Chapter 124: The Future Seen by the Silent Eye!
"Are you... also their accomplice?"
The question rumbled through the plaza like the grinding of tectonic plates. Charlotte Linlin, the Yonko known as "Big Mom," lowered her massive head. Her voice had dropped an octave, shedding its usual manic cheerfulness for a terrifying, guttural low pitch that vibrated in the chests of everyone present.
For decades, the New World had operated on a simple set of rules, and at the very top of that rulebook was a single commandment: Do not defy Big Mom. Her word was law, her hunger was absolute, and her wrath was a natural disaster.
Yet today, reality seemed determined to fracture that rule.
First, a rat had scurried into her treasure vault, daring to lay filthy hands on her Poneglyph. And now, this brazen young man—this "Suzaku"—stood before her, having casually extinguished the flames of Prometheus with a wave of his hand. He treated her divine punishment as if it were nothing more than a candle to be snuffed out.
The insult burned hotter than the fire he had just quelled. The veins on Charlotte Linlin's forehead began to bulge, pulsing with a terrifying vitality.
"Mamamama..."
A low, sinister chuckle escaped her throat, but it carried no humor. It was the sound of a volcano priming for eruption. The air in the plaza grew heavy and viscous, saturated with her immense, suffocating Soul Pressure.
"Hmph! A Devil Fruit user who can manipulate flames?" She sneered, her eyes locking onto Suzaku with the intent to devour. "You think extinguishing a little fire makes you safe? You arrogant little brat!"
She raised her left hand toward the dark, swirling clouds above. The homie residing there, a massive thundercloud wearing a cap, cackled with glee.
"Then, try this! Zeus!"
"Okay, Mom! Leave it to me!"
High above, the thundercloud homie Zeus responded instantly. His voice was childishly cruel, eager to please his creator.
RUMBLE... BOOM!
In an instant, the sky over Whole Cake Island changed. The clouds churned violently, turning from a gloomy grey to a pitch-black ink. Inside the roiling mass, countless dazzling electric snakes darted wildly, illuminating the plaza with strobe-light flashes of blue and purple. A scent of ozone and burning air flooded the venue.
"Va-Drum!"
Charlotte Linlin roared the command, her hand chopping down like an executioner's axe.
CRACK—BOOM!
The heavens tore open. A pillar of purple lightning, thicker than a century-old redwood tree, crashed down from the zenith. It didn't meander; it fell in a straight, devastating line, carrying enough voltage to vaporize steel and turn stone into molten slag.
Its target was absolute: Suzaku, and the two injured Minks, Pedro and Zepo, crouching behind him.
Pedro looked up, his eyes widening as the world turned blindingly white. The hair on his body stood on end due to the static charge. It's over, he thought, despair gripping his heart. This is the power of a Yonko. We can't escape this.
The destructive energy was a fraction of a second away from annihilation.
However, a scene unfolded that defied the logic of the New World.
Just as the violent lightning bolt was about to strike Suzaku's head, the air around him warped. It wasn't a wall, nor was it Haki. It was a sudden, precise distortion of the atmosphere itself.
The lightning, which should have followed the path of least resistance straight into the ground, was forcibly twisted. It jerked sideways, as if seized by an invisible hand of god, making a sharp, unnatural ninety-degree turn.
WHOOSH.
The bolt shot horizontally, bypassing Suzaku entirely, and raced straight toward a petite figure that had silently appeared beside the Captain.
It was a girl in a maid outfit. Ram.
She stood perfectly still amidst the chaos, her short peach-pink hair fluttering in the gale caused by the thunder. Her expression was one of absolute, icy indifference. As the world-ending voltage screamed toward her, she didn't flinch. She simply raised her small, pale hand.
"Wind Magic: Al Huma."
Her voice was barely a whisper, yet it cut through the thunderclap.
The violent purple lightning struck her palm—or rather, it struck the hyper-compressed barrier of wind mana she had concentrated there.
There was no explosion. There was no blast.
To Pedro's shock, the immense electrical energy began to unravel. The chaotic, destructive ions were caught in a microscopic vortex of wind, spun, separated, and neutralized. The blinding purple torrent faded rapidly, turning into gentle blue arcs that danced obediently across her fingertips.
It looked as if she were petting a harmless kitten rather than catching a lightning bolt.
Fizz...
With a final soft hiss, the last wisp of Zeus's power vanished into her palm, dissipated into nothingness by her absolute control over the elements.
Silence descended on the plaza. It was a heavy, stunned silence.
From Suzaku crushing the fire to the maid catching the lightning, everything had happened in the blink of an eye. The sheer impossibility of it left the onlookers' brains scrambling to catch up.
If it weren't for Charlotte Linlin's face, which was now contorted into a mask of extreme shock and rage, Pedro would have thought he was hallucinating from blood loss.
"So amazing..."
A sweet, clear voice broke the silence.
"As expected of Lord Suzaku and Elder Sister! Your coordination is flawless!"
Rem stepped out from behind Suzaku, clapping her hands softly, her face beaming with admiration.
Pedro blinked, his vision clearing. He suddenly realized that the empty space around them was no longer empty.
At some unknown point during the lightning strike, the surroundings had filled with figures. Shadows flickered at the edges of the plaza, resolving into solid forms.
Pedro's breath hitched in his throat.
"Musketeers...?"
Standing in a defensive phalanx around Suzaku were familiar faces—the warriors of the Zou Musketeers Squad. They stood with their weapons drawn, their capes billowing in the wind, their eyes sharp and ready for war.
And standing at the forefront, his massive frame casting a long shadow, was the Guardian of the Whale Forest himself.
"Boss... Nekomamushi?!" Pedro gasped, his voice trembling.
Nekomamushi, the Cat Viper, who should have been guarding Zou, was standing right there on Whole Cake Island, smoking his pipe with a ferocious grin on his face.
"Pedro!" Nekomamushi flashed over to his side in a blur of motion. He knelt down, checking the unconscious Zepo's pulse. Seeing his old friend alive, relief washed over his scarred feline face. "You reckless fool. You're lucky to be breathing."
At the same time, Captain Sicilian, the lion Mink, stepped forward. He raised his sword high, his voice booming with authority.
"Musketeers Squad! Form up! Protect the Lord!"
"YES, SIR!"
Thirty elite Minks moved in unison, forming a steel wall behind Suzaku. They drew their rapiers and muskets, pointing them directly at the Yonko Big Mom. Their killing intent was unified and sharp, a clear declaration that they were ready to die for the man standing in front of them.
This tense standoff sent a chill through the spine of the onlookers.
"Mom! Please stop!"
"Mom! Wait! They are the Suzaku Pirates!"
Voices rang out from the entrance of the castle. The younger children of the Charlotte Family, along with the Sweet Commanders who had just arrived, rushed onto the scene. They looked panicked, caught between their terrifying mother and the unpredictable monsters of the Suzaku Pirates.
"They are honored guests we invited to the Tea Party, not enemies!" one of the daughters screamed, trying to penetrate Big Mom's rage.
Taking advantage of this brief lull in the combat, Nekomamushi turned to Pedro, his voice low and urgent.
"Pedro, what exactly is going on? Why are you here? And why did you engage Big Mom alone?"
"Boss..." Pedro clutched his bleeding chest, panting heavily. "I heard... I heard that Big Mom possesses a Road Poneglyph. Zepo and I... we just wanted to make a rubbing and leave. We didn't expect... to be discovered so quickly."
He lowered his head in shame. "I'm sorry, Boss. I was weak. I couldn't protect Zepo."
Then, confusion replaced his shame. He looked at Nekomamushi, then at the Musketeers, and finally at the human Captain, Suzaku, who was casually dusting off his coat.
"But Boss... why? Why did you leave Zou? And why are you... with Duke Inuarashi's Musketeers? You two haven't worked together in decades."
Nekomamushi let out a gruff laugh, puffing on his pipe.
"It's a long story, Pedro-gara. But the short version is simple."
He gestured with his pipe toward Suzaku's back.
"The war between the Day and Night on Zou is over. We have found a King worth following. Now, our entire Mink Tribe—both Inuarashi's and mine—has sworn allegiance to Boss Suzaku. We are now the First Division of the Suzaku Pirates!"
"What?!"
Pedro's pupils constricted to pinpoints. The entire Mink Tribe? Sworn allegiance to a human pirate? It sounded insane. But looking at the unified front of the Musketeers and Nekomamushi, the truth was undeniable.
He relaxed, his body slumping against the rubble. He struggled to turn himself toward Suzaku. With great effort, he bowed his head deeply, his forehead touching the cold ground.
"Boss Suzaku... Thank you. Thank you for saving my life, and for saving Zepo."
Suzaku didn't turn around. He merely waved his hand casually over his shoulder, a gesture of dismissal.
"Don't worry about it. You're my crew now. Protecting my own is part of the job description."
He glanced at Sicilian. "Take them to the back. Treat the injured. Rem, give them some potions."
"Yes, Lord Suzaku!"
Suzaku's eyes narrowed slightly as he processed the situation. So it was the Poneglyph theft plot, he mused. In the original timeline, Pedro lost fifty years of his life here and Zepo died. It seems my arrival has changed their fate. Good.
"Mr. Suzaku."
A sharp, mocking voice cut through the air.
Perospero, the eldest son of the Charlotte Family, stepped forward. He licked the giant candy cane in his hand, his long tongue slithering like a snake. His eyes were cold and calculating behind his sunglasses.
"Our Totto Land extended our sincerest invitation for your Suzaku Pirates to attend the Tea Party," Perospero began, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "We treated you with hospitality. We gave you food. We gave you lodging."
He pointed a slender finger at Pedro.
"But now, your Mink Tribe subordinates have infiltrated our territory, broken into our treasury, and attempted to steal our most sacred treasure."
Perospero's grin widened, revealing sharp teeth.
"Is this, too, your intention, Mr. Suzaku? Did you order this? Or rather... were you here to be our enemies from the very beginning, using the Tea Party as a cover for theft?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere shifted again. The gazes of the Charlotte Family members sharpened. Hands went to weapons. The accusation was heavy—treachery, theft, and disrespect toward a Yonko. In the pirate world, this was grounds for immediate war.
Suzaku looked at the Minister of Candy. Then he looked back at the Minks. He shrugged.
"It's a coincidence," Suzaku said lightly, his voice calm and unbothered. "I only found out it was my subordinates who did this after I arrived on the scene. They acted on their own initiative before they knew we had arrived."
"Hmph!" Perospero sneered. "A coincidence? Do you take us for three-year-olds? You think 'oops, it was an accident' is enough to explain away an infiltration of the Queen's vault?"
"Perospero."
A deep, commanding voice interrupted the Minister of Candy.
A large, heavy hand clamped down on Perospero's shoulder, stopping him mid-sentence. Perospero choked, looking up in surprise.
"Brother... Katakuri?"
It was Charlotte Katakuri. The towering Sweet Commander stepped forward, his spiked boots clanking on the stone floor. His face was hidden behind his thick scarf, but his crimson eyes were visible—sharp, intense, and focused.
He ignored his brother. He walked past the family, stopping at the edge of the confrontation zone.
He looked directly at Suzaku.
The two men locked eyes. Crimson met golden-red. Haki clashed silently in the air between them.
Katakuri didn't blink. His Observation Haki, honed to the point of seeing the future, was active. He wasn't just looking at Suzaku; he was looking at the intent, the aura, and the truth hidden beneath the surface.
He saw the genuine surprise on Nekomamushi's face when he found Pedro. He saw the lack of deceit in Suzaku's relaxed posture. And, more importantly, he saw a future where escalating this conflict led to the destruction of Whole Cake Island.
Katakuri made his decision.
"Mr. Suzaku," Katakuri said, his voice low, magnetic, and echoing with absolute conviction. "I believe you."
"Brother Katakuri?!"
"Katakuri-nii?!"
A chorus of disbelief erupted from the Charlotte siblings. Even Perospero looked at him as if he had grown a second head.
"Are you serious?" Perospero hissed. "He's clearly lying! They are pirates! Why would you—"
"Quiet," Katakuri commanded. The sheer weight of his authority silenced them instantly.
He turned back to Suzaku, his gaze never wavering.
"With your strength, Mr. Suzaku, and the strength of your crew... if you truly wanted the Poneglyph rubbing, you would not need to send two spies to sneak around in the dark."
Katakuri's voice rose slightly, ensuring everyone, including Big Mom, could hear him.
"You could have openly proposed a trade. Or you could have simply fought your way in to take it. You are not a man who stoops to petty theft. Your pride would not allow it."
He swept his gaze over the gathered crowd.
"My Observation Haki won't lie to me. Just now, the surprise on the faces of the Mink Tribe warriors was genuine. They were unaware of this infiltration. This was the independent action of these two individuals."
He paused, letting the words sink in.
"Therefore, I judge this to be a misunderstanding."
The plaza fell into an eerie silence.
Perospero's face turned green, then pale. He wanted to argue. He wanted to scream that this was absurd. But Katakuri was the pillar of the Charlotte Family. He was the perfect older brother who never lay down, never lost, and never made mistakes.
If Katakuri vouched for the man... then undermining him now would fracture the family's unity in front of an enemy.
[Akarin Note:
Your Support Keeps This Story Alive!
If you're enjoying this novel, your support means the world to me. Simple actions like leaving a review, power stone, comment, or sharing the story let me know you're out there. It's the greatest motivation for me to keep updating until the very end and ensures this project continues.
For those who wish to support me more directly, you can join my Patreon at [patreon.com/AkarinTL]. As a thank-you, you'll receive access to 50 advanced chapters.
I hope I am still worthy of your support. My life truly depends on this... haha, I know I'm so shameless.]