The dust slowly settled over the battlefield.
Silence fell across the ruined dock.
Everyone stared blankly at the scene before them.
No—
Calling it a dock was no longer accurate.
It had become nothing more than a scorched crater.
Even the seabed had been torn open, with seawater rushing back into the enormous fissure.
Recalling what had happened just moments ago, everyone felt as though they had witnessed a dream.
Only moments earlier, Zoro and Sanji had insisted on staying to watch the battle.
Now...
Both of them found their mouths completely dry.
Only now did they understand why Bogard had told them that choosing to stay meant it was already too late.
None of them had expected that a great pirate with a 270 million-Berry bounty...
Would be defeated so effortlessly.
Compared to what they had just witnessed...
Their own battle against Lucas earlier had been little more than child’s play.
He had clearly been holding back.
Massively.
"Z-Zoro..."
Nami’s trembling voice came from behind.
"The ship’s here."
"Let’s get out of here!"
Not far away, a brand-new pirate ship had arrived.
Compared to the stubborn confidence they had shown only moments ago...
Whatever little courage they still possessed had been utterly shattered by Lucas’s attack.
Watching Luffy and the others flee without even caring about their injuries, Bogard simply stood there in silence.
To him...
This battle had been a nightmare.
But for these fledgling pirates who had grown up in the relatively peaceful Four Blues...
Perhaps this nightmare was exactly the wake-up call they needed.
If they could overcome it...
They might become even stronger.
"G-Garp!"
Sengoku’s furious voice erupted from the Den Den Mushi.
"Hold the Den Den Mushi steady!"
"What exactly happened just now?! Tell me!"
When Garp finally adjusted the Den Den Mushi so it faced the battlefield—
The sight before Sengoku caused him to collapse back into his chair.
"It’s gone..."
"It’s all gone..."
"Hahaha!"
Garp burst into laughter.
"If it’s gone, then it’s gone."
"At worst, Kaido will just come to Marine Headquarters and try killing himself again."
"It’s not like it’d be the first time."
As one of the legendary figures who had survived the old era and earned the title of Marine Hero, Garp had even fought Rocks D. Xebec.
Compared to that...
Kaido, a younger pirate, wasn’t someone Garp truly feared.
"No, Garp."
Sengoku’s expression grew solemn.
"I’m worried that the proposal one of the Five Elders brought up recently..."
"...will be revived."
"If that happens, Marine Headquarters is going to face a major upheaval."
The proposal?
Garp’s expression immediately changed.
He clearly understood what Sengoku was referring to.
If that proposal were actually approved...
It would shake the entire Marine Headquarters.
"Sengoku."
"We absolutely cannot let that happen."
"You know better than anyone what the consequences would be."
"I know."
"I’ll do everything I can to suppress the proposal."
"I only hope the Five Elders won’t let their personal ambitions drive them into making such a foolish decision."
After a brief pause, Sengoku suddenly asked,
"By the way..."
"Where’s Straw Hat Luffy?"
"He ran away."
"...He what?"
Sengoku nearly crushed the Den Den Mushi in his grip.
"You bastard!"
"I knew you’d pull something like this!"
"Go after him immediately!"
"If you don’t catch him..."
"Don’t even think about returning to Marine Headquarters!"
"And another thing."
"The World Government has ordered Marine Headquarters to assist in hunting down the traitorous CP9."
"Tell Lucas to get ready."
"Hahaha! Got it, got it!"
Garp laughed as he ended the call.
The two had been partners for decades.
Sengoku understood Garp better than anyone.
Likewise...
Garp understood Sengoku.
The fact that Sengoku had ordered Garp, rather than Lucas, to pursue Luffy...
Was already an unspoken acknowledgment that he was willing to turn a blind eye.
After all...
Sengoku was the Fleet Admiral of the Marines.
Not one of the Five Elders.
His priority had always been Marine Headquarters, not the absolute interests of the World Government.
If the Five Elders forced that proposal through...
And cornered Garp as well...
Marine Headquarters would suffer an enormous loss of strength.
As Fleet Admiral...
Sengoku knew better than anyone that, in the eyes of the World Government...
Marine Headquarters, Enies Lobby, and even Impel Down...
Were merely tools to maintain the appearance of their rule.
What they truly valued...
Was the SSG Project still under development—
A special military force that would obey every order without question.
Sengoku rubbed his aching temples.
"These damn problems..."
"They’re enough to give anyone a headache."
"I just hope nothing worse happens."
With that, he hung up the Den Den Mushi and fell into deep thought.
Back at the ruined battlefield...
Lucas dismissed the golden Hundred-Type Guanyin behind him.
Looking at the devastated wasteland before him, even he was somewhat surprised.
The Hundred-Type Guanyin originated from another world.
It was Chairman Isaac Netero’s signature technique.
A supreme martial art born from throwing over ten thousand punches every day for years, eventually evolving into the ultimate form of prayer.
It used the slowest possible movement...
To unleash the fastest and strongest attacks imaginable.
The technique Lucas had just used—
Zero Hand—
Was the ultimate trump card of the Hundred-Type Guanyin.
It compressed all of the user’s power into a single devastating strike.
In its original world, Netero had used that attack as the final move of his greatest battle.
Unfortunately...
By the age of one hundred and twenty...
Netero had long passed his physical prime.
His aged body allowed him to display only fifty to sixty percent of his true strength when he fought the Chimera Ant King.
In the end...
He was defeated.
When Lucas first obtained the technique...
He had wondered just how powerful Zero Hand would be in this world.
Now...
Its destructive power had exceeded even his expectations.
Of course...
His forced overtime had also burned through his Performance Bonus, dramatically increasing the attack’s power.
Without that enhancement...
Completely erasing a member of the Tobi Roppo with a single strike would have been considerably more difficult.
"Fortunately..."
"It only took fifty-eight seconds."
"I stayed under one minute."
"Otherwise, I’d have wasted a third of the 7.5 million-Berry Performance Bonus I’d just earned."
Lucas glanced at his system.
His remaining Performance Bonus still stood at 6.5 million Berries, causing him to quietly breathe a sigh of relief.
There were countless pirates with bounties across the seas.
But only pirates responsible for major incidents or possessing exceptional influence qualified for the Marine Headquarters’ special bounty reward program.
Most ordinary pirates with inflated bounties didn’t receive that treatment.
If Luffy hadn’t defeated the former Warlord Crocodile...
And later attacked Enies Lobby...
He probably wouldn’t have qualified either.
Still...
Thinking about Saul’s 270 million-Berry bounty...
Which translated into a 13.5 million-Berry bonus...
Lucas couldn’t help smiling happily.
"Admiral Lucas..."
Helmeppo returned after inspecting the scorched crater.
His face had turned deathly pale.
Just remembering that attack sent chills down his spine.
He silently thanked his lucky stars that he hadn’t argued too much on behalf of the Straw Hat Pirates earlier.
Otherwise...
He was convinced there wouldn’t even have been enough left of him to identify.
"There are a lot of bodies... or body fragments scattered over there."
"Should we bury them on the spot?"
"Bury them?"
Lucas snapped back to reality and rolled his eyes.
"No."
"Those aren’t corpses."
"They’re my bonus."
"I want to see them alive."
"And if they’re dead..."
"I want the bodies."
"We’re bringing that Tobi Roppo back no matter what."
The moment his words fell—
A clear mechanical notification suddenly echoed inside his mind.
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