"Hmph~ Interesting!?"
Hearing Red's soft murmur from the corner, Kaido immediately revealed a trace of disdain on his face.
The time was almost here.
In just a few more hours, they would understand what real interesting meant!
As he gazed at the sun hanging on the horizon, a cold smile as sharp as a blade spread through Kaido's heart.
He could hardly wait… to see the miserable state of the Straw Hat crew after their downfall!
Time passed slowly.
As the members of the Straw Hat crew gradually woke up one after another, more and more pirates gathered around the Going Merry.
In the end, the number reached a staggering twenty-five thousand!
And looking at the surging sea of people below, the Straw Hats standing above all wore different expressions.
Even though they had already become one of the Four Emperors, and even though they now controlled an entire stretch of sea in the New World along with dozens of islands under their banner…
When they saw such a massive group of pirates assembled here, about to become their subordinates, they still could not help but feel their thoughts stirring.
The first to speak was, naturally, Straw Hat captain Luffy.
Pouting, he said with visible distress:
"So many people… how much food would that take!?"
"Hey, Red? We're not going to be responsible for today's lunch too, right?!"
Luffy turned his head and asked with a displeased expression.
Clearly, he still had not realized what an incredible thing it was to be able to feed this many people.
Red, who likewise had not expected Luffy's train of thought to head in such a bizarre direction, froze for a moment before smiling wryly and replying:
"I think we are."
"And not just today's lunch, either. There's tonight's dinner, tomorrow's breakfast and lunch, and meals even farther down the line…"
"Ah!?" Feeling as if the sky were collapsing, Luffy immediately opened his mouth wide, his face full of disbelief.
Perhaps only matters related to food could make him look like this.
"Haha…"
Without sparing a single moment to sympathize with Luffy's heartache, Red flashed forward and appeared directly above all the pirates.
"Silence!!!"
Boom~!
His voice, empowered by Psychic Power, exploded like the tolling of a great bell, crashing directly into everyone's minds and instantly silencing the pirates, who had been noisier than a marketplace.
Seeing this, a trace of satisfaction flashed through Red's eyes as his gaze swept across the countless heads below.
Naturally, he had no intention of taking in all twenty-five thousand of them.
After all, plenty among these pirates were utterly evil scum—people so depraved that even if the Straw Hat Pirates relaxed their moral standards, they still would never be able to accept them.
Fortunately, Aura had the ability to discern good from evil. Red planned to identify those whose crimes were beyond forgiveness and mark them. When the time came, he would hand them over to the Marines so Issho could use them as political achievements.
No matter what, he had to make up for the losses from the four Marine warships that Mihawk had cut apart.
Without a few merits to show, how was Issho supposed to return and make his report?
Very quickly, under Red's instructions, all the pirates lined up in an orderly fashion.
Those who could still find their original organizations grouped by pirate crew. Those who could not were arranged into square formations.
Faced with a crisis of life and death, even pirates who were usually arrogant, unruly, and proud of their freedom and lawlessness had no choice but to behave as obediently as elementary school students performing a group exercise, allowing Red to arrange them however he wished.
And by the time Red had successfully classified the pirates, lined them up neatly, and distributed basic living supplies, it had already reached noon.
At Luffy's urging, the Straw Hat Pirates' brunch officially began.
Because outsiders were present, they still held it at the dining table on the deck of the Going Merry.
When Luffy saw Red float down from the sky, he immediately stretched out his hand and shouted:
"Hey, Red, come eat first!"
"You guys…"
Looking at Luffy, who had already started stuffing his face, Red could not help but complain:
"You ate enough at the banquet yesterday to feed three Sea Kings, and you can still eat today…"
"Did the Nika Fruit turn your stomach into some kind of storage item too!?"
Even so, at Luffy's call, Red sat down with everyone.
But in the next moment, he cast a curious glance toward the outer edge of the table.
The Kaido group of four, who had still been drinking, singing, and making merry with them yesterday, were now wearing strangely cold expressions. Even when Luffy called for them to come over and eat, they refused to take so much as half a step closer.
At the sight of this, Red immediately understood that the moment Kaido and the others had been waiting for was probably close at hand.
With a thought, he opened the status panels of Luffy and the others.
Sure enough, he saw an [Abnormal] icon in the information interface of the Straw Hats.
One had to know that whether it was poison or burn, the system would only recognize it once it had already caused a certain degree of damage to Luffy and the others' bodies.
Ordinary illnesses would not even be marked by the system.
That alone was enough to show that the virus Kaido and his group had developed was genuinely powerful.
But… that was all.
Red smiled faintly and began transmitting his voice to Usopp with Psychic Power.
And just then, the pirates below—who had only just quieted down—suddenly erupted into commotion once more.
"Rodd, what's wrong!? Rodd!?"
As a giant, Hajrudin's shout was like rolling thunder and collapsing mountains—so loud that it was impossible for anyone not to hear it.
And as Hajrudin's anxious voice rang out, in an instant, well over half of the twenty-five thousand pirates on the grounds collapsed to the ground.
Some of the others rushed over to check on them, only to soon follow in their footsteps.
Even Hajrudin, who had been the first to cry out, suddenly had his eyes go blank. His breathing became labored, and he dropped to his knees on the spot.
"Wh-What is going on!?"
In just a few minutes, every single pirate below the Going Merry had collapsed without exception. Some of the more seriously afflicted even had blood seeping from the corners of their mouths.
Cavendish widened his eyes in disbelief.
"We… we've been poisoned!?"
"Was this… the Straw Hats—no! Was this the Marines' doing!?"
All the pirates still capable of moving immediately turned their eyes toward the outer edge of the island, as if they could already see the mocking faces of the Marines aboard their warships.
But at that moment…
A tyrannical laugh like thunder suddenly rang out from the deck of the Going Merry.
"Wororororo…"
"At last, this moment has arrived!!!"
Boom!!!
An endless wave of pressure suddenly surged from the deck of the Going Merry, like a vortex inside a storm, soaring upward and punching straight into the heavens!
In the next instant, Kaido transformed into a gigantic azure dragon, stepped on flame clouds, and flew directly above the Going Merry.
"Kaido, what are you trying to do!?"
Seeing Kaido assume a battle stance, Red immediately shouted in "panic."
But Kaido, suspended high in the sky, burst into loud laughter.
"Wororororo, Red brat, weren't you always supposed to be smart?!"
"Can't you see the situation now?!"
"All of you have fallen into the trap of the Beasts Pirates!!!"
"Wororororo~"
Having finally avenged the humiliation of being threatened by Red last time, Kaido was so excited he could barely contain himself!
And just as he had expected, the moment his words fell, the members of the Straw Hat crew also began to "succumb" one after another.
"Ugh~"
Usopp was the first to let out a miserable cry.
With the best acting skills among them, he took the lead and immediately went all out.
Even though he had long since used his Poison-type insects to cleanse all abnormalities from his body, the agony on his face looked no less convincing than that of the pirates below.
Usopp deserved an Oscar.
And after him, the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates followed suit. Though their performances were visibly a notch below Usopp's, the Beasts Pirates' group of four—completely drunk on the thrill of victory—did not notice anything unusual at all.
"Shurororororo… To think the famous Straw Hat Pirates are this pitifully fragile!"
"As expected of the Conqueror Virus I developed—it's simply the world's NO.1!!!"
Caesar threw back his head and laughed arrogantly.
Quinn immediately added from the side:
"It was developed based on my virus, so don't get too full of yourself, bastard!!!"
"This is not the time for the two of you to argue."
King slowly drew the giant katana at his waist, its sharp blade suddenly wrapped in blazing flames.
"To avoid trouble later, we should finish them off quickly!"
"Jack, move!!!"
King gave a loud shout, and Jack—who had been holding himself back for quite a while—finally tore off his disguise and revealed his true nature.
"Graaaah~!"
With a roar like a savage beast, his body instantly transformed into a mammoth-like human-beast form.
"Can I finally slaughter to my heart's content!?"
As he spoke, he lowered his sharp, heavy tusks and charged straight at the Straw Hats.
His enormous footsteps stamped one footprint after another into the deck of the Going Merry.
King also swung his long blade, attacking together with Jack from the left and right.
High in the sky, Kaido looked down at everything and laughed boldly.
"Straw Hat crew, your story… ends here!!!"
When facing the Straw Hat crew, whose methods were so bizarre and unpredictable, Kaido did not arrogantly ask them whether they wanted to join him.
Because he knew that with his own presence alone, he could not suppress a group as extraordinary as this one.
So the best solution was to erase them forever from the river of history.
However, just as Kaido thought his plan was about to succeed…
Boom!!!
A vast blaze, like a spear, suddenly stabbed into Jack's hard tusk and smashed a crack into it.
Looking closely, one could clearly see a swift figure clad in flaming armor inside the fire.
"Broiled Mammoth!!!"
Crack—Crack!!!
With Sanji's loud roar, Jack's tusk snapped apart and spun away at high speed, flying off the Going Merry before plunging straight into the earth below.
"What?!"
King, who had been charging alongside Jack, was stunned for a moment. But before he could react, a terrifying aura of a ferocious beast suddenly appeared right in front of him.
The next second—
"Three Sword Style Secret Technique: Dragon Roar Storm!!!"
Whoosh!!!
A tempest formed from countless slashes flew horizontally from Zoro's blades and crashed directly into King's giant sword, unleashing a series of sharp crackling sounds.
But under the impact of that powerful slash, King's body was forced backward again and again, his feet carving two deep furrows across the deck of the Going Merry.
"Ah! My body!"
At that moment, Little Merry—who had been hiding all this time—suddenly appeared. Seeing the crater King had stomped into the deck, she cried out in fury.
In the next second, Merry's eyes were suddenly filled with strange pink light.
Powerful telekinetic force wrapped around King and Jack's bodies. Taking advantage of the fact that neither of them could react while under attack, she swiftly hurled both of them off the Going Merry.
"Uh, sorry, Little Merry~"
Seeing Merry get angry, Zoro immediately apologized.
Then, with a quick leap, he stepped on the railing and chased after King below.
At the same time, Sanji used the rising flames to light a cigarette. After taking a drag, he said:
"Forgive him, Merry."
"That idiot only has strength in his head."
As soon as the words fell, Sanji also followed after Zoro, leaping down in pursuit of Jack below.
Crash, crash, crash…
A sudden rainstorm blanketed the sky above the Going Merry, pouring down and soaking both Caesar and Quinn.
"With this, your Gas-Gas Fruit won't have any room to work, will it, evil scientist?"
Within the watery mist, light and shadow shifted.
Nami's figure slowly emerged from the clouds and fog, giving Caesar and Quinn a playful smile.
"Damn it!"
Realizing the situation had turned bad, Quinn hurriedly entered his human-beast form.
But at that very moment—
Sssshk…
A bone-piercing chill that seemed to seep into the soul suddenly drilled into Quinn's mind.
Within the watery mist environment created by Nami, piercing ice abruptly froze every joint in his body, leaving him unable to move any further.
Then, a ghostly flame slowly flickered out from the mist.
"Yohohoho~ I advise you not to move rashly."
"Our pirate crew treats captured scientists rather generously. If you don't want to be injured for no reason, I suggest the two of you stand quietly right where you are."
"You all…"
Up in the sky, watching the Straw Hat Pirates suppress all four of his subordinates so quickly, Kaido finally realized—
From beginning to end, he had been toyed with by the Straw Hat Pirates once again!!!
"Teacher Kaido, didn't see that coming, did you!?"
"You didn't seriously think a bit of petty scheming like this was enough to take down our Straw Hat Pirates, did you?!"
"Why!?" Kaido roared, spewing dragon fire. "Why doesn't the Conqueror Virus work on you!?"
"Heh, the Conqueror Virus?"
Red grinned.
"That's certainly an ambitious name."
"But unfortunately, your ambition is far too weak!"
"The moment it lightly brushed against us, it shattered into worthless scraps!!!"
"What did you say?!"
For the first time in his life, Kaido was being mocked for having weak ambition. He roared in both fury and disbelief.
But in the next second, he saw Red's figure suddenly soar high into the sky. Under the amplification of some mysterious power, his voice boomed like a great bell, spreading across the entire island.
"Beasts Kaido! In order to achieve your goal, you actually created such a vile, unnatural disease-born evil!!!"
"Do you have any idea that if this kind of virus were to spread, every living creature in the entire world would be put in mortal danger…"
"You were one step away from destroying this world!!!"
"To commit such a thing for the sake of your own selfish desires—you are no longer worthy of being called one of the Four Emperors!"
"Today, our Straw Hat Pirates will act on behalf of heaven and justice!!!"
"Luffy! Beat him up for me!!!"
(End of Chapter)