Excuse Me, Is There a Position for a Naval King?

It looked like this battle was unavoidable. Perfect—after the Lightning Living Body Technique had broken through, he had been looking for an opponent to test his strength against. He only hoped this guy would not be too weak.

Originally, Gato had wanted to quietly build up his strength first and avoid drawing the Marines' attention as much as possible. But things did not always go as he wished, and he was not someone who would run whenever he encountered a powerful enemy.

Gato rose from the watchtower and looked toward the approaching Marine warship, immediately spotting Drake standing with his arms folded across his chest. Drake also saw Gato at the highest point.

Their eyes met, I... Sorry, wrong line.

The two exchanged a glance, and both saw fighting spirit rise in the other's eyes.

Gato was already itching to make a move. Being polite at a time like this was fucking stupid. But he had yet to spot an opening in his opponent's defenses, nor did he know the other man's strength, so he did not dare act rashly.

Drake did not think that much. Even if Sengoku had said Gato possessed great potential, so what? No matter how much potential a fledgling had, how could he possibly be a match for him? The only reason he had not attacked was because of the mission he had been assigned.

When Drake saw the eerie pirate flag on Gato's ship, he grew slightly excited. It looked like he could have a proper fight.

However, as a Marine, obeying orders was instinctive. He forcibly held himself back and shouted to Gato first, "Are you Gato?"

The intelligence said there were four people aboard this ship, so he had to make sure.

"That's me. Marine, are you here to arrest me?"

Drake nodded slightly. The photo matched too, so there had been no mistake. As for where the other three were, he did not care. They were not his targets.

He continued shouting, "No. Are you willing to join the Marines? Our Fleet Admiral sent me to invite you!"

This left Gato quite surprised. His name had reached the Marine Fleet Admiral already? Could this guy be a fraud?

The thought flashed through Gato's mind for only an instant before he dismissed it. Who would bring a warship like this to scam him? Were they tired of living? So he asked, "But I'm a pirate. Is that still okay?"

As if afraid Drake did not know, Gato even pointed at his pirate flag.

"To us, if you don't have a bounty, you're not a pirate. As long as you're willing to join the Marines, the Fleet Admiral will grant you the rank of commodore."

"Burp hahahaha! You think that highly of me? There must be conditions, right?"

"There's only one condition: after you go to Headquarters, you must be able to defeat every commodore there. Enough nonsense. Do you accept or not?"

Drake was growing impatient. Wouldn't ordinary people eagerly agree the moment they heard such an offer? Why was there still so much nonsense?

Gato laughed. "Don't rush, bro. The offer is so good that I'm tempted. One last question: do the Marines have a position called Marine King?"

What the hell was a Marine King? Drake's face was filled with question marks.

"Look, my ambition as a pirate is to become the Pirate King. So do the Marines have a position comparable to Pirate King? If not, forget it."

Drake was furious inside, but his expression remained unchanged. "So you're refusing our invitation?"

"Not at all. Clear out a position for Marine King, and I'll join the Marines right now," Gato said with a grin.

The young rear admiral finally could not hold back any longer. He did not want Gato to continue being so disrespectful.

He shot into the air, as though he had broken free from gravity's restraints, and charged toward Gato.

Gato did not dare underestimate him. He went all out from the start and activated Lightning Enhancement.

Drake did not care how strong Gato was. Without even using his Devil Fruit ability, he simply threw an ordinary punch.

Bang!

A sharp, ringing clash echoed out. Though it had been a collision between bare fists, it sounded like metal striking metal.

Gato emerged completely unharmed. After dispersing the impact, he landed on his own ship, while Drake was sent flying like a meteor, hurtling uncontrollably toward the warship.

Boom!

Drake crashed into the deck and blasted a huge hole through it, sending wooden planks flying everywhere.

Marine warship decks were exceptionally sturdy. Even being struck by cannon fire might not have caused such damage. The sight left the nearby Marines utterly stunned.

Drake's deputy flew into a rage out of humiliation. Earlier, Drake had instructed him to react quickly, yet he had still frozen for a moment and failed to catch his commanding officer.

He could not be blamed. He had never imagined things would turn out like this.

The famous rear admiral had actually been sent flying by a single punch in the tiny East Blue?

This guy had only just set sail and did not even have a bounty. Even the Pirate King would have had to flee when facing a Marine rear admiral after first going to sea, right?

"Go help the rear admiral at once! What are you standing around for? Gunners, prepare to fire!"

With Drake absent, he was the highest-ranking commander. At last, the warship bared its claws at Gato.

As the cannonballs left their barrels, the blasts sounded as though they would shatter the sky.

At such close range, with the speed at which the cannonballs were fired, they seemed capable of hitting Gato's ship in an instant.

These were not the slow-moving cannonballs from the One Piece anime. Even with Lightning Enhancement active, Gato could barely react in time.

Fortunately, he had achieved a breakthrough at Baratie with the Lord of the Coast's energy. Otherwise, this would have been genuinely dangerous.

Gato drew Bright Light from his waist. Against iron lumps like these, it was more reliable to use one of their own kind.

Although his swordsmanship was still far from the level of cutting steel, before Bright Light—which could conduct chakra—iron cannonballs were no different from paper.

"Lightning Enhancement, Extend!"

The blue lightning of Lightning Enhancement no longer merely coursed across his body. It now slowly extended onto Bright Light as well. Bright Light, already gorgeous to begin with, became even more dazzling and dangerous beneath its brilliant layer of electricity.

This was something he had been studying ever since obtaining Bright Light. Since Bright Light was like an extension of his own body, he had boldly tried applying Lightning Enhancement to it.

He succeeded. Unlike simply channeling chakra, using Lightning Enhancement: Extension not only imbued the Bright Light blade with chakra's properties, but also made it vibrate at high frequency, sharpening it even further.

Gato swung his blade—a perfectly ordinary slash—but empowered by lightning-nature chakra, it was absolutely not to be underestimated.

Before the blade could even cut into the shell, however, the gunpowder inside was detonated by the violent lightning-nature chakra.

Gato curled his lip, feeling like he was using a butcher's knife to kill a chicken.

He had forgotten that gunpowder was inherently prone to exploding. If he'd known, he could have just punched it and saved some stamina. Though the Bright Light blade was practically an extension of his body, extending Lightning Enhancement to it consumed even more energy.

There was still a powerful enemy waiting for him. He had to conserve every bit of stamina he could.

Although Drake had been sent flying by his punch, Gato could tell from the other man's fist that this opponent was far stronger than that. He had yet to use his full strength.