Fisher Tiger

"Marine justice? I've never believed in that sort of thing..."

"Hahaha... Interesting..."

Hearing what Gasparde said, Ye Mu didn't feel any disgust toward him. Instead, a trace of peculiar appreciation appeared in his eyes.

"Then what do you think of the Celestial Dragons...?"

Ye Mu suddenly asked.

"!!!"

Gasparde froze for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said through clenched teeth,

"Nothing but parasites of the world..."

"Hahahahaha... Interesting... I'm very satisfied with that answer. So do your best to stay alive and climb higher... Perhaps we'll have a chance to work together in the future... Hahaha..."

After saying that, Ye Mu ignored the rear admiral completely and turned toward the other side.

"I survived..."

Gasparde watched Ye Mu walk away from him toward the dead Celestial Dragon's body and let out a long breath.

As for taking the opportunity to launch a sneak attack, he didn't have the guts to do that at all.

After Ye Mu revealed his terrifying Conqueror's Haki, Gasparde had already realized very clearly—

They weren't even in the same league.

Shouldn't someone this terrifying be in the New World?

Why had he encountered him on the Grand Line?

He thought of how the two had introduced themselves at the beginning.

New pirates just starting out.

What terrible luck... Why did I have to run into something like this, run into a lunatic like him... And what did he mean by that? Did he want me to become his spy...?

If Gasparde had been a Marine with genuine faith, he might have sneered at Ye Mu's words. Unfortunately, he wasn't...

At that moment, he was already thinking about how to use these two lunatics to survive the incident involving the Celestial Dragon's death.

All his subordinates had passed out, so no one had seen what happened afterward. As for the four CP9 members, they probably wouldn't survive either.

In other words, aside from that Fish-Man slave, he was the only person aboard this ship who knew what had really happened. Didn't that mean he could tell the story however he wanted?

As long as that Fish-Man slave died...

That was what he thought, but he soon had no choice but to dismiss the idea.

He discovered that Ye Mu hadn't gone to the Celestial Dragon's corpse at all. He had gone after the Fish-Man slave.

Ye Mu slowly walked up to the red-skinned Fish-Man, who was on all fours like a puppy. Under the Fish-Man's vacant gaze, he crouched down and said with a sigh,

"This really is fate guiding me... There aren't many Fish-Men I remember from my memories, but you just happen to be one of them..."

"Fisher Tiger..."

That's right. This Fish-Man, who had been treated as a slave by the Celestial Dragons, was none other than the renowned Fish-Man hero of the future, Fisher Tiger—the man who would climb Holy Land Mary Geoise with his bare hands, rescue the slaves, and create the Mary Geoise incident.

He was the Fish-Man who appeared most often in fanfiction.

Who else could it be, when he would later rescue the vast majority of transmigrators' destined wives—the empress, Boa Hancock?

Of course, Hancock should only have been a little girl by now. She might not even have been born yet, let alone become a slave.

The moment Fisher Tiger heard Ye Mu call his name,

he felt no excitement at being rescued. Instead, his pupils contracted, and he lowered his head in terror, as if afraid someone would recognize him. His body trembled nervously, and he gave no response to Ye Mu's words.

Ye Mu found it strange at first, but he soon remembered something and seemed to understand.

Just as Hancock refused to admit that she had once been a slave of the Celestial Dragons, Fisher Tiger was even more unwilling to do so.

Tiger had great prestige on Fish-Man Island and was a hero in the hearts of most Fish-Men. He was even less willing to acknowledge his filthy and humiliating past. He had kept the fact that he had once been a Celestial Dragon's slave buried deep in his heart, telling everyone only at the moment before his death.

Ye Mu didn't force Tiger too much. Instead, he first placed his hand on the thick Celestial Dragon collar around Tiger's neck.

Unfortunately, Ye Mu's Armament Haki had only reached the intermediate level so far. Besides becoming proficient in the basics—covering his body's surface to increase his attack power and defense—he had only reached the stage where he could project it outward. He hadn't reached the highest level of Armament Haki yet: Internal Destruction.

So he could only walk over to the Celestial Dragon's corpse and start rummaging through it.

Only then did Tiger finally raise his head nervously. His pupils widened as he stared at Ye Mu, who was searching haphazardly through the dead Celestial Dragon's body.

At that moment, everything that had just happened felt like a dream to Tiger.

As a slave in Holy Land Mary Geoise, he had witnessed countless dark things.

It was a past he didn't dare recall.

Because of it, he understood how untouchable the Celestial Dragons were in this world. They were practically a taboo existence.

Yet now, a Celestial Dragon had died right in front of him.

At that moment, Fisher Tiger felt as though the bottomless darkness suppressed deep within his heart had suddenly been shattered. A crack had appeared, and sunlight seeped through it.

Even so, his distrust of the human race still prevented him from making any response. He couldn't even voice his thanks.

As Tiger struggled inwardly, Ye Mu stood up in disappointment.

"This guy doesn't seem to have a key on him..."

Tiger suddenly froze.

"Hey, Enel, stop playing around. Bring those fellows over here."

"Got it..."

As the voice rang out, four bolts of thunder visibly descended from the sky under Tiger's astonished gaze.

Then the blond youth descended from the sky, holding a golden chain. At the other end, the four CP9 members—covered in wounds, smoking, and bound together by the chain—crashed heavily onto the deck.

Enel came to Ye Mu's side, still looking unsatisfied.

"These guys are too weak. When is that powerful fellow you mentioned coming?"

"Don't worry. It should be soon..."

"I understand..."

Ye Mu walked over to the four CP9 members. Because Ye Mu had instructed Enel not to kill them, and because their physical constitutions were fairly strong, they hadn't completely passed out yet.

"Hey..." Ye Mu wasn't interested in their names. After kicking them a few times, he asked,

"Where is the key to the collar around the Fish-Man's neck? I'll give you five seconds. If you can't tell me, then I'm sorry..."

"W-Wait..."

Ye Mu didn't even need to count. The CP9 captain in the lead immediately begged for mercy.

"The key isn't here. It's in Mary Geoise..."

"What a hassle..."

Ye Mu's disappointment was obvious. Then he glanced at Enel.

Enel understood. In an instant, electricity crackled all over his body.

Lightning traveled along the golden chain and into the four CP9 members.

In an instant, electric light flashed and scorched smoke rose. All four CP9 members passed out.

Only then did Ye Mu turn toward Fisher Tiger.

"Looks like there's no other way. You'll have to gamble on whether you're willing to take the risk—whether I can remove the collar from your neck before the explosion, or whether you'll be blown to death directly..."