Chapter 156: The Invasion of Zou
"A billion-berry bounty?!"
Usopp's trembling finger pointed at Itachi. "Big Brother Itachi just got a billion-berry bounty! This Jack guy has the SAME bounty?!"
Nami's face paled. She hadn't paid attention to Jack's bounty before—there had been too much chaos, too much fear. But now, hearing the number spoken aloud, the implications hit her like a wave.
"If he's on the same level as Itachi..."
The mental image was not comforting. Itachi could summon skeletal giants and burn battlefields. Itachi had fought Admirals to a standstill. If this Jack possessed even remotely comparable power—
"Do you think mammoth meat tastes good?" Luffy asked, completely derailing the tension.
"Continue." Itachi's voice cut through the speculation. He was not interested in bounty comparisons. He wanted information. "Tell us what happened when Nami's group landed. How it connects to the current situation."
Wanda nodded and resumed her account.
The invasion had begun the moment the Beast Pirates breached the gates. Duke Inuarashi and his Musketeers had met them in battle immediately, fighting through the streets of Kurau City. The Duke himself had faced Jack directly—and while he had been slightly outmatched, he had held the line.
Then the Fire-Rain came. The flood had momentarily favored the minks—their familiarity with the drainage channels, their comfort in the water. For a brief window, they had pushed the invaders back.
But the moment the waters receded, the Beast Pirates surged forward again.
They fought from dawn until six in the evening, when the Duke's shift ended. Inuarashi withdrew exactly on schedule—and the "Night King" Nekomamushi, the Cat Viper who guarded the Whale Forest, woke to take his place. The Knights of the Forest replaced the Musketeers of the Town. The battle continued without pause.
"The Knights," Luffy said. "Those were the guys who attacked me in the forest?"
"Yes." Wanda's voice was grim. "For five days and five nights, our two kings alternated every twelve hours. The Musketeers by day. The Knights by night. They fought Jack without rest."
"And Jack?" Itachi asked.
"He never stopped. He never slept. He faced both kings, one after the other, for five full days. And he was still standing."
A pirate who could fight two Mink rulers—each a warrior of legendary strength—in continuous rotation for over a hundred hours. Without rest. Without retreat. The scale of Jack's endurance was staggering.
"But we had the upper hand." Wanda's fists clenched. "Even against his endless reinforcements, even against his Ancient Zoan power, we were winning. So Jack lost his patience."
Her voice dropped to barely a whisper.
"On the fifth day, they deployed the gas. Poison gas. It spread through the streets like a yellow fog. Our warriors dropped where they stood."
The balance shattered instantly. The Beast Pirates swept through the city, binding every able-bodied warrior to the execution racks that now dotted the ruins.
"What followed was a day of torture. They demanded to know where the samurai was hidden. Over and over. The same question. The same answer."
"There is no samurai here. We know nothing."
Wanda was trembling. Nami put an arm around her shoulders.
"After a day... perhaps they grew tired of our answers. Jack took a few dozen men and simply... left."
"No." Duke Inuarashi's voice rumbled from the bed. He had woken without anyone noticing. One massive paw held a crumpled newspaper. "He didn't leave because he was bored. He left because he had something more important to do."
The Duke spread the newspaper across his lap.
"The day Jack departed was the day you defeated Doflamingo. He went to rescue him. There's something between those two—something the papers don't explain."
"A hidden connection," Itachi murmured. Law's plan replayed in his mind. The SMILE factory's destruction. Kaido's wrath redirected at Doflamingo. But if Jack had been ordered to rescue the Warlord—if Kaido valued Doflamingo enough to pull one of his top commanders from a siege—then their alliance ran deeper than anyone had suspected.
Usopp and Chopper peered at the newspaper. Jack's face stared back at them—his head small on his massive body, but his tusks long and cruel. The headline announced his death. The Marine convoy. The Admirals.
"A billion-berry pirate..." Usopp swallowed hard. "He looks terrifying."
"At least the paper says he's dead," Chopper said with visible relief. "That's something."
"Is he really dead?"
Every head turned toward Itachi.
"I've learned not to trust such reports. Not in this world. Devil Fruit abilities, unusual physiologies—death is rarely as simple as it appears."
Inuarashi nodded slowly. "Wise words. Whether Jack lives or dies, the debt we owe you remains. You defeated Doflamingo. Jack left. Our people survived because of what you did."
His eyes closed. He was asleep again.
"HE FELL ASLEEP IN THE MIDDLE OF A SENTENCE?!" Luffy grabbed the Duke's shoulders. "UNCLE! WAKE UP! I STILL HAVE QUESTIONS!"
"Luffy! Let him rest!"
Wanda, now understanding the full context of Jack's retreat, continued the story with lighter eyes. "Your arrival brought us more miracles than you know."
Nami's group had reached Zou the day after Jack's departure.
The Thousand Sunny had arrived at the elephant's leg, and they had faced the same vertical challenge as Luffy's group. But Sanji had found a solution. Caesar Clown—the captive scientist whose gas-based Devil Fruit had caused so much suffering on Punk Hazard—could manipulate and become gas. They had inflated him into a makeshift balloon, used his ability to control buoyancy, and ascended to Zou on a tether of captive air.
When they first landed, they encountered the remnants of the Beast Pirates—the few dozen soldiers Jack had left behind to maintain the occupation. Sanji and Brook had engaged them while Chopper pressed forward. The little reindeer had seen the poison gas still lingering in the streets, the fallen minks gasping their last breaths. He had not hesitated.
Using Caesar's ability—forced, coerced, leveraged through sheer desperate will—Chopper had neutralized the remaining gas. He had developed an antidote. And then, with Nami coordinating the surviving minks from every stronghold, they had begun the impossible work of saving an entire nation.
"Every mink on this island owes their life to your crew." Wanda's voice broke. "We will never forget."
Nami shook her head. "We just did what anyone would—"
"No." Wanda gripped her hands. "What YOU did. What CHOPPER did. What all of you did. We were dying. Now we're alive. That's because of the Straw Hats."
The room was quiet for a moment. Then Luffy's fists slammed together.
"THAT BASTARD JACK! I'm going to send him AND Kaido flying! Just wait!"
"LUFFY! Your volume!" Usopp clamped a hand over his captain's mouth. "And maybe don't declare war on TWO Emperors at once?!"
But Luffy's eyes were blazing with that particular light that meant he was absolutely, one hundred percent serious.
(End of Chapter)
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