The Ross Kingdom was a powerful nation in the West Blue.
Its capital was called Ida City, and as the royal capital of the Ross Kingdom, it was exceptionally prosperous.
But beneath that prosperity lay unimaginable corruption and darkness.
On the surface, Ida City was naturally ruled by the royal family of the Ross Kingdom.
In the shadows, however, it was controlled by three major underworld families.
These three families controlled nearly every aspect of Ida City and were the true kings of its dark side.
They were the Zoe Family, the Lino Family, and the Katie Family.
However, several years ago, the Katie Family was suddenly wiped out and replaced by the Capone Family.
The head of the Capone Family was named Capone Bege.
Speaking of Capone Bege, he was already something of a legendary figure in the West Blue underworld.
He joined the underworld in his teens, starting out as nothing more than a low-ranking thug in the Katie Family.
Yet over the next few years, his superiors and bosses kept dying under mysterious circumstances, one after another.
As a result, Bege rose from an insignificant underling to one of the Katie Family’s most influential executives.
Then, a year ago, he killed the head of the Katie Family and took his place, becoming the head of one of Ida City’s three major families.
On this particular day, Bege summoned the family’s executives for a meeting, intending to discuss how they would swallow the other families in Ida City and unify the city’s underworld.
When the appointed time arrived, Bege entered the meeting hall, only to discover that not a single one of his men was there.
No, that wasn’t quite right.
More accurately, not a single one of them was still standing.
Every one of his subordinates was lying unconscious on the floor.
And in the meeting room, seated in the position that should have belonged to him, was a young man wearing a black overcoat.
Two even younger children stood beside the seat.
“Heh, Capone Bege.
I’ve been waiting for you for quite a while.” The young man sat with one leg crossed over the other as he looked at the gloomy and surprised Bege who had just entered.
That’s right.
This was Capone Bege, the “Gang” who would one day become one of the eleven Supernovas of the Worst Generation alongside Luffy.
Although Bege belonged to the same generation of pirates as Luffy, he was actually much older than Luffy’s group.
That was because Bege hadn’t started out as a pirate.
He came from the underworld, eventually even unifying the entire West Blue underworld.
Later, perhaps because he found the underworld boring, he finally set out as a pirate at the age of forty.
His life could truly be called legendary.
Despite seeing the unfamiliar young man and all the family executives lying unconscious across the floor, Bege remained remarkably calm.
“Who are you people?
Do we have some kind of grudge?” Bege asked evenly.
“No grudge, no grudge at all.
I just took a liking to you and want you to join my pirate crew.
But I’ve heard you have a habit of killing your superiors, so before I let you join, I’m planning to beat you half to death first.
That way, whenever you think about betraying me in the future, you’ll remember what happened today and hopefully stop yourself from doing something stupid.”
The person who had appeared here was none other than Yuri.
There weren’t many people in the West Blue whom Yuri knew about and considered worth recruiting.
Bege was one of them.
Although Bege’s personal strength and abilities weren’t particularly outstanding, his Castle-Castle Fruit was actually an excellent strategic ability.
Used properly, Bege alone could function as an entire army.
Once Yuri’s pirate crew grew larger and stronger in the future, Bege’s ability would become extremely useful.
More importantly, Bege’s Castle-Castle Fruit could store enormous quantities of supplies.
With him around, Yuri would never have to worry about provisions again.
There was also the fact that Bege was currently the head of one of Ida City’s three major underworld families.
He possessed considerable influence in the criminal world and was extremely familiar with how to deal with spies from the World Government and the Marines.
With Bege’s assistance, Yuri could disappear from the surveillance networks of the Marines and the World Government.
That was why he had brought Robin and Daz with him and secretly infiltrated this place.
Damn it.
This guy is serious, and he looks completely confident that he can actually do it…
Bege’s expression darkened after hearing Yuri’s words.
“War is ultimately decided by numbers.
I have the advantage in manpower, so in the end, I will be the one who wins,” Bege said calmly.
As he spoke, a large number of bullets and even cannonballs suddenly appeared out of thin air in front of him and flew toward Yuri.
The distance between Bege and Yuri wasn’t great, and the sudden appearance of all those bullets and cannonballs was completely unexpected.
If it had been an ordinary person, even someone with decent strength would inevitably have been caught off guard by such a surprise attack.
Unfortunately, Bege’s opponent was Yuri.
Even if Yuri hadn’t already known about Bege’s ability, his Observation Haki would still have allowed him to clearly perceive the attack.
Electric sparks flickered across Yuri’s body.
In an instant, every bullet and cannonball flying toward him stopped dead in midair.
Seeing this, Bege’s mouth fell open.
“My ability is being countered?”
The Castle-Castle Fruit didn’t possess particularly impressive offensive power.
Its best method of attack was to allow the subordinates hidden inside Bege’s body to fire outward at the enemy.
Unfortunately for him, whether it was bullets or cannonballs, neither had any effect on Yuri.
His offensive methods were completely countered.
“So this is what you’re relying on?
Unfortunately, little tricks like these are useless against me,” Yuri said.
As soon as he finished speaking, the bullets and cannonballs suspended in midair suddenly reversed direction and shot back toward Bege.
“Big Father: Full Size!”
Seeing the bullets and cannonballs hurtling toward him, Bege had no choice but to release his castle transformation.
He certainly didn’t believe his flesh-and-blood body could survive being struck by that many bullets and cannonballs.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The bullets and cannonballs slammed into the castle Bege had transformed into.
However, the castle’s defensive power was excellent, and it appeared completely unharmed by the barrage.
“So you’ve transformed?
Good.
Now I can finally attack without holding back,” Yuri said calmly.
As he spoke, a coin had already appeared between his fingers.
Boom!
An orange-red flash streaked through the air and instantly struck Big Father.
“Argh!
Pfft!”
Inside the castle, Bege’s expression changed drastically.
He collapsed painfully to the floor as blood sprayed from his mouth.
“Godfather!” Bege’s subordinates inside the castle cried out in alarm.
Boom!
Another Railgun slammed heavily into Big Father.
Bege spat out another mouthful of blood.
This time, blood didn’t just come from his mouth.
It also flowed from his nose, ears, and eyes.
“I-I surrender!
Stop hitting me!
If you keep going, someone’s really going to die!”
Just as Yuri took out another coin and prepared to fire again, Bege reverted to his normal body and dropped to his knees.