"Captain Ryuuto, I'm so bored! Why aren't they here yet?!" Bonney complained, slumping over listlessly.
Ryuuto didn't hear her; at that moment, his consciousness was immersed in the System.
Based on their speed, they should be arriving just about now, Ryuuto thought to himself.
"Buggy! Foxy! I'm leaving this place to you!"
Ryuuto's awareness returned from the System. He issued his orders to Buggy and Foxy, then turned his gaze to Bonney, Vivi, and Crocus.
"Don't worry, Captain Ryuuto!"
Buggy, Foxy, and the others nodded, their voices low and resolute as they spoke. Their eyes were fixed on him. In that moment, the man's image grew even grander in their minds.
Ryuuto intended to face a Marine Admiral alone.
"Bonney, let's go!" Ryuuto called out sharply to the lethargic girl. "Let's go meet a Marine Admiral!" The items currently in his inventory were the source of his confidence.
"But that's a Marine Admiral!" Yuyu and Tots's eyes were wide with terror.
"Captain, what about us?" Vivi asked, now standing beside Crocus. Jean Bart looked at Ryuuto from the side, and though he said nothing, his unspoken question was the same as Vivi's.
"You'll all stay here," Ryuuto said, then looked at Vivi and comforted her gently. "If things go well, I'll be back for you. If they don't..." He trailed off before letting out a boisterous laugh. "Hahahahaha, have faith in me!"
He then turned his head to Crocus and said in a heavy tone, "I'm counting on you to look after Vivi."
"Take care, Captain."
Crocus walked up to Ryuuto and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. No more words were needed.
A look of excitement spread across Bonney's face.
"Let's move out! To Grove 66!"
Ryuuto pushed his hands forward, and two gales of wind materialized from thin air, swirling gently around him. With a slight movement of his palms, the two gales softly enveloped him and Bonney. They began to spin, growing larger and stronger before condensing, finally forming a spiral storm that kicked up countless clouds of dust and generated a terrifying suction force.
"What a strange feeling!"
Inside the spiral storm, Bonney watched the tempestuous scene outside, completely unaffected by the raging winds within her protective bubble.
"Wind Style!!" Ryuuto shouted.
The spiral storm enveloped Ryuuto and Bonney, shooting forward in an instant like an arrow loosed from a bow.
BOOM!!
Propelled by the wind, their immense speed blurred their surroundings as they shot directly toward Grove 66. This was the location of the Marine port on the Sabaody Archipelago. If a Marine Admiral was going to make landfall, this would be their first choice. Ryuuto planned to intercept them here. Using the Wind Style, a journey that would have taken ages to cover dozens of kilometers was completed in mere moments.
Meanwhile, out on the sea, aboard a Marine warship...
Kizaru was leisurely sipping hot tea, lazily contemplating how he was going to hold back in the coming fight. A Celestial Dragon died? Isn't that just lightening the world's burden? How should I pretend to be putting in a lot of effort?
And this Ryuuto? What an interesting young man. Still, since Fleet Admiral Sengoku himself gave the order, he might as well just kill him.
All sorts of idle thoughts drifted through Kizaru's mind.
Also on the deck were Sentomaru and four of the Marines' new "Kuma" model weapons—PX-1 through PX-4. As the captain of the Marine Science Unit and Vegapunk's bodyguard, Sentomaru, the "man with the tightest lips in the world," was on familiar terms with Kizaru. He had come along for the purpose of live combat testing.
"Ryuuto and Bonney! You murdered a Celestial Dragon and you still dare to show your faces here!"
The Marines stationed at the port in Grove 66 had already spotted Ryuuto and Bonney. They nervously aimed their weapons at the pair, shouting loudly.
"Well, well, well, look at all the Marine grunts."
"Bonney, they're all yours," Ryuuto said before finding a spot to sit down cross-legged, completely ignoring the soldiers opposite them.
"Hehehe, leave it to me!" Bonney cracked her knuckles and rolled her neck, brimming with energy.
"Damn you!! Fire!!" the Marine lieutenant in charge yelled to his men, his heart pounding at the sight of Bonney's eager expression.
"Watch this! I'm gonna smash... the 'lives' of you lot to pieces!!" Bonney leaped into the air, landing right in the middle of the Marines.
BANG!!
With the crack of a rifle, one of the Marines suddenly found his vision lowering and the gun in his hands growing heavier and heavier.
Bonney's figure flickered through the crowd, swiftly tapping each of the Marines on their bodies. The instant she appeared, waves of pinkish energy pulsed outwards.
"Don't run away!!"
Suddenly, the cry of an infant echoed from the Marine ranks. One of the soldiers had been transformed into a five- or six-year-old child.
"My back hurts!"
Another Marine was turned into an old man. He dropped his musket and clutched his lower back, crying out in pain.
"Waaaaah..." Yet another soldier had it worse, regressing into an infant less than a year old, now wailing on the ground.
It was the power of Bonney's Age-Age Fruit. Any Marine she touched was instantly turned into either an old man or a child.
In a matter of moments, the Marine ranks were filled with more and more elderly men and crying toddlers.
The remaining soldiers backed away in terror. "A... a monster! Everyone she touches turns into an old man or a baby!"
Bonney stood proudly with her hands on her hips, watching as the rest of the Marines dropped their weapons and fled. "You dogs of the Celestial Dragons!!"
"Hahahahaha! Nicely done, Bonney!" Ryuuto called out, finding the unconventional battle highly amusing.
A truly conceptual Devil Fruit ability, he thought to himself, giving Bonney an approving smile.
As all this unfolded at the port, the warship on the horizon continued to draw closer. Sentomaru was now peering through a pair of binoculars at Ryuuto and Bonney.
"Uncle, I think I see Ryuuto!" Sentomaru said in disbelief.
"Ooh... what an arrogant young man," Kizaru drawled, adjusting his orange-tinted sunglasses. His body dissolved into a flash of light and vanished.
Back on Ryuuto's side...
He suddenly felt an overwhelmingly powerful presence.
"Bonney, get down!" Ryuuto roared.
"Huh...?" Bonney didn't understand, but she instinctively obeyed his command and dropped to the ground.
BOOM!!
A brilliant orange beam of light shot forth, striking the ground with explosive force.
The instant Bonney hit the deck, a flash of light sliced through the very spot where she had been standing. If she had remained there a moment longer, she would have been cut in two.
"So it is you!! Kizaru!!" Ryuuto bellowed, leaping to his feet. His eyes were locked on the Marine Admiral, whose attack had arrived long before the man himself.