"This Island Whale was called Laboon. A few months ago, the Marines dragged him all the way here from deep within the Grand Line."
Kuro offered an explanation at just the right moment, but as he spoke, genuine fear put an almost imperceptible tremor in his voice:
"The man responsible for dragging this skeleton here to put it on display was one of the World Government's current Admirals at Marine Headquarters...
"Flame Emperor—Ace."
"Ace? Him again?"
Luffy abruptly jumped down from the bow, shouting indignantly:
"That guy who stepped on my face! Are Admirals really that strong? Once I get stronger, I'll definitely send him flying!"
Hearing Luffy's words, Kuro gave a bitter laugh, as though looking at an infant with no idea how close death stood:
"Captain Luffy, you may have misunderstood what the title Admiral means. Every Admiral is an ultimate fighting force standing at the very pinnacle of these seas.
"In the East Blue, beings like that are monsters we could spend our entire lives looking up to. Never mind..."
Kuro took a deep breath. Rather than continue with things he should not say, he adopted an utterly grave tone:
"Every Admiral is a monster rated at least S-class in the World Government's evaluation system! And every one of them stands at the very top of S-class!"
"S-class? What does that even mean?"
Luffy asked blankly, having absolutely no concept of it.
"Put simply, a natural disaster in human form."
Zoro's expression grew solemn too. If he remembered correctly, Dracule Mihawk's rating on the seas was S-class.
And Kuina, who could contend with Mihawk, ought to be at that level as well.
S-class was the target he had to reach in the near future.
"Exactly."
Kuro nodded in agreement, his eyes filled with awe:
"This Island Whale