Chapter 336: A Pack of Hounds, Daring to Bark at Me?
Sabaody Archipelago, Star Hunter Unit General Command Headquarters.
A large number of ships were setting sail, and the base was a hive of activity.
Within the port, coated warships bobbed frantically on the violently rocking sea surface, like leaves tossed in a flood.
"Hey! Vice Admiral Roy Amos, what is the meaning of this!?"
Within the base, several CP0 members wearing masks and white suits were looking at the new generation legend of the Marines holding a cola bottle in front of them.
"The Commander's order was..."
"I heard it very clearly, there's no need for you to repeat it."
Before they could finish speaking, they were interrupted by Roy's calm words.
At this time, the port of the Star Hunter Unit indeed had a large number of fully coated ships, just as rumored.
But just as mentioned before—even the ships within the port, where the water is relatively sheltered, were continuously bobbing up and down.
Then one can imagine the situation across the entire Sabaody Archipelago right now.
Rumble!
The sky was no longer azure blue.
Pitch-black clouds shrouded the Red Line not far from the Sabaody Archipelago.
Beneath the clouds, the sea was nothing short of insane.
Giant waves up to tens of meters or even over a hundred meters high appeared almost incessantly, throwing up massive walls of water that crashed continuously against the surface.
Massive whirlpools that could swallow any ship were visible everywhere.
What's even more terrifying was...
Creak! Creak!
A sound of immense strain echoed across the entire Sabaody Archipelago.
Everyone knew what that sound was—it came from the foundation of the Sabaody Archipelago's existence, the world's largest 'Yarukiman Mangrove Grove'.
Already groaning under the pressure, every island of the Sabaody Archipelago showed a pronounced, unmistakable tilt.
Panicked cries spread across every corner of the island.
Roy knew why all this was happening.
The Sunlight Tree Eve is a giant tree not inferior to the Treasure Tree Adam, and its very existence is the foundation of the nearby sea area.
In fact, though nothing has been definitively proven.
Most scholars believe that the remarkable 'Yarukiman Mangrove Grove' near the Sabaody Archipelago was able to grow to such a size and develop its unique ecosystem precisely because of the existence of the Sunlight Tree Eve.
And now, the Sunlight Tree Eve had been heavily injured and brought to the verge of death by Shamrock's strike.
Then one can imagine.
The entire Sabaody Archipelago, and even the entire nearby sea area, would be struck by an unprecedented natural disaster.
Thinking of this, Roy slowly turned his head.
"Aren't I executing the order right now?"
His voice was very calm, and even while speaking, he casually directed Hans and the others to cast off the freshly coated 'Black Loyalty'.
If anyone familiar with Roy looked closely at this moment, they would discover that his eyes seemed to carry an inexplicable coldness.
However, clearly, the CP0 agents didn't notice this.
"No, that's not what we're asking!"
The leading CP0 agent raised his voice.
He pointed at the Star Hunter Unit warships in the port that were busy, but clearly had no intention of diving to the seabed to execute the order, and gritted his teeth saying: "What we're asking is, why do the nearby Star Hunter Unit ships have no intention of heading to the seabed to execute the order, but are dispersing instead?"
"Hah?"
Hearing his question, Roy dug his ear and blew on it.
"Isn't that obvious?"
He said with a serious face: "Since we are executing the Government's 'vital mission', of course we have to clear the nearby sea area to ensure no pirates or other ships interfere with the mission."
CP0: "..." ×N
Do you want to rethink what you're saying?
In these kinds of sea conditions, only coated ships stood any chance of navigating through a natural disaster of this level.
But just as Luffy and the others knew earlier, the coating craftsmen had long been specially tasked with coating Government warships under the World Government's orders quite a while ago. All merchant and pirate ships that had arrived at Sabaody recently had been unable to find coating craftsmen.
Under such circumstances, who could possibly interfere with the mission?
"You bastard, you clearly just want to disobey Lord Commander Shamrock's orders and go rescue those lowly commoners, right!?"
A portion of the CP0 seemed to see through Roy's plan, unable to hold back from speaking at this moment, their tone carrying undisguised mockery.
Yes.
These warships clearly didn't intend to go destroy the Sunlight Tree Eve, but planned to go to the nearby sea areas to rescue civilians.
For the 'mission-first' CP0, this was naturally intolerable.
In their view, even if all the lowly commoners on all the islands in this sea area perished, as long as they could complete the Government's mission, then they were all 'worthy sacrifices'.
Not to mention...
"We have already received news, some 'Fish-Men' who escaped from the seabed have also been taken in by your unit... Vice Admiral Black Judge, what exactly does your Star Hunter Unit want to do? Who gave you the authority to act so recklessly!?"
"Are you intending to rebel against the Government!?"
BOOM!
Before the CP0 agents could finish speaking.
The next moment, a golden shockwave had already descended from the sky, completely enveloping them.
"Sorry—everyone, I believe spouting nonsense at a time like this is an act that shakes the military's morale."
"And in the Star Hunter Unit, those who shake the military's morale... die!"
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The bodies of all the CP0 agents instantly produced sounds like snapping firecrackers—that was the sound of every bone within their bodies completely shattering.
Blood involuntarily spewed from their mouths, and subsequently, they crumpled one by one to the ground.
The scene was dead silent.
The expression beneath the mask of the leading CP0 agent gradually shifted from disbelief to anger.
"How dare you..."
His gaze stared fixedly at Roy through the mask—he could feel the vitality within his body rapidly draining away. The anger in his chest made him hiss the words out.
How dare the other party kill them?
They are CP0, agents directly under the Five Elders, the spokespersons of the World Government!
He wanted to ask the other party how they dared. Weren't they afraid of retaliation from the World Government!?
Roy's expression remained calm, but the coldness in his eyes grew even more intense.
"How dare I?"
As if seeing through what the other party was thinking.
Roy sneered, slowly picked up his cola cup, and drank the cola inside in one gulp.
"That's what I want to ask."
"A pack of hounds — how dare you... speak to me like that?"
As the words fell, he casually tossed the empty cup in his hand into a trash can.
All the CP0 agents present breathed their last at this moment.
And exactly at the same time the CP0 agents were casually killed by Roy...
"Hahahaha, very clean execution, Roy boy."
Accompanied by a signature hearty laugh, the white-haired Marine Hero walked out from a corner of the command headquarters.
That was none other than Monkey D. Garp.
"Time is tight, no time to chat idly with these guys."
Roy waved his hand casually.
"That's true too—these CP0 guys have broken brains, you can't reason with them at all. It's good to finish them off first."
Garp nodded in complete agreement.
As the two spoke, they didn't treat the monumental crime of 'killing CP0' as a serious matter at all.
"However, I truly didn't expect..."
Garp looked at the natural disaster waves surrounding Sabaody, exaggerated to the extreme, and said in a deep voice: "It would actually come to this."
He clenched his fists tightly.
Even though he had long known the Government's plan to destroy Fish-Man Island and the Sunlight Tree Eve.
Seeing this scene with his own eyes now, he still couldn't help but feel immense anger well up in his heart.
He didn't know why the Government wanted to destroy Fish-Man Island and Eve, but—no matter what the reason was, creating such a massive natural disaster was something Garp could not accept.
However, fortunately... he and Roy were still here.
"Old man, issue the order first."
Roy said softly.
"Mm."
Garp nodded, and then unhesitatingly picked up the dedicated communication Transponder Snail. His voice clearly spread across the entire communication network of the Star Hunter Unit through the loudspeaker, and also echoed clearly in the command room.
"Ahem, ahem... All members of the Star Hunter Unit, this old man is now issuing an order — devote all efforts immediately to disaster rescue operations on the Sabaody Archipelago and surrounding sea areas, prioritizing the rescue of all civilians."
"If you encounter Fish-Men during the process, rescue them as well!"
Exactly at the same time Garp's order was issued.
Within the port of the command headquarters, the ships that had long been prepared surged to full speed and dove resolutely into the sea.
Seeing this scene, Roy nodded slightly.
Just as mentioned before — Roy and Garp had long known the World Government planned to destroy Fish-Man Island and the Sunlight Tree Eve, and could naturally anticipate that this would inevitably trigger natural disasters in this sea area, leading to a massive number of civilian deaths.
It was exactly because of this that the two chose to accept the Government's conscription.
Their purpose for coming here, from the very beginning, was to rescue the civilians here.
Roy looked at Garp putting down the Transponder Snail: "Old man, I'll leave the command from here to you."
"I have to get ready to set out too."
As he spoke, he put on the gauntlets 'Black Mane'.
Hearing Roy's words, Garp frowned: "Roy boy, are you really going to destroy the Sunlight Tree Eve? Is there a need for that?"
He knew what Roy was going to do, but was still very worried.
"Of course."
Roy smiled and nodded: "Old man, trust my judgment."
While he spoke like this.
What he said was exactly the next step of his and Garp's plan.
Yes.
What he and Garp were doing right now would undoubtedly look like a 'rebellious act' betraying the Government to any observer.
Logically speaking, they should both be directly stripped of any Marine and Star Hunter Unit duties, and locked into Impel Down, or even directly executed.
But...
"As long as the Sunlight Tree Eve is ultimately 'killed', then whether we chose to rescue civilians, protect Fish-Men, or killed CP0, it will all become trivial in the end."
Roy said calmly.
From the intelligence he had currently obtained, he could already confirm one thing.
And that was that the Five Elders had actually lost most of their power by now—although nominally they were still the highest authority in the world, responsible for managing the various countries of the sea and the operation of the World Government.
But practically, the true authority over the most critical matters had become Imu Himself.
Roy figured he was now one of the people who understood that Lord Imu the best.
"Unlike the Five Elders, Imu's own goal for launching this operation is solely to destroy 'Eve'. The reason is highly likely due to the anomaly in Elbaf, and guessing that I can extract the Source Energy of Lineage Factor from other sources — He is afraid of Star Lord catching up to Him."
"Besides this, He doesn't care about anything else."
Imu was never truly human, and perhaps wasn't even a true creature to begin with — His perspective dictates that His behavior wouldn't be 'humanized' like the Five Elders.
He doesn't care about the Celestial Dragons, or even the World Government... for a God high above, those are merely chess pieces He casually established over the long years.
The Star Hunter Unit is the same.
Even though Imu clearly knew Roy and Garp didn't trust the Government that much, in order to obtain a force that could clash with The Zodiac, He still chose to establish it.
As long as His core demands are met, Imu won't care about anything else.
And it's the same this time.
The only thing He truly cares about is the Sunlight Tree Eve being destroyed, and its power not being obtained by Star Lord.
As long as this goal is achieved, then whether Roy and Garp killed CP0 or did anything else — Imu will gladly accept it all.
"They might even commend us for it."
Roy said with a smile.
"..."
And Garp couldn't quite follow Roy's explanation — although he had also witnessed Imu's existence with his own eyes, and knew many secrets of the world, he clearly didn't understand as deeply as Roy.
However...
"Since you have decided so, then go."
Garp had no intention of stopping Roy.
In fact, both he and Roy knew — judging from the anomalies on the sea surface now, something had almost certainly already gone gravely wrong with the Sunlight Tree Eve.
Even if Roy didn't intervene, this giant tree existing since ancient times would almost certainly not survive.
Correspondingly, Fish-Man Island would also inevitably be unable to survive.
This was something Garp didn't want to see, but had to admit.
Therefore...
"If Roy boy participates in the operation to destroy Eve, then even if the Government blames us, this old man can take the blame... let Sengoku sort it out, maybe we can save Roy boy's life."
"If Roy boy is here, even if the Fish-Men lose Fish-Man Island, they will at least have some protection..."
This was Garp's true thought.
After making the decision for the Star Hunter Unit to devote all efforts to rescuing Fish-Men and other innocent people, ignoring the orders of the World Government and that "God", he had already quietly made his peace with ending up in Impel Down.
Keeping Roy safe became Garp's ultimate goal.
That kid should also try his best to help the Fish-Men who lost their homeland!
Garp felt this with an inexplicable certainty.
And exactly while Garp was pondering like this in his heart.
"Boss, it's ready."
Roy heard Hans's voice.
He raised his head and saw the fully coated Black Loyalty already standing amidst the undulating waves at this moment.
Roy nodded gently to Garp, and then leaped onto the deck of the Black Loyalty.
"Then... set sail."
(End of Chapter)
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