Roronoa Zoro

Bang!

Luffy's Rubber Gun was easily blocked by Morgan's axe hand. Though Morgan was not a speed-focused fighter, Luffy's long-range attack was probably ineffective against him as well.

"What's with that arm?" Zoro and all the Marines were startled by Luffy's suddenly stretched-out arm.

"That brat isn't an ordinary person. He must have eaten one of those legendary Devil Fruits!" As a Marine branch captain, Morgan naturally knew far more than ordinary Marine soldiers.

"That treasure of the sea? No way!" Some of the Marines had heard rumors about Devil Fruits, but they had never expected such things to truly exist.

"I'm a rubber man who ate the Rubber Fruit!" Luffy said, tugging at his skin.

Although everyone had mentally prepared themselves after hearing Luffy admit that he had eaten a Devil Fruit, they still could not help being shocked when they saw him stretch his skin so far.

"You're Zoro?" William came over to Luffy and Zoro. Seeing the real Zoro, he felt that calling him a king would be more fitting than calling him merely a strong man. He immediately used a dagger to cut his ropes.

"My name is William, and this is Nami!" William said with a smile.

"There are three swords here. I don't know which one is yours!" Luffy handed the three swords from his back to Zoro.

"All three swords are mine. I'm a Three-Sword Style swordsman!" Zoro said proudly.

"That's so cool!" Luffy shouted excitedly when he heard that Zoro was a Three-Sword Style swordsman. In truth, he had no idea what Three-Sword Style even was.

"I can agree to become a pirate. Since I'm going against the Marines, that makes me a 'bad guy.'" Zoro placed a hand on his sword hilt. "But I have my own ambition—to become the world's greatest swordsman. Good name or bad, I'll make everyone in the world know my name."

"The world's greatest swordsman! The Pirate King's partner has to be this outstanding! Hee hee!"

"Hmph! You really know how to talk. You're the one who dragged me into becoming a pirate. If you ever force me to give up my dream, then you can commit seppuku in front of me and apologize." Although Zoro had chosen to join the Straw Hat Pirates, he did not consider himself weaker than Luffy. He did not care about the captain's position, either. After all, his dream was not to become the Pirate King.

"You can talk later!" William pulled his hat brim lower again. The five of them were surrounded by Marines, yet these two still had the mood to chat and laugh.

"Luffy, leave the fighting to you. It wouldn't be convenient for the Marines to see my face." William lowered his hat brim again.

"Is that so? Whatever!" Luffy said indifferently. He would have preferred to take everyone down by himself anyway.

Zoro gave William a puzzled look, but that was all. Even though he had been starved for a while and his strength had declined, taking down the Marines, including Captain Morgan, would not be much of a problem.

"Shoot them dead!" At Captain Morgan's command, all the soldiers raised their rifles and began firing at William's group.

"Bullets don't work on me!" Luffy took all the bullets with his body, then bounced them back.

"C-Captain, that guy, like Zoro, isn't normal! We're no match for them!" The Marine soldiers were once again frightened by Luffy's Devil Fruit ability. Already lacking morale beneath Morgan's tyranny, they now began to think of retreating.

"This captain orders all those who showed weakness just now to shoot themselves!" Morgan shouted at the shrinking Marine soldiers. "This captain has no use for worthless subordinates. This is an order!"

"Something's strange about these Marines." The Marines had not only stopped attacking their enemies, but were now pointing their guns at their own heads. They were clearly about to commit suicide.

"Why?" Seeing this scene, Koby could not believe that the Marines he had always admired were a force that bowed to one man's tyranny.

Although Koby had heard many negative rumors from the townspeople before, he had only thought they were due to Captain Morgan's personal abuse of power. Now, however, he realized that this entire Marine force had a problem.

Boom! A cannonball suddenly landed where William and the others were standing.

"Hahaha, serves you right for taking me hostage!" Earlier, Luffy had taken Helmeppo hostage while looking for Zoro's swords. When he found that Zoro and Koby were in danger, he had tossed the unconscious Helmeppo aside.

But when Helmeppo woke up, he saw that although Luffy and the others were surrounded by Marines, the Marines could do nothing to them. That was why he thought of using the base's cannons to bombard Luffy and the others.

This is bad! William thought. The cannonball's sneak attack had succeeded, but Luffy and Zoro easily dodged it with their skills. William, however, had one arm around Nami and was carrying Koby in the other hand, leaving him no time to protect his hat. The explosion blew it away.

"Bullets don't work, so attack them with blades!" Captain Morgan clearly had not abandoned their "execution" merely because Luffy was a Devil Fruit user.

Clang! Clang!

"Move again, and I'll cut you down!" With just one move and one sentence, Zoro completely intimidated the Marine soldiers holding swords.

As for William, once he discovered that his hat had been blown away, he immediately put Koby down and covered half his face with an arm. But he had clearly worried too much. With Morgan's arrogant personality, after reading that document, he had tossed it aside and paid no attention to it whatsoever. As for the lower-ranking Marine soldiers, they did not even know what was in it. William, however, knew none of this, so he had no choice but to remain cautious.

But even if Morgan remembered what was in that document, his attention was no longer on William.

"All traitors who defy me must die!" Captain Morgan shouted when he saw his men being frightened into submission by Zoro alone.

"I'm the Marines' enemy. If you've got what it takes, kill me!" Luffy roared as his fist slammed heavily against Morgan's axe hand. Morgan's actions had clearly enraged him.

"Luffy, hurry up and get rid of Marines like this!" Koby, still being carried by William, was utterly disappointed after seeing the Marines' cowardly behavior. He was actually asking Luffy, a pirate, to eliminate the Marines he had once admired.

"People without status or fame have no right to resist this captain! I am Marine Captain 'Axe-Hand' Morgan!" Captain Morgan took off his Marine coat and said disdainfully. His meaning was clear: a pirate like Luffy, who did not even have a bounty, was not qualified to fight him.

"I'm Luffy. Nice to meet you!" Luffy replied in kind.

In Luffy's eyes, there was no chance he would lose, especially not to a nobody like Captain Morgan.

Captain Morgan's attacks were indeed imposing, and his strength was immense. Combined with his indestructible axe hand, he had few rivals in the East Blue. However, Morgan focused too heavily on strength training while neglecting speed. His moves were also simple and repetitive, making him more suited to destruction than combat. Luffy, on the other hand, possessed strength no weaker than Morgan's, yet was far more agile and had more varied techniques. Morgan was destined to be no match for him.

"What kind of pathetic Marines are these? They actually ruined Koby's dream!" After dodging Morgan's axe, Luffy spun around and drove a straight punch into Captain Morgan's jaw.

From the very beginning, Captain Morgan had been at a disadvantage. Though Morgan's attacks were lethal, not a single one could touch Luffy. Meanwhile, whether strong or weak, every one of Luffy's attacks landed effectively on Morgan, causing his injuries to steadily accumulate.