"Isn't the result of this battle already obvious?"
Ever since Cyrus arrived, Stussy's eyes had remained fixed on him.
She had listened quietly while Cyrus and Morgans spoke, never interrupting them.
Now, however, she suddenly joined the conversation.
"Of course I know that," Morgans shot back without the slightest politeness. "But what I want is the exact result. News depends on timeliness, you know."
Morgans could naturally tell that Stussy was using this chance to enter the conversation.
Cyrus turned his gaze toward Stussy.
"Has the Mother Flame research succeeded?"
"It hasn't. But it's close."
Stussy froze for a moment, clearly not expecting Cyrus to ask about that directly, but she still answered honestly.
"Mother Flame? What is that?"
As the president of a newspaper, Morgans was every bit as sharp as any reporter under him.
If it was something Cyrus had specifically brought up, and something Morgans had never heard of before, then it was definitely not simple.
However, no one answered his question.
"Can Vegapunk break free from the World Government's control by himself?" Cyrus asked again.
"It will be very difficult. The World Government keeps an extremely tight watch over him. They call it protection, but in reality, it's surveillance. That said, he has indeed been relocating his research sites recently."
Stussy answered obediently.
"Unless you personally make a move, it's unlikely that he'll be able to escape the World Government's control in the short term."
"If I go, the World Government's reaction will be intense."
Cyrus shook his head directly.
Right now, his relationship with the World Government could almost be called a tacit understanding.
Although both sides were targeting each other, neither intended to completely escalate the conflict before they were ready.
The Mother Flame was extremely important to the World Government—or rather, to Imu.
To Imu, the Mother Flame might matter more than the entire World Government itself.
If Cyrus made a move personally, it could instantly intensify their conflict and create unknown consequences for his later plans.
However, once the Mother Flame was successfully created, Imu would have a terrifying weapon in hand.
"I need to know the progress of that thing's development. You should have a way to contact him," Cyrus said after thinking for a moment.
He did not need to act personally.
He had already told the Revolutionary Army about this matter before.
Dragon was surely paying close attention to it as well. Once they knew the progress, Cyrus could have Dragon handle it.
After all, the Revolutionary Army was already a thorn in the World Government's side.
"All right."
Stussy nodded.
Morgans had been listening quietly the entire time.
When Cyrus mentioned Vegapunk, an excited gleam clearly flashed in his eyes.
As he listened to the conversation between Cyrus and Stussy, Morgans secretly tried to guess the meaning hidden behind their words.
"Do not report this matter for now."
Cyrus turned to look at Morgans.
"This battle? Or what you were just discussing?"
Morgans froze and asked almost instinctively.
"Of course, what we were just discussing."
As Cyrus spoke, he turned his head and looked over the surrounding sea.
"All right."
Morgans nodded.
In any case, he had only half understood what they were saying.
As someone who worked in news, although he often produced sensational stories to catch people's attention, he also knew very well by now what could be said and what could not.
"You can report that Charlotte Linlin, the Golden Lion, and the other two were defeated by me this time," Cyrus said after withdrawing his gaze.
"That's perfect, of course! But there is one piece of news I think I should remind you about."
Morgans nodded repeatedly, then continued.
"The Moby Dick set sail earlier and is heading toward Whole Cake Island."
"Whitebeard's ship?"
Cyrus sounded somewhat surprised.
"Yes. The Whitebeard Pirates likely received news that you were heading to Whole Cake Island and wanted to interfere. But he definitely won't expect this matter to be settled so quickly."
There was a clear note of gloating in Morgans's voice.
"It was never going to take that long."
Cyrus nodded lightly.
Whitebeard's arrival did surprise him, but he did not care too much.
If the other party came, then at most, there would be another fight.
And it would not take too much time either.
Cyrus had no intention of fighting an opponent for days and nights, or even longer.
For him, the faster a battle ended, the better.
"I should remain in the nearby waters for a short while, until the matters here are dealt with. Contact Vegapunk as soon as possible on your side. As for you, assist with establishing the Hunter Guild here."
After Cyrus finished speaking, he did not wait for either of them to object.
His figure turned into a flash of flame and disappeared.
Morgans and Stussy looked at each other.
"From the look of it, you don't seem like his partner. You seem more like his subordinate," Stussy said with a smile.
After Cyrus left, Stussy had clearly relaxed quite a bit.
"So what if I am? Not everyone could do something like this. But you guessed wrong this time. We are indeed cooperating—the newspaper and the Hunter Guild."
Morgans was still stubbornly defending himself.
"When you put it that way, I suppose you're not exactly wrong."
Stussy nodded lightly.
"But what exactly is the Mother Flame?"
Morgans still could not suppress his curiosity.
He did not dare keep asking Cyrus, but since Stussy had discussed it with him, she clearly knew something.
He had a feeling that, among all the words Cyrus and Stussy had exchanged just now, this "Mother Flame" was the most important part.
"I don't know either."
Stussy looked at Morgans, a charming smile appearing on her face.
"I only know a tiny bit. After all, with something like this, the fewer people who know, the better."
With that, Stussy turned around and left, her hips swaying as she walked away.
Morgans watched her leave, his eyes flickering.
Now he was even more curious.
It felt like an itch scratching at his heart.
His curiosity was torturing him!
…
Inside the mirror world.
The moment Katakuri appeared, every member of the Charlotte Family looked over at him.
Under everyone's gaze, Katakuri's expression remained calm.
"Katakuri!"
Perospero flicked out his tongue, staring at Katakuri with a noticeably unfriendly tone.
"Mama has been defeated."
The moment Katakuri spoke, everyone's expressions changed drastically.
"You just stood by and watched Mama lose?"
Perospero stepped forward and shouted harshly.
The other members of the Charlotte Family also wore various expressions.
"If you wanted to help Mama, then why did you enter Brûlée's mirror world earlier?"
Katakuri's single sentence left Perospero speechless.
As for the others, when Katakuri's eyes swept across them, they instinctively lowered their heads.
"Mama was defeated, but she did not die! From now on, the Big Mom Pirates will no longer exist. What remains is only the Charlotte Family."
"What are you planning to do?"
Many of them immediately understood the implication behind Katakuri's words.
"That man is not someone we can oppose. So I have submitted to him," Katakuri said calmly.
"Katakuri?"
When they heard him say he had submitted to "that man," quite a few of them immediately realized who he meant.
Who else could it be but the Flame Demon, Cyrus, who had attacked them this time?
But that man had just defeated their mother, and Katakuri was already going to submit to him?
No, wait.
Many of them remembered that Katakuri had previously gone to deliver Mama's message to Cyrus, only to disappear afterward.
So from that moment, Katakuri had already betrayed them?
The way many of them looked at Katakuri began to darken.
Noticing those gazes, Katakuri's eyes did not change in the slightest.
When he made this decision, he had already thought of the possible consequences.
As for whether his actions counted as betrayal, he did not care.
What he cared about was that, in this clash between Cyrus and Mama, he had truly managed to protect these family members.
As for what they thought of him, or what they planned to do, he could ignore it.
But they could not be allowed to court death.
So before that, he still could not release everyone.
Thinking this, Katakuri swept his gaze across the surrounding family members.
"You should all understand the situation. On the sea, the strong have always possessed everything. The weak cannot even decide their own future."
He did not need to say more than that.
The news of Mama's defeat alone already explained everything.
"I need people to take control of Totto Land's affairs again, and to notify our brothers and sisters who were not on Whole Cake Island."
Katakuri looked around once more as he spoke.
Charlotte Brûlée had been standing behind Katakuri from the very beginning.
As the person who trusted Katakuri the most, she would listen to this brother of hers no matter what he chose to do.
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