Aboard Charlotte Linlin's ship, somewhere in the waters of the New World,
The crew had spent days sailing without catching sight of land, but at last, a flicker of anticipation spread through the ship as the navigator noticed the weather beginning to stabilize.
On the Grand Line, the weather always grew calmer the closer a ship came to an island.
Whether it was the navigator aboard Linlin's ship or Rob, the navigator of Zechs' ship, both reached the same conclusion.
"An island should be nearby…"
At that moment, the lookout in the crow's nest, who had been scanning the horizon through his monocular, suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Land ahoy! I see it, it's an island!"
At once, the entire ship erupted into noise. "Which island is it?" someone shouted back.
"Who cares what island it is?" another pirate grumbled. "The only thing that matters is whether they've got good rum. I haven't had a single drop in days… I'm going bloody insane."
"I just hope the island has booze," another muttered nervously. "Otherwise, Ane-san hasn't been in a good mood lately… and she might end up flattening the whole island out of sheer frustration…"
"But still…" someone else said with a sigh. "It's surprising. Ane-san used to care more about sweets. Now all of a sudden, she's become an alcoholic, drinking all the time… It's honestly depressing to see her like this."
"Well, can you blame her?" another pirate replied quietly. "After everything that happened recently… first that incident with her fiancé… then whatever happened with Streusen-san… I'd be depressed too if I were her."
The others fell silent for a moment, unable to deny it. For all her terrifying strength, even Charlotte Linlin had been shaken by recent events.
As the crew talked among themselves, word that they had finally reached an island spread through the ship and eventually reached Linlin herself, who had spent the past several days shut away inside her cabin.
"An island… huh? Finally…" she muttered.
She rose from her seat, pulled on her boots, and draped her captain's coat over her shoulders before stepping out of the cabin just as the ship began its approach toward the port.
Bang! Bang!
Without warning, explosions erupted from the port as the island's cannons opened fire.
Cannonballs tore through the air toward the ship. They fell short, crashing into the sea beside it and exploding in towering sprays of water, but the force of the blasts still made the ship rock violently.
Boom! Boom!
"Cannon fire?"
The crew blinked in surprise before immediately springing into action. Some rushed to defend the ship while others hurried to ready their own cannons for return fire.
Then a loud voice boomed across the water through a Megaphone Transponder Snail.
"The Standing Kingdom does not welcome pirates! Turn your ship around and leave at once, or you will be annihilated!"
Looking toward the port, they spotted a man in military uniform standing atop the dock, shouting the warning through the snail.
The pirates aboard Linlin's ship only sneered. "Annihilated, he says…?"
If they had been ordinary pirates, perhaps the threat would have intimidated them. But they were the Charlotte Linlin Pirates. Why would they be frightened so easily?
"Standing Kingdom…" Rob muttered, narrowing his eyes as he recognized the name. "I've heard the military power of the Standing Kingdom is no joke," he warned grimly. "We should be careful."
"Hm? Is that so?" Linlin raised an eyebrow and cracked her knuckles. "Then let's see if they really have anyone worth my time…"
A dark look crossed her face as she unleashed an overwhelming wave of Conqueror's Haki.
Boom!!!
"Ahhh…!"
"T-This pressure…"
"That Haki…!"
"Damn it… it's too much…"
"I-I can't…"
Cries rang out from the port as the soldiers manning the cannons were overwhelmed. One after another, they foamed at the mouth, collapsed, and fell unconscious like dominoes.
"The Standing Kingdom… is that all they have?" Linlin muttered as she sensed people dropping one after another.
"No," Rob said, narrowing his eyes. "There are still several presences that haven't gone down."
"In that case…" Linlin said, her expression hardening, "prepare for battle."
Despite the few remaining cannons still firing from the port, she ordered the ship to continue straight toward the dock.
Soon, the ship slammed into the dock, and the pirates leapt down onto the port with their weapons drawn chanting loudly:
"Rape and pillage!"
"Rape and pillage!"
"Rape and pillage!"
"Rape and pillage!"
"Rape and pillage!"
"Oooooooo!!!!!!"
"Hahaha! You lot had better stand aside," one of them shouted. "Our Ane-san hasn't been in a good mood lately!"
As the pirates advanced, the remaining soldiers tightened their grip on their weapons. At their head stood a broad-chested blond man named Topher Chris. Drawing his broadsword, he raised it high and shouted:
"Drive back the pirates! Protect the kingdom, protect the food, protect the women!!!"
The soldiers roared in response"
"Protect the kingdom!"
"Protect the food!"
"Protect the women!!!!!"
"OOooooo!!!!"
Although Linlin's Conqueror's Haki had left them shaken, they still stood their ground. Their families lived in this kingdom. If the pirates destroyed it, they would lose everything.
So they prepared to fight with everything they had.
"Attack them!" Linlin ordered.
She charged first, surging forward with her fists raised, ready to crush anyone foolish enough to stand in her way.
"Woooo!"
"Raaah!"
And so, battle erupted between the military of the Standing Kingdom and the Charlotte Linlin Pirates—along with the crew of Asmodeus Zechs, who fought beside them.
…
Some time later…
"Standing Kingdom… so this is all you had, very disappointing?" Linlin said dismissively.
She tossed aside the unconscious and battered military general, Topher Chris. He hit the ground heavily, his broadsword buried in his own stomach.
Then she narrowed her eyes at one of the cowering soldiers nearby. "Where's the tavern?"
"H-Huh?" the soldier stammered, too terrified to think straight.
"I asked," Linlin repeated, her voice low and dangerous, "where is the tavern?"
"T-That way… o-over there…" the soldier answered at once, pointing with a trembling hand.
"Hm." Without another word, she turned and headed in that direction, paying no further attention to either the soldier or the defeated general.
Meanwhile, news of General Topher Chris's defeat quickly reached the king of the Standing Kingdom.
"What?!" the king exclaimed, paling.
Fear flashed across his face, and he immediately barked out an order.
"Contact the Marines! Tell them to come defend my kingdom at once!"
…
Unaware of all that, Linlin had already arrived at the tavern, it was eerily silent. The people inside had all collapsed unconscious from her earlier burst of Conqueror's Haki. Even the tavern owner lay sprawled behind the counter, foam at the corners of his mouth.
Ignoring them all, Linlin walked up to the shelves, grabbed a bottle of rum at random, uncorked it, and began to drink.
Glug… glug… glug…
Behind her, the other pirates entered the tavern as well. Some kicked the unconscious patrons until they woke, then ordered them to bring food, alcohol, and whatever else they wanted.
Too frightened to refuse, the people obeyed.
For the next several hours, they served the pirates without complaint. The pirates feasted on good food, drank plenty of booze, and surrounded themselves with women, playing with them.
It was typical pirate behavior.
At one point, the Marines stationed at the nearest base on the same island came looking for trouble. They intended to arrest Linlin and the other pirates.
But the Vice Admiral leading them was defeated by Linlin, and the rest of the crew, just like General Topher Chris, after which the pirates simply went back to partying as if nothing had happened.
Several hours later, Linlin stumbled back toward the ship with several pirates, a few bottles of rum still clutched in her hands.
After bidding the others goodnight, the clearly drunk woman entered her cabin and shut the door behind her. She continued drinking alone for a while longer until all the bottles were almost empty, "Haaa... this one's empty too... but at least with this..."
Tossing aside an almost empty bottle, she collapsed onto the bed, and before she could finish her sentence, a light snoring sound came from her.
Zzz…
Within moments, she had fallen asleep, her final thought being: 'Zechs, you bastard... if you're still alive... please appear in my dream again...'
…
"That same dream… again?"
When she opened her eyes, Linlin found that she was no longer in her bed. Instead, she stood in a forest that felt both familiar and strange, the shadows around her making her chest tighten.
She looked around helplessly, dread creeping into her voice. "Why did I… again…?"
She was so terrified of seeing that dream again that she failed to notice one important difference.
This time, she was not looking through the eyes of her six-year-old self.
She was seeing herself as an adult.
Yet even her adult self was filled with dread, with a desperate unwillingness to witness the events that would surely come next.
She did not want to see those candies and sweets again, the ones that looked so horribly like the children from Sheep's House.
She was afraid of them. "No… no… no…" she muttered, shaking her head desperately. "I need to wake up… I don't want to see this dream…!"
Just then, a pair of arms slipped around her waist from behind.
She stiffened as she was pulled gently against a warm body, and a familiar voice whispered into her ear. "Is that disappointment I hear, Linlin? Does that mean… you're unhappy to meet me?"
"!!!" The moment she heard that voice, that familiar Linlin trembled.
She had been longing to hear that voice for so many days… yet now that she heard it, she felt afraid, afraid that she was mistaking it, and that it wasn't him, but something else. Too afraid of any other possibility, she didn't dare turn around and asked hesitantly, "Zechs? Is that… is that you?"
"Who else would appear in your dreams and hold you like this?" he replied at once.
The answer made her tremble.
"Zechs!" she cried.
She spun around and, much to his surprise, threw herself into his arms. Tears welled in her eyes as she clung to him tightly.
"Zechs… Zechs… Zechs…!" she sobbed. "Is this really you? I'm not just hallucinating some dream, right? It's really you… right?"
Linlin breaking down in tears surprised him yet again.
"Well…"
For a moment, he could only stare at her.
The Linlin he remembered had been like a force of nature, terrifying, unstoppable, larger than life. Yet the woman clinging to him now was trembling in his arms, crying so helplessly that the contrast almost shattered that image completely.
And this image was collapsing before him for the second time.
But…
Since she was crying for him, he could not deny that part of him found it strangely sweet.
At the same time, though, he felt a flicker of concern. He gently held her and reassured her, "Of course it's really me. You're not hallucinating, and your mind isn't making this up."
"Really?" she asked again, as if she still could not believe it.
"Definitely," he said with a nod, looking straight into her eyes.
After a while, he finally managed to calm and reassure her.
Only then did he ask, "You haven't been alright lately… have you? What's wrong?"
He could tell something was off. Linlin's mood was far too gloomy, far too heavy.
But instead of answering, she looked up at him and asked quietly, "Why didn't you contact me all this time?"
He let out a small sigh. "Communicating through dreams is exhausting. And because you're so far away, it takes even more out of me. The timing also has to line up perfectly. I can only reach you when you're asleep. If you're awake, I can't use Dream Walk to enter your dream."
He paused before continuing. "And lately… You probably haven't been sleeping at the same time every day. I tried to appear a few times, but I couldn't find you asleep. You were probably still awake whenever I tried, so the attempts failed."
Linlin bit her lip, still dissatisfied.
But she could not deny that his explanation made sense.
Ever since the nightmares had started, her sleep had become irregular. She had been dozing off at random hours, unable to rest properly. If that was the case, then it was only natural that he had struggled to synchronize with her.
Even so, she lowered her gaze and said softly, "You know… I kept looking forward to seeing you again in my dreams. But so many days passed, and you never appeared…" Her voice trembled slightly. "After a while… I started wondering if that one time I saw you had even been real… or if it was just another dream."
"Well… now you have reconfirmed, it's all real… not your brain making up things," said Zechs, caressing her back, and said to her, "From now… sleep on fixed times… I'll try to appear more frequently in your dreams…"
She hesitated for a moment before giving a small nod. "I'll… try…"
"You'll try?" Zechs repeated, frowning. "What do you mean, you'll try? Is there something preventing you from doing that?"
The way she hesitated before giving a small nod was a bit strange. It's as if she weren't sure if she'd do it.
"It's nothing…" she said quietly. "I'll sleep at the same time."
But Zechs' frown deepened.
He felt that she was hiding something. A number of unpleasant possibilities flashed through his mind. He gripped her shoulders and looked directly into her eyes.
"Linlin… are you really alright?" he asked, concern creeping into his voice. "The Marines haven't captured you… have they? Or the… Celestial… Dragons?"
He still remembered that one of the Celestial Dragons had wanted to make her a slave as revenge for her eating that Celestial Dragon's favorite candy, and for that very reason, Admiral Kong had been pursuing her. Rationally, he knew it should have been impossible. Linlin is monstrously powerful, strong enough that even the Marines would struggle to touch her.
And yet, he could not stop the worry from rising.
After all, the butterfly effect could lead to any possibility… even the worst ones.
'If the Marines or the Celestial Dragons dared to...' he thought, clenching his fist.
He didn't have any particular hatred toward the Marines or the Celestial Dragons beyond the simple fact that he was a pirate, a criminal in their eyes, someone the Marines were naturally supposed to hunt.
But if the Marines had truly dared to capture Linlin and hand her over to the Celestial Dragons as a slave...
Then the Celestial Dragons were about to face their worst nightmare.
Linlin stared at him in surprise, realizing just how far his imagination had run… although she felt sweet that he was worried about her, she also wanted to scold him for even considering something like that. But then… for a brief moment, she remembered what Streusen had tried, and her expression darkened.
Still, she shook her head.
"Don't worry," she said firmly. "With my strength, the Marines can't capture me. Even if Kong himself comes again, he won't be able to get anywhere near my ship."
With Oceanus as her third Homie, she had absolute confidence in her power at sea.
Let alone capture her… most ships can't even approach her on the seas. It's only on the land that she might get captured… but she wasn't going to get captured so easily.
The certainty in her expression eased some of Zechs' concern, but not all of it.
"Then what's wrong?" he asked softly. "Why can't you sleep?"
At that, she hesitated again.
Then she lowered her eyes and let out a quiet sigh. "I…" she began. "I've been having recurring unpleasant dreams… and… they make me afraid to go to sleep."
"Unpleasant dream...? What kind of dreams?" he asked curiously.
"It's just... unpleasant..." she said vaguely, avoiding directly answering the question, "I don't even remember most of what I see... and honestly... I don't even understand what I'm seeing… but... it leaves me feeling unpleasant..."
Zechs wasn't satisfied with that answer and pressed further. "What exactly do you see in this recurring unpleasant dream?"
Dreams could have meaning... and he wanted to know what she had been dreaming about recurrently, even if she found it unpleasant.
"I don't remember... and I don't want to think about it..." She dodged the question again, clearly not wanting to talk about it.
Instead, she looked up at him and met his eyes. Then she grinned and suddenly pushed him onto the ground. The two of them fell together, leaving him flat on his back while she straddled his hips with a blush on her face
Leaning over him in that position, she held his collar with both hands before saying, "Let's fuck... I've been really thirsty these past few days... even if this is only a dreamscape... and not real sex... it still feels good... it did last time... so... let me feel that pleasure again..."
'You're obviously just avoiding the question...' Zechs thought.
Still, he understood that Linlin simply didn't want to talk about her unpleasant dream, so he decided not to push her any further for the time being.
"Alright... let's fuck then..." he said with a nod, flicking his fingers.
In an instant, their surroundings shifted into a bedroom, and the ground beneath them became a large bed. With another flick of his fingers, their clothes vanished.
Soon, the sound of flesh slapping against flesh and their moans echoed throughout the dreamscape.
"Ahhnn... that's it Zechs... harder... harder… harder… even harder… fuck... yeah... this is what… hnng… I needed... ahhnn..."
Plap!
Plap!
Plap!
…
At Marine Base G-17, somewhere in the New World—
"Yaaawn… what's with all the damn rush? Why did I have to be woken up? I was so tired yesterday from the training and my shift… today was supposed to be my holiday, I wanted to sleep in the entire day…" one Marine soldier complained, rubbing his eyes in exhaustion.
"Because Admiral Kong is arriving today. We need to be lined up properly to welcome him," another soldier replied while checking his rifle.
The moment he heard that, the sleepy sailor froze, then immediately snapped awake. "Huh? Admiral Kong? He's coming here?"
After all, an Admiral was a huge deal. There were only three Admirals in the entire Navy.
The world was enormous. Marine forces were spread across the Four Blues and the Grand Line. For most sailors, there was simply no chance of ever seeing an admiral face-to-face, even once in their lives. At best, they might glimpse one from a distance, but that too on a rare occasion…
So hearing that an Admiral was coming to G-17… as a new recruit, the sailor was completely stunned, and he felt that this might be one of those rare occasions.
It wasn't just him. Marines all across the base were stunned.
The entire base quickly erupted into excited chatter as the younger soldiers crowded around the few veterans who had actually seen an Admiral before.
"Fafafa... let me tell you... Admiral Kong, they say he's—"
To them, it was like meeting an idol... an unbelievably famous figure.
The sailors were genuinely excited, and when they saw a warship approaching in the distance, the excitement only grew.
"Look, a warship is coming..."
"Is that Admiral Kong's ship?"
"Mm... but if I remember correctly, Admiral Kong's warship had a monkey figurehead. This isn't it... this one has a goat figurehead..."
"Hm? But… look at the person standing at the figurehead… isn't that definitely Admiral Kong? Could it be that Admiral Kong has been using a different warship?"
"Yeah... I heard Admiral Kong was involved in an incident about a month ago. Maybe it's related to that..."
"Man... I can't wait to see the Admiral. How cool is that?"
"I heard Admiral Kong can transform into a legendary giant ape and swing around a massive battle axe... I wonder what that looks like..."
The commotion grew louder and louder as more and more people gathered in the square, eager to catch a glimpse of the arriving Admiral.
Then, suddenly, a sharp and strict female voice cut through the entire square.
"Silence!"
The entire square instantly fell quiet and turned toward the source of the voice.
A female Marine officer stood there, glaring at them, "What is all this noise? Don't get too excited and cause commotion. Get to your posts quickly and not cause trouble for Vice Admiral Blue Grass!"
She continued scolding them without holding back.
The sailors immediately trembled, hurriedly shut their mouths, and rushed back to their positions. Of course, even as they returned to their posts... quite a few of them still had smiles on their faces.
Truthfully, even while they trembled, those smiles had been there the entire time. Even while they were being scolded, they had still been grinning like idiots. Some of them even had hearts in their eyes and stared at their superior's retreating back with dreamy expressions.
"Even when Rear Admiral Tsuru scolds us... she still looks so beautiful..."
For these sailors, who constantly risked their lives, having a beautiful woman like Tsuru, a well-known figure throughout the Marines, was its own kind of motivation, even if she was incredibly strict.
In fact, a few of them even secretly liked that strict, domineering side of her. Unable to stop their imaginations from wandering, several of them felt their faces grow slightly red.
But of course... they could only imagine those kinds of scenarios. As for whether they would ever come true... well... a man could dream, right?
Once the square finally quieted down again, the female Marine let out a sigh. Then she turned, bowed toward the woman standing behind her, and apologised. "Please forgive me, Vice Admiral Blue Grass... I should do a better job of keeping these soldiers under control..."
"Maaa... don't worry about it... they're just excited," Blue Grass said with a smile, shaking her head.
Unlike the older, shrivelled woman she would become in the future, Blue Grass was currently in her prime. She had a sexy figure with large breasts, a slim waist, curvy hips, and long legs. Her blonde hair was styled into twin-tails, with bangs covering her forehead. She wore dark striped pants, a yellow shirt that barely contained her chest—showing off a deep cleavage—a loose blue tie, a white Marine overcoat, round blue glasses, and a pair of headphones.
She had watched the earlier commotion and seen how Tsuru shut it down with a few sharp words, and she couldn't help but find it amusing.
"Also, Tsuru-chan... you should take it easy. If you stay this strict all the time, you might lose your fan following. Men still prefer gentle women, you know..." she added lazily.
As one of the Marines' famous beauties herself, she wasn't particularly surprised by how adored Tsuru was among the men at the base, and advised on how to stay popular.
Hearing Blue Grass's words, Tsuru rolled her eyes. "It would be much easier if they spent more time focusing on their duties and their training instead of fawning at me..."
"They can't help it... You're beautiful. It's simply human nature to admire the beautiful," Blue Grass said, teasing Tsuru.
And Tsuru truly was beautiful. It was only natural for a woman like her to be admired by men.
"…" Tsuru fell silent, unsure how to respond.
Fortunately, before Blue Grass could say anything more, the warship had already arrived. A few important figures stepped onto the port, including Admiral Kong and Rear Admiral Sengoku.
"Blue Grass..."
"Kong..."
"Sengoku..."
"Tsuru-chan..."
The two sides greeted each other one after another. They were all old acquaintances, so after the brief exchange, they immediately moved on to the main matter.
"About this prisoner, the Fleet Admiral told me about..." Kong began.
"Yeah... follow me..." Blue Grass said.
She led Kong and Sengoku toward the cellblock. Tsuru walked in front to show the way, while two Marine soldiers accompanied them.
As they made their way there, Blue Grass suddenly smiled mischievously and said, "By the way... Kong... I really missed you at the Banana Festival..."
As Kong's longtime colleague, she knew perfectly well how much he had been looking forward to it. Kong loved bananas so much that he had even invited her and several others to attend the festival together and enjoy a holiday.
In the end, however, Kong had been unable to go.
Blue Grass and several others had gone anyway.
Sengoku's eye twitched. He had not expected Vice Admiral Blue Grass to bring that up. Kong had already been bitter about missing it... and now Blue Grass was openly rubbing it in.
Sure enough, Kong froze. "Y-you actually went...?"
"Rerehehe... of course I did," Blue Grass replied with a grin. "Even Tsuru-chan came with me."
Tsuru's eye twitched as well. She clearly had not expected Blue Grass to drag her into this… and tried to stay silent about it as if the matter had nothing to do with her.
But Blue Grass continued anyway. "Zilla was there, too... Though he went on a separate date. But I heard he tried so many different kinds of bananas that he ended up with a stomachache. We all missed you... really..."
"Damn it!!!" Kong clenched his fist.
He was utterly miserable.
It seemed that everyone had gone except him... even Zilla, who didn't appreciate the fine art of banana tasting at all.
How was that fair?! He wanted to go to the festival too...!!!
But it was already too late. The festival was over, so even if he went now, he wouldn't even get a banana peel to eat. Now he had to wait an entire decade for the festival to be held again.
It was a truly tragic thought. So tragic that he almost wanted to cry.
Blue Grass was quite pleased by Kong's expression and felt thoroughly satisfied. Teasing and bullying her old friend was always entertaining.
At the same time, Tsuru was speaking with Sengoku.
"You encountered Charlotte Linlin, right? What was she like? I've heard she's monstrously strong. Is that true?"
"Hard to say..." Kong replied with a shrug. "It's not like I fought her myself. The Admiral was the one who fought her. By the time I joined in, our ships were barely managing to escape the tsunami she created. If that's anything to go by... then yeah, she's every bit as strong as people say."
"Is that so...?" Tsuru murmured, unable to stop herself from glancing at Kong thoughtfully.
On the seas, it was rare for a woman to possess that kind of strength. Yet Charlotte Linlin existed—a woman powerful enough to be called a monster.
As a fellow woman, and especially as someone who hoped to become an Admiral one day, Tsuru couldn't help but be curious. She wanted to know just how strong Charlotte Linlin really was... and how someone like her had reached that level of power.
And it wasn't just Tsuru. Blue Grass was curious, too. "Is Charlotte Linlin really as much of a monster as the rumours say?"
"Hmm... well... the rumours might be wrong..." Kong said.
Tsuru and Blue Grass both thought he meant the rumours were exaggerated, which would have made sense. After all, how could a woman really be that strong? There's simply no such precedent!
But Kong's next words completely overturned that assumption. "The rumours about Charlotte Linlin's strength are too mild. She's even more of a monster than people say."
"You... you're serious, Kong?" Blue Grass asked in shock, clearly not expecting him to rate Charlotte Linlin so highly.
"I wish I were exaggerating," Kong replied.
This year, Linlin was only eighteen years old. Yet at that age, she had already learned how to infuse Conqueror's Haki into her fists.
And the truly ridiculous part was that she had only just learned such a thing was even possible... and then she did it on her very first try, right in front of him.
What kind of absurd talent was that?
What kind of heaven-defying monster was she?
It was precisely because he had seen that terrifying talent with his own eyes that Kong had become even more determined to capture her. He had a feeling that if he let her continue running wild, she would eventually become far too great a threat.
To that end, he had even given up going to the Banana Festival.
Hearing Kong's evaluation, Tsuru was left stunned. For a moment, she didn't even know how to respond.
'If I had that kind of strength... wouldn't becoming an Admiral be much easier?' she thought.
Unfortunately, she had no idea how Linlin had become that strong.
While Tsuru quietly felt envious, Sengoku said, "Actually, I heard a rumour that Charlotte Linlin was originally supposed to join the Marines."
"Hmm... there was something like that," Kong answered with a sigh. "But for some reason, it never happened. It would have been great if she had joined the Marines..."
He truly regretted it. If Linlin had become a Marine, Kong was certain that within a few years she would have risen to the rank of Admiral.
Instead, she had become an infamous pirate. And now she was even about to get married...
The thought of Linlin's marriage immediately made Kong think of another monster.
"Asmodeus Zechs is just as much trouble," he muttered.
At the mention of Asmodeus Zechs, Sengoku's expression turned solemn. Zechs was even younger than he was, yet based on Kong's description, his accomplishments already made Sengoku feel a slight lack of confidence.
While Kong and Sengoku looked grim, Blue Grass spoke up. "As for Asmodeus Zechs... I don't think we need to worry about him."
"What do you mean, Blue Grass?" Kong asked immediately. Sengoku also turned his attention toward her.
"These are the prisoner's own words," Blue Grass replied.
"That prisoner... how did you capture him? A senior member of Charlotte Linlin's crew?" Kong questioned again.
Even getting close to Linlin's ship was difficult, let alone capturing one of her senior crewmates. Kong couldn't help but wonder how Blue Grass had managed it. In his opinion, someone at Blue Grass's level shouldn't have been able to pull that off under normal circumstances.
It wasn't because he looked down on her strength. It was simply reality.
Although Blue Grass is a vice-admiral, in terms of strength, she is definitely not a match against Linlin. Hence, she also lacks the means to directly capture one of Linlin's senior pirates this easily.
Unless something else had happened behind the scenes, Kong felt that either this capture had been an unbelievable stroke of luck... or there was something suspicious about it.
And, sure enough, Kong had been right.
The situation was not as simple as Blue Grass capturing the prisoner, and she didn't shy away from admitting it. "Rather than saying I captured him... It's more accurate to say he surrendered himself."
The truth behind it, however, was more unexpected than any of them had imagined.
"He surrendered?" Kong and Sengoku repeated, both raising an eyebrow. "What kind of pirate surrenders to the Marines?"
"I don't know... this one did," Blue Grass replied. "He sailed straight to my base and surrendered himself." Then she added, "He also said he wants to cooperate with us in capturing Charlotte Linlin and bringing her to justice for all the crimes she's committed."
Kong and Sengoku exchanged another look. A pirate wanting to help bring another pirate to justice?
"Internal conflict?" Sengoku suggested. It was the only explanation that made any sense. Among pirates, that sort of thing wasn't uncommon. In fact, internal conflict was one of the main reasons crews fell apart.
"But internal conflict alone doesn't explain why he'd surrender himself," Tsuru pointed out thoughtfully.
"Yeah... " It's suspicious," the others agreed.
It was one thing for pirates to hate each other, even if they belonged to the same crew. But surrendering to the Marines and then asking to help bring the other pirate to justice?
That was abnormal.
Only someone carrying an extreme grudge or hatred would go that far... or there was something suspicious going on.
Sengoku clearly leaned toward the latter. "We should tighten security around the base," he said.
"Don't worry. We've already done that," Tsuru replied.
Tsuru and Blue Grass had already considered the same possibility Sengoku raised, especially because rumours had recently spread that Linlin was hunting down Marine warships in search of something.
Although they had no idea what she was after, they had taken that possibility into account when accepting and imprisoning the prisoner.
Kong nodded in relief. "Then let's meet this pirate who surrendered himself... and claims he wants to bring Charlotte Linlin to justice."
With that, they hurried off and soon arrived in front of a dark prison cell.
Inside, a small man sat submerged in a wooden barrel filled to the brim with seawater. Only his head remained above the surface. His arms were spread apart and bound tightly with chains.
"A devil fruit user, is it?" murmured Sengoku.
In this era, when Wano Country was still closed off and Kaido, who would one day take over that country and export its weapons to the rest of the world, was still only a nine-year-old brat, Sea Prism Stone was extremely rare across the seas.
It only appeared in a few places across the seas, and most prisons had none at all. Even great prisons like Impel Down did not possess much Sea Prism Stone.
Instead, prisons restrained Devil Fruit users by submerging them in seawater, weakening them, and preventing them from using their abilities.
That was clearly the case with this man as well, and Kong and Sengoku immediately understood that the prisoner inside the barrel was a Devil Fruit user.
The man looked somewhat overhydrated after spending several days submerged in water, making him harder to recognise. Even so, Kong, who had intelligence reports on the members of Charlotte Linlin's crew he was supposed to hunt down, recognised him immediately.
"Streusen?" Kong said, raising an eyebrow.
At the sound of his name, the small man, who was indeed the middle-aged Streusen, snapped his eyes open and stared back at Kong.
"So you've finally come... Admiral Kong?"
That's right.
The pirate who had been captured, or rather, had surrendered himself to the Marines in order to bring Charlotte Linlin to justice, is none other than Streusen, who had been expelled from Linlin's crew not long ago.
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A/N:
Wow, so when you guys want to donate the Power Stone, you can certainly do so. I wonder why you don't donate PS like this for every Chapter.
Please do so for every Chapter to keep me motivated.
Each Power Stone, Comment, and Review will help the story rise in rankings, reach a wider audience, and motivate me to write more.
Of course, if you'd like to support me further, you can also do so on Pa-t-r-e-o-n. That kind of support makes a huge difference and helps me stay consistent and motivated with writing.
On my Pa-t-r-e-o-n, you can read up to 26 chapters in advance before public release, and I generally post 6 chapters a week, meaning you'll get one extra chapter per week compared to the regular schedule, which is 5 chapters a week.
Pa-t-r-e-o-n:Knockturn_Alley