Inside the mountainside villa, Yuri gathered everyone in the pirate crew.
Aside from Robin, Daz, and Bege, there were four others.
Among these four, two were dressed like swordsmen, one was an incredibly muscular giant of a man, and the last was a young girl.
Over the past three years, Yuri had also asked Bege to use his underworld intelligence network throughout the West Blue to search for suitable candidates to join the Gadile Pirates.
After all, the Gadile Pirates still had far too few members.
Including Yuri himself, there had only been four official members.
As Bege’s sphere of influence continued to expand, his intelligence network spread throughout the entire West Blue through the underworld.
After screening the information gathered by that network, Yuri eventually selected these four people to join the Gadile Pirates.
The four were:
Ashby, a swordsman whose swordsmanship had reached the steel-cutting level.
His ultimate sword technique was Dragon Fang Flash, and he had begun to grasp Armament Haki.
Brain, a swordsman and Paramecia-type Stop-Stop Fruit user.
Anyone caught in his gaze would have their body immobilized.
Kemp, a Mythical Zoan-type Titan Great Ape Fruit user who had also begun to grasp Armament Haki.
The final member was a young girl named Mikita, who in the original story would become a senior agent of Baroque Works.
She was a Paramecia-type Kilo-Kilo Fruit user.
Except for Mikita, the other three already possessed some reputation in the West Blue.
In the end, Yuri personally stepped in and subdued them before they agreed to join the Gadile Pirates.
As for Mikita, she was still just a little girl.
She had luckily obtained a Devil Fruit, gaining the ability to make her body float, but because of this, her family and neighbors regarded her as a monster.
Later, through the influence of the Capone Family, she was brought into the Gadile Pirates.
Robin was currently responsible for taking care of and teaching her.
After they joined the Gadile Pirates, Yuri personally taught them Armament Haki.
Among them, Ashby and Kemp had already begun awakening Armament Haki.
Their strength had improved tremendously compared to when they had first joined the Gadile Pirates.
“Hahaha!
It’s finally time to set out and challenge the New World!” Yuri said with a smile as he looked at everyone.
Hearing his words, excitement appeared in their eyes.
They had been waiting for this day for a long time.
“Captain, if we’re setting sail, then we should have a goal, right?
What’s yours?” Ashby asked.
“Exactly, Captain.
I gave up being the underground emperor of the West Blue to follow you out to sea.
If your goal is too small, I won’t be satisfied,” Bege said.
“The Captain’s goal has to be becoming the Pirate King, right?” Kemp said.
“Pirate King?
Heh, I’m not interested in that at all.” Yuri laughed.
Everyone looked at Yuri in confusion.
If his goal wasn’t to become the Pirate King, then what was it?
“I don’t have any grand goal.
So let’s start by setting ourselves a small one.
First, we’ll become emperors who rule over the seas, one of the Four Emperors of the New World,” Yuri said with a smile.
Yuri had never taken the first half of the Grand Line seriously.
His true target was the second half of the Grand Line, the place known as the New World.
Competition in the New World was currently at its fiercest.
The Whitebeard Pirates, Big Mom Pirates, and Beasts Pirates had gradually established themselves as the three great overlords of the New World.
Shanks was still only a powerful pirate in the New World and had yet to become an overlord.
Yuri’s goal was to challenge the New World before Shanks did, become the fourth great overlord, and claim a position among the Four Emperors.
Hearing Yuri’s words, everyone except Robin and Mikita became visibly excited.
An emperor ruling over the seas.
Just hearing that title made their blood boil.
“Emperor of the seas, huh?
That’s a good title.”
“Ruling the seas in the name of an emperor…
Interesting.”
“Then it’s decided.
We’ll accomplish this small goal first and become emperors who rule over the seas.”
Everyone spoke excitedly.
…
“The Gadile Pirates?
They’ve finally started moving…
and it just had to be now.”
Sengoku wore a troubled expression.
Marine Headquarters had always kept a close eye on Yuri.
Although Yuri had seemingly vanished without a trace over the past three years, that only made the Marines even more wary of him.
Because they knew that when Yuri appeared again, his strength would undoubtedly have grown even further.
That was why Sengoku had ordered the Marines in the West Blue to closely monitor Yuri’s movements.
The moment the Gadile Pirates reappeared, Marine Headquarters was to be notified immediately.
Just now, the Marines in the West Blue had sent intelligence reporting that the Gadile Pirates had resurfaced and were sailing toward the Grand Line.
Sengoku had long been waiting for the Gadile Pirates to enter the Grand Line so the Marines could mobilize their full strength and capture Yuri.
This should have been the perfect opportunity.
Unfortunately, not long ago, a Fish-Man had climbed the Red Line and freed the slaves of the Celestial Dragons, causing an enormous disturbance in the Holy Land of Mary Geoise.
It was an unprecedented humiliation for the World Government since its founding.
The Five Elders had issued strict orders that the Marines prioritize hunting down the Sun Pirates responsible for the incident, especially their captain, Fisher Tiger.
At the same time, unrest had erupted among pirates in the New World.
The Beasts Pirates and the Whitebeard Pirates had gone to war, forcing the Marines to keep both pirate crews under constant surveillance.
Neither Sengoku nor Garp could spare the time to act.
“Gadile Yuri has finally appeared?
Admiral Sengoku, leave this matter to me.” Akainu stepped forward.
Akainu had never forgotten about Yuri.
He had sworn to capture him and bring him to justice, so the moment he heard that Yuri had resurfaced, he immediately volunteered.
“It looks like that’s our only option.
But this time, make sure you choose the battlefield carefully,” Sengoku said.
Sengoku trusted Akainu’s strength.
Over the past few years, Akainu and the others had already reached the level of Admirals.
Sengoku believed Akainu would have no problem defeating Yuri.
His only concern was that Akainu’s ability was simply too destructive.
When capturing a powerful criminal like Yuri, innocent people could easily be caught in the aftermath.
That was why Sengoku specifically instructed him to carefully choose the location of the battle.
“I’ll carefully choose a suitable grave for him,” Akainu said with a cold smile.
“Oh my, how scary…” Borsalino remarked.