Chapter 176

Katakuri raised his head as he found a shadow looming over him.

"...What will happen us now?" After gazing at the individual standing in front of him, Rowan, Katakuri asked dejectedly.

Rowan didn't respond immediately. Instead, he peered onto Katakuri with an interest.

'A man with the will of his own. He doesn't bear even a slightest amount of hatred toward me, for he knows that such mindset will bring his family to their deaths.'

Rowan could see the 'Supreme King's trait' within Katakuri.

'Though he isn't necessarily a conqueror, he is the king who desires to protect.'

In a way, Rowan felt that Katakuri and him were quite alike.

"Charlotte Katakuri."

Therefore, Rowan felt like being generous, and so he did,

"There is one way to guarantee the survival of your family." Rowan held his hand out to the man who was kneeling in front of him,

"Become my ally. From hereafter, you will operate as... Katakuri pirates, Mochi pirates, or whatever name you see fit. This way, the lives of your family members will be guaranteed—as long as they don't dare to act out of hatred."

Katakuri lowered his head,

"And if I were not to accept your offer?"

Rowan sighed,

"We're pirates. You should know the answer already."

"F****** kill me already!!!!"

From the side, Ulti, the only remaining survivor among the Tobiroppos of the Beast pirates, screamed furiously,

"You killed my Pay-tan, and dares to leave me alive!!! I will curse you for the rest of the eternity—kyaaaa!!!!!"

*PAZZZZZZZ*

"Shut. Up."

Ulti was forced into unconsciousness as the intense beam of lightning struck upon her; it was from Dan, whose finger was outstretched.

"Can't you see that captain is busy right now?"

Rowan, unfazed by what happened at the side, had his eyes still locked onto Katakuri.

"I..."

Katakuri was the man of word. Rowan knew that once a man like him vows, he won't dare to go against it. And that's why Katakuri was hesitant at the current moment.

"...Ha." Katakuri, in the end, raised his head back up and met Rowan's eyes with his adamant expression, "I accept the deal."

Katakuri wasn't in a position to complain. After having lost the war, they must be prepared to lose everything. Yet, they were given the generosity that not only allowed them to preserve their lives, but their possession.

'Though we will forever be bound to you as the subordinates under the official title of "Grimheart's allies," compared to mama's hunger pangs...' Katakuri found himself unable to believe, but here he was, thinking that working under Grimheart may be better than serving Linlin.

Rowan grinned in response. Without any words, he turned away from Katakuri and faced his allies.

"As for the Beast pirates..." Ace spoke up warily, to which Rowan nodded.

"They're yours."

In accordance with the participation in the war, the alliance distributed the loots among themselves.

The Phoenix pirates attained control over the remnants of the Beast pirates, out of their desire for it.

The Heart pirates, Twin Cats pirates, and Bonney pirates attained all the ships that previously belonged to the Big Mom pirates and Beast pirates—though many of them were broken and impaired—which they will use in many ways to strengthen themselves.

And finally, the Grimheart pirates attained not only the golds and treasures that were stored in all of them, but also all the devil fruits that reappeared after many devil fruit users' deaths in this war. Additionally, they also gained control over the leftovers of the Big Mom pirates.

Within the Prominence now lied the new 'Devil Fruit Collection Room,' and Rowan had to say, it was quite nice to look at.

Oh, and there was one more thing, of course.

"Marco." Rowan called out to the captain of the Phoenix pirates, "You said that the final Road Poneglyph is in Zou, the island on top of the huge elephant named Zunesha?"

Marco nodded, "Yeah. Though we've got no means to locate Zou right now, that's what we've heard a long time ago."

He then shrugged,

"But that was a real long time ago. The information came from the two minks who momentarily joined our crew, and that's about it. I can't say for sure, Rowan."

'According to the intel from the Beast pirates, Kaidou had his hands on two Road Poneglyphs prior to the war. Big Mom had the third one, and now, there exists a high chance of the fourth one being in Zou.

The question is, how do I reach there?'

Zou. Mink tribe—

'Hold on.'

Rowan turned around and locked his eyes onto one bear-mink of the Heart pirates: Bepo.

'...Perhaps it isn't impossible.'

"Eh? Me?" Bepo, upon seeing that Rowan was looking at him, pointed at himself with a confused visage.

"Law." Rowan then called Law, who perked up in response.

"What."

"I need to find Zou."

"...What a pain."

Law was quick to understand. He turned to Carina and stated dully,

"Memorize the navigation. Bepo will teach you—under the condition that you will lay no harm to the mink tribe."

They were Bepo's family and friends, after all.

"Deal." Rowan agreed casually.

Carina grinned confidently, "Heh, piece of cake."

From some distance away, there lied Prominence on top of the ground. Its appearance was quite different from the past, with the ship being covered by the blue-green-coloured dragon scales. It now emitted a ferocious aura that far surpassed any ship in the world.

And within the ship, one muscular horse, Farul, jumped out of it.

"Neigh~!!!"

"...Hold on. Farul, don't tell me—"

Carmen, upon sighting Farul's return, couldn't help but open her jaw wide in shock,

"—you ate a devil fruit?!"

"Farul says, 'Yep, I ate it!'"

On Farul's side now lied a talking rock that somehow levitated on its own.

"...You ate the Soul Soul fruit."

"Neigh!"

"Farul says, 'Yeah!'"

Carmen simply wrinkled her face momentarily, before shrugging off,

"Cool."

It was only Farul who hasn't eaten a devil fruit until now—there was no one in the crew to complain about him taking one.

<Feel free to take one if you wish, Farul.>

And it wasn't like Farul didn't gain an approval beforehand.

"Oh, dear Farul." Alfred said in amusement, "Look how it turned out. I wished for a Paramecia while you wished for a Zoan, and we ended up getting the opposite!"

"And as for you guys…" Rowan, on the other hand, spoke up to the captains of the other crews, "you know what's going on out there."

"It's disastrous everywhere right now." Nojiko nodded seriously, "The World Government and Marine have gone totally insane, wiping out the entirety of the New World from left and right."

Bonney clenched her hands in anger, "Hypocrites."

"But it won't be long-lasting." Nami remarked with a thoughtful expression, "Only the royalties and the important figures have safely evacuated. In a long run, they will eventually run out of all basic necessities. Essentially, they are risking everything right now to swarm the whole sea in a short amount of time."

Dan added, "It's based on their arrogance. They, without a doubt, believe that they will be able to achieve their means without an issue. They aren't even looking into the far future—talk about the intelligence of the Celestial Dragons."

One thing was for sure. There was no time to celebrate, especially since Rowan believed that Imu has begun to move.

"King Riku and his people will soon arrive here. The World Government is occupied by the Revolutionary Army, and therefore, lacks the force to launch an attack upon this island. But this won't last long. After all,"

Rowan then stated in a serious manner while looking at Ace,

"Dragon, along with Garp, is planning to invade the Mariejois and end everything once and for all—because Luffy, his biological son, is caught."

Ace froze, "...What?"

"Hey Ace," Marco asked warily, "isn't that your little brother?"

Ace, without any word, nodded with a pale face.

'Luffy... just what in the world...'

"And I have one goal in mind," Rowan continued, "to match the time at which Dragon launches the final attack onto the Mariejois, and end the World Government once and for all."

As if having read Rowan's intent, Prominence's form began to expand and morph in a fascinating fashion. Its ship-like structure became elongated, and what used to be the wolf's figurehead morphed into the ferocious head of an azure dragon.

"And that's why we've notified you the day before, that we will be leaving today." Rowan said without any trace of goofiness.

Everyone within the Delta island watched as Prominence now soared above the sky domineeringly. Below its body lied the flame clouds, which was the reason why Prominence was able to fly.

"T-they've really done it. Kaidou-san's fruit... they took it for themselves!" One member of the Beast pirates muttered weakly as he sighted the scene.

"Alright, done! Thanks for the info, Bepo!"

Subsequently, Carina waved her hand at Bepo, who held his hand out with disbelief in his eyes,

"W-wait! Are you sure that that's all you need? I haven't even gone into the specific details yet!"

Carina simply giggled before taking one step forward,

*ZOOM*

she teleported to the deck that lied on the back of Prominence in its dragon form.

Flame. Lightning. Light. Geppo. Rope made out of elongated hands. Riding on Farul's back. The other members of the Grimheart pirates too reached back to the ship in their own ways, knowing that it was time for them to leave.

"A week from now on, I speculate." Rowan commented as he saw the five captains of the allied crews gazing at him with serious demeanours, "That's when everything will be coming to an end. Whether you participate or flee is your freedom—though you can consider yourself dead if the World Government ends up winning."

'Zou, Whole Cake, then Wano.'

The Grimheart pirates will visit those three islands and attain the One Piece within a week. An incredibly fast pace, but that's what the situation required.

"Katakuri. Notify your island that I'll be paying a visit. If they attack due to lack of communication, there only awaits a repercussion."

Rowan left one word to Katakuri.

"H-hey!" Bonney shouted in incredulity, "Are you really leaving just like this?! All of a sudden?!"

"Yep."

Rowan simply grinned before shooting himself up toward the Prominence.

"One after the other… you talk as if fighting the World Government is an easy thing to do." Law frowned in displeasure, "And against the World Nobles nonetheless... are Dragon and Garp really capable of pulling out a win against all of them?"

With Kaidou having been defeated, the alliance has technically disbanded. Although there existed a mutualistic relationship between the allied crews, there now existed no reason for them to move together.

"Wait, Rowan! We never thought you'd leave like this all of a sudden, come on! No fair!"

The Twin Cats pirates booed in a comical manner, to which Rowan rolled his eyes in response.

"Forget it." Marco chuckled from the side with his arms crossed, "He's a busy man."

*RAAAAWWRRRRRR*

An intense roar boomed out from Prominence, before it shot out of the sky above Delta at an incredible speed.

And within the blink of an eye, the whole Grimheart pirates were gone without a trace.

…

"...So what now?" Nojiko muttered while scratching the back of her head.

"Well," Bonney shrugged, "he said that this island's gonna be fine for some time."

Law pointed at the group people nearby, "And King Riku's coming for them anyway. They don't require any help from us, and I don't feel like doing so… ugh, my skin crawls to think that I am doing the Marine's job…."

"But," Nami pointed out while rubbing her hands together in anticipation, "those ships. We can't throw away our loots like that, especially when the shipwrights will go crazy on those.

Think about the money we will be able to make by selling them!"

Meanwhile,

"...Marco." Ace, with his head lowered, said in a low tone, "I—"

"No worries, Ace." Marco replied coolly, "Based on Rowan's questions, we know that he will eventually visit Wano—we can leave that island to him."

He then turned around and shouted with a lazy grin,

"Listen well, you tards! Ace's brother is caught, and Ace's brother is our brother as well! From this point on, we are gonna focus on rescuing our brother, ya hear that?!"

"Who's the tard, you pineapple captain?!"

"Stop repeating the word 'brother' over and over! Ya homo or what?!"

"""HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!"""

The wave of laughter broke out within the Phoenix pirates uncontrollably.

"Ha… hahaha… very funny."

Marco stared at them with a twitching smile on his face.

____________

Under the bright sun, there lied the calm sea.

In midst of such a sea, a particular scene was unfolded, where one man was seen to be riding a bicycle on the surface of water, which miraculously froze upon the contact with the bicycle wheels.

The man was none other than the retired marine, Kuzan—formerly known as Admiral Aokiji.

"The Marine has gone far beyond the point of redemption. Sakazuki, that mad man… the worst that I've feared has happened."

Kuzan muttered as he continued to ride the bike,

"And according to the message that Dragon sent to me recently, he will be invading the Mariejois. Risky. Too risky. But… it's impossible to change his mind. If so,"

In front of Kuzan now lied a gigantic ship encased by an incredible amount of gold: Gran Tesoro.

"Gild Tesoro, the man driven by wealth. Though he hates the Celestial Dragons, he wishes to become them at the same time. And right now, he's the reason why the World Government and Marine are able to keep themselves running."

If that was the case, and if Kuzan wished for the fall of the corrupt organizations, then it was evident as to what he will be doing here.

"Mm, I definitely am going to need a nap after this one."

At the same time, within Gran Tesoro that was in Kuzan's sight,

"Hm?"

One man with curly black-coloured hair perked up as if having sensed something.

"What's the matter, Admiral Ryokugyu?" The man with a slitted-back green-coloured hair, Gild Tesoro, asked after taking a sip from his glass of wine.

"Rahaha! It's nothing!"

_____________________

And there comes the end to the shortest volume of the story. Stay tuned for the final volume!