Chat Group Escanor 24 (Patreon)

After a short while of digesting the information.

The Handsomest Old Guy: "Whoa! For real? That's amazing. It couldn't be a new enemy, could it? Jotaro, can you see this?"

In Joseph's world, Jotaro was probably saying something like "Good grief, old man, do you wanna get beat up?" or whatever. Either way, no one in the chat group could hear it.

Charcoal-selling Boy: "H-Hello, everyone. I am Kamado Tanjiro. Th-This is truly unbelievable. I was just on my way home after selling charcoal on the mountain when this suddenly appeared in my mind. Do different worlds really exist?"

Pride: "Doubts are normal. As for whether this Chat Group is real or fake, and whether different worlds exist, words alone are hardly convincing. But it doesn't matter. Once you stay here long enough or try publishing or taking on a task, you will naturally be able to verify it."

Uzumaki Naruto: "That's right! This Chat Group is super awesome! And Uncle Pride is super duper strong! He helped me out so much! If it weren't for him, I might still be... Uh, anyway, Uncle Pride is a super great guy. Even though he looks a bit scary sometimes, he's actually super nice. Dattebayo!"

Red-Hot Habanero: "Mm. Although Pride-san seems a bit cold on the outside, he is indeed a trustworthy powerhouse."

Joseph seemed quite open to supernatural phenomena other than Stands and started asking with great interest about power systems in other worlds.

Tanjiro mentioned that he still had work to do and wouldn't chat with everyone for much longer.

Escanor quietly watched the chat, taking occasional sips of cola. This peaceful cross-world interaction served as a decent pastime.

Joseph's world had interesting Hamon or Stand abilities worth studying, while Tanjiro's world had Demons and Breathing Styles.

Unfortunately, no events were happening. Even though these were clearly troublesome worlds, why wasn't there an opportunity for him to make an appearance?

Just as he was idly thinking about these things, pondering whether he should head to the Wooden Fortress's newly built bathhouse for a relaxing soak—

Absolute Justice: "Group Leader."

Escanor raised an eyebrow.

Akainu?

He had been lurking for a long time, almost never speaking up on his own. This time, he not only emerged, but mentioned him, the Group Leader?

Pride: "Oh? How rare. Is something up?"

Absolute Justice: "There is a matter on my side. I need your assistance."

Need my assistance?

Marineford where he was located could be considered one of the top armed organizations in that world. For him to feel the need for assistance, and even specifically seek out a Group Leader from another world...

Pride: "Unusual. It seems to be quite a big matter. What do you need me to do?"

Absolute Justice: "On my side, we are about to publicly execute the child of a criminal. I expect many troublesome fellows to come and attempt a rescue. I must ensure the execution goes off without a hitch. At that time, the top combat forces of the Marines will gather. But the more combat power, the better."

A public execution... the child of a criminal... many people attempting a rescue... top combat forces of the Marines gathering...

The Marineford War, huh?

Pride: "Your Marineford has its highest combat powers gathered in one place. The execution of a mere pirate requires cross-world assistance? You can't handle it yourselves?"

He wanted to know the specific weight of what Akainu called "needing backup".

During the Marineford War, the Marine forces should have been quite abundant, although that was viewed from the perspective of the Marines. After all, a lot of people were holding back.

Absolute Justice: "I myself am naturally fine with it. No matter how many small-fry pirates come, I will just burn them to ashes."

Absolute Justice: "But this time it's different. Intelligence confirms that out of the Four Emperors, at least three will come. I don't want the youngsters under my command to die prematurely without fulfilling their ambitions in the slightest."

The Four Emperors... at least three.

Uzumaki Naruto: "Four Emperors? What are those? They sound so amazing! Dattebayo!"

Escanor's attention was firmly captured by Akainu's words.

Three of the Four Emperors?

That's not right, is the script written like this?

He knew that the person Akainu was going to execute was Portgas D. Ace, the 2nd Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and the son of Pirate King Roger.

That Whitebeard would pour out his entire forces to rescue him was expected.

Pride: "How could there be three? Isn't the one you're executing Fire Fist Ace? What does that have to do with the other two?"

Although mentioned before, this sentence clearly showed that Escanor knew things about the world where Akainu was.

Akainu was evidently not surprised. Or rather, he had long realized from Escanor's outrageous intelligence-gathering ability that the other party indeed knew many "stories" about his world.

Absolute Justice: "It is him. You do indeed know some things, but it's not entirely correct either."

Akainu felt a tiny bit excited, this Pride indeed wasn't omniscient and omnipotent.

Absolute Justice: "Whitebeard will come, this is within our expectations, and we have made targeted deployments. But latest intelligence shows that Big Mom and Kaido are also on their way. The reason is unknown. The Marine intelligence network has confirmed that they have left their respective territories, and their fleets are uniformly pointing toward Marineford."

Escanor's brow furrowed slightly.

Big Mom and Kaido?

He couldn't figure it out—how could the two of them appear simultaneously on the battlefield of the Marineford War?

The butterfly effect?

Akainu joining the Chat Group might just be that butterfly.

Did the fact that he participated in the Nine-Tails Rebellion mission and contacted another world cause some deep disturbance to the destiny of this world?

Or perhaps, it was other more dangerous variables?

He was not a scholar, and couldn't be bothered to delve deeply into such profound theories of spacetime causality.

But he was clear on one point: change meant uncertainty, and uncertainty, in the upcoming large-scale war, usually meant trouble.

Forget it, I won't think about it. My super brain tells me that when encountering problems, using my super power is more than enough.

Pride: "Forget it, the reason doesn't matter. Since they are here, I'll just deal with them along the way."

Pride: "Alright. When it starts, just post the task, and I can set off at any time."

Pride: "Of course, I can't work for free."

This was a matter of principle. When the strong make a move, there must be a reward.

Akainu was clearly prepared long ago, replying without the slightest hesitation.

Absolute Justice: "Understood. The supplies you need, I can give you multiples of them. The Marines control the entire first half of the Grand Line and numerous affiliated countries. Food, fresh water, metal, medicine, and even Sea Stone and shells, as long as you list them, I'll approve it."

What use do I have for Sea Stone?

An Admiral, especially a pragmatic faction leader about to be promoted to Fleet Admiral, truly had startlingly large authority to mobilize resources. This promise carried full weight.

Escanor agreed with satisfaction.

Supplies were the foundation of establishing oneself in the apocalypse. And the price Akainu offered was enough to take the supply reserves of the Wooden Fortress to the next level.

Absolute Justice: "Also, you just need to come alone. The others... I feel like they wouldn't be able to help."

He didn't name names, but the meaning was obvious.

Naruto was too young and lacked strength.

Kushina was a mother, with a vastly different combat style and perhaps inconvenient to leave her world for long.

As for the two newcomers—one claiming to be a retired old man, the other a charcoal-selling boy—in his eyes, they were simply in a different dimension from this Emperor-level battle.

Naruto was somewhat unhappy upon seeing this line, muttering things like "who says I can't help", but didn't argue. He understood that his current strength couldn't compare to Uncle Pride at all.

Meanwhile, Joseph and Tanjiro were stunned and dumbfounded by this short yet explosive dialogue in terms of information volume.