Creak…
Not long after Dracule Mihawk left, aboard the Beasts Pirates' warship, the tightly shut cabin door suddenly opened.
Immediately afterward, the three Lead Performers of the Beasts Pirates stepped out one after another.
And behind them followed a figure who clearly did not belong to the Beasts Pirates.
Long, black, pointed goat horns. Strange purple lipstick smeared across his mouth. A pair of heavy dark circles like someone who stayed up all year round. His body floated in midair like a ghost.
This man was none other than one of the genius scientists who had once belonged to MADS alongside Vegapunk, Queen, and Judge—
Caesar Clown!!!
Unlike Vegapunk, who was passionate about making the world a better place, Caesar Clown's interest lay in developing weapons of mass destruction. In the pirate world, he was even known as the supreme authority on weapons of mass destruction.
Everything he had ever done proved beyond doubt that he was a true "villain."
Even so, after the Donquixote Family had been wiped out by Admiral Issho, Red had once specifically sent Akatsuki members to Punk Hazard to search for Caesar's whereabouts.
After all, in terms of scientific ability, Caesar ranked among the very best in the pirate world, second only to Vegapunk.
If used properly, he would make for a very useful tool.
Unfortunately, by the time the Akatsuki members arrived at Punk Hazard, Caesar and his research team were already long gone, leaving behind nothing but a complete mess and a pile of "test subjects" he had abandoned.
In the end, Red had to contact the Marines and let them deal with the aftermath.
Who could have imagined that when the vanished Caesar Clown reappeared, it would be aboard a Beasts Pirates ship?
"Shurororororo… this was way easier than expected."
"To think the world's greatest swordsman could be poisoned so easily…"
"One day is already enough for those viruses to multiply inside his body. It won't be long before all the pirates on this island fall into the symptoms of the virus I developed—icy, powerless limbs, internal organs burning like fire, blood coagulating at high speed, until they finally greet death in despair."
"Shurororororo~~~!!!"
As if he had accomplished something truly magnificent, Caesar suddenly threw his head back and laughed arrogantly.
Beside him, however, Queen shot him a sidelong glance and sneered.
"That's only because Captain Kaido drew most of Mihawk's attention away. Otherwise, how could a monster like that possibly be poisoned by you so easily?"
"And another thing!!!"
Lowering his voice, Queen suddenly reached out and grabbed at Caesar in fury.
"This virus was clearly evolved from my bioweapon virus! Since when did it become something you developed!?"
Whoosh~
The Caesar Queen tried to seize instantly dispersed into a cloud of gas. As the user of the Gas-Gas Fruit, Caesar could not be touched so long as Queen wasn't using Armament Haki.
"Shurororororo, how is it not my creation!?"
"Without my ideas, how could your useless viruses possibly have become this powerful!?"
"Stop struggling, Queen! In front of me, no one understands viruses better than I do!!!"
Caesar flung both hands outward and lifted his chin disdainfully.
"You bastard…"
Swish!
A layer of pitch-black Armament Haki suddenly coated Queen's fist.
But just as he was about to teach that smug bastard a lesson, Kaido—who had remained silent this whole time—abruptly spoke up.
"That's enough, Queen."
Kaido grinned lightly.
"Caesar's not wrong."
"If he hadn't joined in, there's no way this virus would've been completed so quickly, right?"
"We've still got important business to handle next. No need to waste time on something like this."
As he spoke, Kaido cast Caesar a glance, signaling for him to shut up as well.
"Hmph, hmph~"
With Kaido backing him, Caesar gave Queen a provocative little snort. Then, sensibly enough, he pulled four bottles of medicine from his coat pocket and handed them to Kaido and the others one by one.
Kaido accepted the medicine, drank it down in one gulp, and smashed the glass bottle onto the deck.
"Alright. We've taken the medicine to prevent the virus."
"Now then… let us make our entrance as the Straw Hats' partners!!!"
"Wororororo~"
Along with Kaido's signature laugh, clouds of flame suddenly rose beneath the four of them, lifting them into the sky as they sped toward the center of the island.
At the same time, in the venue area of Festa Island—
Red and the others, having successfully invited Redfield, descended from the sky and landed on the deck of the Going Merry.
The Straw Hat crew members who had previously scattered also returned to the ship one after another at this time.
From who knew where, Usopp and Chopper had produced crosses and garlic, dressing themselves up like vampire hunters as they stared warily at Redfield.
"D-Don't worry, Chopper, Redfield's already our partner now."
"Even if he wants to suck blood, h-he definitely won't suck ours!"
Though his legs trembled with fear and he didn't dare take a single step forward, seeing Chopper behind him—half his body hidden outside in a bizarre posture as he peeked at Redfield—Usopp still tried to reassure him in a shaky voice.
Hearing that, little Chopper tightened his grip on Usopp's two legs even more, then forced out a laugh as he pretended to stay calm.
"T-That's right!"
"We're partners now, a-aren't we? H-He'd never suck our blood!"
The two cowards said this while clutching their crosses even tighter, unwilling to move any closer no matter what.
Compared to those two comic acts, though, the other crew members didn't have any particular reaction.
One after another, they all stepped forward to welcome Redfield aboard.
"A Devil Fruit power that can make people live longer, huh?"
"Looks like we won't have to worry about dying too soon for a while."
Sanji lit a cigarette and joked lightly.
Beside him, Nami's eyes sparkled as she kept bombarding Redfield with questions.
"Hey, hey, Red said your Devil Fruit can grant lifespan to other people. Is that really true!?"
"Uh…"
Watching that beautiful face get closer and closer, Redfield couldn't help but take a step backward.
It wasn't that he was too old to care about beautiful girls anymore.
The main reason was that his Observation Haki was sending him constant warnings…
As if the moment he revealed any information to the girl in front of him, something ominous would happen.
Especially because…
He was the one who had eaten the Vampire Fruit, and yet why was it that…
From this girl, he could sense a greed even more terrifying than a vampire's.
"Hey, hey, answer me already, Redfield!"
"Don't worry, I won't shortchange you!"
"How about a hundred million Beli for one year of lifespan!? We split it eighty-twenty. If that won't work, seventy-thirty is fine too~"
As though she had discovered an endless business opportunity, golden light practically burst from Nami's eyes.
That was lifespan they were talking about!!!
How many wealthy merchants, powerful nobles, and royal families across the world would ruin themselves for something like that!?
This was a business huge enough to drain the wealth of the entire world!!!
"Alright, alright, Nami~"
Seeing that Redfield—a legendary pirate once able to stand shoulder to shoulder with Roger—was about to be bullied into a corner by Nami, Red hurriedly stepped in and stopped her plan.
"If this keeps up, you're going to scare Redfield away!"
"With a new partner joining us, by tradition we should be throwing a grand banquet right away."
"But considering we've still got more important things to do in a bit, let's postpone it for now."
"And also…"
Red's gaze shifted toward Robin at the edge of the crowd.
"Robin, you've already sensed it too, haven't you?"
"Mm."
Meeting Red's eyes, Robin nodded softly.
Though she didn't possess the beast-like instincts of combatants like Luffy and Zoro, her Psychic Power actually made her even better at detection than they were.
At this moment, just like Red, Robin had already discovered the auras of Mihawk and Kaido's four-man group as they were heading this way.
Even Zoro could only sense Mihawk's presence because they were both swordsmen.
As for Luffy, he could only tell that strong people were approaching, not identify exactly who they were.
Red smiled faintly.
"Then I'll have to trouble you to make a trip and bring that guy over. Zoro's been waiting for a long time."
"Understood."
Robin smiled beautifully.
The next second, under Redfield's astonished gaze, her figure vanished in an instant.
"This is…"
Redfield's pupils contracted sharply.
He recognized the way Robin disappeared—the energy fluctuation was exactly the same as what Red had displayed during battle earlier.
Noticing Redfield's obvious emotional shift, Red turned around with a grin and suddenly said:
"Oh, right!"
"There's still one very important thing I forgot to do."
"Redfield, have you ever heard of… what a Trainer is?"
Red lifted his head and met Redfield's eyes directly.
...
...
[Pokémon: Redfield]
[Level: 88]
[Sex: Male]
[Nature: Modest (+Sp. Atk, -Atk)]
[Type: Ghost, Fighting]
[Ability: Frisk (Possesses unique insight, allowing special warnings when encountering unusual situations.)]
[Moves: —]
[EXP: 0/23497]
[Total Stats: 1591]
...
...
A short while later, after successfully converting Redfield into a Pokémon, Red directly left the utterly bewildered Redfield standing off to the side.
Meanwhile, Red silently opened the system interface and began reviewing Redfield's stats and ability information.
"Level 88. Only one level lower than Whitebeard?"
"As expected of a legendary pirate."
The very first thing that caught Red's eye on Redfield's status panel was his level.
A level might not represent final combat power, but it was enough to prove whether someone had worked hard.
Although Redfield had once seen Roger and Whitebeard's might and fallen into despair, eventually choosing to leave the sea on his own…
Before that, he had still pushed himself to the absolute limit in training and cultivation, until he exhausted his potential and could no longer go any further. Only then had he given up.
However…
Red's gaze shifted toward the Total Stats section on Redfield's panel.
1591 points.
That number alone was enough to prove that Redfield stood among the very strongest, top-tier figures in the entire pirate world!
But if one compared him to Level 89 Whitebeard, whose stats exceeded 1700, then the despairing gap brought about by talent became painfully obvious.
Just one level apart, yet the difference in stats was over a hundred points.
As the stat base grew larger and larger, even a difference of a single point could create a noticeable gap in actual results.
Not to mention a difference of over one hundred stat points.
Redfield's talent truly was not enough to support him in reaching the very summit of the world.
Still, fortunately…
"Though his strength and talent are indeed a little lacking, he still counts as a major combat asset."
After sweeping over Redfield's stats and ability and finding nothing especially astonishing, Red shut off the status panel and silently made his evaluation in his heart.
If anyone knew that a powerhouse with Admiral-level combat strength had received only that kind of assessment in Red's mind, they had no idea what kind of expression they would wear.
Fortunately…
Ninety-nine percent of the living beings in this world were not even qualified to receive Red's evaluation.
And right at that moment, the sound of a Den Den Mushi suddenly rang out from Red's clothes, interrupting his train of thought.
Bururururu~
Bururururu~
"Hello? Issho, what's wrong?"
In front of Redfield, this new partner, Red made no effort to hide anything. He directly pulled out the exclusive Den Den Mushi he used to contact Admiral Issho and asked.
The Den Den Mushi's expression immediately turned grave, then it spoke:
"Lord Red, a Marine warship has just been attacked by an unknown assailant!"
"According to the soldiers' report, the attackers appear to be the Beasts Pirates!!!"
"And the one who carried out the attack… was the world's greatest swordsman, Dracule Mihawk!!!"
"Ah, that matter~"
Red's voice sank, and he immediately responded:
"I noticed it just now too."
"Although I don't know why Mihawk is mixed up with the Beasts Pirates, judging from their current route, they seem to have already split up. There may be some hidden reason behind it."
"And with Kaido suddenly appearing here as well, there's definitely some unknown purpose at work."
"Have the Marines continue surrounding this island for now."
"After all, those pirates' ships were all destroyed by Bullet during the battle just now. They won't be escaping anytime soon."
"I'm going to see what that Kaido fellow is really after first!"
"…Mm."
After thinking for a moment, Fujitora let out a low hum.
"Then we'll handle it that way for now, Lord Red."
"Please be extra careful in all things."
"Heh, don't worry." The corner of Red's lips curled upward. "It's only the Beasts Pirates. They're not enough to stir up any real trouble."
Looking around at companions who were stronger one than another, together with the utterly unsolvable system he himself possessed…
Red truly could not think of any native force in this world that could still threaten them.
If not for the fact that they still couldn't grasp Imu's true depth, they would have already marched on the Holy Land of Mary Geoise.
There was no helping it. Unless Luffy could do what Joy Boy had done eight hundred years ago—using nothing but a trace of residual Haki to dispel the power of Imu from the Five Elders—
Red really didn't dare confront the final boss of the pirate world just yet.
But he believed that day would not be far off!
Just like how Zoro now could hardly wait to temper himself into an even sharper blade through Mihawk's sword intent…
(End of Chapter)