Justice and Evil

Sabaody Archipelago, Island 79, Hotel Street.

Under the cover of night and beneath the dazzling lights, pedestrians on the street moved to either side, fell to their knees, and lowered their heads.

At the very center of the street, a group of people strolled along at an unhurried pace. At their head was a fat young man dressed in a white coat resembling a spacesuit, with a square helmet over his head and a tall rectangular topknot. What he rode beneath him was neither a horse nor an ox... but a burly human man!

The male slave beneath Saint Charlos wore a slave collar around his neck. His eyes were filled with numbness and despair as he mechanically crawled across the ground on all fours.

He had once been Captain Aida Arthur of the Aida Pirates, with a bounty of 60 million Belly. After being captured by the Marines, he had been sentenced to lifelong slavery because his crimes had only involved plunder and he had committed no other especially serious offenses. After changing hands several times, he became the slave of a Celestial Dragon.

Two people in white suits and masks followed behind them.

Waaahhh—!

The silence of the street was suddenly broken by the loud wailing of a baby.

Saint Charlos frowned and looked toward the sound. He discovered that it came from an infant still wrapped in swaddling clothes, cradled in the arms of a young woman and crying incessantly.

The sudden turn of events terrified the woman. She hurriedly covered the baby's mouth, her entire body trembling.

"Too noisy!"

Saint Charlos snorted coldly, drew the pistol from his person, and pulled the trigger.

The shot missed. It did not strike the baby in the woman's arms, but instead pierced through her forehead, sending her collapsing to the ground.

On the fourth floor of an upscale restaurant, inside a private room.

Smoker, who was seated by the window with Sephiroth, sprang to his feet the moment he witnessed this scene. He was about to rush out the window and kill the Celestial Dragon who had fired the shot.

However...

Sephiroth beside Smoker suddenly lunged, tackling him to the ground and pinning the back of his neck firmly with his right hand.

Smoker instinctively transformed into smoke, wanting to break free, but he found that he could not escape no matter what he did...

"What are you trying to do? Don't act rashly!"

Sephiroth hurriedly barked out a warning. In his agitation, he failed to notice that the Armament Haki he had been studying for so long had awakened by accident and been used by him.

Smoker's eyes bulged with fury, and his voice was filled with rage as he gritted his teeth.

"I'll kill that bastard!!!"

"Calm down! If you do that, you'll only be throwing your life away..."

Before Sephiroth could finish speaking, two more gunshots rang out from outside the window.

Bang! Bang!

After the shots, the baby's cries vanished, and the entire world fell silent.

Pinned to the floor, Smoker clenched his fists and opened his eyes wide. The fury in his heart was like a volcano spewing magma, and he wanted to beat that hateful Celestial Dragon to death with his bare hands.

The atmosphere in the private room became extremely oppressive. The others were not as impulsive as Smoker, but they too instinctively clenched their fists, desperately suppressing the anger in their hearts.

"Why did you stop me from killing that bastard..." Smoker demanded furiously.

Sephiroth forcibly suppressed the inexplicable irritation rising within him and spoke in a calm, almost cold tone.

"You would have gone there only to die. Did you see those two guys in white suits following behind him?

They are CP0, the Celestial Dragons' strongest shield, the organization responsible for protecting their safety.

Almost every one of them is an expert, at the very least comparable to a commodore.

Before you could even get close to that Celestial Dragon, they would have killed you in an instant."

Sephiroth's words finally calmed Smoker, and he stopped struggling.

Sephiroth released Smoker and continued in an even tone.

"This world is inherently that cruel... The Celestial Dragons stand above all others and possess supreme power...

Even the Fleet Admiral or a Marine Admiral cannot offend them.

You need to learn to face reality and do what you can, instead of acting recklessly on a burst of hot blood..."

Those words were a warning not only to Smoker, but also to himself.

At present, he had no background and no influence. His strength was not considered top-tier in this world, so he could not act rashly. He needed to think things through before acting.

If he wanted to meddle in injustice, he first had to weigh his own circumstances...

Smoker rose from the ground with a despondent expression. He glanced through the window at the woman lying motionless in the street and the baby who would never cry again.

He brushed the dust from himself, returned to his chair, took out a cigar, and lit it between his lips. He drew deeply, held it in for a long time, then finally coughed out the smoke.

Perhaps the smoke had choked him. Smoker's eyes were red, tears glimmering in their corners as he spoke in a hoarse voice.

"Sephiroth... Aren't the Marines supposed to uphold justice?

Was that Celestial Dragon just now justice?

Or were that woman and baby evil?"

His questions plunged everyone in the private room into silence.

At that moment, their hearts were filled with mixed emotions—anger, sorrow, doubt, and more. Even their faith in the Marines' so-called justice began to waver.

"Justice and evil are things only the victors are qualified to decide...

The Celestial Dragons founded the World Government eight hundred years ago. It is the largest and most powerful organization in the world, so they have the right to decide everything—to determine what is justice and what is evil."

Sephiroth's expression remained indifferent as he picked up his spoon and drank his soup one spoonful at a time. Yet something called ambition had begun to take root in his heart.

In this turbulent era where heroes rose from every corner, if the World Government could no longer maintain its rule, then the status and authority of the Celestial Dragons would shatter in an instant like an illusionary bubble.

Before this, apart from revenge, Sephiroth had been lost about his future. He merely wanted to live freely and make his life wonderful and comfortable.

Whether he became a Marine or a pirate did not matter. Following his heart was enough.

But after experiencing this incident, his thirst for strength and influence reached an unprecedented height!

If he wanted to live freely, then without absolute strength and power, it would be nothing but a delusion. The Marines were ultimately just a tool in the World Government's hands. He needed a force that belonged solely to himself...

Everyone ate the rest of the meal in silence, each preoccupied with their own thoughts.

After dinner, at Tokikake's suggestion, they checked into a hot spring hotel. Sephiroth, however, bid everyone farewell for the time being under the pretext of having other matters to attend to, then headed for Island 20, the closest island to Island 79.

He planned to visit the Lawless Zone on Islands 20 through 29 and ask around about the whereabouts of the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia.

The Devil Fruit Encyclopedia was not an especially rare book, but neither was it common. At the very least, he had found no trace of it in Water 7 or the town of Marineford.

The Sabaody Archipelago was where pirates from the Four Blues gathered. Having sailed halfway through the Grand Line, they should have encountered Devil Fruits more or less. It was impossible for them not to be curious about these treasures of the sea.

Where there was demand, there was a market. Devil Fruits themselves flowed in and out of the Sabaody Archipelago, so how could there possibly be no Devil Fruit Encyclopedia?