Loguetown Proclamation

Loguetown, Central Square.

Sunlight spilled onto the massive steel execution platform, casting mottled shadows.

Portgas D. Ace stood at the edge of the square, looking up at the cold dais that had once ended the life of the Pirate King and ignited the Great Pirate Era.

He watched for a moment, but did not step onto the stairs.

To him, this was ultimately nothing more than a tombstone belonging to a bygone era.

Just then.

"Clack, clack, clack, clack!"

The dense, rhythmic sound of military boots surged in from all directions of the square.

"Eclipse Pirates! You are surrounded!"

"Raise your hands, all of you!"

Accompanied by sharp shouts, hundreds of fully armed Marine soldiers brandished their flintlocks, sealing off the entire Central Square.

Several Marine captains leading the squads drew their longswords, staring at the four people surrounded in the center as if facing a formidable enemy.

Carina swept a glance at the dense forest of gun barrels surrounding them, her hand moving toward the custom weapon at her waist.

Buggy, meanwhile, pulled the cart filled with supplies and quickly shifted to the side, lest stray bullets pierce the wine and meat he had worked so hard to purchase.

"Portgas D. Ace, with a bounty of fifty million, and Sabo, with thirty million!"

A Marine captain, sweat dripping down his face, raised his command sword.

"All troops, listen up! Prepare to fire!"

"There are quite a few of them, Captain."

Sabo adjusted the top hat on his head, tapping his alloy staff lightly against the ground.

"Do you need me to clear them out?"

"No need."

Ace spoke indifferently.

"We're in a hurry."

He slowly turned around to face the hundreds of Marines standing at the ready and took a step forward.

There were no superfluous movements.

An invisible pressure radiated outward from Ace.

There was no flash of fire, no explosion, not even the sound of wind.

Yet, the Marine soldiers in the square seemed to have their consciousness drained away all at once.

"What is this..."

"Breathing... it's so hard..."

Someone managed only half a terrified whisper before their eyes rolled back, and they collapsed straight to the ground.

Following that, a second, a third, a fourth.

Hundreds of Marine soldiers who had been aggressive just moments ago didn't even get the chance to pull their triggers before they fell in droves onto the hard stone slabs of the square.

In just two seconds.

In the vast Central Square, aside from the four members of the Eclipse Pirates, there wasn't a single Marine left standing.

"So this is Conqueror's Haki..."

Carina looked at the Marines fainted all over the ground, her fingers slowly loosening from her weapon.

She had heard Ace talk about the three types of Haki before and knew that Conqueror's Haki could intimidate the weak.

But seeing it with her own eyes, she finally understood just how unreasonable this power truly was.

Ace's expression remained unchanged.

He strode forward, stepping over the fallen Marine soldiers, and headed toward the harbor.

As he passed the Marine captain who was barely clinging to a shred of consciousness and trembling on his knees, Ace stopped.

He tilted his head slightly and glanced at the despair-stricken Marine.

"Go back and tell your Marine Headquarters."

Ace's voice was not loud, yet it fell clearly into the man's ears.

"From today on, the Eclipse Pirates are officially setting sail."

"Tell this sea to be prepared."

"I am going to turn it upside down."

Leaving this declaration behind, Ace did not look at the Marine again and strode toward the harbor.

"Keep up."

He gave a casual greeting.

"The wind direction is good today; we should be able to see Reverse Mountain before nightfall."

Sabo, Carina, and Buggy, who was pulling a cart full of supplies, immediately followed.

The four of them crossed the central plaza, moving rapidly toward the direction where the Eclipse was docked.

However, just as they were about to cross the main street of Loguetown and reach the edge of the harbor—

"Whoosh—"

The air in front of the street suddenly surged.

A massive, dense cloud of white smoke swept out from the end of the alley like a tidal wave, instantly blocking the path of the Eclipse Pirates.

"Thinking of announcing your departure in my town?"

"Don't dream, you pirate trash."

A hoarse voice emerged from the thick smoke.

Immediately following, a silver-haired man wearing an open Marine jacket with two cigars in his mouth flew down from mid-air, his lower body transformed into billowing white smoke as he brandished a massive jitte.

Marine Headquarters Captain.

"White Hunter" Smoker.

"As long as I, Smoker, am here, no pirate will ever cross this gate to the Grand Line!"

"White Vine!"

Accompanied by Smoker's low shout, the smoke his lower body had turned into instantly split into a dozen thick tentacles, coiling toward Ace and the others like giant pythons.

"A Logia user, huh."

Buggy, dragging his cart, looked at Smoker swooping down from mid-air and curled his lip.

"It's certainly scary in the East Blue."

"But it's a shame that when you run into a monster who knows Armament Haki, you're just a sitting duck."

Having spent time on Roger's ship, he naturally knew how troublesome Logia users were in ordinary seas.

He also knew how miserable one would be relying solely on elementalization in front of a powerhouse who truly understood Haki.

Ace watched Smoker descending from the sky, thinking he had blocked their path, without slowing his pace.

There was no extra expression on his face.

Facing the smoke dancing across the sky, the muscles in Ace's right arm tensed.

Pitch-black Armament Haki instantly covered his entire right fist.

The next moment, a cluster of crimson-gold Vermilion Bird Divine Fire ignited on his knuckles.

"What?!"

Smoker's pupils constricted in mid-air.

He had seen this black power back at the recruit camp.

That was—

Ace gave Smoker no time to react further.

Maintaining his forward momentum, Ace used his inertia to throw a punch directly at Smoker in mid-air.

"Divine Fire: Collapse Fist."

"BOOM!!!"

The Armament Haki caught the physical form, and the Vermilion Bird Divine Fire burned through the smoke.

Ace's fist punched through the billowing white smoke and slammed solidly into Smoker's chest.

"Crack!"

A crisp sound of breaking bones rang out.

The two cigars in Smoker's mouth were shattered instantly by the violent shockwave.

His Logia body, which he took such pride in, was forced back into its physical form by this single punch.

"BANG-RUMBLE!!"

Smoker flew backward like a cannonball, spitting blood as he crashed through three or four stone buildings along the street, finally embedding himself into the ruins hundreds of meters away, completely losing consciousness.

One strike.

One-hit kill.

"That was a bit too decisive, wasn't it?"

Carina looked at the street that had been cleared in an instant and couldn't help but whisper.

"Don't just stand there, get on the ship."

Ace shook the lingering smoke off his fist and stepped steadily over the rubble-strewn ground.

To him, that had been nothing more than casually clearing a pebble from his path.

The four members of the Eclipse Pirates swiftly crossed the port of Loguetown and boarded the Eclipse.

"Splash!"

The heavy anchor was hauled up.

The massive, pitch-black sails billowed once more in the sea breeze.

Under the gaze of countless onlookers in the port of Loguetown, eyes filled with a mixture of awe and terror, the black fast-ship that had just shattered the naval defense line sailed smoothly out of the harbor.

Ace stood at the bow, looking toward the silhouette of the massive Red Line at the edge of the horizon.

"Reverse Mountain, here we come."

The Eclipse cleaved through the waves, heading toward the Grand Line.

The journey through the East Blue ended here.

The name of the Eclipse was only just beginning to spread across the seas.