Fufufufu

Noki surveyed the pirate ships and found that although they had many vessels, most were small sailing ships. Even the occasional large sailing ship had extremely weak firepower.

On the Navy's side, there were only four ships, but three of them were large warships built by Marine Headquarters, with formidable firepower.

The government ship carrying the World Noble was even larger than a warship, like a fortress at sea.

In a long-range battle, they clearly held an absolute advantage.

Therefore, before determining the enemy's true strength, Noki believed it was best to keep their distance and exploit their artillery advantage.

Noki immediately gave the order. "Ain, quickly notify the other two warships and the ship carrying the World Noble. Tell them not to spare the shells and do everything they can to disrupt the enemy ships' advance."

"Got it!"

Ain immediately carried out the order.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Cannon fire streaked across the sea as smoke billowed everywhere.

All kinds of pirate ships surrounded the Navy's ironclad defensive formation, launching wave after wave of assaults, yet failing to break through.

"A bunch of trash!"

A burly man standing five meters tall, carrying a long-handled saber on his back and sporting a face full of beard, raised his thick right arm and slammed it heavily against the ship's railing.

"With so many of you, you can't even take down a few warships. Looks like I have to do it myself."

This man was Carl Barvatis, known as Heavy Sword, with a bounty as high as 250 million Berries.

On the other two ships,

there was a short, fat man with a beer belly, and a tall, thin, one-eyed woman with long hair.

When they saw Barvatis standing at the bow, swinging the great saber from his back to slash apart cannonballs one after another and lead the pirate ships closer to the World Noble, they refused to be outdone and brought out their full strength.

Just like that, the three pirate ships charged toward the three warships from three separate directions.

Noki had been waiting for the enemy to draw close. She bent her legs, sprang from the deck, and leaped onto a pirate ship.

When Barvatis saw a beautiful young woman appear before him, he rested his saber on his shoulder. Contempt rose in his heart as he curled his lip and sneered. "Hey, useless Marine. Your figure's pitifully lacking, but your face is really not bad. How about it? If you surrender and obediently become my woman, I'll spare your life."

Noki's eyes were deep, and the bone-piercing chill within them made the pirates present shudder.

Barvatis alone was not frightened. Instead, he grew excited. "I like feisty bitches like you. Come on, let me slowly teach you some obedience!"

Noki did not answer. Golden Scale left her waist in a flash, and she opened with a full-power slash. It was as fast as a bullet leaving the barrel, and the several-yard-tall golden sword energy carried a chill that seemed to come from the underworld.

Pirates with bounties over 200 million were no pushovers. Every one of them possessed formidable strength.

Barvatis excelled at using a blade. Despite his enormous frame, he possessed flexibility beyond ordinary people. Tempered and honed in the New World, he had also mastered both Armament Haki and Observation Haki. He was an exceptionally dangerous pirate.

Barvatis was startled and hurriedly raised his saber to block. Yet the immense force from his opponent made his arm tremble involuntarily.

Clang!

After Noki finished the first slash, her move had not yet run its course. She flicked her wrist upward, shifted her technique again, and immediately followed with another slash.

Blade after blade collided, sending sparks flying in every direction.

Two utterly different waves of sword energy shot out to either side, leaving deep gashes behind.

"Excellent swordsmanship!"

Barvatis no longer dared underestimate her and used all his skill to defend himself.

After Garp's devilish training, Noki had improved in more than just her fist techniques. Her entire physical prowess had grown vastly more refined. Already known for her speed, she had now become even faster by several degrees. (In battle, don't overthink it.)

In less than the blink of an eye, Noki flashed behind Barvatis, raised Golden Scale high, and slashed down!

Barvatis was a tough man. He gritted his teeth and withstood the blow, then turned and swung another heavy slash with his backhand.

The slash was incomparably tyrannical, carrying gusts of fierce wind.

The pirates watching were horrified. If they had been struck by it, their heads would have long since been separated from their bodies.

Yet Noki remained calm. She casually raised her blade with one arm to block it, then clenched her other hand into a fist, coated it in Haki, and blasted it into his abdomen.

Pfft!

Barvatis's face twisted into a terrifying grimace, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. "Bastard, take another slash!" One hand clutched his abdomen while the other raised his incomparably sharp saber.

Noki tilted Golden Scale aside. Thick darkness enveloped her entire hand as she reached out and grabbed his blade.

Dark Devourer!

"You dare block my blade with your hand? I think you're tired of living!" Barvatis thought she had lost her mind. He carelessly underestimated his enemy and was overjoyed.

But when his saber came down, he discovered that her hand was actually harder than his Haki-coated blade!

"With Haki this weak, you should just die!"

Killing intent rose in Noki's eyes. She yanked downward, and black mist completely swallowed the great saber.

Barvatis lost his weapon, and his combat ability dropped to less than a tenth of what it had been. Panicked, he roared at his crew, "What are you standing there watching for? Get up here and help me!"

Unfortunately, it was too late. As soon as the words left his mouth, his head rolled to the ground.

"Captain!"

Pirates from the New World truly had backbone. Pirates in East Blue would have had their legs trembling and their ranks collapsing after losing their leader. In contrast, these men were stirred to greater fury, charging at Noki with bloodshot eyes.

"Black Hand!"

Noki controlled the black mist, condensing it into a giant hand that swept forward, seized a mass of pirates, and swallowed them all into darkness.

As the leaders of the three pirate ships fell, the remaining pirates charged in as well.

Before long, Ain, Tashigi, Dezaya, Bartolomeo, Nami, and the others all joined the battle.

Noki swept her eyes over the pirates. About ten of them had bounties exceeding ten million, and there were also the pirates she had just encountered with bounties of at least one hundred million. Who possessed such influence that they could gather so many people to openly attack a World Noble?

Noki had no time to think further, because she discovered that pirates had already boarded the World Government's ship and begun fighting the CP Organization agents.

The CP Organization had quite a reputation, but aside from CP0 and CP9, the rest only specialized in espionage and intelligence work. Their direct combat ability was not strong.

They could at most hold out for a while against pirates with bounties over one hundred million. They had no ability to defeat them.

What was more, aside from the two great pirates with bounties over one hundred million, those who boarded the ship included many core fighters from smaller pirate crews. They all dreamed of capturing a Celestial Dragon with their own hands and earning great merit!

The great pirate with the beer belly transformed into a ferocious polar bear, swatted aside the two agents blocking his path, and took the lead in charging into the Celestial Dragon's room.

"Don't hurt milady!"

At the critical moment, the Celestial Dragon's maid stepped forward and resolutely stood in front of the pirate.

"Little girl, you're courting death!"

The polar bear bared its sharp teeth, raised its thick paw, and struck down.

Bang!

Iron Body!

The maid's slightly trembling eyelashes revealed the fear and tension in her heart, but the agonizing pain she expected never came. When she opened her eyes, she saw that the stunning Marine woman she had met before had blocked the pirate's full-force blow for her.

When the Celestial Dragon saw Noki arrive, she instinctively took a step forward. After hesitating for a moment, she withdrew her foot and quietly watched her.

"You dare harm a World Noble. You have quite the nerve. Who exactly is directing you from behind the scenes?"

Noki blasted the polar bear's bulky body away with one punch and asked in a low voice.

"You think I'd tell you?!"

The polar bear roared loudly. He knew the person before him would be troublesome to deal with, so he simply acted shamelessly and began shouting for help. "The Celestial Dragon is here!"

"Then you're no longer useful."

Noki clenched her right fist. Strands of black smoke rose, and pitch-black mist boiled like flames before instantly surging forward.

Dark Fist!

"Big dumb bear, you really are useless."

The woman who had rushed over mocked her companion after he was sent flying by a single punch.

"Bastard, stop talking like it has nothing to do with you! Hurry up and help me take him down!"

The woman was also a Devil Fruit user. She seemed able to control wind speed, gathering a small vortex-like hurricane in her palm, somewhat like a Rasengan from Naruto.

Facing the pincer attack of two pirates,

Noki remained as calm as still water. She activated Dark Water with one hand while clenching the other into a fist, using two techniques at once.

"What kind of power is this? Why has my ability stopped working?!"

The woman was caught by Dark Water and panicked. She tried to pull her hand free, but the gravitational pull of darkness held her firmly in place.

After taking Noki's punch, the polar bear staggered backward. "Damn it, look at those skinny arms and legs. Where did all that strength come from?"

Noki used her free hand to press down on the female pirate's head, forming a Dark Hole in the ground. She pushed while absorbing, forcibly pressing her into the dark space.

"This is bad!"

Seeing the situation turn against him, the polar bear turned and fled.

How could Noki give him that chance?

As Golden Scale's dazzling blade flashed, the huge bear head fell to the ground, and blood stained Noki's white shirt red.

Only then did Noki spare the attention to carefully examine the female Celestial Dragon. She bent at the waist in a respectful bow and asked, "Are you hurt?"

The Celestial Dragon shook her head. "Thank you for coming to my aid." Her voice was gentle and soft, completely lacking the arrogance and domineering manner expected of an ordinary World Noble.

"That is good. Please wait here patiently. I still need to deal with the remaining pirates."

"Mm, please go. We will take care of ourselves."

Noki found it hard to imagine that there could be understanding and considerate people among the Celestial Dragons.

With the three main combatants down,

the remaining pirates were nothing to fear. With the efforts of the CP Organization agents and the Marines, the fighting was quickly brought under control.

Tashigi and the others had performed exceptionally well. Although they had suffered some injuries, none were serious.

The two rear admirals and their Marines were deeply uneasy. They used Den Den Mushi to contact Noki one after another, asking what they should do if the Celestial Dragon blamed them for failing to protect her.

Noki recalled her brief conversation with the Celestial Dragon. She did not seem like an unreasonable and overbearing person.

One could not judge everything by appearances alone, and Noki could not guarantee that she had not merely put on an act before her.

In any case, even if the World Noble truly filed a complaint,

Noki was not afraid. Under those circumstances, ensuring that the Celestial Dragon remained completely unharmed was already the limit of what she could do.

After all, the enemy outnumbered them by far, and every one of them was a pirate who had conquered the first half of the Grand Line, with some even having entered the New World. They were not so easy to deal with.

Of course, for someone like Noki, whose strength ranked among the higher tiers of vice admirals, these pirates were not a problem. But she was the only especially powerful fighter present, and she could not split herself into multiple bodies or appear everywhere at once.

After such an incident, all of Marine Headquarters was thrown into an uproar.

By convention, once a Celestial Dragon was attacked, at least one admiral had to be dispatched to provide rescue.

However, the pirates had now all been wiped out, so there was no need to send an admiral.

What Headquarters needed to do most now was determine who had organized this attack and what their objective had been.

Noki kept several survivors imprisoned and interrogated them under harsh torture. Unfortunately, after being questioned several times, they all claimed that Barvatis, whom Noki had killed, had contacted them.

As for who stood behind Barvatis, they truly did not know.

Pirates with no further value

were all executed on the spot by Noki. Afterward, she sat alone in her room and began recalling any original plot events that might be related to this matter.

No matter how long she thought,

she only remembered that in the original story, Donquixote Doflamingo had hijacked the Heavenly Tribute in order to obtain the position of Warlord of the Sea.

However, Doflamingo had become a Warlord many years ago. That matter was ancient history by now, and the two clearly had nothing to do with each other.

Then again,

aside from Doflamingo, who had connections in both the underworld and the legitimate world, Noki could not think of anyone else capable of doing something like this.

Without evidence, she could not recklessly report it to Headquarters, so she simply stopped thinking about it.

Holy Land, Mary Geoise, inside Pangaea Castle.

"You brat from the Donquixote Family, what kind of useless trash did you find? I gave you so much money, and you still couldn't kill a woman who couldn't even fight back!"

"Fufufufufu, don't be so impatient. I didn't expect a young Marine who had only just become a rear admiral to be so strong.

I made two preparations. Since the first assassination failed, we'll see how the second one goes."

"Hmph! You'd better not break your word, or else..."

"You want to kill me?"

"Anyone I want dead has to die!"

"Fufufufu, I'm really scared."

"Stop talking to me with that sarcastic tone. Don't think having the same bloodline as me means you can stand on equal footing with me. You're not worthy!"

Click!

"Damn it, he actually dared hang up on me! A discarded Celestial Dragon dares act so arrogantly? Once that woman dies, you'll be the next one I deal with!"

Several days later.

Grand Line, first half, Kingdom of Krilar.

The docks were filled with people welcoming the arrival of the World Noble.

Banners and colorful flowers were everywhere.

The king of the Kingdom of Krilar had personally brought every member of the royal family to the harbor.

It was enough to show how seriously they regarded this inspection tour.

Because they had only recently suffered an attack, the security measures were handled with extreme caution.

Noki also had to remain at the Celestial Dragon's side to protect her, and even accompany her into the royal palace to stay there.

After all, the CP Organization agents were either crippled or injured, leaving them severely understaffed. Noki was the strongest person present, so to ensure the World Noble's safety, she could only take the field personally.