A sharp whistle, unmasked, appeared in the sky above the island.
Everyone looked up. A black dot was rapidly falling... It was Barrett, carrying a missile.
The leader under Heil Nock, who controlled this island, immediately grabbed his great sword and rushed out of the door, looking up at the sky:
"Alert!!!!"
Buzz—
His arms were imbued with Haki, his great sword turned black, and he stomped his feet, charging directly at the black dot, sword raised.
A sword energy tens of meters long shot out, aimed at the falling Barrett.
Barrett, seeing the incoming sword energy, let out a grim laugh and activated a sliver of his ability.
The missile he carried directly expanded several times, imbued with Armament Haki, and smashed through the attacking sword energy, hurtling towards the pirate leader.
There was no time to dodge. Amidst fear and despair.
"Wh-..."
*Crack—*
Massive amounts of Haki and a missile ten meters wide directly crushed the pirate leader's entire skeleton.
Pressing down on his corpse, it charged towards the panicked pirates...
*Boom—!!!*
All the slaves in the giant pit looked at the explosion in terror, not knowing what had happened.
At the center of the explosion.
Barrett, his bare chest covered in injuries, pushed aside the smoke with a wave and walked out.
He walked to a scattered ammunition box, casually grabbed a handful of ball-shaped bullets, and looked at the pirates in the distance with a ferocious smile.
-------
*Plop!*
He tossed the last pirate onto the pile of corpses.
Barrett found an unopened barrel of wine, sat on a large rock, and began to drink heartily.
*Brr-brr~ Brr-brr~*
The den-den mush rang.
*Thud—*
Barrett put down the wine barrel and took out the den-den mush:
"Hello."
The den-den mush on the other end said:
"Vice Admiral Barrett, Fleet Admiral Sengoku is summoning all Vice Admirals and above for a meeting at headquarters."
Barrett gave a soft "Mm":
"I know. How long until you get here?"
The den-den mush on the other end said:
"The warships will arrive at Tarukya Island in about 20 minutes."
Barrett said:
"Alright, come directly to receive the loot when you arrive."
*Click—*
He hung up the den-den mush.
At this moment, an old slave from a distance hesitantly walked over:
"Sir..."
"We.... we...."
They were unclear about Barrett's background, but the pirates on the island had all been killed by Barrett. They, the slaves, didn't know what their fate would be next.
Barrett looked at the slave:
"What is it?"
The old slave looked back at the encouraging crowd behind him, gritted his teeth, and spoke:
"How do you plan to deal with us slaves....."
Barrett frowned:
"What about the king of this country?"
The old slave gave a wry smile:
"He was killed by pirates."
Barrett nodded:
"The residents?"
The old slave's mouth was somewhat bitter:
"We are the residents....."
Barrett waved his hand:
"Go and help me sort and collect all the munitions, and put them at the port."
"You are all free."
"Elect a leader for yourselves."
The old slave was so excited he wanted to say something but was stopped by Barrett's impatient gaze. He excitedly ran back, shouting something.
Then, the immense cheers grew louder, resounding throughout the island.
All the slaves ran frantically to collect the munitions, eager to finish everything and gain freedom.....
-------
At the port.
Dense stockpiles of munitions were piled high, arranged in a somewhat orderly fashion despite the chaos.
Barrett nodded. More immense cheers resounded across the island.... because they were free.....
He walked to the pile of munitions, picked up a flintlock rifle at random, slid it a few times, and felt its loose structure with a slight heft...
"What trash."
*Boom!*
The pile of flintlock rifles shattered and exploded. Barrett lost the interest to continue looking.
He said to the soldiers who had already arrived and were waiting:
"Pick out some usable cannons and long guns to take back."
"Discard the rest."
"Return to base."
-------
South Blue, the Kingdom of Subeel.
Inside the royal palace, a temporary Revolutionary Army stronghold.
Only some high-ranking officials were gathered here, including the former commanders of the four armies (East, West, North, South) and also Sabo, the person with the alias "Bear," etc...
They were all looking at the most complete distribution map of the Revolutionary Army. Dragon spoke:
"How many were withdrawn from the Grand Line?"
Sabo, now a young man, had a grave expression:
"Less than half were withdrawn. The most significant factor was the Marine Headquarters Admiral Sakazuki."
"He single-handedly destroyed six sectors, with no survivors."
The Grand Line had only about a dozen sectors in total..... and he had directly slaughtered nearly half of them.....
Everyone's expression was somber. Dragon took a deep breath:
"It's my fault. I misjudged the World Government's attitude."
"I hereby confess to all of you."
He bowed deeply. Everyone quickly helped him up.
Dragon spoke:
"Their sacrifice will not be in vain."
"One day, their names will appear in the records of history."
He then scanned the crowd and said:
"The seeds cultivated over these years have all been deployed to the four seas."
"Not a single person, not a single place, is missed."
"Everyone be prepared, and welcome the upcoming turmoil."
Everyone exchanged glances, a bit confused.
*Bang—*
A half-meter-tall stack of documents was slammed onto the center of the table.
Dragon's low voice sounded:
"Eliminate the rot....."
----------
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
With the main forces, the three Admirals, gathered, the meeting began.
As for some Vice Admirals who had not yet arrived, they would be assigned tasks by designated personnel after the meeting.
Sengoku sat at the head of the table, with two rows of sofas below him.
On the left sat Sakazuki, Enel, Doberman, Momonga, and others...
On the right sat Garp, Borsalino, Kuzan, Scarlet, and others...
As for the rest, including Vice Admiral Tsuru and Barrett, they were still on their way back.
Sengoku briefly described the chaos in the New World and then said:
"There is only one matter, and we will have a simple small meeting."
"The forces stationed in the New World are no longer sufficient to deal with the four Emperors."
"Although, according to the current situation, the chances of the Four Emperors clashing with the Marines in the chaotic New World are slim."
"However, to be on the safe side, we have decided to dispatch the three Admirals to be stationed there for a period of time."
"The New World's interconnected base range directly contacts only the original three Emperors."
"Therefore, we will dispatch the three Admirals accordingly."
"Do you have any opinions?"
Kuzan nodded:
"No."
Borsalino looked troubled:
"So troublesome~"
Sakazuki crossed his arms and said indifferently:
"Fine."
Sengoku glanced at Sakazuki, his gaze slightly sharp..... but Sakazuki was indifferent.
Everyone else also sensed a strange atmosphere, and the meeting hall fell silent.
Enel stretched and yawned:
"Haa—"
He twisted his neck:
"Hm? Is Rosinante here? Why so quiet?"
Breaking the brief, strange atmosphere, Sengoku withdrew his gaze:
"Choose your opponents yourselves."
Kuzan, recalling watching the battle between Heil Nock and Charlotte Linlin several years ago..... spoke:
"Heil Nock."
Borsalino's eyes darted around, looking at Sakazuki:
"Who will you choose, Sakazuki?"
Sakazuki said indifferently:
"Leave the strongest one to me."
Borsalino looked troubled:
"So troublesome~"
"The remaining two seem very strong~"
"Who to choose~"
"Hmm.... Kaido, then~"
Sengoku gave a soft "Mm":
"If there's no provocation, it's best not to initiate conflict."
"The rise of the Revolutionary Army is a major problem for us, we cannot be stretched too thin."
"Especially you, Sakazuki."
"Your desire to kill is too strong."
Sakazuki indifferently looked at Sengoku:
"They are all enemies."
Sengoku's brows furrowed:
"They are not pirates, there's no need to..."
Sakazuki suddenly interrupted:
"Understand your own position, Sengoku."
"Are you pitying them?"
Everyone knew it was because of the Revolutionary Army's incident in the Grand Line..... and dared not speak.
After all, Sakazuki had killed too many..... even some people in headquarters couldn't stand it.
But now Sakazuki had omitted even the title of Fleet Admiral and was directly questioning him by name..... which made the atmosphere in the room even more terrifying.....
Sengoku stared at Sakazuki and said in a deep voice:
"The birth of the Revolutionary Army is an internal national conflict."
"Setting aside their identity as revolutionaries, they are ordinary citizens, Sakazuki."
"They are not pirates."
Sakazuki slowly stood up, his brutal killing intent accompanied by Conqueror's Haki, erupting and sweeping out:
"I, myself, am rarely swayed by emotions."
"But you are making me very angry right now....."
"You pity them...?"
"Then who will pity our soldiers!"
"Sengoku!!!"
*Boom—*