Chapter 208: Help and Enemies
In the wilderness of Dressrosa, in a ruined land left behind by many battles, Louis sat in a casual posture on a giant rock, idly eating grapes as he flipped through the newspaper in his hand.
Not far away, a series of roars sounded. The aftershocks of the group's training spread out, once again changing the terrain of the already dilapidated battlefield. The spreading aftershocks were blocked by the Fantasy Species Gaea, which was placed at the border of the wilderness and the town, preventing the densely populated town from being destroyed.
Beside Louis, Uta, wearing a hoodie with the Archangel Pirates' flag on it, was humming a self-composed tune with her eyes closed. Her slender, fair legs swayed gently to the rhythm of the song.
[January 7th, a Marine branch recruitment office in the South Blue welcomed a super-strong Logia Devil Fruit user. The Marines may be adding a powerful monster Vice Admiral!]
[January 9th, Marine HQ Staff Officer, Vice Admiral Tsuru, arrived at Twin Snake Island in the West Blue for the second time, inviting a rumored super-powerhouse to join the Marines!]
[In the depths of the New World, the Devil Fruit scramble initiated by Gildo Tesoro has come to a complete close! The Warlord of the Sea - King of Lizards, ultimately obtained the Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Ancient Model: Spinosaurus! After successively defeating an alliance of several powerful pirates and causing them to flee in a sorry state, the King of Lizards then defeated a formidable executive of the Emperor of the Seas - Golden Lion Shiki! However, after continuously dealing with many powerful enemies, even the King of Lizards suffered considerable injuries and has temporarily disappeared.]
Louis's eyes flashed with a strange light as he took in the news.
"Ryokugyu and Fujitora... they're joining the Marines ahead of schedule too—"
A Logia master in the South Blue... besides the future Admiral Ryokugyu (Aramaki), Louis couldn't think of anyone else who fit the description. And the one whom Vice Admiral Tsuru personally went to Twin Snake Island to invite... if he wasn't mistaken, that was the other future Admiral, Fujitora.
A few years ago, when Louis was still on the warship, he had picked up the heavily injured Daz Bonez from the sea near Twin Snake Island, after his ship had been shattered from several nautical miles away by Fujitora.
However, it was worth mentioning that Fujitora, who was a bodyguard on Twin Snake Island, seemed to have intentionally waited until after Daz Bonez had killed his target and fled overseas before making a move to sink him. Perhaps he had held back. Otherwise, with Daz Bonez's strength at the time, there was no way he could have killed his target within the range of Fujitora's Observation Haki.
Besides the possibility that Fujitora had let him kill the target, Louis couldn't think of any other way he could have succeeded. Of course, Daz Bonez himself was still unaware of this.
"After Aokiji and Kizaru were injured, Ryokugyu has already joined ahead of schedule, and Fujitora may also be joining early. In that case, the Marines' strength will not have decreased, but will have increased instead..." Louis fell into thought.
But soon, a dangerous idea began to brew in his mind. "With the addition of two formidable masters from the civilian population, the Marines should need a worthy battle to show their strength to the world, right?"
Louis ignored the slender hand that was reaching for his grapes from behind him and fell into deep thought.
Louis mused that after Fujitora also joined, it would probably be the best time to throw his handful of prisoners at the Marines. At any other time, Louis couldn't be sure if Sengoku, in order to avoid excessive casualties, would choose to secretly execute the "gift" from Louis. If that happened, it would undoubtedly interfere with his plans.
But it was different if they had just gained two powerful admirals. Ever since he had burst onto the scene, the Marines had, directly or indirectly, suffered several severe losses because of his actions. The various member nations of the World Government and the public were all disappointed and skeptical of the successively defeated Marines.
If Louis were the Fleet Admiral, then after gaining two new powerful admirals, he would definitely plan a war and achieve a beautiful victory with an absolute advantage, in order to regain the support of the member nations and the public.
The target of this war could be all the pirates in the Four Seas and the first half of the Grand Line, or it could be a pinnacle power in the depths of the New World.
Considering that the Land of Wano, where the Beasts Pirates were entrenched, was too deep in the New World, it was unlikely that Kaido would be the target this time. In that case, the target was very likely to be the Flying Pirates, the Big Mom Pirates, the on-the-brink-of-destruction Whitebeard Pirates, and... the Archangel Pirates.
To this, Louis did not want his developing territory to be disturbed. And he himself had the idea of letting Big Mom or Whitebeard attack the Marines. But since there had been no news of Whitebeard's reappearance, then this time, he had no choice but to let Big Mom go first.
Therefore, Louis planned to directly help Sengoku finalize his opponent.
"I've chosen one of the weakest opponents for you."
"No need to thank me, Sengoku." At the edge of the roaring battlefield, the corners of Louis's mouth turned up slightly as he muttered to himself.
Beside him, Uta, who had been woken up by a close-range roar, first glanced at the dazzling firelight, then shifted her gaze to Louis. When she saw the meaningful smile on his face, Uta lowered her eyes, feeling a wave of pity for some unknown, unlucky person.
Just then, a series of whispers came from behind the two of them.
"Yummy!"
"Page One, come try this!"
"This one's not bad either!"
"S-sis, this isn't very good, is it—"
"It's fine! It's not like he doesn't know."
Uta heard the sound, turned her head, and looked over with great interest. "Ulti, Page One, did Yelena not drag you over to train today?"
Ulti, who was standing on her tiptoes and looking at the newspaper in Louis's hand with great curiosity, heard her, and subconsciously looked up, a thoughtful look in her eyes. "Yelena? She didn't come looking for us today!" After a moment, Ulti put her hands on her hips and replied with righteous indignation.
Beside her, Page One, with his purple hair and imitating his sister by wearing a mask, stared with his dead fish eyes and replied listlessly, "It seems Lady Yelena went to find that old geezer Holden to learn some advanced Armament Haki— She said that guy was very strong when he was young and even taught an incredible person. She's going to try her luck there."
Ulti heard him, raised an eyebrow, crossed her arms, and, staring with her pink eyes, said bluntly, "Is that Yelena an idiot? That old giant has almost forgotten his own name! How could he remember any advanced Armament Haki?!"
Louis heard their conversation and subconsciously raised an eyebrow. "Lady Yelena?" A trace of confusion rose in his heart. This damned sis-con, and this brat who always stares with dead fish eyes... when did they get on such good terms with Yelena?
To this, Uta, as if seeing Louis's confusion, leaned on his shoulder and explained in a whisper to his ear, "Ulti and the others can't resist Yelena's gentle offensive at all! They were taken down by Yelena just a few days after they arrived!"
"Is that so?" After learning the truth of the matter, Louis nodded thoughtfully.
After some thought, Louis casually handed the newspaper to Ulti, who was rather unscrupulously picking his grapes and feeding them to Page One.
"It seems there's news about your father. To be honest, Hanafuda's strength is not bad. After being struck by my lightning, he was still able to go and fight with so many people for a Devil Fruit."
"How dare you say such a thing in front of us!" Ulti glared with her pink eyes as she took the newspaper from Louis's hand.
Nearby, Uta, with a bright smile, said cheerfully, "That's because your dad was the one who made a move on Dressrosa first."
Soon, Ulti and Page One finished reading the newspaper. Apart from a faint look of worry on their faces, there was no other particular reaction, as if they were used to all this.
Seeing this, Uta stared with her amethyst-like eyes, deeply shocked. "You—you're not worried at all?" As a daughter, Uta couldn't imagine how worried she would be if she one day saw news that Shanks was in trouble.
To this, Ulti, as if accustomed to it, casually waved her hand. "The life force of an Ancient Zoan user, although not as abnormal as you guys, is still quite tenacious! This isn't the first time he's been in this situation. Besides his list of enemies getting longer and longer, nothing bad will happen!"
Louis heard this, and a subtle light flashed in his eyes. If he remembered correctly, Ulti and Page One's father, Hanafuda, had been defeated by Fire Fist Ace. And on his way to find Ulti and Page One, he had been killed by his enemies.
Hanafuda had made many enemies every time he had searched for Ancient Zoan Devil Fruits for Kaido, so much so that in the future, when he was defeated and weakened, his enemies had come looking for him.
Perhaps this was the legendary "cause and effect"? Louis thought, his gaze falling into the distance.
Just then, Kyros, with his greatsword on his back and long black hair, walked over from the direction of the town and came directly to Louis's side.
Kyros looked at the brother and sister who were taking grapes from beside Louis and tasting them without any sense of boundaries, and a subtle change came over his expression. To be precise, his gaze was fixed on Ulti, and he fell into thought.
Louis's gaze shifted from the distant battlefield to Kyros. "Do you need something, Kyros?" he asked with a questioning tone.
Hearing this, Ulti and Page One subconsciously shrank back, put a few steps between them, and opened up some distance. They had heard that this person, before joining the Archangel Pirates, had been beaten up by their father. They were afraid he had come to take revenge on them.
Kyros heard him, gathered his thoughts, and after taking a deep breath, said in a strange tone, "Captain, about your... kinsmen..."
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