Chapter 187: Emperor Meeting, Plot and Third Power
Chapter 187: Emperor Meeting, Plot and Third Power
_________ POV Narration _________
The seas rumbled as the country of Wano suddenly became much more lively...
Well, at least Onigashima became a lot more lively. The countryside was just as starved and oppressed.
The Beast Pirates prepared accordingly in order to receive the Emperors that were to show up.
Kaido knew that at least Shanks and Big Mom would appear, he had no hopes that Whitebeard would come as a guest on his territory.
The Dragon Emperor prepared a lavish feast. King and Queen had arrived back in Wano after delivering the invitations. The two All-Stars were responsible for security.
None of the other Yonko crews was allowed near the party.
It was a sly move on Kaido's part, but he didn't want to take any chances.
If the meeting was to break down, and a fight was to occur, he wanted the Yonko to be as far away from their crews as possible.
The first to arrive in Onigashima was Big Mom. She didn't protest when Perospero and Smoothie were stopped near the entrance of Kaido's base.
She already expected such a thing to happen. It was just the 'Kaido' thing to do...
Although her children protested, she continued on her way. She did decide to dress up accordingly though, donning a black kimono and doing her hair in a shimada.
She arrived in the meeting room quickly, being accompanied there directly by King.
"LinLin, I am glad that you could make it..."
Kaido greeted Big Mom with a strange look on his face.
He wore his usual clothes, his wounds were already healed, and there was only a faint scar that had formed, stretching for the entire length of the slash that he had received.
"Kaido, you've looked worse, I guess." Big Mom also greeted him. She had a wide smile on her face as she joked around with her former crewmate.
It wasn't long before she noticed the scar though. Her gaze narrowed a bit as she eyed it up.
'... There are very few people in the world capable enough to leave such a scar on Kaido... What happened, I wonder?...'
The only living people she knew capable of something like that were Shanks and Mihawk... But would Kaido go out of his way to antagonize either of them?
Her Curiosity overwhelmed her. But just as she was about to ask Kaido about it, the Dragon Emperor spoke out.
"Keep your off-handed remarks out of this, Linlin... You're not exactly looking all that fresh either..." Kaido bit back at her insult.
He had noticed her eyeing him up, how couldn't he? But he didn't want her to bring up his new scar.
He gave her his best intimidating look, making it clear that the subject was off-limits... At least for now.
But Big Mom was not someone that Kaido could intimidate in any way. LinLin was one of the few people in the world that could sneer at him, and she reminded the Dragon Emperor of that right away.
"What's with those eyes you're giving me? Ya trying to scare someone? How about you start talking about that scar? Someone like you doesn't just 'get hurt'."
LinLin didn't take the disrespect lightly. She made it clear that she wasn't afraid of anyone. It didn't matter that she was surrounded by Kaido's crew, she was still an Emperor, and they could do nothing to her.
Meanwhile, Kaido himself wanted an alliance with her, at least the invitation said so, so why was he even displaying such arrogance?
"... I'll explain it when the others get here as well..." Kaido didn't say much more than that.
Big Mom just huffed a bit, before crossing her arms and looking away in indignation.
At the very least he made it clear that he would satisfy her curiosity later. Even if she now had to wait for the other 'guests'.
Thankfully she didn't have to wait long.
It only took a few more hours for Shanks to make his way there.
He didn't even bother to bring his crew over to Onigashima, he knew that there was no way they would be allowed to attend the meeting, so he didn't want to waste their time.
His crew remained with the ship, they all got a break and were free to get drunk as they wished.
Shanks was far from intimidated. Even if all of the Beast Pirates were to attack him, he would still be fine.
Besides, some of his crewmembers were still keeping an eye on Onigashima.
His First Mate, Benn Beckman, was already standing on the sails and keeping the island in his sights, prepared to snipe whoever dared to raise their hand at his captain.
Yassop was also alert. As the best sniper in the crew, he took a position similar to that of Benn. His Observation Haki was also the best, so he had his gaze fixed on the island of Onigashima before Shanks even left the crew behind.
"... Seems Big Mom is already there..." Yasop said as he pursed his lips.
"Yep... I didn't see her ship around here... Guess she entered the island with her crew." Beckman muttered as he tilted his head and sneered at the situation.
He found the entire situation odd. He didn't trust Kaido one bit.
He wasn't alone in that thought. No one in Shank's crew actually wanted to do anything with the Beast Pirates. They were all enemies.
Suddenly asking for an alliance just felt shady to Beckman and the rest.
'... Will the World Government really let such a meeting happen?...'
And Beckman was right to question the lack of involvement on the Government's part.
Under any other circumstance, they would have gone out of their way to stop such a gathering of Yonko from happening.
There were some agents stationed in the country of Wano... But they surprisingly didn't receive any orders to stop the meeting from happening.
Their specific orders were to make sure that it did happen, and that the Emperors banded together successfully.
They had no real way of accomplishing that, the Yonko were not exactly easy to manipulate. It was much easier to pit them against each other than otherwise.
At most they could eavesdrop on the meeting and hope for the best.
But the intentions of the Elders were obvious...
They wanted Kaido to form a Third Party in the upcoming war... And they wanted that Third Party to clash with Enel's growing army of monsters.
Unfortunately, Whitebeard was not making an appearance. The government had no real way of forcing him to attend the meeting either...
But having 3 Yonko together was already unprecedented. Such an alliance, if it was to come true, was bound to send waves through the world.
Shanks made his entrance with a smile on his face, the cadres of the two Yonko crews almost passed out just from his presence as he passed by them.
Prospero sweated a bit as he eyed the Red Haired Emperor...
'Red Haired Shanks... One of the most dangerous men alive... He feels even stronger than mother...'
Perospero quickly shook that thought out of his head though. His mother was not weaker than anyone in his eyes.
The lines were blurred at the Level of Yonko. He was just unable to grasp Shanks's limits at first glance...
Shanks ignored the Yonko Crews that had gathered. Queen didn't even dare to speak out in his presence, he just gestured for the Emperor to follow him after a quick bow.
Linlin and Kaido were both sitting at the meeting table, drinking while waiting for Shanks.
Big Mom was already looking bored, he cheeks were slightly flushed as she sipped on her sake.
Kaido was in a similar state, he raised his barrel of Sake and drank with a smile on his face.
The Atmosphere was calm, almost jovial even, as both Kaido and Big Mom seemed to become friendlier with each other when drinking.
But that atmosphere changed instantly when Shanks stepped into the room.
The red in Big Mom's cheeks vanished instantly as she eyed the Red Haired Emperor with a wary gaze.
Every step that Shanks took seemed to amplify his presence in the room, to the point where both of the other attending Emperors were sobered up instantly.
Kaido was the first to greet Shanks.
"Red Hari/Akagami, thank you for deciding to attend this meeting..." Kaido nodded appreciatively to his enemy.
Shanks gave the Dragon Emperor a wide smile as he walked over to them and sat down. They had thankfully prepared a normal-sized chair for him.
"It was strange to receive such a letter... I must say that I was not expecting such a thing to happen." Shanks then eyed the scar stretching across Kaido's skin. "But the need for an alliance does seem warranted now that I see your state..."
"It certainly is a cause for concern, isn't it?" Big Mom said as she nodded towards the Red Haired Emperor.
"Cough* Let's not get into this right away... First off, are you both aware of the upcoming war...?" Kaido decided to get into the meeting right away.
Shanks nodded when hearing that. He appreciated getting straight to the point of the meeting, as he didn't feel the need to make friends with the two Yonko present.
"I did hear plenty about it. The Government's been going crazy lately, I don't think it's ever been this bad..." Big Mom took another sip of her Sake barrel as she narrowed her eyes once more.
"... Their reaction does seem a bit extreme..." Shanks said as he crossed his legs and tilted his head.
"Extreme... But it is warranted." Kaido sneered a bit as he caught the attention of both Emperors.
Shanks already knew what the Dragon was about to say... But his next words came as a bit of a surprise for Big Mom...
"Enel has gathered an army powerful enough to take over the World... An army containing both Legendary Pirates, former Marines, and Revolutionaries..."
Kaido clenched his fist as he looked at his new scar.
"Among their ranks, there are plenty of notable figures... The former Admirals and Marine Hero, the entire Revolutionary Army, including Dragon...
But the most dangerous ones are the pirates..."
Kaido continued to go into detail about the powers present in the Sky Island, his voice becoming grave as he started speaking about pirates.
"First off, there's Enel himself... I couldn't get a proper grasp on his power, but he should be strong enough to face off against either one of us, at least.
Then, there's the Golden Lion Shiki... His presence makes attacking the Sky Islands nigh impossible.
Then, the worst part... There is also Francisco D. Guzman... The former First Mate of the Rocks Pirates."
Big Mom's eyes widened when she heard that name. Her teeth clenched a bit as she took that information in.
Why hadn't she heard about something like that already?! How had Oven forgotten to mention such an important figure?!
Unfortunately for her, Oven had somewhat forgotten to report the presence of such a man on the Sky Islands... But could he really be blamed?
Legendary Figures were a dime a dozen on the Sky Islands, he didn't know every single person that walked around there, and snooping around would definitely put him in a bad spot...
Regardless, that information had somewhat Blindsided Big Mom... Hell, it even surprised Shanks, who widened his eyes alongside Big Mom...
He was too young, and he didn't get to be there for the fall of the Rocks Pirates, but he remembered the stories... He remembered the accounts of how powerful they used to be...
The Red-Haired Emperor grasped the green hilt of his sabre, Gryphon, as he remembered a few more details about its previous user, Francisco.
'... A man that was known to be able to split islands in half... I wonder how I match up to him...?'
Shanks managed to stop a smile from rising on his lips as he thought about fighting such a man...
'I should not mention this to Mihawk... He'll certainly seek Francisoc out to test his swordsmanship...'
The Emperor sweated a bit as he thought about his Hawkeyed friend.
It would be an interesting fight to witness though... The strongest swordsmen of two different generations, both at least at the level of Yonko...
"W-wait, so you're telling me he lived through God Valley?!" Big Mom finally recovered enough to ask more about Francisco...
Hearing about him made her not even think about Shiki, who was also a powerful pirate...
"He not only lived through it... He's been returned to his prime."
"What?!?" Big Mom's arm clenched on the arm of her chair, cracking it slightly as she clenched her teeth even harder.
"It seems that Enel's crew has someone capable of altering the age of others... They seem to be able to get rid of scars and injuries as well.
I don't know if the effect is permanent, but it was enough to take me by surprise... Which is what led to this scar."
Kaido touched the scar that stretched across his chest with a hint of a scowl on his lips. It was clear that he found recanting that story a bit shameful, but it couldn't be helped.
He needed to emphasise just how dangerous Enel's army was.
Big Mom sweated a bit as she thought about the prospect of Francisco returning and seeking vengeance for their betrayal back at God Valley...
The very thought made her anxious...
'... But I am an Emperor now... Even if he comes after me, I am still confident in facing him... But my children...'
None of them would survive. Not even Katakuri... They would die in seconds.
And, for some reason, the thought seemed to scare LinLin...
'It's been a while since my motherly instincts kicked in...'
While Big Mom was contemplating that, Shanks was also off in his own world.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose as he now also learned more about the scope of Enel's Army...
Shanks even had a few details that Kaido didn't have... Like the fact that he also joined Enel! And that Whitebeard was likely in on it as well...
Hell, even Big Mom was somewhat working with Enel...
There was also Sengoku, and they were likely to get in touch with the Neo Marines as well...
'God, how much does he plan to grow his army?! You can't even blame anyone for thinking that he's trying to take over the world...'
Kaido judged the reaction of the Emperors and smiled.
"... This is why I called this meeting. The first of its kind... If we don't want to get trampled then we need to stand together!
That is why I invited everyone here... I want to make an alliance!"
Kaido slammed the barrel of sake he was holding on the ground in front of him as he uttered that word for the first time in the meeting...
'Alliance'
The very reason he had called in the Yonko... But was the meeting really going to go as he expected?
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Hope you liked the chapter!
An alliance between Yonko huh :)) Reminds u of something, innit?
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