Crack, crack.
Queen's body seemed to crack, faintly showing signs of shattering.
Then he shook his head hard and grabbed a nearby pirate.
"I said beautiful Mermaid! Beautiful Mermaid!! You call this a beautiful Mermaid?!
How exactly is she beautiful? Go on, tell me!"
Queen forced his voice low as he angrily questioned the man.
But the anger wasn't too obvious. Since the Beasts Pirates had moved New Fish-Man Island here, the intention was clearly integration.
Even Queen didn't want to be labeled as someone sabotaging racial unity.
Of course, that wasn't what he truly feared.
First of all, the person in front of him was Mandrell's subordinate. Getting angry at him was pointless.
While Queen wasn't afraid of Mandrell, Mandrell was one of the few high-ranking officers who actually had no issues with him.
Starting a conflict with Mandrell over this would be more trouble than it was worth.
And with the way Jack treated Mandrell with such respect, angering Mandrell basically meant angering Jack.
There were also members of the Arceus Cult nearby. Making trouble here would also provoke Shayna's dissatisfaction.
That part was manageable. Over the years Queen had no idea how many kicks he'd taken; he'd practically developed resistance to them.
That alone wasn't scary. But if it escalated further, it might leave Arceus with a negative impression of him.
He had volunteered to handle this task himself. If the blame fell on him, Kaido would probably put him through three days of "special training."
So Queen learned to restrain himself.
"Uh… it's said that this granny was the number one beauty among the Mermaids fifty years ago."
"…B*stard."
This wasn't what he had imagined. Cold and aloof, delicate and charming—every kind of Mermaid sister had appeared in his fantasies.
But those fantasies definitely did not include this… uh… beautiful Mermaid from several decades ago.
"You actually believe something like that?"
"Well… Lord Queen, her granddaughter is really beautiful. I think it's possible."
"Her granddaughter? You know her granddaughter?"
"Hehe… well, Lord Queen, I follow Boss Mandrell. You understand."
"…Heh."
Queen silently took a puff of his cigar. Of course he knew what that meant.
Different officers had different types of subordinates.
Under Zeraora and Setsuna were the Minks.
Under Olga were the Millennial Dragon air force and assassination units, meant to coordinate with her illusion-based combat.
Jack commanded hordes of reckless fighters, Greninja's ninjas, and King's elite breakthrough squads.
Mandrell was different.
Aside from leading the scout units, his subordinates had the highest marriage rate in the entire crew, and the proportion of them marrying Mermaids was astonishingly high.
"Should I congratulate you in advance on having a child soon?"
"No, no, I'm still pursuing her."
"Go. Get over there and receive the supplies. I don't want to see you right now."
Queen pointed to the side, signaling him to leave immediately.
He was trying to erase the memory from his mind, but realized he couldn't.
The more he tried to forget it, the clearer it became.
"Wait! Come back!"
"What is it, Lord Queen?"
"I remember that Mermaids split their tails at thirty. If the young ones aren't here, then where are the thirty-year-olds?"
Even if they weren't young ladies, women in their mature years would still be great. Yet there were only grandmothers like this here.
"Oh, that. Boss Mandrell said to let them return to Fish-Man Island first so they wouldn't get frightened. Once things here stabilize, he'll arrange for them to come over."
"Mandrell… you b*stard, you set me up."
Muttering to himself, Queen dejectedly walked back onto the ship.
"What a shame. I even prepared a performance… wait, no! There's still another way!"
Queen's original plan had been to put on a good show of himself in front of the young female Mermaids.
He hadn't intended to waste any effort performing for these Fish-Men and elderly people.
But suddenly, he had an epiphany.
There might not be any young Mermaids here, but their relatives were.
Who knows, maybe there were even the number one beauties from sixty or forty years ago.
If a direct approach wouldn't work, then he'd take a roundabout route. And so, under the gaze of many onlookers, Queen's performance time began.
Shayna had no idea that through sheer self-deception, Queen had pulled himself together again.
This was practically Queen's innate skill. Without this skill, he would've collapsed long ago after so many mental blows.
"Lord Sacred Beast, there's one more matter. This is the new announcement released by the World Government."
Beasts Pirates Fortress — the Nation-Puller Giant
"Regigigas, huh? 'Fortress'… that's quite an interesting epithet."
The World Government didn't know Regigigas's name.
Based on its even more outrageous size compared to Sanjuan Wolf and its behavior similar to the Devil Oars, they had given it that epithet.
"Strange. They didn't even issue a bounty this time."
"Yes, Lord Sacred Beast. The World Government has classified your creation as a weapon, so no bounty has been added.
And one last thing, they've claimed that Mr. Kaido has obtained the Eternal Pose that leads to Laugh Tale."
Shayna presented the summarized newspaper to Arceus. The large compass was particularly eye-catching.
Of course, it wasn't a real Eternal Pose, just an illustration.
All Eternal Poses in the world looked the same, so there was nothing to question about it.
[According to informed sources, Marine soldiers personally witnessed Kaido snatch the Eternal Pose from Festa.]
[Captured pirates confessed that Kaido appeared at the final moment, defeated the original victor, and seized the Eternal Pose.]
[According to Marine soldiers' recollections, they were just a step away from destroying that root of evil.]
"They're trying to draw attention here, huh? A crude but effective method."
"Lord Sacred Beast, Mr. Kaido hasn't responded yet. How can you be sure this is fake?"
"It's simple. If Kaido really had obtained the Eternal Pose, he wouldn't hide it at all. He'd announce it to the entire world first.
If he didn't attract a bunch of people, then it wouldn't be him."
As he spoke, Arceus looked out the window. A hand made of energy suddenly extended outward and grabbed Yamato, dragging her straight inside.
"Dad! Let go of me! I'm not a kid anymore!"
"If you're not a kid, then why are you eavesdropping? That's quite childish of you."
After Yamato was dragged inside, Shayna was actually the one who got startled. She hadn't sensed Yamato's presence at all just now.
If Arceus hadn't pulled her in, Yamato might really have gotten away with it.
"Miss Yamato, you've grown stronger again."
"Hehe. I was planning to knock father out with a sneak attack, but it looks like that won't work yet. He'd definitely notice me."
"Shayna, ignore her. Finish what you were saying."
After setting Yamato down to the side, Arceus looked back at Shayna.
As for Yamato planning to knock Kaido out with a sneak attack, it wasn't exactly outrageous. It was simply in line with her recent behavior. Ever since Kaido left, she had been thinking about how to pull something big on him.
"Understood. Because of the information released by the World Government, quite a few pirates have been probing our surrounding seas.
Some of the bolder ones have even launched attacks…"
"Don't hold back. Kill them all. The crazier these people act, the more they need to understand the consequences of doing so. If we don't make them feel real pain, this trouble won't end."
"Understood. We have plenty of manpower, more than enough to deal with them."
"It's fine. I'll assign you a helper as well. Yamato, stop spending all day thinking about how to ambush your father. You'll go this time too. The northwest direction is yours, clean that area up."
"Got it, Dad… Wait, Dad. Isn't that Big Mom's territory over there? Do I really need to go there?"
After accepting the mission, Yamato suddenly felt something was off. That sea region lay between the territories of the Beasts Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates. Logically, it should have been the safest direction.
"That's exactly why I'm sending you there. Before, we could be considered allies, but that might not remain the case. Don't trust pirates too much; alliances between pirate crews are inherently filled with betrayal.
For the sake of that so-called One Piece, it wouldn't be impossible for Big Mom to turn against us. If that woman goes mad, the damage to her territory won't be small."
"I understand. Leave it to me. I'll handle things over there."
Earlier she had been dragged in through the window. Now Yamato left through that same window again, flying off toward the northwest.
"Shayna, go make preparations as well. Things won't stay quiet for long."
"Yes, I'll make the arrangements right away."
Arceus wasn't the only one who understood Kaido; Shayna did as well. It would actually be very simple for the impact of this situation to fade away, and there was no need to openly claim that the Eternal Pose wasn't in their hands.
As long as the Beasts Pirates didn't make any moves for a certain period of time, plenty of people would start to doubt the rumor. And once Kaido used force to tell these people that greed came with the price of their lives, they would naturally become well-behaved.
But this was Kaido. The attention delivered to him by the World Government was something he would never simply throw away.
Even if Kaido held a special interview and directly told all the pirates of the world that the Eternal Pose leading to Laugh Tale was in his hands, the members of the Beasts Pirates wouldn't find it strange.
"I'm also planning to head out for a while. Kaido should be returning soon as well. You all handle things here on Onigashima. If anything unexpected happens, go beneath Mt. Fuji. Regigigas will help you deal with anything you can't finish."
"Understood."
Yamato and Arceus left Onigashima one after another, and after Shayna finished arranging the related matters, everything was ready.
At the same time, Kaido had brought Amazon Lily back to the nearby sea area. Just as others had guessed, Kaido was currently looking at the latest news and laughing wildly.
"Worororo! Come on then, the more fools who aren't afraid of death, the better! That'll make things interesting!"
He tossed the newspaper away, letting the sea wind carry it off. Then Kaido guided Amazon Lily toward the marked location. As the island settled into the prepared groove, Amazon Lily was finally in place.
Two of the core islands of the first island chain constructed by the Beasts Pirates had now arrived at their designated positions.
Below, just like near the New Fish-Man Island, supply ships were already waiting in position. This time, however, the one leading them was Misu.
Unlike Queen, she didn't have any strange ideas. She simply wanted to show goodwill first and leave a good impression.
After the island landed, large numbers of female Machamp began transporting supplies…
****Please support on pat*eon for extra chapters; there is date to date subscription enabled on patreon. [There is a 7-day trial version availabe on patreon.]
https://www.pat*eon.com/dmtranslations
You can read ahead upto 75 chapters on my pa*reon.