Who Dared Talk of Justice Beneath the Cannons

"Fire!"

Colonel Hawk's roar from the Den Den Mushi crashed across the entire dock.

Three gun emplacements shook at once as the gunners pressed down the firing levers.

Qi Hai spun around and shoved the nearest child toward the cabin.

"Everyone below deck! Marines, form a shield wall and protect the cabin entrance!"

Lorne grabbed Alan by the shoulder.

"Get the children out of here!"

"The ship's still under their guns. Where can we go?"

Alan picked up the smallest child as the muffled grinding of the gun emplacement gears echoed through the deck beneath his feet.

The first cannon ignited!

Boom!

Su Hang rushed out from behind the canvas tarp, grabbed the main mast rigging with his right hand, and wound the thick rope twice around his waist.

Lorne abruptly looked up.

"If you go out now, everyone will see you!"

"Then let them see clearly."

Su Hang stepped onto the railing, his rubber legs compressing to their limit.

The rigging went taut, pulling the main mast forward into a bend.

The next instant, his feet released!

Bang!

Two planks exploded from the deck as Su Hang used the rebound to vault over the harbor waters.

A cannonball streaked past beneath his feet. Its scorching wake whipped up the hem of his clothes before it slammed toward the stern of the grain ship.

Mia cried out.

"Su Hang!"

In midair, Su Hang's right arm shot outward, his fingers clamping onto the turning wheel of the first gun emplacement.

A gunner drew his blade and slashed at him, but Su Hang used the force of his falling body to yank hard.

Crack!

Two wooden teeth snapped off the turning wheel, and the heavy cannon barrel shifted several feet sideways.

The cannonball veered away from the grain ship and blasted through the empty Warehouse No. 3 on the eastern side.

Bricks and wooden beams collapsed inward, but the flames did not harm a single person.

Qi Hai pressed down the brim of his hat.

"He heard me say beforehand that Warehouse No. 3 had already been emptied."

The adjutant stared at the rising smoke.

"Major, who exactly is that guy?"

"Someone the Marines are hunting."

The second gun emplacement had already ignited.

Su Hang swung above the first emplacement, hooked his left foot around the railing, and lashed out with his right arm again.

His palm crossed more than ten meters and wrapped around the muzzle of the second cannon.

The gunners staggered back in shock.

"A Devil Fruit user! Cut off his hand!"

Three sabers came down at once.

Su Hang's arm snapped back, sending his entire body flying sideways.

The blades cut through empty air, but the second cannon was pulled upward.

Boom!

The iron ball sailed over the grain ship's main mast, tore through a patch of clouds high above, and fell into the open sea.

The gunners at the third emplacement went pale, yet they still gritted their teeth and pressed the firing lever.

"The colonel's orders! Sink them!"

"Even those wearing the cloak of justice need to move their cannons away from children first."

Su Hang landed atop the gun emplacement, his foot pressing against its brick edge.

Both arms stretched out at once. One hand wrapped around the cannon barrel, while the other gripped a stone pillar behind him.

His body pulled taut in a straight line.

"Turn!"

The bricks cracked as the cannon mount was forcibly dragged off course.

The third cannonball blasted into the ruins of the empty warehouse, completely blowing away the roof that had just collapsed.

All three cannons had fired.

Yet the grain ship remained afloat.

The merchants, sailors, and dockworkers watching from around the harbor all froze in place.

Someone recognized where Su Hang had been hiding earlier and immediately backed away several steps.

"He was on the ship the whole time!"

"That's a Devil Fruit ability!"

"Was Colonel Hawk trying to kill the Devil Fruit user, or those children?"

Hawk stood on the second floor of the branch fortress and raised a hand, smashing the window frame.

"Seal off the entire harbor! That black-haired brat colluded with Fish-Man pirates and attacked Marine gun emplacements. Kill him on sight!"

Qi Hai drew the sidearm from his adjutant's hand, but pointed it at the signal tower.

"First squad, with me. Take the signal tower and cut off the cannon orders!"

The adjutant froze for a moment.

"Major, you've already been disarmed."

"That was for the investigation."

Qi Hai stepped onto the gangplank.

"Before the investigation is complete, I'm still the highest-ranking field commander at the rear dock. Anyone willing to keep protecting civilians, follow me!"

Twelve Marines hesitated no longer and charged off the grain ship.

The signal tower guards raised their guns to stop them.

"Orders from the branch commander: Qi Hai is to be treated as a rebel!"

"Tell Hawk to send over a written military order."

Qi Hai sidestepped the gun barrel, drove his elbow into the guard's throat, and seized the gun with a backhanded motion.

Just as the second guard was about to ring the bell, the adjutant pounced on him and pinned him beside the control console.

Qi Hai raised his blade and cut the flag rope.

Whoosh!

The red flag representing a coordinated barrage dropped from the top of the tower.

"Cut the Den Den Mushi lines and remove every signal flare. Without my command, no gun emplacement is to fire!"

A commotion broke out among the Marines at the gun emplacements.

Some continued loading ammunition, while others set down their cleaning rods and looked toward the grain ship's cabin entrance.

Twelve children were watching them through the gaps in the windows. The smallest did not even dare make a sound as she cried.

Hawk grabbed the Den Den Mushi again.

"Switch to Seastone Scattershot! Blow apart every roof around the gun emplacements. Let's see where he can hide!"

The gunners opened iron crates.

Each cannonball was fitted with dark gray metal rings, while the shells themselves were packed with Seastone fragments.

Su Hang's expression darkened.

Qi Hai shouted from the signal tower.

"Seastone Scattershot! Don't touch the fragments!"

"Got it."

Su Hang leaped down from the gun emplacement.

The first Seastone shell exploded above the rooftops.

Hundreds of gray fragments pierced through roof tiles, sealing off every route through the air.

A fragment grazed Su Hang's right arm.

His strength vanished instantly.

His stretched arm slammed heavily onto the roof. With his body losing support, Su Hang rolled down the sloped tiles toward the street.

He drew the short blade from behind his waist and cut away the sleeve contaminated with Seastone powder.

A trace of strength returned to his arm. His fingers seized a drainage gutter, barely stopping his body at the edge of the eaves.

The second rain of shells covered the area immediately afterward.

Su Hang did not launch himself again.

He released his grip and dropped directly into the narrow alley between two warehouses.

Seastone fragments punched through the eaves above him, passing less than half a foot from the back of his neck.

Hawk saw this and immediately laughed.

"Devil Fruit users fear Seastone too! Keep firing! Blow this entire street flat!"

Lorne's voice suddenly sounded from the harbor's broadcast Den Den Mushi.

"Take a look at the notice board first."

More than a dozen sailors from the Morning Bell Caravan scattered throughout the harbor, posting copied military supply lists, shipping manifests, and twelve crate numbers on the notice boards.

Every sheet bore the blue seal of the 16th Branch.

Lorne raised the original list.

"Merchants of Graystone Port all recognize Blue Shell Powder Seal Paste. Anyone who thinks these are forged can come inspect them personally."

Hawk's expression changed drastically.

"Tear them down! Tear them all down!"

Harbor guards rushed toward the notice boards, but several local merchants stepped in front of them first.

"I delivered three batches of medicine last year. The military supply warehouse used these same numbers."

"My ship was detained before because they said Warehouse No. 3 had no room. Now it seems the warehouse wasn't holding military rations at all!"

"Colonel Hawk, you used Marine money to buy children?"

Hawk gripped the window frame tightly.

"They're all forgeries! Lorne is colluding with pirates. Anyone who speaks for him is an accomplice!"

Lorne handed the original documents to two merchants who did not know each other.

"Make a copy each and send them to different islands. Whoever dares burn the notice boards today, every commercial port in East Blue will see these numbers tomorrow."

Qi Hai had already taken control of the signal tower.

He turned the broadcast Den Den Mushi toward the branch fortress.

"Hawk, stop the bombardment, hand over the keys to the military supply warehouse, and submit to investigation."

"You think you've won just because you took the signal tower?"

Hawk pulled down a red lever beside the wall.

On the western side of the harbor, a row of ignition lamps suddenly lit up along the warehouse's outer wall.

The sound of gears meshing rose from underground, while the pungent smell of gunpowder poured from the vents.

Alan's expression abruptly changed.

"There's the scent of imprisoned people down there!"

One of the children who had escaped the workshop recognized the warehouse doors as well.

"They send everyone who doesn't obey in there. Once they go in, no one ever comes back."

Hawk pushed open the window, holding a lit torch in his hand.

"The ledgers, the witnesses, the laborers—they're all beneath the western warehouse. Su Hang, don't you like saving people?"

He pressed the torch toward the fuse and bared his teeth in a vicious laugh at the rooftop below.

"There are still people in the warehouse. If you dare stop me, I'll burn them along with the ledgers!"