"You should already know the details of this mission, correct?" Sakazuki asked in a low voice.
Shiryu nodded. On the way here, he had already reviewed the mission details sent by Sakazuki. It stated that the Kingdom of Medanl, located on the fourth island of Route One in the first half of the Grand Line, had come under heavy attack by pirates.
Coincidentally, Route One ran right alongside the Calm Belt where Impel Down was located, making them one of the closest available warships. The moment Sakazuki saw the words 'large number of pirates', he accepted the mission without giving Marineford a chance to reassign it to another nearby vessel.
To save time, Sakazuki didn't sail to Impel Down to pick up Shiryu—instead, he had Shiryu come aboard via another warship.
"This time, I won't make the first move. You'll lead the assault."
"No problem. I'm looking forward to it," Shiryu said, his right hand brushing the red-wrapped hilt of Raiu at his waist. A cold smile curled on his lips.
To think he'd get to go on a killing spree the moment he left Impel Down—this reassignment was turning out to be even better than expected. The only downside was that his commanding officer seemed a bit too forceful.
As a top-class warship crafted by shipwrights from Water 7 traveled at full speed, it demonstrated astonishing performance and speed, reaching the seas near the Kingdom of Medanl in just one hour.
Now that they were this close, the people on deck could already hear the thunderous roars carried on the sea breeze. In the distance, they could faintly make out seven or eight pirate ships flying Jolly Rogers, bombarding a town on the island.
Among them, one ship gradually ceased its shelling and slowly turned about. It seemed to be preparing to leave the harbor.
"Looks like they've spotted us," Shiryu said with a smile as the wind blew past him.
He casually pulled out a cigar, clamped it between his lips, and lit it. Every time he was about to kill—especially when a massacre was imminent—his excitement would spike. At moments like this, taking a puff of smoke was the greatest pleasure he knew.
Sakazuki made no response to his words or actions. Since he had already stated that this mission would be left to Shiryu, he would let him proceed as he wished.
[Swoosh!]
The next moment, Shiryu vanished in a blur, leaving only a faint wisp of smoke drifting in the air.
Meanwhile, the other pirate ships also ceased their bombardment. In a panic, they began turning their bows, clearly aware of the massive warship rapidly approaching.
The first ship to react had already completed its turn and was sailing away in a different direction.
"Faster! Hurry up!"
"Now's not the time to clash with the Navy!"
Onboard, a towering ironclad brute nearly four meters tall, with a vicious face and a massive cutlass in hand, shouted loudly to urge his crew.
[Whoosh————]
Just then, a piercing sound tore through the air. The iron giant and his crew's faces paled. The former reflexively shouted, "Incoming artillery!"
Not just him—everyone assumed that the warship in the distance had fired its cannons.
But several seconds passed. The shrieking sound faded, yet nothing happened. No explosions, no shells, not even a single plume of water bursting from the sea.
"Yo, trash. Your time's up. Smile for me~"
Suddenly, a chilling voice with a mocking tone rang out from above. Everyone instinctively looked up—and sure enough, there stood a towering navy officer over three meters tall, balanced atop the mast and staring down at them with glowing red eyes full of scorn.
"You—!"
The iron brute raised his cutlass and pointed it at the man. He had just begun to snarl when, in the blink of an eye, the figure vanished. All he glimpsed was a flash of blood-red light.
"C-Captain Kass!"
The nearby pirates were stunned. The navy officer who'd been standing on the mast just a second ago now stood behind Kass, sword drawn at his waist, its cold gleam flashing in the sunlight.
At the same time, a thin red line slowly formed across the giant's neck. His armor began to fall apart in pieces, clattering onto the deck.
Shiryu didn't spare a single glance at Kass behind him. Even if the man was still breathing, still conscious—in Shiryu's eyes, he was already a corpse.
[Swoosh!]
The next instant, his entire figure blurred into a white afterimage, weaving through the crowd of over a hundred armed pirates as screams and cries of alarm erupted. Crimson arcs traced through the air as his blade carved through flesh.
Shiryu never liked blasting ships or sinking them. He preferred to cut people down, one by one, with his own blade. The sensation of steel slicing through flesh—that was what truly intoxicated him.
In just over ten seconds, more than a hundred people aboard the pirate ship collapsed into pools of blood, clutching their slashed throats. Standing tall amid the corpses, Shiryu wore a look of satisfaction. His murderous gaze swept toward the remaining pirate ships.
[BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!]
Sakazuki's warship opened fire on the seven pirate vessels. Scorching-hot black cannonballs howled through the air, some splashing into the sea and sending towering plumes of water skyward, others slamming into ship hulls and erupting into great bursts of flame.
The triple-mounted turret on the bow of the battleship stood out especially—it far surpassed the pirate ships in range, rate of fire, and accuracy. The ship's armored plating was in another league altogether. Even taking direct hits from multiple cannonballs left only shallow marks and posed no real threat to the marines aboard.
At that moment, Sakazuki still stood with his arms crossed over his chest. He appeared to be watching the pirates struggle, but in reality, his eyes were fixed on Shiryu.
In his view, Shiryu had just leapt off the first pirate ship and was now streaking across the water at incredible speed. Trails of afterimages followed in his wake. Every time his body began to dip, he tapped the crest of a wave, borrowing the explosive rebound of the splash to keep himself moving at high velocity.
As a master of Rokushiki himself, Sakazuki could immediately tell that Shiryu was using a variant of Moonwalk—except instead of stepping on air, he was stepping on waves.
Soon, Shiryu landed on the second pirate ship and began a new round of bloodshed. Sakazuki frowned slightly—not because he disapproved of killing pirates, but because he felt Shiryu's method was too inefficient.
If it were him, he would've simply unleashed one massive Great Eruption and incinerated every ship in an instant.
Given Shiryu's clear swordmaster-level strength, he should've been able to unleash flying slashes capable of slicing ships in two. Even if he couldn't cut through seven ships in a single swing, surely one per slash was doable.
At this rate, going ship by ship like this, he was bound to let at least one or two vessels slip away.
Still, as long as the pirate ships remained within his range, Sakazuki didn't intend to intervene just yet.
After all, it would only take a few precision lava rounds to sink them. With the help of his Observation Haki for prediction and targeting, striking large targets like ships was almost too easy.
But as a commander, one couldn't always act personally. Soldiers fight soldiers. Generals fight generals. There was a principle to be followed. As a leader, he couldn't just snatch away his subordinates' achievements at will.
Meanwhile, Shiryu sliced clean through a charging pirate—man and sword both—watching with exhilaration as the severed head tumbled off the broken blade and a fountain of blood shot skyward.
Delightful.
He glanced behind him—the deck was already a blood-soaked field strewn with corpses.
"Vice Admiral Akainu! CP5 from the Kingdom of Medanl has just sent in a full report!" a Marine major rushed over and shouted above the noise.
"Let's hear it," Sakazuki said in a deep voice.
"The majority of these pirates are civilians from that kingdom. Their leader, a man named Kass, used to be a mid-level officer in the royal army. Two weeks ago, his wife and daughter were taken by Viscount Gardwell of the kingdom. One week ago, they were sold to a slave company."
"In response, Kass rallied his loyal soldiers and incited a rebellion among the already-discontent commoners. They first seized a royal army warship at the docks, raised a pirate flag they had prepared in advance, then launched attacks on royal forces under the name of the 'Kass Pirates.' They plundered all the food and treasure from the dockside warehouses, and shelled the upper city—where the royals and nobles lived—for nearly half an hour. It's said that the area is now in ruins, with heavy casualties among the nobility."
Hearing yet another tale of nobles driving soldiers and civilians to revolt, Sakazuki was silent for a moment. Then he spat out a single word coldly: "Fools."
The Marine major assumed he was insulting the noble, and wisely said no more.
"That fool Kass not only got himself killed, but dragged everyone who followed him down with him," Sakazuki said, gazing toward the distant pirate ships currently being slaughtered by Shiryu.
"If he hadn't raised a pirate flag, this whole affair wouldn't have had much to do with us Marines."
The major suddenly understood and thought to himself: Right. If Kass hadn't raised the pirate flag, they wouldn't be considered pirates. It would've just been a civil conflict within the Kingdom of Medanl—and the Navy wouldn't have gotten involved.
According to the laws of the World Government, the Marines have no authority to interfere in the internal affairs of affiliated nations unless the country's king first submits a formal request for aid. After that, the Administrative Council evaluates the Cipher Pol's intelligence reports and decides whether or not to offer assistance.
If approved, Marine Headquarters would then be notified to dispatch troops. The Fleet Admiral would also need to submit dossiers on the main rebel figures to the appropriate departments for bounty evaluation and issuance.
Then comes the decision on what level of officers to send, and how large a fleet to deploy.
All of that takes at least a day or two. And with travel time included, it typically requires three or four days—much longer if the country in question is far away.
Clearly, the King of Medanl understood these rules well. So instead, he directly called the Navy and claimed that a large number of pirates were attacking his nation.
By doing this, he bypassed all the bureaucratic red tape. The Navy only needed to notify the nearest warship to respond.
So while Shiryu's massacre of Kass and his group may seem brutal, it wasn't unjust. Like Sakazuki said—they were just too stupid, while that king was far too clever.