Chapter 94: Malicious Babu
Meanwhile, in a dense forest on the island, Wright and his group were staring grimly at Babu in front of them.
Next to the opponent lay the huge corpse of an unknown fierce beast and several crew members who were injured on the ground and wailing in pain.
Clearly, the group had misjudged the fierce beast’s strength and paid the price for it.
“What are you doing here?”
Wright looked up at Babu, who was sitting on the beast’s corpse, and asked in an unfriendly tone.
“Come on~ come on~ don’t be so tense~ I just saved your companions~”
“If I hadn’t stepped in in time, those guys would have become someone else’s breakfast.”
Babu patted the beast beneath him while speaking with a grin.
“First Mate Wright, s-sorry. We…”
The pirates who were injured on the ground wanted to say something more, but Wright interrupted them: “No need to apologize, as long as you’re all okay.”
After pacifying the injured crew members, he turned back to Babu:
“Tell me, what exactly do you want?”
“Haha~”
“Dealing with smart people like you is so convenient~”
Seeing this, Babu didn’t beat around the bush and said directly: “‘Golden City—Shandora’, you know where it is, right?”
Upon hearing the word “Shandora”, not only Wright but everyone present had their pupils shrink!
“‘Shandora’? Isn’t that a story from the braggart’s picture book? I didn’t expect a guy like you to read picture books too.”
Wright continued to feign composure as he spoke.
“Tch~ I just praised your smarts~”
“I’ve been so open with you, and yet you still want to hide it. That’s too much~”
“I don’t know what you’re t…”
“Navigational log, ancient text, ‘Golden Land’, fratricide… I heard your entire secret meeting that day~”
Babu pointed to his ear, the mischief in his eyes intensifying.
Hearing this, everyone knew the game was up. Wright gave up on the small talk and placed his hand on his sword hilt instead.
The other pirates around him also gripped their weapons tightly upon seeing this, and the atmosphere instantly became tense.
“Tell me, what do you want?” Wright asked coldly.
“Oh~ you’re asking such a stupid question? I’m obviously here to kill you~”
Babu still had his arms crossed, seemingly oblivious to the killing intent from the other side.
“Don’t joke around. If you wanted to kill us, you would’ve done it already. Why wait until now?”
“Tell me, what’s your real goal? Do you want the coordinates to the Golden Land or something else? Let’s cut a deal.”
“Haha! Talking to smart people really is convenient.”
Babu laughed loudly, then flipped off the corpse.
“I’ll be straightforward. I want to kill that guy John too. Let’s cooperate.”
At these words, everyone except Wright looked shocked.
One hot-tempered pirate stepped forward and demanded:
“Are you messing with us? You’re clearly in cahoots with John, and now you’re saying you want to kill him!”
But Babu ignored that pirate and just stared intently at Wright, waiting for him to speak.
“…”
“Reason.”
“Simple. That guy John wants to kill me, so for self-preservation, I have to kill him first.”
This time, Babu dropped his usual joking tone and answered Wright in an icy voice.
Yes, he had vaguely sensed that John was planning to take action against him.
After all, as an executive who had followed John for years, Babu knew exactly what kind of person his captain was.
Once they passed through the Red Line and reached the first half of the Grand Line, John would definitely make his move.
That man would never let someone who coveted his treasure and knew his whereabouts live.
…
But in reality, he had still underestimated his captain. John had no intention of letting him live that long and wanted his life right here.
『If only he’d waited a few more seconds before teleporting back then.』
Babu regretted it in his heart more than once.
In fact, the moment he heard John’s “gold cicada shedding its shell” plan, this guy had decided to betray John and become the “yellow sparrow” himself.
After all, that was Rocks’ treasure, the dream of all pirates!
Even the most cautious person could become bold and reckless under such immense temptation.
Right after the explosive rock detonated, Babu hadn’t immediately teleported John away. Instead, he used John as cover and deliberately waited a few seconds. Only after seeing that John was indeed injured by the explosion did he use his ability.
【His ability couldn’t be used consecutively; there had to be a cooldown between teleports.】
This was something he had personally told John before the plan began, to avoid suspicion.
As for how long that “period of time” actually was, only he knew.
Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. He had underestimated John’s strength. After escaping, he found that the other’s injuries weren’t as severe as he’d imagined.
On the contrary, he had exposed his greed for the treasure due to his excitement at the time. Given his understanding of John, the other would never let him go.
If he had teamed up with Foll back then, Babu might still have had a chance, but he hadn’t expected John to strike first.
This decisiveness and ruthlessness made him think that the other truly deserved his reputation as a great pirate who had dominated the New World for years, while also filling him with growing unease and anxiety.
Babu was now at the end of his rope.
If he couldn’t launch a successful assassination while John was still recovering from his old wounds, he would have no chance of survival once the other fully recovered.
“And not just me—once you reach ‘Paradise’, you won’t be useful anymore either. He’ll get rid of you too.”
“You don’t actually think naively that he’ll let you go, do you?”
Seeing the varied expressions on the opposing pirates’ faces, Babu continued to apply pressure.
“This is the last and only chance. Cooperate with me, and we’ll strike first.”
“…”
“You don’t want the murderer who killed Foll to get away, do you~”
Sure enough, at these words, the atmosphere on site froze.
Then everyone looked toward Wright, who was still silent.
“Wright”
“Boss Wright”
“First Mate”
…
Hearing his companions’ calls one after another, Wright’s expression grew more conflicted.
In contrast, the smile on Babu’s face deepened. He knew he had achieved his goal.
“Hoo~”
After this suffocating silence, Wright finally spoke.
“What’s your plan?”
“Pa!”
Babu clapped his hands and said with a grin:
“Simple. Just make a slight modification to your original plan.”
“You’ll use the ‘Golden Land’ intel to distract John, then suddenly attack him from the front.”
“Meanwhile, I’ll teleport behind him and deliver the fatal blow.”
A plain but viciously toxic plan.
Wright reacted almost immediately.
“You want us to be bait for you?!”
“Don’t put it so harshly~”
“With your strength, even a successful sneak attack wouldn’t hurt John. Why not let me have this one-shot kill opportunity?”
“Besides, haven’t you already resolved yourselves to die~”
Indeed, this was the most insidious part of Babu’s plan: he wanted Wright and the others to use their lives to create an opportunity for him.
First draw John’s attention with the “Golden Land” intel, then have Wright and them launch a suicidal assassination.
He himself would lag a step behind, striking only after John was fully distracted by their second wave, to deliver the killing blow.
It had to be said that Babu really loved this “yellow sparrow lurking behind” ploy.
