Chapter 46: Who Do You Think I Am? Bring The Ship Closer!
On the azure sea, waves shimmered in the light.
A black, cola-bottle-shaped warship sailed against the wind.
The Detention Unit Marines were laughing and snacking, clearly in high spirits.
The mission had gone smoothly.
The criminal they needed to escort was already in the brig. The pirate had even cooperatively revealed the location of his hidden treasure.
Another bonus merit for them.
For their first mission after leave to go so well, anyone would be in a good mood.
But...
"Hey, Sergeant Fal... Tell Sergeant Major Hans, what do you think the Captain is thinking?"
In a corner of the deck, Hans and Fal were whispering.
"...Can you stop bringing up your rank? Are you asking for a fight?"
Fal glared at him, but lowered his voice. "As for what the Captain is thinking, how should I know?"
He muttered, but admitted Hans had a point.
While the crew celebrated, Roy was lying on a deck chair on the 'bottle cap' bow, sunbathing.
An ice-cold cola and a glass were next to him. He looked comfortable.
But Fal and Hans knew better. Roy hadn't touched his cola in twenty minutes.
For Roy, who claimed that 'the coldness of a cola must never be compromised,' this meant he was deep in thought—and probably in a bad mood.
"What, thinking deep thoughts but not saying anything... trying to act cool?"
Hans, as always, had no filter.
"...Don't say that. The Captain might actually be cool now—he's Admiral Zephyr's disciple, after all."
Fal ignored Hans.
Their guess was correct.
"What should I do?"
Roy was thinking.
He was thinking about Water 7.
He had finally left Headquarters, so he naturally planned to use this chance to visit Water 7.
He even had a perfect excuse prepared—Water 7 was the most famous shipbuilding island on the Grand Line, known as the 'City of Shipwrights.'
Even many Marine officers cooperated with Water 7's shipyards, sending their warships there for maintenance.
So, Roy just needed to use 'ship maintenance' as an excuse to go there naturally.
But he hadn't expected...
"That bastard Hans actually did a full maintenance round when he modified the ship... Why are you so diligent!?"
This was Roy's headache.
He could still force the ship to go to Water 7, but that would be too obvious.
For someone as cautious as him, any risk of exposure was unacceptable.
"In that case, maybe I should just use a Slice-Clone..."
Just as Roy was muttering to himself...
"Captain! Captain!"
A voice from above interrupted his thoughts.
"Ship to the northeast..."
It was the lookout in the crow's nest.
A moment later, his voice grew tense.
"It's... it's a pirate ship!"
The relaxed atmosphere on deck vanished instantly. The Marines grabbed their weapons and rushed to their stations.
Hans and Fal grabbed binoculars immediately. Their expressions changed drastically, and they ran to Roy.
"Captain... this might be trouble."
"Trouble?"
Roy took the binoculars. He saw the pirate ship.
It was a common three-masted ship, with a figurehead of a flaming horse. 'SPADE' was written on the main sail.
The Jolly Roger was a skull wearing a hat, topped with flames, and marked with a spade symbol.
The ship was tattered, clearly having been in a fierce battle recently.
"That ship..."
Roy's tone was thoughtful.
The flag looked familiar, but he couldn't place it immediately.
Luckily, Hans and Fal had the answer. "Captain, that looks like the Piece of Spadille—it's the Spade Pirates' ship."
"The Spade Pirates!?"
Hearing the name, Roy felt a stronger sense of familiarity.
"Yes—the Supernova who just made a name for himself this year, 'Fire Fist' Ace!"
Fal looked grim.
Hans clearly knew of him too. "They say Captain Portgas D. Ace is a Logia user, strong as a monster..."
"He recently destroyed a fleet belonging to the Warlord 'Lizard King' Hanafuda, causing the Warlord to hunt him personally. His bounty shot up past 100 million!"
Hearing this, Roy remembered.
So this was the pirate crew Ace formed before joining Whitebeard—no wonder it looked familiar but he couldn't quite place it.
"Captain, let's ignore them and retreat—we'll report it to the nearest Marine branch."
Fal and Hans clearly didn't want trouble.
Normally, a pirate worth over 100 million required a Marine Admiral or Vice Admiral to capture.
But...
"Retreat?"
Roy laughed.
Looking at the pirate ship in the distance, a plan formed in his mind.
"Are you kidding me? Who do you think I am?"
He stood up slowly, stretching his body.
"Bring the ship closer!"
...
"That's right. It looks a little... special, but it's definitely a Marine warship..."
At the same time, on the Piece of Spadille.
A tall man wearing a mask over his eyes lowered his binoculars.
He was the doctor of the Spade Pirates, Masked Deuce.
His expression was dark and worried as he looked at the deck.
The ship was heavily damaged, and crew members were lying everywhere, wrapped in bandages.
"Why now, of all times..."
Deuce muttered, feeling a headache coming on.
Ever since they destroyed Hanafuda's fleet over a month ago, they had been in constant danger.
Especially recently, after they took out another tracking ship... the Warlord himself had started chasing them.
After constant fighting, the only ones on the ship still in fighting shape were him and Captain Ace.
They had finally shaken off the pursuit today, but now they ran into the Marines.
A fight right now would be bad.
"Captain, I'm counting on you again."
Deuce looked at the other person standing on the deck.
A young man wearing an orange cowboy hat, shirtless, with freckles on his face.
His arm bore a tattoo of his name—ASCE (with the S crossed out).
Hearing his partner's words, Ace shook his head.
"Don't mention it, Deuce."
He adjusted his orange hat, looking at the approaching warship with a grin.
He had some injuries too, but they weren't serious enough to affect his fighting ability.
Besides...
"It's just one warship... One hit will take care of it."
As he spoke, scorching flames began to ignite on his body.
Then...
Fwoosh!
He kicked off the deck, leaping into the air.
Flames swirled around his right fist!
"Fire Fist!"
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