Chapter 114: Chapter 114: Truly Reaching the Summit—Becoming One of the World’s Highest Peaks
"Hey, hey... seriously? Were those scenes really made by just two people?"
"That dragon—could it be the Azure Dragon from legend?!"
"Those two golden halos—what on earth were they?!"
"Tearing the sky, a sky-piercing current connecting sea and heavens—can humans really do that?"
"...A Sea Emperor, huh?!"
"..."
Staring at today’s front-page headline and the series of photos beside it, the people of the world—and the weak—had their worldview refreshed yet again.
If what Karl’s crew did some time ago—crushing the Buster Call, the navy’s greatest sanctioned weapon from Mary Geoise—felt like "evil" triumphing over "justice,"
then what it really conveyed was Karl slapping the face of the true overlords of the sea and making Mary Geoise and Marineford lose all dignity.
After the exclusive interview, the world’s prejudice toward Karl turned into sympathy and admiration.
As for his power, most only remembered that he stalled two Marine Admirals and then flew away with the world’s greatest entertainment city, Gran Tesoro.
Back then, Morgans had only paired the story with a few mushroom-cloud shots; the visual impact wasn’t that great.
So the world and the weak never fully grasped Karl’s true strength.
But this time, Karl and Kaido fought like gods, shaking heaven and earth.
Myriad finishers and secret arts, mythical beings and a sky-piercing sea current—at last letting the world and the weak feel what a Sea Emperor truly is.
That’s a monster from a different world entirely!
If ordinary people and the weak felt their worldview shatter and wondered whether they lived in the same world as those giants,
then in the New World—the strongest sea—true tidal waves were stirred.
Ever since Karl’s crew shattered the Buster Call, and the Dragon Knight—man and dragon—together stalled two Admirals,
Karl and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon had, in fact, stepped onto the sea’s highest stage and become undeniable big players.
When Karl declared in Morgans’s interview that he wouldn’t be a pirate but a "merchant," he instantly became one of the dark world’s acknowledged kings.
On the day Gran Tesoro reopened, messengers with gifts came from every great power in the New World—large and small—proving Karl’s standing.
Neither Mary Geoise nor Marineford, neither the Emperors nor the great pirate crews, denied that Karl’s might stood at the peak.
But...
the world’s masses and the weak—and even many pirates in the New World—didn’t know
that the "peak" where Karl stood was a false summit.
Only the few who had seen those Emperors’ power firsthand knew Karl’s top-tier combat strength still had some distance to the true summit.
That gap was not just in influence, but in personal power as well.
Yet Karl is only fifteen, his future limitless.
Everyone believed the gap would shrink—perhaps even vanish.
No one expected it would happen this fast—within a single day!
Morgans’s hype fooled the entire world.
A single photo of Kaido covered in wounds let Morgans tack on yet another "loss" to a record that had only seven defeats till now.
No matter how angry Kaido was, he couldn’t change the public verdict that he’d lost to Karl.
Had this been Kaido’s first defeat, it would have shaken the entire world.
But this wasn’t the first—Kaido has lost eight times.
He’s still the world’s strongest creature, the number one in single combat upon the seas.
Yet the prestige he built over so many years—like Charlotte Linlin in the original tale—was sliced away by Morgans’s pen, and Dragon Knight Karl was raised to a true pedestal.
Unlike Luffy being hyped as the "Fifth Emperor,"
because of the photos, everyone—save a very few, including powerhouses of the New World—believed Kaido lost to Karl.
The title "Fifth Emperor of the Sea" for Karl, astonishingly, won the recognition of countless people in an instant.
Though his "Emperor-class" organization is far behind the other four in scale,
his battle power has caught up, and no one dares deny his status as a Sea Emperor.
Thus, a rather special fifth Sea Emperor—was born!
"Fufufufu... I thought he went to Wano just to forge a mighty knight’s sword, but he actually challenged Kaido!"
As for who was happiest reading today’s World Economic News—
it was undoubtedly Donquixote Doflamingo.
Gazing at the photos—those golden halos that could shred his Birdcage—Doflamingo felt awe and envy for the strength of Karl and Kaido alike, his heart surging with excitement.
Because his choice had been right.
Karl’s ship is a great vessel—no, a giant ark.
And he was the first passenger aboard that ark.
The fact that the two partners had suddenly fought
had nothing to do with him.
So long as Kaido hadn’t fallen, their cooperation would continue.
Nor did Doflamingo worry that Kaido would demand an end to Karl’s partnership.
If Kaido really did, Doflamingo would scoff.
One of the four great powers of the New World, ruler of Wano—holding a grudge over a single loss against a tiny crew of just a few people? Such a group wouldn’t even merit fear all these years—nor qualify as a Sea Emperor.
Would Karl face Kaido’s revenge?
Doflamingo wasn’t worried.
The Float-Float Fruit means absolute terrain advantage.
From the start, Dragon Knight Karl—unwilling to expand his crew, yet sitting atop the world’s biggest entertainment city—made even Mary Geoise and Marineford think twice about striking again, and the great New World crews unwilling to provoke him, all because of that fruit.
With both the Rumble-Rumble Fruit and the Float-Float Fruit, he had fearlessness from day one.
And so...
his second partner had officially become one of the New World’s rulers.
Standing above all mountains—one of the highest peaks.
Doflamingo couldn’t help but laugh in excitement.
Holding the Celestial Dragons’ "national treasure" secret, backed by two of the highest peaks...
In this sea, whose connections could possibly be stronger than his?!
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