Chapter 335
Zaraki headed toward the Polar Tang while Law began examining Inuarashi and Nekomamushi.
The fight had left his throat dry and his body pleasantly restless, the familiar afterglow that followed a battle interesting enough to force him to pay attention.
There was no foreign template clawing at his mind and no uncontrollable compulsion that needed to be drowned in alcohol.
He simply wanted a drink.
Zaraki opened one of the storage compartments near the upper deck, found a bottle of strong rum, and pulled the cork out with his teeth.
Law looked over from the clearing.
“That’s mine.”
Zaraki drank half the bottle.
“Was.”
Law’s eye twitched.
Zaraki wiped his mouth and looked back toward the two rulers.
“Your revenge story isn’t really my problem.”
Inuarashi’s gaze hardened slightly.
“But Kaido is.”
Zaraki’s grin returned.
“And he saved us the trouble of looking for him.”
Nekomamushi frowned.
Zaraki lifted the bottle toward the horizon.
“The banquet is on Onigashima.”
Understanding spread across the faces around him.
“Kaido’s gathering his people there. Linlin’s coming with her family, and every idiot trying to attach himself to their new alliance is heading toward the same place.”
His grin became increasingly savage.
“So instead of raiding an empty house while Kaido’s somewhere else…”
Zaraki’s golden eyes gleamed.
“We walk through his front door while everybody important is home.”
Silence followed.
That plan was somehow even more insane than the version everyone had initially imagined.
Nekomamushi began laughing.
It hurt badly enough that he immediately coughed blood afterward, but he kept laughing anyway.
“Meowhahahaha!”
Inuarashi stared toward the distance.
“Onigashima.”
Twenty years of hatred sharpened the single word.
“If Kaido is there himself, then there is nowhere else I would rather go.”
Nekomamushi nodded.
“No sneaking around.”
His fangs showed.
“We settle it in front of him.”
That determination spread through the strongest minks gathered nearby.
Wanda stepped forward first.
“If the rulers are going, some of us will go with them.”
Shishilian nodded.
“But not everyone.”
His expression remained serious.
“Zou cannot be emptied simply because we have been given another chance at Wano.”
Pedro, bruised from his earlier defeat but already back on his feet, joined them.
“The Guardians can provide a small strike group without abandoning the Whale Forest.”
Zaraki nodded.
“Good.”
He looked across them.
“I wanted fighters, not the whole damn country.”
That clarification visibly relieved several minks.
There would be no subjugation.
No new ruler imposed on Zou.
No demand that the Mink Tribe surrender its sovereignty because Zaraki had defeated Inuarashi and Nekomamushi.
This was an alliance built around one immediate enemy.
Kaido.
Zaraki looked toward Law.
“How bad are they?”
Law remained crouched beside Nekomamushi.
“Bad enough that half an hour is stupid.”
“Two hours?”
“That is still stupid.”
“Three?”
Law stared at him.
Zaraki shrugged.
“Fine. As soon as you clear them to travel.”
“That could still be tonight if they rest and stop trying to stand every thirty seconds.”
Nekomamushi immediately stopped trying to stand.
Inuarashi pretended he had never intended to.
Zaraki finished the rum and tossed the empty bottle into a storage crate rather than smashing it across Law’s deck.
Then he looked down at his ruined sandals.
One had finally split completely.
Zaraki kicked both off and left them beside the hatch.
Bare feet settled against the deck.
“Pedro. Shishilian.”
Both looked toward him.
“Pick whoever can come without weakening Zou’s defenses.”
He turned toward Bepo.
“You help Law figure out the fastest route to Wano.”
Bepo nodded immediately.
“Yes!”
“Issho.”
The blind swordsman raised his head.
“We’ll need your gravity again when we get the Polar Tang off this elephant.”
Issho smiled.
“Of course.”
Zaraki finally looked toward the two rulers.
“Rest.”
Nekomamushi looked offended.
“I’ve waited twenty years, meow.”
“Then a few more hours won’t kill you.”
Zaraki grinned.
“Kaido might.”
That produced a much more enthusiastic reaction.
The preparations spread quickly across the surrounding area.
The majority of Zou would remain exactly where it belonged, while a limited force of its strongest warriors prepared to accompany the rulers once Law decided they were medically capable of travel.
Three days remained before the banquet.
The destination was no longer vague.
Wano Country.
Onigashima.
And Zaraki intended to arrive before the party reached its best part.
…
Far away, on that very island, the alliance Zaraki intended to crash was already growing.
…
Wano Country — Onigashima.
The night sea crashed against the cliffs surrounding the enormous skull-shaped island while firelight burned through countless windows and torch-lined passages.
Ships had begun arriving around Onigashima since news of the alliance spread, though many more had only pledged support through Den Den Mushi and were still making their way toward Wano.
Pirate flags belonging to crews from across the New World now shared the waters with vessels from the Big Mom Pirates, creating a gathering large enough to make any ordinary kingdom assume war had already begun.
Inside the main hall, two enormous figures occupied specially reinforced seats positioned at equal height.
On Kaido’s side sat the ruler of the territory himself.
Kaido of the Beasts.
Hassaikai rested nearby while his huge scarred frame leaned against the back of the seat, a sake gourd within easy reach.
His eyes remained half-lidded, but no one in the hall mistook apparent boredom for carelessness.
Across from him sat Charlotte Linlin.
Her enormous body nearly overflowed her own seat.
Prometheus and Zeus hovered nearby, while the reinforced prosthetic replacing her missing right arm rested heavily against the arm of the chair.
Every time its metal fingers moved, several members of the Beasts Pirates unconsciously glanced toward it.
They all knew who had taken the original arm.
War Demon Zaraki.
Neither Emperor considered the alliance one of friendship.
They had once sailed beneath Rocks.
They had fought one another more times than most people could remember.
Now they shared one immediate problem large enough to make cooperation worthwhile.
“Mamamama!”
Linlin’s laughter rolled through the hall.
“Perospero!”
Her prosthetic fingers tapped against the chair.
“How many little insects decided they suddenly love Mama after hearing Kaido and I joined hands?”
Perospero stepped forward with his enormous candy cane.
“Mama. Kaido-sama.”
His grin was broad.
“Thirty-five established pirate crews have already pledged support, and several dozen smaller factions have sent messages expressing their willingness to fall beneath the alliance banner.”
His tongue curled outward.
“Some advance groups have already begun arriving around Wano. Counting the forces promised by crews still on the way, the additional manpower is approaching ten thousand!”
His expression became increasingly excited.
“At this rate, our combined fleet will eclipse anything the New World has seen in years!”
“Perospero.”
Daifuku folded his arms.
“Do not start comparing a pile of opportunists to legends before they have even fought one battle.”
Perospero gave him an irritated look.
“What’s wrong with ambition?”
Then his eyes moved deliberately toward the man standing at the front of the Charlotte children.
“Somebody in this family has to think about expanding.”
Charlotte Katakuri ignored the provocation entirely.
Linlin noticed.
“Katakuri.”
He stepped forward.
“Mama.”
His voice was as controlled as ever.
“The Queen of the Pleasure District, Stussy, the Loan Shark King, Lu Feld, and several other Underworld powers are still observing the situation rather than openly committing.”
Katakuri continued.
“Germa 66 has not given a firm answer either.”
His expression became slightly more serious.
“And Elbaf’s leadership has not responded to the invitation.”
Linlin’s smile faded a little at that.
“I sent all of them invitations in your name,” Katakuri said. “The banquet remains three days from now.”
Perospero’s satisfaction weakened.
Thirty-five pirate crews sounded impressive until compared with the strategic influence represented by the names Katakuri had just listed.
The Underworld powers controlled money, shipping, weapons, information, and criminal markets across enormous stretches of the sea.
Germa possessed military technology few kingdoms could reproduce.
Elbaf was another matter entirely.
Even the World Government treated the military potential of the giants with caution.
“Mamamama…”
Linlin leaned forward.
“If we get the Underworld’s networks, Germa’s technology, and Elbaf’s warriors…”
Greed shone in her eyes.
“Then let’s see who dares stand against us.”
Her expression suddenly twisted.
“If that idiot Lola hadn’t ruined everything years ago, Elbaf might already have been tied to my family!”
Kaido opened his eyes a little farther.
He had little patience for Linlin’s old family grievances, but the military value of Elbaf required no explanation.
King stood behind him in silence.
Several of Kaido’s officers exchanged looks.
The scale of the alliance was beginning to grow beyond a partnership between two Emperor crews.
That was exactly what Kaido wanted.
If Zaraki intended to walk into Onigashima and challenge them before the entire New World, then the brat could discover what happened when the old monsters of the sea stopped fighting separately.
Perospero opened his mouth, apparently preparing another comment aimed at Katakuri.
Then he stopped.
Katakuri had changed.
Only slightly.
For anyone else, it might have gone unnoticed.
For the Charlotte family, it was alarming.
His posture had become rigid.
The muscles around one eye twitched once beneath his scarf, then again.
His attention shifted abruptly away from the people speaking to him, as though something that had not happened yet had become far more important than the present conversation.
“Katakuri?”
Linlin’s amusement vanished.
The hall quieted.
Katakuri did not answer immediately.
His Future Sight had caught something only a few moments ahead—something about to happen here on Onigashima or in its immediate surroundings, close enough for his Observation Haki to reach.
Whatever he had seen was enough to disturb a man who almost never allowed surprise to show.
His face hardened.
Then he turned sharply toward the far end of the hall.
Everyone followed his gaze.
And waited for the future Katakuri had already seen to arrive.