Four Vice Admirals Assemble

At the end of January, Sea Circle Calendar 1539, the depths of winter in the West Blue carried a bone-piercing chill. The salty sea wind swept up fine shards of ice, and even the waves crashing against the surface exuded a cold, murderous bleakness.

The morning mist had yet to disperse when three massive ship silhouettes appeared on the horizon.

Three Marine Headquarters warships cut through the rolling waves. Their black armored hulls gleamed coldly beneath the morning light, while the coverings on hundreds of cannons along both sides were thrown back in unison. The Marine justice flags and command flags hanging above them whipped madly in the howling winter wind.

Gion's personal vice admiral flag flew from the bow of the lead flagship, while the accompanying vessels on either side bore the flags of Onigumo and Hōshō. The three enormous warships advanced in a triangular formation, every inch of them radiating the oppressive presence of Marine Headquarters' elite.

In less than half an hour, the fleet reached the designated rendezvous waters of Marine Branch 74 and joined Momonga's two warships, which had already been waiting there.

The five Marine Headquarters warships lined up across the sea, their cannon muzzles bristling like five steel behemoths lying in wait upon the waves. In an instant, even the scattered fishing boats once passing through these already chaotic West Blue waters vanished without a trace.

Inside the flagship's bridge war room, Vice Admiral Momonga gave a standard military salute to the three who had just come aboard, his face unable to conceal its gravity. "Commander Gion, Vice Admiral Onigumo, Vice Admiral Hōshō, you're here."

Gion returned the salute with a slight nod, her gaze sweeping over the West Blue sea chart spread across the wall of the war room. It was densely marked in red with the coordinates of missing ships, the patrol units' alert zones, and the Misty Archipelago, heavily circled and labeled "Unknown Faction Core Area."

Her fingertips lightly brushed Kimpira, the famed blade at her waist, as she asked, "Has there been any new intelligence over the past half month?"

"There has, but not much." Momonga shook his head and handed over a stack of freshly organized reconnaissance reports.

"Their patrols cruise within thirty nautical miles of the core area every day. Each deployment consists of fifteen men. Even the weakest among them possess the combat strength of elite Marine Headquarters colonels, and every patrol leader has rear admiral-level strength.

"Their senses are exceptionally sharp. Any reconnaissance boat we send out is discovered the moment it gets within thirty nautical miles of the core area. We simply cannot determine the exact location of their base. All we know is that it is hidden in the deepest part of the Misty Archipelago."

He paused, then added the detail that troubled him most. "And their strange abilities far exceed our estimates. I personally saw their patrolmen predict the trajectory of cannonballs with the naked eye from hundreds of meters away. With a casual motion, they could raise walls of water and completely wreck a patrol boat's engine, leaving it unable even to send out a distress signal. Over the past half month, we've already lost three reconnaissance boats and six elite Marines."

Onigumo glanced over the report. His hoarse voice carried undisguised brutality, and one hand had already settled on the sword at his waist. "If we can't pin down their location, then we'll bring the fleet in and crush them directly. One round of concentrated fire will flatten those islands. I'd like to see how long those sneaking bastards can keep hiding."

"No." Hōshō held a cigar between his teeth, exhaled a plume of gray-white smoke, and shook his head. "They can freely control seawater. If our fleet rashly enters unfamiliar waters covered in mist, we'd be handing them our weakness on a platter.

"Once they trap our ships with seawater, the cannons will be useless. We'll only repeat what happened to the previous patrol vessels."

Gion nodded, her eyes settling on the core area marked by the red circle on the chart. Her voice was calm, carrying unquestionable resolve. "Hōshō is right.

"Don't rush into action. The fleet will remain on standby and expand the reconnaissance range. First, determine their base's defenses, patrol patterns, and overall combat strength. Without my orders, no one is permitted to enter the enemy's thirty-nautical-mile alert zone on their own."

She understood all too well how weighty this mission was. A completely unknown mysterious force with terrifying combat density and the means to counter ability users could inflict a devastating price if they made even the slightest mistake.

Sixty nautical miles from the Marine fleet stood an uninhabited barren island covered in jagged reefs.

Ace leaned against a shaded crack between the rocks. The wide brim of his cowboy hat was pulled low, hiding his expression and leaving only his tightly drawn jaw exposed.

He held half a roasted sea beast steak in his hand, but had no appetite for it. His Observation Haki had long since spread out like an invisible net, covering the waters for dozens of nautical miles around him.

He had pursued Blackbeard Teach for more than half a year, from the Grand Line to the New World, then back from the New World to the West Blue. He had finally caught Teach's trail and followed it to these waters, only to encounter the Marines' massive deployment first—as well as the dense, unfamiliar, and powerful presences within the Misty Archipelago.

Every one of those presences was concentrated and substantial, carrying the killing aura of battle-hardened veterans. Even the weakest was no less formidable than those West Blue pirates with bounties in the tens of millions. More than a dozen of them could even contend with ordinary division commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates.

What concerned him even more was that none of those presences carried even the slightest trace of Teach, nor did they resemble any pirates, Marines, or underworld forces he had encountered before.

Ace raised his eyes toward the islands shrouded in thin mist. Orange flames flickered unconsciously at his fingertips.

Of course, he had not forgotten the purpose of this journey—to capture Teach, the man who had killed his comrade, bring him back to the Moby Dick, and let Pops pass judgment on him.

But now, the Marines had dispatched a massive fleet led by a candidate admiral, while a group of mysterious powerhouses had suddenly emerged in these waters. This had clearly gone beyond a simple pirate hunt.

What was more, he could clearly sense that Teach was hiding somewhere in a corner of these surrounding waters, like a hyena lurking in the dark and waiting to reap the benefits.

Ace tugged down the brim of his hat. With a flash, he silently disappeared into the deeper shadows of the reefs.

He had no intention of acting rashly. He would first see what these mysterious people who had suddenly appeared were really after—and wait for Teach to expose himself.

Farther away, in a sheltered bay completely concealed by reefs and dense fog, the Blackbeard Pirates' ship sat quietly on the water. Its sails were lowered, and even its lights had been completely extinguished. Like a reef merged into the darkness, it leaked not the slightest trace of its presence.

Teach sprawled across an animal hide at the bow, holding a high-powered telescope as he stared fixedly toward the gathering Marine fleet. Looking at those five massive Marine Headquarters warships, he suddenly burst into a deafening "Zehahahaha!" that made the surrounding reefs seem to tremble faintly.