“Kid, it’s confirmed. That really was Garp. They actually captured that Marine hero.”
At another worksite, Killer came over to Kid and reported what he had just seen to his captain.
Kid did not stop moving, instead carrying a massive boulder off to one side. By now, Kid had grown much fatter; after all, Udon’s rules were to exchange labor for food, and Kid was one of the rare few capable of actually putting on weight here.
“Tch, the Marines really are useless. They actually let pirates capture their own hero alive.”
“But Kid, that’s Garp, they…”
“Killer, don’t tell me you’re scared already? So what if they managed to capture Garp? As long as I’m still alive, there’ll come a day when I become Pirate King.
Just endure for a while longer. Eventually, we’ll find an opportunity…”
Kid sped up the pace at which he carried the rocks, as though treating the stones as enemies while venting the fury in his heart.
After this, the troublesome pirate prisoners throughout the mine all became much more obedient. Even if they remained unconvinced verbally, their bodies had begun fearing the Beasts Pirates’ military strength, because capturing Garp was simply too glorious an achievement.
The ordinary prisoners of Wano Country, meanwhile, did not understand why the pirates were so afraid. They merely became fearful of that ice sorcery.
“Boss Babanuki, why do I suddenly feel like our prison isn’t safe anymore?”
Looking at the ice sculpture of Garp, Daifugo still felt a sense of unreality. Even though Garp was already frozen solid, he still worried the man might somehow thaw out.
“It’s fine. I remember the mine has temperature alarms prepared for Pokémon. Go get one and adjust the settings. As long as the temperature around there rises above a certain level, the alarm will go off. That should solve the problem.”
That device had originally been used by the Tinkaton for blacksmithing, but Babanuki had simply developed a new use for it.
“To Governor-General Kaido: During the period in which you and the other pirate crews were forming an alliance, Garp invaded our territory, the very same Garp known as the Hero.
Although we suffered a small amount of economic loss, thanks to my heroic fight, Garp has already been captured. Kuzan played a major role in this matter.
Garp has now been transported back to Onigashima—”
On Baphomet Island, Yamato, who had been playing on her phone, suddenly saw the popup message. It had originally been sent to Kaido, but Kaido had set Yamato as the default contact.
If his Rotom happened to be dormant, the messages would be redirected to Yamato instead. It was one of Kaido’s methods for cultivating a successor.
“Father! Queen says he captured Garp! They’ve already sent him back to Onigashima!”
After trimming the message down, Yamato relayed a somewhat distorted version of the information to Kaido, though the general meaning was still correct.
“He captured Garp? Worororo! That brat Queen is that capable? Looks like I’ve underestimated him for too long…”
Like selective amnesia, Kaido temporarily discarded his own intelligence and believed the “nonsense” Yamato had relayed.
But just as Zeraora had said before, Kaido was merely looking for an excuse. Aside from fighting Yamato regularly, Kaido would also periodically train the other officers.
Everyone else was proactive. Even knowing they would suffer miserably, they still would not refuse Kaido’s sparring sessions. Only Queen constantly found excuses to dodge them, which was why Kaido had begun targeting him in this way.
“Sister!”
“Thunder Bagua!”
Boom!
Before she could even finish speaking, the stimulated Charlotte Linlin had already entered a state where she could no longer distinguish friend from foe. In her world, everything before her was an enemy, all of them people who had harmed Sister.
Wanting to avenge Sister, she now wanted to kill every single one of them.
“Mama, stop! The people in front of you aren’t enemies!”
“Yeah! Don’t you have your own goals? This won’t do!”
“Shut up! Cognac: Mama-Mash!”
At this point, all Charlotte Linlin had left was her battle instinct. She had never received any systematic training. Aside from a few techniques originating from the Giants, everything else had been learned through her own struggles and experience.
As Homies created from Charlotte Linlin’s split souls, these souls tried to persuade her to stop her madness, but they were unable to stop her. In the end, out of fear, they could only obey Charlotte Linlin’s will.
Under Charlotte Linlin’s orders, Prometheus attached itself to Napoleon’s blade, and the sword extended in length.
“Zeus!”
After swinging the giant blade in her hand, Charlotte Linlin called out to Zeus again. In the end, Zeus timidly floated over before her and acted as her mount.
“Happy Mother’s Blaze!”
With a swing of her weapon forward, vast amounts of flames surged from the blade, instantly engulfing Kaido in a sea of flames.
“After all these years, it’s still the same old moves, Linlin. You really haven’t improved at all.”
Flames alone could no longer injure Kaido. Relying purely on his physique, Kaido walked straight out of the sea of flames Charlotte Linlin had created.
“Lord Perospero! What do we do now?!”
“Yeah! If this keeps going, Mama’s going to attack even us!”
The members of the Big Mom Pirates were powerless and could only allow Charlotte Linlin to rampage here.
“What do we do… Smoothie! Think of something!”
Powerless, Perospero turned toward Smoothie, who had come here together with him. In the past, situations like this had always been handled by Katakuri, who used his strength to stall and buy time until Charlotte Linlin calmed down.
Now that Katakuri was absent, Perospero could only look toward his younger sister, another Sweet Commander of the Big Mom Pirates.
“Even if you say that… I can’t do anything either!”
The Big Mom Pirates were already the crew with the weakest foundation among everyone present, and now even their leader had gone berserk. Shanks was merely watching from the sidelines, while Kaido appeared to be stopping her but was actually just enjoying himself.
The others from the Big Mom Pirates were equally powerless, and in front of Kaido and Shanks, they had little say in anything.
The only good news was that Kaido was not especially interested in this matter.
As Kaido’s longtime opponent, Yamato also noticed this immediately and looked toward her bag again. The space inside the bag made from island clouds had long since been expanded to a huge size by Arceus’s mysterious power, to the point that it contained all sorts of strange things.
Kanabo, bicycles, tents, and other items were piled inside to the brim. After searching for a while, Yamato finally found a box tucked away in a corner.
“Found it. I knew there was no way I’d lose it. That b*stard father should’ve fought enough by now. Let’s see what’s actually inside this thing…”
Shaking the box in her hand, Yamato heard no strange sounds from within and even felt that it was empty. But after opening it, she found only a mysterious sphere of light and a small note inside.
【Something to repay your father’s favor. You should know how to use it.】
It was Shayna’s handwriting, but the tone belonged to Arceus. Looking toward Kaido in front of her, Yamato seemed to understand something.
You can read ahead upto 75 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon.
Become a Patron!