Everyone Armed, Everyone Equal

"What kind of joke is this?!"

Smoker slammed today's East Blue Morning News onto his desk, his face showing both fury and inexplicable guilt.

The newspaper that had been thrown onto the desk slowly spread open, revealing today's front-page headline.

[The Hero of the East Blue—Marine Colonel Smoker!]

Huge bold print, along with several accompanying photos of Smoker capturing pirates in Loguetown, leapt off the page, declaring who the true protagonist was!

"Damn it! How did things turn out like this?!"

Smoker rose and walked to the window, shoving it open. The smoke in the room instantly seemed to find an outlet, surging wildly outside.

Outside the window.

With the help of countless civilians, the reconstruction of the port had already reached its final stage.

Other than the stone gate, which had to be custom-made at a factory on another island, all the gun emplacements had been repaired.

Even the cannonballs and bullets Kael had taken were replenished.

In just a few days, he would be able to turn in his assignment, leave the G-153 Branch, and continue pursuing the Dusk Pirates.

But of all times...

He had received a new order from his superiors at Headquarters, demanding that he properly play the role of the Hero of the East Blue.

Smoker had been utterly baffled by the order.

Until...

He saw today's newspaper!!!

The paper actually claimed that he had uncovered Morgan's abnormalities and launched a pursuit, forcing Morgan to flee out to sea and become a pirate.

That was complete nonsense!

What was even worse...

The report had dug up all the pirates he had captured in Loguetown over this period and reported on them again.

It was as though they wanted to turn him into the strongest Marine warrior in the East Blue in one stroke.

Even the previous report about Kael threatening him and kidnapping Tashigi had begun circulating again.

His dereliction of duty had been whitewashed into the tale of a conscientious officer who, even with criminals' guns aimed at him, feared no sacrifice and cared only about saving his subordinate.

To be honest.

It wasn't as if he lacked the resolve to fight evil to the end, even at the cost of his life...

But if people praised his justice merely to help certain people achieve some purpose...

It only made him feel utterly sick!

Smoker leaned against the edge of the windowsill and took a deep drag on his cigar, his gaze complicated.

At the same time.

At the port of Ville Town in the East Blue.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Mayor!"

"The pleasure is mine! Thank you, Lord Kael!"

A young hand and an aged hand clasped together.

As if marking the beginning of an era!

At that moment, Kael and Ville Town's mayor both wore radiant smiles.

Behind them, Coby and Morgan continuously carried box after box from the Tiga into a warehouse at the port.

Tashigi, whose hair had grown out a little, guarded several money bags as she counted the cash.

After leaving the G-153 Branch, Kael had first wandered around the sea for a while, testing the evolved Tiga's capabilities.

He had to admit.

When you spent money, it really felt different!

After reaching Level 2, not only had the Tiga's hull become much more impressive, its sailing speed had also inexplicably increased significantly.

And as the Tiga leveled up, the ship spirit Little Tiga had improved as well.

He could now freely create storms within a hundred-meter radius around the ship.

Ordinary ships could barely even get close to them!

The storms' power had also been greatly enhanced.

They could easily whip up massive waves more than ten meters high!

This was an epic upgrade for Little Tiga!

Before long, the flying pirate ship Kael had been looking forward to would surely make its grand appearance!

After testing the Tiga's performance, Kael and the others hurried straight to Ville Town to complete the deal Kael had previously arranged with the mayor.

And this was precisely the way Kael had come up with to make a fortune!

They would raid Marine bases and pirates, then sell all kinds of weapons and ammunition at extremely low prices to East Blue civilians who needed them.

On one hand, they could obtain huge amounts of Beli without paying anything.

On the other, they could arm the people of the East Blue and give their lives some security.

This... this was called...

Everyone armed! Everyone equal!

This time, Kael and the others had swept away nearly half the cannonballs and bullets from the G-153 Branch, along with a large number of firearms and cannons.

Even at half the market price, they could still sell them for over a hundred million Beli!

In Ville Town alone, their sales had reached a full 20 million Beli!

Although this had nearly emptied all of Ville Town's Beli reserves...

Those funds would just be stolen by pirates eventually anyway. It was better to use them to buy weapons to fight pirates.

If another pirate crew dared attack Ville Town, they could just go head-to-head with them!

They would see who was tougher!

"It's getting late, so we'll be leaving first. If you need more weapons or ammunition, you can contact me anytime."

"Certainly! Certainly!"

Once the money and goods had been exchanged, Kael smiled brightly and reached out to bid the mayor farewell.

He had just learned from Ville Town's mayor about many islands in circumstances similar to Ville Town's.

Next, they would expand their map of the East Blue while selling the weapons and ammunition in their hold to every East Blue civilian who needed them!

Gun in hand! The world is mine!

As for the side mission Fleet Admiral Sengoku had left Kael...

There was no rush for that.

It wasn't like Devil Fruits could grow legs and run away.

Besides, if Sengoku issued the mission and Kael completed it immediately, wouldn't that make the Marines in the East Blue look like a bunch of useless trash?

Fleet Admiral Sengoku might become suspicious.

Rather than that, it was better to quickly establish the Dusk Pirates' commercial empire in the East Blue!

Money was power!!!

As long as they had enough money, they would soon become invincible in the world!

And so, after being wildly busy for quite some time, the Tiga suddenly became peaceful.

Now that the training room was larger and its facilities more advanced, even if all four members of the Dusk Pirates trained inside at once, they would not disturb each other in the slightest.

Kael still relentlessly worked on his Armament Haki, while Coby continued basic physical training.

Tashigi and Morgan, meanwhile, trained Observation Haki and the Six Powers' Iron Body respectively.

What they trained did not really matter, though.

With their character templates, their main purpose was the 1,200 experience points they gained each day!

Now, each of them had their own goal.

Everyone had a bright future.

However...

Although the Tiga had entered a peaceful state of hiding away.

The Dusk Pirates' brief appearance had still brought an enormous impact upon the entire East Blue!

Somewhere in the East Blue.

On a gigantic pirate ship that looked like a small island.

Krieg, clad in golden armor, looked over the East Blue pirate directory his subordinates had compiled and could not help frowning.

"What's going on? Other than that fish-man Arlong, when did another Dusk Pirates crew appear in the East Blue?!"

Krieg was furious!

They were clearly the strongest pirate crew in the East Blue, and he himself was known as the "Overlord of the East Blue."

Yet in the Marines' bounty notices, his bounty was only a measly 17 million Beli!

Arlong's 20 million Beli bounty was one thing!

After all, they were a race of monsters with innate advantages when fighting at sea!

But when...

Had a pirate with a bounty as high as 30 million Beli appeared in the East Blue?!

This was intolerable!

It was a blatant insult to his status as the Overlord of the East Blue!

Krieg clenched the bounty poster until it crumpled, as if he wanted to crush Kael in the photograph to death through sheer force.

"Pass down my orders!"

Suddenly, he roared at the pirates beside him:

"Use all our forces in the East Blue and find the location of these Dusk Pirates for me!"

"The East Blue doesn't need two overlords!!!"