Under the gaze of all the slaves, Noyer slowly raised his sword.
The ink-black blade swept down, cleanly severing the hard prison locks. They clattered to the ground. Only when the iron door creaked open did the slaves truly believe someone had come to rescue them.
Bang!
The slaves pushed open the door in disbelief and walked out of this living hell. Regardless of age, gender, height, build, or race, they supported and leaned on each other as they emerged from their cells.
"Are we really… free?"
Among the slaves, a young girl covered in bruises covered her mouth and asked softly through tear-filled eyes.
Her trembling voice reached everyone's ears. When they saw Noyer's smile, they finally couldn't help but collapse to the ground in tears, crying out in joy, "We're free!"
After years — even decades — of enslavement, they had long abandoned everything. Now they were finally free. They embraced each other, regardless of race or gender, shedding tears of blood as they released the joy and pain in their hearts.
Imprisoned for countless days and months, they had lost relatives and friends, lost everything, even lost their dignity as human beings. To each other, they had long since become family.
At this moment, a middle-aged swordfish elder who still looked relatively spirited fell to his knees before Noyer with a thud, leaning on his wooden staff.
The Fish-man cried out with tears streaming down his face, "Benefactor! Thank you, benefactor!"
The crowd, whose cries had been rising and falling, heard the elder's shout as if receiving a signal. They knelt down in unison, shouting:
"Thank you, benefactor!"
Wyper looked at the people kneeling before them, the heaviness in his heart lifting somewhat. Noyer, leaning on his sword hilt, shouted impatiently, "Get up, all of you!"
The liberated slaves trembled in unison. Then they heard Noyer shout, "I didn't rescue you so you could continue being slaves! No kneeling! Escape first, then repay me!"
The slaves looked at him with emotion but still didn't stand. They merely changed from a full kneel to a half-kneel, stubbornly keeping their heads bowed.
For them, this was one of the few ways they had left to express their gratitude.
The Fish-man elder became their spokesman, saying with his head bowed, "We'll listen to you, benefactor, but please forgive us — we must express our gratitude!"
Seeing he couldn't dissuade them, Noyer could only smile with relief and stop objecting. There was no helping it. Talking to people in this world about kneeling only to heaven, earth, and parents was impractical.
On the bright side, the freed slaves weren't as uncontrollable as he had imagined. Everyone regarded him as a benefactor sent from heaven.
This also showed just how deep the mental and physical wounds the Celestial Dragons had inflicted on them were. With just a faint beam of light shining in, they would desperately grasp it and be infinitely grateful to the person who gave them that light.
After Noyer helped the slaves up, he quickly began assigning tasks, "We need to hurry and save as many of your brethren as possible. Do you have the strength to pick up weapons?!"
Among the slaves were former pirates and guards. They hurriedly grabbed wooden sticks and objects from the ground — the very weapons that had once whipped them.
Everyone raised their weapons overhead and shouted.
"We have plenty of strength!"
"Follow our benefactor! Rescue our brethren!"
"Leave those prison dogs to us!"
"Women and children without weapons, hide behind us!"
Noyer felt moved seeing even the women, children, and elderly gripping weapons tightly while those capable of fighting protected them from behind. Everyone's eyes burned with determination.
Regardless of their former identities, if they escaped, this group would surely become the closest of friends — a family without blood ties.
Led by Noyer and Wyper, they charged out of the prison with renewed spirits, a mighty force.
Upon exiting, the guards stationed near the prison finally noticed something was wrong. They rushed over en masse, trying to suppress the slaves.
Noyer didn't even look at them. He raised Rasetsuō overhead, pointed his sword at the enemy, and said calmly, "Kill them!"
"Roar!"
"Kill!"
Though their bodies were riddled with wounds, the fire of conviction burned fiercely in everyone's hearts. They charged forward fearlessly!
Blood and battle cries mingled together. The slaves, lifeless moments before, now fought the guards desperately as if injected with adrenaline.
The guards were caught off guard. The slaves pressed them hard. Even when blades cut into their bodies, there was no trace of fear in the slaves' eyes. They threw themselves at the enemy without regard for their own lives, willing to trade injury for injury.
The guards didn't understand why people enslaved for so many years would be so fearless of death. Wouldn't dying after escaping make it all meaningless?
But what the guards didn't know was that for the slaves, the truly frightening thing wasn't dying in battle — it was leaving this world unmourned, without hope, wishing for death.
In close combat, even the elite guards were beaten back badly. Noyer watched their fighting and nodded with satisfaction. Though this advantage wouldn't last long, for the physically weak slaves, it was already quite good.
He looked at the blood-reeking prison behind him, a cold light gleaming in his eyes. He slowly placed both palms on the prison wall. Long-absent black flames ignited. Terrifying heat traveled through his palms and spread across the prison's surface. In an instant, Amaterasu flames roared to life, engulfing the entire building.
The guards stared dumbfounded at this shocking scene, while the slaves cheered seeing the prison that had confined them for years burning in flames.
Orange-red flames whooshed past as Noyer instantly lit dozens of torches and threw them into the slaves' hands.
"Finish quickly! After rescuing our brethren, burn down all these damned prisons!" Noyer raised his arm and called out.
The crowd, already engaged in fierce combat, grew even more fired up and responded excitedly in unison:
"Yes, benefactor!"
Afterward, under the cover of Wyper and Noyer, they led the slaves in a swift charge into prison after prison.
The prisons that had been silent for years quickly transformed into uprising sites filled with battle cries, flames and smoke rising fiercely into the sky.
Inside the prisons, when newly freed slaves expressed their gratitude and hailed their savior, the armed slaves waved their hands and said seriously:
"If you want to give thanks, thank the black-clothed benefactor!"
The freed people asked in confusion, "Who is the black-clothed benefactor?"
The slaves wielding weapons laughed heartily, clear admiration in their eyes as they said with fervent expressions, "He's the benefactor who saved us all! He is our god!"
And so, as prison after prison fell and uprisings spread, all the slaves shared a common faith — the powerful benefactor dressed in black, wielding a black blade and burning black flames.
That man was the light of all their people!
◇◆◈◆◇
At Marine Headquarters Marineford, Fleet Admiral Sengoku was so worried his hair was nearly turning white.
The Heavenly Tribute that the World Government's member nations had offered to the Celestial Dragons had been stolen. Worse, there were faint traces of the Revolutionary Army behind the incident.
The Revolutionary Army was the only organization in the world that openly opposed the government. It had always been a thorn in the side of the Marines, with its leader Dragon viewed as the government's most dangerous enemy.
The government didn't fear him merely for his strength or the Revolutionary Army's power. What made them dangerous was the ideology that Dragon spread.
No matter how strong someone was, the government had ways to deal with it — which was why the Revolutionary Army could only hide in the shadows and employ guerrilla tactics.
But the speed at which the Revolutionary Army's ideology spread couldn't be stopped by anyone — that was the truly frightening part. To reduce their influence, Sengoku believed it was best to pin this incident on pirates first.
As for Devil Man Noyer and Fire Fist Ace, the Marines would raise their bounties publicly while secretly stepping up pursuit of the Revolutionary Army.
Sengoku looked at the reports from the front lines — all of them empty-handed — and covered his eyes in distress. Ever since Doflamingo intercepted the Heavenly Tribute once, the Marines had strengthened its protection, yet even that wasn't enough.
Noyer's Copy-Copy Fruit was just too troublesome.
Sengoku, known as The Resourceful General, could deduce from Noyer's route and the people he'd encountered that the man had definitely copied the Clone-Clone Fruit's ability.
This made things even trickier. With copying plus mimicry, he could become virtually anyone…
Snore… Snore…
Snoring echoed through the office. Sengoku's gaze shifted to see old Garp lying on his sofa, sleeping soundly with a snot bubble.
A cool breeze passed by, and the bubble burst. Garp yawned drowsily.
Waking from his slumber, he lifted his head and — seeing Sengoku's livid face — greeted him carelessly with a laugh, "Yo!"
"Yo, your own son! Instead of working, you're slacking off in my office?!" Sengoku was so angry his beard bristled as he pointed at the other's nose and scolded.
Garp just chuckled and said nothing. He let Sengoku threaten and cajole all he wanted — through wind and rain, he remained unmoved.
Sengoku was fuming at this old dog's thick skin when a knock at the door came at just the right moment. He roared, "Come in!"
A Marine soldier entered trembling, saluted, and shouted, "Report! Devil Man Noyer and his subordinates have infiltrated Mary Geoise. They're currently liberating slaves and setting massive fires. The Holy Land is requesting reinforcements!"
"What?!" Sengoku's eyes widened.
Hadn't Noyer just stolen the Heavenly Tribute? How did he reach the Holy Land already? How did they sneak in?!
Garp burst into laughter, "That kid's got some skills! He actually wants to do what Fisher Tiger did!"
Sengoku glared hard at him, then said with a headache, "To enter the Holy Land without anyone noticing, and if he sets fire to Mary Geoise again, this Noyer is probably just as dangerous as Fisher Tiger!"
Just as he was pondering, the soldier awkwardly interrupted his thoughts, "Devil Man may be even more dangerous than Tiger. The Holy Land says he's kidnapped dozens of Celestial Dragons."
Sengoku clutched his head in disbelief, pointing at the soldier and scolding, "Why didn't you say that earlier? Damn it! Garp, you personally lead troops and hurry to provide support!"
He urgently ordered his old friend.
Who knew Garp would shake his head, saying firmly, "No!"
Sengoku frowned, "What? You're a Vice Admiral!"
Garp snorted, "Though Noyer is an enemy, right now he's the hope of those slaves. This old man doesn't like making a move against him at this time."
Now Sengoku had nothing to say. Garp had never liked the Celestial Dragons — everyone inside the Marines knew that.
The Celestial Dragons often ordered the Marines to serve them. Many of the slaves Fisher Tiger had rescued back then were recaptured — and the ones who took action were Marines demanded to do so by the Celestial Dragons.
Because of this, the entire Marine force had questioned the justice they were carrying out. Were the Marines just the Celestial Dragons' dogs, cleaning up their messes and protecting their evil deeds?
After that incident, Sengoku spent a long time calming the officers' resentment, but at a huge cost — the loss of considerable talent and resources.
So Garp's personality and approach, combined with his relatively free Vice Admiral position, earned him the secret support of many officers.
Sengoku couldn't persuade his old friend of many years, but the situation was urgent. He had no choice but to summon those two slacking masters.
◇◆◈◆◇
In a moment, two tall men stood before his desk.
Aokiji had one eye closed, lightly snoring — it looked like he was asleep. Kizaru raised his hand, stroking his chin as he pondered what exactly the black Den Den Mushi in his hand was for.
Veins bulged on Sengoku's forehead as he slammed the desk and roared, "There's trouble at the Holy Land! You two hurry and set out to rescue the Celestial Dragons, suppress the slave uprising, and capture Noyer!"
Kizaru's voice rose as he complained leisurely, "That many tasks?"
Aokiji opened his eyes, Noyer's face flashing in his mind. They had met once before in the Calm Belt, and even then he could sense the boy might become a major threat to the Marines.
He hadn't expected to be proven right so soon.
Aokiji's tone was casual, but heavy, "Capturing slaves — we have to help the Celestial Dragons again?"
Sengoku looked at him, his favored successor as Fleet Admiral, "It's not about helping the Celestial Dragons. This is the Marines' duty. Many of the slaves are innocent, but they've rioted."
Without rioting, how could they see a future?
Aokiji's concept of justice was full of contradictions on this matter.
He buried the thought. Knowing his duty, he sighed and said, "Yes."
Sengoku nodded, "Sakazuki's abilities would cause even more damage to Mary Geoise. You two go together."
This was his personal bias — if Akainu went, the slaves would die whether Noyer escaped or was captured.
But if Aokiji went, their outcome might be different.
"Kuzan, use your ability to extinguish the fires in Mary Geoise. Borsalino, retrieve the Celestial Dragons and capture Noyer's group." Sengoku's voice was solemn, "Remember — don't let him copy your abilities. That would be a tremendous loss to the Marines."
"Yes."
◇◆◈◆◇
In Mary Geoise, Noyer didn't yet know two Admiral-level fighters were coming for him.
He looked at the two towering figures before him and sighed, "Who would have thought the Holy Land's prisons would even hold giants."
◈◈◈
T/N: Comment, give me Power Stones, like and favorite, it all supports me and makes me go foward with this. Appreciate my other stories as well, I guarantee the good work!
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