The Blackbeard Pirates were captured?
No wonder I didn't see Blackbeard in action.
"Understood, I'm on my way."
Nodding, Luffy immediately headed toward BIG MOM.
The woman stood before the corpses of her three children. Her face showed no sadness; in fact, it could be said that she was completely expressionless.
Charlotte Perospero looked devastated.
Three people had died.
Charlotte Daifuku, the third son.
Charlotte Oven, the fourth son.
The two had been very close to Perospero and were practically from the same generation. Their deaths struck him deeply.
As for the other one…
Charlotte Snack, twenty-eight years old, one of the Four Sweet Commanders.
Now, they probably had to be called the Three Sweet Commanders.
Noticing Luffy approaching, BIG MOM raised her head and said:
"Straw Hat… on the day this old woman dies…"
"Blackbeard invaded your territory. More people died on Whole Cake Island," Luffy said calmly. "You should go back and take a look."
Hearing this, Charlotte Linlin's expression changed immediately, and she ordered:
"Brûlée! Open the Mirror World!"
"Yes, Mama!"
Charlotte Brûlée immediately opened a mirror, creating a passage into the Mirror World.
"Take the bodies back…"
Charlotte Linlin was the first to step through.
Soon after, the members of the Charlotte Family followed behind her, carrying the three corpses.
"Luffy."
A gust of wind blew from behind him, and Dragon appeared before Luffy.
"I should leave as well."
Luffy turned toward him.
Dragon's face was serious.
"You're already a man capable of deciding your own path. No matter what happens, you'll have your own ideas."
"This time, you killed one of the Five Elders. The World Government won't let this go."
"Whether through open war or conspiracies in the shadows, they won't stop. This fight won't disappear."
"I know. I'll be careful." Luffy nodded with a smile.
Dragon shook his head helplessly.
"What I really want to remind you of is to be careful with the women around you. Liking women isn't a bad thing. On the contrary, it's great."
Dragon didn't have much resistance toward daughters-in-law.
But the enemy would notice that too.
Sooner or later, inevitably, they would become targets.
Dragon smiled faintly.
"Forget it. You should make your own decisions. Goodbye, Luffy. Next time, come visit the Revolutionary Army headquarters. Many revolutionaries respect and admire you."
After a pause, he continued:
"The old base was destroyed by the Holy Knights. I plan to move the new headquarters to the Kamabakka Kingdom."
As he spoke, he took out a permanent Log Pose from inside his green coat and handed it to Luffy.
"If you want to come, bring some Pacifistas. They should be a great help to the Revolutionary Army."
Luffy accepted the Log Pose and replied:
"Alright."
More than fifty Pacifistas had been destroyed, but twenty-seven were captured intact.
The only pity was that Bartholomew Kuma himself hadn't remained behind.
Dragon had the opportunity to subdue Kuma, but in the end, he let him escape to avoid hurting him.
Of course, Kuma merely followed orders and no longer possessed his own consciousness.
Hearing this, Dragon nodded and disappeared once more in a gust of wind.
After saying goodbye to that somewhat irresponsible father, Luffy turned his head and looked toward the battlefield.
More than twenty or thirty thousand people had died on both sides.
The air was thick with the smell of blood.
Mihawk and Zoro were still fighting, and nobody could tell who held the advantage.
The two had intentionally moved to an uninhabited area, clearly not wanting anyone to interfere.
Chopper was doing his work as a doctor.
He hated seeing people die before his eyes.
Even severely wounded marines were being treated by him.
But there were simply too many injured.
Chopper was already completely overwhelmed.
Law remained beside him, assisting with treatment.
Luffy didn't disturb them and simply shouted toward Sanji in the distance:
"I'll leave this place in your hands for now."
After speaking, he waved his hand.
A floating platform rose from the ground, carrying him, the prisoner Sengoku, and Aokiji, who had just joined the Neo Marines, toward Whole Cake Island.
When they arrived at Whole Cake Island, practically no intact buildings remained.
The entire island looked as though it had been completely crushed, and an enormous hill had appeared where Cake City once stood.
That was the result of Douglas Bullet's Gasha Gasha no Mi ability after his defeat.
At that moment, near the hill, several members of the Blackbeard Pirates were surrounded by Nami and the others.
Upon seeing Luffy descend from the sky with the others, Nami immediately ran toward him.
"Luffy!"
Luffy nodded.
Then, a figure jumped directly into his arms.
Smiling, he stroked Uta's hair before walking toward the prisoners.
Garp and Zephyr were casually eating large amounts of food.
Seeing Luffy arrive, Garp waved.
"Ah, Luffy! Those people over there…"
"Only these are left?"
Luffy observed the prisoners.
Some had lost consciousness, some were still awake, and some were already corpses.
The unconscious ones were Douglas Bullet, Doc Q, and Stronger.
The dead were Avalo Pizarro, the "Corrupt King," and Vasco Shot, the "Heavy Drinker."
The conscious ones were Jesus Burgess, the "Champion," Sanjuan Wolf, the "Colossal Battleship," and Byrnndi World, the "World Destroyer."
"Hahaha! Four of them escaped! That Blackbeard really has some tricks!"
Garp laughed loudly while scratching his head.
After that, he noticed Sengoku and Aokiji behind Luffy.
"Oh? Isn't that Sengoku? Kuzan, you're here too?"
"Mr. Garp, Mr. Zephyr."
Aokiji smiled.
"I just accepted the invitation to join the Neo Marines."
"Really?"
Zephyr was surprised for a moment, but soon started laughing.
"Sengoku, are you joining too?"
Sengoku was firmly bound by vines while staring blankly at his two old friends.
Ignoring the old men's conversation, Luffy walked toward the prisoners.
The three who were still awake looked at Luffy.
"Straw Hat!" Byrnndi World said in a deep voice. "What are you going to do with us?"
"Blackbeard escaped, right? Who else escaped?" Luffy asked directly.
Uta thought for a moment before replying:
"Counting Blackbeard, four escaped: Blackbeard, Shiryu of the Rain, Lafitte, and that pirate woman, Catarina Devon."
Luffy's eyes fell upon Byrnndi World.
"I'm going to kill them."
At that moment, Charlotte Linlin appeared with a cold expression.
"Straw Hat! Those bastards killed many of my children!"
Whole Cake Island had nearly been destroyed down to its foundations.
As for ordinary citizens, Charlotte Linlin didn't care.
But many of her sons and daughters who had remained there because of the wedding died at the hands of that group.
Luffy looked at her. Katakuri, covered in injuries, followed closely behind Charlotte Linlin.
"It's not up to you to decide what happens to them."
Even so, Luffy had no intention of wasting time arguing.
With a flick of his finger, several tentacle-like vines grew from the ground.
In the next instant, all the prisoners were pierced by the vines.
Puff!
Blood splattered everywhere.
Out of the eight prisoners, all of them died except Douglas Bullet!
At the same time, Luffy tore through space, and several empty fruits floated out from his pocket.
The fruits hovered above the corpses, absorbing the energy overflowing from them.
The "Evil King" Avalo Pizarro and the "Heavy Drinker" Vasco Shot had already died before Luffy arrived, so Vasco Shot's fruit had already reincarnated elsewhere.
As for Avalo Pizarro, Luffy didn't know exactly when he had consumed the Fruit.
But that didn't matter.
People who died too early could no longer have their Devil Fruits recovered using empty fruits.
In the end, only Douglas Bullet survived.
That person still had some use left.
Seeing that scene, BIG MOM was surprised.
She stared at the empty fruits floating above the corpses as they gradually transformed into Devil Fruits.
"Mamamamama! That looting method is unexpectedly reasonable."
She narrowed her eyes and speculated:
"Can you do that with any fruit? Or do you need specific fruits?"
To be honest, that looting ability interested her greatly.
Luffy looked at her while storing away the four fruits.
"…You can research it yourself. There's no such thing as a free lunch. Do you really think I'd tell you?"
"Don't say that, Straw Hat. We're pirate allies now. This kind of method should be shared!"
As she spoke, Charlotte Linlin called Pudding over from behind her.
"Come here, Pudding."
"Yes, Mama."
The three-eyed girl stepped forward timidly.
"This child is only fourteen years old. I'll use her in exchange for the secret of the fruits!" Charlotte Linlin declared in a completely natural tone.
Luffy was speechless.
Everyone clearly understood her intentions.
He knew very well that the girl possessed the power of the Memory Fruit.
Before he could even refuse, Uta immediately put her hands on her waist in irritation.
"Do you think my Luffy is that kind of man?"
As she spoke, the singer glanced toward Pudding's chest.
Hmph!
Pudding instantly felt insulted and became so angry she nearly lost composure.
She already had a favorable impression of Luffy. A man like him would naturally make girls admire him.
She simply couldn't resist her mother's order to offer herself to Luffy.
But that girl was far too irritating!
She was only fourteen years old. Sooner or later, she would still grow up!
Inside her heart, Pudding's dark side roared madly.
Charlotte Linlin narrowed her eyes and smiled disdainfully.
As long as she persisted enough, she believed she could push Pudding toward Luffy sooner or later.
"Let's put the fruit matter aside for now… Now that I have a direction, I can figure it out myself."
She then asked in a deep voice:
"There's something I wanted to ask first. The attack you used to kill one of the Five Elders… that was Kaido's 'Bolo Breath,' wasn't it? What happened to Kaido?"
"He died."
BIG MOM was shocked.
---xXx---
Morgans had already published the news in the newspaper the following day, but in truth, the events of the war had already spread throughout the entire world that very afternoon.
"Infernal Wedding! Shame of the Marines! The King of the New Era, Straw Hat Luffy, Wins the War!"
As a war correspondent present on the front lines, Morgans described the course of the battle almost perfectly.
And at the end of the article, Monkey D. Luffy, leader of the Alliance of the Two Emperors, was called the King of the New Era.
[He has surpassed Whitebeard of the previous era. In the new era, this man's influence upon the world has reached its peak!]
[After the war, the World Government could only retreat home and silently lick its wounds. The death of the new Admiral proves that, in the future, the New World — the most powerful sea on the planet — will be ruled by this man!]
[Red-Haired Shanks' daughter apparently shares an intimate relationship with Straw Hat!]
[As for BIG MOM? She is also one of the alliance's targets!]
[And regarding Kaido… I heard that Wano underwent tremendous changes, and Kaido died at Straw Hat's hands!]
[In practice, the Straw Hat Pirates have already conquered the New World. No force can compete with them in that sea!]
[I, the war correspondent Morgans, would kindly like to remind all kingdoms of the New World… it is time to pay tribute to the new king!]
[Ah, perhaps the new Pirate King will soon be crowned! Let us wait eagerly!]
At the end of the article, Morgans shamelessly mixed personal opinions into the news.
For the birth of a king, offer your greetings!
Of course, not yet.
But that day was not far away!
---
(End of Chapter)