“I’m late.”
A golden flash streaked across the sky. As the user of the Glint-Glint Fruit, ordinary people’s movements appeared extremely slow in Kizaru’s eyes, and one of the traits of a Logia user was the ability to utilize the same natural element as oneself.
The eyes capture reflected light in order to see the world; the Glint-Glint Fruit made Kizaru’s vision even better. Even from a great distance, he could accurately perceive the location of his targets.
Kizaru could see the densely packed pirate ships sailing toward the island below. Aside from the pirate flag of the Beasts Pirates, already famed across the world, there were quite a few familiar faces aboard those ships.
【Hawkins the Magician, Apoo the Roar of the Sea, Ghost Dancer Kurulis, Leopard Princess Elukru.】
Pirates who had made their names years ago, Super Rookies of the Worst Generation—some had already joined the Beasts Pirates, others had become subordinate crews under them. No matter what their former identities were, at this moment they were all under the command of the same pirate flag.
These people had once stirred up storms across the seas and had even been figures who dominated parts of the New World. But now, they were living milestones of the Beasts Pirates. Their very existence, in a sense, proof of the battles the Beasts Pirates had fought in the past.
【Besides the direct members, even the nearby pirates have been summoned?】
As Kizaru flashed across the sky, the pirates below were also talking among themselves.
“Elukru! What are you doing here too?”
On a paddle steamer, a short-haired woman with a ribbon tied around her head looked to the side and shouted to the other.
“I was out hunting with my little ones. I happened to run into the fleet heading this way, so I followed along.”
“Same here. I heard something major happened.”
Queen’s assembly order was aimed at Onigashima itself, but this was the Beasts Pirates’ heartland, with many ships of affiliated forces active nearby. These two subordinate crews had followed along on their own after seeing the situation.
“You’re not very well-informed. I heard it’s that Marine, Garp, who barged in.”
On the half-deck of another pirate ship, a girl dressed in a very wild style answered Kurulis. Beside her, a black panther was affectionately enjoying her stroking.
“Garp? Now that’s exciting. Does this mean we’re taking part in the attack against Garp? Forget it, we’ll talk later! Be careful!”
On a Beasts Pirates ship, a pirate waved the signal flag in his hand. Seeing the signal he had issued, Kurulis directed her subordinates to sail left.
“Got it. My little ones even fought a bunch of baboons a few days ago. I’ll tell you all about it later.”
The two ships sailed toward opposite sides of the island, and the other pirate ships made similar moves. The waterways leading into the island were now completely sealed off.
【Was Mr. Garp’s defeat Kuzan’s doing? How scary.】
Kizaru saw Garp, who had already been frozen; Kuzan was no longer the only Ability User who can use ice, at least that is the case in the Beasts Pirates.
But Kizaru knew Kuzan well. Even if Kuzan was not present, the distinctive traces of freezing clearly indicated who had acted.
In that instant, Kizaru even seemed to complete a brief exchange of glances with Kuzan.
【Even Bogart was defeated? And SWORD… maybe I can try to take one person out.】
From his high vantage point, the battle situation below was clear at a glance. Most of the Marines had been captured, which was actually good news for Kizaru, at least they hadn’t all died outright.
He didn’t have time to think about why the pirates had only taken them alive. Instead, he wanted to see if he could use his speed to take one or two people away.
Whoosh!
He had just tried to change direction when a beam of Aura shot up from below, brushing past him and forcing Kizaru to abandon his next move.
【They’re sticking awfully close…】
He didn’t know how many pirates were here, but he was certain of one thing. If the other side found an opening, Zeraora tailing him would never let him leave.
After thinking for a moment, Kizaru ultimately did not stop and instead flew off at full speed into the distance. Most people didn’t notice what had happened in the sky; they only saw two flashes of light streaking away.
As they departed, the distant Zunesha also withdrew its gaze and returned to its original posture.
“Hahahaha! We finally took down that old geezer. I’d heard Boss Kaido talk about this guy’s strength before, but I didn’t expect him to still be this tough at such an age.”
“Wasn’t it Kuzan doing the main damage? You weren’t even the primary fighter. What are you so proud of?”
“You little brat, you really don’t spare anyone’s feelings. I was a main force too, okay!”
“Oh really? Congratulations, Lord Queen, on defeating the hero Garp. I’m sure your strength now truly matches your bounty. Next time you go out, the Marines will probably deploy the same lineup they use against Governor-General Kaido or Yamato to deal with you.”
Listening to Ulti’s words, Queen suddenly felt a bad premonition. Though sharp-tongued, she was stating an objective fact.
In this battle, he had only been providing supporting damage. The real main carry was Kuzan, and the best assist had been Koby. If he had gone in alone… he could probably exchange a few moves, stall for a while, and then he’d have to start thinking about who would come rescue him.
“Those guys wouldn’t be that brainless… would they?”
After pondering the possible consequences, Queen suddenly felt the future grow darker again. The thing he trusted least was the Marines’ Intelligence Branch.
Looking across the entire sea, he had the highest bounty among all the officers. Unfortunately, it was something he didn’t want at all. Aside from letting him show off, that bounty brought him nothing but trouble.
“Why don’t you just switch to a Seastone prosthetic? That way it won’t get broken again.”
“Huh? Have you lost your mind? I’m a Devil Fruit user, and you want me to use a Seastone prosthetic? That stuff already has low malleability. It’s fine as a weapon, but a close-fitting prosthetic, are you trying to kill me?
Even if it could be embedded on the outside, I don’t want that thing accidentally sticking to my body.”
Even Smoker’s jitte only had a small portion of Seastone at the tip. Queen didn’t want to scratch his head with his mechanical hand one day and end up making himself weak and powerless.
“With that kind of effort, I might as well make a couple of Seastone bullets instead. How many Garps are there on this sea? This kind of situation is just an exception.”
“Boss Queen, Sister, hold on a second. Isn’t there still one more over there we haven’t dealt with? Is it really okay to just leave him like that?”
Seeing his sister bickering with Queen, even raising the question of whether an Devil Fruit user could successfully commit suicide with a pure Seastone weapon, Page One interrupted them.
“No need to make it complicated. Leave the rest to me.”
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