"Mark and Daisy finally sent word! Gaban, did you see it? The Moss Pirates—the name of Mark's pirate crew is the same as our village!" Aunt Ma held a wanted poster as she arrived at the Oak Craft General Store.
Gaban had been dozing behind the counter. When he saw Aunt Ma arrive, he instinctively tried to duck behind it.
But when he heard what Aunt Ma said, his face immediately filled with urgency.
"Let me see!"
Aunt Ma handed him the wanted poster. Looking at that familiar face on it, Gaban's eyes held an indescribable emotion.
Kid... had he finally gotten what he wanted?
Next, he would be setting off toward his dream.
The Moss Pirates!
"Hahaha!!!" Gaban suddenly burst into laughter. Then he turned and grabbed Aunt Ma's hand. "Mura, thank you for bringing me news of those two kids."
Aunt Ma's real name was Mura. She had once been a renowned beauty in Moss Town. The children all called her Aunt Mu, but over time, it somehow turned into Aunt Ma.
Fortunately, Aunt Ma did not mind. Still, Gaban remembered her name.
The instant Gaban grabbed Aunt Ma, he felt her body tremble. A puzzled look appeared on his face.
"What's wrong with you?"
"N-Nothing..." Aunt Ma smoothed her black hair, snatched up the wanted poster, and turned to leave the Oak Craft General Store.
"I'm going to tell everyone this good news!"
Gaban watched Aunt Ma's retreating figure, a smile on his face.
"You brat, I'll wait for the day your name resounds across the seas. Black Axe Mark... that title really doesn't sound very nice, huh... Hahaha!"
"Commodore Bulin Bulin, pirate ship spotted ahead!"
"Can you make out which pirate ship it is?"
The lookout carefully observed the pirate flag. A moment later, he approached Commodore Bulin Bulin with cold sweat covering his face.
"Reporting to the commodore, it's... it's the Moss Pirates who destroyed the 16th Marine Branch!!!"
"What? The Moss Pirates? Are you sure?"
"Yes!"
Commodore Bulin Bulin stepped onto the deck, took the lookout's telescope, and observed the pirate ship for a moment.
He waved a large hand toward the pirate ship. "Concentrate all firepower and shoot that pirate ship down!!!"
"Yes!!!"
The Marines accepted the order.
The adjutant approached Commodore Bulin Bulin, his expression somewhat nervous as he said:
"Commodore Bulin Bulin, the Moss Pirates are ruthless men who destroyed an entire branch. They're major pirates with a bounty of sixty million Beli. People like that aren't someone we can afford to provoke!"
Most Marines in the East Blue had joined the Marines simply for a better life.
Provoking a major pirate with a sixty-million-Beli bounty who had destroyed an entire branch was no different from courting death for a warship like theirs.
The adjutant's words made several hesitant Marines nearby light up. They looked at Commodore Bulin Bulin expectantly.
Bulin Bulin did not notice the looks in the surrounding Marines' eyes. At that moment, his full attention was fixed on the Moss Pirates.
"Precisely because they destroyed a branch, we must capture such vicious pirates! Impel Down is where these thugs belong!!!"
Commodore Bulin Bulin's voice was incomparably resolute.
The adjutant wanted to persuade him further, but the thunderous roar of cannon fire interrupted him. The warship had opened fire!
Watching the cannonballs draw closer and closer to the pirate ship, the adjutant completely gave up trying to persuade Commodore Bulin Bulin.
"I can only hope they aren't as strong as the wanted poster says!"
Boom, boom, boom! Twelve-pound cannonballs continuously fired from Commodore Bulin Bulin's warship toward the Moss.
"Boss, the Marines are firing at us!" Chiu Chiu flew to the top of the rail, his blade-like wings slicing the incoming cannonballs in half and sending them plummeting into the sea.
"The 77th Marine Branch... never heard of that branch before. Chiu Chiu... take me over there!" Mark looked through his telescope and saw the number 77 emblazoned on the warship's sail.
The barrage of cannon fire rushing toward him did not bring Mark the slightest panic.
Twelve-pound cannonballs were not very powerful. Arlong could crush such cannonballs with his teeth, so they posed no threat whatsoever to Mark.
In the pirate world, cannons were roughly divided into three grades: thirty-two-pounders, twenty-four-pounders, and twelve-pounders.
The twelve-pounder was the weakest. It was not much more powerful than a grenade from Blue Star.
Twenty-four-pound cannons, on the other hand, were far more powerful than twelve-pounders—three times as powerful, in fact. They were the standard armament of Marine Headquarters warships.
Thirty-two-pound cannons were the main guns of Headquarters warships.
Main guns like these were generally not used lightly, because a single shell could sink a medium-sized pirate ship.
The Moss was equipped with one such cannon. It had originally belonged to Arlong.
Although Mark did not know where Arlong had gotten such a weapon, a thirty-two-pound cannon along with a crate of ammunition could fetch a sky-high price of one hundred million on the black market.
It was a strategic-grade weapon.
Of course, there were also many unconventional types of cannons.
Take the Sunny's Gale Cannon, for example. Its power was anything but small.
Then there was Byrnndi World's pirate ship, as large as a small island. The cannons aboard it were devastatingly powerful, and combined with the More-More Fruit, they could level an entire island.
In a place like the East Blue, twelve-pound cannons were generally standard issue on warships. The warship of the 77th Marine Branch was no exception.
Slash!
The power of lightning surrounding Chiu Chiu knocked down every incoming cannonball, and then he carried Mark toward the 77th Marine Branch warship.
"Commodore, a man and a bird are flying toward our warship at high speed!"
The lookout reported what he had just seen to Commodore Bulin Bulin.
Commodore Bulin Bulin sneered. "Hmph! Pirates really are bold. They actually dare launch an attack on our warship! Shoot them down!"
"Yes!" Several Marines beside him raised their Flintlock Pistols and pulled the triggers at Mark.
But...
Crack!
A golden bolt of lightning struck the crowd, seriously wounding several Marines who had raised their Flintlock Pistols.
"Damn it!" Commodore Bulin Bulin drew the Flintlock Pistol at his waist. Just as he was about to raise it, an enormous fist suddenly came hurtling toward his face.
Bang!
Mark withdrew his bloodstained fist and looked at the terrified Marines around him. Waves of Darkness Power rose from his hand.
"Oh no, Black Axe Mark killed Commodore Bulin Bulin!" Several Marines saw that things had gone badly and prepared to jump into the sea to escape, but a single golden bolt from Chiu Chiu struck them and left their eyes rolling back.
"Didn't expect him to be a branch commodore!" A trace of surprise flashed through Mark's eyes.
A branch commodore was roughly equivalent to a Headquarters major or lieutenant colonel, but he held somewhat greater authority than an ordinary base commander, so such officers were rare throughout the Four Seas.
"Still, his luck doesn't seem very good. He dragged all of you down with him too!"
Mark lightly pressed his right hand, wreathed in black mist, against the deck.
Black Hole!