Once he had met up with the Alabasta ship, Vice Admiral Dalmatian had gathered everyone he was assigned to protect. Flevance was an unexpected addition, and he reported it to Marine Headquarters.
After learning the situation, Headquarters assigned him to protect the Flevance Kingdom's ship as well, saving themselves the trouble. They also tactfully told him not to worry about the infectious disease.
Now all they had to do was sail for Holy Land Mary Geoise at full speed.
With the Eternal Pose guiding them, they could sail almost straight there. Supplies for the warship were no problem either; Marine Bases along the route were ready.
Even so, sailing day and night, it would take fourteen days to reach Holy Land Mary Geoise. That was assuming everything went smoothly and no pirates harassed them.
But even if pirates appeared, there was little cause for worry.
At thirty, Dalmatian was in his prime. He had earned his rank as a vice admiral at Marine Headquarters, and apart from a few exceptional rookies, he thought little of the pirates in the first half of the Grand Line.
Not fearing trouble and not wanting it were two different things, though...
Three days later, another pirate ship blocked the warship's path and opened fire.
Boom... Boom... Boom...
"They have a death wish!"
Dalmatian delivered his verdict on the pirates' brazen attack.
A year earlier, charging straight at a Marine warship would have been unthinkable, at least in the first half of the Grand Line. But after Pirate King Roger ushered in the Great Pirate Era, these lunatics had grown bolder and bolder.
Even the warnings the Marines had published in the newspapers only seemed to embolden them.
After all, kidnapping a king carried enormous risks, but the potential reward was greater still: a