"That's amazing."
"I've wanted to get away from that old man for a long time."
"Mr. Sakazuki is so cool."
Aramaki's tone was light and his face was smiling.
Clearly, he had had enough of being teamed up with that guy Garp. After all, those in the Navy who admired Sakazuki had some opinions about the soft-hearted old guard. They just didn't express them because they were all insiders.
But Aramaki was different...
He was already an admirer of Sakazuki and had joined later. Unlike other Marines, he wouldn't keep his opinions to himself even if he had them.
Aramaki wouldn't hold back; the two of them often mocked each other.
In the end, they simply decided to stay out of each other's way and were assigned to different islands to guard them, which brought a period of calm.
Aramaki stood up from his lounge chair and stretched:
"Are there specific mission requirements?"
The messenger looked at the mission order and said:
"No specific requirements, free to act."
"Just infiltrate the Steam Pirate Group's base and cut them in half."
Aramaki nodded:
"Understood."
Activating his ability, a flying flower grew from his back, extending over his head.
He slowly floated up, swaying towards the warship.
The messenger was stunned and only reacted when he saw him flying, shouting after him:
"Admiral Aramaki!"
"Wait, still..."
Aramaki, flying in the air, was lost in his own thoughts and didn't notice the messenger chasing him:
"Free to act? He must mean for me to wipe them out completely."
"This suits me perfectly."
"It's a shame there are no reporters."
"Otherwise, it would be even more perfect, like when Mr. Sakazuki scoured the North Sea."
"He would definitely praise me for doing a good job then."
Aramaki's mind was already conjuring up dozens of cruel ways to kill pirates, but the only regret was the lack of reporters to publicize it to the world.
Otherwise, it would be like when Mr. Sakazuki used to string up and roast pirate heads in various ways, fishing with them, and taking pictures to spread around the world.
The thought made him excited...
------------
New World, Port of Padres.
Boom—
Boom—
Thousands of meters above the sky.
White mushroom clouds of vapor explosions continuously rose.
In an instant, they were frozen into giant mushroom clouds of ice, but with the subsequent explosion of vapor clouds, they turned into ice crystals scattered everywhere.
This was the daily battle between Heil Nock, who had transformed into steam, and Kuzan, who had transformed into ice...
After freezing the vapor explosion once more, Kuzan reformed his body, a trace of fatigue on his face:
"Alalala, is this going a bit too far?"
"Heil Nock."
Under Sakazuki's orders, the Marines who had abandoned the defenses on the flanks had retreated to their original territory, but Heil Nock had pursued them.
He exhaled a breath of cold air, condensed it into an ice blade, and swung it horizontally behind him.
Clang!
A steam spear was parried, and the wielder, Heil Nock, who had also reformed his body, was there:
"Too far?"
"When you killed so many of my men, did you not think it was too far?"
Kuzan sighed softly:
"Isn't it natural for the Marines to kill pirates?"
His arm's strength increased significantly, and he pressed down.
Heil Nock, holding the spear, felt the immense force pressing down and sneered disdainfully:
"Isn't it also natural for pirates to kill Marines?"
Sss—
The steam spear in his hand let out a sharp hiss, and steam erupted.
A look of helplessness flashed across Kuzan's face...
Boom—!!!!!!!!
A vapor explosion rose.
Kuzan's body was shattered into several pieces of ice, scattering in the air.
However, they did not melt. Instead, they spread outwards against the high temperature of the explosion, freezing the moisture in the air.
In a moment, an irregular mass of ice, as large as half an island, was formed.
It fell in a free fall towards the center of the dense pirate ships attacking the port below.
Whoosh—
A steam spear, carrying a sharp and renowned sword, pierced the center of the giant iceberg.
Boom—!!!!!!!!
The iceberg exploded, and scorching steam erupted, causing the ice fragments to dissipate.
Kuzan reformed his body on a large ice fragment and, looking at Heil Nock in the distance, condensed cold air in his hands and shot it out:
"Ice Age!!!"
The irregular ice spikes seemed to extend infinitely, piercing directly towards Heil Nock.
Heil Nock casually transformed into steam and disappeared. The ice spikes exploded at their original location, and ice thorns spread out in all directions.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
The whistling steam spear attacked, and Kuzan's body was once again blown into several pieces of ice...
Neither could break the other's defenses...
------------
New World, Port of Padres.
The sun was setting.
Heil Nock's forces, after a day of fruitless attacks, chose to retreat.
This was, after all, a stronghold of the Marines, one of their garrison areas, and not easy to attack.
After a day of cannon fire.
A pungent smell of gunpowder filled the coast everywhere. The view was filled with corpses, both pirates and Marines...
Buildings were emitting black smoke, drifting silently into the sky.
The soldiers who had endured a day of brutal combat seemed accustomed to it, forcing their exhausted bodies to collect the bodies of their comrades.
Isaac, covered in black and wrapped in bandages, dragged the corpse of a marine whose torso had been blown off, panting as he pulled it towards the island:
"Hoo—"
"Hoo—"
He finally seemed to have reached his limit and decided to stop and rest.
With a thud, he sat directly on the ground, his body finally able to relax and stretch. His right hand unconsciously touched his father's medal, placed in his left chest pocket.
He gazed at the stars that had begun to appear faintly in the sky, trying to find which one belonged to his father...
He didn't know how much longer he could live...
The brutality of war was far beyond imagination. His companions, who had left Kegsi Island together, were assigned to different warships and thrown into the New World after fighting pirates.
They experienced annihilation, reorganization, annihilation, and reorganization. Now, he couldn't find a single familiar face.
The comrades beside him were all from various annihilated fleets, reorganized...
The experiences of just a few months were more thrilling than his entire life. He had seen more pirates than the entire population of their island combined.
These scum of the sea seemed endless...
He finally understood why Admiral Sakazuki was so popular, why the people on the islands ran to enlist like madmen.
He also finally understood why his mother, who had been in a daze for decades, suddenly woke up upon hearing Marshal Sakazuki's name, found her hidden money, and muttered:
"For Mr. Sakazuki..."
"Kill pirates..."
"Revenge..."
It was a hatred engraved in their bones, a hatred they could never forget for eternity...