Krieg Pirates Attack

Krieg threw back his head and laughed wildly.

After all this time, he had finally caught the tail of the Dusk Pirates!

What East Blue's strongest pirates?

Had they even asked for the opinion of East Blue's overlord?!

As he watched the pirate ship draw closer and closer, a crazed blood-red gleam surged from Krieg's eyes.

"Notify every ship! Aim all cannons at the pirate ship ahead!"

"So what if your bounty is high?!"

"If you don't know what's good for you, I'll have you buried at the bottom of the sea!"

"This sea belongs to me, Krieg!"

Krieg let out a savage, maniacal laugh.

As an extremely narcissistic, arrogant pirate with little knowledge of the world...

In Krieg's eyes, fifty warships were the greatest force in the world!!!

Looking across the entire East Blue, no pirate crew could match his scale.

That was why his heart burned with jealous rage toward Kael, a pirate who had suddenly risen to prominence and whose bounty was even higher than his!

In fact.

If Kael truly only had the strength worthy of a 30 million Beli bounty, he really would have been no match for Krieg's fifty warships.

But today, Krieg was destined to pick the wrong opponent.

"Captain Kael, something seems wrong."

Kael had only just returned to the captain's cabin, and his seat had barely warmed beneath him.

Little Tiga suddenly appeared before him and reported.

"Hm? What is it this time?"

Kael, who had been planning to continue drawing prizes while riding the high of welcoming a new crewmate, looked up curiously.

Under his gaze, Little Tiga rapidly moved his hands. The power of the storm condensed at once, forming a three-dimensional flat model before Kael.

As a ship spirit who served as helmsman, lookout, messenger, and more, he had become increasingly professional by the day.

Using the model, Little Tiga continued:

"It's like this, Captain Kael..."

"Just now, several dozen warships suddenly appeared to our northwest and are closing in on us in a semicircle."

"If the Tiga continues sailing in its current direction, we'll soon enter this fleet's encirclement."

"How should we handle this?"

Little Tiga spread his hands, maintaining the model before him as he asked.

Through the model Little Tiga had created, Kael quickly understood the situation outside.

His brows immediately furrowed, and he let out a faint murmur.

"Several dozen warships?"

"Could Smoker have decided to go all out and contacted other Marine bases to surround and intercept the Tiga?"

The thought suddenly surfaced in Kael's mind, but he quickly dismissed it.

That didn't seem right.

Smoker wasn't that stupid.

He knew the Tiga's sailing speed far surpassed that of ordinary ships.

If he wanted to encircle them, it should have been a complete encirclement, not this half-circle.

Unless ambushes had been set from every direction, they could break free immediately just by changing course.

With a flash of thought, Kael asked Little Tiga:

"Can you make out what they look like? Are they Marine ships?"

"Probably not." Little Tiga shook his head.

After playing around with Marine warships for so many days, he could be certain of that much.

"Strange."

After muttering to himself, Kael could only put aside his capsule-drawing time again and head for the deck.

To be safe, he also had Little Tiga bring Tashigi and Morgan back.

Training was out of the question.

Facing fifty warships alone,

Kael really did not have much confidence.

But with Tashigi, whose combat power was close to 30,000, and Morgan, whose combat power was 18,000...

They could at least ensure the Tiga's safety to the greatest extent possible.

Though they had never fought in earnest, Kael guessed that Tashigi could now contend with pirates worth over a hundred million Beli.

With Kido's versatility, she might even be able to suppress them outright.

As for Morgan, although his level was biting at Tashigi's heels, with only an 8,000 experience gap and two levels between them,

his C-rank character panel and lack of a weapon still left his combat power far behind hers.

He probably had strength comparable to pirates with bounties of sixty to seventy million Beli.

With these two powerhouses protecting him,

where in the East Blue could Kael not go!?

With Little Tiga's teleportation, all the members of the Dusk Pirates quickly gathered on the deck once more.

"What's happening!?"

Nami, who had just joined the pirate crew, looked around blankly.

At that moment, dense clusters of warships could already be seen in the distant waters. Their imposing formation blocked the Tiga's path forward.

A massive warship began to emerge from the fleet and approach the Tiga.

"That's... a ship from the Krieg Pirates!"

Seeing the flag flying across from them, Tashigi immediately pushed up her glasses with two fingers and stepped to Kael's side.

Without waiting for Kael to speak, a vast spiritual pressure spread out, forming a protective barrier over the Tiga.

After doing all that, Tashigi asked Kael:

"They come with hostile intent."

"Do you need me to deal with them, Captain Kael?"

Her sharp Zanpakutō instantly left its sheath, and surging spiritual power wrapped around Tashigi's body.

It seemed that with a single command from Kael, she would immediately attack the distant fleet.

"No rush."

Kael grinned as he watched the warship continuously draw closer.

"Let's see what they want first."

After Tashigi's reminder, he had remembered who they were.

The Krieg Pirates—the East Blue Admiral, the East Blue overlord with five thousand pirates under his command!

Judging by the size of this fleet today, they had likely come out in full force!

And upon seeing the Krieg Pirates, a figure immediately appeared in Kael's mind...

A peerless powerhouse who was not part of the martial world, yet whose legends spread throughout it...

Rumor had it that this man possessed countless identities. He could be an unseen Shichibukai, or the vice-captain of one of the Four Emperors' pirate crews.

Even the future Marine Admirals, the Clan of D, the ancient weapon Uranus, and even Imu seated upon the throne all bore traces of his existence.

This man was the most mysterious man in the pirate world—Gin!

Of course, putting aside all those ridiculous memes...

Gin was also one of the useful people Kael wanted to recruit.

Yakumo Omori's character card had shown that the system did not only contain cards of protagonist-group characters.

Villainous characters from various anime were also in the capsule machine's prize pool.

So his ship also needed some ruthless villainous characters, serving as reserves for future villain character templates.

And for Kael, Gin happened to be easy to recruit!

Before long, the massive warship had sailed to a spot not far from the Tiga.

Even after evolving once, the Tiga was like a child who had just graduated kindergarten in front of the Krieg Pirates' warship.

A figure clad head to toe in golden armor appeared at the bow of the massive warship, looking down upon the Tiga from above.

"You're the Dusk Pirates!?"

Krieg curled his mouth into a vicious grin. Holding an enormous battle lance, he looked overwhelmingly imposing, as though he did not take Kael and the others seriously at all.

However, in the next second, a sight that made the Krieg Pirates cry out in shock appeared.

A wisp of cyan wind suddenly arose around Kael on the Tiga.

Carried by the wind, he quickly rose to the same height as Krieg.

"Hm?"

Krieg's gloomy pupils suddenly trembled. Surprise appeared on his face as he watched Kael lifted by the whirlwind.

As the East Blue Admiral, he naturally knew of Devil Fruits, and his brows immediately drew together.

"No wonder he has a 30 million Beli bounty. So he relies on a Fruit ability?"

For a moment, Kael's intimidation factor in Krieg's heart rose by a level.

But that was all!

Yet after rising into the air, Kael was the first to sweep his gaze toward Krieg's side.

He quickly spotted Gin among the crowd.

After silently nodding, he immediately focused his gaze on Krieg and said solemnly:

"Krieg Pirates, you've blocked our path..."

"Are you planning to go to war with Dusk?!"

"Go to war!?"

Krieg revealed a domineering, arrogant smile and stared at Kael.

"Is that something you should be saying, brat?!"

The massive battle lance shook violently, letting out a heavy clang.

Its spearhead pointed directly at Kael.

Sunlight fell across Krieg's golden armor, making it shine brilliantly!

At that moment, he was the emperor of pirates!

Krieg spoke proudly. "Brat! I'll give you two choices..."

"Either submit to me and join my pirate crew!"

"Or sink completely into the sea beneath this fleet's cannon fire!!!"

"Hahahaha..."

As his words fell, Krieg seemed to have already envisioned another Fruit user aboard his ship!

No one could refuse him beneath the muzzles of fifty warships!

Yet in the face of Krieg's naked threat, Kael, standing in the wind, seemed not to have heard him and fell silent.

"..."

Why did this guy's way of inviting people sound exactly like his own?

Was I usually this punchable too?

Kael suddenly sank into thought.

But in the next second, he abruptly spoke.

"So, those warships behind you are what you rely on?"

As his words fell, he suddenly cast his gaze toward the more distant fleet.

The wind beneath his feet swept up, lifting him even higher.

Under the confused gazes of the Krieg Pirates, Kael suddenly stepped back and assumed a punching stance.

"Finisher—Serious Punch!"