Just then.
The Den Den Mushi the pirate leader carried with him rang.
"Buru buru buru~"
He hurriedly pulled out the Den Den Mushi and answered.
On the other end of the Den Den Mushi,
was none other than Lord Diamante, a core officer of the Donquixote Family.
"Hey, have you found that brat?" Diamante asked.
The pirate leader hurriedly answered, "We found him. The brat is right in front of me." His tone became utterly respectful, without a trace of his earlier arrogance.
"Good. Hand the Den Den Mushi to that brat."
"I'll speak to him myself."
Diamante's voice sounded again.
Hearing this, the pirate leader immediately turned the receiver toward Arthur.
He also hastily signaled to Arthur with his eyes.
Arthur was curious, too.
This was his first encounter with a character from the original Pirate King story.
"Hey? You brat from the Dragonier family."
"I, Lord Diamante, personally invite you to join our Donquixote Family. Given your identity, you must really need somewhere to rest right now."
Hearing the implication in those words,
Arthur could not help frowning.
The man had deliberately used "Dragonier," his surname.
And afterward, he had specifically singled out his identity...
Could this guy know something...?
Arthur quickly made that connection.
After all,
as a core officer of the Donquixote Family, Diamante was a major figure even on the Grand Line, and naturally had more information than he did.
And with Doflamingo's former status as a Celestial Dragon,
the secrets he knew
were known to very few people in the entire world.
Perhaps Diamante really did know some inside information.
However,
Arthur certainly would not agree.
After a moment of silence, Arthur said, "What will you do if I refuse?"
Hearing this, Diamante on the other end also fell silent for a few seconds.
Only then did the Den Den Mushi speak again.
The Den Den Mushi vividly mimicked Diamante's current expression.
His expression was severe,
and even his brow seemed filled with murderous intent.
"If you refuse, then Apple Town, where you are, and those slaves you rescued-even if they scatter to the ends of the earth, I guarantee you..."
"Not a single one will survive."
Diamante was already making an outright threat!
He did not care in the slightest what Arthur thought.
In his eyes, Arthur had no leverage with which to refuse!
Diamante finished speaking.
Upon hearing those words,
the residents of Apple Town present were thrown into panic!
They had never imagined that all their lives would now hang on a single decision from Arthur Dragonier!
Against a behemoth like the Donquixote Family, which spanned the entire sea,
what could a tiny Apple Town
possibly amount to...?
"Hurry up and decide, you little brat!" the pirate leader urged Arthur with a curse. After all, holding up the Den Den Mushi was tiring, too.
At this moment,
Arthur fell silent.
From what Diamante had just said,
if he refused,
not only would all the residents of Apple Town be killed, but those people who had once been subjects of his kingdom would be hunted down wherever they fled...
As Arthur thought of all this,
he felt a flame of anger suddenly rise in his heart.
Just like the nearly limitless power within him.
The flames of anger instantly blazed up, filling every part of his body. Even his eyes seemed to burn at that moment.
Originally,
he had planned to lie low for a while.
To find somewhere peaceful to develop Godzilla's power.
To avoid clashing with anyone as much as possible.
But what Arthur had not expected was...
though he had no intention of clashing with others, someone wanted to press him at every turn, forcing him to make a choice, forcing him to act.
Pirates
were something he loathed to begin with.
They were like vermin destroying this sea.
Crawling all over the vast blue ocean.
And as the wielder of the Godzilla Fruit's power,
Godzilla was not merely the King of the Monsters, but also a symbol of nature's balance, protecting the blue planet beneath all their feet.
In Arthur's view,
pirates, the navy, the World Government...
could all be called forces that disrupted nature's balance.
Arthur had not wanted to clash with the Donquixote Family so soon.
But,
with no room left to yield and nothing more he could endure,
there was no need to keep holding back!
The very next instant!
Arthur's eyes suddenly changed.
Murderous intent surfaced!
His right hand transformed into Godzilla's claw.
And he grasped a sword of light glowing a deep blue out of thin air.
With a light swing!
At a speed none of the pirates present could react to,
he cut the pirate holding the Den Den Mushi in front of him straight in half!
"Ah!!!"
"He killed the boss!!"
"Kill that brat!!!!"
The pirates present were first utterly stunned.
Then they snapped out of it and immediately began shouting and cursing, drawing their weapons and charging at Arthur, trying to avenge their boss. "Aaaah!!!"
The pirates launched a charge at Arthur.
Some stood where they were and fired at him.
Others, skilled in close combat, rushed toward Arthur with swords and sabers.
They were elites from the Donquixote Family's North Blue branch.
They had extensive experience in battle and slaughter. Even the North Blue's navy sailors were no match for them in a head-on clash. Every one of them was a bloodstained demon!
However!
At that very moment,
Alfred arrived at the scene just in time.
With only a glance, he understood roughly what was happening.
In his aged eyes,
a murderous intent even more terrifying than the pirates' suddenly appeared.
His figure flickered,
his white hair leaving a blur in the air.
Then Alfred took up the most ordinary saber available on the market and charged straight into the crowd of onrushing pirates.
Like a wolf among sheep.
Blood kept spraying.
Screams kept ringing through Apple Town.
In barely a few minutes,
the ground beneath their feet had already been stained red.
As the captain of a nation's secret guard, Alfred possessed strength that mere pirates could not compare to, even though he was already well past fifty.
Soon, Alfred had killed every pirate present.
And not even a speck of blood had touched him.
That alone showed Alfred's strength.
Seeing this, Arthur could not help nodding.
Although he knew Alfred was no ordinary fighter, he had not expected him to slaughter these pirates as easily and calmly as killing chickens and dogs.
Just then,
the Den Den Mushi that had fallen to the ground finally spoke again.
"Hey? You brat from the Dragonier family."
"You've killed them all, haven't you...?"
Diamante's low voice came through.
The Den Den Mushi even mimicked Diamante's gloomy expression.
Arthur, however, paid it no mind. He picked the Den Den Mushi up from the ground and spoke into the receiver. "That's right. And that's my answer."
"And I'll be coming for you."
"You're dead-"
With that, Arthur hung up the Den Den Mushi.
He did not give Diamante any chance to finish speaking.
Just then,
the system in Arthur's mind suddenly sounded:
"Ding!" "User's current circumstances detected!" "Special mission issued: Destroy the Donquixote Family's North Blue branch base!" "Reward: Unknown!" "Description: The North Blue branch is the starting point of the Donquixote Family, as well as its central base in the Four Blues. Destroying the North Blue branch will inflict major losses on Doflamingo's operations!"
Seeing the mission appear,
Arthur became even more determined to storm Diamante's headquarters.
Meanwhile,
listening to the empty tone coming from the Den Den Mushi, Diamante of course knew that the damned brat on the other end had hung up without even letting him finish.
At that thought,
Diamante's expression grew even darker.
He had never imagined that he, the great Lord Diamante, would have some damned brat in the North Blue hang up the Den Den Mushi on him...
"Ah!!!"
Diamante flew into a rage!
He hurled the Den Den Mushi hard against the wall.
"Gather the men!"
"I want that brat named Dragonier dead immediately!!!"
Diamante shouted fiercely.
Suddenly, something else occurred to him.
Then he continued, "Put a bounty on that brat's head on the black market. Thirty million Beli, dead or alive!!!"
"I'll have the entire North Blue hunting that damned brat!!!"
Before you continue