Unexpected Ambush!

Momonga had mobilized!

At Loguetown's port, spies from every faction in the crowd went pale as they watched the imposing warship sail toward the deep sea.

This was bad.

The worst-case scenario had happened!

As one of the sixteen vice admirals of Marine Headquarters, a figure surpassed only by the legendary Three Admirals, Momonga's strength was beyond doubt. Those pirates with bounties exceeding a hundred million were still locked in Loguetown's prison.

If he reached Orange Town, who could stop him?

"Notify the captain immediately! Tell them to be careful!"

"Quick! Contact the White Dove Trading Company! Aren't they an Affiliated Nation? They can't let Momonga land!"

"Look! The White Hunter has moved too!"

A pirate suddenly screamed, and the crowd followed his gaze.

On the warship, Colonel Smoker stood at the front of the deck with two cigars in his mouth. Bandages wrapped around his head, but even from far away, one could smell the dangerous aura of a wounded beast around him.

"I heard that 'Hyena' Morey attacked a town a few hours ago. The Marines must have received word by now, right?"

"So that's it. He enraged the Marines!"

"Morey, you bastard! Screw your whole family!"

The fight over Zango had originally been a private matter between the pirates and the White Dove Trading Company. Even if they beat each other's brains out, the Marines could have turned a blind eye. But now, one attack had brought disaster upon civilians and sent the Marines into a complete frenzy.

"This is bad! The White Dove Trading Company won't be able to withstand the pressure under these circumstances. We have to run!"

The furious iron cavalry of the Marines would tear apart every enemy that dared stand in their way. The world's awe of the Marines had not been earned merely by those corrupt Marine scum.

Having stood firm upon the seas for centuries, the Marines' strength had long been passed down through generations and deeply ingrained in people's hearts.

On the stolen warship, Lowett was equally incredulous when he received the news.

"What a madman!"

He had merely intended to use the large gathering of pirates to force Momonga to step forward and suppress them. He had not expected anyone to actually dare attack civilians.

Did they really think Momonga was easy to bully?

His own escape from Momonga's grasp had depended on the right time, place, people, and the information imbalance between them. Other than that, Momonga could capture anyone with ease. There would be no chance of survival.

"The nail that sticks out gets hammered down, young man."

Lowett smiled faintly and shifted his gaze.

However...

"Thanks to you, Momonga left earlier than I expected. With our current distance..."

Before he could finish, Wallace answered quickly.

"My lord, if we travel at full speed, we can reach Loguetown by tonight at the latest."

Though Momonga's early departure had put them farther away now, Lowett was bold because of his skill and had never ventured too far from Loguetown in the first place.

"Good. I'll leave it to you, Wallace."

A burning pain spread through his palm as a Spell Mark rapidly formed there.

Wallace endured the process without making a sound. Upon hearing that, he respectfully dropped to the floor.

"Yes!"

When the first sliver of moonlight fell upon the sea and reflected a silvery glow, a warship appeared in the waters near Loguetown.

The day's chaos had yet to subside. The town's residents gathered in twos and threes, restless and uneasy.

"I really hope Lord Momonga comes back soon. Without him here, I keep feeling that something is about to happen."

"You don't need to feel it. Something definitely is."

Sitting atop a stone bollard by the harbor, another man lit a cigarette and said, "Those hoodlums from East Street went to Oak Tavern for drinks today, only to get thrown out. The place had already been taken over."

"Could it be..."

"That's right. I took a look while passing by. They were all pirates."

"They're probably trying to secretly get in touch with one another while Vice Admiral Momonga and Colonel Smoker are both out of town, then head for the Grand Line."

"What do we do, then?! Should we tell the base soldiers? At least one of them should come back, right?"

"Hey! You're a funny one... You cursed Colonel Smoker behind his back every day when he was here, wishing he'd get lost sooner. Now that he's been gone for only a day or two, you want him back."

"That's different! Back then, we needed to keep our businesses open. Now people could die! Don't tell me you aren't worried too?"

"No, I really am not worried about that."

Under the other man's stunned gaze, he handed over a business card.

[East Blue Housing Development Co., Ltd.]

General Manager: Bruce Kito

As everyone knew, ships did not need houses built on them. That was the shipyard carpenters' job.

He was actually a construction big shot?!

No wonder he dressed no differently from us small merchants.

The man's mouth twitched as he reached for the business card.

He tugged, but it would not budge.

Confused, he looked up and found that Kito had his mouth slightly open, his cigarette fallen to the ground, and his eyes wide as he stared ahead.

"Hm?"

He turned and followed Kito's gaze. A warship painted blue slowly emerged from the darkness, reflecting a white sheen beneath the moonlight.

"Huh? A warship is returning to port at this hour? Didn't the Marines receive orders to hold their posts and not move without authorization?"

He muttered in confusion, only for someone to yank his arm hard enough that he nearly fell.

"Damn it! What are you doing?!"

"Are you stupid? Run! Didn't you see that warship's number?!"

"Number?"

He turned back. Sure enough, white paint marked a number along the side of the warship.

[East 16-07]!

"It's the warship stolen from Branch 16!"

His pupils contracted at those words.

Branch 16 had only lost one warship, and that warship now belonged to the Black Count!

"P-Pirates are here!!!"

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Fear flooded through his body. He violently shook off Kito, turned, and ran.

As he ran, he shouted, "The pirates are attacking! Run!"

In the blink of an eye, he vanished down the street, leaving Kito staring dumbly after him.

On the warship, Luo Wei stood at the bow in his tailcoat, a black cane fitted with a golden ring resting before him.

Noticing the commotion from the harbor, he smiled calmly.

"Without realizing it, the Black Count has become a name everyone fears again?"

Lowett had seen the same scene countless times and could not help sighing.

"I'm clearly a very friendly person, and a Necromancer only kills when materials are needed or enemies must be dealt with. Why did it turn out like this?"

Roar!

"You're right. My pirate identity is holding me back. It keeps them from appreciating my beauty."

Lowett patted the head of the bootlicking Black Knight and looked into the distance.

"That... must be Reverse Mountain, right? It really is magnificent!"

Under the moonlight, an enormous shadow towered between the sea and sky, stretching beyond the limits of sight.

He had seen the Ten Saints Council's majestic floating city, vast as a continent, and he had seen the River of Wraiths in the underworld, thousands of meters wide and extending to the edge of the world. Yet both were filled with intense magical traces, making it obvious at a glance that they were artificial creations.

But the Red Line before him was not.

There were no magical fluctuations whatsoever. Its sharp ridges looked carved by knives and axes, like an ancient giant dragon coiled around this planet—lofty and magnificent.

The sheer beauty of its immense scale was intoxicating.

"Are you confident, Wallace?"

"Y-Yes."

Wallace swallowed and stared with bloodshot eyes from days of frantic studying. "Thanks to you, my lord, I was fortunate enough to see more than a dozen cases of successfully crossing Reverse Mountain. And the stormy weather has not been too severe these past two days. We can definitely get over it... definitely."

There were few examples of East Blue pirates crossing Reverse Mountain, but knowledge was another matter.

Any pirate crew that dreamed of becoming the Pirate King would treat knowledge of the Grand Line as treasure and preserve it carefully.

After wiping out so many pirate crews, Lowett had collected not only a great deal of treasure, but plenty of such information as well.

If time had permitted, he would have gone to the sea restaurant to find "Red-Leg" Zeff and obtain his sailing journal.

"That would be best."

Lowett nodded slightly and smiled with satisfaction. "Then your life will depend on your own ability."

"Yes, I understand... Hm???"

Wallace bowed as he answered, then suddenly sensed something wrong.

What did he mean, "your life"?

Looking up at Lowett, Wallace saw him smile faintly. "You didn't really think I would drown, did you?"

Mages were known for being secretive and unpredictable.

Necromancers even more so.

Unless he encountered an uncontrollable force like Momonga, Lowett truly did not think he would drown in a shipwreck. That was why he dared set out with a half-trained man.

"I see... I see..."

Wallace's heart trembled, and he secretly encouraged himself.

"Raise the sails! Turn the ship!"

Jogging back to the center of the deck, Wallace gripped the Spell Mark Lowett had given him and loudly issued orders to the zombies.

The massive warship slowly turned. Watching the Loguetown Marine garrison rush frantically toward the harbor, Lowett shouted.

"Go back and tell that big rat and Smoker that next time we meet, I'll teach them what real justice is!"

"For now, I'll take my leave!"

Damn it!

The soldiers flushed red as they watched the warship sail farther and farther away. They were furious and frustrated by his insults toward their officers, but there was nothing they could do.

Still, deep down, they were relieved that Lowett had not ordered an attack.

The Black Count's bounty had been watered twice with Marine blood.

However, just as everyone thought it was over, a cannonball came screaming down from the sky.

Roar!!

Before Lowett could act, the newly made fish-man Black Knight violently swung his right hand. The muscles there rapidly expanded and transformed into a gigantic arm as thick as a water barrel and more than ten meters long.

More precisely, it was not an arm.

It was a muscular tentacle woven from countless fleshy buds and bones!

The extended mass of flesh collided heavily with the cannonball. Fire and smoke exploded in the night sky, illuminating all around and allowing everyone to clearly see Lowett's indifferent, merciless gaze, as though he were looking at corpses.

"Do you really think I won't kill just because I'm in a hurry?"

"Who fired that cannon? Who fired it?!"

A major roared furiously, his face flushed red.

"I did!"

A tall, powerfully built man suddenly emerged from the crowd. He pulled off his gray cloak, then casually took out a cigar, lit it, and placed it in his mouth.

He exhaled a long ring of smoke. Smoker took the jitte Tashigi handed him and shouted loudly.

"You came to my territory, so at least come down for a cup of tea, Black Count!!"

"That's... Colonel Smoker?!"

"Why is he here?"

The crowd erupted into commotion and astonishment.

Clearly, even the Marine soldiers left behind to guard the town had not known that their commanding officer had never left.

"Then..."

Lowett's pupils narrowed as he turned his head in the direction from which his sense of danger came.

Bang bang bang!

Whoosh! Whoosh whoosh!

A warship bearing Loguetown's insignia sailed out from the other side of town, firing cannonballs at him as though they cost nothing.

"Fire!!"

Momonga stood at the front of the deck, raising the Plum Blossom Katana in one hand as he roared hoarsely.