At this time, Crocodile was fulfilling his duties as a Shichibukai very seriously. Among the current Shichibukai, apart from Oran, Crocodile was the most cooperative with the Navy and the World Government.
He's also doing things to combat pirates in the surrounding areas. He's using this method to gain the trust of the World Government and the Navy in order to scheme for more.
Everything was going well, and I was planning to relax with a cup of coffee and the newspaper, but my blood pressure suddenly spiked.
[Even among the Seven Warlords of the Sea, some were defeated by Whitebeard and had to retreat; there's nothing that can be done about it. It seems that while the Seven Warlords are nominally one organization, there are huge internal divisions.]
Morgans didn't name names, but simply read out Crocodile's ID number. The only Shichibukai who lost to Whitebeard was Crocodile.
[Remember this website's domain name: Taiwan Novel Network → 𝓉𝓌𝓀𝒶𝓃.𝒸ℴ𝓂]
"Those damn albatrosses are really annoying!"
A comparison can better illustrate the outcome of an event. Lyriana used Whitebeard's strength to demonstrate her own power, but this inevitably led to certain events, such as the pirates who provoked Whitebeard after seeing the newspaper article.
As the one who gets trampled on while being praised, Crocodile really wanted to turn Morgans into a dried bird, to let Morgans know that he just hadn't beaten Whitebeard yet, and that it was still very easy to control him.
"What exactly is this guy, Siddiel, trying to do? What does he want?"
Crocodile began to put himself in Crocodile's shoes, imagining himself with such a powerful child and such a powerful nation.
"Does this guy want the whole world?"
Crocodile's ultimate goal is to become the Pirate King first, gain more power and strength, and then rule the entire world.
He's currently just accumulating strength; judging from Oran's situation, he has no interest in becoming the Pirate King.
Oran's current base already exceeds Crocodile's short-term goals. Judging from his own experience, Crocodile firmly believes that Oran has hidden ambitions, and after much thought, he finally came to this conclusion.
"He's a tough guy."
If the goal is the world, then Oranco will be a future rival. Such a rival, who is also accumulating power, will undoubtedly be extremely difficult for Crocodile to deal with.
Crocodile lit a cigar, pondering his future actions. He wasn't the only one to receive the newspaper, though the other Shichibukai didn't react as strongly as Crocodile.
Charlotte Linlin seemed quite happy on Whole Cake Island.
"Wow~ Wow~ Riley is really strong, she actually managed to defeat Newgate head-on, that's amazing."
As Charlotte Linlin grew older, another problem emerged: she would occasionally act as innocently as a child.
At this moment, she didn't see Lyriana as an enemy at all; she was simply happy that her former sister had become so powerful.
"I hope the children of the future will be as strong as Riley. Just one is enough. Siddi Lil really has the best daughter in the world."
Charlotte Linlin rubbed her belly, her eyes filled with affection. As expected, she was pregnant again.
From an age perspective, Charlotte Linlin is already an older mother. Although her physical condition does not present any difficulties in childbirth, the quality of her offspring is clearly declining.
The children she had in her middle age were not as good as the ones she had when she was younger, in terms of either ability or other aspects.
"Unbelievable, that's Whitebeard."
Inside the castle, Perospero and others were also having a family gathering. As Charlotte Linlin grew older, she delegated many tasks to her younger children, making decisions herself while leaving the specifics to them.
"It's alright. She was able to stop her raging mother two years ago, so it's not surprising that she's grown to this point."
Leaning back on the sofa, Katakuri didn't see anything wrong with it; he was more worried about the future than the present.
"She's still growing up. Who knows what she'll be like in a few years?"
Katakuri paused, then continued, "Mom is getting old, she's growing up. We're not enemies now, but what about later? Will anyone be able to defeat her in 10 years?"
"Don't think like that. Maybe she has already reached her peak, but she can maintain it for a longer time than others, rather than being ridiculously strong."
Besides, we shouldn't be enemies, right?
A woman who looks a lot like Charlotte Linlin when she was a child shared her opinion. She is Charlotte Comppert, the eldest daughter of the Charlotte family.
"Who can predict the future? And in terms of physical strength, she definitely still has room to grow."
As the strongest member of the family besides Charlotte Linlin, Katakuri has absolute authority to speak on the matter of strength.
Charlotte Linlin can be willful, but they can't; they have to think about the future.
They are pirates, and pirates are supposed to be loyal and righteous, but betrayal among pirates is also commonplace.
"This is difficult."
Katakuri knew his own situation; surpassing his mother would be very difficult for him. He was the one who had truly reached a bottleneck in his strength, and conventional methods could no longer break through it.
If Charlotte Linlin were to die one day, the immense pressure from external enemies might give him a chance to break through, but the risks involved are far too great.
"Katakuri, don't worry so much. At least that won't happen in the short term. Maybe one of our younger siblings will be even more talented."
Comppert was quite optimistic about this, mainly because worrying was useless and could not solve the problem.
"Yeah, Katakuri, aren't you going to have some snacks? There's no need to cover yourself with your scarf in front of us."
Katakuri never takes off his scarf in front of outsiders, not even his own younger siblings, as he wants to maintain his perfect image.
Katakuri used to not care about this; his mouth was cracked from eating too many donuts as a child.
He possesses monstrous strength and has been ridiculed for his appearance, but he doesn't care and will only beat up those who mock him.
Later, some of the people who had been beaten up by Katakuri slashed Brulee's face in revenge. From then on, Katakuri covered his face with a scarf, wanting to be the perfect older brother.
The younger siblings who were born later never saw Katakuri's face, but the younger siblings of similar age did, not to mention the older brothers and sisters, Perospero and Compote.
"I'm used to it now, and the donuts do look pretty good today."
"Of course, my sister baked it herself."
"Hehehe, did you manage to force Whitebeard to back down? Young man, you're getting more and more impressive."
Kaido was the young man outsiders used to talk about. When he was the same age as Lyriana, he was an apprentice in Rocks' pirate crew. Now he has reached the pinnacle of the pirate world.
The cracked sky couldn't be faked; Kaido had seen this scene more than once when he was with the Rocks Pirates.
Conqueror's Haki was quite common on Beehive Island back then. Without it, it would be difficult to become a high-ranking officer on Rocks' ship.
"That's the ability. It looks familiar. Could there really be a dragon that looks this good?"
Outsiders might think these are two similar mythical beast dragons, but Kaido, as the user of the original Devil Fruit, finds them very similar. Whether it's the flames, the fire, or the lightning, they are all very similar to his own.
"Quinn! Did your research group ever study the replication of Devil Fruits?"
"There are similar projects, but none of them have yielded any results. Vegapunk and Oran, on the other hand, have done some research in other areas. I estimate that the beast-transforming potion was something that was born in this process."
"But Brother Kaido, Oran and I left MADS around the same time, so it shouldn't have anything to do with you."
"It doesn't matter if there's a connection. It would be even better if they were the same fruit. I'd like to see who's stronger, her or mine."
Kaido's true nature remains that of a battle maniac; for him, this kind of opponent is more likely to demonstrate the outcome.
As for forcing Whitebeard to retreat, he didn't care. He was indeed no match for Whitebeard more than ten years ago, but times have changed now.
At this point, Kaido suddenly picked up his spiked club.
"Thunderous Eight Trigrams!"
With a flick of his wrist, he sent a petite figure flying.
"You've learned to attack silently, but you're still far from good enough. You think you can catch me with just these skills? What a waste of that mythical beast species."
"Damn it, you bull-headed gorilla! If you weren't so much bigger than me, I would have knocked you down already!"
Besides Yamato, no one else could have launched a sneak attack on Kaido on Onigashima. Due to the changes brought about by Oran, she is now simply striving to defeat Kaido.
"Age? Look at others, she's only 16 years old, and she's already on par with Whitebeard! And look at you, you can't even figure out how to launch a sneak attack, yet you're talking about age?"
Isn't your idol Siddiel? What a coincidence, she's Siddiel's daughter!
The newspaper was transformed into the size of a brick by Kaido's Haki, and then Kaido threw it away.
"You bastard father, you really wanted to kill me!"
Looking at the newspaper embedded in the pillar above his head, Yamato swallowed hard, then said indignantly, "It's clearly the difference between you fathers! Mr. Oran certainly wouldn't be like you, just blindly charging in!"
"Hahaha, Miss, you're absolutely right. That guy Sidil is really good at raising kids. I think the red bean soup with rice cakes was ready on the ship. I'll be going now."
Quinn had intended to boast about his past exploits, but he suddenly had a feeling that he was being watched by Death, so he mumbled something and ran to the kitchen.
Staying here any longer will only get us beaten up; let Yamato bear that suffering himself.
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