A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

Akainu pondered for a moment, then pulled a newspaper from the documents on the table and handed it to him: "This is yesterday's newspaper. You probably haven't read it yet, have you?"

Yesterday's newspaper?

Fire Mountain reached out and took the newspaper, then paused in surprise, because it contained the news that "Buggy beats up a Celestial Dragon, a mage helps him escape, and Kizaru captures Ace." He completely ignored the clash between the Straw Hat Pirates and Blackbeard.

"Admiral Borsalino captured 'Fire Fist' Ace, Whitebeard definitely won't let this go, so... is the Navy going to war with the Whitebeard Pirates?"

"Yes! It won't take more than half a month at most!"

Akainu pressed his hat down and said in a deep voice, "So we don't have much time left to stay here! If the war here isn't over within a week, we'll have to return empty-handed. After all, it will take time to reorganize these soldiers..."

"No wonder headquarters suddenly announced the withdrawal of troops yesterday, so that's why..."

Fire Mountain murmured something under his breath before turning his attention to the word 'mage' mentioned earlier: "Since two mages are involved, shouldn't the World Government consider this group as unstable elements that need to be eliminated?"

"That's exactly right!"

After a pause, Akainu asked again, "What do you think about this?"

Fire Mountain was taken aback, not expecting the other party to ask such a question, and couldn't help but think to himself: 'Strange, Sakazuki isn't the type to ask this kind of question...'

But soon he understood the meaning behind it: on the surface, the question was asking about his attitude towards the magicians, but in reality, it was testing his allegiance within the Navy.

In recent years, Akainu and Aokiji have had many disagreements about each other's styles of doing things. The former adheres to "absolute justice," while the latter adheres to "lazy justice," which has led to the division of the Marines into a hard-line hawk faction and a soft-line dove faction.

It's obvious to everyone that these two are candidates for future admiral of the navy.

Therefore, the opinions of elite vice admirals like him are very important in the election of the future admiral of the navy!

Returning to the present, this newspaper indicates that the World Government's next charge against the mages is "aiding the escape of criminals who attacked the Celestial Dragons." It is estimated that they will soon receive orders to "indiscriminately arrest and bring to justice the entire group of mages."

Although neither the hawks nor the doves in the Navy have a good impression of the Celestial Dragons and secretly applaud the actions of the mages, and may even drink with them in private, their approaches will differ if they actually encounter them. The hawks will obey orders to capture them, while the doves are likely to let them go or simply ignore orders.

So when Akainu asks about the attitude of Mount Kasakatsu towards the mages, he's essentially asking whether Mount Kasakatsu supports him or Aokiji.

Being a lieutenant general is really not easy; even a simple question from the superior can be a trap…

Huo Shaoshan thought to himself, took a deep drag on his cigar, and said with his smile unchanged, "This question is really difficult for me..."

Upon hearing this, Akainu knew Fire Mountain's stance—this guy was on Borsalino's side!

"You can go out now..."

Just then, a soldier rushed in.

"Report!! The Big Mom Pirates and the Beasts Pirates have moved out!!!"

Chapter 925 The War Begins! Tower Defense Game Level 1: Spell Trap!

Under the command of Kaido and Big Mom, a pirate alliance fleet of 2 men surrounded Whole Cake Island, and then a cannon shot rang out, marking the start of the battle.

The Beasts Pirates split into three teams. Two of the teams were led by King the Wildfire and Jack the Drought, respectively, and included the Flying Six and several other members, with a total of about 4000 people. They attacked Whole Cake Island from the northeast and northwest with a "double-wing" attack. Kaido himself led the remaining 2000 pirates and attacked from the due north.

The Big Mom Pirates were divided into five divisions. Four of these divisions were led by the "Sweet Commanders" and included several ministers, with a total of over 2000 members. They attacked Whole Cake Island from the east, southeast, south, and southwest directions, while Big Mom herself led 2000 pirates in an attack from the west.

"Men, charge!!"

"Oh oh oh!!!"

"Kill them!"

"Kill them all! Kill them all!!!"

From eight directions, 2 men, with fierce and menacing faces, brandishing knives and guns, charged toward the warm and peaceful Cake Island. Shouts filled the air, and cannon fire flew everywhere.

But soon, the pirates realized something was wrong. Whole Cake Island, which should have had tens of thousands of residents, was now completely deserted!

In an instant, the guns and cannons stopped firing, the swords ceased being swung, and the shouts gradually subsided.

At this moment, in the large castle in the center of the island, a group of mages had gathered around the magical sand table projected by the 'Eye of Exploration', discussing the battle plan for the upcoming battle.

"They've already started their attack!"

Sitting on the throne, Eileen asked, "Have all the irrelevant people been moved out?"

"Don't worry, there are only two kinds of people on the island now: pirates and mages!" Kira smiled faintly.

The war is between pirates and mages, so ordinary people shouldn't be involved. Therefore, they had prepared to send unrelated people away from Whole Cake Island long ago.

So how do we transfer them? Through spatial magic, of course!

Use your magical perception to locate all the humans on the island who have no magical power, then cast 'spatial teleportation' on them to transfer them to a small island on the border of the Torant Sea.

With confirmation, Eileen nodded in satisfaction: "Then let's begin, the first line of defense for Whole Cake Island!"

“I understand!” Philid responded, activating the magic power within his body and simultaneously launching the more than three thousand spell traps that he had spent a day carving on the island!

Suddenly, countless invisible purple cages appeared across the entire Whole Cake Island, followed by the emergence of text—

"You may leave when only one person remains who can move! Current number of people: XXX"

Inside the castle, Gray peered through the window at the rising purple spells outside and couldn't help but exclaim, "This kind of magic is truly a weapon of war!"

Philid remained modest: "It's also thanks to the fact that there are no humans or demons in this world capable of using magic barrier particles!"

On Whole Cake Island, numerous pirates stared in astonishment at the purple, transparent barrier that had risen around them: "What is that??"

"Only one person can leave?? Are you kidding me?!" A rough-looking, minor pirate shouted, raising his hundred-forged sword and slashing down hard at the magical barrier...

clang!!!

A powerful recoil emanated from the barrier beneath the blade, causing the minor pirate to stagger back several steps. His hundred-forged sword flew out of his hand and crashed to the ground with a clatter.

"This barrier is so hard!!" The minor pirate looked shocked and immediately abandoned his contempt.

"Hey, hey, hey... are you serious? You can't even see through this??"

"Tch! Try it if you dare! You'll be the one who succeeds if you can even break it!"

"Let's give it a try!!"

Clang! Bang!

"Huh?! How could this be...?!"

"Heh, you're laughing at me? You're no different!"

"Stop...stop talking! I just twisted my wrist...it hurts!!"

"Are you an idiot?! You can't even control this much force?! I just can't do anything with you~ Let me see..."

"Those two are disgusting... I don't want to be with them for even a second longer!!"

A similar situation (referring to the inability to break through the spell barrier) occurs within every spell trap on Whole Cake Island, which cannot be destroyed by swords, guns, or cannons!

The two pirate crews encountered their first obstacle less than five minutes after landing on the island.

"What is this thing? Could it be a Barrier-Barrier Fruit?!"

"I don't recall the Barrier-Barrier Fruit having this kind of ability..."

"No, neither cutting with a knife nor shooting with a gun can break through this barrier!"

After repeated attempts failed, one of the Beasts Pirates' underlings had no choice but to seek help from the squad leader.

"Get out of the way, let me do it!"

A small captain leading a hundred pirates strode forward, imbuing his blade with Armament Haki, and slashed forcefully at the eerie purple barrier before him...

Yet it felt as if it were nothing to be touched!

"Huh?! I can come over here?? Could it be that..."

The squad leader thought for a moment, then walked back into the spell, removed the Armament Haki from his sword, and slashed down again. This time, the barrier didn't budge. He added Armament Haki a third time, but the result was the same as the first time.

"It seems I can freely pass through this barrier as long as I use Armament Haki. It's alright..."

The extras looked troubled: "But Captain, we don't know Armament Haki!!"

"Oh no! I completely forgot about that..." The squad leader looked embarrassed, but quickly realized that it wasn't his fault, so why should he be embarrassed?

Then, after a moment's thought, he immediately started yelling at his underlings: "I told you to train hard all the time, but you wouldn't listen! Now you're useless at this crucial moment. How are you going to survive in the pirate crew?! What am I supposed to say on your behalf when the bosses blame us later?!"

The group of extras were meek and dared not utter a sound, silently accepting the scolding with their heads down.

After cursing for a while, the squad leader finally stopped, panting heavily, and said with feigned helplessness, "Brother Jack gave the order to attack, and I can't disobey! There's no other way, I have to go first!"

"Listen up, all of you! I'm leaving now! You only have two choices: either master Armament Haki right now, or fight to the death as instructed, until only one of you is left to emerge!"

After saying that, the squad leader didn't turn around and walked into the depths of Cake Island on his own, his eyes filled with greed.

Before the battle, Jack told them that Kaido's original words were, "Whole Cake Island is full of treasures. Whatever we take in this operation is ours."

The remaining extras looked at each other, completely bewildered.

"No way?! Are you telling us to kill each other?! There are dozens of people here!!"

"It's absurd that they fought their own people before even defeating the enemy!"

"Exactly...only a fool would do that!"

"But we can't just sit here and wait, or the big brothers will settle scores with us after the battle, right?"

"How about... we give it a try? It says here that only one person can leave, which probably means that as long as the others are temporarily incapacitated, it's fine?"

"This... alright, then we'll... ugh!! You actually attacked me from behind?!"

"Didn't you just agree?"

……

"Those who know Armament Haki can pass, but those who don't can't?"

"What's the underlying principle? Is it some kind of Devil Fruit power? How can it be so strange?"

"Wouldn't this divide our forces?!"

"Katakuri-nii, didn't you see this trap before?"

"I saw it, but did you have time to react? If I jump away by myself, who will lead you out of a trap of unknown danger?"

Everyone was stunned. They knew that their brother, this cadre, had chosen to stay in order to protect them.

Although in terms of the outcome, it doesn't matter whether he stays or not, it's still different in their hearts whether they did it or not, whether they stayed or not!