Chapter 205: Suddenly Transformed Into The Villain Big Boss
Fresh blood mixed in the accumulated rainwater, soon becoming turbid and losing its vibrant color.
The headless corpse could no longer bleed any more blood. It had already lost a massive amount during the battle in the sky, and moreover, the shriveled body of a seventy-something-year-old man had barely any moisture left to begin with. After squeezing out that last bit of blood, the corpse gradually lost temperature, and with the passage of time, it would become increasingly stiff.
“Golden Lion······ one man worth ten thousand.”
Prince Elus murmured softly to himself.
The corners of his lips involuntarily curved up, sketching a joyful smile on his face. The Golden Lion’s soul had been devoured by the Hogyoku, and in that instant, the Hogyoku conveyed the concept of ‘half-full.’ The quality of the Golden Lion’s soul was astonishingly high—ten thousand ordinary souls combined wouldn’t match the nourishment of this single soul.
As expected, compared to quantity, quality is what truly matters.
He took out over twenty thousand invaders on Whale Tail Island, earning him the nickname Black Prince, which was strictly speaking derogatory. But in the special environment of the Pirate Era among great pirates, this title wasn’t too eye-catching. Otherwise, a nickname like Black Prince wouldn’t be anything to be proud of.
In comparison, taking down just the Golden Lion alone not only yielded a high-quality soul but also allowed him to hone himself in the process, learning a set of astonishingly powerful swordsmanship. Additionally, if nothing unexpected happened, he would gain glorious honors······ He almost forgot—there was also a Float-Float Fruit!
Putting it this way,
Hunting down notorious pirates like this is indeed more worthwhile.
Of course, the premise is having a good set of teeth, or else you might fail to eat the lamb and end up covered in fleas instead.
At this moment,
A shadow cast down from the sky as the maid with crimson long hair retracted her wings behind her back, landing lightly like a swan.
“Your Highness.”
“Fran, go retrieve that Yama and the Golden Lion’s arm. Actually, forget it—the Golden Lion’s arm is probably smashed into meat paste······ Just bring the sword. As for the other things······ dispose of them on the spot.”
Recovering trophies is important.
Yama and Dead Wood—these were among the trophies the Golden Lion left him, top-tier famous swords of the era. Dead Wood was still on the Golden Lion’s leg, while Yama had fallen with the Golden Lion’s severed arm somewhere else in the town.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Fran accepted the order.
Prince Elus and the Golden Lion had battled for eight days and seven nights. Previously, Fran had followed by ship, but upon reaching Reverse Mountain, she left the warship anchored at Twin Capes. She flew into the sky alone, maintaining a neither too close nor too distant distance, observing the battle between Prince Elus and the Golden Lion.
Speaking of which, the Golden Lion’s flying warship had also crossed Reverse Mountain, arriving in the airspace near the Loguetown sea area.
Unfortunately, just moments ago, with the Golden Lion’s death and the loss of the Float-Float Fruit’s power, the flying warship crashed into the sea, ending in total destruction along with its crew.
“Alright, now······ this situation looks quite interesting!”
Fran went off to retrieve the trophies as ordered, while Prince Elus stood atop the ruins of the execution stand, surveying his surroundings: Navy Colonel, Revolutionary Army leader, pirates from various crews······ The personnel composition was quite intriguing. Oh, and he himself had to be included too—that made one of the Seven Warlords······
“Prince Elus.”
Suddenly, Smoker was the first to break the stalemate.
“Fleet Admiral Sengoku wishes to speak with Your Highness.”
Smoker strode over quickly, offering the Den Den Mushi in his hand to Prince Elus.
“Sokachio Elus, this is the Five Elders!”
An unexpected self-introduction came from the microphone.
“Hey, wasn’t it supposed to be Fleet Admiral Sengoku?” Prince Elus looked at Smoker in surprise. The big cigar-chomping man also had a ghostly expression, not looking like he was deliberately deceiving him······ So, did the Five Elders hijack Sengoku’s signal?
His guess hit the mark.
In the Fleet Admiral’s office, Sengoku was trembling with rage. The Five Elders in the Holy Land had switched the signal without explanation, treating him, the Fleet Admiral, as if he were nothing. The fury in his heart and his worry over the Loguetown situation plunged him into an extremely rare state of frenzy.
In the corridor outside the door, one could hear the Fleet Admiral unleashing a torrent of colorful profanities at the Five Elders in the Holy Land. Fortunately, aside from that old rogue who had gone back home to see his grandson, no one dared loiter outside the Fleet Admiral’s office, so at least it wouldn’t be overheard.
That said, Fleet Admiral Sengoku had received the intelligence from Smoker’s report, so how did the Five Elders get the news?
Could there be CP0 agents hiding in Loguetown?
It wasn’t impossible. As Roger’s birthplace and place of death, it wasn’t strange for it to be under close watch—perhaps they could uncover someone connected to the Pirate King here.
Loguetown, the square.
“Whatever, it doesn’t matter who it is······ So, what do the World Government’s big shots want with me?” Prince Elus toyed with the Float-Float Fruit in his hand like a toy, tossing it up and down.
“Prince Elus, by the authority of the Five Elders, we order you to immediately capture the Revolutionary Army leader Monkey D. Dragon.”
One of the Five Elders—unclear which—spoke from the Den Den Mushi, issuing an utterly domineering command straight at Prince Elus.
“Hey, no way? You want me to take on that Dragon guy alone? You’re joking, right? This joke isn’t funny at all.”
“This is an order, Prince Elus. Don’t forget the conditions you agreed to when you joined the Seven Warlords: to investigate the Revolutionary Army’s headquarters location. Yet to this day, there’s been no progress. If you can’t accomplish that, then capturing Monkey D. Dragon would at least be some account.”
The Den Den Mushi’s expression and voice shifted slightly as another of the Five Elders spoke.
“······This is called settling for the next best thing? What nonsense are you old fogeys spouting? Don’t think that just because that thing’s old and worn out, you can make it do splits whenever you want. You think a mere Seven Warlords title can make me fight a monster like that? Have you gone senile?” Prince Elus laughed in anger.
Capturing Monkey D. Dragon versus finding the Revolutionary Army’s headquarters base······ the difficulty wasn’t like a hundred steps versus ninety-nine, but a hundred steps versus one. Finding the Revolutionary Army’s headquarters base— with good luck, even an agent could do it.
But capturing Monkey D. Dragon, that monster—no success without at least two Navy Admiral-level experts.
“Monster?”
Dragon, who had been watching the spectacle, felt a bit hurt.
“Insolent! Prince Elus, do you know what you’re saying?”
The Five Elders were, as expected, enraged.
After all······ regardless of whether that thing still worked or not, few men could tolerate being called useless.
“Of course I know what I’m saying. The question is, do you understand what you’re saying? Don’t bring up those old conditions. There was no time limit mentioned back then, and don’t forget the Devil Child······ You couldn’t hold onto her yourselves yet blame me for letting go······ Hmph!”
Prince Elus’s tone was as tough as it could get.
Though he wasn’t ready to break with the World Government yet, he could still refuse unreasonable orders. Worst case, he’d lose the Seven Warlords title. At this point······ the Seven Warlords identity was more optional than essential for him.
So,
Even flipping out right now wouldn’t matter.
“Prince Elus, whether you can capture Monkey D. Dragon is one thing, but······ as a Seven Warlords, we also hope you’ll do your utmost. Otherwise, the matter of the Devil Child, or the fact that you still haven’t found the Revolutionary Army’s base······ it can’t help but make one suspect there might be some connection.”
“We understand that revoking your Seven Warlords title means little to you, since you’re not a pirate. However······ don’t forget, those associated with the Revolutionary Army······ are to be killed without mercy, even in World Government member nations.”
They had probably realized that hard pressure would only force Prince Elus out of the Seven Warlords with no further gains.
The tone from the Den Den Mushi changed—not blindly suppressing anymore, but employing subtle, needling tactics.
It had to be said,
This move was indeed much trickier than before.
He could have flatly refused the prior order as an impossible demand, but now he couldn’t easily claim he had no intention of fighting Dragon—that would implicate him in collusion with the Revolutionary Army.
“Even if you say that······ I just fought the Golden Lion for eight days and seven nights—my bones are creaking······ Sigh!” Prince Elus smacked his lips. “Fine! I’ll do my best, but don’t expect Dragon to come quietly······”
Prince Elus hung up the Den Den Mushi and tossed it back to Smoker.
His gaze turned to the people in the square.
“The call was pretty loud—I’m sure everyone heard it. No choice, I’m a Seven Warlords after all. Revolutionary Army, pirates······ If the higher-ups didn’t know, I could pretend not to see. But now they do, so······”
Prince Elus spread his hands,
“If you don’t want trouble, surrender nicely. Let our Colonel here put some pretty silver handcuffs on you. You have ten seconds to consider—after that······ I’ll make my move.” Prince Elus issued the final ultimatum.
Ten seconds passed,
Dragon, watching the show, stayed silent, quietly waiting for Luffy and the others to decide.
“Zoro, Sanji, run! Robin, you escape too! You seem at odds with the World Government too, right?”
Luffy didn’t hesitate at all, directly ordering his crew to flee, and didn’t forget Robin who had helped him. “You guys go—I’ll cover the rear. Don’t worry about my safety. My old man’s here too. From that guy’s tone (referring to Prince Elus), my old man seems pretty strong.”
Even as he said this, he showed no sign of rushing to Dragon’s side for closeness. Instead, he assumed a punching stance and kept backing away while holding it.
“Damn it!!!”
Hating his own weakness and incompetence, Zoro gritted his teeth, hoisted the still-unconscious Usopp over his shoulder, and ran toward the port.
Sanji muttered a garbled “bastard” and fled at his fastest speed ever, carrying Nami.
As for Robin,
She gave Luffy a deep look before following close behind Zoro and Sanji. She wasn’t too worried about Luffy’s safety—with Dragon here, he should be able to escape no matter what, right?
The ten seconds flew by.
Zoro and Sanji were long gone, Luffy had retreated some distance and then bolted like smoke. He hadn’t really stayed to fight to the end—even Buggy had slipped away. But······ they still weren’t far enough!
“Prince Elus?”
Smoker, who hadn’t dared act rashly and had counted to ten inwardly, looked over with evident anxiety.
If they waited any longer,
The Straw Hat Pirates and Buggy would escape.
“No rush—they haven’t gotten far!” Prince Elus glanced at the statue-still Dragon, then kicked off, using Sound Step to instantly reach the rooftop of a building at the square’s edge. In the next instant, flying into the air would reveal a chain of afterimages across Loguetown’s rooftops and platforms.
“Straw Hat brat, the Black Prince is chasing you.”
Though Buggy hadn’t awakened Haki yet, his intuition was sharply keen. He spotted Prince Elus on the rooftop beside the street before Luffy and the others, immediately shouting out—not out of kindness.
But to focus Prince Elus’s attention on the Straw Hat crew, giving Captain Buggy a better chance to escape.
“Clown Buggy, Pirate King’s crew member, Red-Haired’s sworn brother······ Don’t worry! I’ll entertain you well.” Prince Elus appeared ghost-like behind Buggy, instantly scaring the red-nosed captain into literal quarters.
Except for a pair of feet still running on the ground, the rest of his body parts broke off into chunks flying in the air.
“Chop-Chop Fruit······ What a pain! Better take down the Straw Hat brat first!” Prince Elus eyed Buggy fleeing in separated head, hands, and feet—this would be a hassle to catch. Might as well grab the Straw Hats first······ Just kidding!
However,
Not actually capturing the Straw Hats didn’t mean he couldn’t have some fun.
The instant Prince Elus reached out, as expected, a gale howled from behind in pursuit.
“Mister Dragon, how about giving me face? Going back empty-handed won’t look good!” Prince Elus negotiated with Dragon while striking like lightning, snatching the Straw Hat off Luffy’s head. Two chains, like venomous snakes hidden in shadows, suddenly leaped out to hook Zoro’s Wado Ichimonji from his waist and······ Nami from Sanji’s arms.
In the next moment, a fierce storm blasted over,
Prince Elus swiftly retreated, calling out loudly: “Straw Hat brat, if you want your partners and these two treasures back, come find me in Alabasta! Hahahaha!!!” Leaving behind the classic line of abducting the princess at the start of a hero’s tale, the Black Prince, now the villainous big boss, vanished into the wind.
The man-made obstacle was thus set,
He wanted to see just how prosperous the True Chosen One’s luck truly was. Without the genius navigator Nami’s help, could they still smoothly reach Alabasta······ Without an excellent navigator, forget sailing the Grand Line—even crossing Reverse Mountain required caution.
“Monkey D. Luffy, let me see just how much this world favors you!”
