Celestial Dragon who'd forced him into a devil's bargain.
"Give me the exact coordinates," Bartholomew Kuma replied without hesitation. "I'll be there immediately."
Saturn had expected lengthy negotiations regarding Bonnie's welfare, but Kuma's instant compliance caught him off guard. The Celestial Dragon hadn't anticipated such ready cooperation.
The battle against Yonko Kaido would likely prove extraordinarily brutal. Before his emotions were completely erased by Vegapunk's modifications, Kuma wanted to witness the figure who'd haunted his dreams for decades.
Was Kaido of the Beasts truly Joy Boy? What would eight hundred years of accumulated liberation legends look like when they finally took physical form? Those who believed in destiny waited with breathless anticipation to discover the truth.
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