Sasaki persisted in wanting to meet Kaido. For him, this was like a fan meeting, and it was difficult to be satisfied if he couldn’t meet the main character.
Although the fervent adoration for Kaido wasn’t anything bad in the Beasts Pirates, his attitude was destined to displease some, like Shayna, whose first impression of Sasaki turned quite bad.
Initially, she had a somewhat good impression of Sasaki, who brought back the plate. However, his attitude destroyed that impression.
In the end, Sasaki’s request was fulfilled. Kaido ended his training early and came here after completing the handover to Arceus.
“Is it you? What do you want? You can say now.”
“Yes, Kaido-sama. I want to join the Beasts Pirates. Please allow me to follow you!”
His attitude was much more respectful than before.
“Worororo, an interesting rookie. I heard you found that thing, right? In that case, joining the crew is not a problem. From today onwards, your pirate crew can fly my flag.”
“No, Kaido-sama. I mean, I want to fully join the Beasts Pirates. I have already decided to give up the position of captain.”
“Is that your request?”
“If I can, I’d like to have a drink with you alone, a sake other than Parent-Child Sake.”
Followers’ Sake was a type of sake that is only consumed when a pirate crew joins another crew and becomes a subordinate crew. It is a unique drinking culture in the one piece world. Even if Sasaki intends to give up his previous position and directly join the other crew, this process can’t be skipped.
But he wanted to have a drink with Kaido alone.
“Are all the new rookies now this brave?”
“Yeah, he actually wants to drink alone with Boss Kaido.”
There was no problem drinking with Kaido; he mostly wouldn’t refuse to toast at a banquet. Although there is no problem, the process was very dangerous. Once Kaido got drunk and there weren’t enough powerful officers around, it would become very dangerous for ordinary members.
When he’s intoxicated, even Yamato chooses to hide from him.
So, hearing Sasaki’s request, some pirates around couldn’t help but show admiration.
“Fine, someone, take out the sake!”
“Kaido-sama, I’ve also brought some local specialties. I would be honored if you could drink the wine I’ve brought.”
After getting Kaido’s permission, Sasaki had his crew bring the wine, a specialty known as Ship Sake from Water 7. [TN: If anyone knows which drink is this, plz mention in comments. I can’t find mention of it anywhere.]
They would bury sealed barrels of wine near cultivated saplings. When the trees grew enough to be used as ship keel, the workers would cut down the trees, and the buried wine would be dug out.
This kind of wine was usually two barrels. One would be consumed when setting sail, and the other would be consumed before the ship retires. At this point, Sasaki’s request was mostly half-fulfilled. However, he said something that made Kaido burst into laughter.
“You want to be my right-hand man?”
“Yes, Kaido-sama. I heard that I can get a reward after bringing back the plate. I want the reward to be the qualification to challenge for the All-Stars’ position.”
“Worororo, interesting. Haven’t seen such an amusing rookie in a while. Your reward will remain the same, but the qualification for this challenge is an extra I’m giving you. So, whom do you want to challenge?”
In theory, he had to challenge the Numbers first, and wait until he got a single-digit number, only then he would have the qualification to challenge the All-Stars. But Kaido himself was one of the rule makers; naturally, he could change the rules.
“I want to challenge Queen the Plague.”
Young people being somewhat arrogant was normal. Many rookies believed they could attain the bounties of those monsters, just lacking a bit of opportunity.
Olga’s ability he had experienced before. King’s appearances were rare, but they were always in battles with strong opponents. Queen, however, was different. Despite his high bounty, the information available suggested that he had always been a researcher.
He wanted a position closer to Kaido, so he aimed to seize this opportunity.
“Fine, I promise you. Rest well for today, and tomorrow, I’ll arrange your challenge. If you succeed, you’ll be my new All-Star. If you fail, I’ll personally help you get stronger.”
Saying this, Kaido flexed his wrists. His officers had all grown up, so they spent most of their time fighting outside. This gives him very few opportunities to train with them.
Now, every day he could only beat up…train the kids, which was quite boring as he had to restrain his strength against them. A new punching bag seems like a good idea.
In a sense, Sasaki’s judgment was correct. Among the All-Stars level officers, Queen’s strength did rank at the bottom, but being at the bottom depended on who he was compared to.
Even if he couldn’t beat monsters like King or Shayna, he wouldn’t lose to ordinary pirates below him.
News from Onigashima quickly reached Queen’s ears. Hearing that a newly joined pirate wanted to challenge him, Queen, with a hint of disdain, picked his ear.
“The rookies these days are getting more and more arrogant. Let me show him what one billion bounty means. But why are you delivering this message? Did you need to come for this?”
Looking at Shayna leaning against the door, Queen showed a puzzled expression. Although Queen had a laboratory in Onigashima, he was currently in Udon as some experiments were conducted in Udon for safety reasons.
Clearly, a phone call would have sufficed, but Shayna chose to come in person.
“It’s nothing. I just came to tell you that if you dare to give him a chance to fight back tomorrow, I’ll help you with some strengthening training.”
“??????”
Queen was confused. It had been a long time since he had been beaten up. He thought he had already understood Shayna’s temperament, but trouble had found him just like that.
“Wait, big sister, what does this have to do with me?”
“Originally, it didn’t, but who made him choose to challenge you? That guy doesn’t have much respect for Lord sacred beast, let him understand what is the difference in strength.”
“You-you, fine, I understand.”
He had initially wanted to showcase his fighting prowess, but it seemed there was little chance now. At the same time, he observed a moment of silence for Sasaki. He seemed to have inadvertently displeased some people.
As for why he would do such things like “helping the tyrant,” “suppressing rookies”, let alone for his current position, even just to avoid personal misfortune, he has to take action.
He is willing to sacrifice others in order to protect himself. He has zero interest in Shayna’s strengthening training; few people would be interested in getting beaten up one-sidedly.
Meanwhile, Arceus’s eleventh plate successfully returned to his body. Bug-type Insect Plate. Although the resistance provided by the Insect Plate was not outstanding in the one piece world, it was still a part of his strength.
You can read ahead upto 75 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon.
Become a Patron!