Chapter 210: Battle of Oss Island
"Looks like Newgate made it in time."
At Sabaody Archipelago, having intimidated Imu thoroughly, Silas naturally could no longer remain at Mary Geoise and instead returned to Sabaody Archipelago, maintaining a stalemate with Imu at Mary Geoise.
Imu's troop deployments naturally caught Silas's eyes.
Silas immediately realized that Imu was capturing the scientists on Machine Island to replenish Uranus's energy, but the charging of Uranus was not yet complete.
Otherwise, when Silas was still at Sabaody Archipelago, Imu would have already used Uranus to attack him.
Or perhaps the energy was ready but still at Oss Island.
So Silas called Newgate.
No matter what you're preparing on Oss Island, I'll directly sink your entire island. All your preparations will be meaningless.
As for how Silas knew about the events on Oss Island.
Where there is a great reward, there is bound to be a brave man.
Silas directly bribed several local news agencies in the South Blue, having reporters stay on standby near Oss Island's waters, without needing proximity, just observing and filming from afar.
Though this world's seas were vast, and even a lifetime wouldn't cover more than a few limited shipping routes, that didn't mean the world lacked long-range communication.
The most famous was naturally the Den Den Mushi (Transponder Snails).
Many news agencies kept special Den Den Mushi capable of live video transmission, like cameras, relaying images to paired Den Den Mushi elsewhere.
Now, Silas's group was at a temporary base on Sabaody Archipelago, snacking on sunflower seeds, chatting, and watching the great battle at Oss Island.
"Your crew are fighting, and here you are, Captain, munching seeds?"
Gloriosa couldn't help but question.
"Didn't you say there could be multiple top-tier Marine Admirals on Oss Island?" she asked.
If you just said there were many World Government elites on Oss Island, Gloriosa might not understand the intensity of this battle.
But if you said there were at least four Marine Admirals worth of fighters on Oss Island, then she would.
In the past, Marine Admirals typically stationed at Marine HQ or Mary Geoise and rarely intervened unless facing pirates with over a hundred million Berry bounty.
But things had changed completely.
Most of the world's pirates not aligned with the World Government were being repressed by both sides.
Though many pirates claimed piracy was about freedom, Silas thought that was nonsense.
If such "freedom" was built on burning, killing, and stealing others' hard labor, then Silas believed, rather than freedom, shackles and prison bars were more suitable.
Thus, the New World pirates' situations were rough. As the New World belonged to Silas, Marine Admirals focused on controlling the four seas and the first half of the Grand Line.
Hence, the Kuja Pirates, active near Marine HQ, suffered.
Previously, Marines didn't care about Kuja Pirates because their "plundering" was more about the enchanted merchants willingly giving up wealth to the ravishing female warriors.
When Marines asked why, the men claimed it was voluntary and unrelated to the Kuja Pirates' female warriors.
If not for some men being married, and their wives exaggerating the Kuja Pirates' misdeeds after discovering their husbands' enchantment, Marines wouldn't know how to set their bounties.
Still, Marine ships encountering Kuja Pirates' ships generally had no solution.
Because most Marines were young and brash.
And Kuja Pirates' female warriors were recognized as beautiful and young.
Marines often couldn't even bring out 20-30% of their strength against them.
So in time, Marines stopped bothering with Kuja Pirates.
They weren't a mighty crew, just a local threat through plundering.
Marines turned a blind eye.
However, with Silas's takeover of the New World, no need to worry about the powerful New World Pirates; Marine top forces were freed.
Thus, in two years, the Kuja Pirates had met powerful Marines more than once, including Marine Admiral Hines Oran.
If Kuja Pirates hadn't been lucky, and Hines Oran hadn't been distracted by chasing another pirate, using long-range freezing that froze a whole island, scaring Kuja female warriors, they would have been either imprisoned in Impel Down or turned into Celestial Dragons' playthings.
This was why Shakky said that if Silas invited Kuja Pirates to join the White Wolf Alliance, the female warriors would agree.
Because the Kuja Pirates' situation was more desperate than Silas had imagined.
Though Silas was the culprit, how could a group of female warriors blame the world's top fighter?
Having witnessed the Marine Admirals' strength, Gloriosa couldn't help but worry about discussing this.
Beside her, Stussy glanced at Gloriosa.
"Whether to help is the White Wolf Pirates' business. What right do you outsiders have to comment?"
"Haha, though the World Government's forces are many, my crew might not lose to them."
Silas laughed, then suddenly realized.
"Wait, aren't you the Kuja Pirates' captain? Why are you here? This isn't your home base."
"You're only noticing me now!" Gloriosa had assumed Silas accepted her presence from the way he spoke to her, only to discover he hadn't even registered her there.
"Hmph, I'm just here to check if Shakky is being mistreated by you!" She flaunted her model-like figure, hips full and firm, and long, beautifully straight legs beneath a qipao-like skirt.
This was Gloriosa's conclusion after days of observation. Silas's women each had unique charms. In looks alone, even as Amazon Lily's Empress, Gloriosa couldn't outshine them. But she had one advantage: her long legs.
Silas stood nearly two meters tall, but Gloriosa's height rivaled his, which wasn't unusual. Even the shortest woman among Silas's crew, Stussy, stood close to 1.8 meters. The Marine mole Crane was even a touch taller than Silas.
It was a sorrowful truth. In another world, Silas's nearly two-meter frame would be giant-like; here, it was almost average. But the length of the leg wasn't about height—proportions mattered.
Among Silas's women, Ripley was the tallest because she was a giant. If she used the Mini-Mini Fruit to shrink proportionally, she'd still have a flawless figure, yet compared to Gloriosa, she'd still lose ground in a few places. Gloriosa's legs were, without question, the most perfect among Silas's women.
No matter how Gloriosa posed, Silas's attention shifted to something else entirely.
The battle had begun.
Newgate's arrival sent massive waves crashing beyond Oss Island. From thousands of meters away, his first strike split Oss Island into pieces, helping Shiki separate the floating landmasses so he could ascend faster with the gathered scientists.
The Den Den Mushi video feed was too far to capture details, but it was Silas's only information source right now. Even so, feeling alone conveyed all he needed.
At Newgate's appearance, Silas keenly sensed a slight emotional fluctuation from Imu within Pangaea Castle on the Red Line.
See? Anxious again.
When Imu was upset, Silas naturally felt good. His relaxed smile and wicked grin meant one thing to Gloriosa.
Ignoring me while thinking about another woman right in front of me?!
Though Silas and Imu were mortal enemies, Gloriosa wasn't thinking about that at all. She simply felt aggrieved. Was she truly invisible to him?
"Alright, since you're here, don't just stand there." Silas gestured to a nearby seat. "Watch closely. If things go wrong, we'll likely need to leave."
Though Silas had called on future titans—Rocks, Newgate, and Shiki—only Rocks and Newgate were near the peak. Shiki had joined later and lagged behind by a wide margin. At most, he could handle Glyndwr.
As time passed, Silas learned there weren't four, but six government elites on Oss Island. If the enemy numbered only four, Rocks and Newgate together could manage. But with six, even retreat could become impossible with one misstep.
At that moment, on Oss Island—
Boom!
Rocks's blade, swung with cannon-like force, blasted Kong thousands of meters away. Before Rocks could rest, Saint Jaygarcia Saturn—who'd just lost a claw to him—clambered along the floating landmass foundation, lunging in.
At the same time, a giant falcon closed in.
Rocks gritted his teeth. "Get lost!"
His shock blast swatted the falcon aside, but Saturn's claw still struck true, sending Rocks tearing straight through the floating slab.
"Rocks, child of ill omen, White Wolf's fang—you've still got far to go." Saturn looked down as if he weren't the one whose three claws had just been shattered by Rocks's blade.
"Shiki, ready?" Rocks didn't dare rest for a second. He scrambled out from the stone to intercept Saturn's attack on Shiki.
"I got this!" Patrick Redfield burst from the landmass to clash with Saturn. Though he was thrown back, Saturn's motion stalled for a heartbeat.
In that instant—
"Ha ha ha ha! All set! Let's raise hell!!!" The ascending landmass, which had slowed a moment ago, began climbing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Shiki surged to meet Saturn. "Ha ha ha! I've wanted to fight you lot for a long time. A 230 million bounty doesn't fit my status!"
In Shiki's eyes, the White Wolf Pirates' top captains had bounties of over 300 million Berry. He needed to surpass that, at least.
"Watch me hack those old legs off!"
As a rare dual-sword master, after mastering the basics of body arts, Shiki specialized in swordsmanship and had received plenty of guidance from Silas. Silas was not only a body arts master, a Devil Fruit awaken-er, and a top-tier Haki user—he was a top-class swordsman. There was likely no better teacher in the world.
"Lion Slash!"
Shiki opened at full power, fully aware his true level still lagged behind top-tier Admirals. Against an immortal foe like Saturn, and without Conqueror's coating, he had no chance of a clean kill.
"You mere ant." Saturn casually blocked the blow with his claws. Though Shiki had mastered advanced dual-Haki usage, his time at sea was short. He lacked the deep, top-tier battle experience. His not-yet-fully-tempered Haki couldn't pierce Saturn's defense.
But Shiki's goal was clear. From the start, he wasn't trying to defeat Saturn—he was trying to knock him off the floating island.
So while many slashes struck Saturn, even more carved up the footing under his feet.
"Ha ha ha, so your future sight isn't that great after all!" A truly elite Observation Haki user would've read his intent the instant he moved. Saturn hadn't.
Which meant that, stripped of his immortal body and fruit advantages, Saturn's dual-Haki level was, at best, on par with Shiki's own.
Watching Saturn fall, Shiki grinned. "Is that all?"
"Shut up," Rocks snapped. Saturn's expression never changed as he dropped; several more powerhouses were already streaking up after him.
"Regroup with Newgate!"