Chapter 1790: Before the War

A string of bubbles rose within the seawater. The underwater world was vibrant and colorful. A submarine slowly surfaced, eventually reaching the sea level.

"If anything goes wrong, do not approach me for five hours. We will rendezvous after five hours."

Su Xiao opened the submarine's hatch. Both Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang and Amu nodded to indicate they understood what to do next.

Su Xiao prepared to equip 【Killing Instinct】. This sea area was still some distance from Marineford. Even if the Willpower check failed after equipping 【Killing Instinct】, there was nothing around but seawater and fish, so the risk was minimal.

The submarine gradually submerged into the sea. Su Xiao stood on an ice layer frozen by Amu and attempted to equip Killing Instinct.

【Yes/No to equip Killing Instinct? This is a special piece of equipment; there is a certain risk involved in equipping it.】

Su Xiao ignored the prompt and equipped Killing Instinct.

Boom! Blood Qi expanded with Su Xiao as the center point. Fine cracks appeared on the ice layer beneath his feet, and various marine life floated to the surface of the surrounding sea.

Su Xiao's vision turned blood-red. This feeling was not good; it seemed as if the entire world had been dyed blood-red, as if everything within his sight held hostility toward him.

"Kill them all. You are the strongest. Only cowards would restrain their desire to kill."

"Do not stop your steps. Hope is carved out through slaughter."

Distant and near voices appeared in Su Xiao's ears. He had not yet lost his reason, which meant the Willpower check had not failed.

The voices beside his ears gradually faded, but the world in Su Xiao's vision remained blood-red. He could feel that if this state continued, he would lose his reason.

Sitting on the ice layer, Su Xiao began to attempt meditation. If he could enter a meditative state, he would become completely calm.

However, given Su Xiao's current situation, entering a meditative state was not easy. The voices from unknown origins appeared from time to time, interrupting his attempt to enter meditation.

As Su Xiao attempted to meditate, the Blood Qi around him gradually dissipated. The ice layer shattered with a boom, and he fell into the seawater.

The cold sensation of the seawater caused Su Xiao to suddenly open his eyes. He suddenly realized that entering meditation during a Willpower check was unwise; it was the Killing Instinct state affecting him just now.

The blood color in Su Xiao's vision faded rapidly. A completely different feeling emerged; something in his brain seemed to have been opened, and the world around him changed.

【You have successfully equipped Killing Instinct. You are now in the 'Instinct Activation' state. This state has no consumption and no time limit. This ability will deactivate after removing the corresponding equipment.】

【Intuition has been upgraded to Lv. 42.】

【Detected that the compatibility between Instinct Activation (Passive) and Intuition ability exceeds 80%. The growth rate of Intuition ability is increased by 2–25 times (25 times during combat, 12 times in dangerous environments, 2 times in safe environments).】

Su Xiao swam to the sea surface. 【Killing Instinct】 had been successfully equipped. The effect was powerful. When not in combat, his Intuition ability growth rate was twice as fast as before. Once combat began, it reached 25 times. If he engaged in a battle lasting over a day, it was possible to directly upgrade his Intuition ability by one level. Of course, such battles lasting a full day generally only occurred on large-scale battlefields.

Su Xiao checked the time. There were only 17 hours left until the Summit War began, which was tomorrow morning. Clearly, arriving at Marineford before the war started was the best choice.

Through the adventure team channel, Su Xiao contacted Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang inside the submarine.

"Lock onto my position."

As soon as Su Xiao sent the message, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang replied.

"Password."

Su Xiao was stunned. He hadn't set a password with Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang before.

"What password?"

"Password incorrect. Your follower Xiang Bubu Teni has gone offline."

"..."

After Su Xiao's "persuasion," Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang soon piloted the submarine to rendezvous with Su Xiao. Clearly, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, who loved to tease, was very happy.

After entering the submarine, Su Xiao headed toward Marineford from beneath the sea. In the original story, the Whitebeard Pirates had tested this, and the vigilance beneath Marineford was not strong.

Around 8:00 PM, Su Xiao arrived in the sea area near Marineford. He did not land on the island but let Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang go to the island for reconnaissance.

Marineford at night was brightly lit. Tomorrow was Ace's execution day. Unless something unexpected happened, Ace was currently imprisoned within Marineford, waiting for execution.

The entire Marineford was under martial law. The families of the Marines had completed evacuation half a month ago. Marines transferred from all over the world were stationed in the residential area behind the Marineford buildings. They would not participate in the war but were responsible for defending the area. As for the surroundings of the headquarters, there were 100,000 elite Marines.

Whether it was the port or the coast around the island, they were guarded by Marines. Sneaking into Marineford was difficult, however...

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, who had blended into the environment, landed on the U-shaped port in front of Marineford. The Marines standing in rows were as if blind, completely unable to see Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, who was walking with a steady gait toward Marineford.

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang shook the seawater off its body. It first entered the first floor of Marineford. Officers or soldiers walked past it one after another.

Inside the submarine, Su Xiao was observing Marineford through the monitoring device on Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang.

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang straightened the monitoring probe on its head with a paw and began searching room by room. It didn't need to use doors; it could pass directly through walls to enter rooms, which reduced the possibility of it being exposed.

Inside a slightly dim room.

"It's about to start. Tomorrow morning."

"Right, it's about to start. Fighting against that legendary pirate... otherwise... let's run."

"Are you crazy? How could we run? Deserters will be sentenced to death."

Several Marines with gloomy faces were talking in low voices in the room. None of them wanted to fight the Whitebeard Pirates, but their Fleet Admiral had made the decision, and they could only obey.

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang turned and passed through the wall behind it. Just a moment ago, it thought it had collected important intelligence.

More than ten minutes later, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang had checked the entire first floor of Marineford. There was nothing worth noting.

The second, third, and fourth floors had nothing suspicious either. Most were worried soldiers, although they appeared very determined in the eyes of outsiders.

When Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang entered a spacious and bright room, its footsteps paused. There were five people in this room, the Shichibukai gathered here before the war.

"Heavenly Yaksha" Donquixote Doflamingo, "Hawk Eyes" Dracule Mihawk, "Tyrant" Bartholomew Kuma, "Gecko" Moria, and "Empress" Boa Hancock.

These five gathered together; one could imagine the atmosphere in the room.

Tyrant Kuma and Hawk Eyes remained silent, belonging to the cold type. Moria on the side was picking his teeth, seemingly wanting to tease someone, but because everyone present was not to be trifled with, he could only snort coldly.

Doflamingo was much more natural, crossing his legs and occasionally looking out the window.

Empress Boa Hancock was the most interesting, slightly lifting her chin with an expression of "I am the most beautiful, all you stinky men stay away from me."

"Xiang Bubu, I have no interest in that woman's chest. Don't get so close. Switch the view to Doflamingo. That thing can be handed to him."

Hearing Su Xiao's words, the soul photographer Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang switched the camera and walked slowly toward Doflamingo. After reaching Doflamingo, it stuffed a piece of paper into Doflamingo's trouser leg.

Doflamingo's expression changed, his gaze shifting to his lower leg. Just now... something had touched him.