Chapter 75: Big·mom’s Regret
The Pirate Guerilla Squad matter progressed extremely quickly. With Zephyr himself having no objection at all and even saying he had similar intentions himself, he used all his strength to push for the formation of the Pirate Guerilla Squad. On the second day after meeting Elus, Fleet Admiral Sengoku signed the corresponding order under Zephyr’s watchful eye.
Zephyr took the order document with Sengoku’s signature and seal, directly turning into an unreasonable bully, brazenly barging into the bases of various units, selecting capable talents with a sense of justice from different units, and unceremoniously robbing each unit of their elites, then breaking them up and reorganizing them into the Pirate Guerilla Squad.
In just two short days, it caused Marineford to be filled with wails of lament.
And the one doing this was Zephyr.
Nearly one-third of the Navy Headquarters’ colonels and officers were Zephyr’s students, and even the three Admirals had received Zephyr’s instruction. Plus, with the order signed by Fleet Admiral Sengoku, everyone could only pinch their noses and accept their bad luck. After all, even Admiral Kuzan’s direct unit had been raided.
This series of disturbances,
Fleet Admiral Sengoku turned a blind eye to it.
Admiral Kuzan shut his door and slept.
Vice Admiral Tsuru······ No one dared to disturb Great Advisor Your Excellency.
Also, Admiral Sakazuki, who was originally scheduled to return to Marineford in half a month, suddenly replied that he was chasing a group of cunning Pirates, directly postponing his return to a month later. Such a reply was equivalent to stating a hands-off, non-interfering attitude.
Everyone understood that in a month’s time, with Zephyr’s momentum, he would have long taken the reorganized Pirate Guerilla Squad to the New World.
With this stance, it was clearly letting Zephyr make trouble, as long as he didn’t dismantle Marineford, it was really up to him to make trouble however he wanted!
And in fact, that was exactly the case.
Zephyr spent three days drawing over six thousand people from various units.
As the Navy Headquarters’ new recruit chief instructor, he knew the specific situations of each unit better than anyone. From the moment he resolved to take action, he had already prepared his draft. It looked like a patchwork miscellaneous unit, but in reality, it was complementary strengths, mutual exchange.
The officers and colonels of this unit were all Zephyr’s students, and not rebellious ones like Sakazuki and Borsalino, but students whose ideals and aspirations were closer to Zephyr’s philosophy. With their support, he easily molded this pieced-together team into one.
Then,
After a brief one-week integration period, Zephyr took the newly established Pirate Guerilla Squad through the Red Line to the New World, eagerly starting to strike at the New World’s Pirates.
His arrival immediately stirred up waves of turmoil in the New World.
This was Black Arm Zephyr!
Former Navy Admiral from Navy Headquarters.
Older Pirates in the New World all knew this once ferociously monstrous figure: the non-killing Zephyr, who had subjugated countless Pirates in his life but never killed a single enemy. Honestly, that was much more difficult than just killing enemies outright!
Though later, in his old age, he slipped by the riverside and got his shoes wet, losing a ship of recruits, and reportedly lost an arm, with his strength declining greatly.
Even so, not many dared to underestimate this old guy.
A skinny camel is still bigger than a horse; they’d at least heard of similar reason. As for anyone blind enough to step on a former Navy Admiral to climb up, one could only wish them an early death and reincarnation. Zephyr didn’t kill enemies, but captured Pirates were either sent to the deep-sea prison for life or directly sentenced to death.
Even the Four Emperors,
were drawn to Zephyr’s appearance and paid attention.
They weren’t afraid of a single Zephyr at all, but they cared about the Navy standing behind Zephyr. If this was the Navy not giving up after being driven out of the New World and preparing to return to seize hegemony······ then they needed to make some preparations!
Of course, no need to rush to be the first bird; better to see what this old guy Zephyr was really up to first!
The Four Emperors unanimously chose to watch coldly from the sidelines.
Even if the Navy was really preparing to return to the New World, it wouldn’t be achievable in a short time.
————
Dressrosa.
“Pirate Guerilla Squad······ Fufufufufu!!” Doflamingo, draped in his pink feather coat, sat on the windowsill, holding a Den Den Mushi, talking with his spy in the Navy, Vice Admiral Vergo.
Zephyr’s Pirate Guerilla Squad had passed through the G5 branch.
After paying some ammunition and supplies to send Zephyr off, Vergo proactively contacted Doflamingo and reported the detailed intelligence.
“How’s that Black Arm doing?”
“He looks in good condition; his severed arm is still as it was. Exactly how much ability he has left······ hard to say. From his presence, he’s not much inferior to back then.” Vergo recalled his brief meeting with Zephyr, brows furrowed.
His Observation Haki level wasn’t low, but Observation Haki sensing strength didn’t truly reflect combat power.
Just like Zephyr,
No one knew exactly how he lost his arm. It was said a Pirate chopped off his right arm, but how many Pirates on the Grand Line had the ability to sever a Navy Admiral’s arm? Counting them, there were only a few, and the Navy had never revealed who did it.
It had become an unsolved mystery at Navy Headquarters.
Even a Vice Admiral like Vergo, who also served as base commander, knew nothing.
Probably only Zephyr and the two surviving recruits knew, and Navy Headquarters Fleet Admiral and Admirals definitely knew the details. Among Vice Admirals, perhaps Garp and Tsuru had some understanding, and as for other insiders······ Vergo wasn’t sure.
“Black Arm······ Pirate Guerilla Squad······ Interesting!”
Doflamingo narrowed his eyes, looking at the vast sea and sky view outside the window. “Vergo, find out why former Admiral Zephyr, who’s been an instructor at Navy Headquarters for so many years, suddenly established this so-called Pirate Guerilla Squad. I want to know what’s really going on here.”
If it was the Navy preparing to make moves in the New World,
Then he needed to carefully calculate how to gain the maximum benefit.
However,
He always felt there was something fishy about this. He knew the Navy had never given up on returning to the New World; just look at how they sent so many thorns-in-the-side Navy officers to the G5 branch every year. The Navy never intended to completely abandon the New World.
After all, thorns often represented a certain level of strength.
Waste didn’t qualify to be treated as thorns and sent to G5 branch for utilization.
The reason he found it strange was that it happened too suddenly, without any precursor. Zephyr just abruptly brought the newly formed Pirate Guerilla Squad to the New World, with no preparatory work at all. One must know, an army marches on its stomach.
The New World wasn’t like the Four Seas or Paradise with branches everywhere.
Here there were only G1 and G5 two branch bases.
“Could it be related to the Black Prince?”
Vergo remembered the gossip he heard from a Vice Admiral at Navy Headquarters whom he had deliberately befriended. “I heard rumors that Zephyr met the Black Prince at some hotel in Marineford······”
“Black Prince······ Him again! Fufufufufu!!!”
Doflamingo’s smile became brilliantly radiant.
“I see, BIG·MOM manipulated Pirates to destroy his maritime transport network, so he dragged the Navy into dealing with the trouble······ As expected, not a Pirate; his way of thinking is completely different from Pirates.” Ordinary New World Pirate battles didn’t involve the Navy.
Fortunately, Doflamingo wasn’t an ordinary Pirate either. The Heavenly Yaksha connected to the Holy Land was also adept at borrowing the World Government and Navy’s power for his own benefit. So after Vergo’s reminder, he immediately concluded that Zephyr entering the New World absolutely involved Elus’s meddling.
But—
Specifically inciting a former Navy Admiral like Zephyr to come to the New World, just to counter BIG·MOM?
His intuition told him,
This matter was probably not as simple as it seemed.
————
Whole Cake Island.
BIG·MOM Pirate Crew’s main base. In this fairy-tale-style castle, BIG·MOM sat at the dining table, enjoying her afternoon tea dessert. A massive Mont Blanc cake nearly a meter and a half tall was devoured by her bite by bite.
The happiness from the sweets brought a smile to her face.
Though this smile wasn’t pretty.
But most of BIG·MOM’s children below breathed a collective sigh of relief. As long as Mom smiled, it was good.
What they feared most was Mom suddenly erupting in craving syndrome, yearning for sweets that couldn’t be made in time. Several times Katakuri wasn’t around, no one could stop the rampaging Mom, and in the end, Cake Island was wrecked beyond shape.
“Mamama! Katakuri, what’s up?”
After eating the last piece of Mont Blanc cake and feeling satisfied, BIG·MOM finally turned her attention to her most outstanding son.
“It’s still the Black Arm Zephyr matter.”
Katakuri calmly reported the latest intelligence. “According to the newest intel, the Pirate Guerilla Squad Zephyr established seems prepared for long-term operations in the New World. We already have several Pirate Crews annihilated, though all are ones with no overt ties to us on the surface.”
“Zephyr······ That detestable guy.”
A flash of displeasure crossed BIG·MOM’s face.
But in the next instant, she laughed again. “Mamama! Ignore him. As long as he doesn’t come to Whole Cake Island, leave him be. Just a crippled former Navy Admiral; he can’t disrupt the New World’s balance. More importantly, have you found out who the enemy is that attacked my Pirate Crew?”
“Sorry, Mom, not yet.”
Katakuri shook his head.
Not long ago, three of BIG·MOM Pirate Crew’s ships collecting ingredients were attacked. They didn’t even get a chance to report the enemy’s face via Den Den Mushi before being completely wiped out. Afterward, they put in great effort to investigate but still couldn’t identify the attackers.
From the wreckage of the destroyed Pirate Ships sunk at the seabed and the stones pressing on the Pirate Ships, it seemed they were struck and sunk by these falling stones from the sky?
In other words,
They were attacked by a meteorite?
Or did someone drop such huge stones from the sky?
Of course, Katakuri didn’t think this was an unfortunate low-probability event. Rather than a meteorite attack······ he felt it more like an Ability User’s doing. This reminded him of a legendary monster that had vanished for years, a big shot once acquainted with Mom.
“Mom, do you remember······ the Golden Lion?”
“······ You mean the Float-Float Fruit?”
BIG·MOM was very calm.
When not afflicted by craving syndrome, BIG·MOM wouldn’t rage casually. On the contrary, her wisdom wasn’t low at all. Under normal conditions, her thinking worked perfectly fine, and she knew to restrain her temper.
“Not the Golden Lion. I wasn’t close with that bastard Shiki, but no grudge either. His eyes were only on that thief Roger.”
BIG·MOM said.
She called Roger a thief because he secretly imprinted her collected Poneglyph, ultimately finding Raftel and becoming Pirate King. She still held a grudge, always viewing Roger as a despicable thief.
Well! Though they were all Pirates.
“But Float-Float Fruit······ The Golden Lion should still be alive, right? He escaped from the World Government’s deep-sea prison back then······ He wouldn’t die so quietly. It must be some ability similar to the Float-Float Fruit.” BIG·MOM speculated.
After a two-second pause, she instructed:
“Katakuri, temporarily halt attacks on that ungrateful guy Elus. Scatter all manpower to find the enemy daring enough to directly attack my Pirate Crew. Perfectly avoid that tricky guy Zephyr.”
“Understood, Mom.”
Katakuri agreed.
BIG·MOM immediately showed a satisfied smile.
“Right, and Fire Fist, that Fire Fist Ace. He’s already come to the New World, right?”
“Yes, he’s here, but I hear he burned Whitebeard’s flag at Fish-Man Island. He’s probably preparing to challenge Whitebeard now.”
“······ Such a pity!”
An unhappy expression appeared on BIG·MOM’s face, like a little girl who lost her favorite doll. “I was thinking of making him my new husband! Going to challenge that old bastard Whitebeard······ What a waste!”
Katakuri’s face hidden under the scarf showed no change.
BIG·MOM’s children in the dining hall all looked nonchalant.
Their mom already had 41 husbands; adding one more Fire Fist wasn’t surprising. They only wondered if Mom would give birth to a younger brother or younger sister. As for Fire Fist’s fate, they didn’t care.
“Mamama! That’s it then! Since he’s seeking death himself, no helping it!”
BIG·MOM laughed regretfully, giving up on making Fire Fist Ace her 42nd husband.
After all,
It was Whitebeard!
Getting hit by a fist carrying the Tremor-Tremor Fruit’s power wasn’t comfortable at all. She had no intention of warring with Whitebeard over a mere Fire Fist.
Especially with Zephyr appearing in the New World and her own Pirate Crew attacked by an unknown enemy; she certainly wouldn’t do something so insanely stupid!
