"Now this is what team building should look like."
Sakazuki loosened his tie, took off his suit jacket, and tossed it onto a lounge chair.
His iron-cast upper body was fully exposed to the sunlight, his muscles looking as though they had been carved with knives and chisels. The rose tattoo on his left arm formed a strange contrast with his stance at the bow-beast and flower, violence and beauty.
The girls let out cheers they could not contain.
"Hmph." The corner of his mouth twitched. This doesn't feel bad, either.
The thought flashed through his mind for only an instant before he quickly suppressed it. He turned toward Aramaki.
"Aramaki!"
Ryokugyu had been leaning against the railing, drinking juice. The sudden call startled him so badly that juice sloshed out of his glass. "Holy shit! Boss?!"
With his back to him, Sakazuki kept his eyes fixed on the pirate ship ahead, which was trying to flee. "Are there any captive civilians aboard that pirate ship?"
Aramaki narrowed his eyes. His vision changed instantly-it was no longer ordinary sight, but a "perception" that scanned for life.
In his eyes, the ship ahead became countless green lines, outlining its structure, its stacked cargo, and every living being aboard.
"There are around twenty faint life signs in the hold and at the stern." He licked his lips. "Around forty strong ones."
Sakazuki nodded without speaking.
The captain of the Fishbone Pirates was crouching on deck, preparing to personally torture several wealthy merchants they had captured that day. He held a pair of red-hot pincers, his face wearing the sort of smile that savored his prey's fear.
Then he looked up and saw a snow-white luxury yacht charging toward him at an unbelievable speed.
Without thinking, he dropped the pincers and shouted,