Chapter 871: Chapter 530: Fish-Fish Fruit Is Also a Fish_2
The former King of the Drum Kingdom, now King of the Dark Drum Kingdom.
Wapol.
After being blasted away by the Straw Hat, in order to survive, he had no choice but to live by eating scrap metal and garbage, fusing them in his body, and then making toys to sell. By sheer coincidence, through the metal he fused, he discovered a very special alloy.
Then Wapol struck it rich, even bought an island, founded the Dark Drum Kingdom, and even became a member nation; he was even approved to attend this year’s World Conference.
He was precisely on his way to attend the World Conference, but on the way he heard there was a festival here, so he planned to rest here for a bit, then set out again.
That was the plan, but his luck wasn’t great. Who knew Sage would come here...
"I—I’m Wapol."
After Pearl said that, Wapol could only admit it, trembling.
"I’m a ki-king of a World Government member nation, a king who’s going to attend the conference. Even a Four Emperors crew can’t just kill me, right... Of course, I’ll pay, I’ll pay ransom!"
He was no hardhead; if he were, back when Blackbeard attacked Drum Island, he wouldn’t have sailed away.
What ’pirates don’t kill nobles’?
He wasn’t betting on that.
He’d just been panicking and talking nonsense, and only at the last moment did he come to his senses.
"So you’re Wapol!"
Sage grinned, grabbed this guy by the neck with one hand, hoisted him up and made him stand straight, then said:
"I’ve had my eye on you. I’ve been using your material this whole time. You’re off to the World Conference, right? Perfect, I’m heading to Wano Country too, so let’s not waste each other’s time."
"I want half of your Wapolmetal shares, okay. I don’t care if you increase production to make up that half, or skim half off your trading volume, either way I’m taking half. I’ll pay you at market price, I won’t shortchange you."
Sage said, "Business is business no matter who you trade with. Doing it with me is the same. To show my sincerity, the ransom you were supposed to pay this time, let’s do it this way... convert the ransom into alloy, and I’ll even give you a 20% discount. Give me eight billion Belly worth of Wapolmetal, and you walk away safe."
No money?
That’s not a thing.
This guy got rich off a single material. Running into such a fat sheep, as a pirate, there’s no reason not to shear it.
"H-Half? No way, absolutely not. The World Government already took a lot of my shares, I can’t give you half, at most I can give you 20%."
Wapol shook his head. "The World Government won’t agree either."
"Then aren’t you more worried that I won’t agree?"
Sage’s eyes lowered, staring until Wapol’s face went deathly pale.
"I’m a pirate. I’m not negotiating terms with you, I’m making demands, understand? If the World Government asks, you just say I took it. Let them come find me. That’s that, Lily."
Lily deftly pulled out a pen and handed it to Wapol. "Your Radio Snail number, the Radio Snail number and address of your base, the Eternal Pose for your base, and your own Life Card."
"Also, don’t think about changing your base’s address or throwing away the corresponding Life Cards. We’ll verify it. Once we find out it’s fake, you’d better pray our people don’t catch even the slightest whiff of your whereabouts."
Fake intel and fake addresses and such were nothing they were afraid of, because the Disaster Pirates now possessed the number one intelligence network in the business.
Whether it was the Underworld or the CP Organization, they could all serve as his leverage.
To track down someone, as long as they hadn’t gone into seclusion and vanished, but were still active at sea, it was very easy.
As for whether the World Government would interfere, most likely they wouldn’t.
Good materials, or some kind of technology, or research that could advance people—if they exist, they’ll make good use of them, and if they disappear, it’s actually no big deal...
Sage knew full well what those guys were like.
Those people didn’t need progress at all. The sea could stand still or even regress, as long as their rule wasn’t shaken.
That Five Elder who came last time had already personally confirmed that there was nothing they could do about Sage.
Some alloy or whatever—since it was already being traded with the World Government, if he took half the share, when it came to choosing between protecting Wapol and going to war with Sage, the World Government would know which to pick.
Once the alloy matter was settled, Sage waved his hand grandly and took the pirates who were willing to join the Disaster Pirates, putting them all onto his fleet and sailing off in high spirits.
As for those who were hesitating and didn’t join, Sage couldn’t be bothered. Just leave them here.
Except from the aftermath of that earlier battle, aside from the ships on his side still being relatively intact, there wasn’t even a splinter of wood left anywhere else. If they wanted to get back, they’d have to swim.
But the surrounding sea area was now surging with monstrous waves and spinning whirlpools; there was no way out.
The only thing they could probably wait for was the Navy warships still some distance away that hadn’t yet sailed into the area...
But none of that had anything to do with Sage. They weren’t his men, so why should he care.
"We split up. The others head back first. Those chosen for the main ship will go on this Death Star from..."
In the captain’s cabin of the Death Star, Sage swept his arm out, just about to keep talking, when he suddenly paused.
"Eleven o’clock direction."
Lily confirmed the bearing and took over, "Sail in that direction. In about three days, we’ll reach the waters of Wano Country."
They’d never been to Wano Country, but according to intel, their informants had scouted those waters and knew the general location.
"Heh-shishishishi, Kaido!"
Moriah glared with bloodshot eyes. "Haven’t seen you in decades, I really miss you!"
No more fear!
Right now, Moriah no longer had that feeling of impending loss; he was brimming with confidence.
If he’d had a bit of doubt before, this brawl that Sage had just started completely filled up his confidence, leaving not a shred of regret.
Even if he lost again, it didn’t matter, because Sage was still young, so... he would definitely win!
"A dangerous place..."
Hawkins flipped a few Tarot Cards and found that his probability of encountering danger and death was still extremely high. He couldn’t help but frown. "I’ve never been to Wano Country. Does that place have some weird effect on me?"
Urouge cackled oddly. "Breaking through illusions is a good thing too."
"We won’t lose."
Lily’s flat voice carried an extremely strong resolve. She gripped her sword hilt tightly. "Absolutely not!"
Sage propped his cheek on his hand, looking at everyone present, at their determined or confident expressions, and smiled faintly. "Relax. My plans never go wrong. Plans A, B, C, D—I’ve got them all ready!"
But no matter which plan it was, the final solution was still to fight!
As long as they won, everything else was no problem!
...
Three days later.
The Black Ship sailed into a sea of raging waves. Around this stretch of ocean, tall pillars rose everywhere, like the tips of mountain peaks, with foundations of varying depth sprawling beneath them. The surrounding seawater was churning violently, pushing ships toward the pillars.
Even if you didn’t approach them directly, if you were unlucky enough to drift onto the shallow foundations, you’d still smash up the keel and sink.
And as the waves crashed and rolled...
It was still only seawater churning.
"Where are the fish?!"
Standing at the bow with a fishing rod for ages, Sage stared wide-eyed, then turned to look at Lily. "Didn’t you say this was the carp sea? Where are the fish?!"
The waters around Wano Country were strange, with gigantic carp that leapt and thrashed along with the waves. These carp would even ride the waterfall flowing down from Wano’s island, going upstream to reach the main island’s sea.
Sage had been full of anticipation.
We’re talking fish here!
Ever since he’d caught fish off Buggy, he felt like he was terrifyingly strong now!
He could fish in the open sea, let alone hook these fish that jumped out of the water!
Just a couple of casual casts and he’d get something—not only would he catch them, he’d haul them up and toss them into the Golden Fish Barrel he’d so carefully prepared!
But now, there wasn’t a single fish...
"Sage, now’s not the time to obsess over fish."
Lily pursed her lips, not looking at the raging waves below but at the massive waterfall gradually coming into view ahead.
"We’re going up from there."
"I know!"
Sage rolled his eyes. "It’s because we’re going up that I wanted to fish! Now that I can’t catch anything, am I supposed to go fish up Kaido instead? The Fish-Fish Fruit counts as a fish too, right?"
