Celestial Dragons

Ye Mu's eyes lit up instantly. Without the slightest hesitation, he wiped the food scraps from the corner of his mouth, went back into the cabin, took out a telescope, then leaped up onto the tall mast and looked in the direction Enel had pointed.

Within a few minutes, an extremely massive, luxurious warship appeared on the horizon.

Its sheer size alone was more than ten times that of the Twin Goddesses. A golden dragon head hung at the bow, and the huge sails bore the mark of the Marines as it sailed toward them.

And through the telescope lens, on that enormous deck, aside from countless Marines wearing cloaks of justice, there was also a disgusting fellow as fat as a pig, sitting on a red fish-man slave with a bubble over his head, protected by four men in black suits.

"This is..."

Seeing this, Ye Mu took a deep breath, then jumped down from the mast.

But he said nothing. He merely closed his eyes and drew deep breaths of the sea air.

Enel looked at Ye Mu, whose mood was clearly off, with some confusion, then asked in concern.

"What's wrong? Ye Mu... Is there something strange about that ship?"

"No..."

Ye Mu said softly. Then he opened his eyes, took another deep breath, and only then asked.

"Enel, do you smell it?"

"Huh... Smell what..."

Enel looked puzzled. Other than the fishy tang of seawater, there was nothing in the air.

But Ye Mu's next words left him completely baffled.

"The scent of fate... Fate is guiding the two of us..."

"Huh!!!"

"Hahahahahahaha..."

Ye Mu visibly grew excited...

On the deck of the massive Marine warship...

As a rear admiral of Marine Headquarters, Gasparde, burly in build, with a head of golden wavy curls and a cigar clenched between his teeth, looked with disdain toward the bow at the four spies from CP9.

At Marine Headquarters, once one reached the rank of admiral, one was qualified to possess a warship and subordinates of one's own.

In other words, this warship actually belonged to Gasparde himself.

The orders they had originally received were to head to Mahbas, a World Government member nation in West Blue, and protect the Heavenly Tribute ships being transported from Mahbas to Mary Geoise.

But rather unluckily, just before departure, they had suddenly received orders from Marine Headquarters to protect a Celestial Dragon on a trip to Reverse Mountain.

Then these four fellows had brought a Celestial Dragon and his fish-man slave aboard, usurping his place like cuckoos in the nest, replacing him, a Marine admiral, and casually barking orders at his subordinates.

As for the Celestial Dragon, Gasparde did not dare harbor the slightest resentment—not even in his thoughts—but these four lackeys were another matter.

However, the timing was special. If it had been half a month earlier, a Celestial Dragon would absolutely never have dared leave the Holy Land of Mary Geoise so openly, under the protection of so few people. Even if he left, there would at least have been a vice admiral accompanying him, unlike now, with only Gasparde, a rear admiral.

But half a month ago, two major incidents had occurred.

First, Gol D. Roger, the One Piece, had been captured, and the World Government had announced that Roger would be publicly executed in Loguetown one month later.

Second, the Flying Pirate Admiral Golden Lion had launched a surprise attack on Marine Headquarters. In that great battle, countless Marines had been killed, resulting in half of Marine Headquarters being destroyed.

Those two events had caused an extreme shortage in both manpower and personnel for the Marines.

And at a time like this, of all things, a Celestial Dragon insisted on leaving Mary Geoise and heading to Loguetown to watch Roger's execution. Even more absurdly, the Five Elders had actually agreed.

Kong, as fleet admiral, had no choice but to have the Celestial Dragon travel together with the Marine warship protecting the Heavenly Tribute.

Fortunately, they only needed to deliver this Celestial Dragon to Reverse Mountain. When the time came, a warship would approach.

Now, if they proceeded at full speed, they would arrive in about five days.

Just as Gasparde was lost in thought, a Marine quietly walked over and said in a somewhat nervous whisper.

"Rear Admiral Gasparde..."

"What is it?"

"A pirate ship just appeared within our observation range, but it disappeared very quickly. Do we need to raise our guard?"

No wonder this Marine was so nervous. There was a Celestial Dragon aboard!

If anything happened, every one of them would be in deep trouble.

"Which pirate crew was it?"

Gasparde asked as well.

"It's not in the Marine records. It might be a newly debuted pirate crew."

"I understand."

Gasparde was not surprised by this. After all, there were so many pirates in this world; it was impossible for the Marines to have records on every single ship.

"Maintain sailing speed and keep moving forward..."

"Understood..."

But just then, on the quiet deck, a gunshot cracked through the silence with a bang.

Gasparde was startled, but quickly calmed down again.

Looking out, they saw that at the bow of the ship stood a fat Celestial Dragon with green hair jutting up toward the sky, holding a jeweled pistol in his hand. Smoke was still curling from its barrel.

And where the gun was pointed lay a fish-man with red skin and an extremely burly build. Shackles were fastened around his ankles, a collar circled his neck, and his body was covered in wounds and wrapped in bandages. He was sprawled on all fours like a dog, clutching his shoulder in agony.

At that moment, even though blood was pouring from the fish-man's shoulder, the red fish-man did not dare let the Celestial Dragon on his back fall off.

Yet the green-haired Celestial Dragon still looked dissatisfied.

"Useless trash. Not steady at all."

As he spoke, he said to the CP9 member beside him, "I'm already tired of playing with this fish-man. When we get back, sell him off as a lowly commoner."

"As you command, Saint Mjosgard!"

"I should've brought a few more slaves with me when I came out!"

The Celestial Dragon named Saint Mjosgard kicked viciously at the fish-man's injured shoulder and said in dissatisfaction, "How infuriating. I spent so long training him, but he's still so uncomfortable to sit on. He's really making me lose face..."

As for the Celestial Dragon's punches and kicks, the red fish-man could only endure them in pain, tears of humiliation flowing from his eyes.

And this was not the first time such a scene had happened in the past few days. The bandages wrapped all over the fish-man's body and the scars showing through his exposed skin were proof enough of what he had suffered before.

The Marines on the ship watched the scene. Some could not bear it, but most were simply afraid.

Toward fish-men, those lowly creatures, they felt not the slightest bit of sympathy. They were only afraid of the Celestial Dragons.

For example, Gasparde...

Seeing the Marine soldiers still standing there in a daze, he barked in displeasure, "What are you staring at? Hurry up and get back to work..."

"Y-yes..."

Only then did the Marine soldiers snap out of it as if waking from a dream, wanting in terror to leave this place as quickly as possible. But just then, a strange voice rang in their ears.

"Hey, aren't you Marines supposed to represent justice? How can you just watch someone commit violence right in front of you and not punish them?"