Chapter 158: Arrival
King's Plateau, at the edge.
Louis reached out and took the newspaper and bounty posters from the News Coo. He then casually took out a Beri note and stuffed it into the bird's satchel.
After the News Coo spread its wings and flew off to others, Louis, ignoring the noisy construction site behind him, stood where he was and opened the newspaper.
Louis lowered his gaze, taking in all the important information published in the newspaper, searching for anything that interested him.
[Shocking! One of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, "Heavenly Yaksha" Doflamingo, has been forcefully killed in his own territory by the second-in-command of the Archangel Pirates.]
[The Donquixote Family has thus been wiped out. Dressrosa has changed hands once again, becoming the territory of Archangel Louis.]
[This move by the Archangel is suspected to be centered around Dressrosa, with the aim of recruiting pirates on a large scale, pointing his sword at the position of the fourth pinnacle existence!]
[The World Government is deeply unsettled by this and, after another consultation with the Marines, has adjusted the bounties for the Archangel Pirates.]
"Adjusted?" A look of interest appeared on Louis's face. He then took out a thick stack of bounty posters from the bottom of the paper. After tossing aside the unimportant ones, he finally found the posters related to his partners.
However, to his surprise, of the thick stack of posters, only two were related to the Archangel Pirates: Hajrudin's and Yelena's.
Hajrudin's bounty had been raised to 540,000,000 Berries.
Yelena's was symbolically raised by a few tens of millions, but her original epithet of "Nation-Destroyer" had been eliminated and replaced with:
"The Snow-Fiend."
"'Snow-Fiend'..." Louis repeated the word, then opened the newspaper again, returning to the section he had just finished. Soon, he learned that Yelena's new title was due to the fact that every battle she fought was accompanied by a blizzard, and she always left behind a vast frozen wasteland.
After some thought, Louis felt this name was much more fitting and sounded better than the last one. He quickly moved on, continuing to look through the paper to understand the recent situation on the seas.
[The Whitebeard Pirates' power expands once again.]
[The Soul Queen, Charlotte Linlin, is about to marry again. Her children have already set out to invite various major powers.]
[A Marine branch in the New World was attacked, and a certain special dangerous item was stolen. The Marines have already teamed up with Cipher Pol to investigate.]
[Near the entrance to the New World, a World Government fleet was attacked by an unknown person, and the entire fleet is missing.]
Louis took in all this information, a thoughtful look in his eyes.
"A dangerous item."
"World Government ships were attacked."
Louis silently committed these fragments to memory, a sense of vigilance rising within him.
After a long while, Louis lit a searing flame in his palm and burned the newspaper in his hand, letting the ashes scatter in the wind. After doing this, he turned, preparing to walk toward the castle that was undergoing fine renovations.
But soon, a formidable aura suddenly burst into the range of his Observation Haki, catching his attention.
"Is that— Katakuri?" Louis turned to look at the distant sea, a hint of surprise in his heart.
In his perception, the aura that he couldn't ignore was indeed that of Katakuri, whom he had met once near the entrance to the New World. Although Louis hadn't spoken with him then, he had memorized his aura at the time. What he hadn't expected was for him to actually come to Dressrosa.
Suddenly, Louis recalled the news he had just seen in the newspaper, and his expression became strange. "Katakuri... he couldn't be here to invite me to his mom's wedding banquet, could he?"
Louis felt this was highly likely. After all, that Big Mom had been coveting the Lunarian race and giants for a long time. And now, a living Lunarian and a group of giants were right in front of her. It would be strange if she wasn't interested. Louis estimated that it was only because the combat power he had displayed had made Big Mom wary that she hadn't just sent her entire army to capture them.
In fact, not only was Louis himself a Lunarian and had many giants by his side, but far away in the West Blue, there was also the Buccaneer race. However, Louis wondered, if Big Mom knew that he also had Buccaneers under his command, what kind of move would she make?
"..."
A moment later, Louis gathered his thoughts and looked at Yelena and the others, who were discussing the newspaper in the distance.
"Yelena, that Katakuri who appeared on the battlefield last time is here. You go meet him. If he's here to cause trouble, drive him out. If he has something to say, then bring him over!"
Louis held no particular opinion of the other powers besides the World Government. Therefore, as long as the other party didn't cause trouble, he didn't mind receiving them. Besides, while Big Mom was eyeing him and Hajrudin and the others, why wouldn't Louis want to pull a person like Katakuri over to his side?
At these words, Hajrudin and the others, who had been excitedly talking, froze on the spot, their expressions turning strange.
"Alright!" After receiving Louis's order, Yelena did not linger. She went directly to the edge of the King's Plateau and jumped down.
Then, Louis looked at the not-so-good-looking faces of Hajrudin and the others and asked, "Hajrudin, do you want to stay here, or do you not want to see the people from the Charlotte Family? I respect your decision."
Hajrudin and the others looked at each other. In the end, Hajrudin shook his head and said in a deep voice, "No, we giants dislike the Charlotte Family, we are not afraid of them. Of course we won't deliberately hide from them!"
Behind him, Gerd and the others nodded, expressing their agreement with his words.
To this, Louis chuckled, then wanted to apologize for his poor choice of words. However, just as he was about to speak, his expression changed subtly. He slowly turned his head to look at the sea on the other side, raising an eyebrow.
The others saw this and subconsciously followed his gaze, their expressions gradually becoming serious.
At the edge of Dressrosa's giant mushroom-shaped rocks, a massive staircase made of hardened mochi extended from below, embedding itself deep within the rock. Immediately after, one after another, figures of various sizes, led by a man about five meters tall with his chin and neck wrapped in a scarf, slowly climbed up.
A few minutes later, the man named Katakuri was the first to reach the top of the mushroom rock. "You've been waiting," Katakuri said, his gaze fixed ahead.
As his words fell, the figures who had climbed up behind him were stunned and subconsciously looked forward. In front of the mushroom rock stood a heavily armored figure, over three meters tall, fully armed, with her face covered by a gas mask, and her arms crossed.
"Is that—the Nation... no, the Snow-Fiend?"
"She doesn't look that powerful."
The group of young, inexperienced, and Haki-lacking teenagers saw her and began to whisper among themselves.
Behind them, a tall, beautiful woman with brown skin, long, wavy silver-white hair, and slender, rounded legs frowned. She then slapped them and said bluntly, "Stop embarrassing us here, you brats! This is a person with a bounty higher than Katakuri's, and whose strength is on par with his!"
Then, this woman stared at the quietly standing armored figure and said to herself, "And this person is also the child of that monster Kaido!"
The group of youths were stunned. They then subconsciously looked at the other two burly figures behind her and saw an unshakable apprehension on their faces.
"..."
Under the gaze of the Charlotte Family members, Yelena spoke in a hoarse voice. "Members of the Charlotte Family, what is your business in our territory?"
As her words fell, an invisible pressure, accompanied by her hoarse voice, spread out, making the group of youths shiver without realizing it.
Katakuri turned and glanced at his younger siblings, then turned his head back to state his purpose. "On behalf of Mama, I extend an invitation to her old friend and to the Archangel. We hope they can attend Mama's wedding."
Yelena was taken aback, a faint doubt rising in her heart. "Do these people know the Golden Lion is coming?" Yelena had heard from Louis about the Rocks Pirates and knew that Charlotte Linlin and the Golden Lion had been on the same ship. Therefore, she subconsciously assumed that Big Mom's "friend" was Shiki.
After a brief moment of thought, Yelena first glanced at the group, then turned to leave. "Follow me."
Yelena lifted her war hammer, then turned her head and stepped onto the ice bridge she had built with her ability when she came up, preparing to lead the group to the King's Plateau.
Meanwhile, on the King's Plateau.
Hajrudin and the others looked at the black dots hovering at the edge of the horizon, their eyes wide. "If I'm not mistaken—those should be islands, right?"
"Is this the power of the Golden Lion, the Paramecia-type Float-Float Fruit?"
"What's so surprising about that? It's not like you can't do it, Hajrudin," Louis replied casually, then looked up, a strange light in his eyes.
"He's here? The Golden Lion."
Louis's words shocked Hajrudin, and he was completely dumbfounded. "What? What you said before... you weren't joking?"
"No. It wouldn't be hard for you to lift an island with your flame clouds," Louis replied very seriously. This was Louis's true thought. Even Momonosuke, an adult individual created by the Ripe-Ripe Fruit's ability, could lift Onigashima with his flame clouds for a while. There was no reason why Hajrudin, a giant warrior with a formidable physique, couldn't do it.
Just then, an arrogant laugh sounded in the sky.
"Shishishishi—"
"I'm here, Archangel!"
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