He wasn't physically tired, though his body had indeed reached its limit.
He was tired in his heart.
He was sixty-eight years old.
He had held this position for more than thirty years.
He had fought countless battles, witnessed countless deaths, arrested countless pirates, and lost countless comrades.
He was tired.
"Let this old man retire early. I really don't want to face that terrifying brat again."
Claist muttered under his breath, his voice carrying a rare note of exhaustion.
Thinking that he still had two years until retirement left him feeling stifled and helpless.
He had already stepped back from the front lines and settled into a quiet retirement.
If not for the incident with the Heavenly Tribute, he wouldn't have been urgently called back to active duty.
Strangely enough, Rocks had plundered the Heavenly Tribute several times before, yet none of those incidents had brought him back.
It was only after the operation involving Luo Tian that the Marines and the Five Elders took notice of the boy's terrifying talent, and he was brought back into service.
When all was said and done, it was all because of that damned Luo Tian.
Claist closed his eyes, and the image of Luo Tian's final slash appeared in his mind.
That slash, infused with Ryuo and Conqueror's Haki; the sword energy that had transformed into a black dragon; that cold, resolute gaze...
A monster.
A true monster.
So be it.
If the Marines ever went to all-out war with the Rocks Pirates, he would never choose Luo Tian as his opponent.
Never.
A day later.
As Luo Tian sailed back toward Beehive Island aboard the Divine Authority, an uninhabited island teeming with beasts came into view.
Even from several kilometers away, he could sense the island's primitive, wild, and