"All right, no need to say any more. You get so emotional every time, crying your eyes out." Anne smiled helplessly.
"No, I'll never forget your kindness, Big Sister Anne!" Mobius said firmly.
Because he was mixed-blood, he had been disliked, hated, and bullied since he was little. Apart from the other orphans, Anne was the first person to care about him and give him warmth.
"Our motto is—" Mobius shouted, pointing his right index finger at the sky. "Big Sister Anne's safety comes first! Until we fall, we won't let anyone hurt Big Sister Anne!" they cried in unison.
"All right. I finally get to go out and have some fun, so you can follow at a distance, but don't bother me." Anne turned to look at Teach. "Teach, let's go."
"Let's go have some fun at the amusement park first." She was still a little girl, after all, and liked to play. Teach smiled and nodded, following after her. He liked this feeling—the easygoing feeling. He had always been working hard to train, and rarely had a moment when both body and mind felt this relaxed.
They had spent most of the past few days at sea. The New World's unpredictable weather had left him a little tired, too.
As a famous tourist resort island, Sess Island naturally had a large amusement park. They arrived at its entrance, where people came and went. No one knew who had built it, but the park made huge profits every day. The entrance fee alone brought in a fortune. It wasn't expensive, but visitors still had to pay for each ride inside. The small charges added up, so the park didn't feel expensive, yet by the time people finished playing, they had spent a considerable sum.
Anne ran excitedly inside. The first ride she went to was the famous "Spinning Giant Bowl."
The two of them sat in the giant bowl. In its center was a huge disk. Turning the disk with your hands made the bowl spin faster and faster; the bowl's speed increased in proportion to the speed of the disk.
"Ahaha, it's so fast!" Anne took the helm, spinning the disk quickly. The giant bowl spun with it, and the scenery around them changed rapidly until it was impossible to make anything out. An excited smile spread across her face.
Like an oil painting splashed with ink, everything spun rapidly. It wasn't a problem for Teach, of course, but he had never ridden anything like this before, so he found it novel. It was unique to this world.
"Hey, Teach, you try it too!" Anne stopped turning the disk and looked at him excitedly. The bowl began to slow. "Anne, are you sure?" Teach looked at her with a smile, somewhat surprised.
"Of course! If I tell you to do it, then do it. I'm the Queen today, so you have to listen to me!" Anne laughed excitedly.
"All right, if you say so." Teach nodded and put both hands on the disk, his eyes gleaming with delight. He looked at Anne and warned her, "Then be careful, my Queen. Hold on tight, or you might fly out, because—"
Before he could finish speaking, Teach started spinning the disk rapidly. "I'm really fast!" "Ah!" Anne shrieked as the giant bowl spun several times faster than before. The other people on the ride turned to stare at Teach's side in surprise. The bowl was spinning so fast that no one could make out the figures inside.
"Ahhh!" Anne's screams gradually died down. "Wow! Teach, this feels amazing! It's so fast, I can barely hold on." The world seemed to twist around them, leaving only Teach and her.
"What's wrong? I can go even faster. I'm just afraid you won't be able to hold on," Teach said confidently.
"Go ahead, Teach. I've never felt this exhilarated before," Anne said excitedly. "It feels like I'm about to fly." She gripped the handrails on both sides tightly, her body bouncing up and down in the seat as if she might be flung out at any moment.
"Teach, if I fly out, you'll catch me, right?" Anne looked at him as if she had complete faith in him. She didn't know why she trusted Teach so much, even though they had only just met.
"Of course, my Queen!" Teach smiled and nodded, looking at Anne. "I'm going to start. Are you ready?"
"Mm! I'm ready." Anne nodded, gripping the handrails tightly.
"Then I'll—"
"Here we go!"
"Ahhh!" Anne felt as if an invisible force had slammed into her body. She seemed to lose control, and the powerful force left her unable to resist. Her hands tore free from the handrails.
Anne was flung straight out, soaring dozens of meters into the air.
"How fast is that? That's way too fast!" Mobius and the others, who had been watching Teach and Anne from a short distance away, stared wide-eyed, their mouths gaping wide enough to fit two pears. They were utterly shocked.
They were children and had been to amusement parks many times. To them, Anne's earlier speed had been normal. Plenty of people who got carried away on the rides spun about that fast. It was quick, but you could still follow them with the naked eye. This speed, though, was too fast. They couldn't even make out the riders.
Anne was suspended in midair. Terrified, she shut her eyes and let out a scream.
Suddenly, she felt someone wrap an arm around her waist. She opened her eyes and saw a familiar face: Teach.
"Haha, I told you I'd catch you." Teach smiled. Anne felt completely safe, and without thinking, she wrapped both arms around his neck.
"Get ready. We're going down," Teach said with a smile.
As they fell, a strong wind rushed toward them. Anne closed her eyes again.
"Thud!" Her feet hit the ground. Anne opened her eyes to find that they had landed safely, while Teach held her in his arms in a bridal carry.
Her cheeks flushed. She let go and gave Teach a little push. Smiling, he set her down, her feet touching the ground first.
Anne patted her chest and let out a breath. "That was close. That feeling just now... But it was exhilarating, too. That extreme feeling of weightlessness."
"All right, let's go try the next one." Anne smiled and ran off to the next ride.
For the next two hours, Teach followed Anne around as she tried almost every ride in the amusement park. She was getting a little tired, so the two of them went to rest on a food street. It was the central street of Sess Island, busier than the others.
At that moment, at the island's Marine Branch, Vice Admiral Anthony held a Den Den Mushi in his hand and listened to the report coming from the other end. "Bang!" Anthony frowned and slammed his palm on the desk in anger. "What's going on? How could news of something this serious only reach me now?"
"Blood Scythe Barton, a Great Pirate with a bounty of 700 million, is leading a huge fleet from Kai Island toward Sess Island. His target is clear: Sess Island."
"Forget it!" Anthony rubbed his throbbing temples and stood up. "It's too late. We can't intercept them at sea. Send word to the Marines to evacuate the residents along the coast. He should be heading for the harbor, so we'll make that the battlefield."
Compared with "Blood Scythe" Barton's Blood Scythe Pirates, this Marine Branch was still lacking in strength. Support from Marine Headquarters would have a hard time arriving in time; by the time it got there, the battle would already be over.
That was what Anthony thought, though he told no one. He put on his coat of justice and had already resolved to fight to the death. He had a reason he had to fight. Two figures appeared in his mind, one gentle, the other adorable.
Meanwhile, in the waters of the New World, a huge Three-Ghost Ship was racing toward Sess Island, accompanied by four pirate ships somewhat smaller than the main vessel.
On the enormous pirate flag that fluttered above them was a white skull with a huge scythe slanted behind it. This was the Blood Scythe Pirates.
On board stood a strong figure with an oversized captain's hat on his head and a black coat on his body. A black eyepatch covered his right eye.
He held a whip and lashed it at a sailor on the ship. "Move it! You idiots! If you make me wait even one minute, I'll throw every last one of you overboard to feed the fish!"
This was the captain of the Blood Scythe Pirates, "Blood Scythe" Barton, a Paramecia-type Scythe-Scythe Fruit user and a Great Pirate with a bounty of more than 700 million. He was famous for holding a bloody festival whenever he conquered a town, sacrificing countless people's blood. His brutality had made his name notorious, and his bounty had soared past 700 million. He commanded more than three thousand subordinates.
"Hahaha, we're going to have a great massacre this time. That's the only way to soothe my anger." Barton bared his chest and laughed cruelly. Then his fury flared again. "Damn Marines! They actually dared to provoke you, Barton! I remember there's a Marine Branch on Sess Island. I'm going to kill every Marine on that island! Hahaha!"
Earlier, two Marine Headquarters Vice Admirals stationed in the New World had planned an operation to wipe out "Blood Scythe" Barton, but Barton had fought his way out.
Barton had lost quite a few subordinates, though, and that had stoked his anger toward the Marines.
"How much longer?" Barton turned and asked.
"Reporting, Captain. We'll reach Sess Island in half an hour," a sailor beside him replied.
"Hmph! Listen up, all of you! When we get to Sess Island, hit the harbor with the cannons first. Don't let anyone escape. Sink the Marines' warships!" Barton roared, the veins on his forehead bulging. He crushed the bottle beside him in one hand.
"B-but, Captain, Sess Island is a large island with a complicated mix of powers. If we go too far, we'll offend a lot of forces and might be punished," a pirate beside him reported, his face worried as he tried to stop Barton. "And there's a Marine Vice Admiral stationed at the Marine Branch. He's been stationed in the New World for years." The pirate trembled as he spoke.
"I'm Barton, a Great Pirate with a bounty of over 700 million!" Barton roared. "What are the Marines? Just one Marine Vice Admiral—they're all useless. Those two Vice Admirals couldn't do anything to me even when they teamed up. As for the other forces, what can they do to me? If they dare cause me trouble, I'll wipe them out!"
"Snap!" A flash of blood appeared, and the pirate who had delivered the report was beheaded. Blood splattered all over Barton. The pirates around him looked at him in terror.
Barton's right hand transformed into a giant blood scythe, blood dripping steadily from its blade. He smiled, enjoying the sensation.
Along the coast of Sess Island, five pirate ships approached from far away, heading straight for the harbor. From such a short distance, the cannons on all five ships opened fire at once, shooting in rapid succession.
"Light the fuses! Fire!" "Whoosh, whoosh!"
Cannonballs exploded across the harbor. Before long, the harbor of Sess Island had become a sea of flames.
"Where are the Marines? Where are they?"
"Damn it, Barton! You destroyed my ship! That was the ship carrying my dream!" a pirate captain roared, smashing the house beside him with his fist.
"Damn it, Blood Scythe, that lunatic is here!"
"Hahaha, that guy Blood Scythe actually dared to attack Sess Island. He really will do anything. No wonder he's a madman. The Marines' earlier attempt to wipe him out must have enraged him. The Marines won't let him get away with attacking Sess Island this time. Men, run! Hurry and get off this island!" one captain laughed, immediately calling his crew to board their pirate ship and flee.
"Fire every last cannonball! Don't let anyone leave!" Barton commanded mercilessly.
Thick smoke billowed. Before long, the once-bustling harbor had been blasted into ruins. The bodies of countless pirates and civilians lay scattered everywhere, some of them groaning in pain.
"Damn it, they got here so fast." The alarm sounded, and Anthony gritted his teeth. Barton had arrived far sooner than he expected. They hadn't even had time to evacuate the civilians. He could only imagine what the harbor looked like now.
"How arrogant! Barton actually dared to attack Sess Island, which is under our protection! All Marine soldiers, assemble! Take up your weapons and head to the harbor! Don't let a single pirate escape!" a Marine officer roared.
"Vice Admiral Anthony, all the Marines are ready."
"Good. All Marines, head to the harbor. Help the injured civilians first, then come with me to deal with the Blood Scythe Pirates." After giving the order, Vice Admiral Anthony used Geppo and raced toward the harbor.
On the central street of Sess Island, Teach and Anne walked along together. Anne held two skewers of three-colored dango in her hand. They had eaten plenty of delicious food along the way.
Anne was very happy. She'd had a wonderful time, though she was also a little reluctant to see it end. She turned to Teach. "Teach, are you leaving soon?"
"Mm, that's right." Teach smiled. "I have things of my own to do."
"Ah, all right." Knowing Teach was going to leave made Anne feel a little downcast.
Suddenly, explosions rang out again and again, followed by countless shouts and the sound of people running in panic.
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