Chapter 800: Chapter 800: Junior Brother?!

Holy Land, Mariejois.

Inside the palace of the Gorosei.

"Oi, oi, oi... what is this? Why can’t I understand a single word you’re saying?"

In the center of the grand hall, Aeridar stood with an expression of blatant impatience.

"Stop playing the fool, Aeridar!"

"Still trying to talk your way out of this... these pointless quibbles are meaningless!"

"You have crossed the line, you bastard!"

The Five Elders shouted one after another, glaring at the man before them.

"Heh... the line?" Aeridar sneered, his eyes filled with mockery. Politicians have a ’line’? How utterly ridiculous!

"What’s with that look on your face?" the blond Elder barked.

"Remember your place! You are nothing more than a mere pirate! We can revoke the Clifford Kingdom’s status as a member of the World Government at any moment! We can deny the very existence of the World Neutral Zone!" the Elder with the scimitar-shaped mustache threatened.

"We could even accept you killing ’those’ people," the Elder with the curly hair said, his voice dropping an octave. "But we will not allow them to defect to a pirate. Hand over Zephyr and his lot!"

"This world is still under our rule," the Elder with the long, straight beard added calmly. "Even a pirate must learn his limits."

"Enough with the useless posturing!" Aeridar waved a hand dismissively. "Do I look like some small-time rookie who’s never seen the world? You think a few words from you lot are going to scare me?"

The Gorosei’s faces twisted in rage as they locked their gazes on him.

"You bastards have gotten too used to looking down on everyone, haven’t you? Do you truly believe you can cover the sky with a single hand?" Aeridar scanned the five of them with contempt. "Compared to you, even the ’Evilest Pirate’ looks like a saint! I won’t be handing my comrades over to you. If the world has no room for them, the Chris Pirates do!"

"Hand over Zephyr’s group... no, let us take one step back. Just hand over Zephyr himself!" the blonde Elder hissed, his tone icy. "Chris T. Aeridar, this is your final warning!"

The atmosphere in the hall grew heavy and suffocating as the Five Elders loomed like predators. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"Warning?" Aeridar chuckled, then his face contorted into a snarl. "Stop threatening me. I can make the Marines and CP agents thrive in the New World, or I can make every step you take a nightmare! If you want to turn against me, make sure you can afford the price first!

"You... have no jurisdiction over the internal affairs of the Chris Pirates! And please, remember your own status as well, Gorosei!"

As the threat left Aeridar’s mouth, the Elders’ faces turned ashen. They desperately wanted to snap back and declare war, but they knew that doing so would only push Aeridar fully into the pirate camp.

If he were to use his technological breakthroughs to fully support the Yonko or the revolutionaries, it would be a waking nightmare for the World Government. Imagine the Marines facing an army of enhanced warriors with power levels over 100, or the Pacifistas being countered by the Chris Pirates’ Dragonians.

With the Float-Float Fruit’s power, the Chris Pirates could sit high above the clouds, invincible and untouchable, watching the world fall into utter chaos. It would be a madness far surpassing the dawn of the Great Pirate Era!

The Five Elders felt a suffocating sense of frustration. Since when could a mere pirate hold the World Government by the throat? What stung more was the realization that they were responsible for his meteoric rise! If they hadn’t allowed him to seize a kingdom and join the World Government, this man wouldn’t have become a headache more troublesome than the Four Emperors combined.

"There are many in this world who call themselves ’Gods.’ Guess what? I wonder if I’d like to be one too? Hahahaha!" Aeridar gave the five of them a meaningful look and let out a manic laugh.

He turned on his heel and strode toward the exit.

"I don’t have time for these boring little games of yours. If you want to do something, bring it on! And tell that bastard Sakazuki, if he’s got the guts, he can come find Zephyr himself!"

His arrogant laughter echoed through the palace, leaving the Five Elders trembling with fury.

...

Punk Hazard, Outside the Research Institute.

Over a hundred G-5 Marines were bound in chains. Above them hung a massive cage forged from Seastone. Smoker, Tashigi, and the Straw Hat crew were all locked inside, bound by Seastone shackles.

Among them was a bizarre individual whose head was fused directly to a pair of legs, a literal personification of "legs all the way up to the neck."

"Ahhh! My lower half is back! Haha!" the strange man (Kin’emon’s torso/legs) cried out in joy, pacing back and forth inside the cage.

"Foot-maru... my back-legs!" Even though he was weakened by the Seastone, Luffy managed to sound deeply depressed.

"I keep telling you, there’s no such creature!" Usopp barked, before whining, "We have to find a way out! I’m freezing to death!"

"How nostalgic... locked in a cage with you guys again," Robin giggled, recalling their past adventures.

"Yeah, yeah!" Luffy snapped out of his funk and looked at the nearby Smoker with a grin. "Hey, Smokey! You and I were caught by these guys back in Alabasta too, right?"

"Hmph." Smoker clicked his tongue in annoyance. Being caught twice in a row with this brat was incredibly embarrassing.

"This sucks. I was in the middle of a good fight when it was cut short by some nonsense," Zoro muttered, narrowing his eyes as he replayed the duel in his mind.

"They even took my cigarettes!" Sanji, whose limbs were all chained, shook his head and looked mournfully at his empty suit pocket.

As the group fully regained consciousness, the gravity of their situation set in.

"What exactly happened? How were we all locked up in an instant?" Nami struggled against her chains, but they wouldn’t budge.

"It’s super weird!" Franky exclaimed, looking around at everyone in the cage.

"It must have been some kind of anesthetic drug. The effect was incredibly potent to knock us all out like that," Chopper hypothesized.

"I think so. I saw that doctor, Jason, take out two glass tubes and smash them together!" Brook added, piecing together his final memories before the blackout.

"Are you kidding? How can there be a sedative that powerful?" Nami asked, terrified. To knock out people like Luffy and Zoro instantly in a blizzard... it was monstrous.

"He’s amazing!" Luffy said, genuinely impressed.

"That settles it," Smoker said grimly. "Asa Jason is a top-tier physician from the medical powerhouse, Drum Kingdom. If it’s him, it makes sense."

"DRUM KINGDOM?!"

At the mention of the familiar name, the Straw Hats’ eyes went wide, and everyone turned to look at Chopper.

"Asa Jason! I remember that name!" Chopper squealed. "Dr. Kureha used to talk about him! She said he was the most talented doctor in Drum Kingdom. She even mentioned that he once spent time studying under her!"

"Wait, doesn’t that mean Chopper is like that Jason guy’s junior brother?" Usopp realized.

"Junior brother?!"

Smoker and Tashigi turned their heads in shock, staring blankly at the "tanuki" before them.

Jason’s junior brother... is a raccoon dog?!