"What...?" Hawkins looked at Rody in confusion.
Flames ignited in Rody's hand, burning the unopened cards in his grasp to ashes. He clenched his fist, extinguishing the flames, and said casually, "You survived. You don't need to know why. Fly my flag. From now on, you're my subordinate."
Rody put an arm around Robin and returned directly to his ship. The others followed him back aboard as well.
"Captain Hawkins, what is Slayer...?" Black Cat Faust looked at Hawkins in confusion.
"I don't know why either, but from now on, we'll address him as Lord Rody."
"Faust, have the crew clear the corpses off the ship, then replace our flag with Lord Rody's. From now on, we are subordinates of Lord Rody, Slayer, one of the Shichibukai."
"Captain Hawkins, we..."
Hawkins raised a hand to stop Faust from continuing. His calm gaze rested on Rody's large ship. "Fate has always been so unfathomable..."
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
In the Fleet Admiral's office, beneath the plaque reading "Justice Reigns Over the Seas," the current Fleet Admiral, Sengoku, carefully wiped his glasses with a cloth. There was a trace of relaxation in his eyes, while a goat slowly chewed on intelligence documents beside the desk.
At that moment, someone knocked on the Fleet Admiral's office door. Marine Major Brannew, who had just finished a meeting and was holding a document, entered the office with Tsuru, the Navy's chief strategist.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku put on the glasses he had just been wiping and looked sternly at the two who had entered. "What intelligence has come in now?"
"Fleet Admiral, we just received word that the newly appointed Shichibukai, Slayer Rody, encountered the Hawkins Pirates led by the rookie pirate Basil Hawkins at sea."
"Oh, Basil Hawkins—the one who always manages to escape our