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On the vast blue sea, the sunlight shimmered on the waves.
A battleship shaped like a black cola bottle sailed with the wind.
The Marines of the Marine Detention Unit were eating and laughing on deck, clearly in high spirits.
This mission had gone extremely smoothly.
The criminal they needed to escort was already locked up in the ship's holding cells, and the pirate had been cooperative, revealing the location of his hidden treasure.
That meant additional merit points.
Anyone would be in a good mood after finishing their first mission so smoothly right after returning from leave.
But at that moment...
"Hey, Sergeant Fal. Tell Hans, Petty Officer First Class... what do you think the boss is thinking?"
In a corner of the deck, Hans and Fal huddled together and whispered.
"Can you stop bringing up that petty officer first class rank of yours all the time? Are you looking for a fight again?" Fal glared at him, then lowered his voice. "As for what the boss is thinking, how would I know?"
He muttered this, but he also admitted that Hans's question wasn't unreasonable. Right now, while the Marines were celebrating the successful completion of the mission, Roy could be seen reclining on a deck chair, basking in the sun at the front of the deck, right by the "cola bottle cap."
Beside him sat an ice-cold bottle of cola and a glass, making him look extremely comfortable.
However, Hans and Fal knew that wasn't the whole story because they noticed that Roy hadn't touched the cola for twenty minutes.
For someone like Roy, who insisted that "the degree of chill in cola must never be even slightly off," this could mean only one thing: he was deep in thought and probably in a bad mood.
"What's with that? Thinking stuff over without saying anything...pretending to be some kind of expert?"
As usual, Hans spoke without restraint.
"...You know, the boss might actually be an expert now. He apprenticed under Admiral Zephyr."
Fal didn't feel like arguing with Hans. And their guess was indeed correct.
"What should I do...?" At that moment, Roy was really thinking things over.
He was thinking about Water 7.
Having finally left Headquarters, he intended to take this opportunity to go there.
He had even prepared an excuse—Water 7 was the most famous island on the entire Grand Line when it came to shipbuilding and ship repairs, known as the "Island of Shipwrights."
Many Marine officers cooperated with Water 7's shipyards, bringing their battleships there for maintenance, so all Roy had to do was claim that he needed repairs, and he could head to Water 7 quite naturally.
But what he hadn't expected was...
"That idiot Hans...he actually did a full round of maintenance while refitting the battleship. Why did he have to be so considerate?"
That was what gave Roy a headache.
Although he could still order a course toward Water 7, doing so now would be too conspicuous. For someone as cautious as him, even the slightest risk of exposure was unacceptable.
"In that case, maybe I should just..."
Just as Roy was muttering to himself...
"Boss! Boss!" A voice from above interrupted his thoughts.
"There's a ship to the northeast!"
It was the Marine lookout stationed at the top of the mast, reporting in.
Moments later, however, Roy heard the tension rise sharply in his voice.
"It... it's a pirate ship!"
The moment those words were spoken, the Marines on deck became instantly alert. Each of them grabbed an iron maul and quickly moved to their assigned position.
Hans and Fal immediately raised their binoculars to take a look. Their expressions changed drastically, and they hurried over to Roy.
"Boss… this one looks a bit troublesome."
"Troublesome?"
Roy took the binoculars and looked for himself, spotting the pirate ship.
It was a standard three-masted sailing ship. Its figurehead resembled a horse's head engulfed in flames, and its main sail bore the word "SPADE."
The pirate flag depicted a skull wearing a Marine hat with flames burning atop its head and a spade symbol. The entire ship looked battered and worn, as if it had just gone through a fierce battle.
"That ship..." Roy's tone turned subtle.
He felt like he had seen the pirate flag's design before, but he couldn't quite recall where. Fortunately, Hans and Fal gave him the answer.
"Boss, that ship looks like the Spade. It's the ship of the Spade Pirates."
"Spade Pirates!?"
Hearing the name, Roy felt an even greater sense of familiarity.
"Yeah... the Supernova that rose to fame just this year. The pirate crew is led by 'Fire Fist' Ace!" Fal spoke with a grave expression on his face.
Hans had clearly heard of them as well. "They say the captain, Portgas D. Ace, is a Logia-type Devil Fruit user, strong as a monster."
"Not long ago, he destroyed one of the fleets belonging to the Shichibukai, the 'Lizard King' Hanafuda. That triggered the Shichibukai to hunt him down personally, and his bounty shot straight past 100 million!"
At that point, Roy was no longer unfamiliar with them.
It was Ace's pirate crew from before he joined the Whitebeard Pirates, no wonder it felt familiar yet out of reach.
"Boss, let's ignore them and pull back. We should report this to the nearest Marine branch."
Clearly, both Fal and Hans didn't want to stir up trouble at this moment. A pirate with a bounty exceeding 100 million usually falls under the jurisdiction of Marine commanders.
But…
"Pull back?" Roy smiled.
He looked at the pirate ship on the distant sea, a plan already forming in his mind.
"You've got to be kidding. Who do you think I am?" He slowly stood up and loosened his body.
"Bring the ship closer!"
...
"Yes, its appearance may be unusual, but it's a Marine battleship."
At the same time, aboard the Spade. A tall man with a mask covering his eyes lowered his binoculars. He was the Spade Pirates' ship doctor, Masked Deuce.
His expression was gloomy and worried as he swept his gaze across the deck.
The entire ship was riddled with damage, and the deck was littered with bodies. Each of them was wrapped in bandages, clearly suffering from serious injuries.
"Of all times...it had to be now." Deuce muttered softly, feeling a headache coming on.
Ever since they wiped out one of Hanafuda's subordinate fleets over a month ago, they had been in constant danger.
Especially after they recently took down another one of the enemy's tracking ships, the Oka Shichibukai had set out to hunt them down personally.
After fighting their way this far, Deuce and Captain Ace were the only ones still relatively uninjured aboard.
They had finally shaken their pursuer earlier today, only to run into Marines.
If a battle broke out now, the situation would be dire.
"Captain, I'll have to rely on you again."
With that thought, Deuce turned his gaze toward another figure standing on the deck:
It was a young man wearing an orange cowboy hat and sporting a bare chest dotted with freckles.
His own name, ACE, was tattooed on his arm.
After hearing his companion's words, Ace shook his head.
"No need to worry, Deuce."
He pressed a hand to his hat and looked toward the approaching battleship, a grin spreading across his face.
He was injured as well, but his injuries were clearly not serious, certainly not enough to hinder combat.
Besides, ...
"It's just one battleship. One hit is all it takes." As he spoke, scorching flames began to ignite around his body.
Then...
"Boom!"
He kicked off the deck and leapt into the air.
Flames surged around his right fist.
"Fire Fist!"
(End of Chapter)