Chapter 146: The Strongest Man
“By the way, why hasn’t Aoxi and the others arrived yet? Weren’t they supposed to return today?”
In a small room next to the warehouse on Fenrir Island, Burufaruto was pacing around the table, occasionally glancing at the Den Den Mushi on the table.
After learning that Aoxi and the others were already preparing to return, he gave up on the plan to go out again.
During this time, he had to wander around the dock every now and then, and spend the rest of the time with La in this small room, waiting for the other’s call.
“It’s only morning now; they won’t be back that soon.”
Compared to Burufaruto’s restlessness, La was completely relaxed, leaning back in her chair and looking down at a recipe book in her hands.
This was brought to her a few days ago by Deke, who had been summoned back to the island for a report by Old Cook; it contained all the dishes he had seen over the past few decades.
Although many of them had steps even he didn’t know, Old Cook believed that with La’s talent, recreating them wouldn’t be difficult.
“Puro~ Pu—”
“Hey! Where are you now?”
The Den Den Mushi on the table suddenly rang, and Burufaruto picked it up and answered at a speed faster than lightning.
“What do you mean where? It’s me!”
A familiar voice came from the other end of the Den Den Mushi, and the little snail’s face also turned fierce.
“Oh, so it’s Boss Kaido.”
The Fish-Man’s urgent tone instantly calmed, then became indifferent.
“What’s going on, Burufaruto? You sound pretty disappointed.”
“No, no.”
“Boss Kaido, where have you been lately? When are you coming back?”
“Never mind that; quickly get a few barrels of the best ‘Snow Wolf Wine’ on the island and send them to Pickle Island on a fast ship.”
“And remember not to let that brat La find out!”
“…”
Burufaruto glanced at La, who was sitting right across from him.
Upon hearing Kaido’s words, La directly closed her book and looked at Burufaruto in front of her with an expressionless face.
“Uh… haha, don’t worry! Boss Kaido, I won’t tell La.”
『But if she hears it herself, you can’t blame me… What a mess, Boss Kaido.』
“Good, hurry up!”
“Gulala-lala-la! A few barrels aren’t enough; all my sons need to taste it!”
The Den Den Mushi suddenly let out a very bold laugh, and the little snail also grew a white crescent-shaped beard.
“Hey! Newgate, don’t you get cocky with me!”
【Snow Wolf Wine】 as the specialty among specialties of Fenrir Island, its fame in the New World might not be household, but it could be said to be known to few.
This wasn’t because 【Snow Wolf Wine】 tasted bad; in fact, it was because its taste was too crisp and aromatic—basically everyone who tried it praised it endlessly.
But due to the rarity of its raw materials and the complexity of the brewing craftsmanship, the annual output was only a mere dozen or so barrels.
With such a small amount, it wasn’t even enough for internal consumption within the Pirate Crew, let alone for foreign trade.
Even with the original island owner John’s miserly personality, he was reluctant to sell it outside and basically kept it for his own enjoyment.
Fenrir’s current stock was only a mere ten barrels, just brewed this year.
Like when Kaido held a banquet before, he only reluctantly brought out two barrels.
“Gulala-lala-la! Listen up, to redeem your captain, bring twenty barrels of your best wine!”
“Newgate, you…”
“Beep—”
The Den Den Mushi was forcibly hung up.
“Uh…”
Sweat beaded on Burufaruto’s forehead; things seemed a bit complicated, leaving him unsure of what to do now.
“What happened?”
La spoke first to break the ice for him.
“From, from the tone, it seems Boss Kaido is in the other’s hands right now.”
“Who?”
“Whitebeard—Edward Newgate.”
……
Pickle Island, an uninhabited island within the territorial waters of the Whitebeard Pirates.
The island wasn’t large, but it had a strangely shaped ring-shaped mountain peak, making the whole island look like a natural ring arena.
And at this moment, Kaido was like a defeated gladiator, lying covered in blood in the center of this “arena,” breathing heavily.
“Cough, cough! You’re still strong like a monster, Newgate.”
“Hmph! You’re not far behind either, brat.”
The speaker was a huge man sitting on a rock not far from Kaido, resting, with a long naginata stuck beside him.
The man had a head of wild blond hair and a white beard like a crescent moon, looking extremely majestic and domineering.
Although he was just sitting there simply, the blond man exuded an existence that was hard to ignore, as if the surrounding space was collapsing toward him.
The other’s current state was obviously much better than Kaido’s; at least on the surface, he had no visible injuries, just slightly heavy breathing.
No way around it; even though his strength was a notch below, Kaido’s innate racial advantage plus the Mythical Zoan’s super recovery ability made him nearly unkillable.
On the shore not far away, a group of young men were leaning on the gunwale of a massive white Pirate Ship, looking toward the island.
“That’s too impressive, right? That guy with horns on his head~ survived getting beaten by Old Man for a day and a night.”
“Marco, are all you Mythical Zoan ability users this durable?”
A man with a pair of rapiers at his waist and a large braid sighed.
“No idea, but I definitely couldn’t take two punches from Old Man, hehe~”
“Though if it were Jozu, he could probably take several punches.”
“I wouldn’t fight Old Man.”
“Hm? Seems like it’s over there. Sachi, go to the kitchen and bring out a barrel of wine; I’ll take it to Old Man.”
“Eh? But we only have one barrel left.”
……
“Speak! What exactly do you want with me?”
Taking the wine barrel handed over by his sons, the man named Edward Newgate directly opened the lid and drank straight from the wooden barrel.
A normal-sized wooden barrel was like a perfectly sized wine glass in his hands.
“Uro-ro-ro-ro! Cough, cough!”
“No particular reason; I just happened to run into you and thought of having a fight.”
This was the truth; since his last battle with Silver Axe, Kaido hadn’t experienced any intense combat.
Although he had sought out La multiple times during this period, La, who had no interest in battle, completely ignored Kaido and focused solely on carving her wood.
And because of the lack of real combat to consolidate it, Kaido’s Conqueror’s Haki Infusion, which he had just glimpsed the threshold of, had stalled, which he, as a battle maniac, couldn’t tolerate.
Conqueror’s Haki Infusion—this top-tier combat technique improves best through life-or-death battles.
Generally, those who can comprehend this technique have top-tier battle talent; progress that takes years or even decades in daily training can be achieved in minutes in battle.
For example, Kaido, though constantly taking hits in his battle with Whitebeard, had become increasingly proficient with his Conqueror’s Haki Infusion and was about to step into the proficient threshold.
“Just for battle?”
“Hmph! You brat, still no growth after all these years.”
Hearing the response, the blond man was clearly displeased. After finishing the wine in one gulp, he patted his butt and stood up to leave.
“Marco, call the others; we’re leaving.”
“Oh, oh. Got it.”
The blond young man whose head resembled a pineapple took the empty barrel from the man, saw not a drop left inside, and complained:
“Old Man, at least drink sparingly~”
“This is the good wine specially sent up by the Pirate Crew below; we only have this last barrel left on the ship now.”
“Now we can’t even have a banquet.”
“Ah? Last barrel.”
Hearing this, the man stopped in his tracks, turned to look at Kaido who could move again, picked up the naginata in his hand, and walked back over.
