The Flower Capital did not sleep that night, but it did not celebrate either. A suffocating silence hung over the city. The geishas bolted their doors. The samurai hid their swords. The citizens extinguished their lanterns, praying that the darkness would hide them from the new masters of Wano.
Inside the Shogun's palace, the mood was equally heavy.
Kaido sat on the tatami floor of the grand hall, his back resting against a pillar. His chest was wrapped in thick bandages, but the blood still seeped through, staining the white linen crimson.
He held a massive gourd of sake, but he wasn't drinking. He was staring at the bandages.
Ren stood near the entrance, watching him. The other Akatsuki members had dispersed—Kakuzu to secure the treasury, Hidan to annoy the prisoners, and Deidara to set up perimeter defenses.
"It throbs," Kaido rumbled, his voice breaking the silence.
Ren stepped forward. "It was a deep cut. Oden's Haki is potent."
"Not the wound," Kaido growled. He crushed the neck of the gourd in his grip. " The memory. I was going to swing. I was going to kill him. But he looked away."
Kaido turned his furious gaze onto Ren. The pressure in the room spiked, cracking the floorboards.
"You interfered."
It wasn't a question. It was an accusation.
Ren didn't flinch. He couldn't afford to. To show fear to Kaido was to admit weakness.
"I ensured victory," Ren stated calmly. "Oden was going to cut your head off, Kaido. You know it. I know it."
"I would have tanked it!" Kaido roared, smashing the gourd onto the floor. Sake splashed everywhere. "I am the strongest! I don't need cheap tricks! I don't need hostages!"
"You aren't the strongest. Not yet," Ren said, his voice cutting through Kaido's rage like a scalpel.
Kaido froze. His eyes narrowed into slits.
Ren walked closer, stopping just out of arm's reach.
"Oden traveled with Roger. He reached the final island. He is in his prime. You? You are still growing. If you died today, the Beast Pirates end. My dream ends. Hidan, Kakuzu, Itachi—they all disappear."
Ren pointed at the bandages on Kaido's chest.
"That scar is a lesson. It is a reminder that honor is a luxury for the dead. Do you want to be an honorable corpse? Or do you want to be the Pirate King?"
Kaido stared at Ren. The air sizzled with Conqueror's Haki. For a moment, Ren thought Kaido might kill him right there. The dragon's pride was wounded far deeper than his flesh.
Then, slowly, the pressure receded.
Kaido touched the bloodstained bandage. He traced the X-shape.
"A reminder," Kaido muttered. He let out a long, heavy sigh that sounded like a steam engine depressurizing. "Worororo... You have a sharp tongue, Gravewalker."
Kaido picked up a new bottle of sake from a tray nearby.
"Fine. We won. Wano is ours. But don't think this makes us safe. Oden is alive. As long as he breathes, the samurai will hope."
"Hope is fragile," Ren said. "We will break it. Not by killing him... but by proving he can't save them."
The Dungeon
Deep beneath the capital, in a cell designed for demons, Kozuki Oden hung suspended by chains made of Sea Prism Stone.
His swords were gone. His clothes were tattered. His head hung low.
He wasn't dead, but his spirit was dim.
Clank. Clank. Clank.
Footsteps approached.
Oden opened one swollen eye. Standing outside the bars was the boy. The one with the strange energy.
"Ren," Oden rasped. "The boy who commands the dead."
Ren stood with his hands in his pockets. He looked at the fallen legend with a mix of pity and cold calculation.
Ren placed a hand on the cold iron bars.
"I came to tell you the news. The Scabbards escaped. Kaido let them go."
Oden's shoulders relaxed visibly. "They live? Good. Then the Dawn will come."
"Don't bet on it," Ren said. "I'm turning this country into a fortress. By the time your prophecy comes due in twenty years, there won't be a Wano left to save. Just a factory of weapons."
Ren turned to leave.
"Why didn't you kill me?" Oden asked.
Ren stopped.
"Because," Ren whispered, "my System doesn't accept living sacrifices. And I'm saving you for something special."
Three Weeks Later: The Industrialization
Wano changed fast.
With Kakuzu managing the finances and the Beast Pirates enforcing the law, the transition was brutal and efficient.
The skies over Udon turned grey as the first weapons factories—built on the blueprints Ren provided from his knowledge of the future—began to smoke.
Ren stood on a balcony of the Flower Capital, looking at the distant plumes of smog.
[System Update]
[Territory Secured: Wano Kuni.]
[Renown Increased: Warlord.]
[Chakra Capacity: Jonin Level.]
[New Feature Unlocked: The Akatsuki Ring.]
Ren blinked. The Ring?
He tapped the screen.
[Akatsuki Ring: Allows telepathic communication between Summoner and Summons over long distances. No chakra cost.]
"Finally," Ren sighed. "No more messenger hawks."
"Ren-sama."
Ren turned. Fukurokuju was bowing low behind him. The ninja leader had adapted quickly to the new regime.
"What is it?"
"A ship has been spotted approaching the waterfall. It is not a merchant vessel. It is... peculiar."
Ren frowned. "Peculiar how?"
"It is black. It has wings. And the man standing on the bow is on fire."
Ren's eyes widened. A smile spread across his face.
"He's here."
The Port of Hakumai
Kaido stood on the beach, his wound fully healed thanks to his Mythical Zoan regeneration. He watched the black ship ascend the waterfall, pulled not by carp, but by a Pteranodon flying above it.
The Pteranodon transformed in mid-air, landing on the beach with a heavy thud.
He was a tall man, clad in black leather, wearing a full-face mask and spikes. Fire—real, distinct Lunarian fire—burned on his back.
King the Conflagration. (Alber).
Kaido's first mate. The man he had saved from Punk Hazard years ago.
King looked at Kaido, then at the assembled group: Ren, the zombies, and the ninja.
"Kaido-san," King said, his voice muffled by the mask. "I brought the rest of the crew. Queen is complaining about the waterfall."
"Who wouldn't complain?!" A loud, funky voice shouted from the ship. A massive, rotund man with a long blonde braid and funky glasses waddled down the gangplank. "That ride was too steep! I spilled my oshiruko!"
Queen the Plague.
And behind them, a massive, brooding Fishman—a giant grouper—stepped off. Jack the Drought. He was younger here, only a teenager, but already huge.
The Calamities had arrived.
Ren watched them assemble. This was the core. The real Beast Pirates.
King walked up to Ren. He towered over the boy. He stared down, the flames on his back flickering.
"So," King said, his tone icy. "You are the 'Fourth Calamity' Kaido spoke of on the snail phone. The one who summons dead men."
"That's me," Ren said, holding his ground.
"You look weak," King stated blunt. "Do you even have Haki?"
Ren smirked. He tapped the ring on his finger.
"Itachi."
Whoosh.
Suddenly, King wasn't standing on the beach anymore. He was tied to a cross in a world of red and black. The sky was bleeding.
King flinched, his Haki flaring instinctively to shatter the illusion. The world shattered like glass, and he was back on the beach.
King stumbled back half a step, his hand going to the sword at his waist.
"Genjutsu," Ren said coolly. "Don't blink, King. Or you're already dead."
King stared at Ren. The hostility didn't vanish, but a begrudging respect appeared in his eyes.
"Hmph," King grunted, releasing his sword hilt. "Tricks. But effective tricks."
"Enough!" Kaido bellowed. "We are all here! King, Queen, Jack, Ren! And our... guests." He gestured to the Akatsuki.
Kaido spread his arms wide.
"We have the base. We have the gold. We have the weapons. Now, we build the army! I want 500 Smile Fruits produced within the year! I want every samurai in this country broken or recruited!"
"YEAH!" Queen started dancing. "Let's get the funk started! I need a lab! And some viruses!"
As the crew celebrated their reunion, Ren felt a vibration in his pocket.
It wasn't a snail. It was a System notification. A red one.
[WARNING.]
[History Deviation Detected.]
[The Whitebeard Pirates have received a Vivre Card signal.]
[Oden's Vivre Card is burning, but not gone.]
[Edward Newgate is moving.]
Ren froze.
In the original story, the communication was cut off. Wano was isolated. Whitebeard never knew Oden was in trouble until years later when he was already dead.
But Oden wasn't dead. He was suffering. And Vivre Cards reflected the life force of the owner. Oden's defeat and torture were signaling distress.
Ren looked at the celebration.
"Kaido," Ren said softly.
Kaido turned, seeing the look on Ren's face.
"What?"
"We have a problem," Ren said. "A quake is coming."
Kaido's grin grew impossibly wide.
"Whitebeard?"
"Whitebeard."
Kaido grabbed his Kanabo, his aura exploding outward, knocking the weaker pirates flat.
"WORORORORO! FINALLY! A REAL WAR!"
Ren sighed, rubbing his temples.
"I'm going to need more corpses."