"Have you heard? There's a huge treasure hidden somewhere secret on this island."
"Emma, you just found out? I knew long ago - the treasure's in the mountains."
"What? The information I heard said the treasure is somewhere on the beach."
"This is the treasure of a great pirate from the previous era. If we get our hands on it, wouldn't we be set for life?"
"Your vision is too narrow, brother. If you get this treasure, you'll be set for eight lifetimes."
These inexplicable rumors fermented for a day and spread to all the pirates throughout the island.
The rumors spread farther and became increasingly exaggerated.
The treasure's value grew from the initial few hundred million Belly to hundreds of billions, even trillions of Belly.
Because of this, very few pirates who had been lingering on the island were willing to leave, continuing their search instead.
The already thoroughly excavated island was dug up and searched again.
Even more pirates from surrounding areas quickly headed this way.
This ultimately led to the current chaotic situation, with pirates coming and going, conflicts constantly breaking out.
This was exactly the situation Chinjao wanted to see.
Clearly, these false rumors were fabricated by the Chinjao Pirates.
If there really was treasure, they would have taken it long ago - why wait for others to snatch it?
It was merely a small trick to keep the pirates on the island.
Unexpectedly, these pirates were so brainless that they actually believed it.
Chinjao: I'm laughing my ass off.
The reason for going through all this trouble to keep these pirates here was, of course, for a greater purpose.
As long as there are enough cannon fodder, they can definitely cause sufficient impact on strong opponents.
While "enough ants can kill an elephant" isn't very realistic in this world, who says it's completely impossible?
This was Chinjao's true objective.
He remained uneasy inside.
Having been on this island for several days already, he still hadn't seen any targeted movements from the Rocks Pirates.
This unusual behavior made Chinjao somewhat paranoid.
These past few days, he maintained a high frequency of using Observation Haki to scan the island.
Not just the island - he even scanned the sea areas around the island.
This high-frequency use of Observation Haki was quite a burden for Chinjao.
After several consecutive days, he was becoming neurasthenic, constantly feeling like someone was about to attack.
Just at this moment, the explosions started again.
Boom boom~
Boom~
The sound of numerous cannonballs came from the distance, reaching Chinjao's ears.
Hearing this damn noise gave him a headache, and he spoke with a dark expression.
"Da Qiang, go handle it. Make these pirates quiet down for me - they're driving me crazy."
Perhaps because the sound of cannonballs was too familiar, or perhaps because he had used too much Observation Haki.
At this moment, Chinjao only performed a simple scan of the island without investigating too deeply.
Thus directly missing the opportunity to confirm Brian and the others' movements at the first moment.
Yes, the sound of cannon fire they heard was the noise from the Beast Girl Legion's earlier battle with several pirate ships at sea.
One could only say that everything is fated—this was Chinjao's destiny.
"Yes, Leader."
Da Qiang stood up and quickly walked outside.
Leaving Chinjao and the remaining Happo Navy members inside, they exchanged silent glances and drank quietly.
Chinjao remained silent, lost in thought.
"Just one day left. I hope everything goes smoothly. As long as those guys arrive tomorrow, this old man can bring the mermaid back to Kano Country with them."
"Damn those old fools, just wait. When I return this time, if I don't teach you a lesson, I'm not Chinjao. As for Her Majesty the Queen, she's becoming more and more useless, truly lacking any of her father's demeanor. Should we replace the queen? No, it would be too difficult to explain." His scattered thoughts led Chinjao further into absurdity.
Time passed quickly. Da Qiang had been gone for a while, and Chinjao finally sensed something was wrong.
Tap, tap, tap~
At that moment, Da Qiang rushed in nervously, pushed the door open, and exclaimed loudly.
"Leader, something big has happened! The Rocks Pirates are here."
"What?"
Chinjao shot to his feet, startled.
The surrounding officers tensed up, looking at Da Qiang anxiously, eager to know the details.
Sigh, huff~
"Can you confirm who it is from the Rocks Pirates?"
Chinjao's mind raced through the top members of the Rocks Pirates.
From Captain Rocks, to the four senior executives like Whitebeard, down to the three officers like Silver Axe, their images flashed through his mind.
He prayed fervently that it wouldn't be anyone too troublesome.
As long as it wasn't Rocks or one of those four senior executives, there was still hope.
If it were Silver Axe, John, or Wang Zhi...
"Hmph," Chinjao thought, "facing those three, I'd dare to say it to their faces—you three little punks."
He, the great Chinjao, was after all an Admiral Candidate Level fighter and a possessor of Conqueror's Haki.
Those three punks were only at Vice Admiral level—what could they possibly use to challenge him?
Subconsciously, Chinjao completely separated Silver Axe and the other two from the top five executives.
If Silver Axe and the others knew what he was thinking, they'd probably want to cry themselves to sleep in the bathroom.
Such pitiful officers, truly pitiful!
Unfortunately, Chinjao's hopes were destined to be nothing but wishful thinking.
Da Qiang's next words shattered all his illusions.
"Leader, it's the Beasts—Beast Brian."
"So far, we've only confirmed the presence of the six Beast Girls under the Beasts' command. They've already begun landing on the island and have started a fierce battle with those pirates."
"These pirates are being pushed back step by step, completely outmatched."
As soon as Da Qiang said this, Chinjao knew things had truly taken a turn for the worse.
The opponent he least wanted to face had indeed appeared.
"Ha!"
"Wait a moment, let me check."
Chinjao closed his eyes, and his Observation Haki instantly emanated from his body, sweeping past everyone around him.
It rapidly expanded outward, covering the entire island and even extending further, all the way to the sea.
Scan, scan~
"It really is the Beast Girls, just like in the bounty posters."
"Huh, there's a new face too, with the strength of a Rear Admiral. Terrifying."
"I haven't located Brian yet, but I can sense a trace of his presence out at sea, quite far away."
Chinjao opened his eyes and relayed the information he had gathered.
Although Brian hadn't managed to pinpoint the exact location through scanning, he could vaguely sense something.
Thanks to Brian not deliberately concealing his aura, Chinjao's Observation Haki detected his presence through the perception unique to strong fighters.
Running through all the circumstances in his mind, Chinjao immediately issued orders.
"Everyone, listen up!"
"Yes, Boss!"
"Da Qiang, A Dong, each of you lead four officers and divide the Happo Navy into two teams. Go intercept the two separated Beast Girl squads."
"As for Beast Brian himself, I will personally step in to hold him off."
"Yes, we understand."
"Be extremely careful. The opponents we're facing this time are unprecedented. Don't get yourselves killed."
"YES!!!"
"Go."
Da Qiang and A Dong led their teams and quickly departed, their expressions tense and the atmosphere somewhat heavy.
This was indeed their first time confronting the Rocks Pirates.
In the past, whenever they encountered the Rocks Pirates, they would lay low and avoid them from a distance.
Now suddenly having to face the colossal entity that was the Rocks Pirates, and specifically Beast Brian—one of the four senior executives—no one was without fear.
After everyone had left, Chinjao didn't rush outside.
Surprisingly, he instead hurried toward the back of the room, his expression rushed and somewhat tense