Chapter 173: The End
High in the cloudless sky, Louis dispersed the "Lance that Shines at the End" that was forming in his hand. He then turned and faced Shiki, who was panting heavily and holding his twin swords. Then, Louis wreathed the blade of the Seven Star Sword in Conqueror's Haki and slashed at him.
"Sure enough, Ochoku was right. There's a reason you're not well-liked!"
Just now, the three of them had become more and more agitated in the melee. Kaido, his fighting spirit boiling, had even transformed into his dragon form and was about to spew flames to envelop himself. Louis had also gathered the power of his Fantasy Species, preparing to accumulate the power of the Lance to fight Kaido to the death.
Only this guy, the Golden Lion, while the other two were charging up their power, had dropped more than a dozen uninhabited islands, sparing only the main city and the few inhabited ones. Louis had dodged with his speed advantage. Kaido himself had used his body and flame clouds to block several islands but was hit by the rest.
This made it hard for Louis to imagine how, in this world where everyone was tough as nails and habitually clashed head-on, a person with Shiki's character could have grown to be on the same level as Roger and Whitebeard.
The Golden Lion couldn't dodge in time. He could only cover his twin swords in Armament Haki, cross them in front of his chest, and block the slash directly. After being knocked back several hundred meters, an enraged Shiki rushed forward again with his twin swords.
"You're full of shit! Who would be like you guys, honestly waiting for someone to release their ultimate move and then meeting it head-on?! Did you really want to wait for him to release the complete fire dragon and fight him to the death?!"
As he flew, he also wreathed his blades in Conqueror's Haki and sent out a series of slashes that clashed with Louis's moves. For a moment, two-colored slashes whistled and collided, shattering and forming a rain of two-colored light that scattered down from the sky.
To Shiki's words, Louis paid no mind, simply gripping his sword and spear, wreathed in Conqueror's Haki, and slashing up. For a time, a violent tremor once again ravaged the high sky, and a black and red web of lightning covered the entire firmament.
After a while, Louis lost interest in fighting the Golden Lion and proactively stopped his attacks. Then, in Shiki's strange gaze, he sheathed the Seven Star Sword. Louis had not forgotten that he was here to stop Kaido and prevent him from rampaging in Dressrosa. In any case, Kaido had now been knocked silly by Shiki's dozen or so uninhabited islands and had fallen into the sea. There was no longer any need for Louis to fight. The reason he had clashed with Shiki for a while was because what this guy had done was indeed a bit hard to stomach.
But the other party was not from the World Government. Louis had no reason to kill him. Not to mention, Shiki still owed him two ordinary Devil Fruits and two favors.
Seeing this, Shiki raised an eyebrow. After gradually calming his breathing, he approached with a wanton smile. "Come on, let's have a drink with me and Ochoku. That guy Kaido will come looking for us on his own after he's rescued. No need to worry about him!"
To this, Shiki explained that although Kaido's title of "Strongest Creature in the world, on land, sea, and air" had some exaggeration—he still couldn't move in the sea—he had no problem breathing. This guy couldn't drown, and the Sea Kings in the sea couldn't chew through his tough hide. They couldn't do anything to him. In the sea, Kaido couldn't be killed. On the sea, the Sea Kings would be instantly killed. Therefore, Kaido couldn't fight at sea, yet he was still the strongest creature in the sea.
"..."
Louis heard the Golden Lion's nonsense, and for a moment, didn't know what to say. In the end, after glancing at the pirate ship that was rapidly approaching, he spread his wings and returned to Dressrosa. And Shiki himself also headed straight for Dressrosa.
Soon, Louis folded his wings and landed on a mushroom-shaped rock at the edge of Dressrosa. However, the scene that met his eyes made him feel a little strange.
Beside Yelena, two children with oni horns were lying quietly on the exposed rock, unconscious. The slightly older girl had blue hair, and her pair of oni horns was larger. The smaller boy had purple hair, and his oni horns were slightly smaller.
"..."
"Where—did these come from?" After a brief silence, Louis asked the ashen-faced Yelena.
In fact, Louis had already recognized the identity of these two brats from their features. The future Flying Six of the Beasts Pirates, Ulti and Page One. At this moment, they were only about eleven or twelve years old. It didn't seem like they had come with Kaido to fight him.
Louis's inquiry made the ashen-faced Yelena come back to her senses. She spoke in a strange tone. "Louis, I've become a human trafficker—"
"???" Louis was a little confused.
Afterward, Yelena slowly explained what had just happened. "Just now, I saw something that looked like one of Kaido's ability's creations flying toward Dressrosa, so I reached out and stopped it. Later, one of the Seven Warlords, King of Lizards - Hanafuda, ran over and fought me for the flame cloud. And then later, he seemed to know my identity, stopped fighting, and after Kaido fell from the sky, he took his men and rushed over."
...
Afterward, Kaido was smashed into the sea by the islands. The flame cloud dissipated, revealing something that caught Yelena completely off guard. "Two children."
She immediately thought of Hanafuda's anxious look and gradually realized that these few children were very likely his. At that moment, Yelena's vision went dark, and only one thought remained in her mind. "Oh no, I've become a human trafficker!"
Louis heard this and was quite surprised. He knew of Hanafuda; he was a Warlord who would be defeated by Fire Fist Ace in the future. But he had never thought that he was actually Kaido's friend, and also the father of Ulti and Page One. But soon, Louis thought of Hanafuda's hobby of collecting Devil Fruits, especially Ancient Zoan types. In that case, it wasn't without reason that he was one of Kaido's men.
Thinking of this, Louis's expression changed subtly again.
The matter of Hanafuda made Louis realize that it really wasn't easy for the World Government to gather such a group of people to be the Seven Warlords.
Hanafuda was Kaido's man.
Knight of the Sea Jinbe could be said to be Whitebeard's man.
Crocodile was trying to usurp a country.
The Pirate Empress had a relationship with the remnants of Roger's crew.
The future Kuma was a member of the Revolutionary Army.
Hawkeye and Red-Hair had an unclear relationship.
The original Doflamingo was supposed to be in collusion with Kaido.
It seemed that only the fat宅 (otaku) Moria had no connection with other forces.
Thinking of this, Louis almost couldn't control his expression. How did the World Government and the Marines manage to find this group of almost all undercover agents?
Louis shook his head, shaking these strange thoughts from his mind.
Just then, Yelena asked with some hesitation, "Louis, what should we do with these two?"
"Take them back for now. We'll ask them if they're Hanafuda's children after they wake up," Louis said after some thought. "If they are, then Hanafuda will come looking for them again. We can just let him take them away then."
Yelena heard him and nodded thoughtfully. The strange expression on her face eased considerably.
On the King's Plateau, in the main hall of the castle.
Goldberg walked out of the huge kitchen carrying food and distributed it to everyone at the giant dining table.
"What? You actually don't drink?!" Shiki, who was covered in bandages and filthy, had a shocked look on his face.
Beside him, Ochoku, who was drinking from a bottle, also froze, momentarily dazed.
To this, Louis swallowed the food in his mouth, glanced at the shocked Shiki, and replied casually, "You saw it last time, didn't you?"
The Golden Lion heard him and added, "At that time, I thought you were worried the wine was poisoned, so you had your two subordinates test it."
"..."
Louis heard this and was taken aback, then became completely speechless. And as for the two people in question, Daz Bonez and Hajrudin, their faces became even more strange. Them, test for poison? How is that possible?! With the captain's physique, he could eat poison for a meal and not have a single problem.
Because Louis didn't touch tobacco or alcohol, Shiki and Ochoku also lost their intention of lingering in Dressrosa. After leaving the final payment for Louis healing his legs and the 100 million Berries in compensation for the damage to the operating room, Shiki and Ochoku led their doctors back to their floating islands, preparing to take advantage of the fact that the news of this battle had not yet passed to once again gather pirates on Hachinosu and let the Flying Pirates reappear on the sea.
After Shiki and the others left, the group, who had been suppressing their excitement, all cast looks of admiration at Louis.
Goldberg tore a large bite of meat from the bone in his hand and then said with a laugh, "From today on, no one in the New World will ever question the captain's strength again!"
To this, Road leaned over and said with a feigned angry look, "Hey! No one in the New World ever questioned the captain's strength and battle record in the first place!"
"The aftershocks of the battle between the captain and Kaido and the others were like a natural disaster," Gerd recalled the recent battle, her beautiful face filled with amazement.
Daz Bonez crossed his arms and said in a cold tone, "From today on, the number of pirates who come to seek refuge with us will probably increase more and more. In the future, the work of screening them will become busy again!"
To this, Uta waved her hand nonchalantly and said, "It's fine. I'll take care of the screening work in the future!"
Louis heard her and nodded. "Then I'll leave it to you, Uta."
Then, Road bent down, looked at the group, and said in a strangely excited tone, "If more people join the captain's crew, then we'll be the fourth top-tier power in the New World, right?!"
To this, Hajrudin shook his head and gave a different opinion. "No. The Golden Lion and the others will probably match the other three pirate factions in terms of power before we do!"
As the group was talking, Ulti, who had been placed to the side in the main hall, slowly opened her eyes, a bewildered look on her face.
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