Chapter 78: Reactions from All Sides
"If it weren't for the fact that this woman is too young and has no reputation on the seas, she could've been the next Warlord," Sengoku sighed.
"Letting her take the position isn't a bad idea," said Tsuru, who was also in the Fleet Admiral's office.
"Why?" Sengoku turned his head in confusion and asked the Grand Strategist.
"If we open that door, it essentially tells all pirates that as long as you defeat a Warlord, you can take their place and be recognized by the government—gaining all the privileges of the position. In that case, the original purpose of the Warlord system will have been achieved."
"Pirates killing each other…" Sengoku considered the possibility. "But that would diminish the Warlords' deterrent power."
"What about the 'Pirate Empress' Boa Hancock? Two years ago, Hancock was only 18. She received an 80 million bounty after her first voyage and was then invited to become a Warlord. Now she's respected by many pirates as the Pirate Empress. She didn't have any fame before either," Tsuru argued, leaving Sengoku speechless again.
Tsuru added, "And we've never seen any reports of her committing evil acts. Compared to others like Donquixote Doflamingo, she's much better. Pardoning her crimes would be far less of a psychological burden on us."
"But we don't even know if she's a pirate. If she isn't, then she doesn't meet the basic qualification to be a Warlord," Sengoku ordered his aide, "Go investigate this woman. Judging from the route from Drum Island, Water 7, and the Florian Triangle, their next destination should be the Sabaody Archipelago."
The aide saluted formally. "Yes, sir!" He then left the Fleet Admiral's office to organize intelligence operations.
"It's strange though—how did she move from the Drum Island route to the Water 7 route? Those don't connect."
"She probably got an Eternal Pose from somewhere by chance. That kind of thing happens all the time on the sea."
Eric had no idea what was happening at Marine HQ. At that moment, he was comforting Perona, who was crying.
"Lord Moria…" Perona's tears and snot streamed down her face. The moment she saw the news, all her self-deception and inner comfort crumbled.
Akame, Kurumi, and Polki were gathered around her, offering comfort. Eric , meanwhile, was getting scolded by Da Vinci for sending the photo without permission and making a crew member cry.
Esdeath stood to the side and commented, "He lost, which means he was too weak. The weak being eliminated is just natural…" As a result, she got scolded alongside Eric . Esdeath initially wanted to argue her point, but one glare from Eric gave her the thought, 'Ah, that expression is so good too,' and she dropped the idea of resisting.
Now with her blushing face, it looked like she was enjoying the scolding—a budding masochist.
If Perona hadn't cried, it might have made things even more awkward for the rest of them. A crewmate had died, and if the person closest to him showed no sadness at all, that would've been terrifyingly cold.
After trying comforting words, jokes, and dressing up puppets, they finally got Perona to stop crying. Based on Eric 's instructions and thanks to Da Vinci's Munch-Munch Fruit ability, a Kumashi doll was made to help Perona ease her grief.
...
On Onigashima in the New World, Kaido read the newspaper. "Huhuhuhu, wasn't this guy tough? Escaped from me and then died at the hands of some nobody."
Gulp gulp —he drank heavily. "When that woman reaches the New World, I'll take her in as one of my subordinates."
...
Aboard a massive whale-shaped ship...
"Gurararara!" Labeled the world's strongest man—Whitebeard—laughed as he read the paper. "Another extraordinary little girl has appeared. Ever since Roger died and the Great Age of Piracy began, few this young have been this powerful."
"Yeah," replied Marco, First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. "To defeat Gecko Moria, who dared to challenge Kaido and survived, her strength must be formidable."
Another crewmember, drinking and joking, chimed in, "But no matter how strong she is, she's not stronger than Pops and us!"
"Exactly! Pops is the strongest man in the world!"
Whitebeard chuckled. "You rowdy little fools, gurararara…"
...
In the training room of the Eternal Fearless, Esdeath was sparring with Scáthach. They had actually fought once aboard Thriller Bark, but since Scáthach couldn't unleash her full strength then, Esdeath had stopped the match early, promising to fight again once Scáthach recovered fully.
Now, even though Scáthach's spear mastery couldn't yet reach its maximum due to her attribute cap, it was close—just half a star away. Esdeath, a battle junkie, had found a perfect match in Scáthach, who grew stronger the more she fought. The training room had become their most frequented place in the past couple of days.
Even Kurumi commented, "Ara, why don't you two just get married? Leave Eric to me, it's a perfect match."
Esdeath replied, "A sparring partner and a romantic partner are two completely different things. Don't be delusional."
Scáthach simply said, "The red string between Eric and me was arranged by fate long ago." And she said nothing more.
Eric , single in his past life, secretly thought: 'My red string must've been snapped by the god of matchmaking. Now he's going overboard with the compensation this time around.'
Scáthach and Esdeath clashed fiercely in the training room. Although they couldn't use large-scale Devil Fruit powers, the collision of sword and spear was thrilling enough.
Esdeath's physique, swordsmanship, and Haki were all slightly weaker than Scáthach's physique, spear, and Haki, but thanks to her ability, she managed to fight to a draw.
Their weapons clashed fiercely one last time before they broke apart. Esdeath said, "I never thought I'd be pushed back in battle. Such a fierce spear technique… Scáthach, you're truly strong."
Scáthach returned the praise, "Beautiful swordsmanship—clean and precise. Although your physical strength is lower, it's clear from our bout that you've crossed countless battlefields. Your will to fight is admirable."
"Tch, don't tell me these two warrior women are going to team up," Kurumi muttered. One Esdeath was already enough of a handful. If Scáthach joined in too, she was doomed.
After their battle, a sweat-drenched Esdeath went looking for Eric and leapt onto him. "Ah~ I'm exhausted. I need some Eric energy to recover. Ah... Eric 's scent~" She hugged his head and began sniffing like a cat.
'Her sweat mixed with body fragrance smells... really good... No no no!' Eric quickly pushed away the indecent thoughts. 'This isn't right…' Desperate to get her to let go, he made a poor decision—he upgraded Esdeath's physique, hoping she'd recover her stamina and release him.
Esdeath's status screen:
[Physique: 6 Stars]
[Martial Arts: 6 Stars]
[Swordsmanship: 6 Stars]
[Armament Haki: 2 Stars]
[Observation Haki: 5 Stars]
[Conqueror's Haki: 2 Stars]
[Devil Fruit: 8 Stars]
[Overall Combat Power: 7.5 Stars]
He spent 6 Bond Points to upgrade her Physique to 6 Stars, leaving him with 33 points.
Seeing her first three attributes as triple sixes, Eric laughed internally: 'What, you going for 666 likes?'
Once again, Esdeath felt the surge of power and major stamina recovery. She exclaimed, "Love really is incredible! Just hugging the one I love makes me feel stronger." She tightened her grip around Eric .
[Esdeath's Affection Increased – Bond Level Unchanged]
'Did I… make a mistake? Or was this the right move?' Eric couldn't tell whether he'd done the right thing.
At that moment, Kurumi burst in to save him. "Had enough? Let go of him already!"
(END CHAPTER)
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