"Leave all the people to Sugar!"
Adrian pointed to the pirate ship docked at the port with his chin. Free labor was not to be wasted. He then looked at Katakuri with a complex expression and said, "Looks like you won't be able to leave this time."
"You'll only piss Big Mom off by doing this… and as a member of the Charlotte family, there's no way I'd surrender to you," Katakuri said. He didn't resist as the sky island soldiers captured Baron Tamago and the other pirates. There was no point. The lineup they faced was simply too strong. Even if Big Mom came, she would most likely be defeated here, let alone an yonko's first commander like him.
Before this, Katakuri had already used his "precognition" ability and saw a thousand ways he could die if he fought. This was still without Adrian personally making a move. The young man before him had personally killed the World's Strongest Man, Whitebeard, and a Marine Admiral, Aokiji. Just his presence was enough to make Katakuri feel like he was facing a formidable enemy.
"Don't jump to conclusions," Adrian said, waving his hands indifferently. With a smirk on his face, he said quite bewitchingly, "I don't doubt your loyalty, but I don't need to tell you about Mom's character. Believe it or not, even if I kill you now, as long as I give her the recipe for the Fish-Man Island's secret pastry, she'll let go of the past."
A look flashed in Katakuri's eyes, but he was powerless to refute. Maybe his mother would even ask for more?
"What's your purpose?" Katakuri asked after a long silence. He was genuinely confused. Could it be that this man was willing to bear his mother's wrath just to recruit him? That was highly illogical. A normal person wouldn't choose to recruit the son of an enemy. Could it be that he wanted to use him to get information from the Whole Cake Island? Yes, that must be it! He had already gathered so many strong people around him; it was impossible to offend his mother just to recruit him.
"Haha, didn't I say it before? I just wanted to recruit you," Adrian said with a casual smile. He said with a deep meaning, "Your freedom isn't under control… If you can defeat me, you can leave at any time. Oh, by the way, you don't need to cover your face in this country, because... no one will laugh at your scars or appearance at all."
With that, he took everyone away from the pier, leaving Katakuri standing there with a surprised expression. After a long time, Katakuri finally choked out a sentence: "Fuck, if I could've beaten you, why the hell would I still be here?"
"But then again... how does he even know about this?" Katakuri hesitated for a moment and finally pulled down the white scarf around his neck, revealing the ferocious traces of his horns and a mouth full of sharp fangs. 'Doesn't matter,' he thought, 'let's have a full meal first.'
"Captain, Katakuri is the number one commander under Big Mom. If you keep him, that old lady will definitely not let it go," Shiryu asked cautiously on the way back to the palace. "Offending Big Mom for that guy seems a bit excessive."
"Tch, Big Jaw, you coward, you've been with the captain for so long. When have you ever seen him afraid of a Four Emperor?" Bullet sarcastically smirked, seizing the opportunity. The others all burst into laughter. Yes, their captain was a man who dared to overthrow the world government. A mere Four Emperor? If she didn't accept it, they would fight her.
"Shiryu, even without Katakuri, do you think there's a possibility of peaceful coexistence between us and Big Mom?" Adrian turned around and asked with a smile.
"Certainly not," Shiryu shook his head without thinking. Although Adrian's current sphere of influence was limited to the waters near Dressrosa, with the expansion of his power, there would sooner or later have to be a battle with the Four Emperors. Naturally, there was no possibility of peaceful coexistence.
"Katakuri's calm personality and his talent for both wisdom and courage are valuable, but what I really value is his identity," Adrian said, with his trademark smirk. "He's very popular in the Charlotte family!"
Shiryu gasped suddenly. 'I'll be damned, the captain is so devious,' he thought. 'Is he preparing to incite a rebellion among the Charlotte family's children? He just planned to double-cross Kaido, and now he's digging a hole for Big Mom again. Captain, will you allow people to live in peace for a while? Following you day and night, even I've never had a good night's sleep.'
'The key is, after Katakuri joins, my group status will automatically drop by one again.'
Thinking of this, Shiryu cast an eager look at Van Augur, who immediately tightened his eyes.
'Shiryu: Little brother, it's good to have you here. You must persevere and live to the end, otherwise, I, the world-famous Human Slayer, will become the bottom of the group.'
'Van Augur: Brother Shiryu, you're scaring me to death. I think you are going to screw me over…'
Shiryu guessed right. The reason Adrian valued Katakuri so much was to take advantage of his high popularity and prestige within the Charlotte family to incite a rebellion at a special moment in the future. Although the success rate might not be high, for Adrian, there was no loss at all, but if it succeeded, that would be awesome.
After some time, Big Mom quickly sent someone delivering a huge sum of two billion Berries. There was no way around it. She really wanted to make Whole Cake Island a country of giants, and she had already spent billions in the early stages. If she stopped now, wouldn't all the money spent before be wasted? With Big Mom's stingy character, that was unacceptable.
"...Where's that Katakuri trash? Tell him to answer the phone! He hasn't sent me a message in so long. I will never spare him!" Big Mom's furious roar came from the Den Den Mushi. Obviously, she couldn't do anything about Adrian and had transferred her anger to Katakuri.
"Sorry, he said he wanted to be alone and didn't have time to answer your call," Adrian said, adding fuel to the fire.
"What?" Big Mom's voice suddenly increased by eight degrees. She shouted like a lunatic, "Tell me, who likes to be 'alone'?! Who's more important than me?! Does he not want to live... Dududu..."
Adrian hung up the phone without listening to her finish.
"You're going to kill me like this…"
When the members of the Big Mom Pirates left the port, Katakuri's figure slowly emerged from a dark alley. Although his tone was full of resentment, his face was full of relief. In this land of freedom, he didn't have to play the perfect man who couldn't be underestimated by anyone for the sake of his family. And in the process of challenging Adrian, his myth that "his back never touches the ground" had been broken again and again. Bullet and Shiryu had even given him the title of "ground terminator."
"Then why didn't you just come out?" Adrian raised his eyebrows and asked with a smirk, "Believe it or not, if Big Mom came here now, the first thing she would do would be to kill you."
Katakuri's eye twitched. 'Are you insane?!'