Robin

"This guy wasn't afraid of shaking the troops' morale? If it were me, screw that—I'd join a pirate crew or the Revolutionary Army instead." At last, Ener voiced the doubt in his heart, along with his own thoughts.

Any Marine who heard about this, whether officer or soldier, would have felt chilled to the bone!

After all, they fought pirates to the death on the front lines.

Yet as an Admiral, not only did he fail to protect their families, he had actually acted himself and wiped out their families along with the pirates?

Then what were they fighting and dying for?

Just as Gak had said, if the justice one believed in could not even protect one's own wife and daughter, what was the point of that justice?

Smoker fell completely silent.

He belonged to the dovish faction and had always found Akainu's methods deeply unpleasant. But so what?

Akainu was a lofty Admiral, while he was merely a minor Colonel.

The difference in their strength was worlds apart.

Still, he could not help clenching his fists, swearing that one day he would change the Marines and prevent such tragedies from happening again.

"You..."

Gak looked at Ener, his feelings becoming complicated for a moment.

Since the incident, from the Fleet Admiral down to ordinary Marine soldiers, people had either pretended not to hear or advised him to let it go. He knew that many of them meant well.

After all, that was a Marine Admiral.

What could he possibly do?

Yet he had never imagined that the person who could completely see things from his perspective would be the person he had come to kill today.

Life truly was like a play...

He even felt a strange kinship with him.

Because Ener had spoken the truest thoughts in his heart. When the incident had first happened and he had wanted justice for his wife and daughter—

He had run into walls everywhere.

In his despair, such thoughts had taken root.

"Phew..."

Gak took a deep breath and tried hard to calm himself. Then he looked at Ener and said in a deeply conflicted tone, "If I had met you sooner, perhaps we could have become good friends.

But..."

At the end, his tone abruptly changed, and killing intent flashed in his eyes.

He did not finish speaking, but he was already moving. With a flash, he charged straight in front of Ener and threw a punch at his face!

Ener neither retreated nor dodged.

He threw a punch as well, Armament Haki coating his fist.

"Boom!"

Their fists smashed violently together. Powerful force clashed continuously between them, sending wave after wave of fierce air pressure sweeping outward.

It made the clothes and capes on all three of them snap loudly in the wind.

Then they each took several steps back.

"Armament Haki?"

Gak stared fixedly at Ener's fist, his eyes filled with shock. When he came back to his senses, disbelief colored his voice.

How old was this kid?

The intelligence had said that he knew swordsmanship and had already reached the Iron-Cutting Realm.

He had also mastered the Six Powers and had even awakened Observation Haki. And now he had Armament Haki too... Was this guy a monster?

Had the three Marine Admirals possessed such strength at his age?

"Gulp..."

Smoker, standing nearby, could not help swallowing. He looked at Ener with a stunned expression. Even he had not awakened Armament Haki yet!

He had only awakened Observation Haki four years ago.

But he was already thirty-four, meaning he had only awakened it at thirty. The thought dealt Smoker quite a blow.

What hit him even harder was that if he fought Ener now—

He might no longer be a match for him.

Gak gave Ener a deep look and said meaningfully, "You've hidden yourself well. It seems the one behind me probably can't compete with your father, Burns."

He glanced at Smoker again, then turned into a mass of mud and sank into the ground, vanishing from where he stood.

It had to be said, the man was extremely decisive.

Once he learned that Ener had awakened Armament Haki, and after that exchange of punches gave him a sense of Ener's strength, he understood that taking Ener down today was no longer possible.

After all, Smoker, another Logia user, was standing right beside him.

"Phew..."

Watching the other man retreat, Smoker took a deep breath and calmed himself. Then he looked Ener over a few times.

His gaze settled on Ener's waist.

Sandai Kitetsu and Yubashiri immediately caught his eye.

His brows rose. "Is this why you insisted on entering Loguetown?"

If he had not known that Ener's strength might even surpass his own, he would have wanted to go over and smack him twice. For the sake of two swords, he had nearly put Loguetown in danger.

Ener waved a hand. "Don't worry! Nothing major happened. Three Baroque Works officers from the Grand Line showed up, and I drove them all off.

"And no innocent people were caught up in it. There were only some financial losses, but I'll compensate them. Once we get back to the ship, sorry for the trouble, but please take the Beli for the two swords and the compensation money to the weapon shop owner."

"Baroque Works?" Smoker looked puzzled.

Ener said, "Two Paramecia users and one Zoan user. Their strength was average, around the level of ordinary Majors from Marine Headquarters."

"Two Paramecia users and one Zoan user? Three Devil Fruit users at once?"

Smoker was greatly shocked, then said, "This Baroque Works must be no ordinary organization! We need to report this to Headquarters!"

Finally, his gaze landed on Ener again. "And you, get the hell out of Loguetown right now. If you stay any longer, who knows what other trouble will appear? Even someone like Gak has shown up!"

But after saying that, he immediately added, "Be careful, kid. Gak is a persistent man. He only left so easily because I was here. And he won't give up. If Loguetown doesn't work, he can try somewhere else. So be careful on the rest of your journey."

Ener said, "Thanks for the warning."

The two of them immediately headed for the harbor.

In a corner of Loguetown, Miss Christmas looked at the severely injured Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine, her expression turning extremely ugly.

She took out a Den Den Mushi and made a call.

At the same time, inside a secret base in the Alabasta Kingdom.

A woman with long black hair, wearing a white cowboy hat, a white fur coat, and a purple miniskirt—

Looked thoroughly surprised.

"Miss Christmas, are you saying that Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine joined forces, yet were completely crushed?"

Miss Christmas nodded. "Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine did not even have a chance to fight back against that Major. They were utterly overwhelmed by his strength. And he looked very relaxed, so he clearly hadn't used his full strength... Miss Sunday, could our intelligence have been wrong?"

Miss Sunday was Robin.

The corners of her lips lifted slightly. Rather than answering directly, she said, "Come back."

Then she added reassuringly, "Don't worry. Since the problem was with the intelligence, this mission may not count as a success, but it does not count as a failure either. There will be no punishment."

"Phew..." Miss Christmas let out a sigh of relief upon hearing that.

After hanging up, Robin tapped her fingers against the table. This mission had been intended as a test from the start.

Then she turned to look at someone beside her. "You heard everything just now, didn't you? Who should we send next?"

The person beside her exhaled a ring of smoke, a faint smile curling across his lips. "Three billion... Heh. I thought someone was trying to scheme against me!

"After all, how could that trash from the Holy Land suddenly become a genius powerhouse?

"Looks like I was overthinking it."

He fell silent for a while, then said, "Send Mr. 1, Miss Doublefinger, and Mr. 2 together."

The speaker was naturally the leader of Baroque Works, Crocodile, one of the Shichibukai.