One Piece: Hell Pirates

Chapter 426 426: Negotiations End

Land of Fire, Flame Capital, Imperial Palace.

Inside the Hall of Morning Assembly, the atmosphere was so tense it felt ready to snap.

The delegations from the Land of Earth and the Land of Water were especially uneasy, because neither side had managed to find the missing jinchuriki of their own village.

The Four Tails jinchuriki of Iwagakure, Roshi, and the Six Tails jinchuriki of Kirigakure, Utakata, had both vanished without a trace. No matter how hard they searched, they could not find them.

Faced with the deadline Brook had set, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and come anyway, bringing other valuable items in the hope of ransoming their Kage.

At the same time, the rise of the United Ninja Kingdoms, along with the massacre of the daimyo of the Lands of Fire, Rain, and Wind, had terrified the daimyo of the Lands of Earth, Lightning, and Water.

The three daimyo had already begun forming an alliance against Brook.

They were even actively reaching out to the daimyo of various smaller countries, trying to gather enough strength to deal with the man now feared as the Daimyo Slayer, Brook.

Truthfully, they did not even want to ransom back the captured Kage. They would have preferred to choose new Kage instead of allowing Brook to continue using the old ones as hostages and leverage.

But the ninja of the three great villages rejected those orders outright and insisted on redeeming their leaders.

As a result, serious friction had already begun between the daimyo of the three countries and their own hidden villages.

When Brook finally returned to the audience hall of the Imperial Palace, he learned that only Kumogakure had reached a preliminary agreement with Orochimaru.

The Hidden Cloud delegation had agreed to exchange the Six Paths Tools for the Fourth Raikage and the two jinchuriki.

Meanwhile, the delegations from Earth and Water, who had no leverage to bargain with, could only sit anxiously in their seats while negotiations remained deadlocked.

Even Hiashi, seated nearby, felt the pressure. If Brook returned in a bad mood, those two delegations would likely be finished on the spot.

Then, without warning, Brook appeared on the throne at the front of the hall.

Orochimaru, Hyuga Hizashi, and the others immediately stepped forward and paid their respects.

It did not take Brook long to understand the whole situation.

The Four Tails and Six Tails jinchuriki were still missing.

The news made Brook frown.

Something about it felt off. It was almost certainly the Sage of Six Paths moving behind the scenes.

Brook had exterminated Hamura's Otsutsuki bloodline on the moon, and now the Sage of Six Paths had hidden away two tailed beasts in response. It was obvious this was a counterattack.

The Sage feared Brook would gather all the tailed beasts, revive the Ten Tails, and release Kaguya Otsutsuki, so he had stepped in personally to disrupt Brook's plan.

Since that was the case, Brook could not really blame Iwagakure and Kirigakure for failing to complete the mission. If even the Sage of Six Paths had interfered, there was little those villages could have done.

So Brook turned first to the deal with Kumogakure.

He released the resurrected Killer Bee and Yugito from the Kamui Dimension. At the same time, he returned a portion of the chakra of the Eight Tails and Two Tails to them, allowing them to retain part of their strength.

Although they could no longer use their full former power, they could still activate something close to a half tailed beast state. After all, even the Gold and Silver Brothers had only eaten a little of the Nine Tails' flesh and chakra, yet they had still been able to enter a tailed beast like form.

The one armed Fourth Raikage was also brought out. He had originally been captured by Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Fugaku.

Once Kumogakure confirmed that none of the three had been killed, they immediately sent the signal to have the Six Paths Tools delivered over.

They had also been afraid Brook might deceive them or simply seize the tools by force.

If the Fourth Raikage and the two jinchuriki had already died, then bringing the Six Paths Tools would have been no different from handing them over for nothing.

Fortunately for them, this was the Imperial Palace of the Flame Capital, not Konoha. Otherwise, Konoha's barrier system would have blocked the signal entirely.

That reminded Brook of something else. The Imperial Palace would need several layers of barrier protection as well.

As one Six Paths Tool after another arrived from Kumogakure, Brook's interest deepened.

So this was Kumogakure's Heavenly Transfer Technique.

Brook remembered the brown skinned beauty from Kumogakure, the Fourth Raikage's secretary, Mabui.

Her Heavenly Transfer Technique could send the Amber Purifying Pot from Kumogakure all the way to the Fourth Shinobi World War battlefield. It could also teleport Tsunade and the Fourth Raikage to the battlefield where Edo Tensei Madara was fighting.

That technique was absurdly broken.

It ignored distance, terrain, and nearly every normal restriction, allowing objects to be transmitted to any location at terrifying speed.

But it was mainly used for transporting objects, not living people. Ordinary humans would be torn apart because their bodies could not endure that speed.

In the original story, only a handful of people had successfully survived the transfer. The Third Raikage and Fourth Raikage could withstand it because their bodies were abnormally tough. Tsunade could survive only because of the Strength of a Hundred Seal and her monstrous regeneration.

Brook refused to believe that a technique as unreasonable as Heavenly Transfer was merely an ordinary ninjutsu.

It almost certainly required some kind of special affinity or bloodline support, just like Minato had an extraordinary compatibility with the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Brook decided then and there that he wanted this technique.

An ultra long distance transfer that accelerated matter to near light speed was simply too outrageous to ignore.

Space based teleportation was one thing. But accelerating a target through open air to that level of speed should have reduced even the strongest material to slag.

Brook suspected there was more to Mabui than appeared on the surface.

As the five Six Paths Tools, the Amber Purifying Pot, the Banana Fan, the Gold Rope, the Seven Star Sword, and the Crimson Gourd, were finally handed over, Brook released the Fourth Raikage and the two jinchuriki.

Still, he made a note to visit Kumogakure later and find Mabui personally.

If Heavenly Transfer really depended on some hidden trait or bloodline, then he intended to take it for himself.

For that reason, he quietly left a permanent Flying Thunder God mark on both Killer Bee and Yugito before letting them go.

Once Kumogakure's delegation withdrew, the representatives from Earth and Water became visibly more anxious.

At that moment, Kurotsuchi of Iwagakure arrived in the Flame Capital with several elite squads, his body still wrapped in bandages.

Unable to locate Roshi, he had ignored the daimyo's warning and led elite Iwagakure forces straight into Takigakure. There, they captured the Seven Tails jinchuriki, Fuu, intending to use her in exchange for the Third Tsuchikage and the Five Tails jinchuriki.

Brook had not expected Kurotsuchi to become so bold for Onoki's sake.

Originally, Brook had planned to visit Takigakure himself after negotiations and seize Chomei, the Seven Tails, personally. Instead, Kurotsuchi had done the work for him.

Brook judged that the resurrected bodies he had left behind in Iwagakure were no longer worth much. So he exchanged Onoki, Han, and Gari, three prisoners whose memories had already been tampered with, for Fuu.

The Iwagakure delegation immediately withdrew from the Land of Fire.

They still had to explain their attack on Takigakure to the daimyo of the Land of Earth, and also prepare for the possibility of conflict with Takigakure afterward.

That left only Kirigakure's delegation in the hall.

Since they had no better bargaining chip, they could only offer three of the Seven Ninja Swords, along with fifty million ryo, in exchange for the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi.

Brook followed his usual principle of making use of whatever was available.

Since he had little interest in keeping Yagura's resurrected body around any longer, he accepted the deal.

It did not matter to him. Once these resurrected shells returned to their villages, he could still exploit them later until every last bit of value had been squeezed out of them. If necessary, he could even turn against them again on some future battlefield.

And with that, the negotiations between the Land of Fire and the three great villages of Earth, Lightning, and Water came to an end.

But the tension in the air did not ease.

If anything, it only grew heavier.

Because the daimyo of the Lands of Earth, Lightning, and Water had been thoroughly frightened by Brook's brutality, and now they were actively trying to unite and punish the so called Daimyo Slayer.

---------------

More than half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

Brook had never expected the Sage of Six Paths to interfere so forcefully in the affairs of the ninja world. Because of that, his grand plan to unify the world was severely obstructed.

The alliance of Earth, Lightning, and Water formed the Ninja World Alliance, and they also pulled in the Land of Iron, the Land of Hot Water, the Land of Artisans, and the Land of Frost.

Most importantly, the Sage of Six Paths personally sent a powerful female ninja to infiltrate and guide the alliance from within.

She was none other than Tokuko Otsutsuki, Toneri Otsutsuki's mother from the moon.

After being rescued by Hamura Otsutsuki's chakra spirit and the Sage of Six Paths, she was strengthened and trained by the Otsutsuki brothers. Her power had now reached the Kage level, though she was still far from the Six Paths realm. She hated Brook to the bone and only wanted revenge for her husband and son.

With overwhelming strength and Hamura's will behind her, Tokuko quickly gained the trust of the Ninja World Alliance and rose to become its public leader.

After Brook had the Gedo Mazo absorb Chomei, the Seven Tails, he revived Fuu, occupied Takigakure, destroyed the daimyo's residence in the Land of Waterfalls, and brought the country under the rule of the United Ninja Kingdom.

After that, Brook saw that even the Sage of Six Paths had openly stepped onto the board, so he stopped holding back.

He forcefully seized the Land of Rivers between Wind and Fire, as well as the Land of Birds between Wind and Earth.

He also conquered Kusagakure, the buffer state between Fire and Earth, linking the Rain Country, Grass Country, and Waterfall Country into one vast stretch of territory.

In the Land of Grass, Brook rescued Karin and her mother, who were being used as healing tools, and sent them to Rain City to be raised under Nagato's protection.

And so, two massive powers emerged in the ninja world.

On one side stood Brook's United Ninja Kingdom, which included the Lands of Fire, Wind, Rain, Waterfalls, Grass, Rivers, Birds, Bears, and Whirlpool. Its ultimate goal was to unify the entire ninja world.

On the other side stood the Ninja World Alliance. Though Tokuko Otsutsuki was its public leader, its real backbone was the coalition of daimyo led by the daimyo of Earth, Lightning, and Water. Their goal was clear: resist the brutal rise of Brook, kill the demon they feared, and restore what they called peace to the ninja world.

Their member states included Earth, Lightning, Water, Iron, Hot Water, Artisans, Frost, and Rice Fields.

In terms of raw national strength, they were in no way inferior to the United Ninja Kingdom. In fact, they even possessed a greater number of mid and high tier ninja.

Without Brook personally taking the field, the United Ninja Kingdom could gain no advantage over the Shinobi World Alliance.

This whole development left Brook deeply puzzled.

What exactly was the Sage of Six Paths trying to do?

Was the old bastard really willing to set aside the Otsutsuki threat and go all in against Brook first?

The Sage of Six Paths had even drawn Mount Myoboku and Shikkotsu Forest into the Shinobi World Alliance. Through the Great Toad Sage and the Great Slug Sage, he constantly influenced Jiraiya's and Tsunade's wills and thoughts.

As a result, the two of them became more and more dissatisfied with Brook and the United Ninja Kingdom, and their rebellious tendencies only grew stronger.

Brook was furious.

Had the Sage of Six Paths truly decided to stand completely against him?

Only the White Snake Sage of Ryuchi Cave chose not to interfere. It remained neutral and simply watched the two sides tear each other apart, since none of it affected Ryuchi Cave anyway.

Because the Sage of Six Paths had hidden them away, Brook could not find the Four Tails or the Six Tails. He was forced to suspend his plan to fully revive the Ten Tails.

What made him even angrier was that Tsunade and Jiraiya were actually spirited away from Konoha by reverse summoning through Mount Myoboku and Shikkotsu Forest, successfully bypassing the Shinigami Mask barrier Brook had left behind.

Minato's summoning contract with the toads of Mount Myoboku was severed, and the White Snake Sage of Ryuchi Cave also wanted to distance himself from Orochimaru. Still, that old snake left himself a back door and did not allow Manda to cut ties with Orochimaru completely.

That further weakened the United Ninja Kingdom's Kage level combat strength.

And when Brook realized that the woman he had already marked in his heart, Tsunade, had been taken away, his rage flared even more.

Confident that his strength had already surpassed the Six Paths level, Brook temporarily put Isshiki Otsutsuki aside and launched a fierce offensive against Tokuko Otsutsuki and the Shinobi World Alliance.

That was exactly the chance the Sage of Six Paths had been waiting for.

He emerged from the Pure Land together with Hamura Otsutsuki's chakra spirit and joined forces with the Great Toad Sage and the Great Slug Sage to ambush Brook.

They had already prepared countless sealing arrays on the battlefield, all specifically designed to counter Brook's space time abilities.

Brook was caught in the trap.

The four of them attacked together, and the crafty old toad chose that moment to strike from the shadows. Brook nearly got sealed away on the spot by the Otsutsuki brothers and the Toad Sage.

If not for Brook's monstrous strength, his Tenseigan, Rinnegan, divine body, and his ability to harvest souls from the battlefield to replenish himself and grow stronger, he really might have been sealed then and there.

The way up was blocked. The way down was blocked. Even Kaguya Otsutsuki might have been trapped by such a perfect ambush.

Sneak attacks, sage treasures, ancient talismans, bizarre secret techniques, senjutsu, and endless sealing arts came one after another, so overwhelming that even Brook was injured in the end and forced to retreat from the battlefield for the time being.

Brook's allied army also suffered defeat and had no choice but to withdraw.

Fortunately, Brook had left himself a final back door and took direct control of every resurrected being under his command. Those forces turned against the enemy in the middle of the war and launched a desperate counterattack.

Otherwise, the entire army of the United Ninja Kingdom might really have been wiped out by the Ninja World Alliance in that battle.

That ambush completely woke Brook up.

He had been too confident.

Now he understood clearly that he could never underestimate the Sage of Six Paths and the Great Toad Sage, two ancient monsters who had schemed across the ninja world for more than a thousand years.

Still, Brook had not left empty handed.

The other side had also paid a heavy price.

Hamura Otsutsuki's chakra soul was shattered, and no one knew whether the Sage of Six Paths would be able to piece it back together again.

Even if Hamura could recover, he would not be able to contribute much in the next major battle.

Brook had also shattered several sage treasures, and each use of those ancient seals only made the enemy's stockpile thinner.

The next time they fought, Brook would not let himself be cornered like that again.

That great war left both sides badly bloodied.

Injured, Brook could only suppress his urge to immediately rescue Tsunade, then order a ceasefire and withdraw his forces.

The Sage of Six Paths, seeing the mountains of corpses and rivers of blood, could not bear to continue either. Hamura's chakra soul had nearly been erased, many sage artifacts were already destroyed, and without the sealing terrain of the ambush site, he and the Great Toad Sage no longer had the power to keep pressing Brook.

In the end, both sides could only stop.

Brook withdrew from the Land of Fire, halted all further expansion, hid himself away to recover from his injuries, and began reorganizing and integrating all of his different powers.

He had to admit it.

He had underestimated the Sages of this world.

He had only been here a short time, while the Sage of Six Paths and the Great Toad Sage had been accumulating resources for a thousand years.

But after some more time passed, things might not remain so certain.

.....

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