157 Chapter 148
Hey guys! Just want to say that I've incorporated some theories in this chapter as well, and I am not too sure about them. If you find a glaring plot hole, please do point it out. Thank you, and hope you enjoy this chapter!
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[Karai Bari, September 2nd, 1522]
Within the calm and soothing island full of lively trees and plants, there were group of pirates sitting on a grass-field.
Heart pirates, Twin Cats pirates, and Bonney pirates. They were none other than the crews in alliance with the Grimheart pirates, who decided to separate for a year.
"3 weeks after, they appeared all of a sudden. So Bullet died?" Nojiko, who was holding onto a copy of newspaper, muttered to herself. "But forget that! The fact that the information regarding the battle between Rowan and Bullet is not on the title page..."
The page that Nojiko read just now was the second page of the newspaper. Not only did the 3 week delay of the fight lower the interest, but also...
"Tremor Tremor fruit... it's too good to be real." Nojiko couldn't help but state while shaking her head, "The fruit that many claims to be the strongest among the Paramecia-type fruits, is being held for an auction publicly. Who even is the seller here?!"
Law, who was leaning onto his sheathed sword with serious expression, commented, "The whole world is roused up. The location where the auction will be held is none other than Coconut Seal... an island in proximity to Foodvalten, Whole Cake, and Wano. It's simply too convenient for those who desire the Tremor Tremor fruit."
Nami spoke up while raising her eyebrow, "Are you saying that this is a trap?"
"Trap? Against the Emperors?" Law let out a hollow laugh, "Not one, not two, but three? Whoever the seller is, he or she must be suicidal."
Bonney frowned with her arms crossed, "Tremor Tremor fruit... those despicable World Government agents are bound to make their appearances as well."
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[Wano]
"Queen!" Kaidou called in a gruff tone, and immediately after, a massive and obese man with sunglasses casually made his appearance.
"Hai hai, Kaidou-san~! I came just as you requested!" Queen's belly jiggled as he posed proudly.
"You also read about the Tremor Tremor fruit, didn't you?!" Kaidou, after gulping down a whole bottle of sake in one go, grinned excitedly as well, "The fruit that is known to give a person the power to quake the whole world... one that previously belonged to none other than that dead man Whitebeard! Worororo!!!"
"Muahahaha!! Of course I did!!" Queen rubbed his hands together in anticipation, "Should I get the force ready, Kaidou-san?"
"No need! We are not going on a war here!" Kaidou stood up and lifted up his weapon, Hassaikai, "You said that you know how to feed devil fruit to my Hassaikai?!"
"Oho, so you still do remember!" Queen pointed his thumb to himself proudly, "Of course I can! I am the best scientist of the whole world!!"
"Best scientist? More like the fattiest slob ever." From the corner of the room, King, who was leaning onto the wall with his arms crossed, bickered.
"What did you say, you sadistic b******?!!!" Queen snarled with a tickmark.
"Calm down, you two!" Kaidou, emptying another bottle of sake, stated as he placed his Hassaikai on his shoulder.
"King! You are in charge of Wano until I return! Queen, you are coming with me!!"
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[Sphinx]
"Marco." Ace, crumbling up the newspaper in his hands, said with uneasiness in his tone, "It's pop's fruit."
"Yeah." Marco nodded as he took off his glasses.
"That last moment in the Marineford... Teach—no, Blackbeard, definitely was up to something. He was trying to take pop's corpse, and what can that power-hungry maniac be interested in other than pop's devil fruit power?"
Marco shifted his head to where Newgate's gravestone lied, before standing up with a determination.
"I believe that Blackbeard will make his appearance there, no matter what."
Vista grinned as he too stood up, "Then what are we waiting for?"
"One hand wasn't enough. Blackbeard still didn't pay the full price for killing the member of our family..." Jozu stated while bumping his fists together.
"Rest in peace, pops." Marco, giving one last glance at Newgate's graveyard, turned around, "Let's go, boys. We have an unfinished business."
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[Mariejois, Pangaea Castle]
"Tremor Tremor fruit? Is the information accurate?" One elder asked with sharpened eyes, unable to believe what he just heard, "A public auction out of all possibility? In New World even?"
"It doesn't matter if the information is true." Another elder stated with a frown as he massaged his forehead, "We have no choice but to go. If we fail to prevent it from landing into a hand of a strong pirate... the world may witness the birth of a second Whitebeard!"
"Hm... we have no choice but to deploy as much force as possible. From the outside sea, pressure them through the combined fleet of World Government and Marine. From within, have the CP0s to infiltrate and operate for the attainment of the fruit."
The fourth elder nodded, "For now, that shall do."
"Purururu, purururu,"
Then, the Den Den Mushi that sat on the table rang. The fifth elder with glasses picked it up.
"Report."
"Cipher Pol Aigis Zero reporting. Monkey D. Luffy seized and the rest of his crew members dead. All witnesses took care of. Within a month, we will be able to deliver the criminal to the Mariejois."
"Well done."
The elders' faces loosened slightly, unable to believe that they managed to attain the user of Rubber Rubber fruit, which always escaped from their hands.
"Do not let your guard until the end, and make sure to bring him in as swiftly as possible."
"Roger that."
As the call was hanged up, the elders found themselves sighing.
"With this, one of the threats to the balance of the world has been took care of."
"Just a little bit more time is all we need. Until then, the balance must be maintained... until all three ancient weapons are within the hands of Imu-sama." The second elder stated, "Pluton... we've been getting a lead that may suggest its location. Poseidon, the Mermaid princess... it shall be attained within the Reverie after two years."
"As for Uranus..."
The fifth elder exclaimed, "You mean our national treasure."
"The preserved body of Lunarian prince." The third elder crossed his arms with a huff, "The king of all sky islanders, with an ability to command to all sky creatures at his will. However, there exists no conscience within him..."
"Which is why we require an alive Lunarian. We need a way to restore Uranus before the others find out our bluff... and we can't afford to attack Doflamingo either because of this knowledge."
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[Foodvalten]
"Tremor Tremor fruit." Rowan, whose eyes were locked onto the newspaper in his hands, chuckled after having read the absurd news, "You got to be kidding me, right."
Dan voice his opinion, "Something is fishy here, captain. Bullet's declaration of war to you is only three weeks apart from this sudden public auction of the Tremor Tremor fruit... the seller was obviously aware of this fact. The location is Coconut Seal, and the newspaper even explains the route through a map?"
"It sounds like a trap." Carina stated seriously as she looked at her Log Pose, "A carefully set trap by an ambitious pirate crew. But at the same time, this doesn't make sense. An attempt to defeat one Emperor may be understandable. But spreading this news everywhere... no, there is no way that plotting against all the strong individuals of the world will work. It's debatable in the end."
Rowan sighed, "The problem is, we got no choice but to go. Tremor Tremor fruit... even if there is one percent of the information being true, we can't have that fruit go into the hands of Big Mom, Kaidou, World Government, or Marine. That will be troublesome."
The thought of someone like Garp eating the Tremor Tremor fruit dreaded him.
"Coconut Seal. Along with us, at least the Big Mom pirates, Beast pirates, marines, and the World Government agents will make their appearance. Then, there may be other players such as the Supernovas, bounty hunters, underworld dealers, and more." Robin said thoughtfully. "Auction is not of an importance. The penniless pirates won't even bother to bid, but straight off attempt to snatch the fruit."
"The question is, if our crew was to seize the fruit," Carmen voiced up, "who's going to eat it?"
After Carmen's statement, everyone turned to Alfred and Farul.
"Alfred, do you want it?" Rowan asked.
"No, captain Rowan."
"Farul, do you want it?"
"Noeigh~!"
"Prominence, do you want it?"
<No!! Kill that Phoenix man already!!!>
Rowan nodded with his eyes closed,
"Alfred then."
Alfred perked up questioningly,
"Hm? I thought I said no—"
"Congrats on eating one of the strongest fruit to exist, Alfred!" Urouge clapped with a grin.
"Seems like we are about to have an earthquake man in our crew." Dan stated with a smile.
"Earthquake man? Guahaha, that's a wrong statement!" Cavendish laughed, "Alfred is going to become a vibrator—"
"Stop. Just stop, Cave." Carmen, with a deadpan, interrupted Cavendish in the middle.
"Stop calling me Cave!!!" Cavendish barked out comically, which earned laughter out of all the other crew members, except for Alfred.
"Hm..." Alfred seemed to have found this whole situation confusing, "I believe that I said no. I want that Hobby Hobby fruit..."
"Bohaha! I was just joking." Rowan laughed while calming Alfred down, "No worries. Those Phoenix pirates will probably make their appearance there as well. We don't necessarily have to get that fruit for ourselves, but simply prevent our enemies from attaining it."
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[Coconut Seal]
"Nice work, Morgans! To think you were in this island of all possibilities... ah, what a blessing!"
The surrounding was comfy and pleasant-looking. The island itself emanated a warm feeling, however, within this scenery, the president of the World Economy Newspaper, Morgans, seemed to be in a tough spot.
Shockingly enough, Morgans's appearance actually seemed human for once. This was due to the fact that his wrists were locked by a Seastone cuff. As he weakly looked up, one middle-aged man with black-coloured afro hair was standing with a distorted grin.
"Buena... Festa..." Morgans managed to speak weakly, "To think... that you were alive...!"
Festa, snorting at Morgans's disbelief, gazed down at the small wooden box in his hands, "Tremor Tremor fruit... to some people, it is a treasure greater than even One Piece. By attracting all the strong Pirates of the world... I will put an end to Roger's 'Great Age of Pirates,' and begin a new one through the biggest festival of all time!!"
Morgans, although anxious of his circumstance, couldn't help but become interested in the upcoming 'big news.'
"As for the compensation for cooperating with me, let me tell you a secret." Festa, with a shady smile, leaned down to where Morgan's ear lied,
"I don't have the Tremor Tremor fruit."
Morgan's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Then what exactly is the devil fruit in this chest? I don't know! Hehahahaha!!!!!!" Festa laughed crazily as he leaned back, "Paramecia? Zoan? Logia? It may as well be the most useless fruit!! It's completely random!!"
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[Calm Belt, Thriller Bark; September 3rd, 1522]
The ever-moving Thriller Bark was no longer dwelling within the Florian Triangle. It was directly travelling within the still Calm Belt toward the South Blue.
Standing on the top of the huge mansion that sat in the middle of the Thriller Bark, Teach grinned in amusement as he read the news.
"Tremor Tremor fruit... zehahaha!!! What a bunch of fools!!!"
Van Augur asked in curiosity, "Are you saying that it's fake, captain?"
"Of course it's fake!" Teach replied while passing the newspaper to Augur.
'After all, my power stemming from Dog Dog fruit, model: Cerberus, allows me to peer into another's soul itself. And from what I've researched for years in Whitebeard pirates, once a fruit user dies... the soul of a fruit always travels in a straight-ward direction, and in case of the Tremor Tremor fruit... it definitely was going toward the South Blue!'
"Have fun fighting among yourselves! Zehahaha!!!" Teach laughed with his mouth wide open, "While I take the real one for myself!!"
'Mythical Zoan for me, strongest Logia for you, and strongest Paramecia for you...! We will be stronger than our father ever was!!!'
