Chapter 753: Out-of-Control Demon Fruit Battle Royale
Ian and his group began their return journey, but the number of people was larger than when they had arrived, with several extra individuals. One of them was Queen the Plague.
Although she was an acquaintance of Spank Jabba, even Spank Jabba believed she could no longer be involved in the grievances (en-yuan) between the Four Emperors. As a retaliatory measure for the Beast Pirates' incident this time, she was to be handed over to the Marines by Ian.
However, the matter in Wano Country was only a temporary conclusion. No one could predict how events would unfold next.
Because of Ian's current identity issues, the balance among the Four Emperors had been broken. Among the existing Four Emperors, the Whitebeard Pirates and the Red Hair Pirates, linked by the Dragon Hunter Pirates, were showing signs of an alliance. This was completely different from the previous structure (ge-ju) where each Emperor acted independently. Now, the Dragon Hunter Pirates and the Beast Pirates had engaged in their first long-range confrontation. Kaido had captured Ace and Fujitora, and similarly, Ian had captured one of his Three Calamities...
Although there had been no direct king-versus-king showdown between Ian and Kaido, the hostility between them had already spread far and wide due to this incident.
After leaving Wano Country, Ian instructed Fujitora and the others to return to Whole Cake Island first to find Trafalgar Law, as Law had Bepo's Vivre Card and could take them to Zou.
Jack the Drought had obtained a Vivre Card from Queen the Plague that could lead to Zou, but since history had changed, Ian wasn't sure if Jack would go to Zou. No one could say for certain whether Jack would catch Kin'emon and his group first.
Regardless, it was good to have Fujitora head out first to notify Dorry and the others, so Zou could make some preparations.
As for Ian himself, he temporarily parted ways with them, taking Queen the Plague and flying off. His plan was to deliver Queen to the Marines and also make a detour to Dressrosa to check things out.
For now, let's leave that aside and turn our attention to an island in the New World: Lemra!
Lemra was a small island covering only a few dozen square kilometers. It had a tiny country called the Castrum Kingdom, with a population of about 100,000. Because the country was too small to qualify as a member of the World Government, the Castrum Kingdom had no choice but to seek the protection of a Four Emperors' pirate crew, like other countries in the New World.
This country was nominally under the protection of the Red Hair Pirates!
Yes, this was an island within the Red Hair Pirates' territory. Originally, after hoisting the Red Hair Pirates' flag, Castrum had been relatively peaceful and stable. The king of the Castrum Kingdom was in the prime of his life, and under his rule, this small country had been thriving and prosperous.
However, just a few days ago, the appearance of a single Demon Fruit destroyed everything.
It was a strangely shaped Demon Fruit that had drifted in from the sea. A sailor, who had been drunk and passed out on the harbor shore, picked it up when he woke up. When he realized he had found a treasure of the sea, this heavy-drinking sailor's first thought was not to eat it himself, but to sell it for money!
When he excitedly contacted a local auction house to sell the Demon Fruit, the auction house's appraisers identified it as the Soul Fruit!
No one expected that the Demon Fruit of Big Mom, who had been killed not long ago, would appear in the world so quickly...
An auction house that dealt in Demon Fruit sales naturally had connections to the underworld. Realizing this was a Demon Fruit of immense value, the auction house quickly contacted other underworld brokers to maximize the profit from this fruit.
In their excitement, the auction house made a huge mistake: they did not immediately inform the country's protector, the Red Hair Pirates, about this news!
By the time news of the Soul Fruit's appearance spread throughout the underworld, things had quickly spiraled out of control.
At first, vicious pirates began appearing on the island, all wanting to get their hands on the Demon Fruit. Their arrival put immense pressure on Castrum's public order. Although the Red Hair Pirates' flag on the island prevented these pirates from acting openly, incidents of fighting and trouble-making kept occurring. More absurdly, within just a week, the auction house holding the Demon Fruit was burglarized thirty-seven times—more than five times a day!
When the auction house realized this Demon Fruit was a hot potato and wanted to sell it quickly, even at a loss, the Beast Pirates and the World Government both set their sights on the fruit at the same time!
Now, the auction house didn't dare to sell the fruit casually. If they sold it and someone ate it, they would face the wrath of both the Beast Pirates and the World Government.
The World Government had clearly offered 5 billion Berries to buy the fruit, but the auction house didn't dare agree to sell it to them. They had to consider the Beast Pirates' reaction. They couldn't afford to offend the World Government, nor could they afford to offend the Beast Pirates!
Although the Beast Pirates hadn't mentioned paying and seemed intent on simply taking it by force, the auction house actually wished they would just come and steal it. By this point, they had stopped caring about making money. They could only tremble as they clutched the Demon Fruit, waiting for these big shots to settle their dispute, and then hand over the fruit...
This was the tragedy of small-time players on the New World sea. When what they held was worth more than their ability to protect it, it became a crime to possess it.
The people of Castrum on the island all felt the strange atmosphere in their country. Then, in their fearful waiting, not long after, three massive fleets appeared off the coast of the island.
One side was, of course, the Beast Pirates, who had arrived after hearing the news. The one who came was the great Kaido of the Beasts himself, accompanied by King the Plague and Doflamingo. The Beast Pirates didn't have too many ships, but there were still over a dozen pirate vessels.
The other side was the Marine fleet led by Admiral Kizaru. With him were the newly promoted Admirals Momousagi and Chat Don. The Marines had the largest number of ships.
The remaining third faction came from the Red Hair Pirates!
The king of Castrum realized the situation had escalated and sent a distress call to the Red Hair Pirates. Thus, Red-Haired Shanks, one of the Four Emperors, appeared on the sea near Castrum aboard the Red Force...
As Ian had thought, Red-Haired Shanks didn't believe a single Soul Fruit could create a new Four Emperors like Big Mom. But honestly, he was also very surprised. He couldn't understand why the Beast Pirates and the World Government placed such importance on this Demon Fruit.
Moreover, Castrum was a country under the Red Hair Pirates' protection. If someone came to cause trouble on his turf, Shanks had to beat them back hard.
So he came as well.
The Red Hair Pirates also followed an elite path, so their numbers were small. Although they had arrived, Shanks maintained due caution and didn't act rashly.
Under normal circumstances, with three factions involved, there might have been a stalemate, and everyone would sit down to negotiate the ownership (gui-shu) of the Soul Fruit. But one of the factions was Kaido, the madman!
Don't back down, just fight! That was Kaido's philosophy. In his mind, there was no such thing as going with the flow.
It had to be said that among all the Four Emperors, Kaido's reputation for ferocity surpassed the others precisely because of this. Whether it was the Whitebeard Pirates, the Red Hair Pirates, or even the Marines, they weren't necessarily unable to defeat the Beast Pirates in a fight. But Kaido's personality of starting a fight over the slightest disagreement was a huge headache!
So, when the Beast Pirates encountered the large, conspicuous Marine fleet on the sea, Kaido immediately led his men to attack!
In contrast, the Red Hair Pirates, with only one ship, got the chance to watch from the sidelines...
Among the Marines, the leader this time was Kizaru. Given his indecisive and unpredictable nature, he might have backed down in this situation. But unfortunately, this Marine operation was directly ordered by the World Government and the Celestial Dragons. Last time, when the Surgery Fruit appeared, the Marines had been intercepted. This time, they couldn't afford to fail again.
Bound by this strict order, Kizaru had no choice but to brace himself and engage. This led to a full-scale battle between the two sides before they even saw the Soul Fruit.
Although this was also a war between the Marines and a Four Emperors, its scale naturally couldn't compare to the Battle of New Edd War. The Marines had three Admirals, but it wasn't a full deployment. Fortunately, the Beast Pirates' combat strength was also incomplete, so it was a fair fight.
Most of the Beast Pirates' ships were destroyed by the Marines' booming cannon fire, but many Marine warships were also destroyed by Kaido and his crew's attacks.
The two sides fought a massive sea battle off the coast of Castrum, leaving the locals stunned and terrified...
Shanks stood at the bow of his ship, watching the battle from afar with a serious expression.
The Marines' decision to fight back so fiercely was somewhat unexpected for Shanks. He had thought the Marines would let the Beast Pirates and Red Hair Pirates fight each other while they waited to pick up the pieces. But things had turned out differently.
"Let's go to the city!" Shanks waved his hand, ordering the Red Force to turn and head for the shore. He planned to go into the city and get the Soul Fruit first.
But just then, Ben Beckman, pipe in mouth, handed him a telescope and said, "Look at 10 o'clock!"
Shanks raised the telescope and looked in the direction Ben Beckman indicated. There, in midair, Doflamingo was walking in a strange posture, heading toward Castrum city.
"It seems Doflamingo has the same idea..." Shanks sneered. "Let's see who's faster!"
The Red Force immediately hoisted its sails and charged toward Castrum's harbor...
Realizing that the Beast Pirates intended to hold off the Marines while Doflamingo seized the Demon Fruit, the Red Hair Pirates quickened their pace to prevent them from succeeding. This caused Red-Haired Shanks to be somewhat distracted.
He didn't notice the massive shadow slowly moving in the sky thousands of meters above the Castrum sea area...