“Hurry the hell up! What are you dawdling for?! If you want to join the main crew, then show me what you’re capable of!”
On a hastily constructed platform, Queen impatiently barked orders at the pirates below.
Ever since the fight with Akainu back then, his persecution paranoia hasn’t been cured, but it has at least eased up a bit. He dares to go out now, as long as there’s an order to do so.
Right now, his job was to select new members for the main crew. The Emperor of the Sea’s pirate fleet was usually vast, but there was a clear distinction between the main crew and its affiliated forces.
Take Whitebeard as an example: the Whitebeard Pirates’ main crew was divided into sixteen divisions, with a total of 1,600 members. However, if you included the entire Whitebeard Pirates fleet, the total number skyrocketed to 50,000.
War didn’t just burn through money—in a world where individual combat power could determine the outcome of a battle, both the quantity and quality of troops were crucial.
There was an enormous difference between the Beasts Pirates’ peripheral members and those in the main crew. Only after passing an initial “screening” could the peripheral members even qualify to join the main crew.
In the past, assessing their strength was typically the responsibility of main crew members. However, with the rapid expansion of the Beasts Pirates, the evaluation methods had also changed.
“This island is a special island created by Lord Arceus using his powers. The fact that you’ve made it here means you’ve already passed the initial test. But if you want to join the main crew, there’s still one final trial—you must survive on this island for three days!”
“I don’t care how you do it, but as long as you can get the Thousand Arms insignia from the examiners and reach the other end of the island on your feet three days later, you’ll have passed the trial.”
Queen shouted the joining rules into his megaphone, addressing the people below. Seeing how full of confidence these newcomers were, he immediately poured cold water on their enthusiasm.
“Don’t be naive! Only half of you will be accepted, no matter how many of you remain at the end. And the examiners on the island… are very special. You’d better hope you can survive this test.”
“A reminder from Lord Queen: this test is based on strength, but strength alone isn’t everything. If you’re lucky, you might even find a shortcut.”
“Lord Queen! Could you be a little clearer?! What exactly is the shortcut?”
“Hmm? If I told you, it wouldn’t be fun anymore. Now, get your asses inside and start the test!”
Queen had originally just been explaining the rules, but all of a sudden, he tossed his megaphone aside, picked up a rotary machine gun, and fired a line of bullet holes at the feet of the pirates below.
The intense gunfire startled the birds in the forest, while also serving as a signal to the examiners that the trial participants had arrived.
The moment they stepped into the forest, these people immediately began fighting each other. In their view, making it through an island wasn’t difficult—the only real limitation was the number of available spots. So, they wanted to take out their competitors while they still had plenty of stamina.
Some, however, made a different choice. They advanced toward the finish line right away, all while searching for the “examiners” Queen had mentioned.
…
Once the last person disappeared from his sight, Queen’s smile faded, and then several people’s information appeared in his hand.
“Heh, these Marines really never stop trying to slip their people in. Do they really think I don’t know anything? Trying to harm me? Try again in your next life!”
Never underestimate what excessive things a paranoid man might do to ensure his own safety. Besides his own intelligence network, Queen also had access to all sorts of secret information.
On the surface, this group of Marines’ identity seemed perfectly fine, but in an effort to curry favor with the Beasts Pirates’ liaison, Doflamingo had obtained certain Marine records from Vergo. This ultimately led to their exposure.
In reality, Queen had intentionally let them onto the island. After all, as a pirate crew, their trials were far from child’s play. Queen had plenty of “death quotas”, and making these people disappear was nothing more than a trivial matter for him.
“Now, let’s see where these guys have scurried off to.”
Before they entered the island, Queen had distributed so-called emergency signal flares, which could be used to forfeit the trial. However, he had secretly installed tracking devices in some of them before handing them out to the undercover agents. Now, he was ready to begin his cleanup operation.
But when he checked the tracker, he noticed that some of the signals had already disappeared.
Queen had a great deal of confidence in his own technology. In his mind, there was no way those Marines could have discovered the trick. The only possible explanation for the signals disappearing was external destruction.
And the only ones capable of doing that… were the Pokémon on the island.
“As expected of the creatures created by Lord Arceus—they sure work fast.”
The tracking devices also emitted a special scent—one that humans couldn’t detect, but Pokémon could sense. To them, it marked a target for attack.
……
“Roar!”
A dragon-shaped Pokémon spewed flames from its mouth, incinerating the enemy before it. Then, it stomped down on the fallen signal flare, shattering it, before spreading its wings and flying back toward its nest in the center of the island.
It looked like a dragon, had “dragon” in its name, but wasn’t actually a Dragon-type. It was one of the ace Pokémon of a certain Flying-type Elite Four member—the final evolution of the first-generation Fire-type Starter Pokémon: Charizard.
At this moment, several Charizard could be seen soaring through the sky.
With their orange dragon-like skin, they resembled a fusion of Western dragons and dinosaurs. Their sharp claws carried an intimidating presence, and the tip of their long, thick tails burned with raging flames.
They were created around the same time as Dragonite, but they were more numerous and engaged in battle far more frequently.
Compared to Dragonite, Charizard had naturally more aggressive personalities. They constantly sought out strong opponents in their daily lives, as battling was their way of growing stronger.
It is said that the more fierce battles a Charizard has experienced, the more combat experience it accumulates, causing its flames to burn hotter, raising the temperature of its fire even further.
After eliminating the people having “special intruders” mark, the flames on the Charizard’s tail gradually calmed down. Observing a Charizard’s tail was an excellent way to gauge its condition.
During battle, the flames on their tails would burn even more intensely. And if a Charizard was truly enraged, the tip of its tail would ignite with blue-white flames.
Under normal circumstances, the state of the flames reflected a Charizard’s overall health. If the flames on its tail were to go out, it would mean that the Charizard’s life had reached its end.
At this moment, Queen flapped the wings on his back and flew over. Taking in the scene below, he couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
“Muhahaha! This island feels pretty damn good—no wonder King is always training here.”
However, his laughter didn’t last long. A particularly large Charizard was now flying straight toward him.
According to the notes King tossed to Queen before leaving, it seems that Charizard… regarded him as a challenger.
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