Night Walker

West Blue Marine Base.

A warship returned fully loaded, slowly sailing into the port under the astonished gazes of other Marines.

"Whew, they're back. Looks like this joint operation is over!"

Yakuri, the base commander of West Blue Marines, sat in his office, watching the warship and letting out a sigh of relief. He spoke to Vice Captain Rujeni, who was sitting opposite him.

"Mhm, we got through this one."

Vice Captain Rujeni also sighed in relief, lit a cigarette, and took a deep drag. With this, everything would return to normal.

They were still the base commander and vice captain of the West Blue Marines.

"But, boss, how long do we have to keep living like this? Don't you want to resist?" Vice Captain Rujeni hesitated.

"Resist? How can we resist? He's a pirate with a bounty over a hundred million. He's famous even in the Grand Line. How can we afford to provoke him!" Base Commander Yakuri sighed.

"But, the Marine Headquarters sent reinforcements this time!"

"It's useless. How strong can those sent to surround and suppress the Mafia be? How can they possibly contend with such a colossal entity!"

After their conversation, two more sighs echoed in the room.

Base Commander Yakuri finished one cigarette and lit another. He crossed his legs and smiled at Vice Captain Rujeni, "Has anything happened recently?"

"Hmm, something did happen. The Big Saber Pirates raided a small town, and the town mayor requested our support..." Rujeni gave a wry smile, "Sigh, the Big Saber Pirates have been getting more and more restless lately."

"The Big Saber Pirates? Those guys again. But they should be entering the Grand Line soon, no need to bother with them!"

And at this moment.

The door to the room was suddenly knocked on and opened. The commander of the warship that Luo Sa and the others were on walked in proudly, head held high.

"You're back. Did everything go smoothly?" Base Commander Yakuri asked without looking up.

"Mhm, everything went very smoothly. And, I brought a gift for you two!"

"A gift?"

Vice Captain Rujeni, sitting on the other side, took the offered box and opened it.

Suddenly, his entire body froze. The cigarette in his hand dropped to the ground, its burning tip breaking and extinguishing on the floor.

Yakuri frowned and looked over, equally stunned.

The room fell silent, with no sound for a long time.

"This is... the head of the Big Saber Pirates' captain?" Vice Captain Rujeni's face still held disbelief.

"Yes, Vice Captain."

After receiving a positive answer, Vice Captain Rujeni nodded with difficulty. A moment later, he asked, "You killed him?"

"No, no, no, of course not. This was done by a few rookie trainees from Marine Headquarters!"

"Rookie trainees?" Base Commander Yakuri and Vice Captain Rujeni exchanged glances.

Rookies?

A few rookies could take down this pirate with a fifty-million Belly bounty?

"Wait, they wouldn't be from... there, would they?!" Vice Captain Rujeni suddenly thought of a place and his eyes widened.

"It seems so. Only the rookies from the elite training camp would have such terrifying strength. Give the order to have a party tonight to properly welcome these youngsters!" Base Commander Yakuri extinguished his cigarette, a look of solemnity on his face.

"A banquet? Not interested. I'd rather train if I have this time!" Luo Sa shrugged, having no interest in such feasting and merrymaking.

With a flash of white light, Luo Sa's figure transformed into a Winged Gull and soared into the sky.

"This guy!" Smoker took a deep drag of his cigarette, then also turned into smoke and ascended.

"Where's the training ground? I want to train too. The annual competition is in a month, I can't slack off at all!" Drake, after finding out the location of the training ground, walked straight over.

"These three stubborn old fools. There are many ways to increase strength in this world besides training!" Sakartam shook his head and happily accepted the invitation.

"You guys go ahead and train hard. I'll handle the logistics!" Hina quickly figured out her next task and walked towards the banquet hall with Sakartam.

Under the dark night sky, the sea was calm and undisturbed.

Kekeke!

Suddenly, a dark shadow streaked across the sea level, accompanied by eerie laughter.

"Whew, buddy, did you hear something?"

On a pirate ship, a pirate on night watch asked his companion.

But he was met with silence.

The pirate shivered and slowly turned his head.

"Whew, you were asleep?"

The pirate breathed a sigh of relief, looking at his companions who had fallen into a deep sleep.

"Huh? Seriously... sleepiness really is contagious. Why do my eyelids feel so heavy? I really want to sleep..."

Thump.

With a thud, the pirate's eyes closed, and he too fell asleep.

"The Giant Axe Pirates? I wonder if their ship has any complete navigational charts."

On the deck, Gastly's figure slowly appeared, looking expectantly towards the direction of the ship's cabin.

Gradually, Gastly's form began to slowly merge into the deck, disappearing.

Boom!

Suddenly, a dull roar echoed from within the ship's cabin.

"Sigh! I didn't expect to not be completely hypnotized by the hypnosis spell. As expected of a pirate with a bounty of 10 million!"

In the captain's room, Luo Sa, transformed into Gastly, hovered in mid-air. Opposite him, a pirate's eyes were wide as saucers.

"Damn it, who are you!" The pirate captain fiercely slashed his sword across his left arm, finally using the intense pain to resist Gastly's hypnosis!

"Heh heh heh, of course, I'm here to take your head!" Luo Sa let out Gastly's signature sinister laugh.

"Take my head? You're too arrogant!" The pirate captain roared, raising his sword to slash at Gastly!

But the next moment, his eyes suddenly widened. He realized he hadn't touched the other party at all, passing right through its body!

"Heh heh heh!"

Luo Sa, having anticipated this, burst into laughter.

"Shadow Ball!" Luo Sa countered, condensing Ghost-type energy and forming a black orb to hurl at the pirate captain!

"Devil Fruit user? Damn it!" The pirate captain roared, raising his long sword to block in front of him!

Then, the Shadow Ball, to the pirate captain's terrified gaze, passed through his body and slammed into the deck behind him, kicking up a storm of wood chips.

"Sigh, just as I suspected. Everyone in this world is normal type. While their attacks can't hit me, my Ghost-type skills are also ineffective against them!"

"What a damn type disadvantage!"

Luo Sa watched his Shadow Ball miss, muttering to himself.

He knew how much effort he had put into learning this Shadow Ball, but now, his Ghost-type skill was practically useless!