The other side.
After a fierce battle, Katakuri was finally defeated by Marco!
Even though he fought with all his might, he still lost—filled with frustration and unwillingness.
From the very start, Marco had the advantage. Katakuri simply could not match the First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates; there was an undeniable gap in their strength.
On top of that, Marco wasn't fighting alone—several Whitebeard division commanders were backing him up, further worsening Katakuri's situation.
It wasn't that Katakuri had made some grave mistake or had been careless—there was simply too great a difference in power between them.
Marco alone was already enough to give Katakuri a headache.
And now, a few other powerful Whitebeard commanders—each with bounties over 300 million—were surrounding him, ready to strike at any moment.
Under these circumstances, winning would be harder than reaching the heavens.
"Captain Marco, should we just kill this guy?"
One burly man rested a massive blade on his shoulder, glaring at Katakuri with murderous intent.
Marco, however, shook his head. "No. Killing him now would bring us unnecessary trouble. I don't want to make more enemies before we've dealt with Kronos."
Hearing Marco's words, even the most bloodthirsty division commanders could only sigh in disappointment. In truth, they wanted nothing more than to kill Katakuri here and now.
After all, Katakuri's actions had deeply offended them. They truly wished this man would disappear from the world entirely.
Suddenly, Katakuri let out a low chuckle.
"It's too late… far too late."
"Perhaps you haven't noticed yet…"
"The Kronos you keep talking about… may already be on Hive Island."
The moment those words left his mouth, Marco and the others' faces changed drastically.
What?!
What was Katakuri saying?
That Kronos had already arrived on Hive Island?
At first, Marco and the others didn't want to believe something so absurd.
But as Marco stared at Katakuri, realization began to dawn on him. His expression turned grim.
"I see… I finally understand everything."
"No wonder… no wonder the heir of the Charlotte family would personally come here to cause us trouble. So that's it."
"You… you have something in Kronos' hands, don't you?"
Katakuri fell silent for a moment before speaking the truth.
"Otherwise, why would I take the initiative to fight you? This was never my choice—Kronos forced me to do it."
His voice grew heavier, tinged with bitterness.
"I hope you can understand my position. If I didn't do this, my people would all die at Kronos' hands. For the sake of my family, I had no choice."
"What else could I do?"
With Katakuri's confession, everything that had puzzled them before now became clear.
No wonder.
The Whitebeard Pirates and the Charlotte family had never been enemies—there was no real reason for this battle to have happened at all.
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