Chapter 99: Pirate Supernova Targeted Again
The wind in the forest carried a refreshing coolness, washing away a layer of restlessness from the hot climate of the summer island with the lush forest’s cool vibe. The green dragon comfortably stretched its limbs and tail, but its movements were very light, not daring to make too much commotion, afraid of being scolded by Elus who was standing not far away discussing business.
“It’s really not cheap!”
Max complained like this.
“You won’t regret it.”
Having secured a massively lucrative order, Elus was in a good mood, speaking to Max even more amiably, and looking at the Revolutionary Army more and more favorably. “Believe me, the Eckmond Kingdom will be the Revolutionary Army’s best business partner.”
“That would naturally be best.”
Max stopped his pointless complaining.
The deal had already been decided, and preparations were made to establish a long-term business partnership with the Eckmond Kingdom, so a little complaining was enough.
Transactions like this, which couldn’t see the light of day, naturally couldn’t be formalized with conventional contracts. To be precise, no law could provide sufficient binding force. At such times, whether the deal closed largely depended on the judgment and character of both trading parties.
Elus believed the Revolutionary Army was not some unruly black-hearted organization.
Likewise,
the Revolutionary Army’s higher-ups, or rather Monkey D. Dragon, believed Elus was not some shortsighted man of no credibility.
Everyone understood that facing a colossal entity like the World Government, cooperation was the optimal choice beneficial to all, so even knowing there was a high chance of being scapegoated for the Eckmond Kingdom, Dragon still chose to continue the trade. The giant dragons and poison gas had been acquired separately, and plans were already underway to verify the practicality of these two goods through real combat.
As soon as the Revolutionary Army took the lead in using the artificial giant dragons and H2S poison gas on the battlefield, it would inevitably give the World Government the impression that Caesar had fallen into the Revolutionary Army’s hands, which would surely provoke stronger strikes against the Revolutionary Army.
But the Revolutionary Army wasn’t intimidated. They couldn’t win head-on against the World Government’s regular forces, but with guerrilla tactics, neither the World Government nor the Navy could uproot this thorn in their side. Over these years, the World Government had never eased its strangling of the Revolutionary Army, yet they still thrived, steadily advancing toward the goal of overthrowing Celestial Dragon rule.
Lice multiply without itching, debts pile up without worry—this roughly described the Revolutionary Army’s current situation.
Helping the Black Prince take the fall was no big deal at all; in fact, if it deepened relations between them, it was a win. The reason for this was identity. Though the Revolutionary Army didn’t mind using pirate power to confront the World Government, they actually disliked pirates.
They resisted Celestial Dragon rule not to make it easier for pirates to wreak havoc on the world.
They merely held appreciative views toward a small handful of pirates like Whitebeard and Red-Haired, while the other ninety-nine percent of pirates were, in the Revolutionary Army’s eyes, outright sea scum—targets for severe crackdown after the revolution succeeded.
With these sea scum as contrast, a business partner like Elus, with a clean background, immense value, and rebellious ambitions, was especially worth cherishing. Not to mention others, Dragon himself was very willing to offer Elus some help within acceptable limits.
It had to be said, this man truly had no selfish motives. He disregarded his father’s position in the Navy, ruthlessly abandoning the only son left by his late wife, pouring all his heart into the Revolutionary Army’s cause. By the time he finally spared a thought for his son, the boy was already fourteen or fifteen.
Max declined Elus’s pirate hunting invitation. He bid farewell and left the royal palace, returning to mingle in the casino, gambling with people while mobilizing the Revolutionary Army’s manpower and resources, properly commencing the trade. Following the rule of cash on delivery, he continuously transported the supplies provided by the Eckmond Kingdom away through various channels.
This trade alone took a full month just for handing over the supplies.
The scale was evident.
The Revolutionary Army, bolstered by such abundant supplies, did not disappoint Elus. First, there was turmoil in a great power in the North Blue, with the Revolutionary Army’s shadow visible behind it. Then similar events unfolded repeatedly in the West Sea and Paradise, especially in the West Sea, where suddenly appearing giant dragons counter-killed a group of CP8 agents, shocking the World Government.
Uninformed onlookers speculated if some ability user from the Revolutionary Army had acted, but the World Government higher-ups who knew the details immediately identified the giant dragon’s origins from frontline intelligence—it was a dragon-form biological weapon developed by Doctor Vegapunk.
When H2S poison gas also appeared on Paradise battlefields, the World Government higher-ups became eighty percent certain: that madman Caesar had most likely been picked up cheap by the Revolutionary Army. This was basically one of the worst scenarios they had anticipated.
If it had fallen into some pirate’s hands, it would be fine—dead or alive, the trouble it could cause was always limited.
But with the indestructible thorn in their side, the Revolutionary Army, mixing with the madman Caesar who held many World Government secrets, that bully’s destructive power could multiply dozens of times upward. The sudden upheaval caused by the Revolutionary Army now was the best proof.
That World Government member nation in the West Sea had already been overthrown by the rebel army backed by the Revolutionary Army. The North Blue situation was more complex: that tyrant was cruel and cold-blooded, but highly capable, with no shortage of smart subordinates aiding him. Even with Dragon personally stepping in, the war continued.
As for Paradise,
the struggle between the Revolutionary Army and CP7 was in full swing.
In short, the Revolutionary Army, which hadn’t even farted for the past year or two, now unleashed a string of bangs, giving the World Government higher-ups massive headaches. They wished they could devour the damn thorn alive, but as before, CP’s lower agents ran their legs thin without catching any trace of the Revolutionary Army, only netting some low-value small fry.
The World Government higher-ups were dissatisfied. Someone suggested to the Five Elders to simply unseal some of Doctor Vegapunk’s sealed technologies and distribute them for compensation to member nations, bolstering their strength to counter the Revolutionary Army’s schemes.
Unfortunately, the Five Elders flatly rejected it, pinning the suggester with the label of a Revolutionary Army planted spy and directly dealing with the schemer. They reiterated that Doctor Vegapunk’s technologies must never be controlled by kingdoms below the Holy Land.
This was a matter of principle.
For eight hundred years, the World Government had enforced a policy of strong trunk and weak branches—how could they loosen the shackles around the necks of world member nations over such minor difficulties?
That was roughly the state of affairs.
Due to the Revolutionary Army, a small wave rippled across the entire world. Though it didn’t shake the Holy Land Marie Geoise standing atop the Red Line, it successfully made the world recognize the Revolutionary Army’s prowess. For a time, the title of “the world’s most heinous criminal” grew even louder.
————
A warship flying the seagull flag sped forward through wind and rain.
“Revolutionary Army… Hmph! A bunch of naive fools.” Leaning back against the chair, Zephyr still habitually wore his sunglasses in the room. He was reading the latest newspaper, which again mentioned the Revolutionary Army’s news in the North Blue—roughly that the Revolutionary Army had gained the upper hand, plunging the veteran powerhouse of the North Blue into deep crisis. That tyrant famous in the North Blue had hired the Jermma Kingdom’s army to suppress domestic rebellion.
This news left Zephyr with mixed feelings.
As a former Navy Admiral, he couldn’t stomach organizations like the Revolutionary Army that waved flags of justice and peace while stirring up wars everywhere. He knew the Celestial Dragons’ existence brought inequality and taken-for-granted oppression to the world, but he also understood overthrowing the Celestial Dragons wasn’t something you could just talk about.
It would inevitably plunge the entire world into massive turmoil.
He vaguely knew from Fleet Admiral Kong that the Celestial Dragons’ firm hold on the throne had backing—backing so strong that generations of justice-hearted Navy Fleet Admirals and Admirals turned a blind eye to the Celestial Dragons’ ugly deeds, exerting all efforts to protect peace and tranquility for more people.
He used to think such a choice was correct.
But the current him was no longer the man of old. Now he was filled with hatred for pirates, for the World Government’s corruption, for destiny’s unfairness.
Even though he still saw the Revolutionary Army as naive fools, he no longer held the resolute hostility of before.
“Knock knock!”
A knock sounded.
Without waiting for Zephyr’s response, a young girl in casual clothes pushed the door open. She carried a tray with Zephyr’s breakfast: simple food—toast bread with fried egg, and a steaming bowl of fish porridge. “Teacher, time to eat.”
The young girl in casual clothes—Ain. She watched Zephyr finish the bread and fried egg, drink all the fish porridge, then immediately picked up the tray’s plain water and medicine, handing them to Zephyr whose face showed some reluctance.
“Hm? Feels like there’s more than yesterday?”
“Yes, one more medicine. Teacher, take it properly! It’s a new drug prescribed by the doctor.”
“······”
Zephyr’s face darkened somewhat.
He hated taking medicine, especially capsule drugs. From childhood to now, every time he took capsules, he felt unbearably nauseous—a flaw even his Navy Admiral status couldn’t change. “Can’t they make it into tablets or powder instead?”
“Teacher, please take the medicine as prescribed.”
Ain would never defy any of Zephyr’s orders otherwise—even charging into a mountain of knives or sea of fire—but at this moment, no matter what the teacher complained, for his health she wouldn’t yield an inch.
“You girl, why are you so stubborn!”
Zephyr pursed his lips.
He picked up the water cup, gritted his teeth, and swallowed all eight medicines. His old face wrinkled like a frostbitten chrysanthemum.
“So disgusting!”
The nausea from the capsule drugs made Zephyr’s throat itch.
“Teacher, have some preserved fruit.”
Prepared in advance, Ain took a big-bellied glass jar from the nearby shelf, retrieved some stored preserved fruit, and handed it to the queasy Zephyr. The sweetness suppressed the vomiting urge, and with another sip of water, he finally passed today’s ordeal.
Yes,
For Zephyr, taking medicine daily had become a near-torment.
Yet his body was uncooperative. Without meds, the condition would quickly relapse… In the worst cases, not immediately fatal, but enough to rob him of mobility. To prevent the past tragedy from repeating, he took them on schedule every day.
“Ain, any new prey today?”
Zephyr set down the empty water cup and asked about today’s situation.
The New World was vast; though the pirate guerilla squad numbered thousands, on the vast sea it was but a drop in the ocean—scattered in minutes, vanishing without trace. Zephyr’s pirate hunting wasn’t luck-based; his actions always had purpose.
The World Government, Navy, Eckmond Kingdom… these powers and organizations provided him with all sorts of pirate intelligence.
Zephyr would select targets from them to hunt.
Of course, not every hunt yielded success. Fire Fist was the biggest fish that slipped his net, and even now, recalling those near-misses on Portgas D. Ace filled him with regret.
Now Fire Fist was the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates—even Zephyr could do nothing about him.
But such cases were always the minority.
Zephyr, this former Navy Admiral, though slipped from his peak, wasn’t at a level where any small fry could underestimate him. Any fool thinking to boost their reputation by riding on “Black Arm’s” name like Fire Fist was without exception captured alive by the old man.
“No news from the World Government and Navy these past couple days.”
Ain reported honestly.
Hearing this, Zephyr wasn’t surprised—it was expected. The newspapers were abuzz; with the World Government and Navy’s attention mostly drawn by the Revolutionary Army, having no time for the New World’s pirate guerilla squad made sense.
“What about the Eckmond Kingdom?”
“The Eckmond Kingdom’s intelligence has few valuable targets. The most notable is [White Horse] Cavendish, also known as the Pirate Noble Son. He’s the first Pirate Supernova to emerge this year, with a bounty of 280 million Beli…” Ain reported in detail.
Pirate Supernovas usually emerged gradually in the latter half of the year.
But there were exceptions,
Like this White Horse, originating from the Grand Line, not needing to trek like Four Seas pirates to enter the Grand Line, saving considerable time, thus entering the New World so early.
