svetikya Chapter 257 The Strongest Creature, Roger VS Golden Lion
Chapter 257 The Strongest Creature, Roger VS Golden Lion
The first half of the Grand Line, Water Seven.
While Kaido and his crew were busy organizing and participating in the World Martial Arts Tournament in the latter half of the Grand Line, Capone Sunny, the chief steward of the Beasts Pirates, was here overseeing things.
"report!"
"Please come in."
A Beasts Pirate dressed in a shipwright's uniform entered the deputy mayor's office. After carefully closing the door, he began to report to Sonny.
"Lord Sunny, we've obtained the intelligence."
Sunny, who was sitting behind his desk, stopped what he was doing and looked up at the Beast Pirate.
"Say!"
The Beasts Pirates simultaneously occupied four islands in the first half of the Grand Line: Carnival City, Food City, Spring Queen's Castle, and Water Seven.
These four islands are located on four of the seven major shipping routes in the first half of the Grand Line.
In addition, the Beasts Pirates have occupied these four islands for some years.
Therefore, even though the intelligence network was not established very smoothly, it was still built to some extent.
In the past few days, the navy has seen a large-scale mobilization.
If only one branch did this, Sunny wouldn't be alarmed. But the fact that branches on all four islands and four shipping routes were mobilized on a large scale means that a very serious incident has occurred.
According to the information Sunny has, no major unexpected events have occurred in the first half of the Grand Line.
Meanwhile, Kaido's World Martial Arts Tournament was causing quite a stir.
People on islands like Water Seven and Carnival City would gather at the island's square every day to watch the live stream.
They cheer excitedly whenever they see Kaido and Charlotte Linlin achieve victory.
Yesterday, when we saw Charlotte Linlin being defeated by Roger through trickery, everyone collectively shouted that Roger was despicable.
Therefore, the navy's strange movements made Sonny realize immediately that this might be an operation targeting the World Martial Arts Tournament.
Therefore, he sent Genki to gather intelligence from the naval soldiers.
Genki is both a pirate of the Beasts Pirates and a shipwright at the Beasts Shipyard.
He has handed over completed warships to the Navy on several occasions and is very familiar with many soldiers from the Navy Headquarters and its various branches.
After receiving orders from Sonny, he led a new batch of completed warships to the Navy's G2 branch for handover.
Here, he used his money and alcohol skills to successfully extract information from several rogue naval soldiers.
"The Navy is indeed preparing to take action against the World Martial Arts Tournament!"
Genki revealed all the information he had gathered.
"According to the G2 branch of the Navy, this was a hastily launched operation, but it mobilized almost all the elite forces from the Navy branches along the Grand Line. It seems they were preparing to achieve their goal in one fell swoop, hoping to take advantage of the World Martial Arts Tournament to wipe out Captain Kaido and his crew in one fell swoop!!"
After listening to Xuanmu's report, Sunny frowned slightly.
"The Navy has the appetite to wipe out Captain Kaido and his crew, including Roger, Whitebeard, and Shiki in one fell swoop?!"
Kaido once told them about the high-end combat capabilities the Navy possessed.
With almost all of the older generation wiped out at God Valley, the Navy currently possesses only admiral-level combat power, consisting of Fleet Admiral, Admiral, and at most Garp.
With this level of high-end combat power, how can they possibly compete with those legendary pirates at the World Martial Arts Tournament?!
Kaido, Charlotte Linlin, and Selene are not even considered others; the Beasts themselves have three Admiral-level or even stronger Emperor-level combatants.
Where does the navy get its confidence?!
"Could it be... that the legendary Knights of God and the Five Elders will personally intervene?!"
Sonny felt that this was probably the only explanation.
So he decisively picked up the Den Den Mushi on the table and dialed the number that Kaido always carried with him.
Bahru bahru bah...
Bahru bahru bah...
However, despite calling for a long time, the Den Den Mushi still couldn't get through.
"What's going on?!"
When Sonny asked the Den Den Mushi, the Den Den Mushi replied after hanging up the call, "The signal seems to be blocked."
Sonny's brow furrowed deeper and deeper.
"This is really going to be a disaster. The Navy's target might actually be the World Martial Arts Tournament..."
Upon hearing this, Genki, who was sitting across from him at the desk, immediately became tense.
"Sang, Lord Sunny, we can't get through to the Den Den Mushi. What should we do next?"
Sunny put away the Den Den Mushi and thought for a brief two minutes.
"I've got an idea! Go and gather the brothers, we're going to attack Marine Headquarters!!"
"Huh? Attacking Marine Headquarters?!"
"To relieve the siege of Wei by attacking Zhao... By the way, Captain Kaido didn't tell you this story. In short, it's about stealing the Navy's home base. If they don't want their home base to be stolen, they will definitely send troops back to reinforce it. In this way, the number of Navy that Captain Kaido and his crew will have to face will be reduced. Now that we've cut off contact with the captain and his crew, this is all we can do!"
Upon hearing this, Xuanmu finally understood what Sunny meant and decisively set off.
"Understood! Lord Sonny, I'll go and inform the brothers right away!!"
However, not long after Genki left, and after Sunny had just finished putting away the important documents in the office, another Beast Pirate rushed over in a hurry.
"Something terrible has happened! Lord Sonny!!"
"Speak! What is it?!"
"Navy! Naval fleet! They've surrounded us!!"
"What did you say?!"
Sonny hurried out of the office and went to the tallest fountain on the island, where he used binoculars to look into the distance.
As expected, a fleet of about 10 warships came from the direction of the Navy Headquarters and surrounded Water 7 in a fan shape.
"A full 10 capital warships! That's almost as big as the Buster Call!"
Sonny put down his binoculars, his face grim.
He recognized three of the ten warships as the ones that had recently been handed over to the Navy's G2 branch.
This means that as soon as Genki returned from the Navy's G2 branch with the intelligence, the other side mobilized their entire army to follow him, which allowed them to surround Water 7 in such a timely and fortunate turn of events.
"Listen up, all Beast Pirates of Water Seven!!"
"The world government has recently declared martial law!!"
"Issuing all islanders of the Seven Waters City that, from this moment forward, they are only permitted to enter the island and are not allowed to leave!"
"Anyone who dares to disobey orders will be subjected to direct artillery fire from our navy!!"
From the naval fleet's direction, a wide-area broadcast began to address the entire island of Water Seven.
Upon hearing the navy's call, Sonny's expression grew even more grim.
Just then, Xuanmu, who had just left, ran back.
"Lord Sunny, what should we do? Should we still go into battle?!"
"Wait a moment, let me contact the other three islands first."
Bahru bahru bah...
The busy signal indicating that communications were blocked reappeared.
"Damn it! The Navy has completely blocked all communications on this island. Not only the New World, we can't even contact the neighboring Spring Queen's City!!"
"Report, Lord Sunny, the live stream on Island Square is suddenly unavailable!"
Another pirate came to report an emergency, which once again confirmed Sunny's guess.
"Lord Sunny, what should we do next?"
"beat!!"
Sonny roared angrily, his face grim.
"We're the Beasts Pirates! Don't let the Marines look down on us!!"
At Sunny's command, all the Beast Pirates in Water Seven immediately sprang into action.
Just then, the naval fleet in the distance changed its broadcasters.
"Cough cough..."
The new announcer cleared his throat.
"Sonny, you're on the island, right? I'm the one leading the team this time."
Sonny, who was about to board the ship, was stunned when he heard that familiar voice.
"Zeff?!"
"Give up the resistance. You know you're no match for me."
"Lord Sunny...the person who has come seems to be...Admiral Zephyr!"
"It's General Black Wrist!!"
"What...what should we do?!"
Sonny's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. He really didn't expect that the Navy would even send Zephyr to deal with him.
This means that there will only be more admiral-level fighters to deal with Captain Kaido and his crew!
Otherwise, Zephyr would never be here!
Listening to the panicked voices of the lower-ranking pirates around him, Sunny fell into thought.
Most of the pirates on the island now are new recruits who have joined the Beast Pirates less than a year ago, and many of them were even promoted from convicts.
They still have some fighting power, but their fear of the navy is genuine.
Currently, he is the only high-end combatant in Water Seven, yet he has to face the entire fleet led by Zephyr, making the disparity in strength quite significant.
To fight or not to fight?
This has really become a problem.
"Sonny!!"
Just as Sonny was getting into a mental struggle, a sudden external voice startled him awake.
"Master Tom?"
The newcomer turned out to be Tom, the chief shipwright of the Beast Shipyard.
Not only him, but also the other shipwrights and craftsmen from the shipyard appeared with the fishman Tom.
"Master Tom, please rest assured, the Beasts Pirates will definitely protect Water Seven!!"
Sonny mistakenly believed that Tom and his group had come seeking refuge.
To everyone's surprise, Tom shook his head after hearing Sonny's words of comfort.
"Sonny, you've misunderstood. We're here to fight together!"
"Water Seven is not only the territory of the Beasts Pirates, but also our home!"
The shipwright Daruston, standing behind Tom, chimed in, "If it weren't for you, Water Seven wouldn't be as prosperous as it is today. So, let's fight together!!"
“Dauruston, and everyone else…”
Sonny's eyes were slightly dazed.
He never imagined that the Beasts Pirates would one day be so beloved by the shipwrights, and for a moment, he didn't know what to do.
Of course, as a powerful regional official, Sonny quickly adjusted his mindset.
"All Beast Pirates and Shipwrights, heed my command!!"
"Board the ships! Engage the navy!!"
"However, all of you should pay attention!"
"Without my order, you are strictly prohibited from launching an attack on the navy!!"
"The enemy has General Zephyr; unless absolutely necessary, we should avoid fighting!"
“┗|艹皿艹|┛嗷！！”
Upon hearing Sunny's command, the Beast Pirates and the Beast Shipwrights responded with loud shouts.
Then, everyone began to board the ship in order.
Water 7 has now developed into the largest shipyard in the first half of the Grand Line, so there is no need to worry about the number of ships, whether they are completed but not yet shipped or were originally intended for their own use.
Before long, ten pirate warships flying the Beasts Flag set sail from various ports on the island, directly confronting the naval warships that had already formed an encirclement.
On pirate ships, there aren't many people on board.
After all, Water Seven never intended to clash with the Navy. The total number of pirates responsible for guarding the island was only 1000, and even with the shipwrights, it was only 2000.
On average, each warship has only about 200 people.
Of course, 200 people is not a large number, but it is enough to allow the warship to exert about 80% of its combat power.
The key point is that 10 pirate warships faced the enemy head-on, demonstrating considerable momentum.
On the naval fleet side.
Zephyr, relying on his Observation Haki and direct observation through his telescope, saw through Sonny's bluff.
but……
His situation wasn't much better.
The navy's true elite forces had been transferred to the New World to participate in the war. The soldiers in his fleet were mostly new recruits and reserve officer cadets still studying at the naval academy.
Similarly, the total number of naval personnel brought out this time was only about 3000, which averaged out to only about 300 per warship.
Compared to Sunny's side, they're really evenly matched.
Therefore, Zephyr never intended to start a war from the beginning.
They surrounded the island, cutting off all communication within it, so that Sunny couldn't contact Kaido.
Once this is achieved, the strategic objective will be considered accomplished.
Unfortunately, Sonny's fierce determination was beyond his expectations. He didn't expect Sonny to actually bring out the fleet and make a desperate stand.
Fortunately, Sonny maintained his rationality while being fierce, and instead of starting a war, he chose to confront himself.
In this way, as long as a real fight doesn't break out, Zephyr can actually accept it.
Meanwhile, the Beasts Pirates are located on three other islands in the first half of the Grand Line.
Carnival City, Food City, and Spring Queen City.
They are experiencing similar situations.
However, there were not as many warships surrounding them as in Water Seven; there were only five ships on each island.
The leader was not a semi-retired admiral like Zephyr, but a rear admiral among the younger generation of the navy who was both strong and well-known.
Of course, none of the three islands guarding Carnival City—Babanuki, Drake, and Nemo—are as tough as Sonny.
With communication cut off, they simply gathered all the pirates on the island to prepare for battle.
At the same time, arrangements were made for the island's residents to move into shelters and bomb shelters to prepare for defense.
Then, they stood facing the naval fleet across the sea, locked in a standoff, staring at each other.
Aure Island.
Kaido was unaware of what was happening in the first half of the Grand Line.
However, this does not mean that he was completely unaware of the navy's movements.
Because in addition to the intelligence network directly established by his pirate crew, he also had Morgans' World Economic News Agency, which had expanded to almost every island in the New World.