"Ahahahahahahaha!"
"Magnificent! Absolutely magnificent..."
"Those bureaucrats at Marine Headquarters must be thrilled with this little gift we've left them!"
On a deserted path far from the smoldering ruins of the Marine branch, Dom and Oboro walked side by side through the rain-soaked night, their footsteps echoing off the wet cobblestones as they made their leisurely escape from the chaos they'd orchestrated.
Dom couldn't resist turning and walking backwards, his eyes drinking in the spectacular sight of the base still erupting in cascading explosions, towering flames painting the storm clouds in brilliant orange and red. His laughter was one of genuine glee, the pure, intoxicating joy of one who had just seen the supposedly sacrosanct symbols of world government authority reduced to burning rubble.
Behind them, the naval base writhed in utter chaos, like a dying beast struggling in its final moments.
With no way to effectively pursue or capture them through the maze of destruction they'd created, the two fugitives slipped away with almost insulting ease. The surviving Marines were too busy fighting fires, evacuating wounded comrades, and desperately trying to salvage what remained of their command structure to mount an organized pursuit. Between treating the wounded, reporting the disaster to their superiors, and trying to contain the spreading inferno, there simply weren't enough personnel to mount a manhunt.
"It's only polite to return a gift when you receive one," Oboro observed with dark satisfaction, his hands casually tucked into his pockets as the distant flames illuminated his scarred features. "The Marine probably expects us to set up shop in the East Blue for an extended campaign. Now would be the perfect time to move to the North Blue instead."
His eyes glittered with predatory intelligence as he spoke, calculating the effects of their evening's work.
Yes... these enhanced pirates had served their purpose perfectly, as had Tashigi and Smoker. Every element of tonight's performance had been choreographed for maximum psychological impact.
Oboro intended to thoroughly confuse the Navy's strategic planners, fostering the illusion that he intended to build a criminal empire in the supposedly peaceful waters of the East Blue. When the surviving pirates inevitably confessed under interrogation, their testimony would prove devastatingly convincing to anyone trying to understand his operational methods.
More importantly, the abilities he'd deliberately revealed would send waves of panic through the government's intelligence apparatus. The power to transform ordinary criminals into superhuman threats would make the creation of a formidable organization frighteningly easy. Within months, every small-time pirate crew in the East Blue would be lining up for a chance at supernatural abilities, creating an army of enhanced criminals that conventional forces could not hope to contain.
The Navy would have no choice but to commit overwhelming resources to prevent such a nightmare scenario from materializing.
Of course, Oboro had no illusions that his deception would completely fool everyone in the government. Sharp minds like Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Chief of Staff Tsuru wouldn't be easily fooled, and the intelligence networks of the Five Elders possessed analytical abilities that bordered on the supernatural. But without concrete information about his true background and abilities, even the most brilliant strategists would be forced to hedge their bets, spreading their attention and resources across multiple potential threats.
That dispersion of focus was exactly what he needed to execute the next phase of his plans.
"Stop gawking and pick up the pace," Oboro ordered without turning around, his enhanced senses detecting Dom's continued fascination with their "masterpiece". "He's coming."
"Right."
BOOM!
Smoker's motorcycle came to a perfect stop in front of what remained of the base entrance, its tires spraying arcs of muddy water as he surveyed the devastation that had consumed his command. The scene before him was like a physical blow, everything he'd worked to build reduced to a hellscape of flame and destruction that made a mockery of his reputation as one of the East Blue's most formidable enforcers.
Dozens of Marines streamed from the burning structures, some carrying wounded comrades on improvised stretchers, others struggling desperately to contain fires that seemed to laugh at their efforts. Thick smoke billowed through the air, mixing with the steady rain to create a choking haze that limited visibility to mere yards. Though dawn was still hours away, the conflagration had turned the night into a hellish twilight painted in shades of orange and red.
The scale of the disaster exceeded his worst nightmares by orders of magnitude.
A soot-covered sergeant materialized from the chaos, his uniform torn and bloodied as he rushed to deliver his report. The man's shell-shocked expression spoke volumes about what he'd seen inside the compound.
Smoker walked directly to a medic tending to the wounded near the perimeter, his cold gaze immediately focused on the one sight that filled him with both relief and anger.
Tashigi!
"We found her on the way back," a soldier explained hastily, his voice tense with suppressed emotion. "She was... they left her alive, but barely."
"Where are they?" Smoker's voice carried the deadly chill of absolute rage, each word sharp enough to cut steel.
His subordinate swallowed nervously, clearly dreading the answer he was about to give. "I immediately organized search parties, but..."
They escaped!
Smoker's analytical mind automatically reconstructed the tactical situation despite the rage burning in his chest. The explosions had forced the survivors to evacuate through the main entrance, creating a massive concentration of personnel at the front gates. Additional guards would secure the left and right flanks according to standard emergency protocols. That left only one viable escape route, the rear perimeter, where the Marines could not effectively coordinate their response.
The enemy had turned their own ammunition stores against them, using the base's defenses as weapons of mass destruction. The core facilities had become a raging inferno that served as an isolation barrier, preventing effective pursuit while providing both cover and distraction. The spreading fires would continue to grow beyond their ability to contain; the rainfall wasn't nearly enough to extinguish fires of this magnitude.
Several key officers had been killed or wounded in the attack, devastating the command structure just when coordinated leadership was most needed. Without experienced noncommissioned officers to maintain discipline and organize the response, his forces had become scattered groups of survivors rather than an effective military unit.
He had arrived too late!
Whoosh!
Smoker transformed into a towering column of white steam and launched himself into the night sky, his Devil Fruit powers carrying him with supernatural speed toward the presumed escape route. The den mushi in his cloak continued to ring insistently, probably Fleet Admiral Sengoku demanding an immediate status report on the situation in Logue City.
But he had no intention of answering those calls until he had captured or killed the bastards responsible for this humiliation.
He would not let them escape again!
On a windswept cliff overlooking the churning ocean, reality itself seemed to rip open as a familiar portal materialized in the empty air. Oboro and Dom stepped out of the impossible portal with casual elegance, their appearance disrupting neither the howling wind nor the spray of salt water crashing against the rocks below.
Dolan, who had been waiting in nervous anticipation for what seemed like an eternity, immediately rushed forward with the desperate enthusiasm of a man whose survival depended entirely on pleasing his new masters. The visible relief that flooded his weathered features spoke to the fears he'd harbored about possible abandonment.
"No one's watching you," Dom observed with predatory amusement, studying the anxious pirate captain with obvious pleasure. "This would have been the perfect opportunity to disappear."
"Why would I run?" Dolan replied with transparently false bravado, rubbing his hands together as he forced a submissive smile. "I have sworn allegiance to the Captain! Of course I must do everything in my power to serve faithfully!"
The truth was far more complex than his enthusiastic declaration suggested. Yes, he had considered escaping, but where would he go? Logue Town was swarming with Navy personnel, while the waters around the Polaris Islands were crawling with patrol ships that would shoot first and identify the bodies later. His own crew was dead, his ship destroyed, and his former criminal associates would sell him to the government for pocket change if they discovered his connection to the God Slayer.
More importantly, witnessing Oboro's impossible abilities had planted a seed of desperate ambition in his mind. The power to better others meant that following this mysterious figure might actually lead somewhere other than a government execution platform. After decades of scraping by as a petty criminal, the prospect of real advancement was exhilarating beyond measure.
"Not entirely stupid," Dom conceded with grudging approval.
"Captain," Dolan ventured cautiously, glancing toward the edge of the cliff in obvious confusion. "How exactly are we supposed to leave this place? I've surveyed the area, and there's only a shallow beach below us, covered with rocks that would rip the bottom out of any ship we could acquire. Even if we had a ship, there's nowhere to anchor it safely."
He gestured helplessly at their seemingly hopeless situation. "Besides, we have no navigational equipment or supplies for an ocean voyage."
This was literally a dead end. Why had the captain chosen such an impossible place for their rendezvous? Dolan couldn't shake the feeling that fighting their way out of Logue City, or at least finding a more defensible position, would have been preferable to being trapped on an isolated cliff with no obvious means of escape.
"Don't worry," Dom said with casual confidence, putting an arm around the nervous pirate's shoulders with false camaraderie. "You're not going to die."
"Uh." Dolan fell silent immediately, recognizing the subtle threat behind his companion's reassuring words.
"He's here," Oboro announced suddenly, his heightened senses detecting an approaching presence moving with preternatural speed through the storm-darkened sky. "Take him down first."
"Understood."
Dom nodded and immediately grabbed Dolan by the arm, dragging the protesting pirate to the edge of the cliff where the spray painted the rocks a glittering silver.
Before the former captain could comprehend what was happening, Dom's enhanced strength sent him tumbling over the edge with a terrified scream that was instantly swallowed by the howling wind. Dom laughed and jumped after his unwilling passenger, disappearing into the darkness below with the fluid grace of one who had absolute confidence in his ability to survive the fall.
Oboro remained alone on the clifftop, slowly turning to face the night sky as unseen predators circled overhead like birds of prey. Though visibility was severely limited by the storm and the hour, his psychic perception tracked the rapidly approaching threat with perfect clarity.
"Worthy of a character that Marine Headquarters wanted to focus on training," he murmured with genuine appreciation, salt spray misting his scarred features as the ocean winds tugged at his elegant clothing. "Elite Training Camp is the cradle where the Marine Corps forges its future leaders."
A sharp whistle cut through the storm's fury as a massive cloud of white smoke descended from above like the wrath of an angry god. The haze moved with predatory intelligence, expanding and contracting as it sought to trap its target in an inescapable prison of supernatural power.
The White Slayer had found her prey.
"I've got you, God Slayer!" Smoker's voice roared from the swirling maelstrom of smoke and fury, carrying all the pent-up rage of a man who had watched his life's work burn to ashes.
The final confrontation was about to begin, and only one of them would leave this isolated bluff alive.