Arceus's Pirate Journey

Chapter 1097: Chapter 1085: Kuzan-san, West Xi Dancer Wei Junjie

All the hair on Queen’s body stood on end. He’d just come out to check on his own business, and Kuzan randomly popped up in his line of sight—how could he possibly not be nervous.

”Damn it, who’s been in charge of perimeter security lately?! I’m gonna let him experience what a pitch‑black, never‑ending mining life really means!”

Letting someone like that walk into somewhere like this—no doubt that was a total failure of the outer guards. Such a huge penguin walking a Kuzan over here without being spotted? That’s way past a simple screw‑up.

But there wasn’t much they could do about it. This was someone the young lady of the house had personally brought back—of course they couldn’t interfere. Because it involved Yamato, the reporting Level had been bumped up all the way to Arceus and Kaidou. Queen, who’d been out farming, naturally had no idea any of this had happened.

”Hey hey, I’m not here to fight. If anything, it’s your young lady who brought me over.”

Looking at the utterly on‑edge Queen, Kuzan didn’t say much. He just raised his hands slightly to show he meant no harm—but Queen didn’t relax in the slightest.

Hands up looked like surrender on the surface, but with someone like Kuzan, it’s all just for show. If he wanted to, he could flip into combat mode in under a second.

”Uncle Queen, don’t be so nervous. He’s the newbie I recruited. You’re gonna be coworkers from now on. I talked to my foster dad, and he agreed to let me bring Kuzan into Ghost Island.”

Yamato walked over completely calm, patting Queen’s belly to tell him there was no need to panic.

”No, wait, my lady, could you maybe check what kind of person you just recruited?! That guy’s an Admiral of the Navy. Okay, ex‑Admiral, but there’s no way someone like that sincerely joins us. You’re literally inviting a wolf into the house!”

Queen stowed his weapons, but his mood got even more complicated. An enemy you can at least keep outside the door—once they turn into your own people, life becomes unlivable.

”I know, but people can change. Besides, didn’t my foster father always say, even if someone’s an undercover, before he makes his move you can still squeeze every bit of value out of him?”

The two hadn’t even gotten to the point of loudly conspiring yet, and Kuzan off to the side hadn’t heard a word they were saying. He was just laying down a little path by the sea and playing with his penguin. That completely unguarded posture made Queen’s vigilance drop by maybe one‑thousandth.

”So... you knew he might be an undercover, and you still recruited him?”

Kuzan and Sakazuki had been comrades for decades, and they’d gone this far fighting over the Marshal’s position—Queen just couldn’t wrap his head around it. King and Shaina had wanted to kill him outright at first, but now at most they just beat him up.

In Queen’s understanding, there had to be some bigger secret behind Kuzan leaving.

”Yup. And I even told him this was a great chance to capture you alive. If he really is an undercover, he’s gotta seize this opportunity, right?”

Ka‑crack...

The sound of petrification came from Queen again. Yamato’s thought process in that moment seemed to have ascended right up to Kaidou’s level.

Arceus’s actions still had some logic to them. Usually when Arceus made a decision, Queen could piece together the cause and effect. Kaidou was the only one he couldn’t read—Kaidou just did whatever he felt like, and whatever he’d do next was a complete uncontrollable factor.

Now Yamato had inherited Kaidou’s style, and in Queen’s eyes she’d become just as unfathomable.

”W‑why?”

”Why? Because over a year ago some bastard tried to die together with me during the Summit War. So who was that person, Uncle Que‑en?”

”You still haven’t forgotten something that long ago...”

”Sometimes I hold a pretty serious grudge, you know. If Father hadn’t been acting all weird lately, he should’ve dragged me off for sparring a long time ago. I don’t forget stuff like that so easily.”

Yamato usually didn’t hold grudges—unless it involved Kaidou.

”But you don’t have to worry, Uncle Queen. Believe in yourself. Sakazuki didn’t manage to take you out back then, and Kuzan got beaten by Sakazuki. Round it off a little, doesn’t that make him less scary?”

”How is that the same thing?! We had Zeraora back then, and that place wasn’t Ghost Island either!”

When he wasn’t high off Mochi Red Bean Soup, Queen would never overestimate his own strength. No matter how you slice it, this whole situation was way too dangerous.

”Stay calm, stay calm. You’ve gotten stronger too, Uncle Queen.”

”So you recruited him just to persecute me?!”

”Of course not. Uncle Queen, you’re giving yourself way too much credit. I want to use him to draw that bastard old man’s attention. You’re not qualified to be a target anymore. This new guy should still be of some use.”

[Giving yourself way too much credit]

[Not qualified]

Two sharp blades skewered his heart. Queen’s inner self took a critical hit as well. Even though this whole thing wasn’t good news to begin with, he still felt like his status had dropped.

And right at that moment, Hawkins’s most recent divination resurfaced in Queen’s mind.

[Nothing is favorable, yet joy and worry are mixed; gloom will hang over your head for a long time.]

When gloom blocks the light, the temperature can drop. Being shrouded in gloom for a long time means you’ll feel bitter cold.

Queen’s demands were too high‑end. He kept trying to get Hawkins, a guy who only divined success rates, to divinate a more detailed future.

Because if you only count success rates, Queen’s future was always misfortune. So he needed Hawkins to change things.

With his limited ability, Hawkins couldn’t manage something like that, but there had been some progress.