Huff… huff.
Corviknight flapped its broad wings and landed on the rooftop of Onigashima. Once Red Hair stepped out of the carriage, Corviknight immediately beat its wings and flew away.
For most Steel-type Pokémon, staying as far away from Tinkaton as possible was always the right choice.
The Tinkaton here, due to the island’s rules, couldn’t use playing baseball as an excuse to attack Corviknight, but they still had the habit of plucking feathers from passing birds. If they found an opportunity and didn’t yank a few feathers off, they’d feel uncomfortable all over.
“Mr. Kaido, you’re back. What timing, if you were any later, Lord Sacred Beast would have already gone out.”
The rooftop of Onigashima was essentially a special landing platform; all aerial units landed here. Shayna had just returned from handling matters on the Sky Island above and happened to run into Kaido as she came down.
“You heard that, Red Hair? You’ve got pretty good luck. If he had already left, I wouldn’t know when he’d be back.”
“Then I really am lucky. Speaking of which, I’m really not used to seeing her without a mask; I almost didn’t recognize her.”
Without maintaining her transformed state, Shayna had changed a lot, including her clothing. After all, the Human-Beast form didn’t require much attire—a simple training outfit was enough—but now things were different.
If she hadn’t already been fairly well-known, Red Hair might not have recognized her at all.
“Lord Sacred Beast is still at the usual place. Please, go ahead, I have other matters to attend to.”
With that, Shayna bent her legs and demonstrated a vertical takeoff from a standstill, flying off into the distance.
“The Lunarians really are… she and that King are both survivors of that race, aren’t they? And the ‘Sacred Beast’ she mentioned must be the creature worshipped by the Lunarians, right?”
“You’re pretty sharp, aren’t you? That’s good; it saves me the trouble of explaining anything to you.”
For Kaido to bring Red Hair here in the first place was already a form of laying his cards on the table.
Since Red Hair could recognize Shayna, there was no way Shayna wouldn’t recognize this Emperor of the Sea. This was also why she didn’t worry about secrecy and used terms with such strong implications.
Lunarians had already cast off their disguises, so there was no need to be overly cautious anymore.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have said such things. With their distinctive appearance and those specific terms, anyone with even a bit of knowledge about history and enough experience could piece together the truth behind it.
“White hair, brown skin, black wings—the traits of that race are just too obvious.”
More than one person had suspected Shayna and King’s identities, but there had never been definitive proof. The garments that concealed their appearances were not just disguises. They were also a veil to obscure their identity.
Since they had covered their faces, the World Government could pretend not to know. They had already conducted whatever research they needed, and Shayna and King themselves were not easy to deal with. On top of that, they were connected to the Beasts Pirates.
Launching an operation against such mobile targets would be far too costly.
After removing their disguises, Shayna and King had yet to carry out any truly shocking actions. With major events happening constantly, they hadn’t drawn too much attention.
But Shanks saw another layer of meaning.
It was a message to the World Government: if you’ve got the guts, come and try. Let’s see if anyone’s afraid of you.
“Kaido, have you already prepared for war? A war that sweeps across the seas, that’s not a good thing.”
“Worororo, why isn’t it a good thing?
Oh right, you’re one of those order types. An outlier to begin with.”
“Order… Kaido, you don’t understand me. Back then, for personal reasons, I didn’t go to Laugh Tale, so I don’t know what’s actually there.
But Captain Roger said he arrived too early, so…”
“Stop right there. I’m not interested in that kind of predetermined future, nor do I believe in any ‘Joy Boy.’ Don’t mention that name to me.
Laugh Tale is probably some strange place too. That Oden went there as well, didn’t he? That guy was always saying similar weird things.”
Kaido cut Shanks off, then offered a different explanation.
“No matter what, if you want to achieve your goal, then taking part in this great war is the best choice.
If you want to uphold the World Government’s order, then you should stand against me. Once the World Government defeats the strongest pirate alliance in the world, they can use that to declare their power to the entire world.
If that happens, the seas will probably become a lot more stable.
If you want to break this old order, then you should drag those Celestial Dragons down from their thrones and let war decide the world’s hierarchy once again.
Of course, I’m not going to lose.”
“You really are good at sophistry.”
“Sophistry? That’s just a justification for people like you. For me, there is no reason for any of this—only war determines status. And I like war. That’s all there is to it.
Come with me. You didn’t come here just to talk to me, did you?”
If Kaido had chosen to participate in debates, his skills wouldn’t have been low, but he didn’t like that approach. If something could be settled with a single swing of his kanabo, then wasting too much time was meaningless.
As he spoke, Kaido took the lead toward the main doors on Onigashima’s rooftop. Along the several thousand meters they traveled, Shanks saw many strange things.
On a massive vine, a giant was climbing down while carrying an oversized hoe.
From within a massive cloud, a bird’s head and neck suddenly emerged, carrying dozens of farmers on its back as it flew toward the Sky Island above. A stone-like object rolled over, then poured a large amount of an unknown liquid from its shell into a wine jug.
He even began to wonder if he was hallucinating—he saw several walking flowers move toward the edge of Onigashima, then leap off as if jumping from a building. Yet instead of falling, they instantly entered another world.
At the end of the Sea Circle Calendar, a man from the West Blue took up pirate as his profession, followed Kaido, and entered an uncharted land.
Through a hidden entrance on the rooftop, Shanks followed Kaido into the interior of Onigashima, where he witnessed a completely different scene.
From the outside, Onigashima appeared to be an ancient-style structure. But once inside, Shanks discovered it resembled a futuristic kingdom, each corridor even had a different nation.
Within the rooms of this small island, the unique landscapes of various islands had already been gathered together.
As doors controlled by Rotom opened one after another, the two arrived at an area with a somewhat simpler style.
The moment Kaido pushed the door open, a sheet of paper flew in front of him.
“The venue and personnel selection; once things settle down on Kuja’s side, we should organize a social gathering. They’ve officially joined, after all. It’ll help them integrate faster and also deal with some internal issues.
Also, take this. This is the list for this Divine Blessing Ritual. It’s mainly Minks, plus a few special individuals.”
“I almost forgot there was someone like that; you can just arrange things as you see fit, since it’s your ability anyway. More importantly, there’s someone who seems to want to have a word with you.”
Kaido casually tossed the list aside, not paying any attention to the personnel assignments below, and instead pointed at Shanks nearby.
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