Moger: I Feel Like I'm Being Watched!

Off the coast of Elbaf.

A Marines warship was anchored nearby. When Rona appeared on the ship, injured, the entire vessel was thrown into a panic.

"Admiral Scarlet Snake, you're injured!?"

"Damn it, did those giants from Elbaf do this?"

"All hands, to battle stations!"

"..."

Chaos erupted on the warship until Aila, a Rear Admiral and Rona's adjutant, stepped forward.

"All of you, shut up!"

The short-haired female Marine stared directly at her superior, her gaze unwavering as she looked at Rona and asked, "Admiral Rona, what happened on Elbaf?"

The warship wasn't far from Elbaf, so the Marines had sensed the commotion on the island to some extent.

However, trusting Rona, they hadn't landed without orders.

After all, they were Marines.

And Elbaf was not a member of the World Government.

A single misstep could lead to a conflict between the Marines and a non-affiliated nation.

They also believed that with Rona's strength, no one could possibly discover her if she merely took a stroll around Elbaf.

Who would have thought.

When Rona reappeared, she was so severely injured.

The shoulder blade on one side was almost shattered.

"Ah, it's nothing, really..."

Meeting Aila's gaze, which seemed to pierce right through her, Rona evaded the question. She couldn't possibly say she had fought an old man after arriving and almost lost.

"The White Wolf Pirates were up there?"

"!!"

Rona's eyes widened at Aila's words. She hadn't said a thing.

Seeing Rona's shocked expression, Aila rubbed her forehead in exasperation.

Did Rona think she had been her adjutant for how long?

Ever since Rona first got her own warship, became a Rear Admiral, and gained the authority to act independently, Aila had been her adjutant.

Rona, who usually didn't pay much attention to anything, only became fully alert when the White Wolf Pirates were involved.

At first, Aila thought Rona had a grudge against the White Wolf Pirates.

But after several consecutive battles.

Even after several instances where the Marines had laid elaborate traps to capture the White Wolf Pirates, only for them to fail due to Rona's reckless pursuit of glory.

Aila understood.

There was definitely something going on between Rona and the White Wolf Pirates!

They fought for real.

They beat them up for real.

But if you asked her to deliver a killing blow, she became unwilling.

Until Aila accidentally heard that when Rona was young, her hometown had been attacked by pirates. The ones who repelled those pirates were Mongge, who hadn't become a pirate yet.

Things suddenly made sense.

Aila even imagined a storyline of hundreds of thousands of words where Rona admired Mongge, joined the Marines, and swore to strike down the pirates who destroyed her hometown, only to discover her idol had become a pirate, leading to a "love-hate" relationship between them.

The most crucial point was that Rona recognized Mongge, but Mongge clearly didn't recognize Rona.

He just thought she was some annoying Marine who had appeared out of nowhere.

Damn it, were they the male and female leads from some third-rate melodrama?

Aila had always felt that if Rona kept letting the White Wolf Pirates go every time without explaining why, she would eventually crash and burn.

See, wasn't that exactly what happened?

Aila didn't believe the White Wolf Pirates could escape the Marines so many times because they were strong enough.

There had to be an inside mole!

And that mole was right beside her, her direct superior.

"Admiral Rona..."

"Alright, alright, stop talking. It was my fault this time. Next time, I promise I'll go all out and bring you all along to capture that old guy and throw him in Impel Down!"

Despite saying this, Rona felt that the current Mongge had become somewhat tricky.

Aila believed Rona went easy on the White Wolf Pirates every time she encountered them.

But that wasn't the case.

It was precisely because he was someone Rona once admired that she wanted to capture him even more.

To question him, why did he become a pirate?

So Rona never held back; she always fought Moger with all her might.

It was just that the impulsiveness of her youth gradually disappeared with the passing of time and the increase in age, leaving only a pure obsession in the end.

She had to catch Moger!

Not to ask why, but because she wanted to catch him!

Five years ago.

It was the first time Rona had truly defeated Moger in terms of pure strength.

It was also the first time.

She felt that her past impulsiveness was no longer out of reach.

But what followed.

Was disappointment.

Turns out the White Wolf Pirates were nothing special, and the arrogant White Wolf Moger would also gradually weaken with age.

That meeting made Rona realize that Moger was truly old.

No longer spirited.

No longer young and reckless.

No longer unrestrained.

Although the White Wolf Pirates escaped again this time, Rona's desire to pursue them gradually faded.

Even this time, when she impulsively went to the Land of Giants.

It was merely to give closure to her long pursuit.

Then, she was repelled by Moger head-on.

Rona didn't know what Moger had been doing for the past five years.

But the Moger she saw seemed reborn.

At this moment, it was as if the navigator who had saved her from the ruins when she was a child had reappeared before her.

Still as spirited.

Still as young and reckless.

Still as unrestrained.

The moment she was injured by Moger, she felt no trace of dejection; instead, an infinite joy arose within her.

This was the person she had always pursued!

This was the White Wolf Moger!

Amidst the bewildered gazes of a group of Marines, the female admiral let out a hearty, yet chilling, voice.

"Haha, Moger, you won this time."

"But next time."

"I won't go easy on you anymore!"

"Achoo!"

Above Elbaf, Moger, who was riding the giant eagle transformed from the giant Batiyan to pursue the fleeing CP0, suddenly sneezed.

"Am I getting old? Why do I suddenly feel a chill?"

He felt like he was being targeted by something.

"It's probably because of blood loss."

Rocks looked at Moger, whose injuries hadn't fully healed, and pouted.

"If you're injured, you should just go back and rest. Leave the rest to us."

"It's to Lipri, not to you."

Refuting Rocks' words without mercy, Moger said with a half-smile.

"You're no match for those CP0 agents down there right now."

Let alone Rocks, if those CP0 agents weren't injured, Lipri wouldn't be able to take on three of them alone.

"Hmph."

Rocks turned his head away in displeasure. Moger pretended not to notice him and looked at Lipri.

"Lipri, are you ready?"

"Mm!"

On the back of the giant eagle, a tiny figure, no bigger than an ant, nodded heavily. Judging by her size, no one would ever guess that her true form was a giant nearly twenty meters tall.

Mongge placed Lipri on his hand and, facing the drifting small boat beneath the giant eagle, gently tossed her.

"Then, go down!"