The pinnacle of pirates begins with deceiving fate!

The Calm Belt, Impel Down, the deep-sea prison.

Two figures in diving suits suddenly emerged from the calm, waveless sea. They threw forks covered in minced meat onto the bridge and called out in a muffled voice to their colleagues on the bridge:

"Come help! Let's scoop up the big fish we caught today."

Due to its remote location and the large number of prisoners with high demand, the prison guards rely on catching their own food.

Fortunately, this is a calm zone, so there are plenty of big fish to catch, and apart from vegetables, everything else can be produced independently.

"Hey, what are you standing there for!"

Seeing that several colleagues were all standing dumbfounded on the bridge, staring into the distance without responding, the diving prison guard couldn't help but urge them on.

Urged on, one of the jailers on the bridge trembled as he raised his hand and pointed ahead to the Gate of Justice.

"The door...the door, the door seemed to be laughing just now."

"what?"

The two diving prison guards on the surface of the water seemed to have heard some absurd fantasy, and turned around in disbelief to look in the direction of the Gate of Justice.

What came into view were two wide-open mouths, faces with eyes and noses, one of which had long eyelashes, and they seemed to be a man and a woman.

And the face appears on the Gate of Justice!

"Are you kidding me?!"

Both of them on the surface thought they were seeing things, so they quickly took off their diving helmets and looked again.

"It seems they've spotted us."

"Hehehe, staring at someone like that will make them shy!"

The two doors of justice were having a silent dialogue, yet their voices were like thunder, resounding throughout the entire sea.

Chapter 193 The First Four Emperors

"Justice... the Gate of Justice has spoken!"

The two prison guards on the water were so shocked that they stammered and for a moment forgot to tread water, and their bodies sank into the water.

As they sank into the water, they saw four huge, pillar-like shadows in the deep sea ahead, which looked like the legs of two people.

"MAMAMAMA~"

Lingling stood atop the towering Gates of Justice, bobbing her head and laughing happily.

"Let's go, children, let's collect more lifespans and create a dream utopia where all races can live in peace, Totland!"

"..."

Reports were scattered across the sea, coming from various news agencies, but their content was almost identical.

A colossal shadow walking on the sea!

The Gates of Justice have taken flight!

The Four Strongest Pirates of the Modern Era: The Four Emperors!

Living on this bizarre and wondrous sea, people have seen all sorts of strange and unusual things. They simply laugh off things like "a giant shadow walking on the sea" and "the gate of justice flying up," without taking them seriously at all.

It's not that I don't care, but I think it's something fabricated by a news agency, just like Rolando's "Golden City"—unbelievable.

However, the title of "Four Emperors" and the fact that pirates are so close to people make it impossible for everyone to take them seriously.

The salty sea breeze made the tavern creak, and the old wooden door swayed back and forth in the wind. The room was filled with a heavy smell of ale, tobacco and salted fish, making the air murky and hazy.

The rough, solid wood table was filled with all sorts of sea travelers: coastal fishermen carrying harpoons, wandering explorers with short knives at their waists, merchants traveling to and from the seas, and down-on-their-luck old pirates... The clinking of wine glasses and the cacophony of loud conversation filled the entire room.

After wiping the greasy wine glasses, the tavern owner slammed a freshly printed copy of the World Economic Journal onto the center of the long table. The front page prominently featured the headline: "Sea Overlords, the Four Emperors!"

On a blank sheet of paper, after the end of the Locus era, portraits of the four maritime emperors who ruled the seas are laid out side by side.

The noise stopped abruptly, then exploded again in the next second. Everyone swarmed around the wooden table, three or four layers deep, their fingers vying to poke at the newspaper pages.

"'BIGMOM' Charlotte Linlin founded 'Whole Cake Island' in the latter half of the Grand Line, commanding 100,000 pirates..."

"The 'Flying Admiral' Shiki the Golden Lion built a sky city, thus declaring his intention to rule this sea from the air..."

"Edward Newgate, the 'Whitebeard,' a user of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, possesses the power to destroy the world..."

"Captain John, the 'enemy of God,' with the highest bounty in history at 10 billion, is the man who manipulates the Five Elders, the world's most powerful political force..."

People read the newspapers about the "Four Emperors," analyzing their strength, power, and achievements, and then started heated arguments.

"Why isn't 'World Destroyer' Bondiworldd out? He's the man who dared to kill a Celestial Dragon!"

"What's the big deal about killing a few Celestial Dragons? The newspapers say Captain John has already destroyed the 'Holy Land' Mary Geoise!"

"What about Big Mom? What can a woman like her do!"

The fisherman pointed at Charlotte Linlin's portrait with his rough fingers, his face full of disdain.

Upon hearing this, the tavern fell silent, a silence that made the fisherman uneasy. He turned his head and glanced around at the strange expressions on everyone's faces.

"What's wrong? Did I say something wrong?"

"You're absolutely right!"

A businessman grinned wickedly and maliciously urged.

"BIGMOM's territory, 'Totto Land,' isn't far from here. You can row over there and defeat her. Then you won't have to toil away fishing all day anymore; you can transform into a revered and feared emperor of the sea!"

"Yes, yes! You should go now!"

"With his clueless and naive appearance, he'd probably get swallowed whole by a sea king on the way!"

"Hahaha!"

The fisherman's face turned red with anger at the agreement and ridicule of others, but he dared not step out of the tavern to challenge Bigom.

The crowd, too lazy to bother with such ignorant and arrogant fools, continued to argue for their respective favorite pirates.

"I think Whitebeard should be replaced. Roger is the true Pirate Emperor who deserves our respect! I've met Roger, and that man was just too charismatic!"

"What good is charm? Why don't you make 'Peony' Shakky the Pirate Emperor? No matter how charming Roger was, could he compare to Shakky?"

"..."

Meanwhile, in a certain sea area in the latter half of the Grand Line.

On the deck of the Moby Dick, Newgate leaned back in his large chair, glanced at Kaido who was sitting cross-legged under the mast eating and drinking, and then looked at the newspaper in his hand.

"Due to the existence of the four Emperors of the Sea, the World Government has completely lost control over the latter half of the Grand Line. The latter half of the Grand Line will henceforth be known as the 'New World,' standing as a rival to the World Government!"

As Newgate read the words of Morgans, a rising star in journalism, he turned his gaze to the purple-haired man sitting on the right side of the ship, eating ramen from a bowl.

“John, don’t you think the term ‘New World’ is a bit of an exaggeration?”

"Those of us who personally experienced the God Valley Incident know that the World Government possesses bizarre and terrifying power that we simply cannot deal with."

Newgate couldn't help but recall the scene of Rocks being "dominated by the Dark Transformation," a power that even Haki couldn't withstand.

So what good is strength or fighting ability?

"what!"

John drank the dry tonkotsu ramen soup, exhaled a satisfied breath, and shook his head.

“I think it’s great. At least with us around, the world government won’t dare to act recklessly in the ‘new world’.”

Now, the Four Emperors, the World Government, the Navy, and various other forces all possess their own "nuclear weapons," which are either the world's highest combat power or "God's bricks"...

They each have the ability to destroy the other's base.

If only two sides possess nuclear weapons, they will fight to the bitter end. But if multiple parties possess nuclear weapons, they will be much more cautious.

That destructive power will not be used unless absolutely necessary.

Deterrence without action is what truly instills fear. For example, no one could have imagined the extent of the damage that Shiki's "God Brick" would cause before it actually came down.

But once you use it, it gives you a direct assessment, so you're no longer so afraid.

Given this out-of-control situation, Im is unlikely to leave the Red Line to intervene personally.

It's highly likely that Im will use the "exhaustion" tactic to wear them all down.

After all, unlike Nika, who can pass on their Devil Fruits from generation to generation, they will age and die over time.

Unfortunately, Im didn't know that John also possessed an endless lifespan.

Chapter 194 Become my first mate, John!

"So, you faked your death just to do this?"

Newgate spoke in a low voice, his gaze towards John filled with intense dissatisfaction.

He was deceived and grieved for John's death for a long time!

Who knows, John probably saw how upset he was and was secretly laughing at him!

Sensing the displeasure in Newgate's tone, John placed the bowl on the gunwale and shrugged helplessly.

"I had no choice. It was just too dangerous at the time, so I had no other option but to do it."

"Ha! Stop lying."

Newgate snorted and turned his head away, no longer looking at John.

He will never be fooled by this guy again!

Actually, being deceived wasn't so bad. What he really couldn't accept was that he was the last person to know that John was still alive.

After John "resurrected", the first thing he did was to meet with Shiki, Linlin, Kaido and other guys, thus isolating Newgate!

That's outrageous!

"Sigh!" John shook his head and sighed helplessly, not believing that he had no way to explain it.

But he had to admit that among the remnants of the Rocks gang, he felt that only Newgate could be properly communicated with, and that it felt like a reunion with an old friend.

As for Shiki, Lingling, and those guys...

Sigh, everyone has their own future to pursue.