Chapter 253
Katakuri's voice was low, but even through the storm and the lingering pressure of two Emperors' Conqueror's Haki, every word reached the people around him clearly enough to make their expressions change.
"I saw the next clash."
He kept his eyes fixed on the barren island where Charlotte Linlin and Kaido were still facing one another, their crews already pulling farther offshore under his earlier warning.
"If you both attack again right now, you'll both be coughing up blood a few seconds later."
Silence fell almost immediately.
Kaido's kanabo remained raised, black lightning still crawling around the weapon from the Conqueror's Haki coating wrapped around it, while Linlin held Napoleon at her side with Prometheus and Zeus hovering close behind her.
Neither Emperor lowered their guard, but the battle that had been on the verge of erupting again stopped before either of them committed to the next exchange.
The crews of the Big Mom Pirates and Beasts Pirates stared toward Katakuri in disbelief.
These were two of the Four Emperors, monsters standing at the very peak of the sea.
Either one of them coughing blood after taking a direct hit was conceivable; both of them doing so almost simultaneously was enough to make even veteran pirates uneasy.
Katakuri's words carried weight because everyone present knew what his Observation Haki could do. He could only see a short distance into the immediate future, but within that narrow span his predictions were frighteningly reliable.
If he said the next few seconds ended with both Emperors injured, no one sensible dismissed it as guesswork.
Perospero's pupils contracted as he glanced from Katakuri to their mother.
Whatever private rivalry existed among the Charlotte siblings, this was not the moment to undermine the warning simply because Katakuri was the one delivering it.
"Mamamama...!"
Linlin's laughter rolled over the island, although some of the earlier fury had left it.
"Both of us, huh?"
She jabbed Napoleon toward Kaido. "I can believe that brat coughing blood after I split his head open, but you're telling me I'd end up the same way?"
"Worororo! Don't flatter yourself, Linlin."
Kaido bared his teeth and rested the kanabo against one shoulder. "You're the one who'd be coughing blood."
He then looked past her toward Katakuri, his expression sharpening.
"But if that future was only a few seconds away, then say exactly what you saw."
Katakuri did not flinch under the attention of two Emperors. "You attacked at the same time. Neither of you backed down, and the shock went through both of you before the weapons even separated. That is all I saw."
Smoothie, standing aboard the Queen Mama Chanter farther offshore, drew a slow breath. "So the future changes if they don't make that attack."
Katakuri gave a small nod.
Future Sight was not prophecy carved into stone. It showed what was about to happen if events continued along the path he had just witnessed.
Perospero immediately seized on the point. "Then perhaps we can all stop trying to sink half the fleet for five minutes, pero."
Linlin's head turned toward him.
Perospero straightened so quickly that his tongue nearly snapped back into his mouth.
Kaido laughed.
The brief interruption did not make either Emperor friendly, but it was enough to keep the next Conqueror-coated collision from happening exactly as Katakuri had seen it.
From a black vessel positioned well beyond the two pirate fleets, Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro watched in silence. Four masked CP0 agents stood behind him, none speaking while his fingers rested lightly against the hilt of the sword at his waist.
Katakuri's Future Sight interested him, but only as another variable in an already complicated negotiation.
The Government had not brought Kaido and Linlin together so they could destroy one another before the real operation even began.
A secure Den Den Mushi at his waist suddenly started ringing.
Purupurupuru...
Nusjuro lifted the receiver.
"Speak."
Director Dapus answered from Kalles Island, and the irritation in his voice was obvious even through the encrypted connection.
"We have a problem."
Nusjuro's eyes narrowed.
"What kind?"
"The Oni Slayer did not enter the central harbor."
For the first time since the call began, Nusjuro's hand tightened slightly around the receiver.
Dapus continued.
"Marine Headquarters sent them an updated coastal survey. Gion redirected the ship toward the northern shelf before it crossed the firing lines. The three main seastone batteries no longer have a clean solution, and if we activate them now, we expose the entire harbor defense before Zaraki is committed."
Nusjuro's expression darkened.
The central harbor had been designed as the simplest stage of the operation.
Zaraki was supposed to sail in, meet the candidate under false pretenses, and only discover the seastone weapons after the Oni Slayer had already entered the kill zone.
Gion had ruined that before the first shot was fired.
"Can the northern approach be closed?"
"Not without making the trap obvious."
"Then adapt."
Dapus gave a humorless laugh.
"I already have."
Nusjuro heard the faint satisfaction beneath the irritation.
"What did you do?"
"The alternate bait is being prepared. It was designed for Zaraki specifically, and unlike the harbor batteries, it does not require him to make a tactical mistake."
Nusjuro's gaze shifted toward Charlotte Linlin.
"Explain."
Dapus did.
The longer Nusjuro listened, the colder his expression became, although this time it was calculation rather than anger.
When the report ended, he was silent for several seconds before speaking again.
"Proceed, but keep the candidate and the Aegis operatives in place. This does not replace the Kalles operation."
"Understood."
"And Dapus."
"Yes?"
"If your bait turns into an uncontrolled war with Marine Headquarters before Zaraki is isolated, I will hold you personally responsible."
Dapus's amusement disappeared.
"Understood."
The call ended.
Linlin's voice immediately rolled across the water.
"Oi, old man! You drag us out here, then start whispering into a snail while we're waiting. Did something happen?"
Kaido's eyes narrowed as well.
Nusjuro lowered the receiver.
"The target changed his approach."
That was enough to get Kaido's attention.
"Zaraki?"
Nusjuro did not deny it.
A slow grin spread across Kaido's face.
...
The moment Zaraki's name entered the conversation, the atmosphere around the barren island changed again.
Kaido's irritation over the interrupted fight faded beneath something far more focused.
He leaned the kanabo against one shoulder, and the grin on his face became openly predatory.
"So he made it to Kalles."
Nusjuro looked toward him without expression. "He is approaching it."
Linlin's eyes narrowed. "And you expected him to sail straight into whatever little trap your Government prepared?"
"The route had been arranged."
"Mamamama! Then you still don't understand him."
Linlin's laughter was mocking rather than amused. "A man who punched a World Noble in front of Garp isn't going to walk where you tell him just because you painted a line on the sea."
Nusjuro did not respond to the insult.
Dapus's report had already made the same point more usefully.
Kaido stepped closer to the edge of the island. "If your people fail again, stay out of my way. I'm not chasing that brat across the sea a third time just to have the Government interfere when the fight gets good."
"You will not move on Kalles until the current operation has run its course," Nusjuro said.
Kaido's smile disappeared.
"You giving me orders?"
"I am telling you the terms under which we provided his route."
Black lightning flickered once around Kaido's kanabo.
Several CP0 agents aboard the black vessel tensed.
Linlin laughed again.
"Keep going. I want to see which one of you gets angry enough to ruin the deal first."
Katakuri did not join the amusement.
His Observation Haki remained alert, though the immediate future had settled now that Kaido and Linlin were no longer trading blows.
Nusjuro looked toward Linlin.
"The Government is prepared to give both of you access to Zaraki's current route, the timing of the Kalles operation, and the combat reports gathered from his recent engagements. In exchange, you allow Aegis to make the first attempt."
Kaido snorted.
"And if Aegis fails?"
"Then the Government will not interfere with what follows, provided your forces do not attack Marine Headquarters directly."
That answer interested him.
Linlin's expression became more thoughtful.
"You're giving us permission to fight one of your own Marines?"
"I am giving you information. What you choose to do with it afterward is your responsibility."
Perospero's tongue curled.
It was exactly the kind of sentence the World Government preferred: a promise shaped carefully enough that no one could later prove it had been an order.
Kaido understood it too, and his grin returned.
"What about her?"
He jerked his chin toward Linlin.
"I'm not sharing Zaraki."
Linlin's face twisted.
"Sharing? Who said he belongs to you?"
"You weren't there when we fought."
"And you didn't finish it."
The argument threatened to ignite again.
Nusjuro cut through it before Katakuri had to warn them a second time.
"There is another part of the operation."
Linlin looked toward him.
Nusjuro's voice remained calm.
"Gion, one of Marine Headquarters' Admiral candidates, is aboard the Oni Slayer as Zaraki's official observer. The northern approach requires reconnaissance before the warship can safely enter. If she leaves the ship to inspect the route, one of your patrol groups will have an opportunity to intercept her."
For the first time, several Big Mom officers stopped looking merely curious.
Linlin's smile widened.
"You want me to kidnap a Marine Vice Admiral for you?"
"I want you to create a reason Zaraki will not ignore."
Perospero understood immediately.
"A hostage, pero."
"Bait," Nusjuro corrected.
Katakuri's expression hardened.
Using a Marine officer as bait against another Marine was exactly the kind of plan that could become far more dangerous than the Government intended.
Linlin, naturally, cared about none of that.
"Mamamama! And what do I get?"
"The same thing you wanted when you agreed to this meeting: an opportunity to bring Zaraki into your territory on terms favorable to you."
Her grin deepened.
Kaido looked disgusted.
"Cheap."
Linlin turned toward him.
"What was that?"
"I said it's cheap. If you want him, fight him. Hiding behind a hostage is boring."
Nusjuro ignored the argument and continued.
"Charlotte Snack has ships operating close enough to the northern Kalles routes to act quickly. If the opportunity appears, he takes Gion alive and leaves proof where Zaraki will find it. Nothing more."
Linlin waved one hand.
"Fine. Snack can handle it."
Katakuri's gaze moved toward Nusjuro.
"You're assuming Zaraki follows."
Nusjuro's eyes remained unreadable.
"Everything in his record suggests he will."
That was true, but not for the reason the Government seemed to believe.
Zaraki might ignore politics, threats, rank, and personal danger, but he had repeatedly acted when people he considered his own were put in front of him.
Dapus had built the bait around that pattern.
Nusjuro looked toward the black vessel and gave a short order to one of the CP0 agents. The masked man immediately moved to relay the instructions.
Kaido watched all of it with open disdain.
"If your trick works and he leaves Kalles, I'm following."
Nusjuro did not answer.
Linlin laughed.
"Mamamama! Then perhaps this tea party will become interesting after all."
Katakuri remained silent.
He no longer saw the immediate vision of both Emperors coughing blood, but the unease had not disappeared.
The Government was moving Marines and pirates around the same target while pretending each piece could be controlled separately.
That kind of plan rarely stayed contained for long.
...
Far away from the barren island, the Oni Slayer continued around Kalles Island's northern approach, unaware that the route ahead had just become more dangerous.