Chapter 260
The silence lasted barely a moment before Morgans snapped his camera back up and began hammering the shutter.
Click! Click! Click!
Every feather on his head stood on end, not from fear but from the kind of excitement only one thing in the world could inspire in him: big news.
He photographed Gion's unyielding expression, Stussy's suddenly guarded face, the other Underworld rulers watching in disbelief, and Perospero's satisfied smile before pushing his way toward the front of the gathering.
"Kwahaha! Linlin, a question!"
His shrill voice cut straight through the harbor.
"By displaying a Marine Admiral candidate in front of the entire Underworld, are you openly challenging Marine Headquarters? Is this a declaration of war against the Marines?"
Another flash went off as Morgans turned the lens toward Gion.
"And is Vice Admiral Gion the invitation you prepared for the War Demon? Are you using her to force Zaraki to attend this tea party?"
The questions landed hard enough to strip away whatever remained of the gathering's festive atmosphere.
Several of the Underworld rulers exchanged uneasy looks.
Until a few minutes ago, they had been attending one of Charlotte Linlin's extravagant tea parties.
Now they were standing beside a captured Marine Vice Admiral while the president of the World Economy News Paper openly asked whether an Emperor had just declared war on Marine Headquarters.
...
Aboard the Kuja ship, Sandersonia and Marigold both looked toward Hancock.
Charlotte Linlin had really targeted Zaraki, and she had chosen a method designed to make ignoring the invitation almost impossible.
"We should leave, Hancock-sama," another Kuja warrior said quietly, tightening her grip on her spear.
"This stopped being a tea party the moment they brought that Marine out."
Sandersonia forced herself to think past the immediate shock.
"Marine Headquarters would never order someone to charge alone into an Emperor's stronghold just because a Vice Admiral was captured. Sengoku would send a fleet before he authorized something that reckless."
"That assumes Zaraki waits for permission," Marigold replied.
Sandersonia's expression tightened.
That was the problem.
Hancock remained silent for several seconds before giving a cold snort.
"Of course it is a trap."
Her gaze never left Whole Cake Chateau.
"And I doubt Charlotte Linlin is the only monster involved."
The contempt in her voice did not hide the tension in the fingers gripping the edge of her dress.
"Only an idiot would knowingly walk into something like this for the sake of one woman."
Neither of her sisters answered.
All three of them knew exactly which idiot they were discussing.
...
"MAMAMAMAMA!"
Charlotte Linlin's laughter rolled down from the balcony of Whole Cake Chateau.
"That's right, Morgans!"
Her enormous grin widened.
"That woman is my invitation to Zaraki. My son Snack went out personally to make sure the brat understood."
Morgans' eyes gleamed.
"And if he comes?"
"I want the whole world watching!"
Linlin spread her arms.
"Let everyone see what happens when a Marine dog storms into my territory and thinks he can order me around!"
Perospero signaled the broadcast crews immediately.
Several transmission Den Den Mushi were brought forward and connected to the World Economy News Paper's public relay.
The Underworld guests were free to use their own communication snails if they wished, but none of them looked eager to start making calls while Linlin was turning her hostage display into an international spectacle.
The public feed had only been live for a short time when one of Morgans' relay operators suddenly went pale.
"President Morgans!"
He pressed a receiver against the side of his head, listened for several seconds, then looked as though he had forgotten how to breathe.
"We have an emergency bulletin from the New World desk!"
Morgans whipped around.
"Put it through!"
The broadcast shifted.
A nervous announcer's voice came from the Den Den Mushi.
"Emergency report! Marine Headquarters has mobilized a major intervention fleet under Fleet Admiral Sengoku. The formation has entered the New World, and all current course estimates point toward Totto Land."
The harbor changed immediately.
Perospero's smile disappeared.
Linlin's eyes narrowed.
The announcer continued.
"We also have confirmation regarding yesterday's fighting near the northern Kalles route. War Demon Zaraki encountered Charlotte Snack, one of Charlotte Linlin's sons and a former Sweet Commander."
Snack?
Linlin slowly leaned forward.
The voice on the broadcast hesitated.
"Charlotte Snack has been confirmed dead."
No one moved.
"His primary vessel was destroyed during the engagement. Several accompanying pirate ships were disabled or captured, and surviving crews were taken prisoner by Marines."
Linlin's face went still.
Morgans did not blink.
The announcer drew a shaky breath before delivering the final update.
"Zaraki has since left the Oni Slayer and is advancing through the inner Totto Land routes aboard a captured Big Mom patrol vessel. He has no Marine escort force with him."
The phrase that mattered was obvious.
No Marine escort.
He knew what Whole Cake Island was.
He knew Gion had been taken.
He knew an Emperor was waiting.
And he was still coming!
Sandersonia stared toward the harbor entrance as her earlier argument collapsed around her.
"That idiot..."
Sandersonia's muttered words barely carried beyond the Kuja ship, but the same thought was already passing through much of the harbor.
Zaraki had killed Charlotte Snack and then continued toward Whole Cake Island without a Marine escort force.
Whatever anyone thought of his judgment, nobody could pretend he had stumbled into this situation by accident.
Gion raised her head sharply.
For the first time since Smoothie brought her into the harbor, genuine alarm broke through her composure.
"Zaraki!"
Her voice carried farther than anyone expected from someone who had been injured and bound.
"Don't come any closer! This isn't only Big Mom's trap!"
The heavy restraints around her wrists and ankles were physically strong enough to limit her movement even without a Devil Fruit to suppress, and the wounds from the ambush had made forcing her way free even harder.
She pulled against them anyway until the reinforced links ground against one another.
"Turn around!"
Gion knew enough about the Kalles operation to understand what had happened.
Dapus had failed to put the Oni Slayer into the harbor kill zone, so the operation had shifted. Her capture had never been a random act by the Big Mom Pirates.
Someone had deliberately changed the bait.
Her warning was drowned beneath a much more frightening sound.
"Snack..."
High above the harbor, Charlotte Linlin's enormous hands had closed around the balcony railing.
Her son was dead.
Snack had gone out under her orders to deliver the invitation, and Zaraki had answered by killing him and taking one of her own patrol vessels deeper into her territory.
The grin disappeared from her face.
"ZARAKIIIIII!"
Her roar shook the harbor and sent weaker pirates stumbling away from the chateau.
Perospero took an instinctive step back.
"Mama—"
Linlin's gaze snapped toward Gion.
The hostage had been valuable because Zaraki would come for her.
For several furious seconds, that calculation meant nothing.
"If that brat wants you so badly..."
Napoleon expanded in her hand.
"I'LL SEND HIM YOUR CORPSE!"
Stussy's pupils contracted.
The plan had just changed again, and this time not because of Dapus.
Linlin was about to destroy the bait her Government contact had gone to such trouble to prepare simply because Snack was dead.
"DIE, MARINE!"
Napoleon came down.
Gion could not clear the strike while chained and injured.
She braced herself anyway, eyes open now rather than closed, refusing to give Linlin the satisfaction of watching her cower.
A cannon boomed near the outer harbor.
Heads turned.
A familiar Big Mom patrol vessel had forced its way through the entrance under its original colors, taking advantage of the confusion before the harbor crews realized the people aboard were no longer loyal to Linlin.
One figure stood at its bow.
Zaraki.
He saw Napoleon falling.
Then he moved.
He did not transform into lightning or fly across the sea.
He launched himself from the patrol vessel in a violent physical burst, clearing the remaining distance to the dock while the ship was still sliding toward the harbor wall.
Sealed Nozarashi came free before his boots touched the candy-coated ground.
CLANG—!
Zaraki reached Gion just as Napoleon fell.
The two blades collided above her.
A heavy shockwave rolled through the harbor and forced the nearest spectators backward, but Zaraki's feet held.
Linlin stared down at him.
"You!"
Zaraki ignored her for the moment and glanced back at Gion.
Dust covered her face, her coat was torn, and one side of her body was heavily bandaged.
"Sorry," he said. "Took longer than I wanted."
Gion stared at him.
Relief flashed through her eyes before anger buried it.
"You absolute idiot."
"Yeah."
Linlin roared and pushed harder against Napoleon.
"YOU KILLED MY SON AND YOU'RE IGNORING ME?!"
Zaraki's arm flexed.
He drove upward.
Linlin's enormous body was forced back several steps before she caught herself, her expression changing from fury to disbelief at the raw force coming through his sword.
Zaraki did not chase her.
He turned immediately and cut once through the ordinary steel links that anchored Gion's reinforced restraints to the harbor fixture.
The seastone-reinforced cuffs themselves remained intact, but she was no longer chained to the ground.
"Hancock."
The Pirate Empress's eyes sharpened at hearing him address her so casually.
"Do not order me around."
"Get Gion to safety."
Hancock's expression darkened.
Before she could decide whether to be offended or pleased that he trusted her with the job, Sandersonia and Marigold were already moving from the Kuja ship with several warriors.
Big Mom's guards tried to close on them.
Hancock's eyes turned cold.
A brief burst of Conqueror's Haki rolled across the nearest group, dropping the weakest pirates where they stood and forcing the others to hesitate long enough for the Kuja to reach Gion.
Linlin felt it immediately.
Her head snapped toward Hancock.
"BOA HANCOCK!"
The Pirate Empress raised her chin.
Gion, now supported between Sandersonia and Marigold, looked back toward Zaraki.
He had already turned toward Linlin again.
The reason he had come was finally moving out of the immediate battlefield.
Now he could fight.
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