"So in the end you actually brought a twelve–year–old girl home?"
At the White Wolf Pirates' temporary base on the Sabaody Archipelago, Lily, Ripley and the other women all stared at Magnus, who had "abducted" Shakky back with him, like they were looking at human trash.
Even Toki could not help gently scolding him. "Shakky is still very young. Even if you really want to, my husband, you should at least wait another five or six years."
"Why is even you saying that, Toki?"
Facing his wives, who looked like they were about to slap a "lolicon" label right onto his chest, Magnus had no choice but to explain himself all over again.
"I only brought this brat over to look around. I will return her in a few days. She is still young, but I feel like she has the potential to become captain of the Kuja Pirates and the next empress of Amazon Lily."
"Education has to start early. If the next empress yearns for the world outside, she will naturally push reforms in Amazon Lily, and everything I invest now will pay back a hundredfold in the future."
"Then I can bring Amazon Lily into my hands without sending a single soldier."
"…"
He doubted Amazon Lily would easily hand over their sea snake taming secrets, but if the warriors of Amazon Lily themselves commanded the sea snakes, that would be a different story.
As for conquering Amazon Lily by force, Magnus had never entertained that idea. If he did that, how would he be any different from the World Government?
"But everyone in Amazon really admires you, Magnus oji-san. If you invited them, I am sure no one would say no."
Shakky suddenly poked her head out and joined in.
"Am I that famous?"
"Of course!"
Shakky said loudly, "Because you are the most handsome, the strongest, and the most accomplished man we have ever seen!"
Magnus had never stopped to think about it, but among people willing to go to sea as pirates, nine out of ten were ugly to the point that their faces did not even twitch when they looked in a mirror. The last one could at best be called average.
Pirates valued presence over looks. Not because they did not care about appearances, but because if one hundred points was full marks, most pirates did not even reach the passing line of sixty.
Men were drawn to beautiful women, and women were drawn to handsome men. A man with good looks, overwhelming strength, and achievements beyond anything anyone could imagine would captivate even the warriors of Amazon Lily.
"Amazon Lily is that so called nation of women, right?"
"I heard all the women there are beauties."
"Tsk tsk."
Listening to the snark coming from the women around him, Magnus could only shrug helplessly.
"Believe it or not, I am not interested in those Kuja warriors. You know the Kuja Pirates, right? They already gathered all the beauties of Amazon Lily on that ship."
"You are not even interested in Empress Gloriosa?"
Magnus knew very well this little girl was digging a pit for him, but he still nodded.
"That is right. I am not interested in that Gloriosa woman."
At the beginning he had not been interested in Stussy either, and now Stussy was off to the side taking digs at him too.
Anyway, he never made the first move, but he did not turn people away either.
He was not sure if he was imagining it, but after he finished speaking, the girl's steps seemed lighter.
Magnus decided it had to be his imagination, because even his Observation Haki had not picked up much change.
In the blink of an eye, a week passed.
Over that week, the World Government and the Marines were abnormally restrained. They did not even send in many intelligence officers to scout out Magnus's movements, leaving only the minimum number of soldiers needed to maintain order on Sabaody.
Magnus stayed on Sabaody, but his attention remained on Mary Geoise. He had promised Rocks he would keep an eye on the World Government's strongest fighters, so there was no way he would let them slip out easily.
If the Five Elders really disappeared, Magnus would not mind making another run at Mary Geoise.
Do not be fooled by the fact that he was currently surrounded by women.
Linlin already had Admiral level strength. Ripley was a bit behind, but together with Lily and Tsuru, she could still stand her ground against an ordinary Admiral level opponent.
Add Magnus himself on top of that.
As long as the number of top fighters in Mary Geoise stayed below a certain threshold, Magnus would be happy to test out Im's true nature before the final battle.
However, even after a full week, there was no movement at all from Mary Geoise.
But the news had already come.
A week ago, the Rocks Pirates invaded Osgu Island in the South Blue and engaged the Marines stationed there in a massive battle. After destroying half the island, they disappeared without a trace.
Magnus did not need to be there to know the World Government reports were heavily watered down. For example, Saturn, one of the Five Elders, had clearly been on Osgu Island, but the papers never mentioned him even once.
Still, he understood why Rocks had been forced to retreat.
"Marine Admiral Kong, together with Marine super rookies Garp and Sengoku, repelled White King Magnus's top lieutenant, the great pirate Rocks. The Marines once again see the dawn of victory!"
With Kong and Saturn together, plus Sengoku and Garp, who were already well on their way to greatness, they did indeed have the power to drive back a Rocks who had yet to reach his peak.
Rocks was strong even now, but taking on two top tiers at once was anything but easy.
On top of that, his crew still had not fully grown up.
"Should I send Newgate to give him a hand?"
The fact that the World Government had been willing to go to war with Rocks just to keep the scientists of Baldimore meant there was definitely something they valued highly on Osgu Island.
"Garp, Sengoku, huh?"
Tsuru appeared behind Magnus just then. When she saw the two faces printed in the paper, a hint of nostalgia flashed through her eyes.
"Tsuru, you know them?" Magnus asked, even though he already knew the answer.
"Yes."
She nodded.
"I met them at the Marine Academy. They were two idiots who bragged about catching the strongest pirate in the world back when they were still just rookies."
"And then?"
"And then I joined them."
"Pff hahaha!"
Magnus burst out laughing when he heard that, giving Tsuru a teasing look.
"So how is that going now? Did you catch him?"
"Hmph."
Tsuru snorted softly and slipped around behind Magnus, letting her hand slide down.
She had recognized Sengoku and Garp, but after all these years with the White Wolf Pirates, her memories from the Marine Academy felt faded and distant.
In the name of the justice in their hearts, they had once vowed to capture Magnus.
But later, Tsuru realized something.
Catching Magnus was not the same thing as justice. Magnus might be a lecherous old man, but what he had done was the true justice.
What was justice?
Justice was letting ordinary people live better lives.
For that, she was willing to make a small sacrifice.
At first, it really had been a sacrifice. But as time went by, Tsuru found herself slowly getting addicted. If her body was satisfied and her heart also felt happy, could you still call that a sacrifice?
No, it was still a sacrifice.
It was just that now the "sacrifice" was what happened afterward. Every time it was over, Tsuru had to fight to clear her head, to pry herself out of his warm arms, and remind herself that she was not there to enjoy herself, she was there to sacrifice.
After that, Tsuru took over the paperwork of the White Wolf Pirates.
That work had originally been Toki's responsibility.
But as more and more nations joined the alliance, Toki's workload had exploded. She often dragged Lily and Magnus in to help review documents.
Now, with Tsuru around, Magnus was a free man again.
"Maybe Joy Boy got backstabbed eight hundred years ago for the same reason."
That was the price of being a hands off boss. If Toki and Tsuru decided to hide something from him, Magnus would have no way of getting the full truth right away.
The thought flashed through his mind, then he chose to trust them.
If you could not even trust the women who shared your pillow and knew you inside out, then you might as well forget overthrowing the World Government and just find somewhere quiet to retire.
At the same time…
"Ow ow ow ow…"
On an unremarkable island in the South Blue, Rocks was cursing nonstop as he gritted his teeth and applied medicine to his wounds. "Stupid brat, no sense of honor at all, how dare you ambush me. If it was not for that old man, I would have chopped you up on the spot!"
While he cursed, he even tried to kick Roger, who was lying next to him.
"How was I supposed to know you were on our side?"
Roger had no intention of putting up with Rocks's abuse.
"I thought you had captured Rayleigh!"
"Have you ever seen a prisoner able to move freely?"
The two of them nearly started trading blows again, and the others scrambled to pull them apart.
"Enough, enough. Our opponents really were no joke this time."
"Yeah. Even without this kid, we might not have beaten those Marines."
"And he did help us in the end."
"…"
On the other side, Rayleigh was also holding Roger down.
"You idiot, lie down and behave yourself. Do not forget where we are right now."
Rayleigh rolled his eyes at Roger.
At the moment, only the two of them from the Roger Pirates were here, and everyone else around them was from the Rocks Pirates. If a fight broke out, they would not even have the chance to run.
"Hmph."
Knowing he was in the wrong, Roger just snorted and shut his mouth.
He had spent several months on Osgu Island. He had finally found a chance and was about to steal a small boat to escape when Rocks launched his assault on the island.
Roger had a pretty clear idea of his own strength. Last time, not even he, Rayleigh and Jabba together had managed to take a single blow from Rocks. Even though he had grown a lot stronger over the last few months, beating Rocks was still way too far out of reach.
So he had originally planned to watch Rocks and the Marines tear each other apart.
He was just there to eat popcorn.
Then he spotted Rayleigh on Rocks's ship.
That blew his calm composure to pieces.
If his vice captain had been taken, and he as captain just stood by and did nothing, what right did he have to call himself a pirate? He might as well crawl back to the East Blue and fish for a living.
So when he saw Rocks locked in fierce battle with two top tier powerhouses, Roger seized an opening and ambushed Rocks without hesitation.
One was Saturn, a Five Elder with an immortal body.
The other was Kong, who had been an Admiral for seven or eight years. After all the life and death battles he had fought, his strength was far above what it had been at the start.
Rocks had already been pressed slightly on the back foot in his two on one fight.
Roger's sneak attack opened a hole in his defense. He did not fall right then and there, but Saturn and Kong both landed heavy blows, leaving him severely injured.
Only after Roger attacked did Rayleigh spot him. He rushed to explain the truth.
Once Rocks was hurt, the Rocks Pirates were doomed to defeat. Roger did the only decent thing left and chose to stay behind.
Drawing on youthful blood and courage, Rocks forced his battered body to injure Kong, while Roger took a full force blow from Rocks to knock him free and dragged the older pirate underwater to escape.
That was the true story behind the news that the Rocks Pirates had fled Osgu Island in defeat.
If Roger had not risked his life to pay for his own mistake and save him in the end, then with Rocks's temper, not even Magnus's word would have been enough to stop him from making Roger pay for his stupidity.
"Forget it, quit arguing. I promised the old man I would grab those scientists back for him. If we slink away with our tails between our legs now, I will never live it down."
Rocks sat cross-legged.
Magnus had promised to keep the World Government's main force tied down, and he had delivered. The only top fighters who showed up on Osgu Island had been those two. That number was just right for Rocks.
But he had still lost.
It was partly because of Roger, but if someone of Roger's current level could interfere with him, that only showed he still was not strong enough.
"Rocks, do you not think our plan was wrong from the beginning?"
Barorick spoke up from the side.
"Our goal was to snatch the scientists, not pick a fight with the Marines. If we were going to fight, that should have been after we completed our objective."
By choosing a frontal assault, they had run headfirst into the combined defenses of the World Government and the Marines. Saturn and the two Marine rookies had tied them down right at the start. They fought for an entire day and night, and that gave Kong time to arrive.
"How was I supposed to know that old bastard would be so hard to kill?"
Their opponent had refused to face him head on at first, instead using the scientists of Baldimore as hostages, forcing him to hold back at every turn.
Rocks did not argue with Barorick, which meant he actually agreed with him, though he could not bring himself to admit it out loud.
Barorick turned to Roger and Rayleigh.
"Captain of the Roger Pirates, you were on that island for a while. You should know it quite well, right?"
"So what if I do?"
"We need you to show us the way so we can launch a second assault."
"Why should I…"
Roger had not finished speaking before Rayleigh clamped a hand over his mouth, turning his words into a muffled growl.
"No problem."
Rayleigh agreed to the proposal on his captain's behalf.
In his view, avoiding conflict with the Rocks Pirates for now was more than worth it. If things went well, they might even be able to turn enemies into allies after this operation.
Against the second strongest pirate crew on the seas, they were still far too weak.
But Rayleigh quickly learned that his hope was wishful thinking.
The next day…
The two severely injured men started beating each other up again over whose turn it was to use the latrine.
(End of Chapter)
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