"Hurry up, all of you! Why are you dawdling? If you want to join my crew, show me your skills!"
On a hastily built high platform, Queen impatiently ordered the pirates below.
Ever since that fight with Akainu, his paranoia hadn't been cured, but at least had improved. He still dared to go out when there were orders.
Now his job was to select new members for the main crew. The Sea Emperor's great ship group usually had a large number of people, but the main crew and the affiliate forces were two different concepts.
Take Whitebeard, for example. The Whitebeard Pirates' main crew is divided into sixteen teams, with a total of 1600 people, but the entire Whitebeard Pirates combined have a total of 50,000.
War doesn't just burn money. In a world where personal strength can change the course of a war, apart from the number of troops, the quality becomes extremely important too.
The difference between the outer members of the Hundred Beasts and the main crew members is worlds apart. The outer members have to pass the initial "screening" before they qualify to join the main crew.
In the past, the evaluation of strength was usually the responsibility of the main crew members, but with the expansion speed of the Hundred Beasts, the evaluation method also changed.
"This island is a special island created by Lord Arceus with his abilities. The fact that you are here means you've passed the initial test, but to join the main crew, there is one final trial: to endure on this island for three days!
I don't care how you manage it, as long as you can obtain the Thousand Cosmos Bracelet from the inspector and reach the other end of the island standing after three days, you will have passed the trial."
Queen began narrating the joining rules through his megaphone, looking at those overconfident newcomers, he then poured a bucket of cold water on them.
"Don't be so naive, this time only half of the participants will pass, regardless of how many are left, only half of you can be selected, and the inspectors on this island are quite special. You better hope you can endure smoothly.
A tip from Lord Queen, this test is about your strength, but strength isn't everything. If you're lucky, you might find shortcuts too."
"Lord Queen! Could you explain more clearly? What exactly are these shortcuts?"
"Hmm? It wouldn't be any fun if I told you. Now, all of you get in there and take the test!"
He was originally explaining the rules, but Queen suddenly threw away his megaphone, then grabbed a revolver machine gun and left a row of bullet holes at the pirates' feet below.
The dense gunfire startled the birds in the forest, also notifying the inspectors that the participants had arrived.
As soon as they entered the forests, these people started fighting among themselves. To them, passing through an island wasn't difficult, it was just the numbers holding them back, so they wanted to deal with competition while still full of energy.
Some made different choices, heading toward the destination early, constantly searching for the inspectors mentioned by Queen.
...
After the last person disappeared from his sight, Queen also erased the grin off his face, holding information on several people in his hands.
"Heh, these Navy guys really want to infiltrate everywhere, do they really think I don't know anything? Trying to persecute me? Maybe in their next life!"
Never doubt what someone with paranoia can do for their safety. Besides his own intelligence network, Queen also had various sources of rumors.
These Navy identities originally had no problem, but Doflamingo, to curry favor with this Hundred Beasts liaison, obtained some Navy information from Vergo's hands, ultimately exposing these personnel.
In fact, Queen deliberately let them onto this island. As a pirate crew, their tests were no child's play. Queen possessed a large number of death quotas, making them disappear reasonably wasn't difficult for him at all.
"Let me see where those guys have run off to."
Before entering the island, Queen issued them the so-called distress signal guns, which could be used to forfeit the test, but some of the signal guns were equipped with locators and given to those undercover agents, and now he had begun his clearing operation.
But when he looked at the locator, he found some signals had already disappeared.
Queen had considerable confidence in his technology. In his view, these Navy couldn't possibly find any flaws. The only possibility for a signal disappearance was external destruction.
The only ones who would do such a thing were the Pokemon on this island.
"As expected of the creatures created by Lord Arceus, they sure act fast."
Those locators also had a special scent, undetectable by humans, but Pokemon could perceive this signal marking attack targets.
...
"Roar!"
A dragon-like Pokemon spewed flames from its mouth, destroying the enemy before it, then stomped on and shattered the signal gun that had fallen to the ground. Afterwards, it spread its wings and flew back to the nest at the center of the island.
It looks like a dragon, has "dragon" in its name, but doesn't have a dragon attribute. It's one of the trusted Pokemon of a certain Flying Type master, the ultimate evolution of the first-generation Fire Attribute Three Starter - the Charizard.
At this moment, even several Charizards could be seen flying around in the sky.
Their orange dragon skin resembled the combination of Western dragons and dinosaurs, their sharp claws carried considerable intimidation, and the flame burned fiercely at the tip of their long, thick tails.
They were born around the same time as Dragonite, but were more numerous, and fought more frequently.
Compared to Dragonite, Charizards naturally had a more aggressive temperament and continuously sought powerful opponents in life to become stronger.
It's said that Charizards that have endured more fierce battles have accumulated combat experience that makes their flames hotter, increasing their flame's temperature.
After eliminating the ones marked as "special invaders," the flames on Charizard's tail also calmed down. To observe a Charizard's condition, the tail is an excellent option.
In battle, their tail flames burn more intensely, and if they really get angry, the flame at the tip of the tail burns with a blue-white flame.
Typically, the burning condition of the flame indicates the health state of a Charizard. If the tail flame extinguishes, it means the Charizard's life has come to an end.
At this moment, Queen flapped the wings behind him and flew over, looking at the situation below, he couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Muhahaha, this island feels pretty good, no wonder that guy King often trains here."
But his laughter didn't last long, as a large Charizard was flying toward him. According to the notes King left Queen before he left, that Charizard seemed to... consider him a challenge target.