In the deepest part of the cavern, the battle situation there was even more chaotic than outside.
Shiki alone was dealing with attacks from Big Mom and two others. Katakuri and Perospero couldn't help, so they could only stay to one side, watching John to prevent his escape.
Katakuri kept having a very strange feeling.
Ever since he was very young, when his own recklessness caused his sister to get hurt, Katakuri's Observation Haki had undergone an incredible transformation, born from his fierce desire to protect his younger siblings.
For example, he could now catch glimpses of dangerous events in the future. After the fall of Rocks, this ability had helped him and his siblings avoid quite a few dangers.
But right now, his Observation Haki seemed to be constantly sending warnings, yet no visions flashed before his eyes.
Katakuri was still relatively inexperienced at this point—he couldn't freely control that ability. Moreover, everyone present was a master well-versed in Haki.
Even if they didn't have any derived special techniques in Armament Haki or Observation Haki, they had at least trained both to their absolute peak.
This greatly interfered with any possibility of him seeing the future.
Perospero was also suffocating under the tense atmosphere. His eyes never left John, but his body shifted slightly closer toward Katakuri.
"Katakuri, can you see any signs?"
He asked nervously, "I feel like something's off about that guy John. He looks way too calm."
"Yeah..."
Katakuri had noticed this too. That one-legged man didn't seem to have any awareness that he was in a desperate situation.
Instead, he looked full of anticipation. But no matter who ultimately won, his outcome shouldn't be good.
Could he really be counting on everyone wiping each other out?
Katakuri didn't understand. He just shook his head, signaling Perospero that he hadn't seen anything.
'Damn it, I'm still too weak...'
'If I can't see the future, how am I supposed to protect everyone...'
Katakuri couldn't help but clench his fists.
A battle after such a long time made him feel his own weakness all over again.
He knew he had incredible talent, even being called the Charlotte Family's greatest masterpiece. In the future, he would be the one to take up Charlotte Linlin's banner.
But at least for now, he was still too weak.
At that moment, John seemed to notice the two of them.
"Yo, aren't these Linlin's little brats?"
"Long time no see. Can't believe how much you've grown in just a few years." John looked like some weird uncle, starting to reminisce with them.
Katakuri was terrified he'd suddenly come out with something like "I held you when you were little."
Fortunately, John didn't say anything like that.
He just said, in a manner that seemed to delight in stirring up trouble: "Are you sure you should just be watching from here? Shouldn't you go help Linlin?"
"..."
Katakuri maintained his usual stoic demeanor, ignoring the guy, just gripping his trident tightly.
He was a bit worried that John might suddenly attack them.
But John had no such intention—or rather, there was simply no need to bother.
"You don't need to stare at me like that. Relax."
"If I were planning to escape, I wouldn't be here right now." Facing two kids, John was naturally completely at ease.
"What exactly is your goal?"
Katakuri finally spoke up. His gaze was actually quite intimidating—an ordinary person might have felt pressured by it.
But to John, he was still too green.
"Who knows? Maybe you'll find out soon enough."
John naturally wasn't going to reveal this secret.
He was still waiting—waiting for someone from the World Government to arrive.
He hadn't originally planned to put himself in danger personally, but because of what happened on Hachi Island, he decided to show himself and lure Shiki and the others down here.
By drawing their attention, Shiki and the rest still hadn't noticed the bodies of the relic guardians embedded in the rock walls.
When those things weren't activated, they looked just like rocks. Plus, the visibility inside the cavern was poor, so they were easy to overlook.
But John couldn't detonate these machines right now—that would cause him to be swallowed by the sea as well.
He was waiting for a person—a World Government agent.
According to intel, that agent possessed the ability to teleport him away. He felt confident about the World Government; after all, if they wanted the treasure, they had to keep him alive.
This was also the reason why John remained so composed under these circumstances.
...
"This isn't looking good..."
Kaido's body was concealed behind a massive boulder, peering out rather shiftily.
Calling him shifty seemed a bit odd, but Ren couldn't think of a better word to describe his current state.
"Shiki's situation isn't looking great."
Or rather, Kaido felt that Charlotte Linlin's situation was looking a little too good.
If Big Mom and the other two teamed up to take down Shiki, it would be very difficult for him to stand against Big Mom. He still owed her a favor, after all.
"Interesting. Is there such a thing as honor among pirates?"
Ren laughed. Seeing Kaido's conflicted expression, he knew that whatever bond these two shared, it wasn't much—otherwise Kaido wouldn't be hesitating like this.
"We had some camaraderie in the past."
"If she were at a disadvantage, I wouldn't mind sharing some of the treasure with her. But if it comes to fighting her for it... well, I'd still feel a bit awkward about it," Kaido admitted awkwardly.
Though, there was some camaraderie—but not much.
When push came to shove, Kaido wouldn't care about old sentiments.
As for right now, with Ren present, he had a pretty good idea that would save him from getting chewed out by Big Mom.
"How about this? You go help Shiki stall for a while, and then I'll jump in later."
"We'll conserve our strength and find an opening to help Shiki cripple all of them." Kaido was dark on the outside and dark on the inside.
The "them" he was referring to obviously included Shiki himself.
"Once we've dealt with all of them, we split the treasure fifty-fifty."
"Then I'll take a portion from my share and give it to that woman Linlin—that way I'll have repaid the old debt."
This was a perfect plan for Kaido.
He got to play the good guy while leaving the bad guy role to Ren. And while he initially only planned to grab a portion of the treasure, his ambition had now grown to half of everything.
Clearly, this guy was greedy in his own right.
Ren's gaze flicked toward a dark corner, and then he nodded.
"We'll do it your way. But don't forget—the treasure gets split evenly between us."
[
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