Round Up Everyone, Whether They Dare to Fight or Not

The pirate ship, cleaved in two, collapsed with a thunderous crash.

On the deck, Captain Joyce gritted his teeth as he watched his pirate crew fall apart. Crewmen fell into the water, sucked beneath the sea by the whirlpools stirred up by the sinking hull, while others desperately dodged and leaped to keep from falling overboard.

At last, the collapsing ship stabilized, turning into a mass of wreckage floating on the sea, slowly sinking.

"Evil Dog" Joyce remained in his half-beast form, standing on a relatively open patch of wreckage and panting heavily. Watching the debris slowly sink, he understood that as a Devil Fruit user, once it went completely under, that would be the end of him.

In the air, Wright stepped down with Geppo and slowly descended before Joyce. "That was just a greeting... Not willing to accept it? Come on, try to defeat me before the wreckage sinks. Maybe then you'll still have a chance to wait for that ship to save you... At the very least, you can drag someone down with you, right?"

A faint golden glow rose around Wright. "I'm a Devil Fruit user too."

"..."

How could "Evil Dog" Joyce not understand by now? This young man before him was undoubtedly a newly risen Marine officer! And not merely a brigadier general! The other man had been playing the fool to hide his strength, while he himself had kicked an iron plate!

"Just who are you?"

"Ah... Sorry, I haven't been in the Marines long, so I'm not used to introducing myself—Marine Headquarters Ensign Wright. I used to be a Pirate Hunter!"

"Ensign?!" Joyce flew into a rage and lunged at Wright. "Are you insulting me?!"

Clang!

Raising his blade to block the pit bull's sharp claws, Wright's Armament Haki-coated right leg flashed gold as he swept it sideways!

Boom!

A dull impact erupted into a burst of air. Having never encountered Haki before, Joyce was sent flying by the kick and smashed heavily into the pirate ship's wreckage, embedding himself in the base of the mast only a few steps from the water.

Lightspeed!

Using the principles of Soru, Wright used Holy Light Power to unleash multiple instantaneous energy impacts at a designated point. He had successfully developed an acceleration technique more than ten times faster than simply using Soru—an ability that could practically be called "teleportation": Lightspeed!

Unlike Soru, Lightspeed was an energy technique that could be applied to any part of the body—fists, elbows, legs, and so on. To a certain extent, it could even imitate "Yellow Monkey" Borsalino's ultimate move—Lightspeed Kick!

Of course, Yellow Monkey, who claimed to move at "the speed of light," launched that kick at a speed measured in hundred-thousandths of a second. Wright's "Lightspeed" kick was only in the thousandths of a second range—for now. As his strength increased, it should become even faster, right?

After being swept by this knockoff Lightspeed Kick, Joyce, who had no Haki defense, was already seriously injured. Fortunately, he was a Zoan user, with thick skin, tough flesh, and high defense.

He struggled out of the mast base, only to find that the wreckage was sinking even faster. Having witnessed Wright's strength, Joyce knew he was doomed today. He gave a grim chuckle.

"To run into a monster like you, I admit defeat... I was always afraid of those monsters in the New World and could never make up my mind to go there. I wanted to make some money through the slave trade and recruit men, but who would've thought... I'd encounter a monster like you here in Paradise!"

"Tch! Someone like me is only at the level of a Marine Headquarters rear admiral—one of the stronger ones."

Wright curled his lip. "If not for the special nature of the Sabaody Archipelago making it inconvenient for Headquarters to act, do you think someone at your level could have a bounty over seventy million? Could you have stayed free all this time?"

"You..."

"I know what you want to say... That I'm a Headquarters rear admiral shamelessly deceiving you? But unfortunately, I really am just an ensign!"

"..." Joyce spat out a mouthful of blood, his eyes reddening as he shifted into full beast form. "To hell with your ensign! Let's fight to the death!"

A massive pit bull appeared before Wright. Its gaping maw revealed two rows of gleaming white fangs, and its muscular body and explosive limbs made for quite an imposing sight—worth seventy-five million at least.

As the huge pit bull charged at him, Wright nodded. "Your courage is commendable."

With a slash of his Armament Haki-coated blade, one of the pit bull's forelegs flew off. "But it's completely useless."

Strike of Sanction!

Using the principles of Tempest Kick, Wright infused this kick with Holy Light Power and Armament Haki, causing the target to fall into temporary numbness and stiffness. A seriously injured target could even be knocked unconscious with a single kick—like right now.

Joyce had already been badly injured by Wright's knockoff Lightspeed Kick. Then, in beast form, he had lost a leg to a slash. His injuries piled upon injuries, and he was unfortunately knocked unconscious by the following Strike of Sanction.

"Tsk, that saves trouble."

Wright grabbed the unconscious Joyce, who had reverted to human form, and tossed him into the sky. "Up you go!"

True Holy Storm!

Small golden Flying Slashes swept through the nearly submerged pirate ship's wreckage like a passing storm, grinding it—and the pirates nearby who had not managed to swim away—into pieces. Wright shot into the sky, caught the falling Joyce, and rushed toward the Giant Tooth Pirates' ship nearby, which had not dared to flee.

"Yo, Edmund, you're still here?" Wright landed on the deck and tossed the Joyce he was carrying onto it, ignoring the smile Edmund forced out that looked worse than crying. "What a shame. I didn't manage to get the double kill achievement of two pirate ships."

You really were up to no good! You said we could leave once we found the Evil Dog Pirates. All Marines are damn two-faced bastards! Edmund roared inwardly, while also thanking his own wisdom for saving the entire ship once again... even if only temporarily!

"Pururururu... Click—"

Wright took out a Den Den Mushi and dialed Zephyr's number. "Teacher Zephyr? It's Wright. The mission is complete. I captured 'Evil Dog,' Daniel Joyce, with a bounty of seventy-five million. His pirate crew... has been completely wiped out!"

"Very good, Wright. You completed the mission so quickly... It has been less than a week since you began acting independently."

Zephyr was quite surprised. Wright had only taken a small boat to Water 7. Was his navigation skill that impressive? Or had the Evil Dog Pirates landed at Water 7?

"Ah... By the way, Teacher Zephyr..."

"Yes?"

"I forgot that little boat back at Water 7..."

"..."

"But don't worry, I seized a medium-sized pirate ship, with the entire Giant Tooth Pirates crew, bounty thirty-eight million, thrown in as a bonus!"

"..."

The Den Den Mushi was clearly doing its best to imitate Zephyr's helpless expression. "All right, now I know how you found your target... I'll contact a warship near you to escort you and your spoils..."

"Teacher Zephyr is wise!"

"Hmph, stop flattering me, brat! Get back to Headquarters immediately. Sengoku and Garp have been waiting for you for a long time. Also, from this moment on, you are promoted to Marine Headquarters major!"

"???"

"No way, Teacher! Three consecutive promotions?"

"Considering the merit from that incident, your mission target, and your spoils... the rank of major is not excessive. I'll be waiting for you at Marineford!"

Three promotions in a row—sweet!

"Yes, sir! Teacher!"

Still asking for recommendation votes~ Thanks, everyone!