Who Do You Think I Am? Bring the Boat Over!

The azure sea sparkled with rippling light.

A black cola-bottle-shaped warship sailed against the wind.

The Marine soldiers of the Detention Unit were laughing and eating, clearly in high spirits.

This mission had gone smoothly.

The criminal they needed to detain was already locked in the ship's brig, and this Pirate had even cooperated by voluntarily revealing the location of his hidden treasure.

That was an extra merit on top of everything.

For the first mission after their leave to go so smoothly—anyone would be in a good mood.

But just then—

"Hey, Sergeant Fal. Tell Chief Petty Officer Hans what you think the boss is thinking about?"

On one corner of the deck, Hans and Fal huddled together, whispering.

"Can you stop bringing up your Chief Petty Officer rank all the time? You want to fight again?"

Fal glared, but then lowered his voice: "As for what the boss is thinking, how would I know?"

He muttered this, but he had to admit Hans's question had merit.

Because right now, while the Marines celebrated the smooth completion of their mission, Luo Yi was lying on a deck chair, sitting at the front of the ship on the 'cola bottle cap' spot, soaking up the sun.

Beside him sat a bottle of iced cola and a glass, looking very comfortable.

But Fal and Hans knew the truth wasn't so simple—they'd noticed that Luo Yi hadn't picked up his cola glass for a full twenty minutes.

For someone who always declared, 'The chill of cola must never be compromised,' this basically meant he was definitely thinking about something, and probably not in a good mood.

"What's the deal? Thinking something but not saying it. Playing the cool guy?"

Hans was as reckless with his words as ever.

"Don't say that. Right now, the boss might actually be a real expert—he's apprenticed to Admiral Zephyr."

Fal couldn't be bothered to argue with Hans.

And their guesses were indeed correct.

"What do I do?"

Right now, Luo Yi was indeed thinking about something.

He was thinking about going to Water 7.

Having finally left headquarters, he naturally planned to take this chance to head to Water 7.

He'd even thought of an excuse—Water 7 was the most famous island in the entire Grand Line for shipbuilding and repairs, earning the title 'Island of Shipwrights.'

Even many Marine officers had partnerships with Water 7's shipyards, bringing their warships there for maintenance.

So Luo Yi only needed to use the excuse of repairing the warship to naturally head to Water 7.

But he hadn't expected—

"That Hans guy actually did a round of maintenance while modifying the ship. Why did he have to be so polite?"

That was what gave Luo Yi a headache.

Even though he could still force an order to head to Water 7, doing so would be a bit too obvious.

For someone as cautious as him, he couldn't accept any risk of exposure.

"In that case, I might as well just slice—"

Just as Luo Yi was muttering to himself—

"Boss! Boss!"

A voice from above interrupted his thoughts.

"There's a ship to the northeast!"

It was the lookout Marine at the top of the mast reporting.

But a moment later, Luo Yi heard his voice turn noticeably tense.

"It's—it's a Pirate ship!"

At those words, the Marines on deck instantly went on alert.

They grabbed their weapons and quickly moved to their assigned positions.

Hans and Fal immediately raised their binoculars to look, then their expressions changed drastically as they came to Luo Yi's side.

"Boss. Looks like trouble."

"Trouble?"

Luo Yi took the binoculars and looked, then saw the Pirate ship.

It was a common three-masted schooner, its bow shaped like a horse's head wreathed in flames, and on the mainsail was written the word 'SPADE.'

The pirate flag on that ship was a skull wearing a hat, with flames burning atop its head and a spade pattern.

The entire pirate ship was now battered and broken, as if a fierce battle had taken place not long ago.

"That ship..."

Luo Yi's tone was subtle.

He felt like the design of that pirate flag seemed somewhat familiar, but he couldn't quite recall it at the moment.

Fortunately, Hans and Fal gave him the answer: "Boss, that ship looks like the Spadille—it's the Spade Pirates' ship."

"The Spade Pirates!?"

Hearing that name, Luo Yi found it even more familiar.

"Right—that's the crew of the supernova who's been making a name for himself this year, 'Fire Fist' Ace!" Fal said gravely.

And Hans had clearly heard of him too: "They say the captain of that crew, Portgas D. Ace, is a Logia Ability User, as strong as a monster."

"Not long ago, he even destroyed a fleet under the Shichibukai 'King of Lizards' Hanafuda, prompting that Shichibukai to personally hunt him down, and his bounty shot straight past a hundred million!"

Hearing this, Luo Yi was no longer unfamiliar.

So this was the crew Ace had built before joining the Whitebeard Pirates—no wonder he felt some recognition but couldn't place it.

"Boss, let's ignore them and pull back first—report the news to the nearest Marine Branch."

At that moment, Fal and Hans clearly didn't want trouble.

A pirate with a bounty over a hundred million would normally require a Marine officer to capture.

But...

"Pull back?"

Now, Luo Yi smiled.

He looked at that pirate ship on the distant sea, a plan already forming in his mind.

"You kidding? Who do you think I am?"

He slowly stood up, stretching his body.

"Bring the ship alongside!"

"Right, even if it looks a bit unusual, it's definitely a Marine warship."

At the same time, aboard the Spadille.

A tall man with a mask over his eyes lowered his telescope.

He was the Spade Pirates' ship doctor, Makdus Deuce.

Right now, his expression was dark and worried, his gaze fixed on the deck before him.

The entire ship was covered in signs of damage, and a circle of people lay sprawled across the deck.

Every single one of them was wrapped in bandages, clearly not lightly injured.

"Of all times, it has to be now."

Deuce muttered, feeling a headache coming on.

Ever since they'd taken out one of Hanafuda's fleets over a month ago, they'd been constantly running into danger.

Especially recently, after they'd dealt with another of his pursuit ships—that Shichibukai had come after them personally.

Fighting all the way, now the only ones on the ship with relatively light injuries were him, the ship doctor, and the captain, Ace.

They'd finally shaken him off for a stretch today, but now they had to run into the Marines.

If a fight broke out now, the situation would be bad.

"Captain, I'll have to rely on you again."

So at that moment, Deuce turned his gaze to another person standing on the deck.

It was a young man with an orange cowboy hat, bare-chested, with some freckles on his face.

His arm was tattooed with his own name—ACE.

And upon hearing his partner's words, Ace shook his head.

"No need to be polite, Deuce."

He reached up and pressed his orange hat, looking at the warship drawing closer, and grinned.

He had some injuries too, but they clearly weren't too serious—at least not enough to affect a fight.

Besides...

"It's just one warship—I can take it out in one shot."

And as he spoke, scorching flames had already begun to burn on his body.

Then...

"Hōng!"

He suddenly stomped the deck and leaped into the air.

Flames coiled around his right hand!

"Fire Fist!"

Suddenly realized the previous chapter said it wrong—the new book rankings start next Monday, ahem, esteemed readers, please hold your votes until next Monday (if you're willing to vote) and keep following the updates.