Explosive Fruit (Seeking Votes, Thanks)

After a delicious breakfast, it was time to prepare for an expedition at sea.

When the countless citizens of Kuja Island learned of this, they formed long, crowded lines to see them off.

Some of them were genuinely saddened and reluctant to part.

"What a pity. I didn't even get the chance to turn back for one more look at Lord Norse, and now he's leaving us again today."

"Exactly. Lord Norse is the only man recognized by our Amazon Lily. On Kuja Island, he is revered as a sacred fruit."

"Of course. They say that whoever can eat Lord Norse will definitely enjoy a lifetime of bliss, but that's a joy we'll never understand!"

"I don't really understand it either, but I still hope Lord Norse will forever remain the sacred fruit we all desire yet can never obtain. Even if he's setting out on an expedition, we'll wait for the day he returns."

The countless citizens waved them off like this, chatting, sighing, and placing their hopes in the future...

Naturally, the peerlessly beautiful Empress Hancock aboard the ship was also the person most adored and watched by all the citizens.

Yet at this moment, Hancock appeared exceedingly cold and proud, jealousy and anger intertwining within her heart.

"I knew you all missed Norse too. Luckily, I struck first, hmph hmph. Now that we're immediately setting out to sea, who else can covet my man?"

Hancock stood at the bow and muttered to herself. Seeing the countless citizens of her country waving them off, a victorious smile blossomed on her exquisite face.

Her outfit today was exceptionally bold: a cherry blossom-style cool dress that revealed half her body. Her countless black locks were casually draped behind her, displaying all her charm and beauty. In short, now that the Hoof of the Soaring Dragon was gone from her back, nothing could stop her beauty from blooming.

"Set sail!"

Norse was delighted beside her. He could finally leave this country full of women. It really hadn't been easy.

In the next moment, the sails were raised. The Kuja pirate ship departed the harbor, pulled by two enormous sea serpents, and before long vanished into the distance across the windless sea.

A few days later, the Kuja pirate ship appeared on the Grand Line.

This was a sea region where thousands of sails raced and countless vessels competed. One either went against the current to tame the raging sea, stayed in place and waited to be battered to death by the waves and torrents, or drifted with the current.

On deck, Hancock and the others were all reclining in deck chairs.

Before them stretched a blue, glittering sea. The sea breeze was strong at times and gentle at others, while juice taken from the kitchen's icebox sat nearby.

Everyone was enjoying this moment at sea.

"I feel like reciting a poem. Oh sea, why do you have so much water..." Norse, basking in the sea breeze and sunlight, couldn't resist being cheeky when he was in a good mood!

He had already set his first destination after setting sail as Long Ring Long Land. He felt there was no need to be tense or worried during the voyage. As a great pirate like him, even if he sailed into the waters of the New World, few opponents could stop his freedom.

"Huh? A merchant ship has appeared three nautical miles ahead. Should we intercept it?"

Gorud, half-reclined in her deck chair, peered through a simple telescope at the distant sea. She suddenly spotted a merchant ship loaded with cargo, and her occupational habit flared up.

"Really?"

Norse immediately rose to his feet. "If a merchant ship truly runs into pirates like us, then it's fate. If we don't go take some money from them, they might blame us for not showing them proper respect."

"Hehe... that makes sense. But it looks like they spotted us. A pirate flag suddenly went up on the merchant ship."

"Don't mind it. Charge straight at them. Merchant ships flying pirate flags are the ones we definitely can't let go easily." Norse felt there had to be something valuable aboard that merchant ship. It was probably some faction smuggling goods at sea for black-market trade.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

However, while the Kuja pirate ship was pursuing and intercepting them, several long-range cannons were suddenly set up aboard the merchant ship, which had a displacement of around ten tons, and fired directly at the Kuja pirate ship.

More than a dozen solid, heavy cannonballs flew over in the blink of an eye.

Two-Sword Style: Light Slash!

Norse immediately drew upon the power of the sun, condensing two incomparably slender, blazing light swords in his hands. With a sweep to the left and right, two streaks of light flashed forward at light speed, seemingly ignoring the distance between them and the cannonballs. The dozen or so cannonballs appeared to have been split in two while still in their original positions.

They exploded on the spot in the next instant.

Then, someone aboard the merchant ship suddenly roared through a loudspeaker:

"Damn it! A merchant ship belonging to Warlord of the Sea Donquixote Doflamingo is passing through here! What pirate crew are you?"

By then, the Kuja pirate ship had perfectly intercepted the merchant ship, stopping only a dozen meters ahead of it.

"Listen up, brat. The captain of the Kuja Pirates, Boa Hancock, is here, and she's also a Warlord of the Sea. What, you think your Warlord is so impressive?" Norse stood at the bow and announced his captain's name.

He thought, trying to intimidate people with status—who the hell was afraid of whom? Wasn't this the same thing? Both were Warlords of the Sea, both were rulers of a nation, and both commanded pirate crews.

Two ability users suddenly emerged from the cabin of the merchant ship.

The man was one of the Donquixote Family's officers, Gladius the Explosion Man, the wielder of the Pop-Pop Fruit.

The woman was a maid-outfit loli with a head full of black hair, a melon-seed-shaped face, and an adorable appearance. What drew particular attention, however, was that despite being only around twelve years old and barely over 1.6 meters tall, she was already carrying a heavy Gatling gun brimming with destructive power on her back.

This maid was Baby 5, adopted by the Donquixote Family and the wielder of the Arms-Arms Fruit.

"What happened?"

Gladius emerged with a dark expression and looked at the subordinate beside him.

He was somewhat displeased that this guy had announced their name. This operation was supposed to remain low-key from start to finish. Otherwise, they wouldn't have only raised the pirate flag at the critical moment. Yet this guy had shouted it out on the spot. He had no brains at all—didn't he know that black-market smuggling was dangerous and complicated?

"Lord Gladius, it's that pirate ship. They've been pursuing us and blocking our path. We originally planned to fire a few shots to drive them off, but we didn't expect them to be this troublesome. They even claimed to be fellow Seven Warlords of the Sea to intimidate us. After all, we'd never heard of such a person among the other Warlords."

"Heh heh... Are there really that few people these days pretending to be Seven Warlords of the Sea just to flatter themselves?" Gladius snorted coldly and looked toward the people aboard the Kuja Pirates' ship.

"Hm?"

Gladius was suddenly surprised. The other side felt strangely familiar, as if he had seen them somewhere recently. The impression left by that stunning beauty in particular was even deeper.

"Hahaha... I remember now. Three months ago, I heard that Rear Admiral Stolo of Marine Headquarters had been ambushed. So the Kuja Pirates are just you people?"

Gladius suddenly smiled with refined courtesy, leaving everyone beside him utterly baffled. What was he playing at?

Whoosh!

But who would have thought that he was actually the type to hide a dagger behind a smile?

He suddenly sprang backward, and eight black steel balls had somehow appeared between the crossed fingers of his hands. He flicked them out at high speed, so fast they seemed to tear through space.

When Gladius landed on the deck, his blue coat decorated with metal gears was still flapping loudly. Striking a showy pose, he said with immense confidence, "My art and explosions... are only a thought apart!"

"???"

P.S. Thanks, everyone, for your enthusiastic votes.