"Sorry, could you say that again? No, I'm not doubting you. It's just so absurd that I have to assume I misheard."
In Spider Miles, North Blue, within the hideout of the quietly expanding Donquixote Pirates, the crew's leader, Donquixote Doflamingo, wore a rare look of astonishment. Behind him, Buena Festa, the crew's advisor, was listening in with the same expression.
"Yeah, sure," the voice on the other end of the Den Den Mushi said. "I'm questioning what I'm seeing with my own eyes, too."
The voice belonged to the Golden Lion, Shiki, a legendary pirate with whom they had formed a cooperative relationship through Buena Festa's connections.
"—The Navy is attacking the Black Cats."
But the voice coming from the Den Den Mushi was filled with a confusion unbefitting a great pirate. Buena Festa, listening beside him, had a similarly dumbfounded look on his face, his mouth hanging open.
"I'm watching them now, right at the edge of what I can see with my best telescope. Kuro and Kizaru are fighting. And yeah… at a pretty damn high altitude, of course. I don't think they see me, and even if they did, Kizaru's the only one who could catch up, and he looks pretty beat up, so it's not like he can do anything about it…"
"Behehehehe! They got betrayed, they got betrayed, the Black Cats! Whatcha gonna do, Doffy? Whatcha gonna do!?"
Donquixote Doflamingo ignored the laughter of his long-time officer, Trebol. His expression of shock slowly hardened, his brow furrowing.
"Festa, do you have any idea what's going on?"
"No. In fact, I was about to ask you the same thing, Mister."
Buena Festa scratched his bushy afro, set his glass of alcohol down on the table, and glared at a map. It wasn't a map of the North Blue. It was a map of the West Blue, where all hell was supposed to be breaking loose.
"According to our intel, the Government was planning to use the Mopuchi royals, the ones they 'freed' from slavery at Kuro's request, to get the Black Cat's territory recognized as a member nation. It was a scheme to fence them in and drag their entire operation over to the Government's side."
"If he refused, he'd be branded an enemy of the Government, and the people would be caught in the crossfire. If he accepted, they'd have a leash on him. That was the script. I admit, when I heard it, I was impressed. A pirate being pardoned and made a king is unprecedented, but it was a clever plan."
Doflamingo casually picked at the mess of food on the table, chewed a few times, and swallowed. He glared at the same map, where the known extent of the Black Cat's territory, including Mopuchi, was circled in red.
"And despite that, they moved to eliminate him? Right after he fought to defend the Holy Land? That doesn't make any sense. If there's a reason… I'd wager your family has something to do with it, Mister."
"It's not impossible. I have my suspicions… I do… but… if that were the case, they should have moved to eliminate him much sooner… yes…"
Donquixote Doflamingo. The leader of the Donquixote Pirates, a man whose bloodline was of a truly noble and sacred clan.
"What about the men we had on watch?"
"They're scattered across the various seas, just as we expected. If this continues, the plan should proceed without a hitch. What's the move?" an exceptionally burly man asked in a voice that was comically high-pitched for his frame.
Doflamingo and Festa exchanged a look. Doflamingo picked up the Den Den Mushi receiver once more.
"Golden Lion, the plan hasn't changed. You should probably lay low for a while before you get dragged into this mess."
"…You think it's going to get ugly, kid?"
"If you mean uglier than we anticipated, then yes."
"Jihahahaha! Now that's what I like to hear! This is going to be one hell of a show!"
At the Golden Lion's laughter, Doflamingo finally allowed himself a small smile.
"Well now, it seems the Black Cats wanted to build a stable relationship with the Government, but failed. And the force sent after them was a Marine Admiral. They must have really decided the Black Cats were a nuisance…"
"Splitting their forces was the Government's blunder. It gives them more than enough of an opening to slip through."
"You'll surpass it again, won't you?"
"You, of all people—"
"…You, of all people…"
◆ ◆ ◆
"Alright, the enemy ship is just ahead! Prepare for a boarding assault!"
Zephyr was being forced to learn just how different the pirate known as Black Cat was from all the others.
The moment his charge began, two enemy squadrons had moved swiftly to intercept him with cannon fire and obstructive maneuvers. The three Headquarters warships that had been with him were now lagging far behind. It was true that those three ships were carrying the Government's useless personnel, but they were commanded by elite officers Zephyr had personally trained. Despite that, the fact that they had been successfully hindered and forced off course spoke to the skill of the enemy squadron commanders and the quality and morale of the troops supporting them.
(…Kika and Troy. So, it was them. Yes, that's right. Their personalities were polar opposites, but they were both excellent cadets. I was planning to recommend them for a transfer to Headquarters after observing their performance in the region, but now… now…)
As a marine, it was only natural to observe the enemy pirate ships as he bypassed the ships assigned to deal with them. It was also natural to attack, to sink even one more vessel to secure victory.
A long-range strike, a fist clad in Haki.
A directional shockwave, which he had projected with his own Haki, was nullified by a flying slash, also clad in Haki, from the enemy's elite. It was a feat he wasn't sure how many soldiers in the entire Navy could perform, and to see it done by a three-person cell was both astonishing and, in a way, a source of pride, sorrow, and a hollow emptiness that spread through his chest.
These were individuals who should have been great assets to the Navy. No, could he even have trained them to this level? Why had a future where they might have fought side-by-side, pirate or not, become so distant?
"Keep their elites in check! Gunnery crew—"
Just as he was about to order a volley to suppress the movements of the Royal Guard, the most dangerous of his foes, a deafening roar echoed across his deck. The three cannons mounted on the forecastle, meant for firing on fleeing pirates, had been sliced apart. At the same time, so had all the cannons on the port and starboard sides.
"…So you chose to come from there."
"This unexpected battle is likely to be a strain on our finances. We can't have you damaging the ships more than necessary."
Before he knew it, the boy was standing there. Before he knew it, he was surrounded by familiar faces. Some had been diligent but lacked ambition, others had been purely lazy. There were those who had the drive but were difficult to teach due to their different sensibilities, and those he had judged as unsuited for combat.
And now, all of them stood on the deck of his warship as warriors.
—As his enemies.
"Surrender, 'Blade Steel.' We have no intention of handing you over to the Government. We want to protect you, somehow, within the Navy."
"If that were truly possible, would we have ended up in this situation in the first place?"
The words, coming from a pirate who should have still shown traces of youth, were a painful blow. Zephyr opened his mouth to try and reason with him further, but—
"In any case, we will not surrender."
"No limb would dare give up on its own while its head is missing."
Each one of them, an elite warrior on the verge of reaching the level of a high-ranking Headquarters officer, perhaps even a Vice Admiral, placed a hand on their weapon.
"All Royal Guard, draw your swords."
"All hands, prepare for battle!"
"Let's go."
"Charge!"
◆ ◆ ◆
"Die, pirate!"
A swell of all-consuming magma erupted, blasting toward the pirate empress. It was a blow that would have incinerated her in an instant had it connected, but it merely scorched the empty air where she had been.
"Too slow! Even my regular soldiers could dodge that, let alone the Royal Guard!"
The pirate empress, Boa Hancock, was now soaring through the air. She had judged that even if she dodged the magma attack, this was the best way to minimize collateral damage. Hancock touched her fingers to her lips in the gesture of blowing a kiss. From them, something a pale crimson, like a balloon but clearly made of her ability, began to expand.
"! An ability!"
"Slave Arrow!"
She formed the massive heart-shaped energy into a bow and fired it as an arrow. Akainu reflexively used his own ability to shoot it down, turning his arm to magma and raising it as a shield.
"!?"
The arm that was struck instantly turned to stone.
"Mmm, yes. This is a much easier way to fight."
Hancock, who had originally fought as an archer when she first joined the Black Cats, stood before Akainu with her energy bow still drawn.
"However, it seems this will not end so easily."
She had petrified one of his arms. Against a normal opponent, this would be a massive advantage, if not a guarantee of victory. But her opponent was Admiral Akainu.
"Of course not. A Marine Admiral cannot be brought to his knees so easily by a mere pirate."
He was a magma man who had eaten the Magma-Magma Fruit. The very substance that composed his body was rock, melted and liquefied by extreme heat.
(In terms of abilities, our compatibility is rather poor…)
The petrified part of his arm began to glow red, then bubbled with a dull sound, just as it had before.
"And we feel the same. We will not kneel to a band of rogues who would break a truce—an accord meant to protect the people—after we freed their captured marines, warned them of danger, and even helped clean up their mess."
"Don't talk so big, pirate!"
The magma boiled. A blow born of rage, though at whom it was directed was no longer clear, swelled to consume Hancock, rushing toward her as a crimson torrent.
—BANG!
"…!?"
It was stopped.
It wasn't with her ability. Her bow had vanished, and the magma torrent showed no signs of petrification.
"heh-heh…"
The one holding back the torrent was Boa Hancock herself. Her kick had stopped the flow of magma in its tracks. No matter how much Haki one clad themselves in, while it allowed one to touch the body of a Logia user, it could not negate the heat. Her leg should have been burned beyond repair, or at the very least, completely incinerated, yet she stood there, unfazed. The laughter spilling from her lips grew louder.
"Finally, finally, I have caught up! Master!"
"Impossible, you…!"
The torrent of magma was being held at bay by the girl's slender leg.
"hahahaa!"
The blow of magma that should have burned everything it touched was stopped, unable to even make contact with her Haki-clad foot.
"Did you see that!? Did you see, Mihawk!? I was appointed the first fleet commander by our Master himself! I will not let a guest commander like you act so high and mighty forever! Daz may be our Master's right hand, and Robin and Perona his eyes and ears, but I am his first sword! I'll show you a thing or two in our next training session!"
—Oh? Quite the declaration, Hancock.
As Akainu was turning his left arm to magma, preparing to incinerate the pirate who had completely blocked his attack, he heard the sound of rushing water. It wasn't as powerful as the earlier barrage, but it was a much sharper, more directional stream. Upon it was a swordsman, riding a large wooden board like a surfboard, propelled by a jet of seawater from an unknown source.
To Sakazuki, he was one of the most detestable of all pirates. A rogue of the sea responsible for the deaths of many marines.
"It's you!"
The man known as the 'Marine Hunter'—Dracule Mihawk—was there. Akainu unleashed another torrent of magma, intending to burn him along with the seawater and the board, but Mihawk calmly kicked the wet plank away to use as a shield, changing direction with the momentum to land beside Hancock and draw his sword.
"The Marine Hunter and the Pirate Princess! If I take you two down, 'Blade Steel' will have no choice but to surrender!"
"…Pirate Princess?"
"Now that Kuro has been made an enemy of the Government, it is only natural that we, his subordinates, would also be seen as a threat. It seems you have earned a moniker as well. You will have a wanted poster by the end of this battle."
"Oh? I look forward to seeing what price the Government puts on my head."
"You need not concern yourselves with such things. You will both burn to death right here!"
The wooden board and the seawater evaporated, creating a thin mist in the immediate area. As if to blow it away, Akainu unleashed another magma attack. This one was not from a single hand; it had twice the mass of his previous attacks.
"Damn it, again…! Ability users are such a pain to deal with!"
"Are you not an ability user yourself?"
Facing the oncoming magma, Mihawk stepped forward this time. The 'Marine Hunter' smiled fearlessly and swung his sword. The massive flow of magma was split clean in two, then further diced into pieces that fell to the deck, scorching the wood.
"…Ugh."
Mihawk, who had been concerned about his footing being destroyed, was a moment too late in noticing the presence before him. From beyond the bisected magma, another torrent came flooding forth. It was Akainu, who had turned most of his body to magma to close the distance, his fist clenched and ready.
"Perish!"
A killing blow. A simple, direct punch with his ability. At a distance too close for a sword swing, Mihawk loosened his grip on his blade.
"Hancock. Just as you have caught up to Kuro…"
He thrust out his free left hand and stopped the blow.
"I have also caught up. To him…!"
"You—!"
It was not his fist, but a single finger. Haki, condensed into just his index finger—the same flowing Haki that Kuro had once used to deflect and nearly shatter Mihawk's own sword—sent one of the Navy's greatest powers flying.
The sight of Admiral Akainu being blown away like a ball, crashing onto the deck, left the marines on board staring in stunned disbelief.
"Now, what was that you were saying about the next training session?"
Guh—! Nghhh…
"…Tch, a warrior of Kuja never goes back on her word! I will make you taste the bitterness of defeat!"
"Hahahahahaha!"
***
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