In the blink of an eye, another day had passed.
It had now been two days since Eriri's group left the Sabaody Archipelago, and the Voyage had spent nearly two days in the Calm Belt.
The giant Sea King that had been killed by the Voyage's protective barrier yesterday had now become a reserve food supply for Eriri and her group.
With such a massive body, it was uncertain how long it would take to consume it all.
However, since the Sea King's meat was stored inside Aoi Kujo' s spatial ring, there was no need to worry about spoilage.
At this moment, Eriri was holding a newspaper, with a stack of newly issued bounty posters placed on top.
The first bounty poster featured a photograph of Eriri.
However, because the Marines had no knowledge of her identity, her name was listed as "Unknown."
Her bounty was set at a staggering 2 billion Berries, making it the highest initial bounty ever issued in the world of One Piece.
Those who had previously displayed their strength, such as Jibril, also received bounties of at least several tens of millions of Berries.
Meanwhile, Enju Aihara, who had fought Kizaru intensely on Sabaody, was directly given a bounty of 500 million Berries.
However, what Kizaru didn't know was that during their battle, Enju hadn't even used a fraction of her true power.
At the same time, the bounty posters for Eriri's group were disseminated worldwide.
From rising pirate rookies to the established Four Emperors, everyone was stunned by the bounty placed on Eriri, as well as shocked by her achievements.
Many had witnessed Kizaru's heavily injured departure from Sabaody, so the Marines made no attempt to conceal the fact that he had been defeated by Eriri.
Although they didn't explicitly state that he had been taken down by a single glance, the implication alone was enough to leave the world in disbelief.
To injure Kizaru that severely, Eriri had to at least possess the strength of a Four Emperor-Stage combatant—or perhaps, something even beyond that.
At that moment, Arifureta suddenly approached Eriri.
She grabbed the stack of bounty posters and flipped through them.
Upon seeing Eriri's bounty, her expression turned displeased.
"Only 2 billion?!"
Arifureta frowned and said indignantly,
"The Marines are seriously underestimating us!"
Eriri, however, was indifferent to the bounty amount.
What mattered more was that by issuing these bounties, the Marines had made their choice.
"It seems the Marines don't want peace."
Eriri smirked.
"Seven days from now, at Marineford, I'll see what the Marines decide to do."
"So the execution date for the Summit War has been confirmed?"
Arifureta nodded in understanding.
"Right… according to the original timeline, it should be happening around this time."
"Take a look at today's newspaper."
Eriri handed the newspaper to Arifureta .
"It officially announces Ace's capture by Blackbeard and his transfer to the Marines for public execution in seven days."
At that moment, a sudden voice echoed in Eriri's mind.
"Onee-sama! A large number of Reincarnators have descended into the One Piece world!"
...
On an uninhabited island, not far from the Sabaody Archipelago, a mysterious glow suddenly flashed across the land.
In an instant, a team of ten people appeared out of nowhere.
These ten were Reincarnators, freshly emerging from the Reincarnation Plaza.
Each of them lay on the grass with their eyes closed, while a mysterious energy barrier surrounded them.
This squad consisted of six men and four women.
The oldest among them appeared to be only in their early thirties, while the youngest seemed to be around sixteen or seventeen years old.
Not long after, the ten men and women lying on the grass regained consciousness simultaneously.
Seeing their familiar teammates and the unfamiliar environment, no one was surprised—after all, this wasn't their first time encountering such a situation.
"This is the mission world this time?" a young woman in her early twenties murmured, "I wonder what the mission will be."
The woman had long, wavy, dark brown hair and a delicate appearance, exuding an air of nobility. However, she was the strongest member of the team and also the captain of this Reincarnator squad.
Her strength had already reached Level 2, Stage 9, just one step away from Level 3.
As for the other nine members, the strongest among them was only Level 2, Stage 7, while the weakest had just stepped into Level 2.
At this moment, she felt somewhat uneasy because, besides their squad, there were nine other ten-member squads that had descended into this world at the same time.
This was something she had never encountered since becoming a Reincarnator, even though she had only experienced three Reincarnation Worlds.
From the intelligence she had gathered, under normal circumstances, only one Reincarnator squad would enter a Reincarnation World at a time. Only in faction-based confrontations would multiple Reincarnator squads enter the mission world simultaneously and choose different factions to engage in battle.
And now, it was clearly a faction-based confrontation mission.
Such battles between Reincarnators were far more dangerous than ordinary missions.
Moreover, aside from their squad, nine other ten-member squads had also arrived in this world.
Including them, this One Piece world now housed a total of one hundred Reincarnators. One could imagine how intense the battles would become once the mission began.
The wavy-haired woman and her nine teammates did not rush into action after regaining consciousness; instead, they waited for the mission to be issued.
The least experienced among them had completed at least two Reincarnation missions, so they naturally knew that missions were usually issued shortly after entering a Reincarnation World.
Sure enough, after just a few seconds, a familiar mechanical female voice suddenly echoed in their minds, accompanied by lines of text appearing in their consciousness.
[Mission Background: Seven days from today, Portgas D. Ace, the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, will be publicly executed at Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
To rescue his adopted son, Edward Newgate, Captain of the Whitebeard Pirates, will lead all his crew to Marine Headquarters on the day of execution, at which point a battle between the Navy and the pirates will erupt.]
[Mission Selection: 1. Choose to join the Navy faction. 2. Choose to join the Pirate faction. Once a faction is selected, it cannot be changed.]
[Mission Completion Criteria: If, on the day of execution, Portgas D. Ace is successfully executed, Reincarnator squads that chose the Pirate faction will fail their mission, while those that chose the Navy faction will complete theirs.
If, on the day of execution, Portgas D. Ace is successfully rescued, Reincarnator squads that chose the Pirate faction will complete their mission, while those that chose the Navy faction will fail theirs.
Note: All Reincarnators are strictly forbidden from directly or indirectly interfering with Portgas D. Ace's execution. Violators will be erased immediately, with their entire squad sharing the same fate.]
[Mission Rewards/Penalties: Reincarnator squads that complete the mission will receive 200,000 Reincarnation Points. Those that fail will have 200,000 Reincarnation Points deducted. If a squad lacks sufficient points, all members will be erased.]
[Additional Rewards: For each enemy pirate/marine from the opposing faction killed, a corresponding amount of Reincarnation Points will be awarded, determined by the target's strength. The stronger the target, the more Reincarnation Points received.
For each enemy Reincarnator killed, Reincarnation Points will be awarded as follows: Killing a Level 2, Stage 1 Reincarnator grants 1,000 Reincarnation Points; killing a Level 2, Stage 2 Reincarnator grants 2,000 Reincarnation Points; killing a Level 2, Stage 3 Reincarnator grants 3,000 Reincarnation Points, and so on.]
[Key Mission Characters: Portgas D. Ace, Edward Newgate, Sakazuki, Borsalino, Kuzan, Sengoku, Monkey D. Garp, Monkey D. Luffy, Marco... Spending 1,000 Reincarnation Points will grant general intelligence on key figures.]
[Gifted Items: One sturdy sailing ship, one Eternal Pose to Marine Headquarters.]
[Factions must be chosen within 30 minutes. Failure to choose in time will result in automatic mission failure.]
A lengthy, icy voice echoed in everyone's minds, causing all members, including the wavy-haired woman—the strongest in the squad—to be momentarily stunned. Sounds of sharp intakes of breath were heard throughout the team.
"C-Captain, which faction should we choose?" A young black-haired boy asked shakily. He was trying to appear calm, but the fear in his eyes betrayed his emotions.
It wasn't his fault—while the rewards for victory were lucrative, the penalties for failure were beyond what they could afford to bear.
For a Reincarnator squad at their Stage, 200,000 Reincarnation Points was an enormous sum.
Moreover, whenever they earned Reincarnation Points, they would immediately use them to strengthen themselves, purchase equipment, or acquire skills—very few would keep such a vast amount in reserve.
This was also the first time they had encountered a penalty of this nature. In previous standard Reincarnation missions, failure simply meant being unable to leave the Reincarnation World.
If the mission was not completed within a certain time, the Lord God Space would erase them outright, making penalties irrelevant.
Thus, most Reincarnators only kept the bare minimum of points needed to purchase intelligence about the Reincarnation World.
In other words, if they chose the wrong faction for this mission, their fate would be nothing but complete erasure.
"We have half an hour to choose a faction. For now, let's analyze the intelligence on these key figures before making a decision."
The wavy-haired woman took a deep breath, then decisively spent 1,000 team Reincarnation Points to obtain intelligence on the key figures.
At the same time, the nine other Reincarnator squads, each having landed on different islands, were doing the exact same thing—analyzing intelligence on the key figures.
Anyone who had survived two Reincarnation Worlds was no fool.
Some squads, tempted by the 200,000 Reincarnation Points reward, considered hunting down other Reincarnators to amass even more points. However, none of them would recklessly choose a seemingly powerful official faction without careful consideration.
Gathering intelligence was an absolute necessity.
Some also attempted to contact other Reincarnator squads to form alliances, but they had no means of long-range communication.
Time slowly passed. Twenty minutes had already gone by, leaving only ten minutes before the faction selection deadline.
However, twenty minutes was more than enough time for the wavy-haired woman and her team to thoroughly analyze the intelligence on the key figures.
"The Navy has three powerful Admirals, a Fleet Admiral who is no weaker than them, and the legendary Vice Admiral Garp, who once chased the Pirate King across the seas. But on the pirate side, there's Whitebeard, known as the 'World's Strongest Man,' and each of his division commanders is formidable as well. It's a tough choice." The oldest man in the team stroked his chin, visibly troubled.
"I think we can rule out Garp," a short-haired woman in her twenties said. "According to the intelligence, Ace, who is about to be publicly executed, is Garp's adopted grandson. Even if he doesn't help the pirates rescue his grandson, he probably won't stop others from doing so either."
"That does seem very likely. I think the Whitebeard Pirates have a slightly higher chance of winning."
"It's too early to conclude that. Even without Garp, the Navy still has three Admirals and a Fleet Admiral, and let's not forget the Seven Warlords of the Sea assisting them. I'd say the Navy has a better chance."
"The battle power of the Navy and the pirates seems to be evenly matched. The deciding factor will likely be us Reincarnators—whichever faction has more Reincarnator squads will have the higher chance of victory."
"But we don't know how the other squads are choosing..."
"..."
After a lengthy discussion, another eight minutes passed, yet the team still hadn't reached a consensus. Now, only three minutes remained before the deadline—a dangerously short amount of time.
"Alright." The wavy-haired woman gathered her thoughts, then clapped her hands to draw everyone's attention.
"We have just over a minute left. Since we can't reach a unanimous decision, we'll settle this with a vote."
With time running out, she didn't bother asking for approval—there was no room for debate. Instead, she declared loudly, "Alright then... those in favor of choosing the Navy faction, raise your hand."
She herself did not raise her hand—not because she had already decided on the pirate faction, but because she wanted to see the vote results first. A tie was the last thing she wanted.
As soon as she finished speaking, four members immediately raised their right hands. The remaining five did not react at all.
However, their eyes showed no sign of dissatisfaction, meaning they weren't rejecting her proposal—they had simply chosen the pirate faction instead.
Which made sense. At this critical moment, rejecting the voting method would have been suicidal. Clearly, no one in this squad wanted to die.
With a four-to-five split, the wavy-haired woman's choice was now obvious.
She made her decision in her mind without hesitation.
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