"Old man, that's the specific situation with the Bounty Hunter Guild. Gulliver has gathered over twenty thousand pirates and plans to attack Queen of Spring City to wipe out the Hunter Guild. A massive war is imminent—do you have any good advice?"
Back in the hall, Rorschach once again contacted Sengoku and relayed all the intel he had gathered.
Sengoku listened silently for a while before finally furrowing his brow and saying, "Based on your information, you've already clashed with Gulliver, and even captured Wagner, the attacker under Wang Zhi's command. That means Gulliver's battle plans have been exposed. They'll likely move their full forces to strike immediately."
Rorschach nodded gravely. "Exactly. That's what I'm worried about. Puki is too close to here, while Marineford is way too far. Even if the HQ sends reinforcements, they probably won't arrive before the war breaks out."
The gourmet city Puki was just over a hundred li (around 50 kilometers) away from Queen of Spring City in a straight line.If Gulliver's pirate fleet moved at full speed, they could arrive in just two or three hours.
Meanwhile, Marineford was several days away by the fastest navy ship.With such a time gap, by the time reinforcements arrived, it would be far too late.
"Could Admiral Kizaru come help? He's fast, so maybe he could make it in time," Rorschach asked after some thought.
"Ugh, I'd like to send him too," Sengoku sighed, "but as luck would have it, he's already departed for the New World, together with Kuzan."
"The New World? Isn't it Admiral Akainu who's stationed there? Why are Kizaru and Aokiji both being sent too? What big event is happening there?"
Rorschach was surprised.
For the past six months, Akainu had been stationed at the G1 base in the New World and hadn't returned to HQ.Moreover, there were two admiral candidates there too: Vice Admirals Gion and Chaton.
Logically, even if one of the Four Emperors tried to stir up trouble, they'd think twice considering the consequences.
But now, even Kizaru and Aokiji had been dispatched?
Three admirals entering the New World at once—that meant something major had definitely happened.
But Rorschach couldn't guess what kind of big event could still happen in the New World in the year 1517.
"It is a major incident. One of the Three Disasters from the Beasts Pirates, Jack the Drought, invaded Fish-Man Island and slaughtered a large number of fish-men.
Whitebeard flew into a rage and clashed with Kaido. Two of the Four Emperors' pirate crews have already gathered tens of thousands of troops and are fighting above Fish-Man Island, near the G1 base. The situation over there is chaos. Akainu can't handle it alone, so I sent Borsalino and Kuzan to assist."
Sengoku's voice over the transponder snail left Rorschach stunned.
Why would Jack the Drought suddenly massacre fish-men on Fish-Man Island?Isn't he a fish-man himself?
Fish-Man Island was protected by the Whitebeard Pirates and had long been left in peace—except for a few hot-headed rookie pirates.
Someone like Jack, a high-ranking officer of the Beasts Pirates, should have known better.
Then again, recalling Jack's personality, Rorschach understood.
That guy was a brute.
In the manga, he even dared to attack a navy warship carrying Sengoku, Fujitora, and Tsuru just to rescue Doflamingo.
Truly the boldest man in the pirate world.Even Kaido would have to call him "big bro" for that kind of nerve.
What confused Rorschach more was—wasn't Jinbe still on Fish-Man Island?
At this point in time, Jinbe had already been invited to become a Shichibukai.
With his strength, could he really not stop Jack?
Apparently noticing Rorschach's confusion, Sengoku added, "Jinbe broke Jack's two legs and one arm to protect Ryugu Kingdom. That's what enraged Kaido."
"Damn, Jinbe's that strong?" Rorschach was shocked.
Sengoku sighed in admiration, "We were surprised too when we received the intel from Ryugu Kingdom. It seems Jinbe truly deserves his title as the First Strongest Fish-Man and Sea Knight. Inviting him to become a Shichibukai was a wise decision."
Actually, Sengoku left out something important.
According to Navy Intelligence analysis, the reason Jack suddenly appeared on Fish-Man Island was likely because he was targeting Rorschach.
Their earlier fears that Kaido might take action against Rorschach were becoming a reality.
But Jinbe had blocked the move.
Still, this wasn't the time to focus on that.
The problem Rorschach was facing was no small matter, and they had to find a solution.
Thinking this, Sengoku cautiously asked, "Isn't that man Issho still in Queen of Spring City? According to intel we've gathered, his strength is frightening—likely no weaker than a Navy Admiral. He seems to have a gravity-based Paramecia fruit, allowing him to control gravity over large areas. With his help, even a fleet of twenty thousand pirates shouldn't pose much threat."
Twenty thousand sounds like a lot.
But this was still Paradise, not the New World.
To be blunt—
Paradise pirates may seem more fearsome than those from the Four Seas,but if they haven't entered the New World, they're still rookies.
If all those pirates gathered together, Sengoku believed Rorschach could knock out half of them with a burst of Conqueror's Haki alone.
"Mr. Issho likely won't participate directly in the war. He only agreed to defend the capital. But that's already more than enough. With my strength, I'm not that afraid of Gulliver's 20,000-man fleet," Rorschach said with a wry smile.
"What really worries me are the forty barrels of Explosive Rock. Who knows what that Gulliver will do with them?"
"Explosive Rock is indeed a huge problem. That bastard Wang Zhi was actually hiding something that dangerous. Looks like Akainu didn't push him hard enough last time," Sengoku frowned.
For a moment, even he couldn't come up with a solid countermeasure.
Judicial Island was relatively close to Queen of Spring City.
But the garrison there was too weak.
Their strongest—Rob Lucci—was currently with Rorschach.
Seeing that Sengoku also didn't have a good solution, Rorschach stood up and said:
"Don't worry too much, Fleet Admiral Sengoku. I'll do everything I can to complete this mission! Oh, and I have one more question…"
"The main headquarters won't court-martial me for killing too many people, right?"
"Quick, quick, quick! Relocate all the residents of the city into the inner part of the royal castle. Clear the outer edge ports of the island. From this moment on, the city is entering the highest level of war defense!"
Inside the capital, teams composed of marines, bounty hunters, and royal guards spread throughout the royal castle. They went door to door down every street, notifying each resident to evacuate into the castle for emergency shelter.
Rorschach stepped out from the Hunter Guild's base. Seeing the all-too-familiar scene of chaos, he couldn't help but sigh.
Whether it's natural disasters or man-made ones, the ones who suffer the most are always the ordinary civilians who have no control over their fate.
It was like this during the Rakurana tsunami.
It was the same now, facing a pirate invasion.
Then, at the gate outside the base, he saw Jonathan sitting casually on the stone steps, gently wiping his long blade with alcohol and cotton.
When Jonathan saw Rorschach come out, he lifted his head and stretched out a bony, emaciated hand toward him.
A question mark popped up above Rorschach's head.
"What are you doing?"
"Hmph! Don't play dumb. Hurry up and return what belongs to me," Jonathan snorted coldly.
It seemed he was still holding a grudge over Rorschach turning down his invitation.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Where's Mr. Issho?"
Rorschach shrugged and stepped past him, heading out to the long street.
"Don't change the subject! That item I gave you before—the hero's elixir! Where did you stash it, kid? Give it back to me!"
Jonathan jumped up from the ground, holding two flexible swords, and leapt in front of Rorschach, blocking his way.
"Oh… oh! You mean that thing? Haha, I almost forgot. Here you go."
Rorschach pulled the small, clear glass bottle from inside his coat and tossed it over.
Jonathan hurriedly caught it, fumbling a bit.
Looking at the bottle in his hand, he was momentarily stunned.
He thought Rorschach wouldn't return the elixir to him.
Unexpected…
Seemingly understanding what Jonathan was thinking, Rorschach curled his lips and said, "Thought I'd try to talk you out of using that stuff? Heh, don't be naïve. Since you've already resolved to die, who am I to stop you? Don't you think so… King of Hunters?"
Jonathan's lips slowly curled into a crooked smile. He stuffed the glass bottle into his coat, retracted his flexible swords, and fastened them to his waist like a belt. Then he patted Rorschach on the arm and laughed:
"You're right, kid! No one has the right to stop a man who's ready to die from throwing everything into the fight. Kid, when the battle starts, let's fight side by side. I'll take care of that traitor Gleif, and you handle the other 20,000 pirates. How about that?"
"No problem. What did Mr. Issho say?"
Looking at the old man's smiling face, Rorschach suddenly felt a twinge of sadness he couldn't explain.
"Issho said the fleet that Gleif gathered has started to move. In less than four hours, the first wave of pirate ships will reach the waters near the capital."
Hearing this, Jonathan also wiped the smile off his face and became serious.
Rorschach asked about Issho because Issho possessed an extremely wide-range Observation Haki.
Even wider than what Rorschach could manage when boosted by his lightning powers—more than twenty or thirty li (10–15 km).
And because of Issho's gravity fruit floating ability, Rorschach had asked him to scout out enemy movements from the sea.
"If the enemy is already on the way, then we must be ready for battle at any moment. Where is Mr. Issho now? I'd like to discuss specific battle strategies with him."
"He returned earlier, but then went straight to helping with the evacuation of civilians."
About an hour later, Issho arrived at the royal port with the evacuated residents, along with marines, bounty hunters, and thousands of armored royal guards.
Then everyone saw that on the surface of the sea near the port, several Sea Kings—each over a hundred meters long—were floating.
The Sea Kings bore massive slashing wounds across their bodies.
Their blood had dyed the seawater near the shore a deep red.
An old man and a young man were sitting on the shore, cutting large chunks of flesh from the Sea Kings with long blades, stuffing the meat into their mouths with huge bites, barely chewing.
"Brother Rorschach, what are you two doing?" Hibari walked up, puzzled.
"Replenishing some strength in preparation for the coming battle," Rorschach smiled, waving to the busy marines and bounty hunters. "You all come eat too. There's probably a tough battle ahead."
"Yes, sir!"
The marine soldiers responded in unison, each drawing the sword at their waist and approaching the Sea King carcasses.
The bounty hunters looked at each other, unsure.
It wasn't until Jonathan waved his hand too that they rushed forward, carving up the meat.
"Mr. Issho, later I may need to trouble you to use your ability to shield the rear of this island. Since we're outnumbered, we need to force the enemy to face us here at this port. We can't let them scatter too widely."
Rorschach cut off a large chunk of fresh Sea King meat and handed it to Issho.
The meat was extremely fresh, sliced from a recently killed Sea King. It was still dripping blood.
But Issho didn't mind in the slightest. He accepted the meat with a smile, sat cross-legged on the ground, pulled out his cane sword, sliced off a small piece, and put it in his mouth.
"Don't worry. Leave it to me. As long as I'm here, no one will be able to enter this island from anywhere outside the main port."
"Then I can rest easy." Rorschach tore off another large, bloody chunk of meat, stuffed it into his mouth, and chewed voraciously, turning his gaze to the blue sky and sea on the right.
"Let me take the vanguard in the coming battle."
(End of Chapter)
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