"Are you even listening?" Zoro shouted.
"Give it up. He has already decided upon it. Just tell us where your sword is?" I asked, knowing full well where his "swords" were. Zoro was dumbfounded listening to me. "Besides you will die if you don't fight back and Axe Hand Morgan would show up at any moment. They can't do anything to us. But you, on the other hand, I am not so sure."
"You.. Are you devils?"
"Maybe.." Luffy laughed.
"Fine.. The swords are in the tower." Zoro indicated the direction and Luffy made a run for it. Meanwhile me and Coby got busy opening the ropes while also telling Rika to go home and promised her that Zoro would return just fine.
Coby quietly watched Luffy disappear toward the Marine headquarters before lowering his head. The excitement he had shown since escaping Alvida's ship had completely vanished. His fists tightened at his sides as he looked around the courtyard, where unconscious Marines lay scattered across the ground.
"...This isn't what I imagined." His voice was barely above a whisper. "I always believed the Marines were different. I thought they protected people from pirates... that they were heroes. But everything I've seen since coming here..It's corruption. Threats. Bullying innocent people. They're supposed to uphold justice."
I let out a quiet sigh.
"Coby... if you expected the world to be divided into black and white, then you've been living under a delusion."
He looked up at me in surprise.
"Pirates do terrible things. You've already experienced that yourself aboard Alvida's ship. They rob, kill, enslave, and terrorize innocent people. Most pirates deserve the reputation they've earned. But don't make the mistake of believing the Government or the Marines are automatically righteous simply because they wear uniforms."
I gestured toward the Marine headquarters behind us.
"Power attracts all kinds of people. Some genuinely want to protect others. Others crave authority, wealth, or the freedom to abuse those weaker than themselves. The World Government is no different. There are honorable Marines... and there are monsters hiding behind justice. Just as there are cruel pirates... and a handful who simply choose freedom without preying on innocent people."
Coby remained silent, carefully listening to every word. Even Zoro, despite pretending not to care, listened.
"In the end," I continued, "titles don't define people. Their actions do. A Marine can become a criminal in everything but name, while a pirate can still choose not to harm innocent people. The flag someone carries tells you very little about who they truly are."
Zoro was listening to it, while he and Coby were slowly opening the ropes that he was tied to.
A few more knots came loose before the final rope finally slipped away from Zoro's wrists. After couple of days of remaining bound beneath the scorching sun, he slowly lowered his arms, wincing as blood returned to muscles that had barely moved. He rolled one shoulder, then the other, flexing his fingers before taking a deep breath. Even weakened, the sheer presence surrounding him felt noticeably heavier now that he was no longer restrained.
"So don't ask yourself whether you want to become a pirate or a Marine," I continued, helping untangle the last length of rope from around the wooden cross. "Ask yourself what kind of person you want to become. If your answer is someone who protects people, then become the kind of Marine the world actually needs. Don't become another Morgan."
Before Coby could answer, the courtyard exploded with angry shouting.
"There they are!"
Dozens of Marine soldiers poured through the main gate, rifles and sabers drawn. At their head marched an enormous man with a metallic jaw, a broad chest, and a massive steel axe replacing his right hand.
Every step he took radiated authority, one would think that he was some big shot. Behind him, Helmeppo pointed toward us with an expression twisted by equal parts fear and hatred.
"Father! That's him! He's the monster who attacked us!"
Captain Morgan's gaze swept across the unconscious Marines littering the courtyard before settling on me.
"...You." The single word carried enough anger to silence the entire square. "You dare assault Marines inside my own base?"
His axe slowly rose.
"Men!" Every rifle in the courtyard snapped toward us. "Fire!"
The instant fingers tightened around their triggers, brilliant blue flames erupted around my body.
The air itself seemed to ripple.
Dark navy armor spread from my feet upward, seamlessly covering every part of my body in elegant plates that looked forged from midnight steel. Ghostly blue fire replaced my hair entirely, flowing upward like an eternal flame. A black armored mask framed my face while glowing yellow eyes shone beneath it. Twin ethereal swords materialized in my hands, each blade burning with silent azure fire that gave off almost no heat.
For a heartbeat... Nobody moved. The Marines forgot to breathe. Coby's mouth slowly fell open.
"...Beautiful..."
Even Zoro stared openly now, his sharp eyes studying every detail of the armored figure standing before him.
"...So that's your Devil Fruit..."
Helmeppo instinctively stumbled backward. Morgan alone remained unmoved.
"I don't care what kind of freak you are!" he roared. "Shoot him!"
Gunfire erupted. The moment the bullets reached me, I disappeared.
Smokescreen
A cloud of thick black smoke instantly engulfed the center of the courtyard.
"What?!"
"I can't see!"
"Where did he—"
Blue flames flashed through the smoke.
I burst from the darkness in a blazing Flame Charge, moving so quickly that only a streak of azure light remained behind me. The shoulder tackle sent three Marines sprawling across the courtyard before I spun.
Ember
I released a rapid volley of tiny fire balls. They struck their guns and it made them lose the guns rapidly across the battlefield.
Within seconds, panic spread throughout the formation.
Everywhere the smoke cleared, another Marine collapsed from the flat of one of my burning blades or the hilt striking pressure points with surgical precision. None received life-threatening injuries, yet none remained standing long enough to regroup.
When the smoke finally dispersed... Only one opponent remained.
Morgan.
The captain charged with surprising speed, his enormous axe carving through the air with enough force to split stone. I sidestepped the first swing before crossing both swords against the second. The impact rattled my arms despite Ceruledge's enhanced physique.
The level 27 Ceruledge wasn't still upto the par it seemed.
Morgan followed with another brutal slash, forcing me backward before attempting a horizontal sweep aimed squarely at my torso.
Almost instinctively... My body moved on its own. One flaming blade flashed forward in a precise diagonal strike.
Brick Break.
The ghostly blade sliced cleanly through Morgan's massive steel axe. There wasn't an explosion or anything of that sort. Everyone was dumbfounded looking at what just happened. Morgan was lucky that the move didn't actually point towards his body or else the move would be sliced into his body too.
Half of the shattered weapon crashed onto the stone courtyard with a deafening clang. Morgan froze, staring blankly at the broken stump still attached to his arm.
"...My... axe..."
Even I was surprised by this. The move Brick Break was known to break defense moves like Reflect, but never did I expect the move to work that way, not that I was complaining.
Before anyone could recover from the shock, a glass shattered overhead, high up in the marine tower.
CRASH!
A figure burst through one of the headquarters' upper windows, clutching three swords tightly in one hand. And just at the right moment landed near Zoro and me. Everyone who had witnessed me was now looking at this idiot who seemed to have jumped from high in the tower to here.
They couldn't believe how he was still alive. Was this another monster? Meanwhile Zoro had given up understanding these two who seem to have arrived out of nowhere. But he was glad that they had arrived to save him.
"Lucky I found them! I don't which are which, so I brought all of them."
Luffy said as he handed over the swords to Zoro.
"You don't need to bother, those are all mine. I am a three swords swordsman."
"Oh! Really? That is weird. But I like it." Luffy said. "Now will you join us?"
"Haa... I was going to refuse but now looking at how you saved me, I might just join you."
"Hehehe.. Better than dying right?" Luffy asked.
"You brats.." Morgan who was looking at this was now beyond angry. He had just been almost KOed by this fireman and now was ignored by this monkey looking boy too. This was unforgivable. "You think you are some big shots just because you broke my axe? I will kill you with my bare hands."
Morgan didn't bother with his broken axe and ran to all of us. Zoro turned and brought out two swords to fight him, and I too was ready to deliver the final move, but it was Luffy who stopped us.
"I have been trying to use this new move I learned. He will do... Hehehe.." Luffy said.