A Billion-Berry Rookie

Late at night, Marine Headquarters was anything but quiet. Its lights blazed as countless Marine communications officers sprang into action, using their powerful information network to gather every piece of information related to the recent attack on the Holy Land of Mary Geoise.

After taking several deep breaths, Sengoku, seated in the position of Fleet Admiral, finally calmed himself and began reviewing the information gathered by the communications officers.

Before long, the desk in the Fleet Admiral's office was piled high with documents filled with black text on white paper. They detailed the property losses from the attack on the Holy Land, the list of casualties, and information on the attackers.

Sengoku skimmed through them quickly, but the more he read, the more alarmed he became. His face grew increasingly pale, and by the end, cold sweat streamed down his forehead, nearly soaking through his undershirt.

According to the preliminary statistics, more than 1,200 Celestial Dragon slaves had been freed from the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, around 300 Celestial Dragons had been killed, and the Holy Land had suffered direct financial losses exceeding ten billion!

Only after reading the reports did Sengoku understand why the Five Elders had been so furious that they had berated him without regard for his status as Fleet Admiral and issued a severe warning.

Though he had not seen the scene in person, the dense statistics alone revealed just how devastating the attack on the Holy Land had been!

Such catastrophic losses had never occurred before in history.

If the Five Elders had not personally called and ordered a thorough investigation, Sengoku would have thought that the mountain of documents before him was some cruel joke.

"More than a thousand slaves freed from the Holy Land, over three hundred Celestial Dragons killed... This is an incident that will drive the World Nobles insane and shock the entire world!"

"Devil Ye Qiong and adventurer Fisher Tiger... So it was those two."

Sengoku's face darkened as he clenched his fists. Fisher Tiger was a Fish-Man, so freeing slaves was one thing, but Ye Qiong, an escapee who had left Impel Down less than two weeks ago, had actually taken part as well. Not only had he freed slaves, he had gone straight to the Holy Land to cause trouble and killed more than three hundred Celestial Dragons!

"No matter what, we cannot let those Celestial Dragon slaves escape so easily! And we absolutely cannot let Ye Qiong and Fisher Tiger remain at large!"

Sengoku's expression was grave. Without hesitation, he called the Vice Admirals one by one and relayed the emergency orders. "Immediately deploy more personnel to search the areas around the Holy Land on the Red Line, and send warships to search and surround the Sabaody Archipelago and its surrounding waters! Hunt down the slaves! And arrest Ye Qiong and Fisher Tiger! Do not let a single one escape!"

Once all the notifications had been sent and every order conveyed, he stood by the office window, unable to calm the turmoil in his heart.

"'Devil' Ye Qiong..."

Sengoku looked out at the dark, silent sea, regret surging through his heart like the tides beyond the window.

He truly regretted that when he had captured Ye Qiong on Ohara Island, barely clinging to life, he had not dealt with and killed him immediately. Instead, he had allowed Ye Qiong to crawl out of the hell that was Impel Down!

"Could it be that my mistake back then created a true 'devil'?"

Sengoku muttered to himself, then finally let out a heavy sigh.

Sabaody Archipelago, by the Red Tree shore of Grove 75.

A small ship coated in bubble film was moored on the quiet sea. White Snow and Crow King sat on the ship's railing, gazing toward the Red Line in the distance, its outline obscured by the night.

"It's been so long, and Brother Ye still hasn't returned. Nothing happened to him, right?" Crow King fidgeted restlessly on the railing, hopping up and down as he said anxiously, "If anything happened to Brother Ye, then to hell with the Holy Land—I'll charge in there myself..."

"Shut up!"

White Snow shot him a cold glance. Her silver eyes remained as icy as ever, but her hands resting on the railing quietly clenched into fists, revealing that her heart was far less calm than she appeared.

"But Brother Ye is so strong. How could those Marines possibly do anything to him?"

Crow King thought about it, then began grinning foolishly to himself.

"Good, at least you've got some sense."

A familiar voice sounded from the empty air behind them.

"Whoa!"

Crow King staggered in fright, nearly falling off the railing. White Snow, meanwhile, walked joyfully toward the figure that had suddenly appeared on the ship—only to see Ye Qiong's white robe stained with blood, his face pale, cold sweat constantly sliding from his forehead down his cheeks before dripping onto the deck.

Crow King instinctively wanted to step forward and support him, but White Snow had already reached out first.

"I'm fine. I'm just a little exhausted." Ye Qiong spoke weakly. His voice was feeble, and there was not a trace of color in his face, making White Snow's heart tighten as she half-held him up.

Supported by White Snow, with his head resting against her soft shoulder, the smooth warmth of her body diverted a little of Ye Qiong's attention. The pain and weakness seemed to ease slightly.

"That state still can't be used casually."

Ye Qiong sighed helplessly. The awakened state of his spatial ability consumed far too much stamina and life essence. Even using it briefly had left his body battered, and he would need at least three or four days of rest to recover completely.

"Brother Ye, are we leaving by ship now?" Crow King asked.

"First, sail to the side of the island closest to the Red Line." Ye Qiong replied weakly. His gaze turned toward one side of the Sabaody Archipelago, where he sensed Tiger's location through the silver mark.

"Got it." Crow King went to raise the sails and set off.

Sabaody Archipelago, by the shore of a grove.

Under the cover of night, Tiger led some of the slaves who had escaped from the Holy Land as they fled.

On the dark sea outside, near the Red Line, scattered lights had begun to appear. Tiger guessed that they were almost certainly Marine warships searching for the slaves.

"Pick up the pace. The Marines are coming."

"Keep it down. Don't draw the Marines' attention!"

Tiger lowered his voice as he directed the slaves and looked after them while they fled together.

He had not expected the Marines to react so quickly. At this rate, before dawn, the Marines would completely surround the Sabaody Archipelago, leaving the slaves who had fled here with nowhere to run.

Tiger could escape through the sea as a Fish-Man, but a large portion of the slaves in his group belonged to other races.

"I can't abandon them. We have to find a ship!"

Tiger was frantic, but finding a ship at a time like this was hardly easy.

"There's something ahead!"

Someone among the slaves suddenly cried out, drawing everyone's attention.

Several faint blue-green flames emerged from the darkness of the forest ahead, steadily approaching them.

"What is that?"

The slaves panicked, while Tiger was equally uncertain. They all stood where they were, silently watching as the blue-green flames drew closer and closer.

At last, what appeared before them was an imposing white wolf. Its gaze was sharp, its body sleek and powerful, and it wore a white beast-shaped coat. Blue-green flames burned beneath its paws as it walked through the air. On its back sat the vague silhouette of a person.

The slaves' eyes widened. They were so frightened by the eerie white wolf that they could not speak. Tiger stepped forward to shield all the slaves behind him, but when he saw the face of the person on the wolf's back, he froze.

"Mr. Ye Qiong?"

Tiger looked at the youth atop the wolf in surprise.

"We meet again so soon, Uncle Tiger." Ye Qiong smiled. Supporting himself against White Snow's soft, smooth fur, he looked at the slaves behind Tiger. Some of them recognized him as the benefactor who had opened their cages. Knowing that he was a friend rather than an enemy, their faces filled with excitement.

"The Marine search party will be here soon. Come with me. I've prepared a ship."

Ye Qiong said only that before patting the wolf's back. Understanding his intention, White Snow turned around and began walking through the air toward the ship.

"Follow them. We're saved now."

Tiger did not hesitate. He waved his hand and led the slaves after White Snow.

The next morning, a Marine force of more than ten warships was stationed along the shores of the Sabaody Archipelago, and countless Marines conducted a carpet search of the islands.

As a result, countless pirate crews hiding on the archipelago were implicated and arrested, while only a handful of Celestial Dragon slaves were captured.

At the same time, newspapers across the world began frantically reporting on the "Mary Geoise Attack Incident."

Someone had actually dared to challenge the race of gods!

This was an event worthy of being recorded in history, something rarely seen even once in a century.

As one of the two central figures in this major incident, "Fish-Man Fisher Tiger received a bounty of 280 million!"

And the main culprit behind the attack on the Holy Land and the killing of more than three hundred Celestial Dragons—"Devil Ye Qiong's bounty was raised from 500 million to one billion!"

Though still a rookie, Ye Qiong's bounty had reached one billion, enough to make countless great pirates who dominated entire seas feel inferior. After the Impel Down Escape Incident that had shocked the world ten days earlier, he once again stepped onto the world stage—and this time, he seemed to have become even more outrageous, shaking people to their core.

Ye Qiong was like a brilliant rising star, yet from the moment he began to shine, he had blazed like the sun itself—scorching and dazzling.