The Marine from Back Then

Jesus Burgess scrambled around the two men, sweat dripping steadily down his chin.

"Doctor! Doctor, hurry!"

Lafitte shouted anxiously as well.

"Relax. The captain and Van Augur are favored by fate. They have great worth."

"They won't die so easily."

The sickly Doc Q slowly examined their injuries, then coughed twice and spoke.

Just then, Marshall D. Teach, who had been lying motionless, suddenly opened his eyes and let out a string of agonized screams.

"Ah! It hurts! It hurts!"

Screaming, Marshall D. Teach trembled all over and pulled open his shirt, revealing a clear slash running from just below his neck to his abdomen.

His flesh had split open, and blood was pouring out.

"Aaaaaah!"

Blackbeard continued to scream, but then he suddenly gritted his teeth.

"Black Vortex!"

Pitch-black mist surged out, turning into flames in the blink of an eye and flickering around the slash on his body.

As the darkness appeared, the wound and scar on Blackbeard's body began vanishing rapidly.

At the same time, however, his screams grew even louder.

Only after a long while did his screams gradually subside. Blackbeard rolled over, braced both hands against the sand, and panted heavily, sweat dripping from his head.

"Huff, huff, huff, huff!"

"That was close! I was this close to getting killed!"

His face twisted into a savage grimace as he spoke.

"Damn it!"

"That bastard!"

Blackbeard abruptly raised his head, his eyes filled with fury.

"I'll never forgive him!"

Then, swaying, he slowly stood up. His face was pale and covered in sweat, and he looked utterly drained.

"How's Van Augur?"

Blackbeard turned his head and asked coldly.

Van Augur lay beside him, completely unconscious now, his shoulder a bloody mess.

"Cough, cough, cough... Don't worry, Captain. He won't die!"

"He has enough worth to both you and our crew, so he's fortunate."

Doc Q paused, then grinned.

"But if that hole had been just a little lower, he would've died for sure!"

"Did he dodge it himself? That man shouldn't have made a mistake like that."

Doc Q's eyes flickered as he spoke.

"We'll rest briefly, then leave at once."

"If we run into that man again in this state, we're finished."

Blackbeard drew a deep breath and spoke gravely.

The others exchanged glances and nodded silently. Jesus Burgess hoisted the unconscious Van Augur onto his back and headed toward the town on the island.

At that moment, they finally understood why their captain feared that man so much. With nothing more than a flick of his finger, he had made a bullet more powerful than a cannonball.

That slash had even split the sea, leaving them nowhere to dodge and striking their captain squarely.

Without a doubt, encountering him had been the greatest crisis the Blackbeard Pirates had faced so far.

Meanwhile, on the far side of Mock Town.

Mont Blanc Cricket gripped the shore with both hands and hauled himself out of the sea, then trudged toward his home.

But when he reached his house, he suddenly stopped, his eyes narrowing at the strange group before him.

"Who are you?"

Kurik frowned and asked in a low voice.

The man at their head had black hair, a sword at his waist, and a loose black robe. Beside him stood a man entirely concealed beneath a cloak, wearing a Ghostface Mask. The others looked like a bunch of ruffians.

"Mont Blanc Cricket, have you forgotten? Twenty years ago, we sat right here and discussed whether Sky Island existed."

River smiled as he spoke.

Kurik froze at those words, then stared at the man before him. He looked more and more familiar, and suddenly Kurik's whole body jolted.

"River! You're River!"

"The Marine from back then!"

He remembered. One day twenty years ago, he had seen a strange Marine coming from the distance, stepping across the sea until he reached his doorstep.

The sight had stunned him.

Yes, he had seen the man with his own eyes, walking and running over the sea as though it were solid ground, cutting through the wind and waves from some unknown place.

That bizarre sight had shocked him and left a lasting impression.

Then the man had approached him, asking for a drink of water and explaining why he had come.

"I'm pursuing the Roger Pirates. I heard their next destination is Sky Island."

"You're a descendant of Noland? Then can you tell me how to get to Sky Island?"

After finishing a glass of water, the man had grinned with the sunlight at his back.

Whether it was walking across the sea, pursuing Roger, or discussing Sky Island, everything about the Marine had fascinated young Kurik.

So they had sat together that night and talked for a long time.

About Sky Island, about the world, and about the vanished city of gold.

He had always suspected that the city of gold had sunk, but the Marine had insisted that the ancient Shandia had been swept ten thousand meters into the sky.

His thoughts slowly returned from his memories to the present, and Kurik looked at the man before him.

"Twenty years have passed, yet you're still as young as you were back then."

His words carried amazement, but also a clear note of laughter.

Reuniting with an old friend was indeed something to be happy about.

He strode forward, and River approached as well. Their large hands clasped tightly together.

"You, on the other hand, look a lot older!"

Kurik shook his head. "You seem to have forgotten to give me the answer to that mystery back then."

"Something unexpected happened. It delayed me for twenty years."

"I'll give you the answer now."

After a pause, River gazed seriously at the man before him, drew a light breath, and spoke in a low voice.

"Sky Island exists!"

"I saw it all with my own eyes! The legendary city of gold and the Shandia people are all up on Sky Island now."

Kurik fell silent. After a long while, he shook his head and sighed softly. "Is that so?"

River paused, then suddenly understood. Words alone weren't very convincing.

His old friend had taken them as nothing more than an attempt to comfort him.

"I came this time to ask you whether there's another way to reach Sky Island."

River asked another question.

His old friend was clearly an expert on Sky Island, so after racking his brains without finding any way to get there, he had come to visit him.

"You want to go to Sky Island again?"

"What for this time?"

Kurik asked gravely.

"There's someone on Sky Island I admire. I want to invite him to join my crew."

River smiled.

"Is that so?"

Raising his head, Kurik glanced over the people behind River.

"You've changed quite a bit in these twenty years!"

Then he gently shook his head.

"There was a massive updraft powerful enough to launch a ship into the sea of clouds ten thousand meters above!"

"But you've already missed it. Straw Hat and his crew used it to get into the sky not long ago."

"We still don't know whether they're alive or dead."

River sighed softly at that. "Is that so?"

"Then it looks like there's no other way."

But Kurik looked up just then. "Can't you use the same method you used to reach the island twenty years ago?"

After saying that, however, he shook his head again and looked at the people behind River.

"I almost forgot. You're not alone this time."

"If you can wait, it seems another Knock Up Stream will occur in these waters before long."

"But I can't be certain it'll erupt."