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--Grand Line, Sabaody Archipelago, Grove 51--
"Hm? This presence…"
A dishevelled young man with greyish-green hair was lurking nearby. His name was Gild Tesoro. He was in Sabaody, having just escaped from Mary Geoise.
To Tesoro, the so-called Holy Land of Mary Geoise was a nightmare he never wanted to recall for the rest of his life.
But the presence that had just enveloped Sabaody seemed to belong to the person who had saved him back in Mary Geoise.
"Forget it. I'll look into it later. The main goal now is to find a ship and get out of this hellhole."
No matter how beautiful the Sabaody Archipelago was, Tesoro felt extremely uncomfortable in this backyard of the Celestial Dragons; it constantly reminded him of his past life as a slave.
He didn't know what he would do next, but his goal was clear: make money!
If he had money, Stella would never have been bought by the Celestial Dragons!
If he had money, even the Celestial Dragons would have to curry favour with him!
If he had money, his life would not have been so tragic!
Money! Money was the most wonderful and useful thing in the world!
Tesoro now had an almost fanatical craving for money. In his eyes, all his misfortunes could be boiled down to one word: poverty!
"Vice Admiral, sir, what was that…?" Looking at the approaching coastline of Sabaody, Mejes was confused by Atlas's recent actions.
"My Conqueror's Haki has knocked out most of the criminals. Lead the soldiers to bring those scumbags in," Atlas added in a lazy tone.
"If any of them are still alive, that is."
"Conqueror's Haki… can do that?" Mejes felt his throat go dry and subconsciously swallowed. In his mind, wasn't Conqueror's Haki only supposed to be for clearing out fodder?
It wasn't Mejes's fault for thinking this way. As a Marine Captain, it was difficult to be exposed to the level of Conqueror's Haki users, and his understanding of it was often superficial.
Furthermore, some Haki users treated it as a mere symbol of their disposition, remaining completely unaware of its true power.
"Well~ you just combine it with Observation Haki for precision strikes. It's pretty easy."
In truth, it was only after taking two of Rayleigh's Haki-infused slashes that Atlas's use of Conqueror's Haki had become more flexible and versatile.
Otherwise, such a large-scale precision strike could easily result in friendly fire.
"Yes, Vice Admiral, sir!" Mejes quickly accepted the order, completely ignoring Atlas's showboating, and led the soldiers on the warship to land on Sabaody in an orderly fashion.
The soldiers were all excited. They had overheard the conversation between the Vice Admiral and the Captain and knew this was an easy opportunity to rack up merits.
They were all rubbing their hands in anticipation.
"I can't believe it. That old geezer Rayleigh isn't in Sabaody. Did he go to Amazon Lily?" Atlas murmured to himself as he watched the departing Marines.
He had originally wanted to have another fight with Rayleigh, but even after scouring the island with his Observation Haki, he couldn't find a trace of him.
Atlas guessed that Rayleigh must have discovered the Gorgon sisters' origins and, along with Shakky, was escorting them back home. What a pity…
The Lawless Zone, Groves 1-29.
The ground was littered with pirates, all sharing a common feature: their eyes were rolled back, and they were foaming at the mouth.
A few had blood trickling from their orifices, as if their heads had suffered a heavy blow. This was the scene that greeted the Marines upon their arrival.
"This is 'Demon' Nick, bounty of 70 million. He's unconscious but not dead!"
"Phew… 'The Butcher' Olgus, bounty of 90 million. This guy is a mass murderer; most of his bounty is from slaughtering civilians."
"Hey! This one is 'The Weeping Hunter' Capani. I heard this guy is a psycho, not quite right in the head."
As the Marines checked the bodies one by one, a large number of named pirates were identified.
Without exception, all the unconscious individuals were pirates or human traffickers.
This level of precision striking made the Marines feel an even more sincere admiration for their young commander.
"This is… truly unbelievable!" Mejes nearly lost his composure. Could a single Vice Admiral possess this level of power?
He had heard that this monster of a Vice Admiral didn't even have a codename yet.
While it was true that Akainu and the other "Monster" Vice Admirals had large-scale AoE abilities due to their Logia fruits, this precision strike covered an entire island… well… Mejes didn't know if they could do it, but that didn't lessen the intense visual shock of the scene before him.
In truth, Atlas's current strength was still a notch below that of the three "Monster" Vice Admirals, but he could fight them for ten days and ten nights without issue, and the outcome would still be uncertain.
But earning a codename wasn't so easy. There were generally two ways: one was to be an elite Vice Admiral of Headquarters, typically a veteran with sufficient merit, and the other was to be an Admiral Candidate.
An Admiral Candidate was almost guaranteed to become an Admiral, as long as their strength and military achievements were sufficient.
After all, the Admirals were hailed as the Marines' ultimate fighting force; ultimately, strength was what mattered.
Decades from now, even though Gion and Tokikake would have enough seniority to become Admirals, the vacancies would be filled through a World Military Draft instead.
This was either because their strength was insufficient or because the Five Elders wanted to counterbalance the Marine faction and deliberately chose two people from outside it.
Atlas suspected it was the former. In this world, the strong were revered, and only sufficient power could determine one's status.
"Quick… there's one over here who's not dead! What? We're out of handcuffs? Then hurry up and grab some rope!"
"No rope either? Then forget it… just cut off his hands and feet and bring him back!"
"…Yes, sir!"
Perhaps because they hadn't anticipated their commander's astonishing actions, the handcuffs on the warship were insufficient for the number of criminals.
Mejes was a decisive man and directly ordered his men to cut off the limbs of the remaining prisoners to prevent them from trying to escape when they woke up.
The Marines' efficiency was top-notch. They quickly dragged the bound pirates to the coast, where the warship was docked and awaited Atlas's orders.
"What a pain~ I didn't expect so many of them to be still alive," Atlas said, looking at the pirates being dragged by his men and curling his lip in disgust, clearly dissatisfied with the effectiveness of his Haki.
But this was him being too harsh on himself; it was unlikely that pirates with such high bounties would be killed instantly by his long-range Haki attack.
"Vice Admiral, sir, what should we do with these pirates?"
"Check their identities, and then… kill them! No need to waste food on them in Impel Down…"
"It's certainly much quieter now…" As usual, Atlas released his Observation Haki to patrol the Sabaody Archipelago.
"He's here again…" In the lawless zone, a scrawny man with sharp features felt the familiar presence.
His whole body tensed up, his muscles stiff, not daring to make any move that might be misinterpreted.
His name was Laurenfrost, the newly appointed head of Sabaody's largest auction house. This was his third day on the job.
Although he had been promoted from second-in-command to the top position, Laurenfrost couldn't feel happy at all.
Ever since that devil of a Marine had arrived, the criminals on the Sabaody Archipelago had been living in constant fear.
Forget about slave trading; the pirates didn't even dare to breathe too loudly, afraid of accidentally provoking that god of death.
In reality, the slave trade was explicitly forbidden by the World Government, but the Celestial Dragons were the world's biggest slave owners, making that law nothing more than a piece of waste paper.
For this reason, even when Laurenfrost bribed World Government officials and begged them to stop the Marines' actions, or at the very least transfer Atlas away from Sabaody, he received only a lukewarm response from the Marine side, which was completely useless.
"Damn it, the Celestial Dragons sent someone to rush me again…" Laurenfrost was even considering packing his things and running.
The recent liberation of a large number of slaves by Fisher Tiger had made the slave-addicted Celestial Dragons very uncomfortable, and they were dispatching their men everywhere to buy large numbers of new slaves.
The auction house in Sabaody, as one of their largest sources, was naturally on their list.
The auction house had existed and grown large, largely due to the Celestial Dragons' support.
Once they were no longer useful, Laurenfrost's fate was self-evident.
"I wonder when the next slave ship will arrive. It should be soon…" The heat had been on for the past few days, but Laurenfrost was desperate.
He could only take a chance and secretly transport the slaves to the auction house, hoping for the best.
After all, that devil Marine wasn't patrolling Sabaody 24/7. What if… right?
"What a troublesome brat. It seems I can't speak too soon in the future."
In his office in Marineford, Sengoku slammed down the receiver of the Den Den Mushi he had just hung up.
He rubbed his temples with a headache. This was the third call he had received from a high-ranking official of the World Government.
The only ones with the status to call him directly and order him around like that were the Celestial Dragons.
All three calls had the same purpose: to demand that Atlas be transferred away from Sabaody!
But stationing Atlas there was a key part of his plan. How could he give it up for a few worthless Celestial Dragons? So, Sengoku had refused them without the slightest hesitation.
"This kid knows how to cause trouble for me. But… well done!" Sengoku's furrowed brow completely relaxed, and a satisfied smile touched his lips.
The entire Marine hierarchy, from top to bottom, had long been dissatisfied with the grotesque existence of slavery. It was a stain on their justice!
But deterred by the authority of the World Government, the Marines could only combat the slave trade on a small scale and dared not, could not, crack down on large-scale human trafficking operations like the one in Sabaody.
Only a fearless fellow like Atlas would dare to do so. He truly is worthy of being a possessor of Conqueror's Haki…
Sengoku was lost in thought for a moment, as if remembering the passionate young man in his office years ago, who had spoken so eloquently of "the strongest justice."
--Sabaody Archipelago, Grove 66, Marine Station--
Bang, bang, bang!
The sounds of intense, rhythmic impacts echoed through the iron-plated training room.
Atlas, bare-chested, was forcefully throwing punches, though he was holding back.
Otherwise, with his current strength, he could have destroyed the entire training room. This kind of ordinary training was no longer very effective for him.
Its main purpose was to keep his body in a state of high-intensity explosiveness and strengthen his muscle memory.
The only way for him to improve now was to constantly fight against other powerful opponents.
Experience and the application of skill were truly precious to him.
"Vice Admiral, sir! A slave ship has been detected secretly approaching the Sabaody Archipelago!"
Just as Atlas was dripping with sweat, Mejes's voice came from the training room door.
"Hmm?" Atlas was puzzled. How could someone still be so unafraid of death, determined to run straight into his line of fire?
He would have to conduct a thorough cleansing today, to teach those who were still banking on luck an unforgettable lesson. Oh, no, their final lesson.
At this thought, Atlas grabbed his nearby clothes and walked straight out the door.
"…" The rolling heat from Atlas's post-workout body hit Mejes like a vicious wind.
An immense sense of pressure washed over him, and he froze on the spot for a moment, not even noticing that Atlas was about to leave.
"Let's go! What are you standing there for?" Atlas noticed Mejes's stillness, turned his head, and barked with a displeased frown.
"Ah? Oh! Yes, sir!"
--Sabaody Archipelago, the Lawless Zone--
This was an almost deserted coastline that Laurenfrost had discovered by chance.
Although docking here was a bit troublesome, the lure of huge profits made such inconveniences seem insignificant.
"Phew~ We're almost there. We probably weren't discovered by the Marines. It seems that the devil didn't notice." Laurenfrost let out a long sigh of relief.
It seemed his luck was holding out for him today. This shipload of slaves should be enough to satisfy the Celestial Dragons' immediate demands.
Especially… with the premium mermaid slave on board. He was sure the World Nobles would love her.
Laurenfrost could almost see himself being rewarded by the Celestial Dragons and rising to prominence, completely forgetting his cautious demeanour from moments before.
What an ugly, smug face.
(T/N: Please give me some power stone, I hope it can at least reach top 100)
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