“The Encircling Wall… the Encircling Wall has been breached by the pirates!”
The first to come back to their senses were the soldiers inside the Encircling Wall. Observing the entire battlefield wasn’t something that soldiers like them were responsible for — their job was to face the enemies right in front of them.
Up until now, the Whitebeard Pirates had all been held outside the Encircling Wall. The Marines inside hadn’t yet faced the battle head-on, but their nerves had been tensed all the same. Now, with Yamato being thrown in by Kaido, that tension was instantly snapped.
As elites gathered from all corners of the world, they didn’t panic. Instead, they quickly regrouped and launched their attacks toward Yamato’s position.
“Attack! Don’t let the pirates reach the execution platform!”
Yamato, who had just climbed out of the pit, was immediately bombarded with a hail of gunfire, which made her already sour mood even more irritable.
Ever since her appearance in Alabasta, when Robin told her, “It would’ve been better if you didn’t say anything,” Yamato had been studying how to make a proper entrance.
Even with Kaido’s enticing promise, Yamato had intended to slack off — so she’d been trying to find a way to make a cool but low-profile appearance. Only that way could she achieve her later goals.
However, Kaido saw right through Yamato’s plan. In order to prevent her from slacking off, he tricked her yet again, telling her that he had a “classic combo entrance” in mind, but needed her to cooperate a bit.
Under Kaido’s coaxing, Yamato eventually fell for it. If she didn’t cooperate, Kaido wouldn’t be able to casually toss her in like he did.
Yamato had considered the possibility of a trap, but in the end, she still underestimated Kaido. She figured that no matter how outlandish he could be, he wouldn’t do anything ridiculous on the battlefield. That assumption ultimately led to this rather painful situation.
And this was exactly Kaido’s goal. He didn’t believe that if he directly threw Yamato into the middle of a crowd of people, she would still have any chance to slack off.
“Get out of my way!”
Smashing Takeru on the ground, the crater that Yamato had created upon impact completely collapsed, and the resulting shockwave sent the approaching Marines tumbling to the ground.
Even if they are elites from all over the world, Yamato wasn’t an opponent they could handle. Higher-ranking officers had yet to take action, but the Shichibukai, who had been slacking off, finally started to move.
“Make way! Slave Arrow!”
With a gentle touch of her finger to her lips, a pink, heart-shaped bubble formed in Hancock’s hand. With a light pull from her other hand, the pink bubble transformed into a rain of arrows that shot toward Yamato’s direction.
“The Shichibukai are making their move!”
“Finally making a move? These ba*tards really know how to slack…”
The Marines were more or less dissatisfied with the Shichibukai constantly slacking off, but there was nothing they could do about it. Right now, the Whitebeard Pirates were still trapped on the frozen surface and hadn’t broken through to the plaza. The Shichibukai choosing to stay on standby, planning to deal with stronger opponents, was still a reasonable move.
But after the attack, they realized something was wrong.
It would’ve been better if Hancock hadn’t done anything at all.
Everyone hit by her Slave Arrow would turn into stone, but this was Marines’ territory. Yamato easily deflected Hancock’s arrows with gusts of wind from her swings, and that resulted in only the Marines getting petrified.
“Pirate Empress! What are you doing?!”
“I’m fighting just as you requested. It’s the enemy’s fault for being too strong and neutralizing my attack. What does that have to do with me?”
“You—!”
“I believe you can forgive me for the friendly fire, can’t you?”
With a single hand, she brushed her hair aside. Hancock didn’t even look back, and the Marines who had been questioning her now had the expression of a love-struck fool, quickly agreeing with everything Hancock said.
After that, Hancock also made her way to Yamato’s side and began her performance. It looked like she was fighting fiercely, but in truth, she wasn’t putting in any effort at all.
“It’s been a while, Yamato.”
“Ah, it’s Hancock. Your attacks are still as amusing as ever.”
“Amusing, huh… By the way, did Sister Olga come too?”
“Nope. She went somewhere else. That b*stard father of mine said Sister Olga’s ability is better suited for another location.”
“What a shame… Shall we keep going? I really don’t want to be risking my life for those Marines.”
There were seven Shichibukai. Blackbeard was currently at Impel Down searching for subordinates who suited him. Of the remaining six, only Bartholomew Kuma, who had lost all self-awareness, was fighting earnestly. The rest were all looking for suitable spots to slack off. Not a single one of them was putting in their full effort in battle.
The Marines had been able to gather the Shichibukai, but they couldn’t force them to fight to the death. The performance of the Shichibukai during the Summit War likely contributed, at least in part, to the abolishment of the Shichibukai system two years later.
Obedient Seraphim were far more useful than these ambitious schemers.
“Hmm… I’ll throw a few punches first. It’s been a while—if I don’t at least pretend, father won’t be easy to fool.”
Yamato wanted to buy time. As long as she could stall until Kaido started fighting someone else, she’d be free to slack off as much as she wanted.
The shockwaves from their fight made it impossible for nearby Marines to approach, forcing them to scatter. They had no idea the two inside were actually putting on a staged fight.
“Move aside.”
While the Marine soldiers were cautiously watching the fight between Yamato and Hancock, Jinbe suddenly walked over and pushed aside the Marines standing in his way.
“Knight of the Sea Jinbe…”
“That woman’s a pirate from the Beasts Pirates—not easy to deal with. I’ll go help.”
[Boss Tiger, now I understand what you meant by ‘act according to the situation’…]
If you had to pick the most honest one among the six Shichibukai present, Jinbe could almost compete with Kuma, who had already turned into a robot—he was so honest that he had just been standing there like a decoration.
But Kaido’s indiscriminate attacks and Hancock’s friendly fire gave him a new idea.
Standing still wouldn’t do—but accidental injuries during battle were inevitable.
Fish-Man Karate had plenty of area-of-effect techniques. If, in the process of helping the Marines deal with a major figure of the Beasts Pirates, he just so happened to injure a few Marines too—well, that seemed fair, right? And in doing so, he might even help relieve some pressure from Whitebeard’s people.
“Fish-Man Karate: Arabesque Brick Fist!”
He leaped high into the air and then smashed his fist toward the ground. This single punch clearly demonstrated Jinbe’s mastery of Fish-Man Karate. The center of the shockwave, where the two women stood, remained untouched—but the surrounding Marines were once again sent flying by the blast.
The section of the Encircling Wall closest to them was also affected. Ammunition supplies from the rear momentarily paused, giving the pirates outside a new opening to exploit.
The fake battle between two Shichibukai and Yamato was going along quite happily—but at the same time, another Shichibukai began to move.
Moria had left his original position and was now heading toward where Kaido was. Along the way, whether they were Marines or pirates, he captured them all and cut off their shadows.
Over the years, Kaido had become his personal nightmare. He had awakened from countless nightmares, and had imagined over and over what it would be like to face Kaido again.
But now that Kaido was right in front of him, he realized—his emotions toward Kaido weren’t fear, but rage…
You can read ahead upto 75 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon.
Become a Patron!