The Whitebeard Pirates were baffled. None of them could understand Katakuri's bizarre actions.
What was Katakuri trying to do?
Why would he attack them now of all times?
No matter how they thought about it, something didn't add up.
Some of the division commanders speculated that this might have been on Charlotte Linlin's orders—perhaps a plan to strike at them while they were vulnerable.
Others suspected that maybe Charlotte Linlin and Kronos had secretly reached some kind of cooperation agreement, preparing to deal with them together.
Otherwise… how could this be explained?
By normal logic, Katakuri shouldn't even be in these waters—much less attacking them.
If it were them, they'd wait for both sides to exhaust themselves first, then swoop in to take advantage. That would be the logical move.
But instead, someone had jumped out at this exact moment, practically asking to die, drawing all attention to themselves.
This way, not only would the Charlotte Family gain nothing, but the Kamui Pirates would be the ones to benefit.
Charlotte Linlin was a cunning, calculating woman—but no one here believed she would willingly join forces with Kronos against them.
They knew Charlotte Linlin wasn't a fool, and her crew should be aware of the current situation.
After all, Kronos was without question the most dangerous man on the seas—bar none.
At this point, his threat level was even higher than that of Whitebeard, the man known as the strongest in the world.
In that case… why would Charlotte Linlin help someone who was an even greater threat to her?
The more they thought about it, the more confused they became. Many of them were left feeling at a loss, even a little unsettled.
Just then, Whitebeard stepped forward to steady the crew, speaking in a low, commanding tone.
"Don't overthink this. Charlotte Linlin would never send her men just to make trouble for us. As for why Katakuri is acting this way—I don't know the exact reason.
"But don't forget, Charlotte Linlin and I were both part of the Rocks Pirates. Do you think I don't know what kind of person she is? After decades of acquaintance, I can more or less predict how she'll act.
"This isn't her doing—there must be something else going on here that we're not aware of."
After listening to Whitebeard's analysis, the crew members slowly began to realize he had a point.
The more they thought about it, the more his words made sense.
At that moment, Joz seemed to recall something troubling. His expression turned uneasy as he said,
"I wonder if the Marines will send forces to join this war.
"Don't forget—Sengoku has been replaced. The new Fleet Admiral is Akainu. And I think everyone here knows… Akainu is a dangerous man who takes things to the extreme."
"No matter what he does, he pushes it to the limit."
"It's not hard to imagine that his strategy will be far bolder and more aggressive than Sengoku's ever was."
The moment those words left his mouth, silence fell over the crew.
The expressions on their faces turned grim.
Because they all knew…
Akainu was far more frightening than Sengoku.
Sengoku was a rational man. Though they had been enemies, many still respected him. They believed that, if not for being on opposite sides, they could have gotten along with him.
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