Chapter 119: Stop
“Compensation?”
This is an interesting term.
Elus repeated it twice, his gaze changing slightly.
Although he didn’t say it explicitly, just this one mention of compensation already revealed the implied meaning of a truce!
“I don’t recall owing you anything. This is our first meeting. If you’re stopping just to spout this boring nonsense, we might as well continue fighting.” Fighting Kaido to the death was not what Elus wanted, but he firmly remembered one sentence: Peace through struggle endures; peace through compromise perishes.
Peace was not something Elus sought, but endless entanglement with Kaido was harmful without benefit. To end this meaningless battle, Elus slightly raised the Moonlight Sword in his hand, its soul-captivating glow especially bright and alluring under the moonlight.
His words were provocative, but his actions did not truly launch an attack; he merely assumed an attacking posture.
The battle had not yet been determined to end!
This was Elus turning passive into active, using the sword in his hand to show that he did not fear battle.
Moreover, Kaido’s temporary halt did not mean he had truly abandoned the intent to continue fighting Elus; he might suddenly attack again the next second. This man did not care for martial honor—ambush, sneak attacks, and such means were all within his repertoire. A moment of carelessness could lead to falling for it.
Though it wouldn’t result in death, it would inevitably lead to getting covered in dust.
To truly end this meaningless battle, Elus proactively challenged him.
However,
This time, Kaido did not plan to play any tricks with Elus.
From noon to midnight, nearly a full day of fierce battle was enough for him to experience that the New World Fifth Overlord was not some overhyped fraud. He had gone all out without holding back, and Elus possessed strength sufficient to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Four Emperors.
He realized Elus’s tricky and tenacious nature, extinguishing his intent to continue fighting. Fighting on like this would bring no further benefits beyond a satisfying brawl, and would instead benefit BIG·MOM while forging an irreconcilable grudge with Elus.
He did not like doing such self-damaging, others-benefiting deeds.
Therefore,
He decided to change the way of interacting with the Eckmond Kingdom. The attempt at conquest by force had utterly failed, so naturally, it was time to turn to negotiations at the conference table. Hearing Elus’s retort, the Azure Dragon let out a massive laugh.
“That’s right!”
He laughed and said.
“This is indeed our first meeting, but… it’s not our first dealings. You maliciously outbid me on the black market and took my Devil Fruits. Don’t tell me you didn’t know about it, and don’t give me that crap about the highest bidder wins. I’m a pirate—what I set my eyes on belongs to me.”
These words were full of Haki.
Yet this unreasonable madness, from Kaido’s mouth, sounded utterly justified. That was how a Pirate Emperor should be—utterly unreasonable.
The Azure Dragon leaned forward slightly, looking at Elus and saying bluntly: “Even a blind or deaf person in the New World knows no one can take my things. Black Prince, return those Devil Fruits to me, and add an equal number more. Our past conflicts can be wiped clean from then on.”
“Sorry, those Devil Fruits have all been used up by me.”
Elus shrugged.
He raised the Moonlight Sword where the pale blue glow swirled and shifted, its blade shrouded in a hazy halo pointed at Kaido’s massive dragon head. He made no effort to conceal the malice in his heart. Though he had planned to communicate with Kaido from the start, that didn’t stop him from harboring malice toward this Pirate Emperor.
Kaido twitched his eyebrows burning like azure flames, his murderous dragon eyes narrowing, seemingly surprised that this junior ‘Black Prince’ gave him no face.
“And… give them back to me? Wrong words! Those Devil Fruits never belonged to you—they were mine, bought with a huge sum. So there’s no such thing as giving them back. This is extortion, and it’s the first time in my life I’ve been extorted like this. I’ll have to properly experience Your Excellency’s prowess.”
Elus argued seriously.
He wasn’t lying—those Devil Fruits had basically all been used up. Some were given to meritorious warriors among his subordinates, others sent to the research institute for Caesar to study. The already scarce Devil Fruits were divided up in no time.
“······”
Kaido furrowed his dragon brows.
This situation differed from what he had anticipated.
Rough yet refined, with hidden depths—this described a hegemon like Kaido. Moving against Elus and the Eckmond Kingdom was not impulsive heat-of-the-moment action, but a long-planned move with prepared schemes. Even before leaving Wano Country, he had several action plans ready.
Jack was the chess piece he sent to probe the Black Prince’s influence strength.
Based on the distance between the Beasts Pirates’ vanguard fleet and main fleet, it was easy to calculate the midway consumption time. The math showed without doubt that Kaido was late—and deliberately so. The reason for lateness was using the informants left on the Mammoth to observe the battle between Jack and Dillon, trying to infer Elus’s true strength from the perspective of this aide-de-camp Dillon.
Based on different guesses of Elus’s strength, Kaido finalized several plans.
One of them included this very situation. If Elus’s strength truly matched the title of New World Fifth Overlord, he wouldn’t stubbornly push to the end; he also knew softening tactics. But in the New World where the strong reigned supreme, fists could solve most problems.
However—
He somewhat doubted if softening tactics would work on Elus. This young Black Prince seemed even more combative than him?
Kaido’s hesitation made Elus inwardly puzzled. Could his performance have been too convincing, making Kaido think there was no possibility left for talks? If this backfired, it would be a huge embarrassment—especially if it allowed that madwoman BIG·MOM to take advantage…
That would be a massive loss.
But words spoken were like spilled water. No matter how much he regretted his bold words, he could only suppress all emotions, keep a straight face, and put on an expression of ‘why the hell aren’t you attacking yet’.
“You’ve broken the rules!”
Kaido pondered, suppressing the urge to continue fighting, deciding to try again.
If it were anyone else daring to provoke him like this, he would have swung his club to teach them a lesson long ago. But Elus was exceptional; teaching him would not be easy. Moreover, the maritime transport network truly hindered his plan to build an ability user legion. Compared to endless fighting with Elus, resolving this was one of his main goals.
The Azure Dragon coiled atop the dark clouds, opening his dragon eyes wide, staring at Elus and saying bluntly: “Zoan Devil Fruits are something I must have. I can overlook the previous ones, but if this happens again, even if it shatters heaven and earth, I can play with you, kid.”
“So, give me an explanation! Brat.”
“······Zoan Devil Fruits?” Elus showed a surprised expression. “You went to all this trouble to find me just for those Devil Fruits? I thought this was just an excuse for you to pick a fight!”
“Hm?”
Kaido widened his dragon eyes.
Well then, what did this mean?
Those Devil Fruits? These words carried a full flavor of contempt. What did he mean by “those Devil Fruits”? To acquire Devil Fruits for his ambition of building an ability user legion, he had squeezed Wano Country until the people lived in misery.
“Asking again, Your Excellency truly came only for the Devil Fruits?”
“Hmph! Of course not. If your fists aren’t hard enough, brat, just Devil Fruits naturally won’t satisfy my appetite. But right now, Zoan Devil Fruits—that’s my current wish. Whoever dares block me is my enemy.”
“I see!”
Elus chuckled lightly. With a flick of his hand, the Moonlight Sword turned into countless tiny shards of light and vanished. The pitch-black wings on his back slowly flapped. “Talking here is inconvenient. My ship has good wine—how about sharing a drink?”
He extended an invitation to Kaido.
“Drinking?”
The Azure Dragon’s long whiskers under his chin twitched rapidly. “If it’s not good wine, I’ll smash the table.”
······
Black Swan Island.
Moonlight faded away, dark clouds gathered howling in the sky, thunder rumbling, silver lightning snaking through like serpents. The world turned pale in an instant, even the black Pirate Flag gaining a layer of pale glow in that brief moment—the skull with lipstick like a grinning demon.
“Mom, the battle between Beasts and the Black Prince is still ongoing.”
Snack loudly reported the latest intelligence.
Hearing this good news, BIG·MOM’s face instantly broke into a ferocious smile like that skull flag, a bloodthirsty aura quietly spreading. Her surrounding sons and daughters shrank back in fear, but soon the bloodthirst inherited from BIG·MOM surged up in their bones.
Ferocious gazes like hungry wolves all turned toward Black Swan Island, invisible yet not far at all.
“Mom, it’s time to act!”
Someone raised their katana boldly and said.
He was Charlotte Tablet, a pint-sized figure unremarkable among the Charlotte Family. But height didn’t decide everything. Though shorter than many younger siblings, his belligerence ranked top in the family.
“mama~~”
BIG·MOM let out a delighted laugh. “Tablet, my good child, you’re right—it’s time to move.”
Similarly out of patience, BIG·MOM finally issued the attack order. The massive fleet that had lingered off Black Swan Island for four or five days charged into Eckmond Kingdom waters. The patrolling ships, sensing trouble, chose not to fight head-on but turned and fled toward the island.
However,
“Bang!!!”
A man descended from the sky onto the patrol ship’s deck—the new recruit among the Sweet Four Generals eager for merit, Charlotte Snack. Piloting a small boat at astonishing speed, he closed in on the patrol ship that had just turned, leaping aboard before it could build speed to escape.
With Snack boarding,
The outcome was self-evident.
By the time Snack jumped back to his deck, the patrol ship had no trace of life left. Thick blood scent filled every corner of the cabin, the dark red blood pooling and gradually solidifying on the floor. Fortunately, the captain had sent the message back to the island before Snack boarded.
The Pirate Guerilla Squad, on constant alert day and night without slack, prepared everything with lightning speed. Under Zephyr’s command, the fleet sailed out of the port. No need to search—the BIG·MOM Pirates’ fleet soon appeared in Zephyr’s view.
“Open fire.”
This malignancy cured, the former admiral, re-energized, issued the order crisply.
Over a dozen Pirate Guerilla Squad warships fired nearly a thousand cannons before the BIG·MOM Pirates’ fleet could close in, spewing rolling gunpowder smoke. Cannonballs like dense rain fell on the sea ahead, splashing nearly a thousand thick water columns.
This was a test shot.
Though neither fleet was yet in range, Zephyr ordered the firing. The majestic cannon roar dispelled the Marines’ lingering sleepiness, and the test shot familiarized the gunners with night combat, giving more precise estimates of distance and targets.
He wasn’t thinking of intimidating the BIG·MOM Pirates. That might work on small fry, but this was the BIG·MOM Pirates—a family crew bound by blood, personally led by BIG·MOM. No scaring these ferocious pirates.
Honestly, Zephyr’s demonstrative firing only stirred the ferocity of BIG·MOM’s children. Many howled, cursed loudly, brandished their swords, itching to charge in for a boarding battle and teach this fallen old dog Zephyr a lesson.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
Cannon fire drowned out the sky’s thunder as both fleets opened fire.
The same issue remained: Sea battles were mostly settled by cannons. Boarding battles required at least a few volleys to close range. After all, on this vast sea, flyers were rare—especially since ability users couldn’t even swim.
