Execution

Dragon William, I've finally found you!

It was a plain, simple sentence, yet William's entire body trembled. He had been hiding for so long, only to be discovered in the end. Though he had long prepared himself mentally, he had not expected this moment to come so soon.

"Estamba Cheng?" When William saw the girl clearly, he instinctively called out a name that suddenly surfaced in his mind. Though he still did not know what relationship this girl had with him, he could be certain that she had once been someone very familiar to him. Otherwise, "amnesiac" William would not have remembered her at all.

Judging from the Marine uniform she wore, she was clearly a colonel. That reminded William of the investigator mentioned in the Marine Headquarters document.

Moreover, the lightning strike earlier had probably been caused by this girl named Estamba Cheng. That meant she was a Devil Fruit user. In William's memory, the only Devil Fruit capable of controlling lightning was Enel's Rumble-Rumble Fruit, the fruit of the god of Skypiea. Although this world had changed somewhat because of his arrival, it could not have changed to such an extent, could it? Enel had eaten the Rumble-Rumble Fruit who knew how many years before William had transmigrated. The only explanation was that this girl had not eaten the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, but another Devil Fruit with similar powers.

Based on the uniqueness of Devil Fruits, there was a high chance Estamba Cheng's Devil Fruit was a Paramecia. As long as she was not a Logia user, William felt that his chances of escaping this tiger's den were still quite high.

"You bastard, you still remember my name?" Estamba Cheng's words left William completely baffled. Was he not supposed to know it?

"You're a Devil Fruit user?" William asked tentatively. The girl before him clearly knew him, yet apart from her name, William knew nothing about her. If they fought, he would be at an extreme disadvantage. One thing was certain: her Devil Fruit ability was related to lightning. Logically, it should not be Enel's Rumble-Rumble Fruit, but Paramecia such as the Gas-Gas Fruit or Zoans such as the Eel-Eel Fruit, Electric Eel Model, also possessed lightning abilities.

"You knew I ate the Battery-Battery Fruit, didn't you?" The girl quickly reacted and asked, "What? Did you lose your memory?"

Indeed, from the first moment Estamba Cheng saw William, she had noticed that he was different from before. Looking more carefully now, even William's gaze and tone of voice differed greatly from the past.

"Who knows!" William did not know how to explain his situation. He simply lacked the memories of the former "Colonel William." It was not as though he had completely lost all his old memories, though. Whenever he encountered something or someone familiar from before, related fragments of memory would still appear in his mind.

However, upon hearing Estamba Cheng mention the name of her Devil Fruit, William roughly guessed her abilities. By his estimation, the Battery-Battery Fruit likely functioned like a battery, capable of storing and releasing electric currents. It was practically the Paramecia version of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.

As long as it was not the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, William had nothing to fear. He knew Loguetown would soon be hit by a violent storm. As long as they could escape Loguetown, the Straw Hat Crew could charge straight into the Grand Line. As for the Marine pursuit they would face afterward, they could only take things one step at a time.

"Do you know what your actions mean now?" Estamba Cheng stared coldly at William, as if she would unleash a powerful electric attack the moment he made any suspicious move.

"Are you here to arrest me?" William asked warily. Facing Estamba Cheng, a fellow Marine Headquarters colonel, he had no choice but to be cautious. She was an opponent no weaker than himself, and her Devil Fruit ability was lightning-based.

"Why did you become a pirate?" Estamba Cheng fixed William with an icy gaze. The nickname "Ice Beauty Cheng" came precisely from her cold personality.

"Who knows!" Faced with Estamba Cheng's questioning, William had no way to explain himself. But one thing was certain: he would never return to Marine Headquarters. Otherwise, he would not have risked his life challenging Hawkeye in the first place.

"Come back to Headquarters with me. Although the mission failed, you were still our teacher's most prized disciple!" In the end, Estamba Cheng seemed to take a step back. Whether it was because she did not want to fight William to mutual ruin or for some other reason, no one knew.

"If you came to persuade me to go back, forget it. The mission I carried out involved the Celestial Dragons. Even if the Fleet Admiral stepped in, he wouldn't be able to protect me!" William could tell that she intended to back down, but his problem was not simply punishment from Marine Headquarters. If that were all, he would never have risked betraying the Marines.

"But you can't become a pirate either, can you?"

"Would you rather have me become a slave to the Celestial Dragons?" William's question left Estamba Cheng speechless. Still, William gave her a reason. "This is my freedom, and I've already promised Luffy I'd help him find One Piece."

"Is that so? But I think he's about to be executed!" Estamba Cheng looked toward the sky, which was thick with dark clouds.

"Don't worry. That kid's life is tough!" With that, William ran toward the execution platform without looking back.

Watching William's retreating figure, Estamba Cheng raised an arm crackling with high-voltage electricity, but ultimately gave up on attacking.

At the execution platform, Luffy had been captured by "Clown" Buggy and dragged onto the very platform where Gol D. Roger had been executed. Standing beside him, Buggy actually announced to the civilians in the square that he would execute Straw Hat Luffy.

Though the civilians in the square did not want to get caught up in a dispute between pirates, Buggy's men had surrounded them all. However, when Colonel Smoker learned that Luffy and Buggy, the two great pirates of the East Blue, had appeared at the same time, he had already arranged troops around the square. If not for concern over the civilians' safety, he would have ordered an attack long ago.

Seeing that Estamba Cheng was no longer pursuing him, William breathed a sigh of relief. Still, as he ran, he pulled his cap lower. He did not know Estamba Cheng well, but he was gambling that she would not report him to Headquarters. The odds were only fifty-fifty. Smoker, however, was different. He was the sort who would arrest any pirate without asking questions. If Smoker recognized him, he would definitely report it to Headquarters.

"William, I found you!" A slender woman suddenly blocked William's path toward the execution platform. "Just stay here and watch that Straw Hat brat get executed!"

William stared in confusion at the woman who had suddenly stopped him. He did not know her at all. Could she have been one of the former "Colonel William's" old flames? This was already the third time today that someone had "found" him, and they had all been women.

"Are you Alvida?" William's gaze settled on the huge iron club, and he asked in shock.

He had long known that Alvida would become a great beauty after eating the Slip-Slip Fruit, but he had not expected her to be this stunning. First he met a pair of beautiful sisters, then a beautiful colonel, and now Alvida. Could it be that he was having absurdly good luck with women today?

"You can actually recognize me?" Alvida looked at William in surprise. Ever since she ate the Slip-Slip Fruit, no bounty hunter or Marine had been able to recognize her. Sometimes, a single flirtatious glance from her was enough to leave her enemies utterly infatuated.

"Can you let me pass? I need to save my captain!" If Alvida had not become so beautiful, William would not have spoken so politely. Back then, before she ate her Devil Fruit, Alvida had frightened him into instinctively using Dragon Claw Fist. Still, it was thanks to that fright that William discovered he could use such a powerful move.

"Sorry, I hate that man, so he has to die!" Alvida showed no intention of backing down. "Once he's dead, you can join me, can't you?"

"Sorry, I don't have a habit of following women. How about you follow me instead?" William said calmly.

He was not worried about Luffy's safety. He had already told Nojiko to prepare the cannon. The moment Buggy raised the blade in his hand, she would blast the execution platform apart with a cannonball.

The Battery-Battery Fruit was an original Paramecia Devil Fruit in this work. It was equivalent to a Paramecia version of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit and possessed the ability to store and release electric currents. It was currently owned by Marine Headquarters Colonel Estamba Cheng.