Burning Justice Leaves Evil Nowhere to Hide!

At the Loguetown branch training ground, the assembled Marines looked curiously at Ivan and the others as they arrived.

Smoker stepped out of the crowd, glanced at the cloth sacks in Barton and the others' hands, and asked in a low voice, "Is this what you brought back from your trip?"

"Just a little something," Ivan replied casually, then raised a hand.

Barton and the others immediately understood and turned the sacks upside down, shaking them in unison.

With a clatter, the contents tumbled onto the ground: a succession of bloodstained heads.

Smoker paid them no mind at first. After all, Ivan brought back plenty of pirate heads every time he returned.

But when he saw one of the heads roll to his feet, his expression immediately grew serious. "This is... a Fish-Man!"

The first thing that flashed through his mind was the Arlong Pirates, who had held sway over the East Blue for years.

Could these be members of the Arlong Pirates?

He immediately looked around, and his gaze soon settled on one particularly conspicuous head.

Fangs, a long nose, and blue-gray skin. It was Arlong!

Smoker was shaken to the core.

Arlong was not only a notorious pirate with a bounty of twenty million Beli, but also had deep ties to Jinbe of the Shichibukai.

Sheltered by a Shichibukai, Arlong had run rampant in the East Blue for years, and even Marine Headquarters had turned a blind eye.

Had Ivan actually killed Arlong?

Had he really grown that strong?

"Is this the Arlong Pirates?" Smoker asked gravely.

"That's right!"

"You should know he's trouble."

The protection of a Shichibukai, the fact that Arlong was outside Loguetown's jurisdiction, and people within the Marines secretly shielding him-all these factors combined had kept even Smoker from making a move against Arlong.

After all, if he acted rashly, not only would he receive no credit, but his superiors would punish him for exceeding his authority.

Ivan knew that too, but he was not worried about punishment in the slightest. He said indifferently, "Burning justice must leave evil nowhere to hide!"

Smoker knew his subordinate's nature and sighed helplessly.

"You... forget it. What we need to do now is contact Captain Nezumi of the 16th Branch. As long as he doesn't report you for acting outside your jurisdiction, Headquarters won't punish you.

"But I've heard that Nezumi doesn't have a very good reputation..."

"There's no need to go to all that trouble!"

Smoker: "???"

"Nezumi is already dead!" Ivan spoke calmly, but his words were like a bomb going off in the middle of the training ground.

Smoker stared at Ivan in disbelief. "Wait, what did you say? Captain Nezumi is dead?"

"That's right!"

Smoker felt a little dizzy. He had thought he knew Ivan well enough, but he had never imagined Ivan was even bolder than he had thought!

Smoker looked around, sighed again, and pulled Ivan into his office. In a low voice, he asked, "Did you kill him?"

Although Ivan knew Smoker had already guessed the answer, he was not going to admit it.

He chuckled. "Captain Smoker, don't go slandering me. Captain Nezumi died because the Arlong Pirates attacked him.

"It just so happened that I heard Captain Nezumi's call for help, so I rushed over at full speed.

"But by the time we reached the vicinity of Cocoyasi Village, we found that Arlong had already murdered Captain Nezumi in cold blood. All we could do was kill Arlong and avenge Captain Nezumi!"

Smoker was speechless. Knowing Ivan's character, he could more or less guess the truth.

Nezumi and Arlong had undoubtedly been in league with each other. Ivan had discovered it, then killed them both.

In Smoker's eyes, Ivan was a more extreme Marine than Admiral Akainu.

His burning justice would not permit the slightest trace of evil to exist. Even evil within the Marines would be burned to ashes!

"Sigh..." Smoker sat back down in his chair. "Then that's how we'll report it. Let's hope Headquarters believes our report."

Ivan declared righteously, "What do you mean, believe it? That's what happened!"

Seeing how shameless Ivan was, Smoker was so angry he laughed. "Get lost. I've got a report to write. Stay here any longer and I'll make you write it!"

"Right away!" Ivan left without hesitation.

After leaving Smoker's office, Ivan headed straight for the low mountain behind town.

On the way, he greeted the townspeople who called out to him while checking his panel.

[Because you protected the weak, [Satoru Gojo template] recognition +10%]

[Template: Satoru Gojo · Echo (recognition: 43%)]

[Because you eradicated darkness, [Yamato] recognition +10%]

[Template: Yamato (recognition: 10%)]

As his recognition increased, Ivan's physical condition improved as well.

He pondered to himself that, with his current physical condition, he could probably perfect the moves he had envisioned!

When Ivan arrived at the low mountain, he took a deep breath and held his palm out flat before his chest.

A bright blue sphere appeared above his palm, releasing a powerful attractive force that steadily drew in the surrounding gravel and dead branches.

This was Cursed Technique Lapse: "Blue." Most of Ivan's current attacks made use of Blue's attractive force.

So Ivan had once imagined that if he could increase the strength of that force, his power would rise with it!

But with his previous physical condition, he had been unable to increase Blue's attractive force at all.

Now that his physical condition had improved again, however, he had barely met the requirements to strengthen it!

With a slight movement of Ivan's mind, his stamina drained rapidly like a flood bursting through a gate.

As his stamina drained, the bright blue sphere in his hand grew darker in color.

Gradually, the sphere changed from bright blue to deep blue, until it finally turned blue-black.

Once Blue had turned blue-black, its attractive force reached an astonishing level.

Although the sphere was now only a tenth of its original size, the force it released was dozens of times stronger than before!

Even the huge rocks beside Ivan were pulled in by the powerful force, flying rapidly toward him!

Seeing this, Ivan knew it was time. He extended a finger and flicked the blue-black sphere out. "Black Blue: Shigan!"

With a sonic boom, Black Blue shot out in an instant and struck the low mountain.

The mountain failed to hold out for even a second. The attack pierced straight through it halfway up, leaving a hole half a meter in diameter!

Back where he stood, Ivan panted heavily, looking with satisfaction at the mark left by Black Blue: Shigan.

With his current stamina, he could barely fire off one Black Blue: Shigan.

But the high consumption also brought high damage. With such power, even those Vice Admirals probably could not withstand it head-on!

For the next few days, Ivan stayed on the mountain behind town, continuing to perfect his moves and train his body.

Although his physical condition was now far better than before, it had all come from the character templates.

Along with the physical improvements, the character templates also brought the characters' potential, so Ivan could now steadily improve his physical condition through continued training.

Although it was not as fast as increasing his recognition, he could not give it up lightly.

Unless they cheated, no strong person started out strong. Only by persevering and building up little by little could one take the shortcut to becoming strong!

While Ivan trained, word of what he had done spread rapidly throughout the East Blue.

Several days later, this little matter in the East Blue finally landed on the conference table at Headquarters...

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