The port of Kalmar City had descended into chaos. The moment the Marines from Headquarters clashed with William's forces, the crowd of onlookers scattered, leaving the battleground to the combatants.
As the battle began, Kuro had already used a Den Den Mushi to relay the situation to ships lurking near the harbor. Several warships, poised and ready, converged on the dock, surrounding the Marine battleships moored at the shore.
The sound of cannons roared, drawing the attention of the Marines on land toward their ships. Amidst the cacophony, a single gunshot rang out, concealed by the thunder of artillery.
In the next moment, Vice Admiral Garp, who had just sent William crashing to the ground, suddenly jerked his head backward.
"Sniper!" Vice Admiral Strawberry's normally squinting eyes widened as he barked the warning.
Edmond's face lit up with hope. He knew it was Yasopp who had taken the shot from his hidden position nearby. Having worked alongside Yasopp for so long, everyone in William's crew knew his marksmanship was absolutely flawless—his bullets never missed their mark.
However, Edmond's hope quickly faded. Garp slowly straightened his head, revealing a flattened bullet lodged at the center of his forehead. Apart from a slight reddening of the skin where it had struck, there wasn't even a scratch!
The bullet fell from Garp's forehead into his waiting palm. He chuckled, "Nice shooting. Good thing I've got Haki."
Before Garp's words had fully settled, he vanished from his position.
On a rooftop several hundred meters away, Yasopp, observing through his sniper scope, felt his blood run cold as his target suddenly disappeared. He quickly looked up from the scope, only to find Garp already within ten meters of him.
BOOM!
With a single punch, Garp reduced the seven-story building where Yasopp was perched to rubble, as though it had been struck by a massive explosive. Debris flew in all directions as dust engulfed the area.
Yasopp, battered and disheveled, burst from the dust cloud, employing Moonwalk to distance himself from the collapsed building. His sniper rifle was gone, but in the next instant, he produced two revolvers seemingly from nowhere. With lightning-quick reflexes, he unleashed a barrage toward the ruins below.
Though Yasopp wielded only two revolvers, the sheer volume of firepower he unleashed created the impression of a relentless storm of bullets.
Almost simultaneously, Garp emerged from the dust cloud, his Marine uniform still pristine. One hand shielded his eyes while the other clutched a basketball-sized chunk of concrete he had torn from the rubble. Bullets ricocheted harmlessly off his Haki-covered body as if they were mere annoyances. In the next second, he hurled the concrete chunk like a shot put toward Yasopp.
The concrete whistled through the air with a deafening shriek, its trajectory resembling that of a cannonball. Yasopp barely had time to cross his arms protectively before the projectile struck him. To his horror, the chunk had been imbued with Garp's Haki, multiplying its destructive power. The impact shattered Yasopp's arms, forcing blood from his mouth as he plummeted helplessly from the sky.
Garp prepared to pursue his advantage, but his attention was diverted by a series of tremors that shook the ground like an earthquake. Just as confusion began to register on his face, the ground beneath him swelled upward, and a jet of high-pressure steam erupted violently.
Within moments, the surrounding area was engulfed in dense white steam, obscuring Garp's vision and enveloping Yasopp's falling figure.
Ignoring Yasopp, Garp turned sharply toward the docks, where the thick steam was most concentrated.
At the docks, William knelt on the ground, both hands plunged into the earth. From his hands, tangible streams of white steam radiated outward from the port center. Within moments, high-pressure steam burst through the surface throughout Kalmar City, transforming an entire section into an impenetrable "fog city" where one couldn't see their own fingers.
William's voice, now hoarse, addressed his coughing companions. "You need to leave. Now."
Edmond gritted his teeth. "I'm not leaving. If we die, we die together."
"I can't escape, but I'm choosing to stay behind—at least you all have a chance," William said through clenched teeth. "This battle isn't over. Victory could still be ours. You know my contingency plans—as long as the Marines don't kill me immediately, we'll have the last laugh."
"Kuro!" William called out, cutting off Edmond who was about to protest further.
Kuro, ever the pragmatist, understood the situation perfectly. Unless the battle reached a point of no return where neither side could back down, the Marines wouldn't simply execute William on the spot. If they intended to kill him, it would be done publicly with great ceremony, not quietly like some insignificant pirate.
And as long as the Marines followed protocol, William's faction would have opportunities to turn the tide.
Together with Selkirk, Don Krieg, and others, Kuro pulled Edmond away, explaining the reasoning as they retreated.
In truth, William's earlier leak to Louise had been calculated to draw Marine Headquarters into battle in the East Blue. He had known that after defeating Golden Lion Shiki, his organization would inevitably fall under the scrutiny of the World Government and Marines.
If he allowed Marine Headquarters to investigate at their leisure, gathering evidence before issuing arrest warrants, the initiative would fall entirely into their hands. William's strategy was to force their hand during this period of global upheaval, seizing control of when and how the conflict would unfold.
He had meticulously prepared for this confrontation, intending to leverage battlefield success into a negotiated peace—specifically, securing a position among the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
This would accomplish two objectives: legitimizing his political authority and allowing his newly revealed organization to continue developing in relative security.
What William hadn't anticipated was that Marine Headquarters had seen through his ambitions from the beginning. Intelligence from both Gin and Nezumi confirmed that Headquarters had deliberately dangled the Warlord position as bait.
William had to admit—he'd hesitated. As a transmigrator, he couldn't accept the World Government's authority as easily as natives of this world, but that didn't mean he underestimated their tremendous power.
If confrontation became inevitable, William wouldn't shy away from battle. But if he could achieve his goals without a potentially fatal clash with Marine Headquarters while his organization was still developing, he would gladly take that path.
This sentiment wasn't unique to William. Most of his officers shared his wariness toward Marine Headquarters and the World Government. If conflict could be avoided, they preferred not to provoke these powerful entities.
After all, though William had defeated Golden Lion Shiki, he wasn't Whitebeard, whose reputation commanded respect even from enemies, inspiring followers to disregard the Marines entirely.
The only members of William's faction who might truly disregard governmental authority were the students in his academy, raised under his progressive educational system—but they hadn't yet reached maturity.
The price of his hesitation was surrendering the initiative, allowing Marine Headquarters to catch him unprepared.
A direct confrontation between powers had never been William's original plan.
Marine Headquarters' strategy wasn't particularly sophisticated, but it had two key strengths: first, they had accurately identified William's goal of becoming a Warlord and used it as leverage; second, they understood the asymmetry in what each side risked.
The disparity between William's organization and Marine Headquarters was enormous, as were the consequences of defeat. If William lost, everything would be destroyed. If the Marines lost, their foundation would remain intact. This imbalance made it difficult for William's group to reject the Marines' apparent goodwill.
William's actions after the Marine warships arrived in the East Blue—tracking their movements, positioning snipers—revealed his unease, but ultimately, he hadn't committed to a decisive course of action.
🔥 Want to read the next 50+ chapters RIGHT NOW?
💎 Patreon members get instant access!
⚡ Limited-time offer currently running...
👉 [Join on - patreon.com/GoldenLong]