“Who’s going to die in a place like this?! Same goes for you. Once all this crap is over, I’m going to beat you up with my own hands!”
“Worororo, then I really am looking forward to that day. But you’ll only ever see it in your dreams.”
Battle, war—Kaido’s entire life had been entangled with words like these. Having roamed battlefields since childhood, he had long since grown unaccustomed to a normal life.
He would get drunk, and he would watch theatrical performances with great interest, but in Kaido’s heart, all such things were merely preparations for war.
Kaido did not reject failure. He himself had failed before. But the Kaido of now firmly believed that he would never fail again.
To Yamato, Kaido had become a tall mountain standing in her way. If she could not cross this mountain, she would live beneath its shadow for the rest of her life. At the same time, she also firmly believed that she had the ability to cross this mountain.
“Tch, then you just wait. I’m leaving if there’s nothing else, so you don’t start plotting something nasty again.”
Yamato’s subconscious was telling her that there was never any harm in staying far away from Kaido. Although Kaido could indeed shelter her when danger appeared, when there was no danger, Kaido himself was the greatest danger.
“Wait.”
Just as Yamato was walking toward the window without looking back, Kaido suddenly called out to her.
“What?”
“Although you borrowed outside force, the bet still counts as your win. Is there anything you want?”
“Hmm… How about you stand there without moving or defending and let me beat you up?”
“What do you think?”
“Guess that’s not really going to work. Forget it. I’ll tell you after I’ve thought of something.”
It was still the familiar motion of jumping out the window. This had even become something of a custom within the Beasts Pirates. Enter through the door, leave through the window. Those familiar with Yamato had gradually picked up this habit.
Kaido shook his head, but did not stop Yamato. Instead, he began looking over the intelligence that had just been sent to him.
But before he could read anything, Arceus’s projection was displayed by the Rotom in the room.
“Barro sent word earlier. He encountered the World Government’s Cipher Pol organization in Alabasta. They are searching for something there.”
King remembered Kaido’s life-saving grace and was willing to become his right-hand man. Shayna remembered Kaido’s kindness as well and respected him greatly. But Barro was different.
Having returned from the long river of history, he felt no sense of belonging to the Beasts Pirates. Even the Lunarian race, who shared his bloodline, felt unfamiliar to him. Because of that, Barro only maintained a single line of contact with Arceus, regularly reporting the things he saw.
“Alabasta, huh? I remember that dead king and Gengar mentioned some information about it.”
“They did, but he himself could not figure out what it truly was. The scholars from Ohara also failed to find any trace of it in the records. All of it was erased by the World Government. However, those scholars believe that this matter should be the beginning of the Void Century.”
“Forget it. That kind of thing has little to do with me. Whatever happened a few hundred years ago won’t interfere with our actions now anyway. But I see Shayna is preparing things again. Have you already decided on your new target location?”
“More or less. I left some contingencies on the island. Nothing will go wrong.”
“If you’re handling it, then of course I’m not worried. That’s even better. It’ll give them a bit more urgency.”
After the exchange of information ended, Kaido continued browsing the summarized intelligence. Several pieces among them greatly interested him, and one of them was a report from Bat-Man on Skypiea.
Not long ago, Bat-Man had gathered the local Shandians on Skypiea.
“Everyone, by order of Governor-General Kaido, we are to launch a probing attack on a nearby Marine base to observe their response. Of course, Lord Arceus has also approved this.”
The Beasts Pirates’ main forces were distributed throughout the New World, and they controlled very few areas on the periphery. This Sky Island was considered a relatively stable area in the first half of the Grand Line, and Kaido’s goal was very simple: to probe the situation of Marine’s other bases.
Intelligence could be faked, but the manpower of a branch could not. The Marines could not just conjure up a new group of exceptionally strong soldiers out of thin air.
If they had truly transferred troops away, then as long as they fought them, the truth of the situation could be seen.
Unless the Marines could eavesdrop on key information within the Beasts Pirates and react in advance, they would not have enough time to make adjustments and cover up the truth that they had transferred soldiers away.
The closest place to here was the G-8 base. As a G-numbered base, having a Vice Admiral stationed there was common sense, but Bat-Man did not encounter any decent resistance, and he did not even see the Vice Admiral who should have been stationed here.
“Divine envoy, should we continue fighting? Quite a few of these soldiers seem like rookies. Even the children of Shandia know how to use guns better than they do.”
“No. The mission is over. We retreat.”
After a simple probe, Bat-Man directly led the team away from here. After all, he had already obtained the intelligence he wanted. Some of the elites within the G-8 base had already been transferred away.
After a rough summary, Kaido saw this intelligence.
In the New World, however, he received a completely different piece of intelligence. The squad led by Drake encountered a fierce counterattack from the Marines, and the strength of the garrison had not changed in the slightest from before.
The intelligence obtained by the squad Olga sent out was similar. However, according to Olga’s subordinates’ report, the number of troops stationed at the base they probed seemed to have increased.
Kaido was using this method to probe the specific distribution of Marine forces bit by bit. If necessary, he did not mind trying to bombard Marine Headquarters.
The final piece was the message Arceus had just forwarded, concerning what happened to Barro in Alabasta.
Relying on the innate advantages of the Lunarians, Barro moved very quickly, especially when he was fixated on a certain destination and flying there at high speed.
The scorching heat of Alabasta’s desert did not obstruct Barro’s journey either. Whether it was the blazing heat at noon or the extreme cold late at night, neither would threaten the survival of a Lunarian. Let alone him, even if it were a child, the desert environment would not affect them.
However, Barro’s journey was not a pleasant one. Alabasta was currently in a relatively chaotic state. The king and princess were missing, and Pell the Falcon and Chaka the Jackal had not yet returned, so the country’s operations were being maintained by Igaram, the captain of the guard.
Although he had already received Pell’s communication and knew that Vivi was still alive, the citizens of Alabasta did not know that.
Moreover, the Marines had drawn in nearby forces, and because of what Cobra had said, the World Government had also sent some people to Alabasta to investigate matters concerning Queen Lily. Many forces were tangled up in this desert, including quite a few pirates who had just landed.
After seeing Barro, the first thing that came to their minds was the high bounty on a Lunarian.
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