West Blue, where waves crashed across the open sea.
The East Blue Emperor's speed suddenly dropped. Seven stretched, having powered the ship for half a day, yet his body hadn't felt the slightest bit tired.
A 50% recovery boost was downright insane.
He even had a feeling that from now on, he could sleep just two and a half hours a day aboard the ship and still never feel tired.
That ten thousand points had been well spent!
Seeing Mihawk and Issho seated in the open-air banquet hall, Captain Seven's eyes lit up. He began working his crew over.
"Issho, do you believe someone in this world could lose his life just for stating his name?"
Issho turned his head. His cloudy eyes seemed to be trying to make out the expression on Seven's face. "Since you put it that way, I suppose it must be true."
"Ah," Seven sighed theatrically.
"You were supposed to say, 'I don't believe it.' Otherwise, what I say next won't feel nearly as satisfying."
Mihawk, seated in the open-air banquet hall as well, suddenly felt that this scene seemed familiar.
It was just like two years ago, when Beelzebul had used a similar trick: first piquing his curiosity, then sharing a secret, tempting him with food and wine, and finally inviting him aboard.
Damn it, the captain had set him up.
Mihawk clenched his fist without changing his expression. Once they made land, he would find a chance to test the results of the captain's two years of training.
Otherwise, he definitely wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.
Issho shook his head and smiled. "I don't believe it."
Seven grinned and gave Issho a thumbs-up, praising him for playing along.
"About eighty years ago, two brothers were out walking when they encountered an agent of the World Government. The agent asked their names. As soon as the older brother said his, the agent shot him in the head."
"To save his own life, the younger brother claimed he was merely the older boy's friend, and survived."
"From that day on, the younger brother realized that this world held a vast, hidden darkness. Guess what he discovered later?"
After what had come before, Issho smoothly played along. "What did he discover?"
Seven put his hands in his pockets.
"He discovered that eight hundred years ago, at the very beginning of the World Government's existence, there was a stretch of history that had been deliberately erased and kept secret—the Void Century."
"It was a history written by the victors, while the voices of the defeated were all but silenced. It concerned the founding of the World Government and the disappearance of the Ancient Kingdom, and it had been buried on the Final Island."
"As for the truth of that history..."
With both men waiting expectantly, Seven left them hanging. "It's not yet time to reveal the truth."
Before either man could protest, Seven continued.
"Our destination, Ohara, is where the younger brother in that story lives: Dr. Crow D. Clover, now eighty-five years old."
"If my guess is right, the Buster Call fleet the World Government sent to wipe out the Ohara Scholars should have arrived already."
At the mention of the Buster Call, Mihawk's expression turned grave.
Douglas Bullet, a former member of the Roger Pirates known as the Demon's Heir, had been captured by the Marines in a Buster Call a year ago.
He was still locked up in Impel Down.
Issho sprang to his feet. "Mr. Seven, is the World Government planning to erase Ohara? Then we have to hurry."
Seven spread his hands, looking somewhat helpless.
"Mr. Issho, that's a Buster Call."
"A Buster Call composed of five Marine Headquarters Vice Admirals, ten warships, and more than ten thousand fully armed Marines and CP agents."
"And us..."
"You, me, and Mihawk... just three people."
"Even Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral Sakazuki and Vice Admiral Kuzan have Admiral-level strength. The three of us are no match for them."
"And that's not to mention the other three Headquarters Vice Admirals and more than ten thousand fully armed soldiers."
"How are we supposed to fight that?"
Issho hurried over and grabbed Seven by the arm. "Captain Seven, if we can't even save the scholars of Ohara, how can we talk about changing the world?"
"Please, hurry!" Issho bowed deeply.
"I'm begging you!"
Seeing Issho about to drop to his knees, Seven quickly stopped him. "You don't have to do that. I'll speed us up."
As electricity surged into the ship's electric drive, the East Blue Emperor's speed skyrocketed.
His manipulation had been an overwhelming success, but Seven didn't feel much satisfaction. At seventeen, he was about to face Sakazuki, the strongest Marine of the next twenty years or more.
It was beyond thrilling.
Damn it, was it ever easy to find a crew member?
He had to spend money and risk his life, too.
The sea breeze howled past. Issho stood at the bow, his cloak billowing behind him. There were no words embroidered on it, but Seven saw the fiercest, most burning sense of justice.
Two years ago, Seven had wanted to visit Ohara simply to witness what happened and, while he was at it, take the books hidden in the Tree of All Knowledge and move them to Thunder God Palace in Skypiea.
When he invited Issho aboard on Twin Snake Island, Seven had his own plans—
Issho was gentle and upright, with an exceptionally strong sense of justice. Seven hoped that witnessing Ohara's Buster Call would make him lose all faith in the Marines.
That would pave the way for inviting Issho aboard in the future.
After all, Issho was a Gravity-Gravity Fruit user capable of summoning meteorites at will, and he also possessed Gambler Fireline, one of the Supreme Grade Swords.
How could Seven pass up such a powerful crewmate?
If Issho accepted his invitation, the Morning Star Pirates would have three Admiral-Yonko Level fighters, three Supreme Grade Blades, and three Great Swordsmen...
Across the entire sea, a Pirate Crew with such a lineup would be a one-of-a-kind rarity.
As things stood, Seven had gotten his wish.
Perhaps a little too much.
"Two Admirals... This is a real headache."
Akainu and Aokiji were nothing like Kizaru, who held to an ambiguous sense of justice. Aokiji believed in passionate justice, while Akainu held fast to Absolute Justice and wanted to kill every pirate.
After Ohara's Buster Call,
when Aokiji witnessed Akainu shelling a refugee ship, the justice he believed in gradually changed into a lazy sort of justice.
The Buster Call at Ohara was the greatest show of force the Marines had ever mounted.
It had clearly been launched to wipe out an entire country.
Standing at the bow, Issho looked forlorn, silently thinking, I'm sorry for pressuring you like this.
Across the sea, pirates bold enough to raise their blades against the Marines were as numerous as fish crossing a river.
But pirates who, like now—
faced two Admiral-level Marine fighters, three Marine Headquarters Vice Admirals, and more than ten thousand fully armed Marines, yet still dared to charge into the gunfire with their blades raised—Issho had never seen or heard of any before.
But today, he had.
Captain Beelzebul, we raise our blades together today. I will never let you down for the rest of my life.
A faint smile touched Issho's lips. Suddenly, he regretted that his eyes were closed.
On the shore of Ohara, ten Marine warships unleashed their full firepower, their bombardment raking the entire island.
"Vice Admiral Sakazuki, there's a refugee ship to the southwest. Should we... should we... open fire?"
Sakazuki's expression darkened.
"Fire!"
To eliminate the threat completely, Sakazuki didn't hesitate to order the ship carrying Ohara's refugees shelled.
If you ignored the facts, it was hard to judge.
If any Ohara Scholars had managed to escape aboard the refugee ship, and the World Government found out later, the result would only be even more casualties.
But whether there had been any scholars aboard was impossible to verify after the Marines sank the refugee ship.
Still, the sight of the Marines shelling the refugee ship drove a deep, hard-to-heal crack into someone's heart.
On Ohara.
Marine Vice Admiral Kuzan stared at the refugee ship sunk by the Marines. The burning passion in his heart seemed to grow as cold as the frozen giant Sauron, no longer burning at all.
Just as Kuzan was about to speak, a streak of red-black Haki tore through the sky like lightning.
The red sails on the sea came into view. Kuzan sighed and plopped down.
"Too late..."
Before you continue