Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?

It was a fine day, with clear skies stretching for miles. At least, the weather in the Sabaody Archipelago was lovely.

As usual, Rayleigh sat at the bar, sipping his liquor. That spot had practically become his personal seat.

He spent hundreds of thousands of Beli on drinks every day, and a coating craftsman's wages certainly couldn't cover that, so Rayleigh had already sold himself three times lately...

The slave-catching crews, auction houses, and slave buyers must have suffered heavy losses... That really was... immensely satisfying!

Abel came to the tavern as usual, too, but unlike his previous visits, he wasn't alone this time.

The man accompanying Abel had short black hair with a slight natural curl. He wore sunglasses and a ring of stubble around his face. Tall and thin, he stood nearly three meters high, dressed in a suit striped in bright and dark yellow, with a purple tie, a dark green shirt underneath, and white leather shoes.

An air of lazy frivolity surrounded him, making him look like a harmless middle-aged fellow. But appearances could be deceiving, because his name was Borsalino. Not many people might have known his real name, but his alias was famous: Kizaru!

The name sounded rather cute, yet it was the stuff of nightmares for countless pirates, because he was Admiral Kizaru, one of Marine Headquarters' three greatest fighting forces!

The moment Kizaru walked through the tavern door, the drinking pirates instantly sobered up. More precisely, fright sobered them up. Cold sweat broke out all at once, and their minds filled with questions. Why had an Admiral from Marine Headquarters come here?

Against one of the Shichibukai, they might still have wanted to try their luck in a fight. Against an Admiral, however, they couldn't even muster the will to resist. Marine Headquarters' greatest fighting forces were no joke. They understood power, and so they feared it.

Yet Kizaru seemed oblivious to the tension in the tavern. He slowly walked over to the bar, sat down, and placed a large case on the counter. Then he abruptly turned toward Rayleigh, as though he had only just noticed him, and spoke in a blatantly feigned tone of surprise:

"Oh my, isn't this the legendary Pirate King's right-hand man, Dark King Rayleigh! To think I'd meet someone so important in such a little tavern. How frightening~"

Kizaru made no attempt to lower his voice, so the other pirates heard him too. For an instant, they almost shook off their terror of the Admiral. What had Kizaru just said? Dark King? Rayleigh?! That scruffy old man?!

To pirates, the Pirate King was a dream, a legend. As the Pirate King's right-hand man, Dark King Rayleigh was clearly no less legendary. He, too, was a towering figure at the very pinnacle!

They didn't believe a distinguished Admiral would lie, so that utterly ordinary old man really was Dark King Rayleigh!

They had never expected to be fortunate enough to see someone like him today. But then they glanced at Kizaru beside Rayleigh and silently cursed their rotten fate all over again!

Rayleigh wasn't angered. He raised his glass and took a small sip. He had no choice; he needed to make his liquor last. "Selling" himself too often within a short span wasn't good for sustainable development.

"I'm just an ordinary old man. This Dark King business is all in the past."

Kizaru neither agreed nor disagreed. He had long known that Dark King Rayleigh was in the Sabaody Archipelago. In fact, it was hardly a secret among the Marines' senior officers. One particular Marine hero had even made a special trip to the Sabaody Archipelago to drink with Rayleigh.

But the Marines had no intention of arresting Rayleigh, because the gains wouldn't justify the cost. To capture him safely, they would need at least two Admirals, along with warships surrounding the island. A top-tier fighter's desperate last stand would be terrifying, and the price wasn't one the Marines could afford.

Most importantly, what would capturing Rayleigh accomplish? Even the Pirate King was already dead. Why go out of their way to arrest his right-hand man?

Besides, Rayleigh had behaved himself, living in "seclusion" in the Sabaody Archipelago without causing trouble, so the Marines had simply decided to leave him alone.

Kizaru stopped paying attention to Rayleigh drinking beside him and turned his gaze toward Su Yu, who was seated behind the bar.

"Young man, you must be the owner of this tavern. Fleet Admiral Sengoku sent me here to collect something, and he had me bring this along as well. Here you go~"

As he spoke, Kizaru pushed the large case toward Su Yu.

Su Yu steadied the case and opened it, revealing seven oddly shaped fruits inside. They were Devil Fruits.

With another sale completed, Su Yu was clearly in a good mood. He smiled and stepped out from behind the bar. Then, just as before, a bronze case landed on the floor with a thud, and he gestured toward it for Kizaru.

"This is what Fleet Admiral Sengoku wanted. Admiral, please!"

But the carving on this bronze case wasn't a winged pegasus. It bore a different design.

Kizaru watched in amazement. He had deliberately pushed his Observation Haki to its limit just now, yet he hadn't sensed a thing. He gave Su Yu a long, searching look, though his voice retained its usual drawl.

"What a remarkable ability you have, young man. How frightening~"

Su Yu smiled faintly and returned behind the bar without a word.

Kizaru reached out and felt the bronze case. It felt like ordinary bronze. He lifted it slightly and found it fairly heavy, but the weight seemed to be that of an empty case. After thinking it over, he decided the owner probably wouldn't dare deceive the Fleet Admiral and an Admiral. Whatever was inside must have been very light.

He then picked up the case and handed it to Abel before saying to Su Yu:

"Well then, young man, I'll head back and report. But you seem to have quite a few pirates in your establishment. Why don't I help you clear them out!"

Hearing Kizaru's words, Abel anxiously tried to stop him, but he didn't know what to say. Besides, Kizaru was far too fast for him to intervene.

At Kizaru's casual words, the pirates who had thought they had escaped disaster were instantly scared out of their wits. Their muscles stiffened, and cold sweat poured down their bodies. They couldn't even think of fighting back. All they wanted was to flee.

Unfortunately, Kizaru possessed the fastest Devil Fruit, the Logia Glint-Glint Fruit. How could their two legs possibly outrun light?

A dazzling light burst from Kizaru's body, and he vanished on the spot. When he reappeared, he was already beside a pirate, one leg raised in his signature pose, ready to whip out a kick.

Then that unfortunate pirate heard a devil's whisper, like a judge of death delivering his final sentence.

"Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"

In truth, Kizaru wasn't doing this to help Su Yu clear out the tavern. He was demonstrating the Marines' strength. Since the Fleet Admiral was doing business with Su Yu, that meant Su Yu had something the Fleet Admiral-or rather, the Marines-needed. He wanted this display of power to bring Su Yu firmly over to the Marines' side.

But clearly, his decision had made someone very unhappy...