Navy and Mercenaries

When Daddy heard the name Warship Island, he was reminded of that Millennium Dragon, but he did not believe that the dragon bones could be made into an elixir of immortality.

If such a thing existed, the Celestial Dragons would have snatched it up long ago!

Only the people of the East Blue, the weakest of the four seas, would believe in such a legend.

As for Apis, who possessed the Whisper-Whisper Fruit, she was of no use to Daddy!

This Devil Fruit ability was incredibly lackluster; it could only communicate with animals, and even then, it only conveyed the user's own thoughts into the animal's mind.

She could not read what an animal was thinking, and she could only understand their voices and thoughts if the animal was willing to communicate with her.

It could not hear the inner thoughts of humans or certain other species, let alone conduct complex conversations or issue commands.

This was even more trash than Chopper, who had eaten the Human-Human Fruit: Commoner Form!

The point was that Apis was weak, lacked special abilities, and was far too young; she was simply not suited for the brutal Big Daddy Pirates.

Therefore, Daddy couldn't be bothered to waste time looking for them, especially since the Millennium Dragon might not have even flown back to Warship Island yet.

"Head straight for Reverse Mountain!"

Daddy had no intention of landing on Warship Island. Staying in the East Blue was pointless now; there were simply no qualified opponents left.

Moreover, the atrocities committed by the Big Daddy Pirates might have already drawn the attention of Marine Headquarters, so they had to leave the East Blue and enter the Grand Line as soon as possible.

Only then would they avoid being trapped in the East Blue by the Marines.

Otherwise, if Marine Headquarters dispatched a Vice Admiral to block the entrance to Reverse Mountain, the Big Daddy Pirates would be sunk into the sea.

"Understood!"

Although Nami wanted to land on Warship Island to see the unique features of the island, she dared not disobey once Daddy had given the order.

The Dreadnaught Sabre sailed rapidly toward Reverse Mountain.

A few days earlier, Admiral Nelson Royale of the 8th Branch of the East Blue Marines had received orders from Marine Headquarters to dispatch all warships to Reverse Mountain. They were to intercept any pirate crew attempting to pass through and subject them to indiscriminate bombardment!

The portly Nelson Royale was no stranger to such missions; their 8th Branch was the final line of defense in the East Blue.

Like Commander Brannew of the 77th Branch, he held the highest rank in the East Blue—Commodore. Although branch ranks were three grades lower than those of the Headquarters, he was still one of the most powerful men in the East Blue!

Theoretically, even Smoker, the elite Marine who had been demoted from a Headquarters Captain to a branch Captain in Loguetown, had to salute him upon meeting.

Although within Marine Headquarters, his rank as an East Blue Commodore was only equivalent to that of a Headquarters Major.

"Adjutant! Call up those scumbag Marine mercenaries; this time we are conducting a week-long interception and annihilation!"

Nelson Royale shouted. He knew there were some powerful experts among the pirates, so to minimize Marine losses, he would recruit some money-grubbing Pirate Hunters or mercenaries to assist in the defense!

"Yes, sir!!"

The 8th Branch Marine fleet immediately began to mobilize, and several mercenaries with some fame in the East Blue boarded the warships.

If they hunted pirates with bounties independently, they could not only claim the bounty but also receive payment from Admiral Nelson Royale.

This made some Pirate Hunters and mercenaries regulars for Nelson Royale; they loved this kind of straightforward Marine leader.

In the eyes of these mercenaries, this job was a hundred times better than being a Marine. After all, hunting pirates as a Marine was just a duty, and it didn't come with as much extra Beli.

While the Marines were somewhat envious of the mercenaries' lucrative income, they didn't mind, as the mercenaries were always the first to charge into battle against pirates, resulting in a high mortality rate.

Among the bounty hunters hired by Admiral Nelson Royale, the most formidable was Cyclone Eric. He was a Paramecia-type Scythe-Scythe Fruit user who could highly compress the air to produce slashes like scythes.

His power was comparable to the flying slashes of a master swordsman.

His fame in the East Blue was even greater than that of the Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro; after all, he had been active for several years and possessed great strength.

Cyclone Eric was also a lawless man who prioritized profit above all else; as long as the reward was sufficient, there was nothing he wouldn't do.

In the original story, he ruthlessly killed Admiral Nelson Royale and a large number of branch Marines in order to obtain the dragon bones.

At this moment, in front of Reverse Mountain.

The sea was littered with the wreckage of numerous pirate ships. The 8th Branch Marine fleet and the Marine mercenaries had already crushed seven or eight pirate crews coming from Loguetown over the past two days.

Cyclone Eric was calculating his earnings from this contract. In just a few days, he had already secured over 20 million Beli in bounties and mercenary fees.

He was very satisfied with this payout; if only these useless Marines could organize such encirclement missions more often.

Although his own strength was considerable, he had to admit that the Marines' warships and firepower, combined with a large number of soldiers, were too advantageous for hunting pirates.

If he were to hunt pirates on his own, his efficiency would be extremely low; it usually took weeks or even a month to track down a single crew, and sometimes he would even come up empty-handed.

He didn't dare to hijack the faster Marine warships, so he could only reach a certain level of cooperation with the Marines, allowing him to earn his money while utilizing the advantage of their ships and manpower.

He didn't want to become a pirate and be chased by the Marines all day, nor did he want to become a Marine and be bound by all sorts of rules. He liked being a free-spirited bounty hunter just as he was.

Not only had he gained great fame in the East Blue, but even the Admiral of the 8th Branch had to show him a degree of respect.

"Eric, the main target this time is the Big Daddy Pirates! Are you confident you can deal with them?"

"If it really comes to it, we'll just saturate them with firepower and then 'accidentally' let them slip away. The mission is already considered a success anyway!"

The portly Admiral Nelson Royale said with some concern. According to intelligence gathered over the past two days, the captain of the Big Daddy Pirates might be even stronger than the Loguetown Marine Captain, Smoker.

This made Nelson Royale feel a bit wary and afraid.

He knew Smoker's true strength all too well; Smoker was a genuine Colonel from Marine Headquarters, a disciple of the Chief Instructor Zephyr, and a Logia-type Devil Fruit user to boot.

If even Smoker could do nothing against Daddy, then he, a weakling Brigadier General from an East Blue branch, stood even less of a chance against the Big Daddy Pirates.

"Rest assured, Admiral Royale! With the firepower of your Marines combined with my fruit ability, we can definitely blast the Big Daddy Pirates' ship into the sea. Once that happens, we just need to beat the drowning dogs!"

Cyclone Eric smiled sinisterly, his thin face twisted with malice. He was a bounty hunter who truly understood the essence of "sink the ship before you fight the pirates!"