Chapter 12: Pirates And Dragon
“Big Sister, aren’t we waiting for Aoxi together?”
On the road to the southern forest, La and Obei walked one in front and one behind.
“No need, she’s been busy since early morning, let her rest in the morning.
Besides, I’ve already left word for her, no need to worry.” La replied with a smile as always.
“Oh, o-okay.”
Obei looked at La’s smile, which was the same as usual, and unconsciously shivered.
The ruins were not too far from the camp, and the two arrived at the destination after not walking for long.
Obei pointed to the broken walls and rubble ahead that had almost blended into the surrounding environment and said: “Big Sister, we’re here, ahead is the place I came to with Aoxi this morning.”
Walking a few quick steps to the front of the ruins, Obei turned back but found that La did not follow, instead standing in place, her eyes looking toward a certain direction in the sky.
“Hm? Big Sister, what are you looking at?”
“Nothing. By the way, is this that ruins? It looks quite ancient.”
La shifted her gaze back to the ruins in front of her, gently stroking the severely weathered stone wall, guessing its age in her heart.
“This pattern is… a cross?
Could these ruins be related to religion, or is it just a decorative pattern with a similar shape?”
Her fingertip traced over the cross relief on the stone wall with ends like waves, and La felt surprised to see this familiar religious symbol in a different world.
Along the moss-covered stone slab road, the two came to a place that seemed like a church.
This appeared to be the best-preserved building in these ruins.
Crossing the cracked but still intact gate, as soon as they stepped into the central hall without time to look around, La immediately sensed something unusual under her feet.
“Hm? It seems empty underneath.”
She lightly stomped twice more, and the returning sound confirmed her guess that there should be a basement or similar space below this church.
Creating underground rooms in church-like buildings is not uncommon, but rarely are they placed directly under the main hall.
And just as La planned to look around to see if she could find any entrance, her pupils suddenly contracted, and she immediately ran toward outside the hall.
“What’s wrong, Big Sister? Why suddenly…”
Obei, who had been quietly following behind La, also hurriedly chased after seeing this.
And when she arrived outside the hall, she saw La standing in the center of the empty front yard, her eyes staring at the sky above the island.
Obei also looked up upon seeing this, and then she saw a scene that left her dumbfounded…
“Holy crap! What is that thing?!”
Obei widened her eyes looking at the distant sky, where a colossal object estimated to be hundreds of meters long fell from the clouds, smashing straight onto the island and kicking up huge smoke and dust.
“That’s—a dragon?!
That’s a dragon, right! This…
Big Sister, what world have we come to?!”
Obei’s usual calm expression could no longer be maintained at this point.
What is this?
Clearly it was wilderness survival yesterday, but today it suddenly turned unscientific!
La did not answer Obei’s question, but quickly headed toward the direction where the dragon-form creature had crashed.
And Obei now also noticed that the place where the smoke and dust rose in the distance was near their camp.
“Oh no, Aoxi!” Obei, who had reacted, immediately followed.
……
New World, Navy G5 branch.
“Bad news! Kaido has escaped again!”
Accompanied by the blaring base alarm, an officer dodged left and right, hurriedly passing through the flustered soldiers, and rushed straight to the branch chief’s office.
“Huff~ huff~~ B-Bartos Vice Admiral.
K-Kaido broke open the branch’s prison and is wreaking havoc outside!”
Ignoring etiquette, the officer pushed the door open and entered, then gasped as he loudly reported.
“Oh~
As expected of the monster from that pirate crew, is he treating our Navy base as a fixed canteen?
What a trouble~”
Hearing this, G5 branch’s branch chief Bartos just put down the newspaper in his hand, then slowly exhaled a puff of smoke and complained.
The middle-aged Navy man’s face showed no panic or surprise, and his tone was as lazy as usual.
“Quickly, please give the order to organize a counterattack! Bartos Vice Admiral!” the officer said anxiously.
“Mm~ got it~
Order all soldiers to find places to hide and avoid casualties as much as possible.
Kaido will leave on his own after making a fuss for a while.”
Vice Admiral Bartos’s order left the officer dumbfounded.
“Yes…… Eh?!
H-Hide? Not reorganize the capture?
If we let Kaido rampage like this, our Navy…”
“Lieutenant Gunn, right~
I remember you were just transferred from headquarters to the G5 branch last month?”
Vice Admiral Bartos did not let the other continue, but asked a seemingly unrelated question.
“Yes, Vice Admiral.”
Although he didn’t know why the other suddenly brought up his own situation at this moment, his serious and upright personality made Gunn answer immediately.
“Mm…… Did you commit some mistake at headquarters?” Another out-of-the-blue question.
“No, Vice Admiral!
Officer Alberich said I fight bravely, dare to take the lead, am upright, but lack experience, so he transferred me here for training!”
『Doesn’t follow orders, no team awareness, doesn’t understand human relations…
Tsk! They dumped this hothead on me~』
『Alberich, right? I’ll remember you!』
As a seasoned veteran, Vice Admiral Bartos immediately understood his former superior’s official jargon and cursed inwardly.
“Lieutenant Gunn, you’re new so you don’t know the situation here.
The pirates of the New World are not comparable to the play-house guys from ‘Paradise’ and the Four Seas.
In fact, the purpose of our G5 branch’s existence is not to capture New World pirates but to serve as a symbol.
Mm…… You know scarecrow, right? Our G5 branch is the Navy’s scarecrow in the New World.”
Bartos spoke bluntly, knowing that being too euphemistic might not be understood by someone like Gunn.
“I don’t understand, sir.
Isn’t the Navy’s existence for capturing pirates?
The pirate is right outside now, I can’t just turn a blind eye!”
The Navy named Gunn still stood straight, showing no intention of yielding.
『As expected, what a trouble~ this kid.』
The other’s standard fresh recruit hot-blooded speech made Bartos’s eyebrows twitch.
But considering that at this age he was already an officer, he was probably some high-ranking offspring from headquarters, not someone to offend.
No choice, Bartos sighed and then said seriously:
“Alright, I’ll go organize the capture now, you stay here and report the situation to headquarters.
Oh~ right.
The magnetic field is chaotic in the New World, the Den Den Mushi might be affected, if it doesn’t connect, try a few more times.
Make sure to report the situation here to headquarters, that’s your task, understood?”
Saying this, he took out a strangely styled Den Den Mushi from his pocket and handed it to Gunn.
“This is the dedicated line Den Den Mushi for contacting headquarters, don’t use your own or others, they can be eavesdropped.”
Patting the other’s shoulder, Vice Admiral Bartos then left quickly.
“Yes! Mission guaranteed!”
Lieutenant Gunn solemnly took the Den Den Mushi and saluted a standard military salute toward his back.
『By the way, are Den Den Mushi affected by magnetic fields? The training class didn’t teach that…』
Without thinking further, he immediately dialed the Navy Headquarters.
“Moshi moshi, this is G5 branch. Moshi moshi…”*n
……
Next door office, Vice Admiral Bartos leisurely lit another cigar, took a puff, and slowly exhaled smoke rings~
“Troublesome guys just keep coming one after another~
That Kaido guy too, if he wants to eat, go eat on a warship~ why come to the base?
The higher-ups are watching, so I have to catch him.
Sigh~ what a trouble~”
“Huff~~ snore~ huff~ burp! Mm~”
Outside the base, Kaido, who had already caused a commotion, fell to the ground drunk and started snoring loudly, but still no Navy soldier dared approach.
“Hey, he seems to have fallen asleep. Should we capture him now?”
A Navy soldier hiding behind a wall said softly.
“Then he wakes up, finds himself locked up, and rampages again? Besides, the base’s prison is gone now.”
Another soldier squatting beside him, clearly older, replied irritably, then lit a cigarette for himself and leaned against the wall to smoke.
“Then wait for him to wake up and leave on his own?”
The young soldier also imitated his senior and squatted against the wall.
“By the way, senior, give me one too.”
“Mm. Just like this then, anyway the previous times were like this, just keep watch……
Mm? Only two left, all for you.”
The older Navy rummaged in his pocket, threw the squashed pack of cigarettes to the other, then took a deep drag from the one in his mouth.
“Sigh~ overtime cleaning the base tonight again.”
“Yeah, sigh~”
……
Time passed minute by minute, but Kaido showed no signs of waking, making it hard for the Navy soldiers around who had been on high alert.
And just as some soldiers couldn’t hold on and planned to relax, a extremely fast black shadow suddenly appeared on the horizon.
The black shadow got closer and closer, its form becoming clearer.
“That’s… a bird?!”
A soldier rubbed his sore eyes, trying hard to see the other’s appearance.
“No, not a bird!
That’s a pterodactyl! Black pterodactyl! An ability user?!
Coming for Kaido?” Another soldier wearing glasses recognized the approaching creature.
“Sergeant, what do we do?”
“This, I…”
The situation had some unexpected changes, and he hesitated whether to risk being discovered to notify the branch chief.
But before the sergeant could decide, the black pterodactyl had already landed on the ground.
After landing, the pterodactyl’s body gradually shrank, finally transforming into a man over three meters tall, fully wrapped in black leather clothes, wearing a fully enclosed mask, with wings on his back burning with flames.
The man also held a life card in his hand.
“Burp~ mm, it’s Ember?
Why are you here?” Kaido sensed the other’s presence and slowly woke up.
“Mr. Kaido, we’ve found that person’s trail, your Den Den Mushi didn’t connect, so I came to find you myself.”
The masked man named Ember answered, his voice surprisingly that of a young man.
Ember’s answer was very concise, not revealing too much information in his words.
“Mm? I see.”
Mentioning the main matter, Kaido sobered up a bit, then stood up, patted himself down, and pulled out a drunken Den Den Mushi…
“Burp! Mm~
In that case, let’s set off, Ember.”
Putting away the Den Den Mushi, Kaido released his imposing aura and then transformed into a green giant dragon hundreds of meters long, stirring up a large amount of sand and stones before flying into the sky.
………..
“He’s gone…”
The soldiers hiding in the distance saw the huge figure leave arrogantly and all let out a long sigh of relief.
Vice Admiral Bartos, who had been reading the newspaper for a long time, also appeared at this time, looked at the messy surroundings, and his eyebrows twitched uncontrollably again.
“Tsk~ that’s why I hate these Zoan ability users, every time they transform they leave the surroundings a mess.
Sigh~ don’t know if the repair funds will be approved this time, what a trouble…”
Taking out an expensive cigar from his pocket, Vice Admiral Bartos lit it.
“Inhale~~~ exhale~
Mm? Did I forget something?”
Base chief’s office—”Moshi moshi, this is G5 branch! Moshi moshi…”
……
“Uro-ro-ro-ro-ro~ You say that guy is in South Blue now?”
Hearing Ember’s report, Kaido in the sky let out his distinctive laugh.
“Correct, our people learned through the underground intelligence organization that the guy has been wandering in South Blue for three years.
Recently he seems to have stayed on a small island near the Calm Belt.”
Ember told Kaido the remaining intelligence one by one.
“In that case, I’ll go to South Blue personally.
Recently Shiki might have big moves, we need to increase our strength too.”
“Then you go first, Mr. Kaido. Recently some strange pirate ships have appeared near our territory, I need to go back first.
Also…… I don’t really want to see that guy right now either, this is the eternal pose to that island.”
Saying this, Ember took out an eternal pose from his pocket and handed it to Kaido.
“Mm~ since you don’t want to go, then go back.
If you see those guys’ ships, no need to be polite, just sink them directly, my territory isn’t somewhere you can come and go as you please!”
With that, Kaido directly rode his flame cloud toward the Calm Belt…
“Wish you a smooth trip, Mr. Kaido.”
Ember watched Kaido’s departing back for a while, then turned and flew back in the direction he came.
……
Kaido’s cloud-riding speed was quite fast, arriving at the sea area near the edge of the Calm Belt in just a few hours.
He planned to cross the Calm Belt directly to South Blue.
The oncoming sea breeze gradually dispelled his already minimal drunkenness bit by bit.
The journey was undoubtedly very boring, and with nothing to do, Kaido felt a bit bored and even slightly sleepy.
But fortunately, not long after, a strangely shaped dog-head warship appeared in his vision.
Kaido knew the owner of this warship, it was the Navy hero who had participated in subjugating Rocks at “God Valley”.
He had clashed with him several times, a very strong Navy.
『Oh? Garp? Perfect, something to do.』
Thinking this, Kaido gathered a dragon breath and sprayed it toward the warship from afar, then immediately pulled up his dragon body and rushed into the clouds.
“Kaido! You bastard!”
Garp, who had also noticed Kaido long ago, directly punched to disperse the dragon breath, then roared angrily toward the sky.
Another failed capture allowed the Roger Pirates group to escape, and he was in a very bad mood now.
“Garp, your Navy branch’s booze is too awful~ remember to have them prepare better next time!
Uro-ro-ro-ro-ro~”
Dodging a few cannonballs thrown by Garp, Kaido unleashed another dragon breath, then ignored the situation below and left arrogantly.
With the eternal pose, he had no intention of fighting Garp fully right now.
“Tsk! These remnants of Rocks have indeed become a bunch of troublesome guys.
Did that guy’s death not calm the sea but instead cause a bigger storm?”
Garp, dispersing the breath again, stared at Kaido who had already gone far in the clouds, his irritation growing.
“Notify the whole ship, head to G5 branch immediately.”
“Uro-ro-ro-ro-ro~”
After firing twice, Kaido was in a great mood, and the sleepiness from the long journey had mostly dissipated.
Looking up at the unobstructed night sky, the moon and stars were exceptionally clear.
“Nice~ tonight’s moon.
Wait! Navy, World Government, and those high-and-mighty scum!
I will become the world’s strongest and turn this world upside down!”
……
One night passed, and Kaido on the clouds had reached the depths of the Calm Belt.
Just as he prepared to find an island to stop and have a drink, he suddenly had a feeling, and his powerful Observation Haki immediately spread downward, but found nothing.
But Kaido had no intention of giving up, he looked in a direction outside his line of sight, his intuition telling him the source of that abnormal sensation was in that direction.
Without the slightest hesitation, Kaido drove his flame cloud toward there.
………..
ps: Kaido height 7.1m
Ember at this time around 15 years old, estimated height 3~4m based on anime.
