Chapter 190: The Battle for Fishman Island!
Ryuunosuke didn’t even spare them another glance. In his eyes, these were just insignificant small fries.
Without another word, he dove back into the sea alongside Shirahoshi.
Meanwhile, aboard Perospero’s ship...
"Did you feel that just now?" Perospero asked, eyes narrowed as he stared at the space where Ryuunosuke and the others had vanished. "It felt like someone was watching us... Observation Haki, maybe?"
He furrowed his brows, uneasy. The distance between them and Ryuunosuke had been vast—but that sensation of being detected still lingered.
Yet now, with Ryuunosuke submerged beneath the sea, Perospero’s Observation Haki could only sense a deep void.
"I didn’t feel anything," Baron Tamago replied casually as he sipped his tea.
Pekoms shook his head too. "Same. Didn’t catch anything."
To be fair, neither of them were particularly skilled with Observation Haki. If Katakuri had been here, maybe he could’ve sensed something more specific.
"Tch. Forget it," Perospero muttered, brushing the thought away. "What matters now is Fishman Island."
"Big Mom wants it. She said we need to take it while the Whitebeard Pirates are too distracted to notice."
"She loves the sweets from here, after all. And the mermaids—she wants them in the crew too."
"We cannot screw this up."
His voice turned sharp by the end.
Yes, their mission this time was to seize control over Fishman Island.
Charlotte Linlin had already clashed with the Whitebeard Pirates over this once before—and she lost. So even when she wanted to taste the sweets of Fishman Island, she had to buy them—at exorbitant prices and in frustratingly limited quantities.
Linlin never forgot that loss.
Since then, she challenged Fishman Island at least once a year. But the full force of a Yonko couldn’t be deployed lightly. A direct clash between Whitebeard and Big Mom could attract dangerous third parties.
So, they sent their subordinates instead.
Last year, Daifuku had come. But his abilities were useless against Marco, and he ended up getting thrashed.
This year, it was Perospero’s turn.
Who Whitebeard would send in response—nobody knew. But as long as they could win, everything else would fall into place.
Charlotte Linlin and Whitebeard... had a deeper relationship, after all.
The ship soon entered the coating process.
Back on Fishman Island, Ryuunosuke and the others returned without much fanfare.
"Captain, someone’s here looking for you," Najenda reported quickly as the crew disembarked. "As soon as he saw the ship, he started yelling—"
A loud voice cut her off.
"Ace?" Ryuunosuke blinked in surprise. "What the hell are you doing here?"
With Blackbeard still on the run, Ace should’ve been busy chasing him down.
Grinning, Ace lifted a hand, and a brilliant flame ignited in his palm—blue and white, split perfectly in the middle by a glowing arc.
"My flames got stronger again," he said proudly.
The heat rolling off it made even Ryuunosuke whistle. That was the base level of temperature he reached using the Pure Yang Flame.
Clearly, Ace had been working hard.
"Not bad," Ryuunosuke said, nodding. "But what are you doing on Fishman Island? Heading to the New World? Not traveling with your Pops?"
"Nah," Ace said, scratching his head. "I’m here on behalf of the Whitebeard Pirates. We’re expecting a fight against someone from Big Mom’s crew."
"I don’t know who they’ll send, but I’ll beat ’em either way!"
Ryuunosuke raised an eyebrow.
"That so? I ran into Perospero on the way back. Baron Tamago and Pekoms were with him too."
Ace smirked. "Perfect. Fire melts candy."
"I wanna fight with you, Brother..."
"BROTHER! Can’t you be gentler? It hurts!!" Ace yelled, clutching his bruised face.
"Get up," Ryuunosuke snorted. "With your physique, that’s nothing."
Seriously, with all his talent, this guy still acted like a drama queen.
"Oh, right!" Ace suddenly brightened. "You hear about what happened in the Sabaody Archipelago?"
Ryuunosuke tilted his head. "What happened?"
He’d been too preoccupied lately—with Sea Kings, Joy Boy, and other such matters—to pay attention to world news.
"The Revolutionary Army attacked. Like—full-scale. They stormed the place, killed two Celestial Dragons, wiped out every noble involved in the slave trade, and freed thousands of slaves. Took a mountain of treasure, too."
Ace’s eyes gleamed with excitement.
"So soon...?" Ryuunosuke murmured.
He knew Dragon would move eventually, but to strike within just ten days of their meeting? That was some terrifying execution.
No hesitation, no wasted time.
"Did Luffy get involved?"
"Nah. After Marineford, the Empress took him. He’s probably on Amazon Lily by now."
Ace grinned. "Can you believe it? Out of the four of us, Luffy’s the first one to land a girlfriend. Hahaha!"
Of course, none of them knew what had happened to Sabo—or of Kerla’s existence.
As for Ryuunosuke, he might have a ship full of beautiful women, but his heart wasn’t focused on that right now.
"Anyway, don’t worry about them for now," he said. "Once you finish your fight here, are you heading out again to hunt Blackbeard?"
"Yeah," Ace nodded. "But... Pop’s worried. Said I shouldn’t go alone after what happened last time. So now... he’s issued a Emperor Pursuit Order."
He’d never heard of that before.
"The Emperor Pursuit Order is like a bounty notice, but issued by a Yonko crew. There are two rewards: one, standard cash like the government bounty. The other is a favor from the Yonko crew—anything that doesn’t harm their group."
Ace explained it with a grin.
"Huh... interesting."
Ryuunosuke’s eyes gleamed.
The Emperor Pursuit Order... now that was a system with potential.
His bounty was already sky-high. Many on the seas already recognized the Dragon Hunter Pirates as a Emperor crew in their own right.
Maybe, someday soon, he’d issue one of his own.
And when he did... the whole sea would tremble.
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