Chapter 167

[In the Middle of the Sea; December 23th, 1522]

*Tick-Tock* *Tick-Tock* *Tick-Tock*

Within everyone's mind, it felt as if a timer was ticking by. Although they were trying their best to hide their anxiousness, it was impossible to completely conceal an intense emotion that seemingly engulfed them since the very beginning of the departure from the Runelight island.

Even the bravest ones had a worry of their own. No matter how optimistic a person can be, an average human being will feel nervous when standing right before an upcoming war—especially for the one where they are at a huge disadvantage.

That's the reason why they couldn't help but stare at the front-most ship, Prominence, with a dumbfounded expression.

Even under the heavy storm, even under the pressure of the upcoming war, the Grimheart pirates were jovially sailing as if going on another adventure.

When they sighted Rowan sleeping on top of the Prominence's figurehead, under the intense strikes of lightning, they couldn't help but wonder if he was sane even.

"H-hey!! What's that woman doing?!" One man, covering his face with a blush, exclaimed in surprise.

"Ca...Carina was it? The vice captain of that crew? S***, I didn't know they were going out!"

In the middle of the storm, as Rowan slept peacefully on the wolf figurehead, Carina was on top of the former—

—smooching passionately.

Carmen, who stood nearby, rolled her eyes, "Here she goes again."

Urouge, on the other hand, was gazing down at Dan with confusion, "You alright, buddy?"

"Just..." Dan was hugging Urouge miserably, "just let me stay like this, please..."

"Brotha." Urouge shook his head, "This is gay."

"Haa..." Carina, who was on top of sleeping Rowan, whispered into his ear, "Here is your good luck charm. Now you won't lose, right?"

And of course, Rowan wasn't a dense person.

'What the...' He was feigning to be asleep. He was originally asleep, but as soon as he 'sensed' Carina approaching, he woke up. Now, the mystery of what happens when he falls asleep has been solved.

'...F*** it.'

Rowan, with his eyes still closed, opened his mouth and held his tongue out.

"Pff!" Carina held her mouth in amusement, before leaning back in.

"...This is just too much!" One man screamed in misery.

However, in contrast to his cry, the atmosphere has been brightened up, with quite many having found a smile on their faces.

__________

Was it that nature itself was feeling an upcoming calamity?

Within the island of Delta, the destined location for the clash between the hegemons of the New World...

The sky was fully encased by a thick layer of dark clouds.

The ocean tides rose wildly and crashed onto the shores of the island repeatedly. The noises generated by such collisions were frightening.

Delta island has never experienced a climate of this kind before.

With all the citizens having heard the news regarding the two Emperors' declarations against Rowan, everyone fled through the harsh weather.

An 'ideal' condition for a full-blown-out war has been formed.

In the middle of the island, a huge number of pirates were stationed. Each and every one of them was fully armed, ready to fight.

Around the island, an incredible number of ships sat by. The allied force of the Beast pirates and Big Mom pirates seemed to have spread out evenly, ready to react against any possible circumstance.

"Bring me another barrel!!!"

Kaidou, who was sitting among the pirates on the land, shouted while wiping his mouth. Judging by his half-lidded eyes, he was definitely drunk.

His signature weapon, Hassaikai, sat right next to him, with its tip embedded on the ground.

As one member of the Beast pirates hurriedly carried a huge barrel to Kaidou, Linlin was tapping her foot in impatience.

Around Linlin lied many number of newly-created homies: seven in total. Linlin's decision to create the huge number of homies was based on the last clash against Rowan, where Linlin ended up losing all three: Zeus, Prometheus, and Napoleon.

"Urghhhh!!!! When is that Grimheart brat coming?!!! Kaidou!!! You said that they definitely will be here!!!"

Linlin, with a tickmark on her forehead, barked at Kaidou.

"Shut up and keep looking, Linlin!!!" Kaidou, just as always, retorted with an angry shout of his own.

"M-mama! Please calm down! Now's not the time to fight!"

The shoe-homie, whom Linlin was wearing on her right foot, Hermes, said nervously.

"Hahaha!! You should be the one to calm down, coward Hermes!!" The captain's hat homie, Ares, laughed in mockery.

"Be quiet." The homie formed of the cluster of electricity, Hera, said gracefully, "Mama will do what she wants to do."

"That's right, Hera!!!" Linlin growled, "If I don't see Grimheart within the next hour, I am going to launch an attack on that Runelight island!!!"

From Kaidou and Linlin's back, the officers of each crew were warily staring at each other.

"Charlotte Katakuri…" King, whose arms were crossed haughtily, stared at Katakuri's mochi-arm, "I heard that you lost against Phantom. A pity that your so-called win-streak ended so abruptly."

Katakuri didn't seem to be affected by King's words. With his intact hand in his pocket, he simply tilted his head toward King.

"Don't you dare badmouth our perfect brother." It was a sibling of Katakuri, Charlotte Amande, who stated instead, "This time around, he's going to be the victor. I bet that you won't even reach the tip of brother Katakuri's toenail."

King's eyes narrowed viciously,

"Have you ever heard of 'show, don't tell?'"

"Why you—"

"Amande. I am fine." Katakuri placed his arm up to prevent Amande from lashing out at King, "Don't pay attention to his words."

Then, shifting his eyes onto King, Katakuri said impassively, "I heard that you are a torture-loving pervert. Is that true?"

From King's behind, Jack instantly retorted with a fit of notable anger, "Don't you dare mock elder brother King, Charlotte Katakuri!!!"

King raised his hand up to stop Jack, "Shut up, Jack."

The longer the two crews remained together, the greater the hostility between them has become. The alliance between Kaidou and Linlin, from one glance, was a shaky one—especially with Kaidou and Linlin not fully trusting one another.

"Kaidou. You know the deal." Linlin, who grinned savagely, gazed at Kaidou on her left.

"Worororo! I know. Until Grimheart has been taken care of, an alliance remains intact. Isn't that right, Linlin?!"

Kaidou returned Linlin's words with a crazed smile of his own.

Subsequently, Katakuri's eyes widened while flashing in red,

"Here they come."

From the far horizon, many number of ships, although severely lacking in comparison to Kaidou and Linlin's force, revealed themselves.

"Mamama!! At last!" Linlin, who was still grinning, turned in the direction where the ships were coming from with bloodshot eyes.

Kaidou stood up and tightly gripped the handle of Hassaikai.

Right in the front, where Prominence proudly sailed, Doflamingo, with a Seastone cuff on his wrists and clear fatigue on his face, was seen to be held by Rowan's hand.

"Worororo!!" Kaidou shouted with a grin, "Joker!!!"

"Heheh..." Doflamingo, with sunglasses on his face, cracked up even while in Rowan's hand, "heheheheh! It's been a while... Kaidou-san—"

*BOOM*

"Too noisy."

Rowan, who stared at Doflamingo with disdain, slapped the latter's cheek casually.

"Linlin!!" Kaidou, who now placed his Hassaikai on top of his shoulder, said impatiently.

"Don't tell me what to do, Kaidou!!!" Linlin shrieked,

"Mont-d'Or!!"

"Yes, mama!"

A blonde man wearing clown-like makeup on his face stepped forward. In his hands was a thick book, which he opened up to a certain page.

"World of Books: Expulsion~!"

Subsequently, many individuals shot out from the open pages of the book. They seemed malnourished and exhausted to an extreme, with not even enough strength to mutter out a word.

"Grimheart... we kept our side of the promise as well!" Kaidou held his arms wide.

Rowan, whose eyes were shadowed by his bangs, smiled as he placed his hand on his chin.

"Law."

Law, who was standing on top of his ship, Polar Tang, lifted his hand up,

"Room.

Shambles."

*SWOOSH*

In an instant moment, Doflamingo and the Dressrosa citizens' positions swapped.

"Heheh, heheheheh!!!" Doflamingo laughed boisterously as he now stood right in front of Mont-d'Or, before,

"Au revoir, monsieur."

stabbing his hand through Mont-d'Or's neck all of a sudden.

"Doflamingo!!!" Linlin cried in disbelief, "What the hell are you doing to my son?!!"

Mont-d'Or's eyes rolled up as the blood splattered out of his mouth and sprayed onto Doflamingo's face.

However, could this man be called Doflamingo? Because, right in front of everyone's eyes, he morphed back into... Alfred.

Kaidou's eyes widened before urgently turning his face to Rowan,

"Where is Joker, Grimheart?!!!"

Law closed his eyes as his mind replayed what happened prior to their departure.

<L-Law! You aren't about to do this! You know what Kaidou will do! Law!!! Law, you can't do this to me!!!>

The final words spoken by Doflamingo, followed by his pitiful death.

'Rosinante... he's all yours now.'

Rowan grinned as he lifted his face up,

"What do you think?"

At the same time, Alfred's body transformed into a colossal wolf. He roared wildly as he began to thrash all across the field.

Additionally, with Mont-d'Or having died, all the trapped ones within the book sprouted out onto the field, with a mix of joy and confusion on their faces.

"We are... free...?"

*BOOOOM*

Then, Rowan shot out from his ship toward two Emperors, whose eyes shook in a realization of what just happened.

"GRIMHEART!!!!!!!" Linlin screamed at her loudest. The seven homies around her corresponded to her emotion, as they glared at Rowan murderously.

"Joker... oh Joker!!! Are you saying that he's dead?!" Kaidou frowned deeply as his eyes moistened,

"JOKER!!!!!"

*BOOOOOOOOM*

Rowan clashed against Kaidou's Hassaikai and Linlin's Ares at the same time, with his right hand holding onto a greatsword made by an intense cluster of Conqueror's Haki: Manifestation.

*PAZZZZZZZ*

The whole ground rumbled and shook from the impact of the collision. The dark and cloudy sky split open, demonstrating the ferocity of the strength behind the three of them.

While the leading figures of each side clashed,

*ZOOM*

"Nice arm you got there."

Carina sat on top of Charlotte Amande, whose neck was pierced by a black knife.

Katakuri stood right in front of her with an evident shock in his eyes. His body was covered by a huge mass of mochi that morphed into many hands to catch all the knives that teleported toward the Big Mom pirates simultaneously—he failed to block only one, the one that killed Amande.

"...Phantom." Katakuri growled as his lone arm trembled.

*CLANG*

Nearby, King found himself skidding back as he blocked the sword slash from a handsome man with long blonde hair, Cavendish.

"Guahaha! You should be afraid!" Cavendish laughed, before his expression abruptly became cold as his eyes lit up in a hollow blue,

"For I won the rock-paper-scissor against Dan."

*PAZZZZ*

Nearby, an intense burst of lightning was seen, knocking out many pirates on Kaidou and Linlin's side.

And immediately after, a huge ball of flame slammed down from the sky.

"GAHHHH!!!!"

"Brother Oven!!!" One of the four Sweet Commanders of the Big Mom pirates, Charlotte Snack, shouted in disbelief as he saw Charlotte Oven, the owner of Heat Heat fruit, burning helplessly against the flame.

*BOOM*

Then, Snack's head was slammed into the ground by Urouge.

"Sahahaha! Now, this is going to be fun!"

And that wasn't it.

From the sky, a huge phoenix appeared to be flying on top of the island. Subsequently, it suddenly folded its wings and began to dive onto the field.

Dan, who dodged an attack from Jack with ease, grinned as he looked above,

"Perfect timing."

*WHOOSH*

As the phoenix crashed onto the ground, the yellow-green flame blasted out into all surroundings. Then, when the flame cleared, there lied Marco, Ace, Jozu, Vista, and more—all 16 executive members of the Phoenix pirates.

"Let's f****** go!!!" Ace slammed his fists together with a grin on his face.

Marco grinned shrewdly, "Things will be different this time."

"Tch, impatient as always." Law, who was still on Polar Tang, looked at the ongoing battle on the Delta island before turning his attention onto the sky, where countless cannonballs were flying toward the allied ships.

He raised his sword up, and while his room was still up, slashed it horizontally.

The allies found all the cannonballs splitting in half, before falling down into the sea powerlessly.

"Whoop whoop! Get your guns out, girls!" Nami grinned while spinning her bo-staff above her head, before jumping nimbly upward from her ship.

*Tap*

With incredible flexibility and swiftness, Nami stepped onto the rapidly-falling cannonballs and ran toward the opposing ships with confidence in her eyes.

"Bonney!!!" From the Necrokitty belonging to the Twin Cats pirates, Nojiko barked at Bonney on the ship right next to them, Jewelry Margharita, "Stop eating already!!!"

Bonney stood up with puffy cheeks, "Aw, come on! Do you want me to die out of famine?!"

"That's the last thing you'll die from!!"

"Fine!" Bonney gritted her teeth in annoyance before taking out her unique gun from the holster.

Immediately following was the appearance of the entire Phoenix pirates, whose ships were approaching the Kaidou and Linlin's ships from the back. Although the number severely paled in contrast to the opposing force, Rowan's alliance now surrounded them.

"Fire!!!"

*BOOMBOOMBOOM*

Then, the whole island has turned into chaos. While the noteworthy individuals fought on the empty plain of Delta island, an incredible number of cannonballs and gunshots went back and forth between the ships on the sea—it was an all-out war with the intention to annihilate one another.

"Juggernaut—"

In midst of all this, Rowan was seen to be slamming his Haki-covered foot onto Kaidou's cheek, which slammed onto Linlin's cheek—kicking the two of them simultaneously.

"—Overblast!"

*BOOOOOOOOOOM*