When Usopp saw Master Orochimaru raise his hand, tears of emotion welled up in his eyes, and his voice involuntarily trembled with anticipation.
"I knew it! Orochimaru would definitely not agree to something with no chance of success."
As he spoke, he leaned forward, so excited he almost lunged over.
"Luffy! Look, Orochimaru doesn't approve either, you should really think about it! That's one of the Four Emperors!!!"
Usopp shouted loudly, his eyes full of hope that Luffy would change his mind.
Master Orochimaru heard Usopp's shout, slowly turned his head, and looked at him calmly.
"Usopp, you're overthinking it. I'm not disagreeing; what I mean is, I'm not participating."
"I was the one who solved the Fish-Man Island incident, so this time, I'll leave it to you all to handle. Look how long it's been since you've all fought; you need to train! I believe in you!"
His tone was steady and calm, and he half-heartedly cheered on Usopp and the other two with his right hand.
Nami and Chopper cried their eyes out, how familiar those words were; sure enough, Usopp's prophecy had come true.
Trafalgar roughly explained to the Straw Hat about the various underground dark forces in the New World, the biggest and strongest among them being Doflamingo, who was also Kaido's biggest trading partner.
So they needed to defeat Doflamingo first.
And the ultimate goal was Kaido.
Kin'emon's body trembled slightly upon hearing Kaido's name. He tightly hugged the shivering Momonosuke, trying his best to control the swirling emotions within him, gritting his teeth and listening silently as Law continued to speak.
"To defeat Kaido, the key lies in how much of his fighting strength can be reduced. Currently, Kaido has purchased a large number of Devil Fruit from Joker, specifically the Artificial Devil Fruit'SMILE'."
At this moment, Usopp, who was helping Nami repair her clima-tact, heard this and his heart tightened. The hammer in his hand accidentally fell onto his own hand.
He completely disregarded the pain in his hand, his eyes wide, and shouted in panic, "Artificial!!! If they can really create such a thing, wouldn't the number of ability users increase infinitely!"
Law scanned the group and nodded slightly.
"That's right, that's how it is. Because they are artificial, there seems to be some risk. Currently, Kaido's Pirate Crew has over 500 ability users, but the number of ability users will not increase."
At this point, Law's gaze turned towards Caesar, who was honestly trapped on the side.
Chopper and the others couldn't help but exclaim in admiration at Caesar, who looked at the group with a slight shyness.
(˵¯͒∇¯͒˵) He was proud.
"He merely applied the Lineage Factor discovered by Vegapunk."
Chopper and the others instantly turned away in disappointment.
"What? So the amazing one is Vegapunk."
Caesar yelled furiously at the group.
"Shut up! You can't make it anyway!"
Immediately, Caesar looked at Law, a sneering smirk playing on his lips.
"Your news is too outdated. Joker stopped getting Artificial Devil Fruit from me a long time ago, his..."
Before the word "lover" could leave his mouth, he saw Master Orochimaru's plain gaze sweep over him, and he quickly swallowed his words.
Law sighed, indeed Doffy still had a trick up his sleeve.
"As you can see, at first I thought Caesar was the main force, but Joker didn't send anyone to rescue him, so Caesar shouldn't be very important. I miscalculated."
"But there must be a'SMILE' manufacturing factory somewhere in Dressrosa."
Master Orochimaru nodded affirmatively. Yes, of course there was; besides Dressrosa, there were several others.
After all, he had them built. Wano Country would be his in the future, and it wasn't excessive for him to get more capable cattle and horses for himself, was it?
Seeing Kin'emon excitedly declare that he still had comrades trapped in Dressrosa and insisted on going together, Master Orochimaru finally remembered Kanjuro.
He couldn't help but ponder, it had to be said, this Kanjuro was truly a talent; leaving him with Orochi was too much of a waste.
Perhaps he should just brainwash him and make him completely into a so-called comrade?
After all, Doffy's side seemed to be lacking intelligence personnel.
After the group discussed it for a while, Nami had originally wanted to take Momonosuke to tour the sunny, as she always liked children.
But as soon as she thought of the Devil Fruit Momonosuke possessed, she couldn't help but rub the goosebumps that rose on her arms.
She secretly thought, forget it. What if he suddenly transformed? It was better to keep him in his normal state.
Although Robin didn't say anything, she also kept her distance; if she got close to him, she couldn't get close to Master Orochimaru.
However, Usopp and the others had a normal attitude; after all, they weren't afraid of bugs or anything like that.
The interesting thing was that if Momonosuke appeared within Master Orochimaru's line of sight, Luffy would quickly take Master Orochimaru's hand.
Fortunately, Momonosuke was afraid of snakes and never approached within five meters of Master Orochimaru.
Moreover, Momonosuke inexplicably felt a great threat from Master Orochimaru, and instinct drove him to not want to get close to Master Orochimaru at all.
Luffy held Master Orochimaru's hand and sat together on top of the sunny, looking at the distant sea. Luffy turned to Master Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru... is Momoko that Momonosuke?"
"Mm."
Master Orochimaru responded to Luffy's question expressionlessly, his tone calm and unruffled.
Luffy was slightly startled upon hearing this, a hint of embarrassment appearing on his face. He instinctively raised a hand to scratch his head, after all, he was the one who brought him back ( *´ ｪ ｀ * ).
Luffy seemed to be trying hard to figure out what to say next.
A moment later, his eyes held a hint of seriousness.
"Then..."
Master Orochimaru spoke again: "My only brothers are you three."
"Soga," Luffy pressed one hand on his iconic straw hat, a wide grin spreading across his face, revealing a set of pearly white teeth as he smiled brilliantly.
Master Orochimaru, who had been immersed in silence, seemed to be suddenly touched by something, and he slightly raised his head, a glimmer of thought flashing in his eyes.
"Oh... right."
He spoke slowly, his voice low but clearly audible.
"After we arrive at Dressrosa, when you start hitting people, hit them a little lighter. Don't cripple everyone."
"Huh?" Luffy looked bewildered, his head unconsciously tilting to one side, his eyes full of confusion, clearly not quite understanding what Master Orochimaru meant.
Master Orochimaru looked at Luffy's innocent expression, slightly raised an eyebrow, and spoke with a hint of amusement.
"Just remember, Dressrosa, that place, should be a very interesting place for you."
Meanwhile, Law was still struggling with how they were going to infiltrate, and a "ROOM" suddenly appeared before Luffy and Master Orochimaru.
"Straw Hat Captain!! Master Orochimaru! Can you two not be so relaxed! Seriously think about how we're going to infiltrate!"
"Dressrosa is Doflamingo's kingdom!"
Master Orochimaru's expression was a little strange when he heard Law's words. No... your discussion is useless; with him around, it won't be low-key. You can only come in with a bang.
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