Robin

"Wasn't he afraid of shaking the Marines' morale? If it were me, screw that bastard. 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 feel 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 personally acted 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 use was that justice?

Smoker fell completely silent.

He belonged to the dovish faction and had always deeply disliked Akainu's methods. But what could he do?

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

Their strength was worlds apart as well.

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 emotions complicated for a moment.

Ever since the incident, from the Fleet Admiral down to ordinary Marines, they had either pretended to be deaf and blind or urged him to let it go. Though 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 fully 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 sense of kinship with him.

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

He had hit walls everywhere.

And in his despair, such thoughts had taken root.

"Phew..."

Gak took a deep breath, trying his best to calm down. Then he looked at Ener and said in a deeply conflicted voice, "If I'd met you earlier, 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 his words, but he had already moved. In a flash, he rushed 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 immediately coating his fist.

"Boom!"

Their fists slammed fiercely together. Powerful force collided endlessly between them, forming wave after wave of violent air blasts that swept outward.

The clothes and capes of the three men fluttered loudly in the gusts.

Then they each took several steps back.

"Armament Haki?"

Gak stared fixedly at Ener's fist, his eyes filled with shock. Once he recovered, his expression was tinged with disbelief.

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. Now there was 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, staring at Ener in shock. Even he had not awakened Armament Haki yet!

He had only awakened Observation Haki four years ago.

But he was already thirty-four. That meant he had awakened it at thirty. Thinking of that, Smoker felt deeply discouraged.

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 man backing me won't be able to beat 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 remarkably decisive.

Once he learned that Ener had awakened Armament Haki, and after that exchange of punches had shown him Ener's strength, he understood that taking Ener down today was impossible.

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

"Phew..."

Watching his opponent retreat, Smoker took a deep breath and calmed himself. Then he looked Ener over for a few moments.

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 truly would have wanted to give Ener a beating. For the sake of two swords, Ener had put Loguetown in danger.

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

And no innocent people were affected. There were only some financial losses, but I'll compensate for them. When we return 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 all at once?"

Smoker was greatly shocked, then said, "It seems this Baroque Works is no ordinary organization! We need to report this to Headquarters!"

Finally, his gaze fell on Ener again. "And you brat, get the hell out of Loguetown immediately. If you stay any longer, who knows what other trouble will appear? Even Gak showed up!"

But after saying that, he immediately added, "Be careful, brat. Gak is a persistent man. He only left so easily because I was here. Otherwise, he would not have backed down. And he won't give up. If he can't do it in Loguetown, he can do it elsewhere. So be careful on the rest of your journey."

Ener said, "Thanks for the warning."

Then 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 grim.

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

Meanwhile, in a secret base within the Alabasta Kingdom.

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

Looked utterly surprised.

"Miss Christmas, you're saying that Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine joined forces, yet they 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 directly crushed 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, who was Robin, could not help curling her lips slightly. She did not answer directly. "Come back."

After speaking, she added reassuringly, "Don't worry. Since the issue 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 could not help sighing in relief upon hearing that.

After hanging up, Robin tapped her fingers on the table. This mission had originally been nothing more than a test.

Then she turned to look to the side. "You heard everything just now, right? Who should we send next?"

The man beside her exhaled a ring of smoke, the corners of his mouth curling upward. "Three billion... Tsk, tsk! I originally thought someone was trying to set me up!

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.