Chapter 76: “swordsman” Isca
New World has fresh events happening every day.
Major events, minor events,
constantly interspersed,
Not long ago, the newspaper published news of Pluto Roger appearing again, which really stirred up the New World. In recent days, the New World has new hot topics. One is Fire Fist Ace burning Whitebeard’s flag at Fish-Man Island. Many people are waiting to see Fire Fist get dealt with by Whitebeard!
The second is the BIG·MOM Pirate Crew being attacked by unknown individuals (forces). Several of their Pirate Ships were sunk. The attackers’ identities haven’t been identified yet, but it has piqued many people’s curiosity, with guesses about the attackers’ true identities. Most of the onlooker Pirates firmly believe it was other Pirate Emperors behind it.
Finally, it’s the Pirate Guerilla Squad and former Navy Admiral Black Arm Zephyr making a comeback.
These three pieces of news are currently the hottest topics in the New World.
On a desolate island in the New World with little fame.
The key figures at the center of the topics are hiding here.
A Pirate Ship is docked in the port. The pitch-black Pirate Flag flutters in the wind, bearing the mark of goggles-wearing skull and spade. This is the flag of the Spade Pirates.
Fire Fist Ace.
One of this year’s Pirate Supernovas. Originally, he was on equal footing with several other rookie Pirates with bounties over 100 million. But after the newspaper extensively reported Fire Fist Ace defeating a Navy Vice Admiral at Sabaody Archipelago, his bounty skyrocketed to 340 million Beli all at once.
This immediately created distance from his peers whose bounties lingered between 100 million and 200 million.
“Boss Ace, your bounty has gone up again! Doesn’t this make us Great Pirates too?”
“Haha! Skar, to become a Great Pirate, your bounty needs to rise a bit more!”
“That’s because the Navy hasn’t realized how amazing my intelligence-gathering skills are yet. Just wait! Once the Navy knows the prowess of the world’s top intelligence broker, my bounty will definitely shoot up. Even if… even if it doesn’t surpass the captain, it’ll definitely beat Deuce the Doctor.”
“Hahaha! We’ll be waiting for you!!”
Joyful laughter echoed across the deck.
To this day,
The ever-increasing bounties on the bounty posters no longer bring much pressure to the Pirates like they used to. In the past, a bounty increase meant facing more and stronger Bounty Hunters, and being pursued by more Navy.
On the contrary, at some point, the amount of the bounty became one of the standards for measuring a Pirate’s strength.
Ace sat on a wooden box, smiling as he listened to his partners chat.
Defeating a veteran Vice Admiral from Navy Headquarters in a one-on-one frontal duel—this level of strength truly could no longer be viewed as that of a rookie. Even so, challenging Whitebeard still offered no guarantees.
“Ace.”
“We’ve been staying on this island for half a month already. Though we can sustain ourselves for a while by hunting animals and fishing on the island, staying in this place forever isn’t a solution. We always need to find new footholds.”
Deuce walked over holding small snacks and alcohol, plopping down on the wooden box next to Ace.
His voice wasn’t loud, not disrupting the lively atmosphere of the partners who continued boasting and bantering. Barrels of cheap, low-quality rum were guzzled down, and it looked like the crew’s limited alcohol reserves would soon be wiped out.
Under the influence of alcohol, the strangely flavored side dishes made by Bonsy the auntie seemed to taste delicious.
Of course,
it only seemed that way.
It was purely the illusion brought by the alcohol.
“Mmm, half-cooked squid legs… so salty!” Ace took a bite of the snack Deuce offered. The overly salty taste made the Great Pirate with a 340 million Beli bounty roll his eyes. He hurriedly snatched the jug from the Ship Doctor and gulped down some alcohol to barely wash away the terrifying flavor that could kill hypertension patients.
“Cough cough! Looks like we really need to grab a Chef soon.”
Ace caught his breath and said with a sigh.
“I’m all for grabbing a Chef…” Deuce pinched a squid leg, carefully scraping off the excess salt with a knife before putting it in his mouth and chewing slowly. “But Ace, staying in a place like this means nowhere to find a Chef.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“So where are we heading next?”
“I want to go meet a man first.”
“…..Really? Hey, Ace, you’re really going to find that man? Where do we even go? That guy doesn’t even have a base out in the open, right? It’s like searching for a needle in a haystack.”
“Well! There’ll be a way, right? The Four Emperors all have fixed territories, don’t they?”
Ace asked uncertainly.
“Whitebeard, BIG·MOM, Beasts—they each occupy a large territory. But Red-Haired is the most special. Rumor has it he sails around everywhere on the dragon-headed ship Red Force with his partners, resting wherever they go. His whereabouts are the hardest to track.”
“…..We’ll figure it out after we leave here! Maybe we’ll run into Red-Haired on the next island!” Ace looked completely relaxed.
“If only it were that simple. That’s a Pirate Emperor!”
Deuce muttered softly.
Ace wore a smile on his face, but deep in his eyes, there was no trace of mirth—only swirling darkness like thick ink.
Having missed the Right Hand of the Pirate King,
He couldn’t let that red-haired man slip away again.
“Bad news, Captain. It’s a Navy Warship.” Though most were drinking and chatting, the Spade Pirates maintained sufficient vigilance, always with someone on watch from the mast’s lookout. Longarm Tribe’s Yanliu frantically waved his long arms toward Ace on the deck.
“Navy? No way? They can track us even to this godforsaken place?”
Ace stood up and shouted with his head raised: “Hey, Yanliu, can you tell which Navy it is?”
“It’s….. Black Arm, Black Arm Zephyr!!”
Yanliu shouted in panic.
“I’ve seen his photo in the newspaper. It’s that former Navy Admiral. No mistake.”
“A Navy Admiral? Are we done for?”
“It’s a former Admiral!”
“Still an Admiral, right? Captain, we….. what do we do?”
The Spade Pirates crew turned their gazes to their pillar, the sun they yearned for.
“Lads!”
Ace stood on the wooden box, grabbing his Cowboy Hat and putting it on. His smile was so brilliant as he shouted cheerfully: “Listen up! We’re gonna….. make a run for it!!!”
“Oh!!!”
The crew roared in response.
The panic from the approaching Navy Admiral was instantly dispelled by that smile. The crew members took their positions. The anchored Pirate Ship raised its anchor and, with the tail propulsion device spewing fire, quickly sailed out of the port. Braving the Navy’s rain of cannon fire, it fled the range like an arrow from a bow.
Thus began a grand escape drama.
————
After leaving Marineford, Elus rode a Warship borrowed from the Navy, heading to Water Seven guided by the Eternal Pose. But before he arrived, Zephyr had already started causing trouble in the New World with the Pirate Guerilla Squad and contacted his father, the king of Eckmond Kingdom, Sokachio Berville.
Given the Navy’s difficulty in establishing more branch bases in the New World, Eckmond Kingdom needed to provide logistical support for the Navy Guerilla Squad: funds, grain, ammunition, food, bedding. From Warship maintenance to procuring mops for the deck—all to be handled by Eckmond Kingdom.
This was one of the conditions of cooperation.
Upon arriving in the New World, Zephyr first hit up the only branch bases G1 and G5 for supplies, took out a few Pirates who didn’t know better along the way, and headed straight to Eckmond Kingdom. He had to confirm Eckmond Kingdom could provide long-term, stable logistical support.
Former Admiral Zephyr wasn’t reckless enough to disregard the safety of his over 6,000 subordinates.
Without reliable logistics, the sea itself would claim these 6,000 people before the Pirates even acted.
“…..Whatever you need, ammunition, weapons, food, medicine—however much, we’ll provide. Just over 6,000 people total. Even doubling the supplies is no issue, right?”
“Manpower? Even better! Navy Headquarters’ chief recruit instructor—training a few strong subordinates from him is a profit no matter what. Of course, keeping this chief instructor would be ideal. A former Navy Admiral!”
“I know it’s not that easy, but persistence wears down iron. Spend time grinding it out—I refuse to believe we can’t get him.”
Elus held the microphone, smiling relaxedly. “Besides, it’s just an idea. No guarantee of results. Trying it costs nothing. If it works….. we’d really hit the jackpot.”
He was talking with his father, far away in the royal palace in the New World.
“El, you’re poaching from the World Government.”
Berville sat alone in the study chair.
He puffed on a cigar, rebuking his son’s unreliable ambition of recruiting a Navy Admiral—former Admiral….. Youth indeed! He hadn’t even considered such things. How could the World Government and Navy let such valuable combat power fall into one country’s hands?
The political wisdom of strengthening the trunk and weakening the branches was summarized 800 years ago.
The Four Seas endlessly weakened, Navy Headquarters and Holy Land Marie Geoise continuously strengthened, ensuring the World Government’s absolute authority from on high, unshakable.
“I was just saying it offhand.”
Elus didn’t argue with his father.
No point wasting breath on something with no basis.
It was too early for that!
Talking too much would only scare his not-so-old father and create unnecessary complications.
“Where’s the man? After resupplying, where did he go?”
“We received intelligence earlier about the Spade Pirates hiding on some deserted island. Mr. Zephyr saw it as a threat to eliminate before it grows, so he went to capture the Spade Pirates.”
“Oh! Fire Fist!”
Elus blinked,
If he remembered right, after the Sabaody Archipelago failure, the Five Elders had given him an open-ended order to capture or kill Fire Fist.
“This counts as….. tempering?”
Elus smiled silently.
Black Arm pursuing Fire Fist….. Was this forcing Ace to grow stronger?
But it was interesting. Would an Ace stronger than in his original fate have a different ending….. He looked forward to witnessing that future with his own eyes.
After a few more casual words, Elus ended the call. After nearly half a month of long voyage, he finally saw the outline of Water Seven.
It was truly an extraordinarily bizarre and magnificent sight.
Like a massive blue fountain placed on the sea. Clear water streams from the island’s center shoot into the sky, accumulated and diverted by three enormous stone discs, splitting the falling water into seven major streams that flow into the sea through numbered water gates.
In addition,
These seven streams branch into thousands of tiny tributaries, replacing ordinary streets and connecting the entire city.
This is a city living on water.
“Water Seven….. Water 7…..” Elus murmured the different names for the same thing, gazing at the massive water flow shooting from the city’s center into the sky, and the thousands of ships docked in the ports.
And,
Two groups of Pirates currently exchanging fire.
Coincidentally, these two groups of battling Pirates blocked the path for Elus’s flagship to enter the port. Over twenty Pirate Ships scattered on the sea, booming cannon fire echoing between sea and sky. Surrounding Merchant Ships detoured from the nearest path, preparing to land at other ports.
Only Elus’s Warship charged straight ahead.
“It’s a Navy Warship.”
“Brothers, take down the Navy scum first.”
Navy and Pirates are natural enemies. The Pirates, who were fiercely fighting each other, unanimously turned their spears upon seeing the approaching Navy Warship, unleashing all their anger and killing intent toward the Navy.
“Fran.”
Elus’s fingers tapped the ship’s side railing.
He called his capable personal maid, planning to have Fran deal with these annoying flies.
But—
“Your Highness, let me handle them!”
“…..Fine. This is a good chance for real combat to test your control over your current power.”
Elus gave the order of approval.
“Go! Second Lieutenant Isca, show me your current achievements.”
The next instant,
Sharp, blinding Sword Qi shot from the deck.
Three Pirate Ships in a straight line were pierced straight through their centers, like being nailed, leaving circular puncture wounds on the hulls. And this was just the beginning.
Holding a Long Sword, wearing a white uniform embroidered with the golden coffee tree emblem, Isca leaped into the air.
She swung her sword toward the Pirates before her.
Before Isca, who had reached the Swordsman Realm, these small fry Pirates who couldn’t even touch the New World threshold were no match. In a few breaths, the Pirates were all dealt with. Isca returned to the deck via Geppo.
