One Piece: Nico Robin Collection

Chapter 145 Im Appears
While Caesar may not be an expert in interpersonal relationships, his methods are unimaginably more sophisticated than those of the natives of the pirate world.

He wanted to create a sense in the navy that they were all in Caesar's camp, and that their interests and ideals were aligned.

This will prevent them from feeling guilty after defecting and will enhance their sense of self-identity.

Judging from the reactions of the naval officers in front of him, Caesar never expected that the social skills he had learned in his previous life would be so useful in this world!

As the saying goes, the best strategy is to subdue the enemy without fighting. The lower and middle ranks of the navy don't know much about him, but the higher-ups at headquarters must have an ambiguous attitude towards him. At least his Observation Haki didn't detect any killing intent from this group of people.

After he gave them the Silence Fruit, even the most basic hostility from this group dissipated.

Garp instinctively felt something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He was just increasingly certain that he couldn't keep Caesar.

This is not possible!

He didn't intend to keep Caesar, but he still had to go through the basic formalities.

The idea was that Kizaru could hold off Caesar, then surround him with a large army. Even if he couldn't capture Caesar, he could at least make him flee in a sorry state, thus saving face for the Navy and making it easier to explain to the World Government.

As a result, this actor was captured alive by Caesar within minutes!
Could this kid have betrayed us?
That was a great general!

How could he have been captured alive in less than ten minutes?
Not to mention that Kizaru's ability is light!
Suddenly, just as Garp was struggling with his decision, a large bird that looked like it was made of bandages flew straight toward Caesar from the Sabaody Archipelago.

On the back of the large bird were three figures dressed in black military uniforms, two men and one woman. The woman was wearing a military cap and only a black pair of briefs on her black lower body, making her look like a female version of Franky.

The two men, one old and one young, had an unusual hairstyle that, together with his beard, formed a crescent moon. He wore sunglasses on his nose and a Western-style sword at his waist.

The young man beside him was handsome, looking exactly like Shanks, except that he was missing the three scars on his face. He was also dressed more elegantly and refinedly, and had a Western sword at his waist.

The three rode on the large bird and flew swiftly toward Caesar.

Knights of God?
Caesar caught sight of the newcomer, his figure flashed and he rose into the sky, then turned around and unleashed several massive slashes!
Clang, Clang, Clang——

A series of massive, mountain-splitting, sea-cleaving slashes flew toward the giant bird. Upon seeing this, the young man on the bird also drew his longsword and unleashed several slashes, neutralizing Caesar's attacks.

"A great swordsman? Well... Shanks' brother, it's only natural that he has such talent." Caesar chuckled.

However, these words seemed to enrage the man, causing him to unleash several more slashes at Caesar.

"Oh my, you've got quite a temper."

Caesar flapped his wings, easily dodging the slash, and in the blink of an eye, he had thrown the three of them far away!

"His magnanimity is far inferior to Shanks'. Well, one is a flower in a greenhouse, while the other has grown wild and experienced. It's normal that he is not as good as Shanks."

Hearing this, the man seemed even angrier, but he still tried his best to keep a straight face. However, the emotional fluctuations could not escape Caesar's Observation Haki.

Clearly, he broke down!
For a Celestial Dragon who holds himself in high esteem, nothing is more unacceptable than being overshadowed by his brothers who he sees as self-destructive and who are now living in exile.

"What an annoying brat. It would have been better to just kill him than to try to convert him."

On the giant bird, the old man with the crescent-shaped haircut snorted coldly and glanced at Garp and his men on the warship beside him: "Navy, hold that guy back for us."

"what?"

On the deck, Garp picked his nose: "Who the hell are you?"

Upon seeing this reaction, the old man's expression froze, and his arrogant and indifferent demeanor instantly crumbled.

"I am Figarand Greenegu!"

"Saint?!"

Behind Garp, a group of Marines frowned deeply.

This old man is actually a Celestial Dragon!
So the two next to it must be included too?

Of those present, apart from Garp and his lieutenant Bogart, none of the others had participated in the God Valley Incident and had no basic understanding of the Celestial Dragons' fighting strength.

No one expected that there would be such a powerful figure among the Celestial Dragons.

"That's quite unexpected, isn't it?"

Caesar chuckled: "They are the Knights of God, like the Five Elders, the Celestial Dragons' highest fighting force. However, above them, there's a guy named Im..."

"Shut up!"

On the bird's back, the three people's expressions suddenly changed!

Grimm Saint unleashed a powerful sword strike, hundreds of meters long, which stirred up huge waves in the sea below, and the dazzling light rushed straight towards Caesar's face!

"Well... don't get so worked up."

Caesar chuckled, gently raised his hand, and effortlessly caught the oncoming slash in the astonished gaze of his opponent!
Then, I crushed it!
"unarmed…"

Upon seeing this, the three Celestial Dragons could no longer maintain their arrogant and superior demeanor, and a hint of horror flashed in their eyes.

"What?! This kid..."

Garp's eyes widened in disbelief, a snot trickling down his face as he looked utterly bewildered.

“Gulp…”

Chaton swallowed hard. "I think I know how Admiral Kizaru was captured alive."

"Uh-huh…"

The naval officers standing nearby nodded in agreement.

"Your Conqueror's Haki is weak and inadequate; it's clearly not good enough for attacking, and it's not very effective for flirting either."

Caesar's lips curled slightly: "After all... you're nothing more than loyal dogs kneeling at Im's feet, how can you be called overlords?"

“Im…”

Garp's expression changed.

Although he is honest and straightforward, he is not stupid.

Caesar repeatedly brought up Im in front of them, and judging from the reactions of these three Celestial Dragons, it was clear that this was not something the Navy should be listening to!

Sure enough, as soon as Caesar finished speaking, he turned to look at the group of navy personnel.

"You probably don't know this, do you? On that empty throne sits a Celestial Dragon named Im! He uses his abilities to control the Five Elders and the Knights of God, granting them long lives and immortal bodies..."

Ahhhh! !

Stop talking!

On the deck, the naval officers' mouths were agape, and even Gion stared at Caesar in horror.

Seeing everyone's reaction, Caesar's lips curled into a barely perceptible, wicked smile. He distanced himself from the three, including Grimm, and shouted at the crowd, "It's time to make a decision, everyone! Since they've exposed themselves, they won't let you leave alive!"

"Aren't you just talking to yourself, you bastard?!"

Everyone roared in unison, their faces contorted with rage, furious at Caesar's move.

As for the veracity of Caesar's words, judging from the way the three people on the bird's back frantically chased after Caesar, it's not hard to see the truthfulness of Caesar's message.

boom--

Before everyone could recover from the shock, a powerful aura suddenly erupted.

The terrifying aura instantly swept across a radius of several nautical miles, stunning all the naval personnel within the encirclement. Even many naval commanders could only struggle to withstand this aura.

Bang!
There was a muffled sound.

A bearded man wearing shorts and a navy cloak collapsed to the ground!

"Maynard?!"

Chaton's expression changed when he saw the man next to him faint: "Conqueror's Haki? Who is this? Even a lieutenant general couldn't withstand it?"

Garp remained silent, his expression grave. Both the news Caesar had just revealed and the sudden outburst of Conqueror's Haki were far beyond his expectations.

According to his Observation Haki, this domineering aura was emanating from the girl on the back of the giant bird.

The girl's originally quiet temperament suddenly turned violent, her beautiful hair grew wildly, and a pair of large wings that were extremely similar to Caesar's rose from behind her.

"What is this? A total of demons mobilized?"

Gion struggled to withstand the overwhelming Conqueror's Haki, her gaze sweeping over the large wings behind Caesar and the girl.

Unlike Caesar, the girl had a long, slender demon tail behind her and held a demon trident in her hand!

"An unusually domineering aura..."

Garp's expression turned solemn as he unleashed his Conqueror's Haki to resist the violent aura, which immediately made Gion and the others feel much better.

Above the sky, Caesar was also startled by this sudden domineering aura and was almost shaken apart from his transformed form.

"That Conqueror's Haki...Im?"

Caesar looked warily at the girl whose appearance had suddenly changed drastically; he hadn't expected her to have the ability to possess her subordinates.

He had only read the part about Jabba and the Female Titan in the original manga, and only some fragments after that. He hadn't had time to catch up before he was transported to another world, so he didn't know much about Im's abilities.

It's unbelievable that someone with that level of domineering presence could be so intimidated by Joey Boyle that he knelt down...

On the bird's back, the black-winged girl flapped her wings and reached the same height as Caesar.

"Hmm... I'm curious about your source of information."

It really is Im!
Caesar's expression turned solemn: "More than that... I'd like to know, are you a man or a woman?"

"Discourteous person."

Im remained expressionless, raised her hand, and conjured a pentagram magic circle, from which a magic book appeared in her hand.

Before she could even open the spellbook, a dark slash came hurtling towards her, and Im had no choice but to swing her trident to meet it.

Clang——

The slash was neutralized, and Caesar once again distanced himself from Im.

The pentagram formation's abilities were unpredictable, which made Caesar determined that no matter what abilities the opponent possessed, he would immediately move away and create distance if there was any unusual movement.

"Aren't you planning to leave yet?"

Caesar turned to Garp and his group: "This is the intelligence that Sengoku has been trying to obtain. Does the justice of your Navy have to be forever subject to the Celestial Dragons?"

"Damn you brat!"

Garp yelled in anger, then turned and roared, "Everyone, retreat immediately!"

"Navy...D! I order you to kill Monkey D. Garp."

"I'm sorry, beautiful lady, even if you are a Celestial Dragon, we are unable to comply."

Cha-tun made a casual remark, not taking the other party's order to heart.

Kill Garp?

Are you kidding me?
Putting aside the fact that the other party is a senior, even if all of them attacked together, they probably wouldn't be a match for this strange old man.

“Mum didn’t say you had to do that…”

Im turned his head to look at the group of naval officers behind Garp, his hands flipping through the pages of his book rapidly. A magic circle with a pentagram pattern appeared under the feet of everyone on the deck except Garp.

"Listen carefully, all of you. I will bestow upon you evil power, at the cost of a portion of your lifespan, granting you immortality and superhuman strength..."

"Under Mu's control, common sense and reason will lose their restraint on you, and evil is the true nature of life."

"Moonstep!"

As seasoned generals, their reaction speed was not bad. Almost at the moment of the change, most of them leaped up and escaped the range of the pentagram.

Only a few generals who had just been stunned by Conqueror's Haki, and Moria, who was too big to react in time, were trapped in the pentagram formation and unable to escape.

"This ability..."

Caesar narrowed his eyes slightly: "Isn't this a bit too much?"

He thought his vampire fruit was overpowered enough, but this guy was even more outrageous than him!
"Hey, what the hell is this thing?"

On the deck, Moria looked terrified as everyone watched as he was turned upside down by the pentagram array and transformed into a great demon with two horns, fangs, bat wings, and a trident!
"Hehehehe! Hehehehehe! This feels really good!"

The corrupted Moria burst into laughter. Beside him, several vice admirals who had just been knocked unconscious slowly got up, their condition mirroring Moria's!
The flying squirrel's expression was grave: "Hey, are you guys alright? Maynard?"

"Hahaha, I've never felt so good!"

Maynard grinned menacingly and lunged at the flying squirrel.

"Screw you!"

Bang!
Garp delivered a powerful punch, sending Maynard flying. He shook his hand and said, "His strength is a bit greater than before. So he really is being controlled? These guys... Caesar, how did you manage to control Kizaru just now?"

"Hmm... once you're controlled, you'll be subject to my restrictions~"

Caesar feigned hesitation, but his Observation Haki firmly locked onto Im opposite him.

The other party's methods of transformation are even more outrageous than his; if he were to be controlled by them, he would be doomed.

"Hahaha, isn't this exactly what you wanted?"

Garp grinned and said, "Hurry up and help me control these guys. I'll hold off these trash for you."

"That's not necessary..."

Caesar chuckled, and a crimson mist of blood immediately spread out.

He also wanted to see whether his control was stronger or Im's.

Blood mist filled the air and quickly filled the nostrils of the transformed demons. The demon generals, who had been extremely ferocious, froze on the spot, their eyes glowing crimson, their expressions filled with struggle and uncertainty.

"Really?"

Garp looked shocked.

"It's now!"

Caesar transformed into a streak of blood and instantly appeared on the deck, passing through the crowd. The demon generals he controlled vanished as if they had been conjured up from the dead!

Then he looked at Garp: "Let's retreat quickly, now is not the time to start a war."

"Hahaha, well done! You take them and leave quickly, I'll take care of this place!"

As Garp spoke, he leaped up and charged toward Im and his two companions, who were diving in close behind Caesar.

Then he suddenly turned around and delivered a powerful punch that created a whistling wind, which actually carried the warship into the sky!
"Garp!!"

"Lieutenant General Garp!!"

Seeing Garp rush towards Im without turning his head, the expressions of everyone on the deck changed instantly.

Bogart remained silent, gripping the hilt of his sword as he prepared to charge, but Caesar grabbed his shoulder.

There's no need to be in such a hurry.

Caesar chuckled, looked up at the sky, took a deep breath, and shouted, "It's up to you, Luo!"

"ROOM!!"

(End of this chapter)