Chapter 255: The Frozen Sea

"Perhaps... perhaps something just went wrong on the way."

Perospero spoke up to comfort her instinctively.

In reality, having waited until now, he too was growing increasingly uncertain in his heart.

Katakuri's strength, placed upon this vast sea, was indeed not weak, but he was absolutely far from invincible.

Whether it was certain old fossils within the Marines or the currently unstoppable three Admirals, none were opponents Katakuri could contend with.

As for the pirate side, there were even more: the Four Emperors, Wang Zhi, and the knight Gao Wen, who had just revealed combat power comparable to Big Mom, were all powerful figures capable of dominating a region, their strength far surpassing Katakuri's.

What was even more critical was that Gao Wen had just formed a grudge with Totto Land, making it highly probable he would seize the opportunity to strike against the isolated Katakuri.

Thinking of this point, Perospero grew increasingly uneasy.

Looking at Big Mom before him, who was gradually being soothed, he ultimately did not voice this particular worry.

After all, this plan of creating a diversion while striking elsewhere was proposed by him; with matters developing to this stage, he bore an inescapable responsibility.

Fortunately.

Big Mom's attention was quickly diverted by something else.

She reached out to rub her stomach, saliva secreting in her mouth and dripping from her lips onto the ground.

Hiss!

Highly concentrated stomach acid directly corroded a large hole into the ground, causing plumes of white smoke to rise.

"I'm hungry."

Perospero's body stiffened; recalling the hellish scene from a few days prior, he forced himself to speak through gritted teeth:

"Wait a moment, Mama."

He knew clearly in his heart what things a Big Mom who had lost her reason to hunger was capable of doing.

Without a shred of hesitation.

Perospero directly activated his ability, creating a massive amount of candy out of thin air, and transformed all the remaining vegetation on the island into syrup.

Allowing Big Mom to wolf it down, he barely managed to temporarily alleviate her craving disorder.

Yet Perospero could not feel the slightest bit happy.

His stamina was ultimately limited; he could not produce syrup without limit.

This island was extremely vast, so much so that after that explosion, some plant remnants still remained in the peripheral zones, but now those places were completely bare.

After Big Mom ate everything edible, what would be the next thing to enter her stomach?!

Every time he thought of this point, Perospero felt nothing but a chill of horror; he now only hoped Katakuri would return soon.

Only this younger brother possessed the ability to step forward and stop her atrocities when Big Mom lost her reason due to her craving disorder.

The weak do not even have the qualification to decide their own choices.

A few days ago, Big Mom's evaluation of Gao Wen at the banquet now applied equally to Perospero.

By the time he realized this point, the predicament before him was already the current one.

It was just that the mother and son ultimately did not wait for the fleet led by Katakuri to return; instead, they first received a tearful plea for help from Flampe.

"Brother Perospero, save Brother Katakuri... no, save me!"

"What did you say?!"

Perospero went rigid all over, his complexion turning incomparably pale at this moment, a whiteness no different from a corpse, so white it made one shudder with fear.

"Boo hoo hoo..."

"Stop crying and state the matter!"

Stunned by his shout, Flampe instantly stabilized her emotions, sobbing softly as she said:

"We were attacked by the Jin Shizi during our return journey; Brother Katakuri, in order to buy us time to retreat, fought the Jin Shizi alone and is now missing."

"Bingshan, the mayor of the Seven Water Cities who knows the design of the Pluton, has also fallen into the Jin Shizi's hands."

"Now, on the entire ship, I am the only one who escaped."

At the moment of life and death.

What idol, what most admired man, what most beloved brother...

All of this was cast aside by Flampe; she only wanted to survive!

"I don't want to die... save me..."

The other end of the Den Den Mushi suddenly fell silent at this moment; just as Flampe was puzzled, Big Mom's suppressed, furious voice transmitted from the receiver:

"What did you say?!"

"Mama?!"

Flampe froze, nothing but unspeakable terror in her eyes:

"I... I... I..."

She stammered, unable to speak a complete sentence for a long while, and the Den Den Mushi in her hand was directly hung up the very next instant.

This had been her last hope, yet now it was severed directly.

Upon the vast, boundless sea.

Flampe clung to a piece of driftwood; in the distance, bloodthirsty sea beasts, following the scent, were swimming over.

"No! No!"

On the other end.

Big Mom crushed the Den Den Mushi she had just snatched from Perospero in her hand, the tyrannical, murderous light in her eyes no longer suppressible.

Originally, even after Gao Wen attacked the Totto Land fleet, she could still barely calm down under Perospero's persuasion.

After all, the overall situation took precedence; preserving the benefits already secured was the most urgent task.

But now, what she had lost was not merely the fleet, but also the Underworld King's design plans she was about to secure, and even her most outstanding child.

In other words, this journey to the World of Nations had yielded only losses thus far, with no gains whatsoever.

It was a loss so great it reached her grandmother's house.

Having suffered such massive defeats in succession, how could Big Mom, with her personality, possibly endure it?

"Shi Ji!"

A roar erupted from Big Mom's mouth; the spreading sound waves startled birds in the sky, causing them to fall.

Furthermore, invisible Conqueror's Haki spread out, raging like a wild wind, causing ripples to form on the distant sea surface, expanding outward in concentric circles!

Perospero barely managed to block the howling gale.

Once the commotion around them subsided, Big Mom had already summoned Zeus the Thundercloud and, skimming the sea surface, sped away into the distance.

"Mother!"

"Where are you going?!"

Perospero hurriedly called out to dissuade her:

"Even if you intend to take revenge on Jin Shizi, you must first locate him!"

But at this very moment, how could Big Mom, who had almost lost her reason due to her rage, possibly listen to Perospero's words?!

Her figure vanished in the blink of an eye at the edge of the sky.

Only Perospero was left standing on the desolate island, momentarily bewildered.

He looked around, and what floated in his mind was still the massive fleet that had been anchored here a few days ago, capable of helping the World of Nations conquer any enemy, along with countless younger brothers and sisters.

But now, only he remained alone.

The sea wind rolled back, and the chill penetrated his bones and blood.

In Perospero's heart, there was only an indescribable regret.

"If I hadn't been so eager to show myself back then, if I hadn't thought about competing with Katakuri, would anything have happened?!"

Silence surrounded them, with only the howling of the wind.

Perospero's question was destined to receive no answer; what he knew even more clearly was that he had no time to hesitate.

"Right, the Vivre Card!"

He reached into his chest, took out a small booklet, and opened it.

Vivre Cards appeared before Perospero's eyes, one after another.

Every page within this booklet was a Vivre Card for a younger brother or sister.

At this moment, more than a quarter of the Vivre Cards in this booklet had already vanished; those people had either died in the explosion caused by Gao Wen or had become food for Big Mom.

Perospero flipped through the booklet quickly and soon found his target.

A Vivre Card that had already burned away more than half, with the person it pointed to labeled above:

Katakuri.

"Is he still alive?!"

Perospero breathed a sigh of relief:

"Mother also holds our Vivre Cards; I imagine, following the instructions of the Vivre Card, she should be able to find Katakuri."

"With her strength, even if she is no match for Jin Shizi, escaping should pose no problem."

Thinking of this,

Perospero fixed his gaze on Flampe's Vivre Card.

In his mind, the scene after that explosion surfaced: countless struggling, shouting younger brothers and sisters, and himself, caring only for his own escape.

For a moment, he was speechless, filled only with an indescribable hatred for himself.

"This time... at the very least, I must complete what I ought to do."

"I am the eldest son of the World of Nations!"

A few murmurs fell to the ground.

Perospero waved his staff; syrup surged, instantly condensing into a giant sea cow floating on the sea surface.

He leaped onto the syrup sea cow and sped away in the direction indicated by the Vivre Card.

On the other end.

Upon the great sea.

The massive fleet led by Akainu had already set sail from the Marine Headquarters more than ten days ago, heading for Water Seven.

Only this time, the orders they received were not to save, but to destroy.

To utterly wipe out Water Seven, along with the hundreds of thousands of civilians upon it.

Even those hawkish figures within the fleet, whose hearts were as hard and cold as ice, found it somewhat difficult to accept such a mission.

"What exactly is the World Government thinking? Are we executioners or enforcers of justice?!"

"Such a mission... such a mission... I absolutely will not accept it!"

"Those are all living people, children, fathers, husbands, wives..."

"Wuwuwu—!"

A Marine officer clutched his head and wept bitterly.

He had once been a hawk within the Marines, and had once firmly believed in absolute justice, but at this moment, his spirit was on the verge of collapse.

This was simply because he himself was an orphan from Water Seven.

Raised under the care of the neighborhood, fed by a hundred families, his initial goal in joining the Marines was to protect that very city.

But now, what he must protect is what Justice seeks to destroy.

He found himself in a dilemma, his heart nearly torn apart, his mind on the verge of collapse.

"My Lord Sakazuki, this Buster Call is absolutely wrong!"

Yet the officer's wail earned him only Sakazuki's indifferent gaze:

"Take him away."

"Let him calm down alone."

"Suspend his duties for now and cut off all means of communication."

"Until this mission is over, do not let him have any contact with the outside world."

The words fell silent.

Two Marines, ignoring the officer's struggles, forcibly dragged him away; his wailing voice gradually vanished from the deck.

From beginning to end, not a single person pleaded for him.

For such things had happened far too many times in these past few days, enough to numb everyone present.

All eyes turned to the tall, upright figure on the deck, regarding him as one would a lifeless object.

Sakazuki.

One of the current three Admirals of the Marines, and most likely the strongest among them.

The man known as 'Akainu' for his Magma Fruit abilities, his uncompromising nature, and his style of tearing apart all evil like a vicious dog.

He could be ice, he could be iron, he could be a bullet fired into an opponent's chest, but he was never a living, breathing human being.

Absolute Justice, allowing not a shred of evil to exist; this was the concept of Justice Akainu believed in.

This iron-blooded, almost paranoid Justice naturally drew criticism within the Marines, even leading to his subtle isolation, yet it also garnered him a large following.

But this time, even those Marines who had once followed in his footsteps found themselves lost in confusion.

After all, that was hundreds of thousands of lives!

Yet facing Akainu's question:

If this one act of fearless mercy allowed the Pluton blueprints to fall into the hands of pirates, how many more would perish in the future?

The crowd could only respond with silence.

If Sengoku, when faced with the trolley problem, would hesitate before choosing to sacrifice a few lives to save many more,

then Akainu, when facing this issue, would not hesitate for a single instant; indeed, if necessary, he could do the deed himself.

The fleet moved forward steadily.

Like a silent steel behemoth, possessing the power to tear apart everything before it.

This fleet, representing the Marines, no, the highest deterrent force of the World Government's Buster Call, had faced no possible threats since its departure.

The seas never lack reckless fools, but they can distinguish between bravery and suicide.

Even Jack, upon seeing the configuration of that ship, was stunned into silence on the spot.

Yet accidents always arrive in ways that surprise everyone.

On the path the fleet advanced, first came scattered chunks of floating ice, then gradually evolved into icebergs hundreds of meters high, until finally the entire sea was frozen.

"This is..."

"There shouldn't be glaciers of this magnitude on the route to Water Seven; what is happening?!"

The new recruits on the deck looked at everything before them in confusion.

But the more experienced officers had already spotted the problem.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, the only one capable of such a feat is probably..."

The officer's words were cut short as a colleague beside him clamped a hand over his mouth.

He then realized that Akainu was also standing on the deck, frowning as he looked at the distant scene.

In fact,

Akainu had realized the problem far earlier than anyone else.

This power, capable of freezing the sea, even among the vast ocean of Devil Fruits, could be achieved by only one fruit.

That was the Logia-type Hie Hie no Mi.

Its owner was, to Akainu, more familiar than familiar.

Yet this familiarity was not particularly pleasant; it was more often accompanied by conflict and quarrels.

Although this discord had gradually weakened after the Ohara incident, when Kuzan's personality changed drastically.

But Akainu knew it had never disappeared; it was merely hidden by that man.

Yet emotional and ideological incompatibilities never dissipate with time; they only grow heavier and deeper, until the moment they explode completely.

"Kuzan..."

Akainu murmured, his expression unchanged, yet the cape on his shoulders snapped loudly in the sea breeze at that very moment.

It was also at this time.

Akainu saw a figure in casual clothes, wearing sunglasses, on the ice in the distance.

"Saxi-biridana~"

"Senior Sakazuki~"

(End of Chapter)