Chapter 340
Perospero ran his long, slender tongue across his lips, making a particularly unpleasant smacking sound as he narrowed his eyes at Judge's arrogant face.
Judge suppressed the irritation building between his brows. He had no interest in wasting time arguing with the Underworld Emperors, much less provoking an unnecessary confrontation in the middle of an alliance gathering protected by two Emperors.
He slipped his hands beneath his cape and gave Perospero a sidelong glance.
"Spare me the pleasantries, Perospero. With a gathering of this magnitude, exactly how many invitations have you sent out?"
His voice turned colder.
"More importantly, what about that War Demon who's been turning the East Blue upside down and giving Marine Headquarters one headache after another? Did he have the nerve to accept your invitation?"
The moment the question left his mouth, Drug Peclo, who had been muttering curses only moments earlier, immediately fell silent.
The Funeral Director unconsciously took half a step forward, listening so intently that even his breathing became noticeably quieter. Nearby, Umit and Du Feld reacted in much the same way.
For these ambitious men who had built their empires in the shadows of the New World's greater powers, the alliance between two Emperors represented an extraordinary opportunity.
Zaraki, however, was another matter entirely.
The man had demonstrated absolutely no interest in respecting the established rules of the sea. His very existence threatened the delicate arrangements through which these Underworld Emperors accumulated wealth and influence, and none of them wanted to discover what would happen if he chose Onigashima as the site of his next rampage.
"Perorin~! As expected of Your Majesty Judge, you certainly keep yourself well informed!"
Perospero's shrill laughter rang across the harbor. He deliberately drew out his response, enjoying the anticipation gathering among his listeners before finally continuing.
"Well, since you've asked, I'll tell you. That stubborn old fool Whitebeard is already on his way aboard the Moby Dick, while Red-Haired Shanks has people watching the surrounding routes."
He paused.
"As for Zaraki..."
Perospero shrugged dismissively, his voice rising with open contempt.
"That brat is probably still wandering around somewhere wondering which direction Wano is in!"
A mocking grin spread across his face.
"This is the New World, and this banquet is being hosted by Mama and Lord Kaido! Whatever strength that spoiled brat managed to develop, I doubt he'd have the courage to draw his sword in front of two Emperors and everyone gathered beneath their alliance!"
His words immediately triggered an explosion of laughter throughout the harbor.
"HAHAHAHA! He's right!"
"Maybe he finally realized there are limits to how suicidal one man can be!"
The surrounding pirates seized the opportunity to ridicule the absent War Demon, their laughter becoming increasingly boisterous as they competed to deliver the most insulting remarks.
In truth, much of that arrogance was little more than a convenient disguise.
They were standing at the heart of an alliance backed by the forces of two Emperors and nearly a hundred thousand fighters distributed throughout Wano. Mocking Zaraki allowed them to conceal their own anxiety beneath a display of confidence.
Perospero joined in their laughter, although a distinctly calculating glimmer appeared in his eyes.
He wanted Zaraki to appear more than anyone.
His younger brother Katakuri, whom everyone seemed determined to praise at every opportunity, had repeatedly treated the War Demon as an opponent too dangerous to dismiss. Perospero found the reverence surrounding Zaraki increasingly irritating.
He wanted Zaraki's defeat to become a stepping stone, something that would finally prove the eldest son of the Charlotte family deserved a position no one could question.
Once that happened, everyone who had ever doubted his standing would become a laughingstock.
...
At the same time, approximately seven or eight nautical miles outside the waters of Wano Country...
"ACHOO!"
Zaraki suddenly sneezed.
He rubbed his nose with an irritated expression.
"Must be Makino thinking about me. Either that, or some blind idiot is scheming behind my back."
After casually wiping away the mess on the deck, he turned toward the enormous figure standing beside him.
The sea breeze carried an increasingly strong smell of sulfur, which became more pronounced the closer their ship approached Wano.
"Nekomamushi, are we there yet? These damn waves are getting so bad I'm about to throw up all the booze I drank."
Zaraki gripped the railing with an expression of undisguised annoyance. There was not the slightest hint of nervousness about entering the territory of one of the Four Emperors; if anything, he seemed considerably more concerned about the possibility of losing his lunch.
Beside him, Nekomamushi's enormous body swayed with the ship. His golden fur had been thoroughly disheveled by the sea wind, but he could barely conceal the excitement burning in his eyes.
"Almost there, Captain Zaraki! Once we get around this stretch of whirlpools, we'll be able to see Wano's natural defenses!"
His booming voice carried easily above the crashing waves.
As Nekomamushi looked toward Zaraki, admiration welled up inside him.
Ever since witnessing the man crush powerful warriors as effortlessly as someone picking up helpless chicks, Nekomamushi and Duke Inuarashi had reached a common understanding.
Following this man into battle meant that reclaiming Wano was no longer some distant, impossible dream.
Inuarashi stepped forward with considerably greater composure. He studied the increasingly turbulent horizon with furrowed brows as he considered the dangers awaiting them.
"Captain Zaraki, there are only two established ways to enter Wano Country. The first is to climb the enormous waterfall with the help of the giant carp that swim along it, while the second is to use the underground harbor."
He gestured toward the distant waters.
"However, with the alliance banquet underway, the underground port will be under even tighter control than usual, and the Beasts Pirates will have stationed substantial forces around the waterfall as well. Either normal route would put us directly into defenses they've already prepared."
"Risk?"
Zaraki raised an eyebrow, a playful smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.
"There's no such thing as taking the long way around in my dictionary."
He turned toward the man resting near the ship's mast.
Dressed in a pale-purple kimono, with gray hair and a perfectly ordinary-looking cane sword resting in his hand, Issho seemed completely detached from the excitement surrounding him. His eyes remained closed as he quietly concentrated on the world around him.
"Uncle Issho! Had enough sleep?"
Issho slowly raised his head.
Although his blind eyes revealed nothing, his expression remained gentle, and his voice carried the steady confidence of a man who possessed a profound understanding of his own strength.
"Captain Zaraki, I've been listening to the movements of the earth. The currents ahead certainly don't seem particularly welcoming."
"If they aren't welcoming, then force them down."
Zaraki rose from his seat and casually brushed the dust from his clothes before pointing toward the enormous waterfall barely visible in the distance, a seemingly impassable wall of water rising toward the heavens.
"We're not using the underground harbor, and we're not playing that ridiculous game of letting a bunch of carp drag us up a waterfall."
His grin widened.
"We're going in from the sky."
Nekomamushi and Inuarashi immediately exchanged incredulous looks.
This was an enormous, specially constructed Marine warship weighing thousands of tons, not some seagull that could casually spread its wings and fly wherever it pleased. Even after everything they had witnessed on Zou, the proposal sounded utterly absurd.
Zaraki paid no attention to their bewilderment.
He strode toward the bow and narrowed his eyes at the distant waterfall. An extraordinarily powerful presence erupted from his body, descending upon the surrounding waters with enough weight to overwhelm even the furious roar of the wind and waves.
"Issho."
Zaraki's voice was calm, but it carried the unmistakable authority of an order.
"Do your thing."
His eyes remained fixed on Wano.
"Let's show these people that our way of dropping in for a visit is a little different from everyone else's."
Issho nodded slightly.
The hand previously concealed inside his sleeve slowly moved toward the hilt of his cane sword.
Click.
The blade emerged from its sheath.
There was no elaborate flourish or immediate eruption of spectacular energy. Issho simply drew his weapon with the same measured movements he might have used during an ordinary sword practice session, yet the instant the blade appeared, the atmosphere over the surrounding waters changed.
Tremendous invisible forces began gathering around the warship.
Issho's mastery of the Press-Press Fruit had reached an extraordinary level. He had no need for eyesight to perceive the movement of the surrounding sea; through his unique senses he could follow the currents, detect the terrain beneath the water, and manipulate gravitational forces throughout an enormous area.
For a man who had developed his abilities to such an extent, altering the effective weight of an entire warship was hardly unimaginable.
Nekomamushi and Inuarashi clenched their fists as they watched the blind swordsman prepare to act.
They had already witnessed the astonishing strength of their new captain. Now they were about to see exactly what the other monster Zaraki had recruited was capable of accomplishing.
At the bow, Zaraki clasped his hands behind his back.
The sea wind whipped his Shihakushō around him, but his expression remained perfectly indifferent as he gazed toward the towering waterfall.
He had no intention of relying on giant carp to drag his ship into the country, nor did he particularly care about slipping quietly through an underground passage. If he was going to enter the territory of the Beasts Pirates, he intended to do it in the most outrageous and conspicuous fashion possible, without careful infiltration, concealed movements, or any attempt to sneak around simply because Kaido happened to own the place.
Zaraki intended to announce his presence openly.
This was the War Demon delivering his third declaration of war to Kaido and the newly formed Emperor alliance.
Beyond Wano's natural defenses, the festivities on Onigashima continued unabated. Perospero was still plotting how to strengthen his position within the Charlotte family, the Underworld Emperors were calculating how much influence they could gain from the alliance, and pirates from across the New World were celebrating what they believed would become the greatest gathering of their generation.
None of them knew that the man they had spent so much time discussing was already only a short distance away.
The waves surrounding the warship grew increasingly violent as the enormous vessel trembled upon the water, but Issho's developing gravitational field steadily enveloped its entire structure. His fingers shifted almost imperceptibly against the sword hilt, and a faint gleam appeared along the exposed blade.
Then the ship began to feel lighter.
The hull rose fractionally higher above the waterline.
Loose barrels rolled across the deck before crew members hurried to secure them. Timber groaned throughout the vessel as forces no ordinary ship had ever been designed to experience spread from bow to stern.
Nekomamushi's eyes widened.
Inuarashi stared downward at the widening gap between sections of the hull and the waves.
Issho remained calm.
High overhead, vast cloud formations slowly shifted toward Wano as the gravitational field continued strengthening around the vessel.
The stage was no longer divided between two distant regions of the New World.
Everything was converging on Wano.
On Onigashima, two Emperors, their commanders, Germa, the Underworld rulers, and pirates from across the New World were gathering beneath the same banner, each carrying ambitions and calculations of their own. Hidden among those preparations were the schemes of the World Government, the promised involvement of Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro, and the possibility that Marshall D. Teach and his newly acquired criminals would soon enter the conflict.
Beyond the country's natural defenses, Whitebeard was approaching with the Moby Dick.
And only several miles from Wano, Zaraki stood at the bow of a rising warship while Issho steadily stripped away the weight holding thousands of tons of steel and timber against the sea.
The people celebrating on Onigashima still believed they had Wano's waterfalls, ports, patrols, and natural defenses between themselves and any uninvited guest.
Zaraki had no intention of respecting even one of them.
The banquet and the War Demon were no longer separate storms gathering in distant corners of the New World.
They were only miles apart.
And they were about to collide.
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