"Rat!" "Monka!"
"You two are slacking off again?" A harsh reprimand rang across the deck, startling several seagulls resting on the warship.
On the warship's deck, two skinny teenage boys serving as cleaners crouched down, scrubbing the floor hard with rags. They answered meekly, "No, sir, Major. We're working. We're not slacking—"
BOOM... A human-shaped object fell from the sky, causing destruction like a meteor strike. In an instant, a huge hole was smashed into the enormous warship, and cracks spread across it.
The violent tremor sent many of the soldiers on deck flying into the sea.
Flames from an unknown source instantly ignited the sails and spread from the mast across the entire warship. In a matter of moments, the whole deck had become a sea of fire.
The soldiers who had been gathered inside the cabins rushed out and desperately tried to put out the flames.
Just then, a figure about two meters tall kicked through a cabin door and flashed into the sea of fire. He swung his sword, cutting through the sails and sending them tumbling into the sea.
Then he abruptly raised his head and surveyed the area. While searching for the culprit amid the flames, he gave an order: "Major Dolo, take every Cannonball in the armory and dump them into the sea. We have to prevent a cook-off!"
"Understood, Rear Admiral!" Major Dolo immediately led more than a dozen soldiers into the cabin, heading straight for the armory—the most dangerous place in the blaze.
Thud... thud. Just then, heavy footsteps sounded, drawing the soldiers' attention.
They all aimed their guns toward the source of the noise and opened fire. Gunshots filled the air as a dense hail of round Lead Bullets pierced the flames and struck the towering black silhouette that appeared and disappeared within them.
Fwoosh... As the footsteps drew closer, the fire grew fiercer and the temperature climbed. Thick smoke choked the soldiers, making their eyes red and bringing on fits of coughing.
In the next instant, a path opened through the sea of fire before them. A boy about two meters tall strode into view. He wore a luxurious Toga Robe, had a pair of pure-white wings growing from his back, and sported short, pale-gold hair.
The flames surrounded him like guards protecting their ruler. Neither the scorching heat nor the thick smoke affected him in the slightest.
The Navy Headquarters Rear Admiral S.T. Rade frowned at the sight, his expression stern and grave.
Louis walked forward, carrying a Metal Spear about four meters long. He paid no mind to the Marines firing a barrage of bullets at him.
As he walked, he raised one hand. A golden radiance appeared in his palm, then scattered into dazzling rays that blended with the surrounding flames and sea breeze.
In the next instant, the blazing fire danced and the sea breeze swirled. Then they spontaneously took on genderless human forms and charged at the Marines.
In a flash, figures wreathed in flames barreled through the crowd. They did nothing but charge straight ahead, yet every Marine they passed through was instantly set ablaze.
Meanwhile, the soldiers on Bridge island fired at the flames. Marines trying to save their comrades felt the airflow twist around them, then were swept up by a violent cyclone. They burst into a rain of scarlet droplets as they fell from the sky.
Rear Admiral S.T. Rade's expression changed drastically. He used Rokushiki's Shave and vanished from where he stood. When he reappeared, he was already behind Louis.
He knew that, rather than trying to rescue the soldiers, it was more important to deal with the culprit behind the sudden disaster as quickly as possible.
"You attacked a warship and killed Marines! Who the hell are you?!" With a furious shout, he coated his sword in Armament Haki and cleaved through the air toward the back of Louis's neck.
Louis paid no attention to the Rear Admiral's words. Instead, he turned sideways and gave his enemy a cold look, then swung his spear in a sweeping blow.
Clang... The Metal Spear collided with the Haki-coated blade, sending ripples through the air. Marines dozens of paces away were knocked off their feet by the head-on shock wave, and the human-shaped flames passed through them.
There was no stalemate. S.T. Rade's eyes widened as he staggered backward. More than ten meters away, he used his sword to absorb the force and barely managed to steady himself.
He looked at his trembling arm, wracked with pain. His face turned ashen, and his eyes brimmed with disbelief. "Is this guy a giant?"
But Louis had vanished from sight. A spearhead was suddenly reflected in S.T. Rade's eyes.
Iron Body! With no time to think, S.T. Rade instinctively raised his sword, used Rokushiki's Iron Body, and coated his body in Armament Haki.
Thud... With a muffled sound of steel plunging into flesh, the Rear Admiral's Haki and Iron Body were instantly broken. A bloodstained spearhead burst through his back.
Louis expressionlessly raised his spear, hoisting his enemy—whose eyes were wide with disbelief—onto its tip and holding him aloft before him.
As Louis moved, bright red blood streamed from the Rear Admiral's body, staining a small patch of deck in a matter of moments.
In just the second exchange, the Rear Admiral had lost the sudden battle and was on the verge of death.
S.T. Rade spat blood as he hung in the air, his chest wracked with pain. He knew his heart had been pierced. There was no coming back from this.
The massive loss of blood drained his Life Force and strength. His body gradually grew cold, and his vision began to blur.
"You scum who attacked a warship for no reason!" S.T. Rade roared, glaring at the culprit with defiance and fury in his eyes.
In the next instant, through sheer force of will, he endured the pain, reached out with an arm stained by his own blood, and grabbed the Metal Spear. He struggled to pull himself toward Louis.
Then he tightened his grip on his sword and summoned the last of his strength and Haki, unleashing one final attack on Louis.
The bloodied blade carved a red arc through the air before striking Louis's neck.
Clang... But when the blade touched Louis's neck, it rang out with the sound of metal striking metal.
The fine sword snapped from the recoil and embedded itself deep in the broken mast. Shattered metal fragments flew through the air, reflecting the sunlight as they fell onto the deck.
"How is this possible..." S.T. Rade stared with bloodshot eyes and coughed up another mouthful of thick blood.
Louis took in S.T. Rade's counterattack and felt a flicker of surprise. He hadn't expected the first Marine he encountered in Seikai to fight so valiantly.
He gave up on the idea of beating him into Marine paste and decided on the spot to give the fairly valiant Marine a dignified death.
Louis quickly pulled the blood-soaked Metal Spear free, then quietly watched the Marine's life ebb away.
At the end of his life, the Rear Admiral's eyes slowly closed, and his consciousness grew hazy. Even so, he still worried about his subordinates. He murmured as if to himself, "Re... retreat... You're no match for him..."
Louis showed no reaction. Through his Observation Haki, he could sense no life left aboard the ship. Even if there had been any survivors, he wouldn't have spared a single Marine he had marked as a target.
The Marines had taken part in the campaign to exterminate Louis's people. They hadn't shown the slightest mercy. Leaving the Rear Admiral's body intact was already a show of respect.
After all, when Louis had fought the trainers brought up from the Calm Belt on Sky Island, he had torn them apart limb from limb. A vast stretch of Island Cloud had been stained red, and even washing it with Sea Cloud hadn't gotten the blood out.
Crack... With a harsh, ear-grating creak, the warship that Louis had struck finally gave way, splitting along its huge cracks.
At one corner of the deck, Louis looked at the corpse before him and said indifferently, "If I hadn't been born a Lunarian, I probably wouldn't have gone out of my way to target Marines."
Louis bore the duty of leading his people back to the Red Line and making the Lunarians great again. Naturally, he couldn't go easy on any forces connected to the World Government.
Before leaving, some of his people, consumed by an extreme hatred of the World Government, had even said that once Louis grew up, he should settle the score with the families of everyone on the World Government's side, too, to avenge the blood debt from decades ago.
But Louis wasn't the kind of madman who killed everyone he saw or started wars on a whim. He hadn't endorsed his people's idea. On the contrary, he was fairly friendly toward ordinary people. When he was in a good mood, he didn't mind treating the ordinary people of Seikai for their injuries, either.
As it happened, he was very popular among the Sky Islanders on Bar.
On average, every time he went out, a dozen or so Sky Island girls pinched his cheeks and groped him. The Lunarian girl he'd beaten until she cried had even publicly claimed that Louis was an incubus—that was why she'd gotten beaten so badly.
Although those Sky Islanders hadn't seen how gruesomely the beasts from the Calm Belt that had served as his trainers had died.
Before you continue