Changes in the New World

Sea mist hung thick, and rain pattered softly.

Snow-white sword light tore through the gloomy curtain of rain. By the time the downpour intensified and lightning began flashing across the sky, the three pirate ships had already been sliced into pieces.

The sea settled again, littered with broken planks. The pirates who had been swaggering around just moments earlier were now nothing but floating corpses.

Tap.

Noah drifted down from the sky and landed expressionlessly on the deck as the Marines stared up at him, dumbstruck.

"Assign some men to clean up the battlefield. Resume our course to headquarters at full speed within half an hour."

After giving the order, he strode into the cabin.

"Yes, Rear Admiral!"

Only then did his subordinates recover from the shock of what they had witnessed and answer in unison.

Once Noah disappeared through the cabin doorway, the Marines exchanged looks. Something about that scene had felt strangely off.

Since when had Base Commander Gion become so decisive and ruthless?

Before either side could fire a cannon, she had shot into the air with Geppo and slaughtered every pirate with a single slash, leaving no survivors.

That hardly seemed like Rear Admiral Gion's usual style.

Instead...

It was exactly like their former deputy base commander, Vice Admiral Noah.

How strange.

Naturally, Noah, already inside the cabin, knew nothing of his subordinates' muttering.

As he walked down the corridor, he stared at the blue system panel before him, his expression even darker than before.

The icon for the "Special Vivre Card" in his inventory was now grayed out.

And when he focused on it...

A notification popped up: "The body bound to the Vivre Card is in an abnormal state. Temporarily unavailable."

"So... since the link between the main Vivre Card and its copies