Chapter 402: Dark Fruit
Anne and Mary had almost no trust in Midnight. This man was very strong in a fight, and he didn't mind using some underhanded tactics such as taking hostages, pretending to be a shipwreck, and even fighting his own people as bait.
Although those 'strategies' were said to have come from the 'chief of staff' Alifu - yes, chief of staff, it was said that he often compared himself to Vice Admiral Tsuru, who was known as the chief of staff at the headquarters of the Navy.
Since he could let such a person become his advisor, it meant that Midnight was not a pirate who valued morality. Although Anne and Mary cursed Midnight as a disgrace and scum among pirates, they also knew that such a person should be called a real pirate.
"I'm serious." Midnight said, "They are the ones who defeated Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. There was also a record of eight people killing hundreds of people. I'm not talking about those rubbish from the Weakest Sea, but Crocodile's men. You are not so arrogant as to think that you can beat them with just 500 men under your command, right?"
Anne and Mary frowned. The battle between the Red Hair Pirates and the Five Peaks Pirates a few days ago taught them that when facing a strong enemy, even if they have a hundred times the number of people, they cannot gain a complete advantage.
Although they believed that they and their officers were very strong, they also knew that there was still a gap compared to the likes of the Amber Tour Group.
It is definitely not an option to just run away. This is their territory. No pirate would give up their territory easily. Wouldn't that make them just like those cowards they usually insult?
But if we fight, even if we risk the lives of all 500 people in the group, we are not completely sure of success. Alliance with the Midnight Pirates is a way out, but the only problem is...
"Why should we trust you?" Anne felt that with Midnight's style, he might attack them right after they formed an alliance.
"Because you are unwilling to just run away, and you are not sure you can defeat them, and it happens that we are the same." Midnight stretched out a hand, "Our fleet of four large ships and five small ships has been dispatched. If you agree now, we still have time to besiege them at sea."
Mary questioned, "Since the fleet is dispatched, why are all your officers here?"
"It would be nice to have a helmsman and a gunner for that kind of thing. Except for Alifu, all five of us are people with special abilities. It's not a wise choice to participate in that kind of naval battle." Midnight said, "Facing that group of people, no matter how big the ship is, it may be sunk at any time. The naval battle is just to consume their strength as much as possible. Our plan is to ambush the rest of them on the island with you!"
Anne kicked over a stool and demanded, "Do you want us to abandon our companions who participated in the naval battle like you did?"
"Don't be so heartless. My men volunteered to participate. I promised them that if they could hit a target with a cannon, the gunner and helmsman would be rewarded with 10 million berries. If they could kill a person, they would be promoted to officers immediately!" Midnight laughed. "The wealth and status are there. If you are a pirate, you should fight for it! What? Are all your men cowards?"
There was some commotion among the ordinary members of the AM Pirates in the tavern. After a moment, someone shouted, "Big Sister, let us go!"
"Even without the reward, we can still defeat that group!"
"That's right, we don't want to be looked down upon by this guy!"
"Are you idiots? That guy said that on purpose! The Amber Tour Group can't be killed so easily!" Mary raised her gun, wanting to punch Midnight's face into a hornet's nest.
Midnight smiled complacently. He said that on purpose. Anyway, all the checks he had issued were blank checks, and it was hard to say whether those people could come back alive.
Even if he really killed a few people and came back, it would be a huge profit for him. He had already gambled all nine ships, so what else could he lack? The hot-blooded idiot was really useful.
Kate stood up and said, "It's okay, big sister. We know this battle is very dangerous, but we have to fight anyway, so it doesn't matter if we test their level first. Maybe those guys are not qualified to fight with you, big sister?"
Ketebi agreed, "That's right. Although we brothers are no match for the big sister in arm wrestling, we will never lose to anyone in commanding a naval battle!"
Anne and Mary gritted their teeth and looked at each other. They knew their companions' tempers well. Since they said so, they must have thought it through. Besides, they really had no better choice. Anne reached out and high-fived Midnight: "If you dare to play tricks, I won't let you go!"
“Ka-ka-ka, happy cooperation!”
Anne ordered: "Go ahead if you are not afraid of death. All matters concerning the naval battle shall be handled by Brother Abby!"
"Yes!" The pirates rushed out of the tavern.
Since they had already decided to cooperate, Annie didn't hesitate and asked directly, "Tell me, what are we going to do next? You're not going to let us fight to our death first, are you?"
Midnight said, "Of course not, but before that, Buu Dogg!"
"Woof!" Buu Dogg immediately transformed into a bulldog as tall as a man, with its sharp canine teeth sticking out of its upper lip and its smelly saliva dripping onto the floor.
After the transformation, he did not attack, but moved his nose and barked in one direction of the tavern: "Grrrrr...Woof woof woof!"
Anne immediately understood what the other party meant. She dialed a Den Den Mushi and said, "Princess, come in first."
The members of the AM Pirates were not surprised by Precious's presence. With the reliability of their own sniper, he would definitely notice these people coming over in a swagger, and then, worried about the safety of his companions, he would stare at them from a position suitable for sniping.
To be honest, if it weren't for this dog, after so many battles between the two sides, with Precious's sniping and stealth talents, several of the Midnight Pirates' cadres would have been killed.
After a while, Precious quietly walked into the tavern and said as he passed by Buu Dogg: "An annoying ability."
"Woof, I personally like it very much." Buu Dogg kept his nose pointed at him.
"Now that everyone is here, let's continue talking about our plan." Midnight slapped a newspaper on the table and said, "First, take a look at this. This is all the information we have collected about the Amber Travel Group."
Anne and Mary took a look at it. They had also seen this newspaper before. It was an exclusive interview with the Amber Travel Group by the World Economic News Agency after the Crocodile incident.
In addition to the original photos and articles, this newspaper also has additional annotations, including the approximate abilities and achievements demonstrated by each person.
"The reason why this Amber Travel Group is so difficult to deal with is largely because of their mysterious abilities," Midnight said. "According to the newspapers a while ago, and the information we have heard from various sources, almost all members of the Amber Travel Group are extremely powerful!"
"For example, he can take out a folding stool out of thin air, change his armor instantly, spit out a tornado from his mouth, create explosive fire at will, and even one of the two pet cats has the ability to fly."
"Right now, the only ones who are confirmed to have no abilities are the swordsman named Rui Mengmeng, the robot fishman named Shark Chili, and the pet cat named Tom."
The reason why Tom is believed to be not a person with special abilities is because this information came from Diamante. When he was selling the information about the Amber Tour Group at the instruction of Doflamingo, he particularly emphasized that the cat was just an ordinary pet cat.
He was defeated by Altria, a swordsman who could fight Hawkeye, and also by the sneak attack of the gong-beating ability user. It had nothing to do with cats or anything like that...
"I'm glad you got such detailed information." Annie said, "So half of each side? Which ones can you deal with?"
"You misunderstood. The only ones you need to deal with are the swordsman Rui Mengmeng and the robot fishman Shark Chili." Midnight smiled confidently, with black smoke coming out of his body. "Leave the rest of the ability users to us!"
Mary said angrily, "Are you looking down on us, or are you kidding me?"
“Ka-ka-ka…” Midnight raised his right hand, black smoke came out of his palm, and said with a smile, “You haven’t forgotten this move, have you?”
"Ah!" Fazhi screamed and her body flew towards Midnight uncontrollably, but when she hit Mary's back, Midnight stopped his ability.
Mary hugged Fazhi and gently put her down. Of course, she did not forget that every time this guy activated his ability during a battle, Fazhi would be attracted over. That was why she protected Fazhi behind her as soon as she saw Midnight.
Annie was shocked and said, "Isn't this move of yours aimed at people with special abilities?"
She was now somewhat glad that there was only one person with special abilities in her team, otherwise they would have been doomed long ago.
"That's right, I'm the user of the Dark-Dark Fruit, the nemesis of all other Devil Fruit users!" Midnight opened his arms, "What Amber Tour Group? The most dangerous thing for us is the robot fishman who can use fishman jutsu, and the female swordsman with great destructive power!"
In fact, when Midnight first obtained the ability of the Dark-Dark Fruit, he was a little disappointed, because although it was a nature-type fruit, he could not use elementalization to avoid attacks, and the pain when he was hurt was even more intense than before. In addition, when he used the black smoke to attack others, there was no destructive power. For a time, he thought he had eaten the worst fruit.
After all, not everyone has the opportunity to see the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia like Blackbeard, so Midnight can only explore and develop his abilities on his own.
Fortunately, by chance, he discovered that he could actually suck other people with special abilities over to him, and when his hands touched the other person, his abilities would become ineffective!
So, Midnight decided to form a pirate group with all the backbones being people with special abilities. When the information about the Amber Travel Group was revealed, Midnight had a bold idea - to use his own abilities to recruit the Amber Travel Group and then become the world's leading pirate group!
His target has never been just Gaya Island, but the big pirates like the recently emerged Sea Emperor, or even - the Pirate King!
The cadres of the Midnight Pirates cooperated with the captain and smiled. Some of them had followed Midnight for a long time, while others were defeated. But no matter what, they now had great faith in their captain, who was able to restrain the abilities of all ability users. The captain would rule this sea one day!
The members of the AM Pirate Group were shocked. How could there be such a terrifying ability in the world? No wonder Fuori was unable to fight back in front of him, even though her Gummy Candy ability was also very strong.
Fazhi can turn into gummy candy to stick to the enemy's weapons and fists, and can also temporarily harden the gummy candy on her body to turn it into weapons of various shapes. It can be said that she has both offensive and defensive capabilities. The only drawback is that the candy she makes tastes very bad.
At this time, Fazhi hid behind Mary and almost cried. How could there be such a shameless ability of the Dark Dark Fruit in the world? She couldn't help but ask, "Then you don't have any weaknesses?"
“Kakaka…” Midnight laughed. “Although we have formed an alliance, it’s not yet to the point where we can casually reveal our weaknesses, right? But if Sister Fazhi is willing to join us, I will consider telling you.”
"By the way, even though you four don't have any abilities, I admire you guys very much. If you're willing to join, I'd have no problem finding you a few devil fruits in the future."
Anne put the scimitar back into the scabbard and said coldly: "Enough, you should wait until you win before saying such things!"
"How cold." Midnight waved his hand, "Ailifu, you arrange the next specific action plan."
"Yes, Captain." Alifu took out a map of Gaya Island, spread it on the table, and explained in detail the battlefield he had selected and the response methods for each opponent based on the intelligence.
Alifu was full of confidence. This was the combat meeting with the most information he had ever experienced. With such detailed information, their chances of winning could be increased by at least 30%!
…
At this time, the Amber was located not far from Gaya Island. In order to allow the two pirate ships to return to their nest smoothly, Zhang Da did not dare to chase them seriously. He just fired a few shots out of range to put some pressure on them.
Thanks to the Midnight Pirates' quick response, they successfully sent a fleet to meet them before Zhang Daiya and his men arrived at Gaya Island.
"Oh no, we are surrounded!" Vivi looked at the large and small pirate ships around her and was a little panicked for a moment.
"Quack!" Kalu had never seen such a big scene and was frightened.
The others were very calm. Zhang Da also comforted them, "Don't panic, Weiwei. You have to remember one thing. Encirclement is not just about position, but also about strength. The current situation is that they are surrounded by us."
"Is... is that so?" Weiwei blinked, wondering if she had not learned the universal language well, so she had misunderstood the word "surround".
Perona rarely agreed with Zhang Daye's statement: "Yes, we have always been like this. Last time in the East China Sea, ten of us surrounded the other side's two thousand!"
She put her hands on her hips, and the words "I'm so awesome" were almost written on her face. Although she was the person with the lowest output in the team, her nose was the highest.
"So awesome!" Vivi did not disappoint Perona and praised her with admiration on her face.
