The Storm

"Let's start with you. It's only right that the weak get bullied."

Louis grinned.

"Hey! You bastard! Don't look down on me!"

Buggy, who had been a little scared, roared, "Split-Split Fist!"

He whipped his right hand, sending his fist straight at Louis, a throwing knife gripped in it.

"Tch."

Louis simply caught Buggy's fist. The kid was only in his teens, and he hadn't had his powers for long. His physical ability and his control over them were both a long way from adequate.

"You're handing yourself to me?"

The muscles in Louis's right hand tensed, and his fingers began to close.

"Aaaaaah! It hurts, you bastard!!!"

Buggy started jumping around, tears streaming from his eyes like noodles.

"Just like that. I'll crush your hand!"

Louis sneered as his grip tightened. The strength his arm muscles could unleash in a burst let him strike with far more force than usual.

"Let go of Buggy!!"

Shanks couldn't just stand by and watch his friend's hand get crushed. He shot out from the crowd, thrusting the long sword in his hand at Louis's chest.

"Now you've—"

Louis seemed to have expected it. He abruptly sidestepped and swung his sword down. "Come running right to me!"

"Clang!!"

"Ugh!!"

Terrifying force surged through the sword in Shanks's hand, and he couldn't keep hold of it. Louis was already far stronger than Shanks, and by tensing his muscles and focusing all the strength in his arm into one strike, he had unleashed a truly fearsome blow.

The back of the blade slammed into Shanks's shoulder. The sharp crack of breaking bone rang out alongside his cry of pain, and the red-haired kid went flying like a cannonball. He tumbled across the deck, knocked several pirates aside, and crashed into the railing.

"Hey! You bastard, Shanks!"

Buggy seemed to have forgotten his own pain and yelled in alarm.

"Aaaah! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!!"

Then Louis quickly showed him what real pain was.

"Cough, cough... what a terrifying guy..."

Shanks slowly got to his feet and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. His ear throbbed with pain. That strike had knocked the sword from his hand and torn off half of his left ear. His shoulder blade was broken, and the left side of his body was nearly numb. But the red-haired kid still glared at Louis. "But this isn't going to end so easily!"

"Tenacious little thing."

Louis raised his right hand and gave a slight wave. "Open fire."

"Yes, Mr. Mario!"

The remaining pirates raised their guns and fired at the two kids. Bullets sprayed out.

"Waaaaah! I'm gonna die for sure!!"

Buggy wailed in despair. "I told you the captain should've compromised a little!"

"Quit whining! I'll protect you, Buggy!"

The red-haired kid picked up his sword and stood in front of Buggy.

"You bastard..."

"Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!!!"

A series of sharp impacts rang out. The bullets hadn't hit them as expected. A man had dropped from the sky and stood in front of them.

"What?"

Louis immediately jumped back, without the slightest hesitation. He leaped off the deck and plunged into the sea.

"Now that's quick reflexes! That kid!"

The man flicked his long sword and chuckled softly. "He just ran off. That kind of decisiveness means he's no ordinary person."

"What? Th-this guy is..."

"N-no way! Why is he here?!"

"Run! Run for your lives!!"

The pirates collapsed into panic the moment they recognized the man's face, crying out as they tried to escape.

"Mr. Gaban!!"

Shanks exclaimed delightedly. "You got here just in time!"

"Really, you two little brats went deep behind enemy lines?"

The man was a senior officer of the Roger Pirates, the copper of the Gold, Silver, and Copper trio—Gaban. With a casual swing of his sword, he swept away the fleeing pirates in a dazzling slash. "Couldn't you have let us worry a little less?"

"Uncle Gaban! And that guy! That bastard too!"

Louis had jumped into the water, and Buggy's hand, which Louis had been holding tightly, had gone with him. Once Louis let go underwater, Buggy immediately pulled his hand back. Getting it back didn't mean Buggy wasn't still angry, though. "Go kill that bastard!!"

"Don't be ridiculous. Coming to rescue you was just something I squeezed in between other things. I don't have time for that now."

Gaban looked up. The clouds had gathered into dark, heavy storm clouds overhead, so low they seemed within reach. The wind had started to blow, and the sea was gradually changing.

"Buggy, Shanks, get back to the ship. It's time to strike back!"

Gaban rested his sword on his shoulder, smiling. "We've been waiting for this for a long time!"

As the red-haired kid pulled his friend away from the ship, he glanced back at the stretch of sea where Louis had jumped in. "That guy's name was... Mario, right?"

"Damn it! The storm's coming!"

Louis surfaced and looked up at the sky. The clouds had gathered thickly, hanging low overhead. The sea was churning, and the wind was steadily growing more violent.

"Plip!"

A raindrop as big as a bean fell from the sky and burst into a tiny splash on Louis's forehead. "It's coming! No, I need to find a ship!"

Louis floated on the sea as the waves grew increasingly rough. If he stayed in the water much longer, he'd really be done for.

"You'll do!"

Louis spotted a ship. It was large and looked to be in decent condition. He dove underwater and sped toward it along the seabed.

"Whoosh!"

He pushed off from the seabed. Geppo combined with Soru could be used in midair, so of course it could be used underwater, too. The water's resistance was considerable, but Louis was still incredibly fast—perhaps fast enough to rival the Fish-Man Race. Like a cruise missile, he shot out of the water, flipped through the air, and landed on the deck.

"This is..."

The sight on deck was not what Louis had expected. Corpses—nothing but corpses. Pirates lay dead in all manner of gruesome poses, most of them with sword wounds. The ship itself was battered and tattered, its deck smashed to pieces with hardly a single plank intact. Looking closer, the mast was tottering, too, with a huge gash at its base. It looked ready to snap at any moment.

"Damn it!"

Louis gritted his teeth. "This is where the officers fought?"

It was clear that the ship had lost the ability to sail. It looked ready to capsize at any moment.

"Crack!!"

The already-dark sea suddenly lit up. Thunder boomed in the sky, and Louis watched as a huge bolt of lightning came crashing down on a nearby ship. It must have hit the ammunition store. A powerful explosion erupted instantly, blasting the entire ship into the air.

"Too late?"

Louis's expression shifted uncertainly. The storm had arrived.

"Whoosh..."

The wind began to blow. The ship's already-unstable mast snapped off and crashed into the sea. Right after that, the ship itself began lurching from side to side. The waves grew higher and higher, their crests becoming more and more terrifying.

"Crash!!"

Rain began to fall—a downpour. The drops struck the skin so hard they made it go numb, and visibility instantly shrank to just a few meters.

The storm that would change the course of the entire world of pirates had finally arrived.

"Golden Lion!! You're finished!!"

A shout rang out from the sky.