Chapter 1156

During those years one crew was worshipped above all others on the water: the women of the Kuja Pirates. Born of the men-free Amazon Lily, their combined strength and beauty left male sailors and Marines alike at a loss. Everyone doted on the captain, Gloriosa, yet her first mate Shakuyaku eclipsed even her, so much so that the Roger Pirates set out to claim the mate for themselves. Roger had no hope against Shakuyaku, while the comedy ran the other way for Gloriosa, who ached for the future Pirate King and chafed at his indifference. Among the crew only Rayleigh kept his head near Shakuyaku, a thing she marked. The moment Garp closed in, however, Roger dropped everything to trade blows with his rival.

In time, mounting Love Sickness drove Gloriosa to surrender the captaincy to Shakuyaku, and the mate's renown only climbed. Far away on Elbaph, Loki almost drowned in a bid to escape by sea, the locals reluctant to pull someone of his ill name from the water. Reading his aggression as a shield over deep loneliness, Ida raged at the idea of leaving him to die and proposed he live with her and Hajrudin, an offer he threw back at her with an insult that never once turned her against him. He spat that he hated the weakness of Elbaph and its people and wished only to roam at liberty beside Rocks, yet every request to enlist met a refusal. Once Rocks took Hachinosu, dangerous figures poured toward it, the hitman Kyo, later styled Silver Axe and a known rival of Shiki, among the new arrivals.

By that point fearsome recruits had thickened the crew, including Charlotte Linlin alongside Streusen, plus John, Kaidou, and a Fish-Man of the catfish sort called Barbel. The captain disclosed that his road to becoming King of the World begins with two Devil Fruits, one resting on Elbaph that he means for Harald to swallow so its real power can surface, the other tied to reviving and commanding the frozen Galleila. Linlin's enormous information network had turned up nothing on any iced giants, and Newgate reckoned them long since dead, while Barbel cautioned that any revived ones might owe Rocks no obedience, which the captain answered is the precise reason Harald must come aboard. When Kaidou floated simply beating the king into submission, Rocks struck him and refused to treat a friend so. He told them Elbaph is the linchpin for bringing down Mary Geoise, inviting doubters to walk away while promising the rest the very summit of the world. The cover advances the Yamato pilgrimage serial.