A world of splendid ash

Mission codename: Operation Descent

Mission briefing: Esteemed Commander, although we successfully reclaimed the Lunar Base, Babylon still faces the risk of resource depletion. Shandia intelligence has discovered a suitable island in the Blue Sea. Reports indicate that a Blue Sea pirate fleet is stationed there. Eliminate this fleet, and we will secure a bridgehead for expansion into the Blue Sea.

Mission location: Mock Town, Jaya Island, Grand Line, Blue Sea.

Mission objective one: Destroy the pirate fleet.

Mission objective two: Eliminate all resistance in Mock Town.

Mission objective three: Seize control of Jaya Island and establish a permanent base.

Optional mission objective: Find Noland's descendants (stability +1, sociology +1)

As a warship, the Splendid Ash was not merely an atmospheric flying vessel, but also Babylon's first unmanned warship. Aside from Sephiroth, there was not a single living crew member aboard.

The crew at the key control stations were those innocent Servo Angels with their two-head-tall proportions, disguised in fully enclosed powered exoskeletons modeled after the T-60 Power Armor from the Fallout games.

As the innocent Servo Angels studied the mission briefing on the screens before them, question marks almost seemed to appear above their heads, even through their power armor helmets.

"Hiss-" Steam vented. "Don't worry about it-"

The speaker looked nothing like a living being. He looked entirely like a robot. His voice, too, was a deep, electronically synthesized male voice played through a speaker array.

Heavy gray armor, brass steam pipes, and gears made him look like an intimidating, heavily armored knight powered by steam machinery.

He was practically steampunk personified, a physical embodiment of rivets, steam, and steel.

Naturally, Sephiroth was piloting it from inside. Once again, his appearance was steeped in his personal tastes.

His inspiration was Charles Babbage from FGO, whose design incorporated fictional science-fiction elements and who was known as the "Moon Gundam" and the "Steam King."

"-Reporting in. All pirate ships in the harbor have been sunk."

That meant the vast majority of people could no longer escape.

The screen showed an overhead view of the chaotic harbor. Everywhere, pirates were fleeing in panic.

"-Good. Deploy the Zakus-"

Pirates with any ambition generally would not choose to settle here. This was nothing more than a rabble. Mechanical servants would suffice.

Upon receiving Sephiroth's instructions, the warship transmitted deployment orders to the mechanical servants on standby.

On the deployment platform, mechanical servants remodeled to resemble the Zakus from Gundam UC strode onto magnetic-levitation flying craft. The magnetic clamps in their leg armor locked into place with a hum-.

Although modeled after Zakus, they were certainly not eighteen meters tall. They stood only two meters high, armed with Heat Hawks and Electromagnetic Rotary Machine Guns.

All this effort to disguise themselves as a separate faction was essentially intended to maintain some separation from Sky Island for the next few years.

Sephiroth himself had also adopted an alias: Charles Babbage, the Machine King, a user of the Paramecia-type Magnet-Magnet Fruit.

He had even considered how to keep his identity concealed if he encountered an Observation Haki expert. The Babbage Armor constantly generated an electromagnetic field to block various forms of psychic probing and interfere with Observation Haki.

An all-metal warship descended from the sky, its coils crackling with electricity. Massive gear assemblies rumbled with the clash of metal, arrays of brass pipes shrieked as they vented boiling steam, and beams of destruction obliterated everything-

To Bellamy, who had just led his pirate crew out to meet the enemy, it all seemed utterly absurd...

Ever since joining Doflamingo's ranks, he had considered himself the top dog in Mock Town. A bounty of thirty-four million Beli was respectable in the first half of the Grand Line. He had seen his share of things, but he had genuinely never seen anything like this.

As he was losing his mind over it, his first mate Sarquiss raised his Kukri, pointed at the relentlessly bombarding Splendid Ash, and roared-

"What's so impressive about hiding up in the sky?! Come down if you've got the guts! Fight me one-on-one!!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Whether by coincidence or not, strange "exits" appeared on both sides of the ship just after Sarquiss shouted. A group of metal men swooped down on mechanical flying craft shaped like rays.

A series of shots came without a single muzzle flash. Even though the Bellamy Pirates were not being specifically targeted, a whole group of their lackeys fell. Ribass, the gunner who attempted to fight back, had his skull blown open by those weapons before he could fire his cannon.

The strange robots split into groups of four and moved into town. They did not attack anyone who showed no obvious signs of resistance. It looked more like an armed show of force.

"Tch-"

Bellamy took one look at the situation and did feel the urge to flee. But Doflamingo had businesses here, and Bellamy sailed under his flag... Fleeing without a fight would mean certain death, however he looked at it.

He crouched, his legs turning into springs, and launched himself like a cannonball.

-Boom.

The impact successfully destroyed one Zaku.

The remaining three Zakus accelerated and scattered to circle around, intending to surround Bellamy. The one facing him drew its Heat Hawk and leaped from its relatively slow magnetic-levitation craft. The jetpack on its back abruptly ignited-

Bellamy bounced between buildings at high speed, refusing to attack rashly as the Zakus circled him. Instead, he kept moving to avoid their unknown ranged weapons. Engaging the Zaku approaching head-on would inevitably leave him caught in a pincer attack.

He saw his opponent charging fiercely toward him, drawing an obviously extraordinary axe with a glowing blade.

Relying on his ability to build up speed with repeated spring-powered launches, Bellamy chose to evade.

The Zakus' technology was really nothing special, and their intelligence was extremely limited. They could handle ordinary pirates, but against a Devil Fruit user, they were decidedly outmatched.

After maneuvering around them for about ten minutes, Bellamy destroyed the Zaku squad. The Heat Hawks and electromagnetic machine guns could undoubtedly inflict fatal wounds on him, but the gap in mobility was difficult to bridge.

"Nice work, Captain Bellamy-!"

"That's our captain!"

"The man who sails under Lord Doflamingo's flag!"

Amid his crew's cheers, Bellamy stood among the Zaku wreckage, boldly raised his fist, and roared at the sky-

"Of course! I'm the man who's going to help Lord Doflamingo become the Pirate King!"

Just as the mood reached its peak, an eerie humming sound rapidly approached. Bellamy looked up, and a shadow blotted out the sun.

With the light behind it, he could not make out what it was. But the scorching air, the terrifying sense of pressure, and the faint tingling that made his hair stand on end gave him an inkling... of why his crew had fallen silent as though their throats had been seized...

"-Boom, boom, boom-!!!"

What fell from the sky and slammed down before Bellamy was a mechanical monster unlike anything he had ever seen.

It was certainly tall compared with an ordinary person, but not abnormally so. Yet its overwhelming presence made facing it feel like standing before a giant-

His scalp prickled, and his legs shook uncontrollably.

An eerie tingling spread across his skin, traveling along his spine and into his brain.

He clad himself in the possibilities of the future-in steel of an alien form.

He concealed the future of his dreams-an alien world-within his heart.

A dreamlike phantom vision flashed past.

--!

Having finally regained control of his body, Bellamy hurled himself between the buildings in a frenzy, clenching his teeth as though he would shatter them.

Not a word passed between them. Instinct told him that unless he gave it everything he had-or perhaps even if he did-he stood no chance-

"Come on, boss!"

"Don't lose, Captain!"

"Captain-Bellamy-!"

-I can win!

We came to the Grand Line from that utterly boring place, Nautilus, to follow the pride of the North Blue-Lord Doflamingo-to stop being nobodies-to make our names known across the world-!!!

-I've built this strike up to its maximum power!

"How could I lose so easily to some random robot-?!"

"-Bang-boom-bzzzz--"

The steel knight... no, the steel king raised his mechanical arm at an unbelievable speed, utterly at odds with his cumbersome appearance-

As though swatting a fly, he slapped Bellamy away... with a sonic boom.

Bellamy's body smashed through five buildings before coming to a halt, buried beneath the rubble.

That slap delivered sixty-five thousand horsepower.

"Hiss--"

Steam rose from the steel monster. Each heavy footstep seemed to strike everyone's heart like a sledgehammer, while his single red eye cast a chilling halo through the steam...

"What king... did you just mention...?"