“True, they’re more like their mother. But actually, only a few of us know about this.”
Zeraora and Shaymin were stationed permanently in Wano Country; the Genesects and Manaphy were supervisors sent out by the company; Darkrai, meanwhile, was a specialist who carried out solo missions, with very little information about him exposed.
Not to mention outsiders, even among their own people, not many knew about him.
Even when Darkrai was mentioned, Zeraora’s introduction was extremely brief.
【You have an uncle who’s out there on a mission. Who knows, he might come back someday.】
The whole “bad with directions” thing was just a joke known to a few people, and Darkrai himself had never agreed with it.
“I have to make this clear to you again, I’m not bad with directions. It’s the magnetic field of this world that’s messed up, so I lose my coordinates when I teleport. That’s not my problem.
On an individual island, this kind of accident doesn’t happen. You know that, right?”
“I know that much, but whether I believe it is another matter. Did you come to participate in the wedding?”
“No. I just came to say hello. I still have my own business to take care of.”
As he spoke, Darkrai’s figure gradually became indistinct, and before anyone knew it, he had disappeared to who knew where.
“Dad, where did that uncle without any legs go?”
“He went to take care of his own business. Don’t worry about it. Let’s go, who knows what kind of trouble might come up today.
Bepo, Carrot, stay sharp and keep an eye on the surroundings.
Wanda, you too. Don’t keep staring at me, your sister just worries too much sometimes.”
The group began checking things on their person. In theory, today’s events shouldn’t require them to take action, but it was better to be prepared just in case.
However, just before heading out, Kojiro noticed something odd.
The Homies that had been lively just moments ago now all looked listless. The smaller ones were even huddling together for warmth, and judging from their positions, all of them were trying to distance themselves from where Darkrai had just been standing.
“That’s strange. These Homies… were they frightened?”
“Probably. Darkrai’s ability is highly specialized. He just happens to be the bane of this kind of soul-based life-forms.”
“But I didn’t feel any suppression at all. He was just standing there, can that alone have such an effect?”
In Kojiro’s perception, Darkrai had merely stood there and said a few words, without doing anything else.
“It’s just that you didn’t feel it. He might’ve been carrying a bit of resentment just now?”
As special beings imbued with souls, Homies were far more sensitive to things on a spiritual level, which was why they could perceive things that ordinary humans could not.
After that brief explanation, they set off for the venue.
Bege and the Straw Hats were also making their final pre-battle preparations.
“Our opponent is an Emperor of the Sea. The greatest objective of this operation is to survive. Our alliance lasts only until we get back to our own ships.
At that point, the alliance is over. Whether you live or die after that, everyone’s on their own.”
Bege’s consciousness was inside the castle, making final communications with the others. Sanji had already left, and during the night he had even overheard something quite shocking outside Pudding’s door.
The others had remained inside Bege the entire time. Due to various unforeseen developments, Brûlée had not been captured, and even now Charlotte Linlin had no idea that such a group of uninvited guests had already infiltrated the place.
This was both good news and bad news.
The good news was that the Big Mom Pirates were less on guard. The bad news was that without the powers of the Mirror-Mirror Fruit, the difficulty of escaping from here increased exponentially.
As long as Big Mom was still alive, they would face immeasurable fury. Even if they truly struck it lucky and managed to kill Big Mom with Caesar’s weapon, they would still have to endure the frenzied revenge of the entire pirate crew.
As the family members of the marriage partner, the members of Germa were the first to arrive outside the gate, where they encountered Bege, who was conducting inspections.
Bege’s motives for joining the Big Mom Pirates were impure, but in order to steadily climb to a high position, he carried out his duties with great seriousness. That was why he had been assigned responsibility for security at the outer gate.
“Search them. Today’s security for the tea party is under my responsibility. This is Mama’s order, and you’ll have to hand over your combat suits to us for safekeeping as well.”
“And what if I refuse?”
Bege’s words made Ichiji very unhappy, but Bege showed no intention of compromising.
“These are Mama’s orders. You can try resisting if you want.”
The combat suits were Germa’s very lifeline. Their entire fighting strength relied on combat suits that could integrate with their bodies. No normal person would ever accept such a condition.
However, for some inexplicable reason, Judge agreed to this demand, entering the wedding venue completely unprotected.
Just at that moment, something unusual happened. Members of the Beasts Pirates passed through the gate almost at the same time, and the sword on Wanda’s back and the long sword on Kojiro’s body were glaringly obvious.
However, in the face of such openly displayed weapons, Bege’s group acted as if they were blind, not saying a single word.
“Hey, aren’t weapons forbidden? What’s the meaning of this?”
Yonji questioned Vito of the Fire Tank Pirates. During the earlier search, Vito had frisked him like a pe*vert, patting him all over. He was practically about to lick him.
That was because Vito himself was a fan of Germa. Back when the World Government was promoting them, it had released the comic Sora, Warrior of the Sea, in which Germa appeared as the villains.
Despite being villains, Germa attracted massive attention, and their miraculous combat suits made countless young people yearn for them.
In the North Blue, Germa’s story was a household name. Even though Vito wasn’t from the North Blue, he had been influenced by the storybook as well. To him, what he had just seen was like a living figurine; of course he was excited.
“This is also Mom’s wish. People from the Beasts Pirates don’t have to hand over their weapons. I’ll say it again, if you have objections, take them up with Mama in person.”
The weapon handover wasn’t aimed solely at Germa, ordinary people were also searched, but the impact on Germa was the greatest.
Even without that special relationship, the Beasts Pirates weren’t a group that relied purely on weapons. Even unarmed, they could still display formidable combat power, completely unlike Germa, who lost half their effectiveness without their combat suits.
“Yonji, don’t mind this kind of thing.”
Judge himself didn’t care much about it, and Bege also overlooked something: aside from their firearm-type combat suits, the Germa members were all wearing uniformly styled arm sleeves.
Those were new devices Judge had developed after being led astray by Queen. They had only recently been fully completed and brought out of the laboratory.
In the past, they had never been used in actual combat. This was their first appearance in the outside world.
Other people from the Underworld were also on their way to the venue, and these people were hardly on friendly terms with one another.
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