Captain Nezumi, the Slayer

Three Marine warships sailed across the sea in a triangular formation.

"Colonel, are we really going?"

"The other side is a powerful man who wiped out the entire Arlong crew. I heard he's even a Devil Fruit user. We'd better not go," the sergeant said nervously as he looked at Captain Nezumi beside him.

"Idiot, that's nearly a hundred million Beli."

"If that fool Arlong hadn't insisted on waiting for that pirate thief to gather a hundred million Beli—"

"If he'd told me sooner, I would've collected all that money long ago," Captain Nezumi said greedily.

Host killed Fish-Man Arlong

[Slaughter Value +5]

Host killed Sea Beast Moo Moo

[Slaughter Value +3]

Slaughter Value: 10

"Killing that sea beast also gave Slaughter Value. It seems that as long as I kill a powerful creature, I'll gain Slaughter Value." Rody looked at the system panel in his mind.

"Rody, three warships have appeared ahead!" Nami called out from the bow.

"They're warships from the Marine 16th Branch." Rody formed a hand seal before his chest, and Nue flew out of his shadow. Rody leaped onto Nue's back and flew toward the warships.

"Colonel, a large bird has flown out from the ship ahead and is rapidly approaching our warships."

"Open fire! Shoot it down!"

After Captain Nezumi gave the order, all three warships opened fire. Cannonballs whistled toward Rody, but before they had flown very far, they all exploded in midair.

Rody rode Nue out of the smoke from the explosions and landed on the middle warship. From Nue's back, he swept his gaze over the Marines on deck before finally stopping on a Marine wearing a colonel's uniform whose face resembled a rat.

"Red hair, strange markings on his face and body, around 2.3 meters tall."

"Colonel, there's no mistake. He's the one who destroyed the Arlong crew."

Hearing his subordinate's reminder, Captain Nezumi said to Rody, "You're the one who killed Arlong? Do you know how many Beli Arlong handed over to us every year? But you aren't flying a pirate skull flag, so you shouldn't be a pirate, right? As long as you hand over the hundred million Beli you confiscated from Arlong, the Marines won't put a bounty on you. Chichichichichi..."

"Your laugh is too unpleasant. And you're holding your head too high." With a wave of his hand, Rody severed both of Captain Nezumi's legs.

"Ahhh!"

"M-My legs! Quick, shoot him! Kill him!" Captain Nezumi wailed miserably as he clutched his severed legs.

Seeing their colonel's legs cut off, the Marine soldiers' hearts tightened. Upon hearing the order, they hurriedly raised their guns and fired at Rody. The bullets were sliced apart by slashes halfway through the air. Before the Marines could fire a second shot, they were killed by the slashes.

Watching his subordinates die one after another to the slashes, Captain Nezumi ignored the blood still pouring from his severed legs and crawled backward with his hands braced on the deck. "D-Don't kill me. The money... I don't want it anymore. There's more in the branch base... I have lots of money, all of it can be yours. My uncle is a Marine vice admiral. Killing me won't do you any good. If you let me go, I guarantee the Marines won't hunt you down. Please!" Captain Nezumi pleaded fearfully through a face full of tears.

Rody looked at Captain Nezumi as he begged and crawled, his severed legs leaving two trails of blood across the deck. "Truly ugly and boring."

Rody raised his right hand and shouted softly, "Release." Countless irregular slashes flew forth, cutting all three warships into pieces. The fragments of the warships slowly fell into the sea.

Nue flew back to the ship, and Rody jumped down from its back. Nami walked up to him uneasily. "Rody, why did you kill all of them?"

Seeing Nami's nervous, uneasy expression, Rody reached out and stroked her cheek with a smile. "Do you remember Arlong saying that he had a deal with Captain Nezumi of the Marines? Those three warships were led by Captain Nezumi of the 16th Branch to Cocoyasi Village to extort money."

Looking at Rody's smile, Nami felt deeply moved. Rody did all this for me. Feeling his large hand gently caressing her cheek, she felt as though a little deer were wildly crashing about inside her heart. Gathering her courage, she rose onto her tiptoes and quickly kissed Rody on the cheek.

Rody was slightly stunned. He raised a hand to touch the cheek Nami had kissed, then looked at Nami's faintly flushed cheeks and shy eyes. He wrapped an arm around her slender waist and lowered his head to kiss her soft lips.

"Mmm!"

The moment their lips touched, Nami's originally shy eyes widened in alarm. Her hands pushed frantically against Rody's chest, but she was too weak to move him at all.

Feeling Rody's gentle kiss and the soft caress of his hand on her back, she felt as though all strength had left her body. She gave up resisting entirely. The fear in her wide eyes gradually softened, and the hands that had been pushing against him instead wrapped around Rody's waist.

Feeling Nami's gentle response, Rody slipped one hand beneath the bend of her knees and lifted her into his arms, preparing to head toward the bedroom.

The sudden lift brought Nami back to her senses from their passionate kiss. She pushed away Rody's face as he leaned in to kiss her again, her cheeks flushed with shyness. "Rody, this is too sudden. I... I'm not ready yet. Can you wait until I'm ready?"

Rody looked at Nami in his arms as she stared at him with a bashful face. Though he was extremely reluctant, he still set down her soft body. "Nami, don't make me wait too long."

"It was just too sudden. I'm not ready yet, but it won't be too long," Nami said with a blush. She kissed Rody on the lips again, then took his arm and led him toward the kitchen and dining room.

Nami smiled at Rody. "Rody, where are we going next?"

"First, we'll look around the nearby islands for a good cook, then buy a better ship. The kitchen on this ship is too small, there aren't enough cooking utensils, and the ingredients are too poor."

Nami looked at Rody with a smile. "What, dear Captain Rody? Is my grilled duck and orange sauce not good?" Her hold on his arm unconsciously tightened.

"It is good, but we can't eat grilled duck and orange sauce every day, can we? Besides, there isn't much duck left on the ship."

In the first half of the Grand Line, Marine Headquarters—Marineford.

The top floor of Marineford's Fortress of Justice was the office of the Fleet Admiral. Hanging on the office wall was a plaque bearing the words "Justice Reigns Supreme," and beneath it sat the current Fleet Admiral, Sengoku the Buddha, known as the Resourceful General.

At this time, Sengoku still had a full head of black hair and a stern expression. He was not like he was two years after the Paramount War in the original story, when he had stepped down as Fleet Admiral to become the Marine Inspector General, his hair completely white and his face always smiling.

At that moment, Fleet Admiral Sengoku sat behind his desk, listening to a report from Marine Headquarters Colonel Brannew.

"Fleet Admiral, this is intelligence sent by the East Blue 16th Branch." Brannew placed the report on Sengoku's desk.