"No means no, Perospero. Don't make things difficult for me. Turn your ship around and go back."
Standing atop a shark's head, Nanamo blocked Perospero's path alone. Even when he tried to play the family card, all he got in return was a cold refusal.
Rules were rules. Once someone broke them, they could no longer be called ironclad.
This loophole could not be opened; once it was, it would be hard to close again.
"Big sister, the tea party is about to start. I've already waited a long time. If I delay any further, I might not make it in time…"
"Then go and kill that damned Hardinge, and I'll let you pass, won't I? No one is allowed to cross, this is Father's order. No exceptions.
I've already given you plenty of face, Perospero. Don't force me to make a move."
Seeing the mass of water gathering in Nanamo's hand, Perospero ultimately chose to withdraw. The fact that his big sister didn't carry the Charlotte name already made her stance clear.
If this dragged on any longer, based on his understanding of Nanamo, she really would attack.
"Brother Perospero, they won't let us pass. What should we do…?"
"What else can we do? Contact Katakuri and tell him. At any cost, in the shortest time possible, find that guy named Hardinge!
Either kill him, or go challenge Nereus in the deep sea, or face Mama's wrath. Pick one."
Perospero sat down on the deck with a helpless expression, even sounding somewhat resigned.
Because he understood the situation so well, he knew the latter two options were impossible. Capturing Hardinge had become their only choice.
At the same time, Morgans had also received news of the pirate alliance's failure and the Underworld issuing a new bounty. Feeling that the timing was right, he immediately began publishing Hardinge's exact location in serial reports.
This instantly energized those who had been struggling to find Hardinge.
"Kill him! The faster we take him down, the less we lose!"
"Kill him! He's worth 1.1 billion Berries, but only has the strength of a 50 million Berry rookie—a walking jackpot! Take him down, and we won't have to risk our lives ever again!"
Underworld assassins, bounty hunters from all over, and even pirates who originally had no intention of crossing all sprang into action under the stimulation of this massive bounty.
Targets whose bounty didn't match their strength were rare, and ones that everyone knew were weak, merely good at running away, were even rarer.
At this moment, Hardinge had just sailed into the waters of Totto Land.
After waking up from a nap, he initially felt nothing was wrong, but soon noticed that his subordinates were looking at him strangely.
"What's wrong? Do I have something on my face?"
Hardinge couldn't understand why they were looking at him like that. It was as if they were staring at some priceless treasure.
"No, sir, but… you should take a look yourself…"
The subordinate didn't know how to explain it, so he simply handed over the newspaper they had just received.
[The Pirate Alliance Has Been Annihilated...]
[The Underworld Raises 1 Billion Berries...]
[Hardinge's Current Location Is...]
Hardinge could ignore the other matters for now, but when he saw the updated location in the newspaper, he could no longer remain calm.
"Everyone… there might be a traitor among us."
His voice was low as his serious gaze swept across each of his subordinates. The fact that their exact location had been exposed was, in his eyes, the most serious issue.
He was human too, he needed rest. If someone was constantly reporting his whereabouts, that would be a huge problem.
He could evade distant attacks with his Devil Fruit ability, but if he faced a close-range assassination, he might not have time to activate it.
"Sir, betraying you brings us no benefit. Our families are all in Deul Kingdom. If anything happens to you, we'll be executed by the king when we return."
"And those pirates and Underworld assassins won't bother distinguishing us. If they find us, they'll most likely launch indiscriminate attacks."
"With so many years of friendship, do you really think we'd betray you?"
His subordinates spoke one after another, and their words made sense. But if there really was no traitor here, how could his location have been exposed…?
Boom! Boom!
Before Hardinge could figure it out, a barrage of cannon fire suddenly rang out. One shot struck the deck directly, and the splintered debris from the explosion cut a gash across his face.
"Big Mom Pirates… damn it, we've never offended them…"
Blood trickled down his cheek, soaking the newspaper in his hand, staining the words "1 billion Berries."
No matter the reason for the attack, Hardinge had no intention of fighting them. He immediately activated his Devil Fruit ability and fled with his ship.
"Who told you to fire the cannon…? Didn't the intel make it clear? That guy is the user of the Warp-Warp Fruit. If we can't kill him in one strike and he activates his ability, we won't be able to catch him at all."
On another pirate ship, Katakuri stared expressionlessly at Opera, who had just fired the shot.
"Brother Katakuri… sorry, I was too impatient…"
"You… sigh. Keep chasing. Have the surrounding sentry posts pay close attention and see which direction he runs. I don't believe he can keep using his ability forever."
Katakuri sighed, then simply patted Opera on the shoulder without saying more.
Big Mom Pirates' pursuit was only the beginning. After repeatedly activating his Devil Fruit ability and fleeing in panic out of Totto Land's waters, Hardinge leaned against the ship's rail, gasping heavily.
"Hah… hah… good thing we didn't go too deep into Totto Land, otherwise we might not have made it out… Don't stop, keep sailing. Those guys might still chase us."
The Warp-Warp Fruit's instantaneous movement made them difficult to track, and Hardinge's ship enjoyed a brief moment of peace. But when night fell and they prepared to rest, a group of assassins silently approached.
"Enemy attack!"
"They're Peclo's men! Assassins of the Undertaker!"
Major Undertaker Peclo, a leader among the Underworld assassins, couldn't possibly remain unmoved by the massive bounty gathered by others.
A large number of assassins slipped onto the deck under the cover of darkness. Hardinge no longer had time to distinguish friend from foe.
To conserve his strength, Hardinge abandoned everyone, taking only a small lifeboat with him as he activated his Devil Fruit ability to escape, leaving the others to be slaughtered by the assassins…
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