After discovering Teren's remarkable potential, Jack naturally decided to train him rigorously.
With Kaido away, the unruly siblings, Ulti and Page One, also had no way of escaping their training sessions. However, compared to Teren, their routines were more focused on building stamina. Given their relatively weaker abilities as kids, Jack entrusted their training to Master, while he personally supervised Teren.
To Jack's surprise, Teren held Master in high regard and firmly insisted that Jack didn't need to personally oversee him. Teren only needed a training schedule, and he promised to follow through diligently.
While this gave Jack peace of mind, it also made him suspicious. Could Teren possibly have a crush on the cross-dressing Master? Alarmed at the idea of a complicated love triangle brewing among his subordinates, Jack quickly summoned Rim to prevent any potential drama.
But when Teren learned that Rim was Master's future husband, his respect for Rim grew significantly. This left Jack scratching his head and muttering to himself,
'Don't tell me Teren's one of those... overly excitable types?'
Still, Jack didn't mind. As long as Teren proved useful, his quirks didn't matter.
Now freed from the burden of supervising Teren, Jack returned to his usual antics of pestering Black Maria. While Black Maria was knowledgeable, her hands-on combat experience had been limited to the past month of sparring with Jack, so she welcomed the challenge.
The downside of their "sparring" sessions, however, was the destruction they left in their wake. The repair crew was perpetually busy. After all, when martial arts experts clashed—no matter the form of "battle"—the damage to buildings was inevitable, even when Jack held back.
Several months passed this way until Kaido returned to Onigashima with Yamato in tow.
It didn't take long for Kaido to hear about Jack and Black Maria's relationship. The revelation came when Kaido needed the repair crew for his living quarters after a tryst with his secretaries, only to find they were busy fixing Jack's room instead.
Upon learning the details from his secretaries, Kaido was stunned.
He'd always known Jack to be a lecherous kid, often joking that when he grew up, he wanted Black Maria and Yamato to serve him together. Now, with Yamato having just asked him to drop her off in Kuri for dinner, Kaido couldn't help but feel drained.
'Forget it,' Kaido muttered, waving it off. 'Yamato's strong, and she's not walking the same path as Black Maria. Let her be.'
After eating her fill in Kuri, Yamato returned to Onigashima by boat. She searched the pleasure district high and low, wrecking several establishments in the process, but couldn't find Jack or Black Maria.
Finally, some of Black Maria's companions, unable to watch Yamato's rampage any longer, led her to the newly-built hot springs on Onigashima.
The hot springs had been established after the fish-men discovered an active volcano beneath the island. Since then, Kaido had taken a liking to lounging there, and it had become a favorite spot for mermaid visitors as well.
In one of the private baths, Jack lay with his eyes closed, resting against Black Maria's chest as she gently massaged his head with both hands.
"I heard you were seriously injured fighting Whitebeard, then went on to brawl with the Navy's hero, Garp?" Black Maria asked, her tone curious.
"Between the two, who's stronger?"
Jack smirked and replied nonchalantly, "I don't know who's stronger. All I know is that in a few years, I'm sending both of them to a retirement home!"
"And while I'm at it, I'll string up Kaido-sama and King-sama and give their butts a good spanking!"
Black Maria stifled a laugh. "You're so petty."
Suddenly, her gaze shifted to a shadow standing at the door. With a sly smile, she teased Jack, "If Yamato catches us like this, what will you do?"
Jack opened one eye and grinned.
"What will I do? Simple—take care of her too."
"After this year, she'll be an adult anyway," he added, gripping Maria's hand tightly. "It'll just take a bit more effort on my part!"
Time flew by, and soon, it was New Year's again, marking the start of the annual Fire Festival.
The year was 1514 of the Sea Circle Calendar, and this year's festival was livelier than ever. Pirates were returning to Onigashima earlier than usual, drawn by the Beast Pirates' rising strength and wealth.
The battle against Whitebeard's crew had made waves, attracting even more pirates to join Kaido's forces. With their ranks swelling to over 25,000, the Beast Pirates had become a terrifying force capable of rivaling entire nations.
As Kaido's influence grew, his attitude toward Orochi became increasingly dismissive. Orochi, though angered, had no choice but to swallow his pride. He knew that even Jack alone could easily crush him, let alone Kaido.
For now, Orochi remained content with his position as Wano's shogun, lording over the Flower Capital and treating the commoners' lives as expendable. He had long accepted his subordinate status in this alliance.
This year's festival featured several new performances, but the highlight was a group dance by mermaids. The stage had even been fitted with transparent glass flooring for the occasion.
After Yamato's rock band "Candy Super Sweet" finished their act, the curtain rose, and the sultry mermaids took center stage, setting the crowd ablaze with excitement.
In Kaido's private room overlooking the stage, Kaido and Jack drank heavily, barely paying attention to the performance—they'd already seen enough during rehearsals.
Meanwhile, Orochi ogled the mermaids, practically drooling.
Turning to Jack, Orochi drunkenly asked, "Hey, Jack! Your mermaid women are so beautiful, and there are so many of them. Why not gift me a few?"
"Shogun-sama!" Fukurokuju's face turned pale as he tried to intervene, but Orochi, emboldened by alcohol, ignored him and continued pressing Jack.
"They're just women! I'll even trade you Wano's top courtesans for them!"
Kaido kept drinking without reacting, while Jack slammed a barrel of sake onto Orochi's head, drenching him in ice-cold alcohol. The shock sobered Orochi up instantly.
"Shogun-sama," Jack said coldly, "women aren't objects. If any of our mermaids truly fall for you, I wouldn't object. But treating them as playthings? Forget it. No mermaid will ever love someone like you."
Leaning closer, Jack's tone darkened. "And if you so much as try anything, I'll make a certain part of you as flat as your head. Got it?"
Orochi glared at Jack, then turned to Kaido for support, but Kaido continued drinking as if he hadn't heard a thing.
After a tense moment, Fukurokuju let out a loud laugh. "Hahaha! Shogun-sama, you've had too much to drink. Let's call it a night!"
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The fanfic is Finished on p@treon/tambeerg