“What are you doing? You still want to interfere with the bet by force? I’ll report you to Dad, you know.”
“…”
Queen didn’t say anything. After one night had passed, Yamato seemed to have figured things out, going from reporting him to Kaido to reporting him to Arceus, though the result probably wouldn’t make much difference either way.
Kaido came with a built-in buff when it came to Yamato. If his demands of others were a 1, then his demands of Yamato were probably a 100. As long as it wasn’t life-threatening, he wouldn’t interfere in such trivial matters.
In theory, Arceus was someone who could be reasoned with, so Queen should have had nothing to fear. Unfortunately, Queen, who was extremely true to his instincts, had always remained fearful of those he couldn’t defeat, and was still quite panicked inside.
“No, I just want to go beat those two up. If it weren’t for those two idiots who think they’re so clever messing things up, there’s no way they would have broken the rules this early.
“They ruined my business. I’ll make them understand what the price is!”
This was Queen’s unique method of transferring pain. If he couldn’t afford to provoke the people beside him, he could still go trace the source.
Queen, who had stood back up, patted the dust off his body and took the lead in flying toward Udon.
“I keep feeling like something’s off. That Queen isn’t playing some dirty trick again, is he?”
Kaido had not yet announced the result of the bet, which meant many things could still be changed. If Queen really found some loophole, she would be in trouble.
But before she could take action, her body’s warning mechanism suddenly activated. The kanabo she had just used to beat Queen was right by her hand, and Yamato instinctively grabbed the weapon and swung it behind her.
Bang!
With a muffled sound, Takeru seemed to crash into some hard object. Looking up along the weapon, one could see an arm with dragon-scale tattoos.
“What are you doing? You’re trying to ambush me again!”
“Tch, not bad vigilance. But I wasn’t planning to do that.”
“You just clicked your tongue, didn’t you! You obviously wanted to do it!”
Yamato did not believe Kaido’s denial. Even her body’s instincts had raised a warning against Kaido.
“Since you noticed, then of course I wasn’t planning to. This time, you and Ulti won the first prize. I am a bit curious what you two want to do, but we can talk about that later.”
As he spoke, Kaido picked up the wine gourd at his waist and drained the remaining hard liquor inside in one breath. If Yamato had been chasing Queen all night, then after Kaido finished his strategic talks, he had entered hangover mode.
He still wasn’t particularly sober right now. However, today Kaido seemed to have developed a sudden desire to cherish his belongings. After shaking the gourd and confirming that not a single drop remained inside, Kaido flung the empty gourd at Yamato.
“Catch it. Don’t break it. I’m going to handle something.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“What am I going to do? Those two guys were making trouble while pretending to be that Straw Hat kid. I’m quite interested in that rookie, and besides, there’s a Heracross by his side too. It wouldn’t be good to just leave him there, Worororo!”
Perhaps the alcohol had gone to his head, for after laughing inexplicably a couple of times, Kaido transformed into an azure dragon and flew into the clouds. Judging from the direction, his destination was also Udon.
At the same time, outside Udon, Kanjuro and Kin’emon’s disguises had already been shattered. Whether it was the Garb-Garb Fruit or the Brush-Brush Fruit, the things they created were difficult to maintain under high-intensity battle.
“That ability… The ones who ambushed Poker were the two of you, right?”
Babanuki had no interest in watching the livestream the whole time. He knew that someone had ambushed Poker, and he also knew that the culprit was one of these people, but he didn’t know exactly which one. Now that their abilities had been exposed, it could be considered a complete answer to the doubts in Babanuki’s heart.
“You’ve got guts, but it’s no use. Twenty years ago, you weren’t my match, and now it’s even more impossible. Just obediently—”
Boom!
Facing the two opponents he had sent flying, Babanuki intended to make them behave and stop wasting time, but before he could finish speaking, a ball of light suddenly came flying from the distant sky and struck precisely beside Kanjuro.
Babanuki’s heavy blow just now had already been something he failed to dodge, and now he had even less ability to evade. He was directly blasted away.
After rolling across the ground several times in succession, Kanjuro’s body finally came to a stop.
“Cough, cough… Kanjuro… You—!”
The sudden explosion had not only blown Kanjuro away; Kin’emon had also been sent flying far by the aftermath.
After climbing up from the ground, he wanted to check on his companion, but before he could finish speaking, a tremendous force came from the back of his head, kicking him straight down onto the ground.
“You’re in pretty good shape, huh? You still have the leisure to worry about someone else? You’d better think about yourself first. I’m in a really bad mood right now. The lives of you two aren’t nearly enough to make up for my losses!”
Driven by anger, Queen had already arrived at Udon and displayed a nimbleness completely at odds with his build. While Kanjuro and Kin’emon had not noticed at all, he had fired an Energy Ball at them, then stepped on Kin’emon’s head.
“Ink Arrow!”
Just Babanuki alone had already put Kanjuro and Kin’emon under immeasurable pressure. Under these circumstances, Queen’s attack left them no time to defend at all. After the explosion, Kanjuro only felt as though all his internal organs were trembling.
But he still forced himself to stand and swung an arrow made of ink in Queen’s direction.
Snap.
With a crisp sound, Queen caught the arrow Kanjuro had fired with only two fingers, looking utterly relaxed.
“Hmph, you think a little trick like this can do anything to me? Your arrows are nothing compared to that couple.”
For a certain period of time, because of all sorts of suicidal antics, Queen had been used by Setsuna as archery target. Even Zeraora had been angered into joining that camp that one time, though what he used were arrows made of lightning.
Kanjuro’s ink arrows, whether in power or speed, could not compare with theirs. It could be said that Queen had long since trained up resistance to all kinds of attacks with the help of his companions.
If you had never fought Queen a couple of times, you would be too embarrassed to call yourself a high-ranking officer. The only difference was that some people were sparring, while others simply wanted to beat him up.
“You dirtied my hand. These operations were planned by you, weren’t they? Then savor the gift I’ve prepared for you.”
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several vines suddenly shot out from underground. As they stretched out, they had already wrapped around Kanjuro’s legs, and immediately afterward, Kanjuro felt his stamina rapidly draining away.
Although he swung his weapon, trying to cut through the vines, he was simply too late. Before he could cut through more than a few vines, the loss of stamina made him collapse to the ground again.
“Foxfire Style: Blazing Flame Slash!”
Clang!
There was also movement beneath Queen’s foot. Kin’emon swung his blade toward Queen’s ankle, but the flaming blade did not leave even the slightest mark.
“Impossible! Your Ryuo… how could it be this strong?!”
“Huh? You think I actually wanted my Haki to be this strong? Do you know how much I miss the old days? Electric Queen!”
Kin’emon’s words struck Queen’s sore spot. Queen, already full of pent-up anger, immediately chose to vent the anger he had accumulated. A powerful electric current was released from within his body, and amid a crackling sound, the blade in Kin’emon’s hand slipped to the ground once more.
Then Queen ground the foot stepping on Kin’emon’s head left and right. One could even see some blood staining the surrounding land. Most of the land nearby was hard rock, and combined with Queen’s own weight, it was an extremely painful torment for Kin’emon.
“Um… Boss Queen, if you keep stepping on him, he might die.”
“He won’t die. This guy’s head is hard as hell. Otherwise, it would’ve been crushed a long time ago.”
As he spoke, the flying claw on his left arm shot out and dragged Kanjuro over as well. In terms of intelligence, Kanjuro could crush Kin’emon, but when it came to health pool, Kanjuro was nowhere near Kin’emon’s level.
While Kin’emon could still struggle, Kanjuro had already lost consciousness under Queen’s combo attacks.
Perhaps because he was too lazy to bend down, Queen controlled his braid to grab one of Kin’emon’s legs, then lifted him up.
“How should I deal with you? It’s because of you lot that I’ve had to suffer so much for no reason.”
“Don’t get happy too soon. The day of prophecy is almost here. You people who invaded Wano Country will pay the price!”
“Muhahaha! Are you trying to make me laugh to death? Prophecy? If Boss Kaido hadn’t wanted to play around, do you think you bunch of trash could have escaped Wano Country under my meticulous arrangements?
“We already gave you a way out back then. Coming back is one thing, but you just had to get in my way. I’ll make you understand that even death will be a luxury!
“Oh, right. That useless son of your lord still hasn’t escaped yet. Then I’ll let you see how he’s been doing first.”
Because of the earlier handover, the gate of the Udon Quarry was wide open at this moment. Seeing the gap in the gate, Queen swung Kin’emon and hurled him right through it.
Boom!
With an explosive crash, Kin’emon slammed directly into the rock wall of the Udon Quarry. The huge commotion startled the nearby prisoners, but they soon quieted down again.
“He was actually thrown straight in. Just how big of a crime did he commit?”
“No idea, but this guy’s probably done for. Even the pirates sent in from outside weren’t injured this badly, right?”
Queen had not held back much just now. Although Kin’emon’s head had not been crushed, his face was covered in large bruises, and with the blood flowing down, he looked extremely miserable.
At the same time, Queen had already walked in as well, admiring his throw just now.
“Mm, dead center. Let’s go, Babanuki. I need to make proper arrangements these two guys.
“Where was that brat locked up again? Might as well make use of this bunch of trash.”
“This way.”
Under Babanuki’s lead, Queen soon arrived near Momonosuke’s cell, and also saw Garp, who had been frozen to ice beside it, as well as Momonosuke sitting blankly in the corner.
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