On the other side of the battlefield, Drake and Ross, in their beast forms, were carving a path of destruction through the fleet. Mia and Muret had formed a small team, specifically targeting the medium-sized warships.
In just a few short hours, more than half of the three-hundred-ship fleet had been sunk. Due to the complete lack of a command structure, the World Government guards fought as individuals, with almost no coordination among them. Seeing the situation steadily worsening, some could no longer bear the slaughter and began to turn and flee.
The appearance of deserters on a battlefield often signifies that the morale of the force is on the verge of collapse.
By the time Bellamy returned to the battlefield, the situation had largely stabilized.
"A bunch of wastes."
Three hundred ships against one, and the battle was almost over, yet the Bellamy Pirates' flagship was completely unscathed. Their ship had been parked right in front of the enemy fleet, completely unguarded. The incompetence of the World Government's guards was truly beyond Bellamy's expectations. From this, one could get a glimpse of just how rotten the rule of the Celestial Dragons was.
Bellamy was about to help his crew finish off the fleet when a commotion broke out at its rear.
"What's going on?"
Among the grand fleet, there were several dozen oversized cargo ships. They had been surrounded by warships and hadn't been very conspicuous. But as the guards began to flee, the neat formation broke apart, and the cargo ships became much more prominent.
"Is that the treasure for the Celestial Dragons' tribute?"
If it was just money, Bellamy didn't care much for it. He could just grab some on his way out.
But Bellamy had clearly guessed wrong. The moment the commotion started, it spread across the battlefield like wildfire. A group of able-bodied men and women, dressed as slaves, burst out from the cargo holds, swinging their shackles and wildly attacking the surrounding guards.
"So, they're slaves."
Bellamy observed them for a moment and soon realized that the number of slaves seemed a bit too high. "There must be close to ten thousand of them, right?" So many slaves, all of them young and strong—you probably couldn't capture this many people even if you emptied out a small town.
What did Mary Geoise need so many slaves for? And wasn't this the fleet escorting the Heavenly Tribute? Why were the cargo ships filled with slaves instead of treasure?
Bellamy's intuition told him this question was crucial. If he could figure out the reason, perhaps he could guess the secret of the Void Century that the Celestial Dragons were so desperately trying to erase.
"There's too little information."
Based on what little he currently knew, it was all too vague. It was as if a thick fog lay before him, preventing him from seeing the full picture. Wild guesses were useless. Bellamy sighed and stopped letting his mind wander.
"Come back, Drake."
Since these slaves could fight for themselves, he decided to call a halt to Drake's slaughter. "Go find Ross, Mia, and Muret. It's time for us to leave."
"Yes, Captain." Drake didn't ask any questions, simply nodding and heading off to do as he was told.
This unlucky fleet had merely crossed paths with Bellamy by chance; there were no real stakes between them. This slaughter was born entirely from Bellamy's personal whim. Now that his interest had waned, the battle could end.
As for the lives and deaths of these slaves, he couldn't give a damn.
Without a backward glance, Bellamy left the battlefield and returned to his ship.
"Set sail immediately. We're heading to Sun and Moon Island."
After resupplying on Sun and Moon Island, they could set out for Carnival City. Reaching Carnival City meant they would have completed half of their journey through the first part of the Grand Line. And it had only been two months since Bellamy had entered this sea route. They hadn't stopped for a moment, traveling purely for the sake of making time. Bellamy and his crew had hardly appreciated any of the scenery the Grand Line had to offer.
"Now is not the time to rest."
To say that their current situation was one of being an enemy to the whole world was no exaggeration. If they let their guard down for even a moment, they would die without a burial place. This perilous situation was partly of Bellamy's own making, partly due to natural opposition of allegiances, and partly the inevitable result of the chaotic state of the world, which could not be changed.
The key to breaking this deadlock still lay with Bellamy himself. As long as his power could take another step forward, the way ahead would be wide open. If the Emperors and Admirals didn't make a move, no one in this sea could stop his advance.
"Jio-Ken!"
Could this martial art truly allow his Devil Fruit ability to advance further? Before actually trying it, Bellamy couldn't be one hundred percent certain. But judging from Lao G's performance, the abilities demonstrated by Jio-Ken perfectly matched his needs. The so-called return to youth was, in essence, the storage of past life force and energy, to be unleashed when needed.
For an ordinary person, this ability might just be a special type of explosive technique. But for Bellamy, a spring-man, it held a completely different and vital significance. Due to the inherent properties of a spring-man, Bellamy's body could store tens, or even hundreds, of times more energy than a normal person.
An ordinary martial artist like Lao G, even if he trained Jio-Ken to its absolute peak, wouldn't be able to store much life force and energy in his body. The energy accumulated over a long period would be completely consumed after half an hour of fighting at full power. For someone as old as Lao G, whose life force was already waning, the speed at which he could accumulate energy was even slower. To fight at full power for one hour, Lao G would have to painstakingly accumulate life force for at least half a month.
Jio-Ken wasn't highly regarded precisely because its effects were too limited to be practical. But if this martial art were in Bellamy's hands, the power it could unleash might undergo a qualitative change.