Setting Sail

"Fufufufufu... This era was truly far too exciting..."

As his words fell, Doflamingo spread his hands and threw back his head with an evil grin. One of the Marine Giants instantly felt his body slip out of his control and swung his giant axe at his companion.

"What...?"

The other Giant had no time to react before his companion struck him. Blood poured out as his mountain-like body crashed down, crushing countless buildings.

"This is our chance... Everyone, charge..."

Everyone who saw this became even more excited. Some of the faster ones had already climbed aboard their pirate ships...

Just then, a golden light appeared behind Doflamingo in the sky.

"How frightening, the newcomers these days... So, Doflamingo, have you ever been kicked at the speed of light...?"

Cold sweat instantly covered Doflamingo's body. He turned his head with difficulty and looked at Kizaru behind him.

"Damn it..."

At that moment, a bolt of lightning flashed, accompanied by another somewhat arrogant voice.

"Hey... That's what I wanted to ask you, Marine..."

"Oh... Enel, vice captain of the Sky Pirate Crew... It's you again..."

Kizaru's expression remained calm, but his Light-Speed Kick ultimately did not come down.

"Yeah... Yellow Monkey... Now we can finally have a proper fight, right...?"

The two faced off in midair, and Doflamingo grew even more excited at the sight.

"Looks like I escaped disaster... Fufufufufu... Sky Pirate Crew, I'll let the matter of you stealing my slaves go for now... We'll meet again in the New World..."

In an instant, Doflamingo flew through the air toward his pirate crew.

After Doflamingo left, Kizaru turned and instantly launched a Light-Speed Kick at Enel.

"As expected, you're a dangerous one... In that case, I absolutely can't let you leave..."

Enel met the attack without backing down.

Boom...

Lightning and light collided in an instant.

The shockwave from the violent explosion spread outward from the two like rippling waves, throwing all of Loguetown and the sea into turmoil.

"Oh, it seems your strength has improved..."

Though he had not used his full strength, Kizaru could clearly sense that Enel had grown stronger in this exchange.

Enel gave an arrogant grin.

"I have your Marines to thank for that. That technique called the Six Powers was really interesting. It could gather the body's strength together, and by speeding up blood flow, it could make the muscles move faster. That's why my strength could increase so much in such a short time..."

"Oh... I see... But it's only been fifteen days, if I remember correctly, and you've already mastered the Six Powers... You really are dangerous. That makes it even more necessary not to let you escape..."

"Ame no Murakumo..."

"Try and stop us, then..."

Enel eagerly swung the Golden Staff in his hand.

In an instant, lightning and light blazed across the sky. Thunderous roars rang out continuously, like bolts from a clear sky.

On the Twin Goddess, Tiger busily maneuvered the ship, preparing to leave.

Freya held Baby-5 in her arms and stared wide-eyed at the battle in the sky.

Every collision between Enel and Kizaru was enough to shake heaven and earth. This monster-level battle strength finally made Freya understand what Ye Mu had meant when he said she would be unable to help in the battles ahead.

"Lord Enel... is amazing..."

"So amazing... Is this your true strength... You're practically monsters..."

Ye Mu looked speechlessly at his new crew member and head chef.

"What... you... We're all in the same boat from now on..."

"S-Sorry... I'm not used to it yet... But do we really not need to help...?"

"No. When it comes to speed, even I couldn't stop Enel. Besides, the real trouble hasn't appeared yet..."

"The real trouble...?"

Freya froze.

"Yeah."

"But..."

Freya looked around. As the battle continued, she discovered that many people had already boarded their pirate ships and begun heading out to sea.

"What other trouble could there be... Everyone has already escaped onto the sea. How could the Marines stop all these pirates...?"

Ye Mu smiled.

"That was the Marines' real plan. They deliberately let us out onto the sea so they could avoid accidentally hurting civilians. After all, the moment we put to sea, we had effectively become pirates... and the Marines could kill us as they pleased..."

"But we've already escaped onto the sea. Even if the Marines have a lot of people, they don't have enough warships to catch so many people at once, do they?"

"Who told you they needed warships?"

"!!!!"

Freya was about to ask more questions when Ye Mu suddenly spoke.

"It's coming..."

"Coming... What's coming...?"

Before Freya could react, she heard a somewhat familiar voice beside her.

"Ah la la, that should be enough. In that case, we can begin Admiral Sengoku's encirclement plan..."

"All of you pirates, stay right here."

"Ice Age..."

In barely an instant, the sweltering summer heat was engulfed by a chill like the depths of winter.

Freya had no idea what had happened. It felt as though the world before her had been replaced.

The once stormy, wave-tossed sea turned into a snow-white frozen world in the blink of an eye. As far as the eye could see, the entire ocean had frozen solid.

When Freya finally came back to her senses, she clutched Baby-5 and screamed in terror.

"Ehh!!!"

"The sea froze!!!"

"How is that possible...?"

The other pirates were just as terrified. Their pirate ships had instantly frozen into the ice, and they stared in horror toward the center of the Marines, at the man emanating cold air.

"Is this the Marines' strength...?"

"You've got to be kidding..."

"Can a person really cause something this powerful...?"

"Mom... I don't want to go to sea anymore... I want to go back..."

On the Donquixote Family Pirates' ship.

Doflamingo stared in shock at the instantly frozen sea and the pirate ships unable to move, but he was even more excited.

Beside him, Seka, the user of the Stone-Stone Fruit, wanted to jump down and smash open the ice, but Doflamingo stopped him.

"Don't rush. Someone still hasn't made a move yet... The era is about to boil over... Fufufufufu."

As his words fell, every pirate frozen on the sea and shivering in the cold suddenly felt an aura warmer and more scorching than the sun.

They looked toward the source of that warmth, and all of them were startled.

"Th-That's the sun..."