"Just what kind of people are they?" the pirates said, refusing to believe their eyes.
To wipe out an entire crew in an instant, captain and all, with an 83-million-Berry bounty on that captain's head, was no feat for any ordinary nobody.
"How is this possible? How could strength like that belong to failures who got driven back out of the New World? If power like this still got weeded out by the New World, then the New World must be terrifying beyond belief."
"Hurry, go ask around. Who are these people, to have strength like that?"
"I think I just heard someone say they're, what was it, people of the Grey Kingdom?"
"Grey Kingdom, White Kingdom, whatever. Never heard of it. What crew names itself something like that? Are they supposed to be a country?"
"The Grey Kingdom? I feel like I've heard of it somewhere." The pirates all around murmured it among themselves.
"See? Didn't even take ten seconds." Bulat said it smugly.
Katakuri gave him a flat glance, and the smug look vanished from Bulat's face at once.
Bulat's strength had grown considerably over the years. He was, after all, a man who had once fought Red-Haired Shanks to a standstill on the strength of his battle aura. Years of brutal combat in the New World had raised his fighting power enormously. Even without leaning on his battle aura, he was a match for a top-tier Vice Admiral, and if he loosed it at full strength, he could hold his own against an Admiral for a good while. Just a sliver of that aura was enough to freeze rookies who'd never weathered the storms of the New World where they stood, leaving them entirely at his mercy.
But the one opponent he least wanted to face was Katakuri. There was that powerful Observation Haki that could see the future, and the ability to reshape his body at will so that he slipped blows like a Logia user. Katakuri could stand still and let Bulat hit him all he liked, and Bulat still wouldn't be able to do a thing to him, because against Katakuri's shapeshifting, even Armament Haki was useless. And the stickiness of Katakuri's Mochi-Mochi Fruit was a nightmare for a close-range fighter like Bulat. So no matter the angle, there was simply nothing Bulat could do against him. Let your battle aura tower to the heavens, then run up against a man whom nothing you throw can touch, and all the fight just bleeds out of you.
Having brought down Wack's crew, Katakuri and the others didn't linger, nor did they pay any mind to the pirates' muttering. They walked straight for the Sky-Veiling Palace at the heart of the Nightless City. To them, these rookies who hadn't yet set foot in the New World weren't worth a second glance. The two sides simply belonged to different worlds.
...
"Now there's a true heavyweight. Even in the New World, this man is a name to be reckoned with. Katakuri who sees the future. They say his Observation Haki is strong enough to glimpse what's coming. A terrifying opponent indeed." A weathered, middle-aged man spoke from a second-floor window, watching Katakuri and his group pass on the street below.
In that second-floor room, besides the weathered man, there were four or five pirates in distinctive dress, all of them watching the group pass on the street below with grave expressions.
The Sabaody Archipelago was the waypoint between the first and second halves of the Grand Line. Not only did pirates from the first half come here to have their ships coated before entering the New World, it was also the first resupply stop for New World crews returning to the first half. On top of that, Sabaody was a famous tourist destination, so the island held both pirates from the first half of the Grand Line and pirates who'd come out of the New World. And these men were a crew with a modest name in the New World: the Blazing Lion Pirates. Having crossed the Big Mom Pirates out there, they'd been forced to retreat from the New World back to the first half of the Grand Line.
"Captain, weren't they sheltering under the Whitebeard Pirates? Why have they come to Sabaody with this much fanfare this time, flying the Grey Kingdom's flag so openly? This is awfully close to Marine Headquarters. Aren't they afraid the Marines will send an Admiral to subjugate them? Back in the day they were a prime target for the Marines. Even after they fled into the New World, the Marines specially assembled a fleet led by an Admiral to hunt them down. If not for Whitebeard's protection, there's no telling how long the Marines would have kept after them," said Kenny, first mate of the Blazing Lion Pirates.
"Who can say? But if they're bold enough to show themselves in Sabaody and fly the Grey Kingdom's flag this openly, the Marines will surely be moving soon. We need to get out of here as fast as we can," said the weathered man, captain of the Blazing Lion Pirates, Baron.
"Agreed. It wasn't easy escaping here. I'd rather not get dragged into some mess that's got nothing to do with us," said another, a sniper with a long rifle in his hands.
"Have the men resupply as quickly as possible. The moment we're stocked, we leave. Crossing the Big Mom Pirates this time, we really are going to be wandering to the ends of the earth, so stay ready to come under attack at any moment," Baron said helplessly.
Baron and his crew were in a bind. They might have escaped the New World, but the reach of an Emperor was everywhere, and if the Big Mom Pirates set their minds to dealing with them, it would make no difference where they ran. All they could hope for now was that the Big Mom Pirates wouldn't take them too seriously. Otherwise, fleeing to the edge of the world wouldn't help them in the least.
...
"I've got it! The Grey Kingdom, so it's them!" Lambo suddenly cried out.
"Them? Who's 'them'? Lambo, you know who they are?" asked a pirate captain standing not far from him. As pirates of the same generation, they naturally knew one another, and Quick-Draw Lambo of the Byron Pirates had a fair reputation of his own.
"Right, Lambo, you know who they are? Why have I never once heard of this name?" Garde asked as well.
"It's not that you've never heard of them. You've forgotten. After all, they've been gone without a trace for ten years, and the Marines went out of their way to scrub the news of them. The Grey Kingdom. They once stood as equals beside the Whitebeard Pirates, the Big Mom Pirates, and the Beasts Pirates, until their captain, the Dragon King Rosinante, vanished, and the Marines shattered them to pieces," Lambo said.
"So it's them! One of the former Four Emperors, the Grey Kingdom Pirates under the Dragon King's command? I should have remembered." At this Garde finally recalled the Grey Kingdom, and shock spread across his face.
Dragon King Rosinante had once, for a time, been the idol of his childhood.
—-----------------
Note: Bulat and other pirate crews mentioned are OC from Author's World.
-------------------------
Patreon Advance Chapters: patreon .com / ElvenKing20