Babanuki had no desire to comment on that. He had no way of predicting when Queen would suddenly get irritated and start badmouthing people. “Torture-loving pe*vert,” “violent woman”—he had a whole pile of nicknames like that.
Although Queen knew that the suggestions they gave him were reasonable and would physically follow them, he always felt uncomfortable if he could not score a few verbal points first. As a result, Queen’s misfortune tended to strike at random.
Just now, Babanuki had faced a choice. If he had hung up in time, he would have earned Queen’s gratitude. However, ever since the internal-use Rotom had been introduced, there had never been a single case of signal interruption.
Only when Arceus entered the underworld or the world of fog would calls fail to get through. If the call was inexplicably disconnected, Shayna would absolutely know that something was wrong.
In the end, Babanuki chose to let Queen bear the consequences himself. He should have been used to it by now anyway.
“Listen to my explanation. When I said ‘violent,’ I meant blazing flames. I was saying you’re strong.”
“Forget it. I don’t have time to deal with this right now. Once the fighting outside is over, I’ll settle accounts with you slowly.”
Getting beaten up might normally be no big deal, but Shayna did not want anything to happen right now that might reduce their side’s combat strength, so she chose to put it on his tab.
“Babanuki, next time something like this happens, could you please tell me first that so-and-so is on the call?”
“I was trying to, but Boss Queen, you talk too fast.”
Babanuki had a habit of his own: when he spoke, he often put the key point in the second sentence. When paired with Queen, who had no control over his mouth, accidents like this were bound to happen.
In theory, Queen would be careful for a while. But given his habit of never learning from a beating, sooner or later he would do it again.
“Tch—hey! You! Who told you to stop?! No dinner for you tonight!”
Whenever Queen was unhappy, someone would inevitably suffer for no reason. The prisoner who happened to enter Queen’s line of sight became the unfortunate target for him to vent his anger on.
As the sun gradually set, some people were also approaching Wano Country. The remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates, for example, had come up with a rather peculiar way of traveling.
Overall, it looked like a paraglider. Marco was at the front guiding the direction, Ace provided propulsion from behind, and Izou was hanging in the middle.
As one of Oden’s former retainers and Kikunojo’s older brother, Izou had always been very curious about Wano Country and wanted to know exactly what was going on there. In the end, they had come up with this complicated method of advancing.
A dragon transformed into wind was also approaching from another direction, but none of them acted rashly. They understood Wano Country’s current situation very well. Even though Kaido had already shown himself, there were still Arceus and Yamato.
Charging in recklessly would only be suicide. They needed to wait for an opportunity.
“Marco, does circling around like this really have any meaning? We’re way too far away, aren’t we?”
From here, they could only make out the silhouette of Wano Country. It was certainly safe, but they could hardly accomplish their objective like this.
“What else do you want to do? Don’t tell me you think the three of us can break into that place. I don’t like admitting it either, but the Beasts Pirates became the strongest pirate crew a long time ago. That’s a fact. Izou, when did you become even more impulsive than Ace?”
The one raising the question was not Ace, but Izou. In Marco’s eyes, that was not a good sign.
“Don’t talk like I’ve always been impulsive. I’ve changed now, so that comparison isn’t fair.”
Izou said nothing. Instead, Ace, who had been providing propulsion from the rear the whole time, voiced a bit of dissatisfaction before continuing their circling flight. In another direction, Dragon was in much the same situation.
He understood very well how to accumulate strength, and he was extremely patient. He had no intention of acting in haste. He and Marco were both waiting for the same thing—to see whether the World Government would take action. Only if the World Government moved would they be able to find an opportunity.
Night fell, and the prisoners in Udon were all returned to their cells.
With wartime curfew in effect, Wano Country had become much quieter than usual, to say nothing of a prison like Udon.
But Queen did not choose to rest. Instead, he continued staring into the interior of the Udon quarry.
“Boss Queen, aren’t you going to rest?”
“No need. Going a few days without sleep is nothing. I’ve got a strange feeling, like something’s about to happen. My intuition for this kind of bad luck has always been very accurate.”
The moment those words left his mouth, an unexpected change occurred inside the Udon quarry. Two massive magic circles appeared out of thin air on the ground of Udon. Accompanied by strange pentagram patterns and the numbers four and five around the outer rings of the circles, two white-haired figures appeared there.
Wearing a dark blue suit, with long straight white hair and a long white beard—Marcus Mars, Warrior God of Environment.
Wearing a black suit, with curly white hair, a fluffy white beard, a flat cap, and a scar on the left side of his face—Jaygarcia Saturn, Warrior God of Science and Defense.
Two of the Five Elders appeared in Wano Country together.
“So this is Wano Country? Truly a bunch of people with no respect for hierarchy.”
“The circumstances are unusual. After all, this matter is of great importance, so we had no choice but to personally carry out this mission.”
Their appearance was no coincidence. Before the war even began, they had already planned this move. After all, Kaido’s pirate alliance had exceeded the World Government’s control, and even they had to handle an alliance made up of those monsters with caution.
If they could not draw away some of the most threatening combat forces, they would not have dared use this kind of teleportation method. After all, their objective was to bypass the Beasts Pirates’ defensive perimeter through teleportation and enter its interior, not teleport over just to throw their lives away.
The locations of Shanks, Charlotte Linlin, Kaido, and the many officers of their three pirate crews had all been confirmed. The combat power remaining on Onigashima had now fallen within what the Five Elders considered a “safe range.”
No matter what, at least two people had to remain in Mariejois, while one person had to coordinate with the outside. The fact that two of the Five Elders had come here together already showed just how seriously they regarded this place.
“Garp is here too. Looks like we didn’t come to the wrong place.”
Naturally, the Five Elders knew that Garp had already been captured, and quite a few Marines were also imprisoned here. Freeing Garp and the captured Marines was one of the objectives of their operation. That was a considerable force.
The remaining unstable combat forces in Wano Country were Yamato and Arceus, as well as the unknown creature Akainu had reported encountering that was capable of moving islands, and the mysterious creature that had once frozen Enies Lobby.
These four combat forces were the true problems in the Five Elders’ eyes. With things as they were now, the numbers were just about even.
It was not that the Five Elders could not tell the difference between three and four. There was simply one more person still on the way.
Accompanied by the sound of spinning propellers, the final Admiral, Ryokugyu, descended from the sky as well.
“I sincerely apologize for having no choice but to let the two of you go ahead first. Please wait a moment. I will clear away these insignificant nuisances for you immediately.”
By now, Udon’s alarm had already sounded, and the entire Wano Country had been thrown into action because of it. Ryokugyu, however, paid no attention to the alarm. Instead, he respectfully bent at the waist toward Mars and Saturn.
Those who knew better would know he was a Marine Admiral. Those who did not might have mistaken him for someone’s attendant.
Because of the difference in strength, none of the remaining Marines were capable of carrying out the breakthrough mission. Left with no other choice, Saturn and Mars had personally acted first, entering Wano Country ahead of Ryokugyu to confirm that this area was accessible.
“You people—the honored ones’ true appearances are not something lowly commoners like you can casually gaze upon. Mere pirates and beasts, who gave you the courage? Groves of Wrath!”
Ryokugyu seemed even more furious than Saturn and Mars themselves. After all, when the two Five Elders appeared here, they had mostly ignored the pirates. The rule that those below the rank of Commodore were forbidden from seeing their true appearances had originally been established within the Marines to preserve the Five Elders’ dignity.
In the original timeline, the Marines had to withdraw in advance before the Five Elders appeared. One soldier who accidentally glanced at them had his head explode on the spot.
Yet on Egghead Island, the Straw Hats and Vegapunk’s satellites had all seen Saturn’s face, and every one of them had remained perfectly alive.
The vast majority of people did not even know what the Five Elders looked like, and some had never even heard their names. Putting on airs before enemies like that would have no corresponding effect at all.
As for the Marine prisoners here…
They had already planned to release them to bolster their forces, so naturally the Five Elders were not about to kill their own men at a time like this.
Ryokugyu was even more anxious than they were, eagerly displaying his loyalty. As his body transformed into a gigantic tree-man, countless green shoots also emerged from the soil of Udon, beginning to grow wildly in the blink of an eye.
Although there were Seastone mines here, it had not yet reached the point where Seastone was everywhere. For a time, the pirates who approached first were pierced through by trees, their vitality continuously drained away by Ryokugyu. Even the nearby Pokémon were sent flying by the forest.
Ryokugyu’s true body would be affected by Seastone, but the natural elements produced by his Logia-type ability would not. Ryokugyu rapidly cleared out a stage for the Five Elders, but before he could say anything else, the Beasts Pirates’ counterattack arrived.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three Hyper Beams were fired at the same time. Their power varied, but the waves of light containing destructive power still blasted apart the forest Ryokugyu had created, finally blowing a large hole through his face.
Babanuki, Aggron, and Hercules, who was on night watch, launched their attacks at the same time.
“Marines? You actually dare come here and run wild? You’ve really got some nerve!”
There was not the slightest trace of fear on Babanuki’s face. Instead, he led the prison guards and Pokémon in an attack against Ryokugyu. Although their attacks did not achieve much against Ryokugyu, they still slapped him hard in the face.
“Not only are you refusing to run, you actually dare fight back… You freaks can all go to hell!”
The missing part of his face began to regenerate, while the vines throughout Udon started thrashing wildly. Even though the Five Elders had said nothing, Ryokugyu was eagerly displaying his abilities.
Amid the chaotic battle, Hercules was struck by a vine and sent flying, crashing down not far from Luffy’s cell block.
With such a huge commotion, even Luffy had been jolted awake from his sleep. Seeing Hercules lying on the ground, even the usually carefree Luffy felt anger rise in his chest.
“Who the hell is that bstard?! Is anyone there? Hurry up and let me out! I’m gonna beat that bstard flying!”
As the guards grabbed their weapons and rushed toward the battlefield, no one paid any attention to what was happening around Luffy. Meanwhile, Queen also made his move. He had seen the Five Elders appear, but instead of acting immediately, he quietly prepared his weapon.
Compared to Ryokugyu, Queen knew very well that those two old men were the real problem. If he could take them both out, Kaido and Arceus would definitely praise him.
Just as the Five Elders were about to move, a specially made rocket shell shot toward their feet, followed by an eruption of multicolored sludge.
“Plague Bullets: Toxic Sludge!”
Seeing Saturn and Mars make no attempt to dodge, simply allowing the strangely colored poison to splash all over them, Queen revealed a smug expression.
“Idiots! That’s the culmination of all my years of poison research! Even I don’t know what kind of reaction all the viruses inside will produce together, and you actually dared to be this careless? Then have a taste of the consequences!”
This was a mixed poison Queen had developed after researching the poisons of every Poison-type Pokémon available. Despite its unimpressive name, it was his strongest Plague Bullet. Even Kaido would end up with an upset stomach if he got hit by it.
Indeed, during one of their routine training sessions, Queen had gone all out and used this on Kaido. After obtaining that result, Queen had also paid quite a heavy price. To commend his achievement, Kaido had personally subjected him to a full week of special training.
“Queen the Plague. We’ve heard about your technology for a long time. Perhaps letting you leave back then was a mistake.”
“But today, we will correct every mistake. An attack like this is useless against us.”
Saturn and Mars’s bodies transformed at the same time. A hybrid of an ox and spider, together with the shadow of a bizarre bird-like creature, appeared within Udon. Queen’s poisons were actually absorbed directly into their bodies.
“…”
Facts proved that there would never be only one person getting slapped in the face. However, before Queen could decide on his next move, reinforcements from his side had already arrived at Udon.
An inexplicable aura of dread suddenly descended. Beneath the moonlight and starlight, dark clouds covered the sky in an instant, thunder rolling within them. Seeing the figure in the sky, Queen once again wore a wildly arrogant grin.
“Muhahaha! So what if you can neutralize that move? This is our territory! Anyone who barges in here can forget about getting away unscathed! Young Miss, show them what we’re capable of!”
The paths of lightning racing through the black clouds were clearly visible. Even though it was not Queen’s attack, Queen looked extraordinarily excited.
“Raging Bolt!”
Accompanied by deafening crashes of thunder, over a hundred bolts of lightning as thick as barrels roared through the rolling black clouds like dragons and pythons, surging toward Ryokugyu and the others.
In an instant, lightning engulfed everything, turning this open area of Udon into a sea of thunder and lightning.
The lightning seemed to possess consciousness of their own, each one bending around Queen and the other allied units as they surged toward Saturn and Mars.
Ryokugyu immediately created a wooden defensive barrier, seemingly intending to use the wood to insulate himself from the lightning.
But he failed.
The moment they made contact, the explosive lightning tore through the green vegetation, and the raging thunder even illuminated Udon’s entire night sky.
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