"Overestimated him? No..."
Doflamingo shook his head. "That man was already no ordinary opponent two years ago. If someone else had vanished for this long, I wouldn't be too surprised. But him? Heh, heh, heh... You'd better be careful."
Though Doflamingo and Ye Chen had become enemies, deep down, he admired Ye Chen.
The crazier the world grew, the more excited Doflamingo became, and Ye Chen was precisely the kind of man who could stir up a storm.
Wherever he appeared, things were bound to get lively.
"Beep, beep, beep..."
As soon as the order arrived from Headquarters, all of Loguetown went on high alert. Pedestrians were driven off the streets and back into their homes.
The town's wealthy and prominent nobles boarded warships and evacuated early. Marines from nearby bases converged on the town as well. In less than half a day, the force stationed in Loguetown swelled to thirty thousand.
From the harbor, the view was a sea of white: Marines stood everywhere, armed and ready.
A thousand men could fill the horizon; ten thousand seemed to stretch on forever.
They stood shoulder to shoulder, a dense mass of white capes and moving heads with no end in sight, every Marine braced for battle.
Blades and guns gleamed, and killing intent filled the air. As time passed, the Marines' numbers kept climbing.
And the five elite Vice Admirals assigned to the Buster Call had yet to arrive.
With a great battle looming, the atmosphere was unnervingly tense. The townspeople were frightened and uneasy.
The pirates hoping to enter the Grand Line from here were either unlucky enough to be arrested on the spot or scared into turning back. They cursed as they fled. "What the hell is going on? Which damned jinx brought all these Marines here?"