The sea heaved and swelled.
Bartholomew Bear stood alone in his little dinghy.
Even with three large Marine warships arrayed in formation before him,
there wasn't the slightest hint of fear on Bartholomew Bear's resolute face.
Aboard the Marine warships,
King Bekley was still shouting furiously.
"Marines! Kill him already!"
King Bekley pointed down at the dinghy below and roared with a twisted expression.
"I'm the king of the Sorbet Kingdom!"
King Bekley's shrill cries drifted on the sea breeze to Bear's ears.
"King Bekley..."
Bear lowered his head slightly. The brim of his gray felt hat hid his eyes, casting a shadow over his face.
"You actually dared to come back!"
The Marines aboard the warships couldn't hear the Tyrant's muttering.
But King Bekley's repeated urgings forced them to keep moving.
The dark muzzles of every cannon aboard the three large warships were aimed at the lone boat below.
King Bekley looked down at Bartholomew Bear and swung his right hand sharply toward the sea.
"Fire—"
Boom! Boom!
Flames burst from the muzzles of the cannons.
A series of deafening booms rang out.
One black cannonball after another blasted toward Bartholomew Bear.
The dense volley formed an impenetrable net of death in the air.
Faced with the combined barrage of three large warships,
Bear looked up, a faint trace of pity flashing across his face.
The next moment,
Bear raised his right hand, revealing a plump paw pad like a bear's.
Just as the black cannonballs were about to hit him, Bear swung his right hand and gently slapped at them.
The cannonballs should have exploded on contact, but when they struck the pad of Bear's palm, it was as if they'd hit a super-elastic net.
Boing—
A strange sound rang out.
Bear sent every cannonball flying back.
Each cannonball shot backward at several times its original speed.
And their targets were clear—the three Marine warships that had just fired them!
"The cannonballs! They're coming back!"
"They're flying so fast! Faster than a normal cannon volley!"
"Evade! Evade!"
Panic broke out aboard all three warships.
Even before setting out for the Sorbet Kingdom,
the Marines had learned plenty about the Tyrant from King Bekley.
The Marine Branch had even dispatched three large warships specifically for the mission.
Three warships against one Tyrant.
The advantage was ours!
But now,
the men aboard the warships couldn't believe that the mighty cannons the Marines took such pride in were completely ineffective against the Tyrant!
As the returning cannonballs were about to hit the Marine warships,
chaos erupted aboard them.
Many Marines chose to jump overboard.
King Bekley, who had been so arrogant only moments earlier, now collapsed onto the deck in terror.
It wasn't that he didn't want to run—his legs had gone weak with fear!
Just then,
a heaven-shaking dragon's roar split the sky.
It was—
Dragon's Roar, infused with Death Blink!
"Roar—"
The terrifying roar, carrying a powerful Explosion Wind, descended at the speed of sound.
The colorless shockwave formed an invisible barrier in front of the three Marine warships.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The returning cannonballs slammed straight into the Explosion Wind barrier created by Dragon's Roar.
Before they could hit the warships, they detonated in midair.
Brilliant flames lit up every face aboard the three Marine warships, yet no one was hurt.
The Marines aboard the three warships were too weak to tell who had suddenly come to their rescue.
But Bear looked straight up at the sky.
"More enemies?!"
When he made out the figure of the legendary creature flying through the sky, his eyes shrank behind his glasses.
"A dragon?"
On the head of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon,
Storm slowly rose to his feet.
He held his arms out and leaped backward.
Leap of Faith!
Kid and Killer, who were still sprawled across the dragon's back, were stunned.
"Hey! You! Me! Him! Why'd he just jump?!"
"He jumped from that high up, and the sea's below him! Won't he die?"
"What about the dragon? What about us?"
"Kid! Look down! It's an angel..."
Kid and Killer flailed about in confusion like headless chickens for a moment.
When they looked down again, the situation had changed.
Storm was plummeting toward the vast sea, free-falling through the air.
Then white clay burst from his back and formed a pair of gleaming white wings in an instant.
Storm spread his white wings and flew nimbly through the sky like a bird.
It wasn't long before
Storm reached the space between the Marine warships and the lone dinghy.
"An angel?"
Bear immediately noticed the pair of white wings on the back of the stranger who had suddenly appeared.
As a priest by profession, he instinctively thought of the mythical beings recorded in the Bible.
But Bear quickly dismissed the idea.
"No, he's a Devil Fruit User!"
Having once been part of the Revolutionary Army and seen much of the world, Bear correctly identified Storm's ability.
But the corrupt and brutal King Bekley lacked such insight.
Seeing a "birdman" descend from the sky, King Bekley truly believed an angel had appeared.
He scrambled across the deck to the railing and called up to the sky for help.
"Angel! Great angel! Kill that Tyrant!"
Though he was asking for help, King Bekley's tone was downright demanding.
"You."
Storm turned and glanced at King Bekley.
"You're loud!"
Claywork: Falling Clay!
The space above King Bekley's head suddenly rippled strangely.
Clumps of white clay tumbled out of this other space like a liquid.
The clay poured over King Bekley from head to toe, turning him into a clay figure.
He couldn't move or back away, and he couldn't even open his mouth. All he could do was roll his eyes.
Seeing King Bekley trapped in clay, the Marines aboard the warships immediately realized the newcomer meant trouble.
"King Bekley's under attack!"
"Get your weapons ready!"
"It's the enemy!"
Storm furrowed his brow as he looked at the Marines King Bekley had summoned.
From his experience,
these three large warships weren't the sort of high-grade vessels an ordinary branch base could deploy.
What use would a branch base in the Four Seas have for large warships of this class?
These ships were likely from a G Series Branch...
The Marines aboard might also be "elite Marines" who had trained at a G Series Branch on the Grand Line.
Storm didn't intend to go too far with these "colleagues."
"You can all quiet down too!"
Claywork: Falling Clay!
Space rippled like wrinkled cloth above all three warships.
A steady stream of white clay poured down from the void, hanging in the air like a gigantic waterfall that connected the sky and sea.
Under the deluge of Claywork: Falling Clay, the steel warships looked as if they'd been coated in a layer of white "clay slurry."
The Marines moving about on deck were likewise transformed into "clay statues" in the clay's cleansing rain.
In a single instant,
Storm had taken down all three large Marine warships!
This ability's pretty good!
[Name: Claywork: Falling Clay] [Star Rating: ★★★★★] [Effect: Transmits large quantities of clay to a designated area of space within the user's line of sight, coating enemies in it] [Review: Eat my Claywork: Falling Justice!]
This five-star ability was a new power Storm had wished for using the Big Trophy of a Devil Fruit User with the Warp-Warp Fruit.
He'd tried it out today, and the results were excellent.
Bartholomew Bear saw the "angel" who had suddenly appeared subdue all three warships.
He immediately realized that this "angel" might not be an enemy.
At the very least,
this "angel" wasn't on King Bekley and the Marines' side!
That realization eased Bear's mind a little.
Unless absolutely necessary, he didn't want to fight, much less take anyone's life...
After taking down the three warships, Storm finally turned to Bear.
"Tyrant Bear?"
"That's me."
Bear answered calmly, silently raising his guard.
"Who are you?"
"Vongola Storm."
Storm beat his wings and flew over to Bear. Getting straight to the point, he extended an invitation.
"I saw the news about you in the paper.
"Bear, want to go out to sea with me and become pirates?"
"No!"
Bear rejected the stranger's invitation without hesitation.
When he'd gone out to face the warships, he'd already steeled himself for what would happen.
If he sent all the attacking Marines flying, he'd surely become a wanted "criminal."
In other words,
a pirate.
But Bear hadn't even had a chance to fight yet.
The naval warships were easily dealt with by Storm alone.
Whether Bear had done it intentionally or not, he was extremely grateful to Storm for his "help."
But now, he no longer needed to shoulder the responsibility of "destroying the warships," so naturally, he no longer needed to become a pirate either!
Besides, Bonney was still waiting for him at home...
"Oh, what a pity."
Storm said that, but there was not the slightest hint of regret on his face.
He also knew that words alone would never be enough to recruit subordinates.
He was worst at running his mouth...
Since that was the case.
Snap!
Storm snapped his fingers.
The clay covering the three warships vanished without a trace.
The naval warships returned to their fully armed state.
"Please begin your performance."
Storm revealed a bright, sunny smile.
"Tyrant."
I'd waited so long for a recommendation that the flowers had already withered...
Bad news: The second round of recommendations never came.
Good news: The third round of recommendations had arrived.
What a baffling recommendation system...
But I'm still begging you to keep reading!
Before you continue