Chapter 62: The Future Neo Navy Admiral
Chance encounters are fleeting.
Fujitora, who was still traveling, did not stay long on the Navy warships. He rejected Prince Elus’s invitation and did not converse with the Navy Hero Garp for long. The old gambler, on the other hand, invited Elus to play cards on his merchant ship.
Elus readily agreed.
As a result, he gambled all night on the merchant ship and lost over twenty million Beli.
Fujitora is blind, yet his gambling skills are devilishly strong.
This was not an unconventional application of Observation Haki; neither of them used power beyond normal means at the gambling table. Both Observation Haki and Neuro-Scan were actively suppressed. Elus’s great defeat was purely due to inferior skill. Compared to Fujitora, an old gambler who had been immersed in gambling for a lifetime, Elus’s gambling skills were still as green as a newborn!
The next morning.
The gambling match concluded.
Ultimately, Elus was incapable of turning the tide and was utterly defeated.
“Mister Fujitora, we shall part ways here.”
Elus emerged from the cabin and waved goodbye to Fujitora, who followed him to see him off.
“……Prince Elus, have a safe journey.”
“Mister Fujitora, I also wish you success in all your endeavors.”
Elus’s pair of black wings unfurled behind him, and he flapped them to leave the merchant ship, flying back to the warship anchored not far away.
Fujitora stood at the cabin door, leaning on his cane. He ‘watched’ the brightly colored figure gradually recede into the distance, and after a long while, he let out a soft sigh.
Truly a complex and strange young man.
Cold, warm, cruel, kind, mad, rational… In this young prince, he ‘saw’ too many changing colors, like a dye vat infused with too many colors, ultimately forming a pot of indescribable chaos.
“The Black Prince?”
“Are all the young people nowadays like this… outstanding?”
Fujitora recalled a young pirate he had also chanced upon in Paradise, in a restaurant. He met a young pirate with a terrifyingly large appetite, a very strange pirate indeed. Despite possessing considerable strength, capable of easily destroying a street, he was chased by the restaurant’s waiters in a sorry state for eating and running.
Even stranger things happened later. Just as the young pirate was being pursued, another young pirate arrived, claiming to be there to settle his captain’s bill. His captain would never eat and run; he had simply forgotten his money bag when disembarking.
In the end, the commotion in the town was quelled in an incredibly gentle manner, preventing Fujitora’s Staff Sword from being drawn.
He had never seen such a strange pirate before.
So,
That time, he uncharacteristically only observed a lively spectacle, watching these young pirates defeat the criminal gang that lorded over the island with an unstoppable momentum, and then flee, pursued by a young female Navy Second Lieutenant.
“Fire Fist… Black Prince… Am I truly getting old?”
Seeing one outstanding young person after another appear in this world, Fujitora couldn’t help but feel his age. Even though he was still at his peak and showed no signs of decline for a long time to come, this still couldn’t dispel the sense of weariness in his heart.
Of course,
Such reflections were merely fleeting soap bubbles.
With the willpower honed over so many years, Fujitora could not be so easily shaken. No amount of sighing would cause him a moment’s doubt; he firmly believed that he would eventually achieve his ambitions in this world, and that day would surely come.
The warship and the merchant ship parted ways, one continuing towards the New World, the other heading towards the Red Line.
The two fleets gradually drifted apart.
Soon, both lost sight of each other.
This ordinary chance encounter ended in an equally unremarkable manner. However, this was the first time the future Admiral of the NEO Navy was made known to the World Government and the Navy.
————
Red Line, G1 Branch.
This branch was situated against the Red Line, much like Marineford, the Navy Headquarters. Standing on this land, one could gaze up at the towering red cliff face that pierced the clouds. The dog-headed warship did not linger at the G1 Branch. After Garp greeted Vice Admiral Momonga, the commander of the G1 Branch, the dog-headed warship continued its advance towards the Red Line.
Not long after sailing, they saw the enormous port.
This was—
Red Port.
There were two such massive ports, flanking each side and dividing the Red Line. Through these Red Ports, ships of the World Government and the Navy could freely travel between the two sides of the great wall, without needing to venture into the seabed ten thousand meters down. These were exclusive routes for the World Government and the Navy.
“……The people who died in the deep sea were truly…… pitiful.”
Aboard Garp’s flagship, Elus traveled from the Red Port of the New World to the Red Port of Paradise. He stood by the ship’s side, witnessing the entire process as the dog-headed warship navigated the unobstructed waterway.
There were no storms or rough waves, no fierce sea beasts, only strict defenses with guards at every three steps and sentries at every five.
Compared to the perilous route via Fish-Man Island to the New World or back to Paradise, if the souls who had died on that path over the centuries could see the scenery Elus beheld now, they would likely let out roars of unyielding frustration.
“……”
Garp said nothing, merely eating a bag of rice crackers.
“Prince Elus, they were just dead pirates; they are not worth pity!”
Tina interjected.
After playing hundreds of games of chess with Elus on the ship and communicating multiple times, becoming familiar with him, the beautiful and somewhat straightforward Major Tina finally shed her inhibitions. She spoke without the initial restraint, regaining her original personality and becoming much more casual.
“Pirates… I suppose that’s true.”
Elus offered no rebuttal.
There was nothing wrong with that statement; pirates, beings who disrupt order and symbolize chaos and disorder, were inherently targets to be suppressed. Even pirates like Whitebeard and Red-Haired, who were vastly different from the typical marauding and plundering pirates, could not change the inherently unjust nature of the concept of piracy.
Especially after taking over Umit’s maritime transport network, he discovered one thing.
In the New World,
the ones most zealous about suppressing the endless stream of pirates, which were as numerous as carp in a river, were not the Navy, but Umit, the King of Maritime Transport.
To ensure the smooth operation of his maritime transport network, Umit had been doing his utmost for years to suppress and assimilate the new pirates surging from Paradise.
Umit was now a part of history, but Elus, who inherited Umit’s legacy, was doing the same thing as Umit.
Suppressing pirates who were ignorant of their limitations and did not abide by the rules of the New World had become Elus’s job. This time, he had brought only Fran, a maid, to the Red Line; his four aides-de-camp had been left behind to maintain the smooth operation of the maritime transport network.
“Fish-Man Island does not welcome pirates.”
Jinbe’s eyes were filled with complex emotions.
If the World Government had not blocked the passages between the Red Ports, forcing pirates to flock to Fish-Man Island, Fish-Man Island might not have been so disturbed that it had to rely on Old Man Whitebeard’s flag for its peace and tranquility.
Even, thinking maliciously,
perhaps the World Government was doing this to use the power of pirates to weaken non-human races like those on Fish-Man Island.
“Fish-Man Island is still flying Whitebeard’s flag!”
Smoker, who was standing nearby smoking, couldn’t help but sneer.
“If the World Government could guarantee the peace and tranquility of its affiliated nations, the Ryugu Kingdom wouldn’t have had to rely on Old Man Whitebeard’s flag,” Jinbe retorted without politeness, even calling Whitebeard “Old Man” in front of the Navy officers.
Smoker’s eye twitched.
It wasn’t because of Jinbe’s attitude,
but because of the fact that Jinbe spoke, which he could not refute. Precisely because he realized the Navy could not provide protection to Fish-Man Island, forcing the Ryugu Kingdom to accept Whitebeard’s protection, there were quite a few World Government Member Nations like this in the New World.
Including the Eckmond Kingdom, which originally accepted the protection of the Whitebeard Pirates’ flag.
It was only after Elus rose to prominence that he returned the Whitebeard flag to the Whitebeard Pirates. He also had the good fortune to witness the moment the Whitebeard Pirates’ flag was lowered, watching the kingdom’s Foreign Minister carry the crudely made, ordinary quality pirate flag to the Whitebeard Pirates to return it.
“The Navy… will eventually return to the New World.”
After a moment of silence, Smoker mumbled.
“In that case, Major Smoker, you’ll likely need to hone your Haki cultivation. If you rely solely on your Logia abilities to run rampant, you’ll eventually suffer greatly. The New World is not a greenhouse like Paradise.” Elus smiled and offered a warning.
“…Prince Elus, my affairs are none of your concern.”
Smoker had a terrible temper.
However,
Elus wasn’t angry.
He wasn’t the one who would suffer later anyway. Smoker’s bad temper deserved to be beaten, and the worse he was beaten, the better.
“Prince Elus, we’re approaching the Red Port of Paradise. Where are you heading next?” Tina interjected, rescuing Smoker, who looked rather displeased.
“Hmm… I’ll go to the Holy Land first.”
Elus tilted his head back, gazing up at the Red Line, which seemed to have no peak in sight.
“In that case, you’ll have to disembark here.”
Tina pointed to the cables attached to the outer wall of the Red Line and the bubbles floating in the air. “To go to the Holy Land, you’ll need to take this [Bubble Elevator]. It’s a type of lift that can take you up to the Red Line.”
“Bubble Elevator… How interesting! But isn’t this setup a bit exaggerated?”
At the Red Port,
the normally crowd-loving local residents were nowhere to be seen. Guards from the Holy Land, clad in heavy armor like tin cans, had imposed a lockdown. The local residents, who knew how overbearing Celestial Dragons were, suppressed their curiosity, and no one dared to peek out to watch the spectacle.
At most, at most, they cautiously peered at the port and streets through the gaps in the curtains.
“This is… my first time seeing this too.”
Tina’s eyes widened.
She had witnessed the scene during the World Government Conference, held every four years, where kings from all over the world gathered at the Holy Land. Yet, even with the kings of various nations gathered, a lockdown had never been imposed at the Red Port.
Today,
because of the arrival of a prince, the Red Port was under complete lockdown.
“No matter how many kings there are, it won’t affect the stability of the Holy Land, but this kid is a monster capable of threatening the Holy Land itself… A lockdown, this is probably a trick by those Five Elders! They only come up with things that look good but are useless.”
Garp snorted, clearly unimpressed by such a trivial trick.
The Five Elders… Tina’s eyelids twitched, her expression stiffening. The Five Elders were the highest rank among the Celestial Dragons, the supreme leaders of the World Government, and the pillars of the World Government. Even the Fleet Admiral of the World Government was of lower status than the Five Elders.
It was only Vice Admiral Garp who dared to call the Five Elders that.
“The Five Elders, it seems I’ll have to greet them first.”
Elus looked up thoughtfully, gazing at Marie Geoise, the Holy Land, hidden in the clouds.
The warship slowly docked at the port, gangplanks were lowered, and the passengers on board disembarked one after another. After drifting at sea for nearly half a month, they finally set foot on land once more, and on the land of the world’s only continent.
“Excuse me, are you Prince Elus?”
An old man dressed in magnificent attire greeted Elus and his party as they disembarked from the warship.
“I am Sokachio Elus.”
“Prince Elus, you may call me Vasco. I have been specially ordered by the Five Elders to welcome you, Prince Elus. I hope Prince Elus can accompany me for a while. The Five Elders are awaiting Your Highness’s arrival.”
The old man’s words were sweet, and his demeanor was extremely humble.
“Just me?”
“Lord Jinbe is also included in the invitation.”
“My younger brother and sister, and the maids and attendants…”
“I will send someone to take them to Lord Sokachio.”
Vasco was clearly well-prepared, having meticulously arranged the destinations for Elus and his party.
“In that case, lead the way!”
Elus did not refuse the invitation of the Five Elders.
On this trip to the Holy Land, if he didn’t meet with the Five Elders first, he probably wouldn’t be able to peacefully admire the scenery of the Holy Land.
Elus waved goodbye to Garp, Tina, Smoker, and the others on the warship. However, only Tina responded; those two eccentric fellows, Garp and Smoker, completely ignored Elus. After all the more than a hundred maids and attendants on board had disembarked, the dog-head warship set sail directly towards Navy Headquarters, Marineford, which was located in front of Red Port.
In contrast,
Elus and his party boarded a Bubble Elevator under Vasco’s guidance, heading towards the Holy Land perched high above the clouds.
