Chapter 6

Beside the winding coastline, a medium-sized wooden sailing ship had long been waiting, a huge World Government emblem emblazoned on its white sails.

As they boarded, Adrian could not help asking, "Instructor Kumadori Yamamba, I forgot to confirm something earlier. Are Dawson and I really headed to the West Blue for this mission?"

"Of course! Are you questioning your superior's judgment?" Kumadori Yamamba replied impatiently.

"I wouldn't dare," Adrian said. "I'm just curious. Isn't this island in the Grand Line? How are we supposed to reach the West Blue? As far as I know, unless they can fly, people from the Four Blues have to cross Reverse Mountain to reach the Grand Line, or risk sailing across the Calm Belt. If getting here is that difficult, surely going back is just as hard?"

"You talk too much, but at least you've read carefully. Looks like I picked the right person after all." Kumadori Yamamba raised an eyebrow. "Your thinking is still flawed, though! The sea isn't the only way to reach the West Blue."

"You mean?"

"Did you think we'd sail straight to the West Blue on this ship?" Kumadori Yamamba patted the railing. "Of course not! This ship is only taking us to the Red Line!

"We're not going by sea. We're climbing over the wall!"

"I see. We're crossing the Red Line that spans the planet?" Adrian finally understood. That had indeed been one of his blind spots.

But then his expression turned strange.

"So the destination for the first leg is the Celestial Dragons' home, the Holy Land of Mary Geoise?"

Kumadori Yamamba looked surprised. "Why would we go to Mary Geoise? We're not heading to the New World!"

Adrian suddenly realized something.

Mary Geoise was not the only way across the Red Line.

The Red Line divided the world's oceans into eastern and western halves; the Grand Line and the Calm Belts divided them into northern and southern halves.

More precisely, Mary Geoise was the land connection between Paradise and the New World. To reach the New World from the first half of the Grand Line, anyone who could not fly had only two routes: cross Mary Geoise or descend to Fish-Man Island.

Adrian's group was only going to the West Blue. They had no need to pass through Mary Geoise. They simply had to find any stretch of the Red Line bordering the West Blue and cross there.

Days at sea were long and leisurely. Although the climate in the first half of the Grand Line was relatively harsh, it was nowhere near as wildly unpredictable as the New World.

More than ten days later, Adrian's group finally reached their destination: an obscure little Affiliated Nation at the foot of the Red Line, an unknown distance from Mary Geoise.

Crossing the Red Line took even longer than the sea voyage. All told, a month passed before Adrian finally saw their destination: the West Blue!

The Operation Begins

Xilian Island.

A small island on the edge of the West Blue, ruled by an obscure little gang.

In the West Blue, there were thousands upon thousands of islands like it. The countless Mafia groups were the true uncrowned kings of its underworld.

An ordinary-looking sailing ship docked at the harbor, and its passengers disembarked one after another.

Beside the towering Dawson, Adrian, with his average build, went almost unnoticed among the others.

Kumadori Yamamba had chosen Xilian Island as a temporary stop. She planned to rest there briefly and replenish their supplies.

Vendors called out across the bustling docks.

"Come on over! You won't find a better price than mine!"

"Cheap, sure, but you get what you pay for! My fish are the freshest!"

"..."

"Hello, sir. Would you like a free tour?"

Adrian stopped and eyed the stranger who had suddenly appeared before him, a man in a gray short-sleeved shirt.

The gray-shirted man spoke with infectious enthusiasm, gesturing wildly. Everything he said and did was calculated to draw attention.

"If only it really were free. Unfortunately..." Adrian shot out a hand and caught an arm creeping toward his pocket, then hauled out a scrawny, sharp-faced little man.

He pushed the little man, who was grimacing in pain, toward the man in gray, then pointed at the hulking Dawson.

"Why pick me? That big guy looks much easier to fool."

The man in gray glanced at Dawson and instinctively hunched his shoulders. With a build like that, the man could flatten him with one punch!

"I'm warning you, li—"

He was about to make a threat and reveal who he worked for when the little man tugged at his shirt. The man in gray looked at the five dark finger marks on his accomplice's wrist, and his pupils contracted.

"Little what?" Adrian rubbed his chin, watching him with interest.

"Kind sir, I feel obliged to offer you a friendly warning." The man in gray abruptly changed his tune, sounding humble and sincere. "There's a very dangerous gang on this island. Please be careful while you're sightseeing... If you'll excuse me!"

Adrian watched the pair flee and could not help laughing.

What a frightening place the West Blue is. Even the docks of a remote island have thieves and extortionists.

"But I can't just let you run off. I was looking for some local crooks to ask about the surrounding waters..."

Adrian followed the pair at an unhurried pace.

Past the docks, the shacks, the streets...

The man in gray and the little man ran without stopping until they reached a deep, dark alley.

"I told you we shouldn't do it, but you insisted on pulling a job!" the little man complained loudly as he worked his wrist. "That guy came off the same ship as the other huge, terrifying monster. I saw them!"

"My fault. I didn't expect him to be that strong!" the man in gray said apologetically. "He's so short, too... Never mind. I'll treat you to—"

"I'm terribly sorry I'm so short!"

"Who's there?"

"Who said that?!"

The pair cried out in terror.

"Forgotten me already?"

Adrian stepped into the alley, irritation in his voice. He hated nothing more than people discussing his height, and these gangster lowlifes had dared mock him behind his back!

"I'm sorry! I was wrong!" they shouted together.

The two quick-witted gangsters dropped to their knees and pressed their foreheads to the ground the moment they saw Adrian, their movements so perfectly synchronized they might have rehearsed them.

You're making this difficult for me...

Adrian frowned. He had intended to give them a thorough beating, but he had not expected them to surrender so readily.

Unwilling to bother with small fry, he asked coldly, "Do either of you have a sea chart of the surrounding area?"

"Yes, yes!" The little man nodded frantically.

"The chart's at our place. If you want it, I'll take you there right away!" the man in gray added.

"It really is at your place?" Adrian raised an eyebrow. "Not some gang headquarters?"

"Of course not!" they cried in unison.

Both wiped the sweat from their foreheads.

You look so guilty that anyone could tell something's wrong...

Adrian was speechless.

"Adrian, why do you need a sea chart of the area?"

Just then, the light dimmed as an enormous figure blocked the alley's entrance like a boulder.

"To leave, of course, Dawson," Adrian said without turning around. "Were you planning to serve the World Government for the rest of your life?"

"I thought something felt off..." Dawson fell silent for a moment, then charged toward him. "Then I have to stop you!"

"Ah! He's charging!"

"The huge monster's charging!!"

The pair screamed in terror.

"Adrian, I don't want to fight you right now!" Dawson roared in a low voice, his tower-like frame nearly eclipsing Adrian. "Come back to the ship with me! We have a mission to carry out!"

"I'm afraid that's impossible," Adrian replied calmly. "Sorry, but I have no intention of serving the World Government. I never did."

"Adrian!!"

Dawson roared in fury, clenched his fist, and lunged.

"Finger Pistol: Fist Cannon!"

His fist hurtled toward Adrian like a cannonball, carrying overwhelming force as he tried to smash him away.

"Three days ago, you couldn't do anything to me..."

Just before the blow landed, Adrian drifted several meters backward with the rushing wind of the punch, as light as a scrap of paper, and effortlessly avoided Dawson's fist.

Six Powers: Kami-e!

"And I'm not the man I was three days ago!"

Six Powers: Iron Body: Iron Fist!

A flush suddenly spread across Adrian's fair-skinned fist. With Tekkai reinforcing it, his once-soft skin became hard as steel. He met Dawson's Fist Cannon head-on with every bit as much force.

Their fists collided with an explosion like a cannon blast. A violent shock wave raced outward, cracking the walls of the narrow alley and kicking up clouds of dust.

Crack... Drip... Drip...

A sharp snap of bone sounded, followed by drops of blood striking the ground.

Despite his greater size and imposing presence, Dawson had lost the contest of fists. A clear dent had been driven into his huge fist, and blood streamed from the torn skin at its center.

Adrian, by contrast, had only gotten his clothes a little dirty.

"That's impossible!"

"How can that man be so strong?!"

The two onlookers stared, dumbfounded and barely able to speak.

"You're no match for me now, Dawson. Do you still want to continue?"

Adrian dusted off his clothes and asked calmly.

"If Dawson isn't a match for you, what if I join him?"

"You wouldn't be either." Adrian turned. "Instructor Kumadori Yamamba."

But in the instant he turned, a chilling blade slashed out of the shadows.

Soru: Flash Step!

His feet struck the ground with explosive force, sending Adrian hurtling backward. He narrowly evaded the cold blade that had ambushed him from the darkness.

"As expected of the legendary super-assassin, Instructor Kumadori Yamamba. You almost got me."

Adrian wiped nonexistent sweat from his brow.

"I'm the one who taught you the Six Powers! Don't get arrogant, brat!"

Kumadori Yamamba's expression turned icy. The slash she had been certain would land had missed?!

How was that possible?

"You only taught me the basics, didn't you?" Adrian replied lightly. "Besides, who says a student can't surpass his instructor?"

"Don't get cocky! Soru!"

Anger on her face, Kumadori Yamamba used the Six Powers to close in. Her finely crafted Tachi swept down with a cold, mournful whistle, as if she meant to cut Adrian in two.

Adrian immediately drew the standard-issue blade at his waist and met her relentless assault.

Come on. Swordplay, not hand-to-hand combat, is my specialty!

Clang, clang, clang, clang!

In the dark alley, two blurred figures fought furiously, their positions visible only for an instant whenever their strength met.

Beyond the sharp ring of colliding blades, red sparks scattered everywhere, dazzling to behold.

Adrian was less agile than Kumadori Yamamba, true, but his higher-level Kami-e let him keenly sense the shifts in airflow caused by her changing moves. That allowed him to parry or dodge some dangerous attacks in advance.

Besides, Kumadori Yamamba was an assassin by trade. Ambushes were her habit; direct combat was not her strength!

As the fight wore on, Adrian began to gain the upper hand. He brought out his Swordplay techniques one after another, each strike carrying fearsome force. Chops, slashes, cuts, thrusts... Every kind of attack came naturally to him, his movements fluid and effortlessly graceful.

Clang!