Chapter 68: Fire Fist, Arrives On The Scene
The seagull flag fluttered loudly in the wind.
The snow-white sails depicted seagull patterns, the warship’s hull was dyed blue-green, rows of dark cannon muzzles displayed the formidable firepower, deterring all criminals on this sea, but even so, it still couldn’t prevent the breeding of evil.
Sabaody Archipelago, known as the “Island of Failures” and the “Island of Reembarkation,” this tree island without a magnetic field is clearly right next to Navy Headquarters, yet it is the area in the vast Paradise where pirates are most concentrated. It welcomes young tigers eager to challenge the New World and accommodates the failures who retreat from the New World.
Pirates, bandits, slave traders, banned drug dealers······ all sorts of criminals on this island are simply countless.
“Major Tina, why doesn’t the Navy station a General in Sabaody Archipelago?” Inside the warship’s bridge, Prince Elus held a cup of steaming coffee milk and sat on the sofa, taking small sips of the slightly scalding coffee milk while chatting with the Major officer sitting opposite him.
“If a General were stationed in Sabaody Archipelago, I think no matter how many pirates flooded in, it would just be walking into a trap. Without these pirates from the Four Seas and Paradise replenishing the New World, it might not have turned into the current disaster······ Is there some concern?”
Hearing this question, Tina’s expression turned a bit unpleasant.
Station a General in Sabaody Archipelago to wait and catch pirates like guarding a tree stump.
The idea is naturally good,
Similar topics are proposed every year by newly rising young officers, and even Tina had once attached her name to a submitted proposal. Unfortunately, no matter how enthusiastic the young officers at Navy Headquarters were, they still couldn’t change the fact that the Navy is just one of the three armed forces under the World Government.
The Navy,
has no way to directly defy orders from the World Government, from the Holy Land Marie Geoise.
“Navy Admirals are not allowed to be stationed in Sabaody Archipelago; this is an order from the Holy Land.” Tina said coldly.
“Why?”
Prince Elus widened his eyes.
He really couldn’t think of any reason why this couldn’t be done.
“Sabaody Archipelago······ is the playground of the World Nobles. A Navy Admiral taking residence would make Sabaody Archipelago······ boring.” Tina gritted her teeth, explaining with difficulty.
“······”
Prince Elus fell silent for a moment.
Such a reason—
Was too taken for granted, leaving him not knowing what to say.
There are too many gray illegal zones in Sabaody Archipelago. If a Navy Admiral were stationed here, no matter which one, they couldn’t allow such illegal zones to exist under their watch. Yet places like “human trafficking shops” and “human auctions” are precisely the favorite play spots of the Celestial Dragons.
Therefore,
To “protect” the World Nobles’ large playground, Sabaody Archipelago prohibits Navy Admirals and Vice Admirals from being permanently stationed, with only one Rear Admiral allowed to be stationed on the island to maintain order and safety.
Even more unreasonable is that if a Celestial Dragon encounters danger in Sabaody Archipelago one day, Navy Headquarters must dispatch a General to the island for support at the fastest speed. Honestly, the rule requiring at least one General to be stationed at the headquarters Marineford was originally established to protect Celestial Dragons traveling to Sabaody Archipelago for fun, not to maintain the peace of Navy Headquarters.
“······You guys have it tough too!”
Prince Elus held back for a long time before saying this.
“Duty calls.”
Tina replied stiffly.
The matter of Sabaody Archipelago is a scar on the Navy, a scar still bleeding to this day. Just the Rear Admiral stationed in Sabaody Archipelago······ has been replaced countless times front and back. From the records, no commanding officer has ever served out their full term; they all resigned voluntarily.
This place,
too easily erodes the Navy’s morale and fighting spirit.
Staying here too long and seeing too much of the Celestial Dragons’ behavior, honestly, even pirates sometimes have to admit they don’t play as wildly as the World Nobles, let alone Navy officers who firmly believe in justice. Many Navy officers and soldiers who withdraw from Sabaody Archipelago often choose to retire directly; they can no longer uphold the justice in their hearts.
“We’re almost there, Prince Elus. Please prepare yourself.”
Tina glanced out the window, stood up, and ended the conversation that had turned unpleasant.
Sabaody Archipelago,
had arrived.
This is Grove 63.
As mentioned before, Sabaody Archipelago is a tree island whose foundation is not rocky land but 79 Yorunomaru Trees. The entire island is composed of these 79 Yorunomaru Trees (numbered from 1 to 79), each tree bearing towns and facilities. People call this archipelago of 79 groves “Sabaody Archipelago.”
“Vice Admiral Dolo.”
Prince Elus, arriving on the deck, reached out to greet the burly Navy Vice Admiral.
This Vice Admiral Dolo, who exuded an overwhelming sense of power at first glance, was the main person in charge of this recruitment mission. As a faction in the Navy leaning toward the World Government, he was tasked by the World Government’s higher-ups with recruiting Fire Fist.
“Prince Elus.”
A dry response, and then this Vice Admiral closed his mouth, giving the impression of being taciturn and not good at communication.
In fact, that was indeed the case.
The two had met in Fleet Admiral Sengoku’s office and come to Sabaody Archipelago together.
However, along the way, except for two sentences exchanged when boarding, they had no further communication. Prince Elus sat in the bridge chatting idly with Major Tina, while this Vice Admiral stood guard at the ship’s bow deck the entire time.
“Vice Admiral Dolo, where is the target now?”
Since Vice Admiral Dolo wasn’t talkative, Prince Elus had to ask proactively.
“Grove 26.”
Vice Admiral Dolo, walking down the gangway, glanced back at Prince Elus and responded woodenly: “Fire Fist is wandering around the slums in Grove 26.”
“Grove 26?”
Prince Elus recalled the map of Sabaody Archipelago he had seen.
The distance between Grove 26 and Grove 63 wasn’t short; it required crossing more than ten groves to reach.
“Don’t worry, my subordinate is tracking Fire Fist. She’ll report any changes immediately; no need to worry about Fire Fist escaping.” Vice Admiral Dolo spoke more, and after stepping onto the land of Sabaody Archipelago, this Vice Admiral, who was like a wooden man, suddenly gained some vitality and······ killing intent?
「Killing intent? That’s not the attitude for recruitment······」
Since the Five Elders had given him the task of picking up the pieces, theoretically, they shouldn’t assign Vice Admiral Dolo any extra tasks, right? He hadn’t even seen Fire Fist’s face yet, so why such strong killing intent······ something strange!
However, even though he noticed something off about Vice Admiral Dolo, Prince Elus merely watched coldly from the sidelines. He was just here to lend a hand anyway, and to meet the Pirate King’s son along the way. He didn’t care what Vice Admiral Dolo did, and having a show to watch was even better, wasn’t it?
“Just the few of us?”
The ones disembarking were only Vice Admiral Dolo, Major Tina, plus Prince Elus, the newly appointed Seven Warlord.
“Fire Fist is a Logia Ability User; too many people are useless, and fewer people mean faster action.” Vice Admiral Dolo said this. “Moreover, one of my subordinates is tracking Fire Fist; she will rendezvous with us.”
“Alright!”
Prince Elus shrugged indifferently.
However,
He didn’t walk like Vice Admiral Dolo and Major Tina.
Instead, he spent five hundred Beli to rent a local specialty bubble car and rode it fast, closely following behind Vice Admiral Dolo.
————
Grove 26.
This was a very ordinary one among the 79 groves of Sabaody Archipelago, with nothing special. It only had a few civilian streets and some restaurants and shops. If one had to point out a feature, it did have something many groves lacked.
There was a large slum here.
It housed unsupported elderly, homeless children, disabled people without full labor capacity, and other unfortunates who ended up here for various reasons.
“Ahh!! This feel······ is a bit like the Indeterminate Object Terminal Station!”
A man holding several boxes of local specialty snacks, great rice crackers, devoured the rice crackers in his arms at an astonishing speed while looking around curiously at the surroundings.
“Indeterminate Object Terminal Station? What place is that? Something like the Sea Train station in Water Seven?”
The man wearing a mask like one from a masquerade ball asked.
“How could it be? The Indeterminate Object Terminal Station is a super huge landfill in my hometown.”
“If it’s a landfill, give it a proper name! Indeterminate Object Terminal Station······ who would think such a strange name is a landfill?”
“Anyway, that’s what everyone calls it. Ask me, I don’t know either······ Ah! I’m hungry. Hey, Deuce, is there any place nearby selling great rice crackers? Mm, great bags work too!”
Even though he still held several boxes in his hands, the man wearing an orange cowboy hat began looking around for shops and such.
But this was a slum; not to mention shops, there wasn’t even a single intact residence. There was only garbage everywhere, eerie alleys, malicious gazes leaking from broken houses, and······ a group of little kids hiding at alley corners, peeking out with longing eyes at the great rice crackers in the man’s hands.
Probably orphans living here!
He reached out his hand,
gently beckoning to the little kids, seemingly worried that too strong a motion would scare these overly sensitive and fragile children.
The children timidly approached. In this harsh environment, they had long honed the ability to discern good from evil. Their intuition told them the man before them wasn’t the kind of villain who took pleasure in bullying the weak. They took the great rice crackers from the man’s hands.
Smiles appeared on the children’s faces.
They carefully bowed to the man, then hugged the rice crackers and ran off. They didn’t go far, stopping at the alley corner, calling out a few even smaller kids from the nook. The dozen or so little ones devoured all the great rice crackers on the spot, not even leaving crumbs from the boxes.
“Is that okay? Ace.”
The masked man, Deuce, the Spade Pirates’ ship doctor, looked at his own grinning captain.
He had just shouted he was hungry, and the next second, he gave away all the remaining rice crackers.
“Yeah, I feel······ actually, it’s about enough.”
No mistake,
This man wearing an orange cowboy hat, a string of red bead necklace around his neck, and black knee-length shorts was the recently rising pirate supernova, Fire Fist Ace.
At the same time, he also bore the secret identity of the Pirate King’s posthumous son.
Ace touched his belly.
“Alright, time to head back······” Before finishing, Ace stopped his stretching motion, turned to look at another alley. Dense footsteps came from the alley, and soon the captain and ship doctor saw familiar faces.
It was a very young female Navy member.
She had orange-red shoulder-length short hair, pretty and cute features, and for some reason, an OK bandage on her face. Her right hand bore terrifying burn scars. From her standard Navy uniform paired with a coat on the back reading “Justice,” she appeared to be an officer.
Colonels and above basically wore casual clothes paired with coats on the back reading “Justice.”
She was Isca, the female Navy with the nickname “Nail Hand,” and an old rival of the Spade Pirates. Not long after they entered Paradise, she had been pursuing them, repeatedly declaring she would arrest Ace, and had chased them all the way to Sabaody Archipelago.
“Why at this exact time······” Deuce clicked his tongue in annoyance.
He thought Isca would show up when their pirate ship set off, but she appeared now, which was really unexpected.
“Huh? Quite a few new faces today!”
Ace muttered.
Behind Isca, there were no usual Marines following her. A burly man draped in a “Justice” coat stood beside her, and another very young one with pink long hair, wearing a maroon professional outfit and draped in a “Justice” coat Navy officer, both appearing to outrank Isca.
Besides that,
There was also a young man riding a bubble car with emerald green eyes.
“······You’re the Black Prince?!”
Deuce pointed at Elus, and after a brief recollection, remembered the name repeatedly reported in the newspapers the past couple of days. “One of the Seven Warlords, Black Prince Sokachio Elus······ Why are you here? Aren’t you the prince of Eckmond Kingdom in the New World? Why······ why are you in Sabaody Archipelago?”
As a ship doctor who received elite education and liked writing novels, Deuce was one of the few cultured people in the Spade Pirates.
He and Mihal took turns reading newspapers to the partners on the ship.
So,
He remembered the newspaper reports on Elus with modifiers like “top secret,” “exclusive news,” “first reveal,” etc. Though who knows how much ocean water was poured into them, the most basic personal information was real.
For example, this prince’s identity,
was a focus of all the newspapers’ reports.
“Why?”
Elus leaned on the bubble car’s handlebars, looking at the two who had already assumed alert stances, and laughed. “Didn’t you read the newspaper? I’m here at the Red Line for the Seven Warlord title!”
The answer that felt utterly real left Deuce momentarily at a loss for words.
“Wait! We’re here to negotiate today.”
Seeing Ace and Deuce ready to fight, Isca finally couldn’t contain her excitement and shouted loudly.
“You should be happy, Fire Fist. This is an unadulterated good thing for you and your companions!”
Isca’s excitement was overflowing. She reached out to introduce her superior standing beside her. “This is Vice Admiral Dolo from Navy Headquarters, my lifesaver from childhood.”
“Second Lieutenant Isca, don’t say unnecessary nonsense.”
Vice Admiral Dolo reprimanded his overly excited subordinate, stepped forward, pulled a letter from his pocket, and unfolded it directly in front of everyone. “Fire Fist Ace, this is for you.” He extended the letter forward so Ace and Deuce opposite could see it more clearly.
The content above was—
“S-Sev-Seven Warlords?”
Deuce felt a wave of dizziness.
He pinched his thigh hard; the intense pain told him this was no dream.
But this only made him more bewildered. Seven Warlords······ this was a group of monsters that could stand alongside the Navy and Four Emperors as one of the three great powers on the Grand Line. Becoming a Seven Warlord required great strength and sufficient fame, meaning Ace, who received this invitation, was already a strong person recognized by the World Government?
Speaking of which, there happened to be one recently prominent Seven Warlord member right here.
He instinctively glanced at Elus on the bubble car.
“So? Fire Fist, this is a good thing, right? This way, even if you don’t want to give up your pirate identity, it’s fine.”
Isca looked thrilled.
Major Tina frowned tightly; the Navy acting so chummy with pirates······ was really unwatchable! If not for Vice Admiral Dolo being here, she would have been unable to resist scolding them.
At this moment—
Ace, who had been silent for a while, finally spoke.
“I refuse!”
“Eh!? Wh-Why?”
The excitement on Isca’s face vanished instantly. She stared at Ace in shock, her brain freezing, completely unable to comprehend why he would reject the invitation to become a Seven Warlord.
“Sorry! I just can’t stand the Seven Warlord system itself.”
“How could······ But this······”
Isca’s chaotic brain left her unable even to articulate her feelings properly.
“Hey hey, saying that hurts! I went to a lot of effort for the Seven Warlord title.” Elus cheerfully voiced his dissatisfaction, but his gaze didn’t look at Ace opposite; instead, it fixed on Vice Admiral Dolo’s profile, watching the sudden smile that appeared.
He smiled?
This guy like a wooden man actually smiled because Ace refused the Seven Warlord invitation.
In other words,
He never hoped Ace would accept from the start?
A bit more smile deepened on Elus’s face. Clearly a rare Navy Vice Admiral who directly aligned with the Holy Land, yet not of one mind with the Holy Land······ interesting!
“What a coincidence!”
Vice Admiral Dolo laughed, his pleasant laughter echoing around. “Fire Fist Ace, I share your view! I can’t stand this so-called Seven Warlord system either. It’s great that you refused this invitation!”
He tore up the letter in his hand.
Tossed it casually, and it was scattered by the breeze.
“You guys bashing the Seven Warlord system one after another really hurts me!”
Elus protested again.
But clearly, Vice Admiral Dolo, like Ace, had no intention of responding to Elus.
In his eyes,
Right now, there was only the pirate standing opposite, Fire Fist Portgas D. Ace.
He flung open his “Justice” coat, revealing a cylindrical device bound to his arm, looking somewhat like a rocket launcher with a dark muzzle at the front and tubes connecting to two sizable containers hanging at his waist.
“Fire Fist Ace, I was worried I wouldn’t get a chance to test how this thing compares to the Flare-Flare Fruit······ Good thing you didn’t disappoint me! Damn pirate!!!”
Vice Admiral Dolo’s smile twisted grotesquely.
His eyes lost all light, filled only with the deepest violent killing intent.
The next instant,
Blazing flames shot from the cylindrical device’s muzzle.
This was—
A flamethrower.
One of the pieces of equipment researched by the Navy Science Unit. The tube bound to the arm was the nozzle, and the containers hanging at the waist connected by tubes stored refined special fuel, enough quantity to sustain the flame spray for quite a long time.
The roaring flames charged toward Ace and Deuce with the momentum to burn everything.
As a Flare-Flare Fruit ability user, Ace didn’t retreat or flee. Deuce couldn’t block such fierce flames, so he stepped forward, spread his arms, and his body also turned into burning flames, resisting the oncoming blaze.
However,
The result was the fire spreading to the surroundings.
In mere seconds, the fire spread through the dilapidated slums. There was plenty of flammable garbage like rotten wood and cardboard boxes, and no firefighting facilities at all, so it had zero resistance to this sudden blaze.
Not only were Ace and Deuce surrounded by the fire.
Even those children earlier were blocked from escape by the spreading flames, their terrified cries drifting from the fire.
“Vice Admiral?”
Tina shouted.
She looked at the berserk Vice Admiral Dolo, her eyes full of utmost shocked disbelief.
To completely disregard the surrounding civilians and use such a massively destructive weapon······ Raging flames ignited in the Major’s heart. She stepped forward to stop this atrocity. “Vice Admiral, please stop. Your actions will hurt the children.”
“Vice Admiral, what are you doing? At this rate, the children will get hurt.”
Isca also rushed up, approaching Vice Admiral Dolo, trying to persuade him to stop.
But unfortunately,
Their efforts had no effect.
“Major Tina, Second Lieutenant Isca, what are you saying? Children? At a time like this, shouldn’t we be exterminating the pirates? Only by executing these damn pirates can we prevent more children from suffering such misfortune, right? Letting these pirates escape here would be the Navy’s dereliction!”
Vice Admiral Dolo swung his right hand, the turned flames forcing Major Tina, who intended to use her ability, to retreat and dodge. She hadn’t mastered Armament Haki and had no ability to block flames barehanded; honestly, her ability might not withstand such fierce flames.
On the other side,
Second Lieutenant Isca was easily kicked flying by Vice Admiral Dolo.
The scene,
suddenly descended into utter chaos.
“······Hating evil······ No, this feeling······ pathological obsession, has his mind gone abnormal?”
Elus watched the lively scene before him and suddenly understood what was up with Vice Admiral Dolo. This Vice Admiral’s mental state had gone wrong at some point, probably gradually turning into this obsessive maniac due to hatred for pirates.
To exterminate pirates, he spared no means, and this was completely different from Admiral Sakazuki’s justice.
For example, Admiral Sakazuki once ordered the bombing of an evacuation ship full of Ohara residents out of fear it harbored archaeologists who might bring greater chaos to the world. Between world peace and a group of refugees, he unhesitatingly chose the former, abandoning the evacuation ship.
But Vice Admiral Dolo gave the feeling that to take down one pirate, he’d sacrifice a ship of civilians without hesitation. He made no weighing or trade-offs, simply wanting purely to hunt pirates. For that, he even aimed flames at fellow Navy colleague Tina and kicked away his own subordinate.
“Is this what they mean by the pitiful must have something despicable? Anyway, attacking a group of kids is really low-class!”
Elus quietly appeared in the fire, blocking in front of these children. He waved to disperse the oncoming flames, loosely gripped his right hand, and azure-white glow condensed; the Moonlight Sword was now firmly in his palm.
Since the sword was already drawn, what came next was simple.
Just swing the sword.
Thus,
He swung the Moonlight Sword.
Sharp sword qi flew out, directly tearing through the fire’s encirclement, clearing a broad path free of even a spark. “Brats, all get lost now! Run as far as you can. If you’re slow and die, don’t blame anyone.”
Elus pointed the Moonlight Sword at the path ahead, shooing away this group of kids with peculiar luck.
Then,
He turned around, looking at the roaring fires around, narrowing his eyes.
“Next······ what to do?”
