Two hours later.
The banquet at Marine G-51 Branch was nearing its end.
Most of the Marines with poor tolerance had already collapsed drunk on the floor, while nearly all the rest were at least half-drunk.
"That headquarters captain today—what was his name again? Luo Yi, hic. He really was an insufferable bastard."
At the center of the banquet, however, Manager Mantar had yet to pass out drunk.
He was loudly making his feelings known.
"Exactly—he's just some guy from the Detention Unit, yet he dared to talk to us like that!"
Before him, Colonel Aster drained the enormous wine cup in his hand and slammed it heavily onto the table.
"If I hadn't already been transferred to a branch, I'd definitely have taught him a lesson today!"
He lowered his voice as he spoke.
According to Marine regulations, although Marine officers transferred to branches possessed extremely high authority within their branches' jurisdictions,
officers from Marine Headquarters were not under their jurisdiction—every headquarters Marine had a direct superior from Marine Headquarters, and they were managed independently.
For example, as a captain of the Detention Unit, Luo Yi's direct superior was Division Vice Admiral Billoss.
Thus, although Colonel Aster was deeply displeased by Luo Yi's cold attitude that day, there was nothing he could do about it.
"Don't worry, Colonel Aster."
At that, Manager Mantar bared his teeth in a grin.
He lowered his voice and said, "The treasure you transported for us this time is part of the 'Celestial Gold.' That's a great achievement. I'll make sure His Majesty the King understands your contribution."
"When the Reverie is held three years from now, His Majesty will certainly be glad to praise your accomplishments to the higher-ups of the World Government. By then, you might even be promoted to general at Marine Headquarters."
Perhaps because he had drunk too much, the promise he was drawing was even grander than usual.
"Really?"
At the very least, Colonel Aster was clearly tempted.
"Of course it's true. You should know that the Celestial Gold we prepared this time amounts to a full five billion Belly, and it even includes a Devil Fruit. Altogether, that's more than one billion Belly above what the government required us to hand over."
"That extra billion is for currying favor with the government's important figures."
Manager Mantar smiled as he spoke.
Colonel Aster hurriedly filled his cup again. "Then I'll have to trouble you to put in a good word for me with His Majesty. I'll drink to that!"
"Think nothing of it. We'll need you to look after the Kingdom of Nysmal in the future, after all—future Brigadier General Aster!"
For a time, host and guest were both delighted.
But at that very moment—
"Beep! Beep!"
"Beep! Beep!"
A shrill alarm rang throughout the entire G-51 Branch.
"Hm!? What's going on!?"
Colonel Aster immediately furrowed his brows and looked toward a Marine who had not yet passed out. "Go take a look immediately. Did someone drink too much and accidentally trigger the alarm?"
"Yes, sir!"
The Marine accepted the order and left, returning soon afterward.
But when he came back, his expression was already filled with obvious panic.
"Sir, it's the port. Something happened to the ship at the port!"
He said anxiously, "The Ekyorn has already left the harbor, and every guard aboard the Ekyorn has been killed. Their bodies were thrown onto the dock."
"What!?" *2
At those words, the alcohol instantly sobered Colonel Aster and Manager Mantar.
"That pirate—could he have accomplices!?"
Colonel Aster immediately thought of that possibility.
Manager Mantar, meanwhile, had gone pale.
The Ekyorn was a royal merchant ship worth two hundred million Belly, and its guards were all royal guards.
Now that every guard was dead, if the ship was lost as well, then forget about earning merit on this voyage. Not being punished would already count as extraordinary luck!
"Organize people to give chase immediately! Send out every warship. We must recover the ship!"
Colonel Aster clearly understood this too, which was why he immediately issued the order.
"But, sir..."
The Marine looked awkwardly at the drunken Marines collapsed all around them.
Colonel Aster's expression grew even darker. "...Leave a few people to sober them up. Everyone else, go after it immediately! Move!"
Seeing his expression, the Marine naturally did not dare say anything more.
After he led the men away,
Manager Mantar seemed to remember something. He looked toward Colonel Aster, and their eyes happened to meet.
The next moment, the two of them hurriedly left the banquet together.
"Colonel Aster, do you think they might have gone after the treasure..."
Manager Mantar's fat face was now completely bloodless.
Yes.
This was what he feared most at that moment.
The Ekyorn being stolen and the guards being killed had made him anxious, but not panicked.
However, if the treasure belonging to the Celestial Gold, which he had hidden inside the Marine branch, was stolen, then after returning to the Kingdom of Nysmal, the best possible outcome for him would be death.
"Don't worry. They won't."
Colonel Aster was clearly anxious as well, but he forced himself to remain calm.
"Only we know the location of the treasure room, and you have the key to the chests. The attackers sailed away on the Ekyorn, so they must have mistakenly thought the treasure was still aboard."
Hearing this, Manager Mantar seemed to grasp a lifeline. "Right! You're absolutely right! That must be it!"
As they spoke, they had already arrived at the underground level of G-51 Branch.
There were countless storage rooms here, all used to store the branch's supplies.
At that moment, however, they came to a massive weapons cabinet.
Colonel Aster then gently tapped a wooden panel on the cabinet.
Then—
"Boom!"
With a tremendous sound, the weapons cabinet slowly moved aside.
Behind it was another storage room, and inside that room were mountains of treasure chests.
Only after seeing that the treasure was still where it belonged did Manager Mantar finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness, it's still here..."
He seemed to regain his energy. "Colonel Aster, I'll have to leave it to you to make absolutely sure the Ekyorn—"
At that point, Colonel Aster's expression suddenly changed.
He had heard a tremendous noise coming from behind him.
"Boom!"
It sounded as though a Great Rhinoceros had rammed into them from behind. The piercing noise instantly made Colonel Aster's entire body tense.
"Look out!"
He turned around to warn Manager Mantar, but before he could speak, he felt an enormous force strike the center of his back.
The same thing happened to Manager Mantar. Colonel Aster even saw a fist slam into the man's fat back, the tremendous force instantly deforming his body.
"Crack."
He could even hear the other man's bones shattering completely.
The next moment, both of them were sent flying at once.
"Boom!"
They crashed heavily into the thick wall of the storage room, and an enormous crater instantly formed in it.
Amid the billowing dust, a figure slowly walked into the storage room.
"When people panic, they instinctively make sure their most precious possessions are safe. It's common sense."
Luo Yi, wearing the Rooster Mask, stepped into the storage room.
"Thanks for showing me the way."
As he spoke, he looked toward the piles of treasure, his gaze carrying a hint of satisfaction.
However, he did not immediately step forward to touch the treasure chests.
Instead, he turned to look into the dust cloud.
"Still, I didn't expect you to be a little tougher than I imagined, Colonel Aster."
As he spoke, Colonel Aster indeed emerged from the dust.
The Marine colonel's uniform had been completely shredded, exposing his muscular upper body.
At that moment, the muscles across his body were bulging continuously, looking like slabs of steel.
Colonel Aster spoke hoarsely. "Iron Body: Hardwood."
As he spoke, his gaze swept briefly toward Manager Mantar.
The man was already bent into three sections—head, neck, and torso. Clearly, there was no saving him.
"You bastard... How dare you kill the royal manager of a country affiliated with the World Government?"
He clenched his teeth, seemingly furious beyond measure.
Luo Yi shook his head at that. "First of all, I don't know what's with your obsession with shouting out your techniques before fighting."
"Second, what royal manager? I merely cleaned up a piece of trash."
He let out a derisive laugh.
Then he looked toward Colonel Aster. "And you're trash too. You need to be cleaned up."
"Hmph!"
Colonel Aster sneered at those words.
He waved his hand, and his heavily muscled arms swept away the dust around him.
"Who do you think I am? I'm Aster Campbell—a Marine colonel and the administrator of G-51 Branch!"
He walked step by step out of the ruins on the floor and put on his Marine coat.
"I trained bitterly to master the superhuman martial arts known as the Marine Six Styles."
"You, some nobody who appeared from who knows where, think you can kill me!?"
His voice was filled with fighting spirit.
Hearing this, Luo Yi became slightly more serious.
In truth, Colonel Aster's strength had exceeded his expectations somewhat.
Within Marine Headquarters, finding a way to learn the Rokushiki was not particularly difficult.
The main difficulty in learning the technique lay in one's physique. One needed a body with a Doriki Value above 500 to have any chance of learning it, and the stronger one's body, the easier it was to master.
Thus, Marines who had mastered the Rokushiki were definitely above average among their peers.
That was why he had not expected someone like Colonel Aster to have mastered Iron Body.
Still, considering that the other man was the administrator of a Marine branch on the Grand Line, such strength was not unusual.
"Then I'll get a little serious."
Seeing the other man brimming with fighting spirit, Luo Yi clenched his fist and prepared to loosen up a little.
At precisely that moment—
"Ready, intruder? I'll show you the might of the Marine Six Styles. Take this—Rankyaku: Wind Cutter!"
Colonel Aster shouted, suddenly stomping his right foot against the floor.
Then—
"Boom!"
Luo Yi watched in astonishment as the other man shot toward the storage room's exit like an arrow released from its bow!
"Running away!?"
Only then did Luo Yi finally realize what was happening.
What a load of nonsense about Rankyaku—the man was clearly trying to escape!
And that was indeed the case.
At that moment, Colonel Aster, fleeing at top speed, had no intention of fighting.
In fact, if one looked closely, one would see a hideous fist mark on his back. It had merely been concealed beneath his coat earlier.
"That guy's a monster. Fighting him is suicide. I can only run..."
As he fled while enduring the pain, he roared inwardly.
"My Iron Body couldn't defend against his attack at all..."
That was what terrified him most.
He had indeed mastered one of the six styles, Iron Body. It was what he was most proud of, as well as the greatest reason he had been promoted to colonel.
But beneath the force of the other man's punch, he had no idea how many bones inside his body had broken around the fist mark.
Thus, he decisively concluded that fighting was suicide and fleeing was his only path to survival.
As he fled in panic, Colonel Aster turned his head.
Then he saw Luo Yi still standing where he was.
"He didn't chase me... I made it!"
The sight filled his heart with wild joy.
But the next moment—
"As expected, trash who consorts with slave traders doesn't have the makings of a warrior."
Colonel Aster heard Luo Yi's calm voice.
"Didn't you say you were going to show me the might of the Rokushiki?"
"But it looks like you're not very good at Rankyaku."
Then
Colonel Aster saw his opponent slowly raise his right leg.
Without a sound, he seemed to see his opponent's leg grow much thicker.
[Rabbit-Rabbit Fruit: Mythical Zoan, Snow Hare Form—Leg Enhancement] [Ox-Ox Fruit: Rhinoceros Form—Leg Enhancement]
"In that case, watch closely. I'll only teach you once."
With those words, Luo Yi kicked out.
"Rankyaku: Wind Slash!"
He called out a technique name exactly the same as Colonel Aster's.
The next moment, Colonel Aster watched in disbelief.
The ground shattered and split apart in an instant, while a massive ravine formed alongside the slash as it flew past.
The stone bricks of the storage room's walls shattered instantly.
That was right.
What shot from his opponent's foot was actually a massive slashing air blade, over five meters long!
It was also the final scene he would ever see in his life.
Before you continue