According to intelligence gathered by the Beasts Pirates, Kizaru’s original mission had been to support a nation under attack by the Revolutionary Army. However, because of the incident caused by Koby and Garp, Kizaru’s operation was forced to stop midway.
Naturally, the abandoned mission failed to achieve its objective. At nearly the same time Garp fell, that nation’s original regime was also overthrown by the Revolutionary Army.
This information came from Omastar. Its eavesdropping network was quite unusual. Although it had never formed a single unified web, it had blossomed everywhere like a sky full of stars, constantly picking up meaningful intelligence.
That was how Kizaru’s information had been obtained.
Current intelligence indicated that Marine support for affiliated nations had not decreased. Yet the once fiercely contested battlefield were suddenly losing their balance.
If the quantity had not fallen, then the only possibility was a decline in quality. Furthermore, the Marine Admirals had shown almost no signs of activity lately. Aside from Kizaru’s interrupted operation, the most recent operation had been Fujitora’s battle against the Revolutionary Army.
Somewhere unknown, these people seemed to be planning something.
At the same time, analysis of known routes suggested that the Marines were showing signs of gathering in the New World.
Before the alliance between the Beasts Pirates, the Red Hair Pirates, and Big Mom had formed, the World Government had regarded the Revolutionary Army as its greatest enemy. But now, they had recognized a far more serious problem.
The Revolutionary Army’s ideals threatened their rule, but its current strength was still insufficient to overthrow them. The Beasts Pirates were different. Kaido, who acted entirely according to his whims, and Arceus, whose goals remained unclear, did not seem like direct threats on the surface, yet they possessed military power capable of causing genuine danger.
Fish-Man Island, Amazon Lily, and the kingdoms within Beasts Pirates territory had already formed a unique miniature government of their own—a violent organization devoted purely to war.
The previous Divine Blessing Ritual had further expanded Arceus’s influence. The alliance of the Three Emperors had effectively unified the New World. If the Beasts Pirates were allowed to continue developing for a while longer, the entire New World would undergo a dramatic change.
The old men who spent their days sitting in office had already caught the scent of danger, which was why new deployments were being arranged.
Not long afterward, while Arceus was still observing the sea, the door to the room opened again, and Kaido walked in.
“I ran into Gengar earlier. It said you were looking for me. Did something happen?”
Arceus had merely meant for Gengar to mention it casually if it happened to run into Kaido. However, Gengar had interpreted deeper meaning in Arceus’s words and had gone out of its way to find Kaido, which was why Kaido had arrived so quickly.
“You couldn’t possibly have missed all these Marine movements lately, have you?”
“Oh, that? I thought you were going to bring up something else. It’s no big deal, so I didn’t bother contacting you specifically. It just means a war’s coming. We can handle this much.”
Kaido was completely unconcerned, as though he were talking about some insignificant nobody.
“You really are confident. Just like Yamato.”
“Worororo! It should be that she’s like me, not the other way around. You’ve got it backward. But I’m not joking. You should know the situation over there better than I do. I think I’m almost there.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Your shortcut method may give you a temporary advantage, but it’s making it harder for you to obtain complete power.”
If Rayquaza became impatient and casually tossed him some half-hearted power just to satisfy him, then it would become even more difficult for Kaido to obtain the full extent of that power later.
“Worororo. That guy’s beliefs are a bit complicated, but that’s fine—it’s enough for now. As for the rest, I’ll figure it out when the time comes. It’s not a big issue.”
Kaido’s approach was always pragmatic: deal with the future when it arrives. After all, someone who couldn’t even handle the present had no right to talk about the future.
“You don’t need to worry about that. Just have Queen keep a closer eye on things. Speaking of which, don’t you want to place a bet too? Look at these rookies who don’t know their place.
They think we know nothing, but in reality we know everything. And we’re deliberately letting them think we don’t know. Isn’t that interesting?”
“No interest. You go play with them. I’m going to configure Rotom.”
The speed at which electronic information could be compiled was no slower than that of people. Onigashima’s unique Rotom network was more than capable of handling everything.
At the same time, Queen suddenly jolted awake from his sleep. One of his mechanical arms had already transformed into a laser cannon, poised for combat.
“Damn it, what’s with this sudden sense of danger? Sure enough, I should’ve gone back to the Reverse World to rest…”
After looking around and finding no source for the ominous feeling, Queen lay back down. However, he could no longer fall asleep.
“Shaymin isn’t around… Maybe I should get Zeraora to open a door for me. I’d like to live a few more years.”
Glancing at his calendar, Queen abandoned the idea. His calendar was a specially customized version. Besides the date, month, and year, it also prominently marked certain people’s days off.
A red wolf-head symbol indicated that Setsuna was on holiday today. If he happened to run into something…
Nothing might happen immediately, but sometime later, the long-defunct Anti-Queen Alliance might suddenly come back to life.
“If I win the bet, I’ll ask Lord Arceus for permission to use the doors. No, wait, the one running the betting pool is Boss Kaido. There’s no guarantee I’d get a reward from Lord Arceus.
Come to think of it, if I beat Doflamingo up and send him straight to the hospital, that Law might get a chance to approach him. If he sees Doflamingo lying there unable to move, he definitely won’t be able to suppress his urge to kill him.
I wouldn’t be laying a finger on them. Doflamingo was the one who provoked me first. That shouldn’t count as using force, right?”
Awakened in the middle of the night, Queen suddenly came up with a devious scheme. As for what happened to Doflamingo, he couldn’t care less.
“Hmm, I’ll keep that plan in reserve for now. First, I’ll head to the kitchen and find something to eat.”
Living in the laboratory was safer, but staying on Onigashima had its own advantages. At the very least, Queen was very satisfied with the kitchen that operated twenty-four hours a day.
“I remember that brat from the Vinsmoke family is over there. Might as well see for myself what he’s up to.”
“Lord Queen? What brings you here?”
“To eat, obviously. What, did you think I was here for sightseeing? Where’s my oshiruko? Make it honey-flavored this time.”
“Please wait a moment! We’ll prepare it right away!”
Ordinary pirates ate whatever happened to be available, but senior officers like Queen had the privilege of ordering whatever they wanted. Onigashima always kept the necessary ingredients in stock for them.
“New guy! Stay sharp! Time to get to work!”
Working the night shift was no easy task. Whenever newcomers arrived, they always spent several days on night duty first, and Sanji was no exception.
Although he had passed the test, it wasn’t as though he would immediately be placed in charge of the kitchen.
Queen’s favorite food was one of the simplest dishes to prepare. Cleaned red beans and slices of mochi were added to boiling water one after another, while honey replaced the traditional brown sugar.
As the mixture boiled, the red beans gradually split open and the mochi softened. Before long, a pot of thick, chewy mochi soup was placed before Queen.
[Tch. This brat has the same annoying face as that b*stard Judge.]
Though he appeared to be eating his mochi soup, Queen was actually observing Sanji in the corner. Like a curious cat, Sanji was sampling honey produced by Combee.
Unlike ordinary bees, the nectar gathered by Combee often carried unique fruity aromas.
For chefs, eating in the kitchen wasn’t considered stealing. “You may eat, but you may not take food away” was an unwritten rule here. If even the cooks were afraid to eat the food they made themselves, that would be truly dangerous.
[Come to think of it, this kid is way too close to Onigashima. What if he runs into one of the officers and gets exposed? I seem to remember someone betting on him… No, I need to eliminate that possibility. Based on Judge’s research, he should be Black, right?]
Queen didn’t know Sanji well, but he knew Judge. He even knew Germa’s model designations inside and out.
By process of elimination, only Stealth Black had never appeared before the public. That made Sanji, without question, the final Stealth Black.
[The son of Germa, yet he can’t even use Germa technology. Judge is really useless. He can’t even handle his own son. Looks like I’ll have to give him a little guidance myself.]
“Hey, I remember you’re pretty fond of reading comics, right?”
Casually stopping a pirate who was bringing him a bowl of red bean soup, Queen immediately made the assumption for him.
“Uh, actually—”
“Mm, I remembered correctly. You do like reading them. You know, the operating principle behind Germa’s Stealth Black is actually like this…”
Queen had no idea that Sanji rejected Germa technology because of his own emotional resistance toward it. More importantly, Sanji couldn’t understand any of the technical jargon Queen was spouting. His profession was that of a fighter and a cook, not a scientist.
Looking across the entire dining hall, there were hardly any people who could understand what Queen was talking about. People read comics for entertainment, who would bother studying the operating principles behind a technology?
Rather than paying attention to Queen’s complicated words, it was more worthwhile to study the flavor of this honey and see if it could be replicated.
While Sanji was enjoying sweet honey in the warmth of the kitchen, in a certain corner, someone was gnashing his teeth in anger.
In Kuri, the disguised Kin’emon and Kanjuro were traveling together with Brook and Chopper.
Throughout the entire day, they had failed to find any suitable work. Kin’emon felt that having the Straw Hats gathering information through odd jobs was already enough. They couldn’t afford to waste their limited time doing the same thing.
“This place was once Lord Oden’s—”
As they passed a manor, Kin’emon looked at it and spoke indignantly. It was the phrase he had repeated most often throughout the day.
This place had once belonged to Oden. Oden had developed all of this. The Beasts Pirates had merely stolen it afterward.
Once or twice was one thing, but by now Chopper and Brook had become completely numb to such remarks.
“This place—”
“This place was also built by your Lord Oden, right? We know already.”
“No, I was going to say that this teahouse was probably built by my wife. We can rest here for a bit. She should be able to provide us with some financial support.”
That confidence was also the reason Kin’emon had not bothered looking for work. The moment he finished speaking, he saw O-Tsuru walk out.
Before Kin’emon could step forward, another man approached her. His clothes bore the Jolly Roger of the Beasts Pirates, and judging by their actions, he and O-Tsuru seemed extremely close.
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