Sky Pirates

"..."

"??????"

"!!!???"

"Huh!!!!!!"

After their initial bewilderment, when they simply couldn't react to the sudden words, the entire warship was instantly filled with wave after wave of sharp inhales.

"Who was that?"

"Did I hear that right?"

"Who actually dares to speak to the Celestial Dragons like that..."

Gasparde was the first to pinpoint where the voice had come from. He looked back toward the mast behind him in terror.

His movement drew everyone's attention, and they all looked up.

Under the blazing sun, on the lookout platform atop the warship's main mast, two burly young men had appeared at some point.

"Huh..."

Everyone sucked in another cold breath and let out cries of fear.

At first, they had only thought that voice was some kind of hallucination, but now, the appearance of these two figures immediately proved that everything they had just heard was real. Someone truly had dared to provoke the Celestial Dragons.

The four members of CP9 moved quickly, swiftly shielding the Celestial Dragon behind them, their killing intent locking tightly onto the two people on the mast.

Gasparde also frowned deeply. He knew trouble had come knocking. Looking at the smile on the red-haired boy's face up on the mast, a faint unease stirred in his heart. With a cigar clenched between his teeth, he asked in a low voice, "Who are you?"

"Us!?"

As the words rang out, the two unexpected visitors jumped down from the mast as well, landing steadily on the deck, right in the middle of the navy soldiers and CP9's encirclement.

Then, of the two, the red-haired boy beamed with the warmth of a guest paying a visit, and loudly addressed everyone present.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ye Mu, captain of the God-Emperor Pirates. This is my younger brother Enel, vice-captain of the God-Emperor Pirates. We've only just set out to sea, so in the future, I hope all you navy gentlemen will take good care of us..."

"!!!"

"..."

Whether navy, CP9, or Celestial Dragon, everyone present looked at the two young men who had appeared before them as though they were staring at madmen.

Gasparde's expression grew even uglier.

"How bold. As expected, newborn calves really don't fear tigers. Do you know that you're provoking the navy right now?"

But the one who answered Gasparde was Enel, his voice tinged with irritation.

"This guy really annoys me, Ye Mu. Should I get rid of him?"

"!!!"

Gasparde froze instantly.

And just then, a voice that made everyone's hearts tremble rang out.

"Lowly wretches, you dare ignore this young master..."

"Get out of my way..."

Everyone instantly looked toward the direction of the voice, only to see the Celestial Dragon, his face ugly, ride his fish-man out from under the protection of the four CP9 agents. He pointed a pistol at the red-haired pirate who had suddenly appeared and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Bang...

A bullet shot out, but the red-haired boy did not move at all. Instead, the blond boy stretched out two fingers and clamped the bullet firmly between them.

"!!!"

The Celestial Dragon's pupils suddenly widened, and his expression grew even more furious.

"Damn wretch... You actually dare resist..."

He had just been about to pull the trigger and fire again when he suddenly saw the bullet pinched between the blond boy's fingers leap to life, sparking with lightning.

"Crackle, crackle..."

Bang...

A violent sonic boom erupted...

In that instant, whether it was the four members of CP9 responsible for protecting the Celestial Dragon or Gasparde, all their hearts clenched hard.

At that moment, everything in their world vanished. All that remained was that single strike, laced with thunder, transformed into a railgun blast as it shot toward the Celestial Dragon's forehead.

"Oh no..."

All five of them reached out their hands toward that strike, trying to block it.

But none of them could stop it...

Bang...

With a sound like shattering glass, a hole appeared in the glass dome over the Celestial Dragon's head. And where another hole appeared was the Celestial Dragon's forehead.

It all happened too fast. The Celestial Dragon did not seem to react at all, his face still wearing an expression of disbelief.

Only when fresh blood flowed down from the bloody hole in the Celestial Dragon's forehead did the world before his eyes turn completely dark. His fat body lost all its strength and slid off the fish-man, crashing onto the deck with a crisp, ringing sound that echoed in the hearts of everyone present.

Silence...

At that moment, the entire warship was silent...

There was not even the sound of anyone swallowing...

Everyone stared in disbelief at the dead man...

The Celestial Dragon was dead...

The Celestial Dragon had been killed...

Was it an illusion? Or had he gone mad?

Then the golden-haired youth who had done all this let out a rather lazy voice.

"So noisy... Hey, Ye Mu, there's no problem with me killing this guy, right?"

"Hahahaha, of course there's no problem. This was part of our plan to begin with. This is guidance from fate, hahahaha..."

On the entire warship, at that moment, only Ye Mu's crazed laughter remained.

"Ah..."

Only at that moment did everyone truly come back to their senses.

The Celestial Dragon really was dead.

For hundreds of years, the Celestial Dragons had been known as the descendants of the Creator, the nobles of the world, beings no one dared offend—and just like that, one had died.

Every Marine on the warship felt as if their sanity had been challenged in that instant.

Some were nearly deranged, some clutched their heads and wept bitterly, and some stood frozen on the spot...

Gasparde was not much better. His expression was filled with terror, while the other four CP9 members had gone deathly pale.

A Celestial Dragon was dead, and he had been killed right in front of them.

No matter the reason, they were absolutely done for...

In the end, Gasparde was the first to react. Through gritted teeth, his expression dark, he questioned the two insanely bold youths before him.

"Do you know what you've done...?"

"Hahahaha, of course. It's just one Celestial Dragon, isn't it..."

After saying that, his expression shifted slightly, becoming a little more serious as he said, "No need to make that face. Because next, there's something even more exciting... This warship of yours is escorting the Heavenly Tribute, right? If I take the Heavenly Tribute away, you shouldn't mind, should you...?"

East Blue, Loguetown...

Ever since Roger had been secretly escorted here by the Marines a week ago, in preparation for his public execution more than half a month later, Loguetown had been surrounded layer upon layer by the Marines.

To prevent any possible accidents, not only had Sengoku the Buddha, a Marine admiral, appeared here to personally oversee Loguetown...

The Marine hero Garp, Aokiji and Kizaru—two of the future three Marine admirals—as well as dozens of vice admirals were all here, to say nothing of the other Marines.

If not for the need to suppress the unrest in the New World, then Fleet Admiral Kong, Zephyr, and Akainu would probably have appeared here as well.

Aside from the Marines, there were also quite a few pirates hiding their identities here, preparing to watch One Piece's execution.

In addition, the World Government's spy organization and newspaper tycoons were also here, preparing to broadcast the entire process of One Piece's execution live.

It could be said that, at this moment, Loguetown had absolutely become the center of the entire One Piece world...