The most courageous pirate hunter

A real fight.

Luffy might not be able to beat him.

He has lost far too much time.

"Jie Jie~"

"interesting."

Island of Gods.

Hermes sat in the head seat, looking at the intelligence report in his hand. He didn't seem to care about the news that Whitebeard had been rescued from Impel Down and had joined forces with Hades and others. If he hadn't encountered the teleportation fruit, he probably would have taken action against Whitebeard.

With the Teleportation Fruit in hand, the Tremor-Tremor Fruit loses its appeal.

"I never expected the Whitebeard Pirates and the remnants of the Roger Pirates to join forces!"

In the main hall.

The members of the Imperial Organization were enjoying a banquet; everyone was present except for Tesoro, who was in the Golden City.

"We have no choice but to join forces. Even if Whitebeard is rescued, he will be too old to live much longer."

"Hahaha~"

"The Beasts Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates have joined forces, the Whitebeard Pirates and the remnants of the Roger Pirates have teamed up, and the Navy has four more admirals. This era is getting more and more interesting!"

"I heard that some members of the Worst Generation also teamed up, but they were caught."

"What? Is everyone under so much pressure right now? Are they all joining forces?"

The group chattered amongst themselves, bursting into laughter from time to time.

Little did they know that the Emperor Organization was responsible for all of this, and every one of them was implicated. Countless people openly and secretly cursed and vilified the Emperor Organization.

It was a mixture of hatred and anger.

Without the imperial organization, the ocean wouldn't be so polluted.

"I'd like to see what kind of trouble Whitebeard and that old bastard Dark King can cause. Hody Jones, tomorrow you go and return Fire Fist Ace to the Whitebeard Pirates. Don't forget your reward."

Hermes could figure out why the two would join forces even with the soles of his feet.

It's nothing more than banding together for mutual support, nurturing Ace, and taking him down along the way. Originally, he planned to use Fire Fist Ace to plot against the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, but now there's no need for that anymore.

After I eat the teleportation fruit, I'll definitely feel lonely at the top, and my life will probably be quite solitary. So it's necessary to bring out a few clowns to have some fun.

We need to let those bastards like Rayleigh experience what despair truly means.

They dare to shit on his head, without even considering what he, Jormungandr, relies on to get by.

"Boss, I have a lot of ideas about the Logia-type Flame-Flame Fruit."

Lucci, who had been eating quietly, suddenly spoke, drawing everyone's attention, and Hermes was taken aback.

In his opinion, even dogs wouldn't eat the Flaming Fruit.

Nowadays, anyone with a little ability can create fire-based techniques, unless they develop the temperature of the Flame-Flame Fruit to a higher level. But it would be better to choose the Heat-Heat Fruit instead.

"The Flame-Flame Fruit is not suitable for you."

Hermes did not recommend that Lucci choose the Flame-Flame Fruit as his second Devil Fruit.

That's right.

After the experiment succeeded, Hermes had everyone select a second Devil Fruit. As the leader of a faction, one must know how to share; otherwise, how can one expect subordinates to be loyal and devoted to one's cause?

Hermes always had absolute confidence in suppressing everyone.

No matter how strong he becomes in the future, as long as he has the Teleportation Fruit, he will always be invincible. Just his mental manipulation alone is enough to annoy people to death.

Therefore, he was not afraid at all that Lucci and the others would eat a second Devil Fruit in the future.

“I don’t want to eat it; I want to give it to Hadori.”

Lucci currently has no intention of eating a second Devil Fruit; he just wants to find one for Hadori, and the Flame-Flame Fruit seems quite suitable.

"Cuckoo~"

Hadori, who was dining with Alpagachino and Van Gufried, looked up at Lucci with his little eyes blinking, and you could see the emotion in them.

"I must say, Hadori is quite suitable."

"It will definitely be very cool."

"Hahaha~"

Everyone else was laughing.

"Not now, because this has already damaged our reputation, but things might be different in the future."

Hermes said no problem.

But we can't attack Ace right now; we have to let him go first, even if we can catch him again later.

Lucci indicated that he understood Hermes' meaning and said nothing more.

Chapter 355 [Fire Fist Ace Returns]

Two days later.

On an island that the Whitebeard Pirates had reclaimed, Hody Jones, alone with Fire Fist Ace in hand, faced a group of legendary figures eyeing him with predatory intent, yet remained completely unmoved.

Arrogance was written all over their faces.

It could even be said that he was looking at Whitebeard, Rayleigh, and others with a sidelong glance.

It perfectly embodies the word "disdain".

"Ace."

Hody Jones's arrival with Ace was completely unexpected by Whitebeard, Rayleigh, and the others. It was so sudden, without any warning, that they had no idea what the King of Hunters was thinking.

If there wasn't some trickery involved, then why didn't they release Ace earlier?

It's important to know that the Marineford War happened a long time ago.

"Whitebeard, this is the target you wanted. Let's settle this with cash on delivery!"

Hody Jones tossed Ace at Whitebeard's feet like trash. Marco quickly called on his non-Devil Fruit users to untie Ace and carefully observed him to make sure that Ace was alive and kicking, and that he was mentally and physically normal.

However, his mouth was stuffed with a pair of smelly socks.

"Dad, Marco."

Ace was overjoyed and cried tears of joy when he saw everyone again.

"Just stay alive!"

Whitebeard breathed a sigh of relief. Although he didn't know what the King of Hunters was up to, he was relieved that Ace was back. Rayleigh, Jabba, and the others were also watching Ace.

Sure enough, they found the captain's shadow.

"Hahaha~"

"Whitebeard, the deal you made with the boss was that we would rescue Fire Fist, and the Whitebeard Pirates would pay 50 billion Berries and five Devil Fruits, and join forces to kill Sengoku."

Before we came, our boss said that since you didn't contribute to defeating Sengoku, your 5 billion Berries reward needs to be doubled to 10 billion, and you need 10 Devil Fruits instead of 5.

Hody Jones interrupted the tearful crowd and began making exorbitant demands to force Whitebeard to complete the deal.

"What."

"Ten billion?"

"Ten Devil Fruits, why don't you Monarchy Organization just steal them?"

Vista and the others' faces immediately darkened. The Hunter King had already broken his promise by dragging things out for so long, and now he was making exorbitant demands. Did he think they were easy targets?

The main problem is that the Whitebeard Pirates don't have any of these right now.

If it were before, there would still be a chance.

They are currently destitute.

They haven't even reclaimed their territory yet, and they lost a lot of things while on the run. They're dirt poor, practically bankrupt. Where are they going to find 100 billion and ten Devil Fruits?

Too much bullying.

"Whether you rob or extort, your Whitebeard Pirates must pay this reward, or we'll wipe you out!"

Hody Jones once again displayed his arrogance to the extreme, showing no fear of the Whitebeard Pirates suddenly attacking and killing him. As expected, Jozu and the others showed murderous intent in their eyes.

No one in the world has ever dared to threaten them like that.

Rayleigh, Jabba, and the others standing to the side also wore grim faces. As expected of the Monarchy organization, their tone was as arrogant and annoying as ever.

seriously.

It attracts too much hatred.

Even the kindest person would want to stab Hody Jones to death at this moment.

"Kula la~"