"You said you were completely spent."
"…Yeah, I did."
"Then how the hell did you pull off that last teleport?"
Facing the suspicious stares of Hawkeye and Croco-kid, Ozz calmly swallowed the last bite of his seafood fried rice.
"I was drained but not completely drained."
A cautious man like him? As if he'd ever walk into battle without keeping a trump card in hand.
Besides, the outcome had been more than satisfactory.
Even with him deliberately going head-to-head, they'd held their ground against the combined onslaught of two emperors of the sea.
Ozz sat there, letting the sea breeze wash over him as he ate, replenishing his strength, slowly patching up his body.
By now...
He figured he'd earned the right to call himself a future king in this sea.
After all, if "King Luffy" could be hailed as an Emperor just for escaping from Big Mom while barely scratching her, then claiming that title himself ought to be a walk in the park.
Besides.
The guy who helped make Luffy a Yonko?
Yeah. He was working for Ozz now.
As that thought settled, Ozz turned his eyes to a group gathered on the other side of the ship.
A motley crew, dressed in the usual flamboyant styles of the underworld, standing obediently in formation.
They were the elite of the criminal world underworld big shots Ozz had deemed still useful. That was why he'd taken the time to teleport them onto the Oro Jackson along with him.
If he'd left them behind to deal with Kaido and Big Mom?
They'd be dead meat by now.
"Hey. You lot."
His voice snapped the group to attention. Led by Stussy, the leaders of the underworld stepped forward and bowed low before him.
Even though they knew he hadn't fully recovered yet, not one of them dared to make a move.
After the battle at Totto Land, even the most unruly elements of the underworld had to reconsider just how sturdy their spines were compared to the two emperors Ozz had fought.
Looking at them these so-called bosses who were now too scared to even light a cigarette Ozz chomped casually on a piece of fruit.
"You guys can get off at the next island."
"Yes, Lord Ozz!"
They couldn't have been more thrilled.
They'd technically joined Ozz's camp, sure, but the man scared them to their core. Deep-seated trauma-level fear. Now that they were being told they could disembark?
Of course they were eager to go.
Just as they were inwardly celebrating their luck, a blonde woman stepped forward. Draped in a light shawl and short skirt, she looked like the picture of a gentle older sister.
"Lord Ozz, you're still recovering from your injuries. If we could just stay and offer our assistance…"
Stussy, at this point, was genuinely loyal at least as far as her affiliations went. Whether it was the World Government or Vegapunk, neither had any reason to oppose Ozz.
He was on friendly terms with the World Government.
He was the head of a government-affiliated nation.
And he was one of Vegapunk's largest financial backers some of the more... sensitive research projects relied entirely on Ozz's funding.
So yes, her suggestion was made out of sincere concern for his well-being.
"Injured? Who told you that?"
Ozz took a bite of his apple, his expression blank, his eyes distant and dull but there was something blood-red smoldering beneath the calm.
"You think going up against two so-called Emperors would leave me bedridden?"
"Emperors?"
Stussy blinked, unfamiliar with the term.
Truth be told, the title "Four Emperors" hadn't officially been coined yet. That would come a few years down the line when Shanks reached his peak and joined Whitebeard, Kaido, and Big Mom in dominating the seas.
The phrase had slipped from Ozz's mouth once in passing, and Morgans ever the sensationalist had latched onto it like a dog with a bone.
Chances were, the next issue of his paper would introduce the term and set the entire ocean on fire.
"Don't mind the terminology. What I mean is"
"Unless I'm dead, I'm always at my peak."
Thanks to the truckload of food he was now inhaling, his stamina was already bouncing back fast. His body, too, was rapidly stitching itself back together.
Unless it was a fatal wound, he could fully recover from 90 percent of his injuries in less than a day.
You could say…
His mastery over the Warp-Warp Fruit made it a sort of budget version of the Op-Op Fruit.
As he swept his gaze across the silent, docile underworld bosses who were now practically housecats in his presence, Ozz casually pulled out a transponder snail.
"Brrrr… brrrr…"
Click.
A birdlike face appeared in the snail's receiver, his expression absolutely glowing with excitement.
"Lord Ozz!!! You're a walking headline, I swear!!!"
"The next edition of the World Economy News is gonna fly off the shelves faster than I can reprint it! Hahahaha!!!"
Morgans couldn't contain his glee but as he stared into the snail's eyes, into that crimson gaze and silent expression, his laughter gradually faded into a cough.
"So… um, Lord Ozz. What can I do for you?"
"Nothing big. Just two things."
Morgans didn't even blink. He was used to this. Nearly every time Ozz called, he had two requests.
"First. Don't put my name under the 'Four Emperors' banner."
"Eh… y-yes, Lord Ozz."
Morgans paused, confused, but he answered on reflex.
To him, the Four Emperors were the pinnacles of the pirate world especially in this era, where the Pirate King was dead and no new king had risen.
But then it hit him.
Right.
How could "Four Emperors" possibly describe someone who'd taken on two of them aloneand emerged with his crown intact?
That would be an insult. A scandal.
He'd almost made a huge mistake.
Now that he understood, Morgans began brainstorming. What kind of title would do justice to someone whose life was already the stuff of legend?
No… whose youth was already legendary?
He was deep in thought when Ozz moved on to the second point.
"Second. I want you to spread the word to every big name in the underworld. Anyone who claims to serve me must attend the upcoming Underworld Summit."
"Anyone who skips… will either hand over all their business and get out of the game, or take their own life."
"I'm going to set some ground rules for how this world handles profit."
The words hit like thunder.
Morgans. Stussy. Feld.
All of them froze, wide-eyed with disbelief.
Had they heard him correctly?
The entire underworld…
Was about to be unified?
With this new order, the vast industries of blood money and black markets were about to face a seismic shift.
"A-and Lord Ozz, when and where will the meeting be held?"
"One month from now. The location…"
"Make it Sabaody Archipelago."
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