“Ah, Takeru?!”
“Yeah, what’s the problem?”
“Young Miss, stop joking around. Isn’t Takeru a kanabo? Since when does a kanabo talk?”
“But I feel like that’s what Takeru means. If you don’t believe me, why don’t you ask Takeru yourself?”
The hands behind her back came forward, and Takeru swung back and forth as Yamato flicked her wrist.
“Uh… who’s Takeru?”
“It’s Oni Princess’s kanabo. Don’t just stand there, hurry up and come with us. Oh, and move a little slower.”
Sanji, standing in the distance, asked in confusion, only to receive an utterly absurd explanation.
“You’re new here, so you don’t understand. The most common thing on Onigashima is people fighting. Doesn’t matter who’s fighting, if it has nothing to do with you, stay as far away as possible.”
Sanji quietly retreated with the crowd. Queen also wanted to slip away amidst the chaos, but Yamato gave him no such opportunity.
“Uncle Queen, where are you trying to go? Are you really going to disrespect Takeru like that? Takeru’s going to be upset.”
“Young Miss, you have to understand me. Onigashima is full of unknown risks for me right now. I need to find a way to avoid Governor-General Kaido’s random fits.”
Adjusting his glasses, Queen put on a profound expression as he gave his explanation, then kindly advised Yamato:
“Young Miss, it’s already dark. Staying up late is bad for your skin. Since Takeru wants to chat with me, why don’t I take care of Takeru for the night instead?”
Queen reached out for Yamato’s kanabo, intending to use the opportunity to leave.
The kanabo didn’t budge.
Yamato clearly had no intention of letting go.
“Young Miss, you need to understand, even if I hadn’t said anything, Governor-General Kaido would have found some excuse to do this anyway!”
His words sounded tough, but his body told a different story. He seemed stationary, yet Queen was inching away bit by bit, slowly moving toward the exit.
“Oh, cut it out! You’re the one who handed him the excuse! Thunder—”
“Wait!”
“Bagua!”
The quiet Onigashima became noisy once again, except this time it was accompanied by far more chaos.
“Ba*tard! Ulti, you little brat! You actually threw rocks at me!”
During this island-wide chase around Onigashima, Ulti had indirectly provided some assistance. After all, she had come just that close to succeeding.
“Run! Go on, keep running!”
After Queen stopped, Yamato didn’t take the opportunity to beat him up. After all, in terms of speed, Queen couldn’t outrun Yamato. She had merely been herding him along the entire time.
“I’m not running anymore. Do whatever you want.”
Having seen through that fact, Queen gave up escaping altogether and decisively chose to lie flat, intending to resist Yamato in this manner.
However, Queen forgot one thing: The girl in front of him was Kaido’s daughter.
“Very good.”
Under Queen’s gaze, a pair of claws appeared on Yamato’s hands. White fur covered her body, and the cold breath spilling from her lips caused snowflakes to drift before her.
“You asked for this yourself. Ice Thunder Bagua!”
Boom!
The ground shook several times. Looking at the kanabo that had stopped only inches from his crotch, cold sweat streamed down Queen’s face.
“You were serious…”
“Don’t worry. I saw that you’d dodge it. So next, please run as hard as you can.”
“Ara ara, it’s really lively, isn’t it? The atmosphere here is quite nice.”
Beside a window on another floor, Kuzan rested his chin on one hand as he watched the joyous scene below. At this rate, Queen probably wouldn’t get a moment’s rest all night.
“Worororo, they’re having fun. We don’t need to worry about that. I called you here because of something else.”
With a wave of Kaido’s hand, Rotom controlled the surrounding projectors and set them to work. A holographic sea chart of the New World appeared before Kaido. If Nami were to see this, she would undoubtedly feel a deep sense of longing.
The sea chart not only marked the locations of islands, but also meticulously depicted the directions and speeds of various sea currents. Even the abnormal weather phenomena unique to the New World were represented, allowing people to better estimate ship travel speeds.
“Besides this new Marine Headquarters, and these places here and here, according to our intelligence, the Marines have been moving frequently lately. Large numbers of Marines have already been concentrated in these areas.
At Red Port, warships are also being sent to the other side of the Red Line with increasing frequency. A gathering on this scale can’t possibly be for playing house, can it?”
A large-scale Marine mobilization could never completely conceal its movements. No matter how hard they tried to hide them, traces were still discovered. The intelligence was incomplete, but it was enough to infer the general situation.
“Sakazuki’s movements around these branches are really extensive. No, this is already beyond something he can decide on his own. It’s probably a decision from Mariejois.”
The locations marked on the sea chart were rough estimates made by the Beasts Pirates based on collected intelligence. As a former Admiral, however, Kuzan knew more than the pirates did. These branches had originally been established as forward bases against the Emperors of the Sea.
Not a single Marine branch in the New World existed without purpose. G-5 served as a forward base against those who had just entered the New World from Fish-Man Island, while G-14 was primarily responsible for defending against threats from the direction of Fullalead.
Based on the locations of the troop concentrations, Kuzan could more or less determine that the Marines were preparing for a major operation.
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