Capture and Awakening

Tap, tap, tap, tap...

Daddy heard a set of orderly footsteps coming from the mouth of the alley. Looking in that direction, he saw Smoker, a cigar clenched between his teeth, riding his amphibious motorcycle toward him with a squad of Marines following behind.

"Daddy, the Boxing Pirates and Slayer Rody have appeared in town. Have you seen them?"

"And what's with all these mangled corpses on the ground?"

Smoker stopped his motorcycle beside Daddy. Glancing at the remains scattered across the ground, he asked sternly.

"I saw them all."

"The chunks of flesh over there are the Boxing Pirates."

"The Boxing Pirates ran into Slayer in the alley, and Slayer wiped them all out," Daddy replied calmly.

"Slayer Rody... what a brutal bastard."

"Colonel, slow down! We can barely keep up with you!" Tashigi said as she ran up beside Smoker with several slightly out-of-breath Marines.

"All right, Tashigi. Take the men and clean up the remains on the ground. Be discreet about it—don't frighten the townspeople."

"This time, our enemy is Slayer Rody. He's far too vicious. Taking you along to arrest him would be extremely dangerous, so I'll handle the capture myself," Smoker said solemnly.

"How can you say that?"

Tashigi first cried out, then adjusted her glasses and looked toward the mangled bodies Smoker had mentioned. One glance was enough to leave her stunned by the bloodshed. Her mouth fell open in horror. "Th-this... this was all done by that Slayer? That guy is way too brutal."

"Th-this is the man with a 50 million Beli bounty?"

"That's too cruel!"

"We're supposed to arrest someone like this?"

"I can't... urgh..."

The Marines who had come with Smoker had seen their share of grisly scenes, but this was the first time they had witnessed something so bloody. Quite a few of them could not help vomiting.

"You've seen it too. This guy is more vicious than any pirate we've faced before. I'm a Logia user—even if I can't capture him, I won't be in any danger."

"But if I take you with me and he decides to kill you, it'll be difficult for me to stop him. Therefore, I order all of you to stay here and clean up the remains. No one is to proceed without my orders."

Tashigi took off her glasses, wiped them, then put them back on. Looking at Smoker's stern expression, she spoke slowly. "Colonel, we may not possess Devil Fruit powers as strong as yours, but if we were afraid of death, we would never have become Marines and fought powerful, vicious pirates."

"Colonel, when we chose to become Marines, we had already prepared ourselves to die at any moment. We won't become a burden to you."

"So please don't dismiss us because we're weak. Let us fight alongside you! Commander Smoker!" Tashigi said firmly.

The Marines who had come with her also regained their composure, their gazes fixed resolutely on Smoker.

Smoker knew that saying anything more to stop them from fighting would only insult their resolve as Marines. Looking at the determined group before him, a faint smile appeared on his stern face.

"Fine. Since all of you have already prepared yourselves to die, I have no reason to stop you."

Smoker looked toward the silent Daddy. "Daddy, which direction did Slayer leave in?"

Daddy pointed in the direction Rody's group had gone, his expression serious as he looked at Smoker. "He should be headed for the port. But be careful. The sense of threat that guy gave me was unlike anything I've ever felt. Don't let being a Logia user make you underestimate him. He's strong—no, incredibly strong. Stronger than any pirate I've ever seen."

"Don't worry. I won't underestimate him," Smoker replied seriously. He mounted his motorcycle, Billower Bike, and shouted, "Leave a few men behind to clean up the bodies. Everyone else, follow me at full speed! We're arresting Slayer Rody!"

"Yes!" the Marines following Smoker answered excitedly.

Watching Smoker lead the Marines away into the distance, a smile appeared on Daddy's stern face. But when he thought of Rody's figure—like a demon god in his perception—the smile vanished, replaced by concern. "Be careful. That guy is a monster stronger than anything I've ever seen. Don't die!"

"Lord Rody, our next stop is Reverse Mountain. Once we cross it, we'll enter the first half of the Grand Line."

"However, I've heard there's an island whale at Reverse Mountain that keeps ramming into the Red Line. Quite a few pirate ships and merchant vessels have been sunk by it," Mike said to Rody.

Host killed Toby

[Slaughter Value +4]

Slaughter Value: 23

Closing the system panel in his mind, Rody said casually, "There is such an island whale. Fifty years ago, he was still young. Entering the Grand Line was too dangerous, so the pirates who had taken him in made an agreement with him: they would circle the world and come back to see him. But those guys were too weak. They all died. No... one skeleton is still alive. During all these years of waiting, that island whale has kept using his head to ram the Red Line."

Nami tugged on Rody's large hand and looked up at him expectantly.

"If you want to see him, you can once we've crossed Reverse Mountain." Rody rubbed Nami's shoulder. He had no interest in Laboon's story, nor did he care to stop Laboon from ramming his head into the Red Line. Rody only wanted to see how awe-inspiring it would be for a forty-thousand-meter behemoth to appear before him.

Rody was also quite interested in Crocus, the ship's doctor of the Pirate King. It was not because he cared about finding Laugh Tale or becoming some so-called Pirate King. After all, he could not see what was so special about becoming the Pirate King.

Rocks, the overlord of the seas, had no interest in becoming Pirate King either. He only wanted to overthrow the rule of the Celestial Dragons and the World Government and rule the world himself. After the Rocks Pirates were destroyed, Golden Lion and Whitebeard, who were as famous as Roger, were the same. One wanted to rule the world like Rocks, while the other only wanted a family and collected sons everywhere. Neither had any interest in becoming Pirate King.

Even after Roger became Pirate King, it did not seem like anything had changed. Could he command every pirate at sea?

Would Golden Lion and Whitebeard obey the orders of a so-called Pirate King like him?

The World Government and the Five Elders had reacted indifferently to Roger becoming Pirate King as well. They probably just regarded him as a somewhat stronger group of pirates, one capable of causing a little trouble but utterly unable to shake the World Government's rule.

Roger became Pirate King, yet he was still executed in the end. His wife carried their unborn child for a full twenty months for the child's sake, and ultimately died from exhaustion. Even his son had to be raised by Garp, a Marine.

When Luffy awakened his Fruit and became Sun God Nika, even the Five Elders, who never took action themselves, moved. The one who could truly threaten the World Government had never been whoever became Pirate King, but whoever became Sun God Nika.