"Desert Grande Espada, the great sword of the desert—"
"Don't think you can activate your ability so easily."
Gwaaah...!
Former Syrup Village, Syrup Island.
In the mountainous region of this island, which had been showing rapid recovery under the rule of the Black Cat Pirates, two fighters whose strength was completely out of place in this West Blue were now clashing.
"Tch, right, I remember now. You're that 'Marine Hunter' Mihawk, aren't you?"
The pirate, whose appearance screamed typical buccaneer with his hook hand, reformed his body from sand after being cut apart by the slash attack. He kept his distance from Mihawk, whose blade gleamed black with Haki.
"You were supposed to be one of the most wanted men on the Grand Line. Why are you rotting away in a sea like this?"
"I could ask you the same. You're not using Haki yourself, but you're quite accustomed to fighting Haki users. I'd say you're a pirate who's survived quite a few deadly battles."
If this pirate had been the type to rely solely on his ability, the fight would have already ended with Mihawk's opening slash, striking when the man was floating as a sandstorm.
The fact that it hadn't meant he hadn't grown complacent with his seemingly invincible power and had managed to dodge completely.
"Why did you deliberately target the 'Black Cat's' territory... no, why did you come after Nico Robin?"
The pirate didn't answer Mihawk's question immediately, but grinned wickedly.
"If you want to know, bring me Nico Robin and join forces with me, Marine Hunter."
"...What?"
"If a swordsman of your caliber teams up with me, and we secure Ohara's knowledge while we still can, we could establish a pirate organization that no one could ignore."
Mihawk had deliberately led their battle to this barren mountain slope where the ground was visible.
He'd judged that carelessly fighting a sand-based ability user in an area rich with vegetation could cause unpredictable damage.
That decision had been inspired by Robin's numerous valuable lectures about not doing reckless things and caring for the environment.
"I have a plan. I promise not to treat the Demon of Ohara, Nico Robin, poorly either. What do you say?"
The pirate extended his golden hook as if offering a handshake and continued.
"A backwater pirate crew like this must be boring, right? With us, we could—"
"I'm not interested."
The swordsman flatly rejected the pirate's proposal.
"Huh...?"
"Didn't you hear me? I said I'm not interested."
The pirate swung his arm, sending several razor-sharp sand blades flying toward Mihawk.
But Mihawk's slash was faster.
From the pirate's perspective, it looked like the swordsman had somehow drawn his sword and quietly returned it to its sheath in one motion, but that simple action had sliced through all ten or so golden sand blades.
"What's your game here? Do you plan to keep rotting away forever with these third-rate pirates showing off in this remote sea? Are you going to let a sword skill like yours go to waste?"
"Foolish. I can see you came here knowing nothing about the 'Black Cat.'"
He's strong.
Mihawk knew this pirate was strong.
But at the same time, he thought:
(He's young.)
More hotheaded than the even younger Black Cat executives.
(Is it confidence that makes him this way, or does his lack of knowledge breed carelessness?)
"Fine then. I'll crush this place and take the Demon of Ohara. Sables!"
"...I see. An incorporeal smokescreen."
A sandstorm rose from his right hand, quickly expanding into a massive sandstorm covering a wide area.
"Kuhahahaha! Looks like you already sent the Demon of Ohara away, but she still can't escape from the island."
Anyone in the Black Cat crew knew of ability users who could use their powers as extensions of their hands and feet, as well as their eyes and ears.
Whether this was part of his ability or a clever application of it, Mihawk understood that his opponent could pinpoint his location accurately even in this poor visibility.
"I'll crush you along with this entire area, then the rest will be easy!"
The sandstorm's effects were extremely powerful.
While Mihawk stood calmly, any ordinary soldier would have been blown away or unable to remain standing.
"Barhan!"
From within the completely obscured field of vision, an arm shot out. Mihawk dodged that strike that would dry out anything it touched.
While Haki could strike the true form of ability users, it couldn't prevent the activation of their abilities themselves.
(If only I had untouchable Haki like Kuro's, fighting back would be much easier...)
He gripped his sword anew, having decided that once his nominal master returned, the man who led this Black Cat pirate crew as governor, they would seriously cross swords again.
"Your swordsmanship is truly tremendous. But even so, as long as you're just one person, there are limits to what you can handle!"
From within the sandstorm surrounding Mihawk, a massive number of golden blades suddenly attacked the swordsman with greater numbers and speed than before.
Mihawk dodged all the attacks, but simultaneously couldn't land a decisive blow either.
Thinking the sandstorm might be the pirate's scattered physical form itself, he tried striking with Haki-imbued slashes, but felt no resistance.
(So he's using his ability-generated sandstorm as a base, converting the rock foundation here into sand and launching it.)
Haki could harden the body and weapons, serving as shield and weapon alike, and was one of the few techniques that could allow attacks to reach Logia-type ability users who normally had no weaknesses as long as you could strike their true form.
But conversely, against mere natural phenomena, there were limits to what it could accomplish.
Even for the Black Cat crew, whose average soldier skill was extremely high, facing an enemy who could use his ability at this level would be difficult.
However—
(True. Normally soldiers would find even this sandstorm threatening, but—)
"Pirate, you..."
"You've underestimated the 'Black Cat' far too much."
—Swift Strike!
The next moment, the sandstorm that could have covered the entire island if left unchecked was blown away.
A sudden gust of wind, no, what seemed like a gust but was actually a slash of incredible force had come flying.
The pirate, who had been hiding within the sandstorm, watched the dispersed sand with a shocked expression, then turned his gaze toward the direction the slash had come from.
It wasn't the direction where the swordsman stood.
That direction was the mountain ridge.
There, only six women stood.
As these six women returned their respective bladed weapons to their sheaths from their follow-through positions with perfect alertness,
"When you activate your ability over such a wide area, it's only natural that the guard unit would move, seeing it as preparation for an indiscriminate attack."
By the time the pirate came to his senses, swordsman Mihawk was already stepping forward.
"Impossible, fighters of this caliber... the bounties were supposed to be only on kids, including Nico Robin!"
"Thinking that only I stood in your way was your mistake, pirate."
The pirate tried to turn his body to sand and escape, but faster than that, the hilt of a blackened sword thrust into his abdomen.
"Guh... ah..."
"They're all my students. You shouldn't have underestimated them."
Even as he lost consciousness, the pirate tried to activate his ability to escape, but Mihawk struck his neck with an Armament Haki-hardened hand blade, completely knocking him out. Mihawk then swung his sword and returned it to its sheath.
"Sensei."
"Everyone, that was an excellent strike. Now the challenge for each of you is to produce that cutting power individually."
"Yes sir!"
The six guard members, women who had become skilled in both swordsmanship and field work like civil engineering and land development due to their assignment under Mihawk, had all gathered silently around Mihawk despite being at a distance moments before.
"Is that man still breathing?"
"I believe there were some Seastone shackles that Kuro was experimenting with earlier."
"Yes. I brought them thinking they might serve as weapons."
"Restrain him."
"...Shouldn't we kill him? Or turn him over to the Marines?"
Seastone was extremely difficult to process, and even using the maintenance machinery seized from Germa, they only managed a few successful attempts after many failures.
Due to the extreme difficulty, Kuro had said, 'Let's preserve the rest and use them for the flagship we'll eventually build,' so the Black Cat crew only had a few prototype handcuffs made of Seastone.
In other words, they were quite valuable to the current Black Cat crew, but—
"His target was Robin."
The moment he said that, the expressions of the guard unit, soldiers originally assembled to protect Perona and Robin, changed.
"His goal seems to be Ohara's knowledge, but there might be someone behind him. Could be the Government, or even the Marines."
"...Headquarters, perhaps?"
She specifically said headquarters because it seemed unlikely that Aokiji Kuzan, who had effectively become the interim head of the West Blue, would betray the Black Cat at this point.
"I don't know. But just in case, I'd rather capture him and observe the surrounding movements than kill him carelessly."
"Understood. The question is where to imprison him..."
"Once the current work settles down, I'll make a trip to Cocoyasi and Arlong Park. We can put him in Cocoyasi's jail then."
"Will the watch and defense be sufficient?"
"Two guard members plus Daz Bonez should be able to handle it. Plus, Hachi will be there too."
Based on the ability's nature and how easily the pirate had agreed when Mihawk changed the battlefield from near the mountain river, Mihawk judged that large amounts of water were likely his weakness.
Therefore, Cocoyasi, which had many Fishman Karate practitioners like Hachi who could weaponize water and moisture, would be better suited to handle him.
"Besides... if possible, I'd like to have Kuro meet him after we return."
"The Governor?"
"Yes. Even if we interrogate him, he doesn't seem like the type to talk, but if it's the smooth-talking Kuro... no, he might already know something about this."
"About what Ohara knowledge could be so important that a pirate of this caliber would go to such lengths to pursue it."
◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇
"So essentially, as the Marines, you want the World Government to apologize and show some form of sincerity."
"Indeed. If possible, I'd like to squeeze more out of them, but that point is non-negotiable. Due to the pirate alliance incident and other events, that incident got swept under the rug, but the Government hasn't said a word about it. That's become a source of dissatisfaction among officers who know the situation."
The more I listen, the more nauseated I feel... damn, this is making my stomach hurt in a different way.
No wonder the morale on the Marines' side, starting with Hina, is low and they're leaning more toward us pirates than the Government.
"So the Government's last action regarding this was releasing the captured Marines?"
"Yes, that's right."
After receiving that mental public execution from the Five Elders, I visited Fleet Admiral Sengoku... have you lost weight since I last saw you?
I'm just getting more and more disgusted by this whole situation.
I'm glad I visited the Five Elders first. If I'd heard this first, my emotions might have shown on my face.
"The condition of the captured Marines was terrible too..."
I mean, ripping off people's limbs like they're toys, you bastards!
If you're going to claim to be nobles, at least be a little more civilized!
"Hmm... But at least they returned alive."
"...Yes."
In the original story, many people were treated horribly, but I thought that was partly because pirates had become slaves. This is even worse than I expected.
I mean, seriously, what kind of culture do the Celestial Dragons have?
How has the Government managed to maintain its form with such a sadistic culture until now?
These so-called nobles are more barbaric than poorly written fictional savages.
Even Wapol, who I thought was a pretty terrible king, looks decent in comparison...
"By the way, are the soldiers alright?"
"...Some begged for death, but Special Admiral Zephyr there managed to talk them out of it. Once treatment was complete, those who could move their bodies have gradually begun rehabilitation."
Zephyr-sensei, who had guided me here, grimaced as if he couldn't bear it.
Yeah, well, that's understandable.
Good thing that bastard Spandine didn't come here. If he'd stumbled into a situation like this, he would have been on the receiving end of so much hostility it would have been like sitting on pins and needles.
"The soldiers you rescued who remained here are taking care of them."
"...They were proud individuals who aspired to become admirable Marines."
I see, I thought they weren't among those who returned, but they're properly serving as Marines.
Since they were kids who believed in Marine justice, I was worried about what would happen after they returned, but I'm glad...
"Going forward, the World Government must be held accountable to prevent such tragedies from recurring."
Zephyr-sensei, Marines who seemed to be Tsuru-san, and Hina all nodded.
"However, the World Government has its own principles and face to maintain, so things won't progress easily."
This time, Fleet Admiral Sengoku showed his agreement with a small groan.
Exactly. If this could be resolved with moral platitudes like 'you did something bad, so please apologize,' things wouldn't be this twisted.
"During the negotiations starting the day after tomorrow, I may use unpleasant words as leverage, but please..."
"I understand... I've been in your debt since that incident."
"I'm further adding to our shame, but... I'm sorry, I need your help once again."
No, rather, I'm the one who can't thank Fleet Admiral Sengoku enough for things like deliberately keeping Kuzan in the West Blue when I wanted him moved to headquarters, and the Marines' restraint against the World Government within the limits of what they could do, plus providing us with supplies...
No, really, please let me help.
"No, I should be thanking you."
After all, pirates can move like this partly thanks to Fleet Admiral Sengoku's political skills.
"By the way, Fleet Admiral..."
But still.
"...Yes."
"Now that the serious talk is over, why don't you come over here and join me for some tea? I've wanted to have a proper conversation with you for a while—"
"Garp, you be quiet for a bit."
"Why is Vice Admiral Garp here in this delicate power balance situation?"
"Sorry, Kuro... I'm truly sorry."
***
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