"Kill!!!"
"Let these damn Marines see what we're made of!!!"
"As long as we break out, we'll be members of an Emperor's pirate crew!!!"
"Now's the time to make our mark!"
At Festival Island's harbor, a chaotic war was unfolding in the most frenzied way imaginable.
Huge numbers of pirates charged straight through a hail of bullets, ignoring the seawater that had already been dyed red with blood as they launched an assault on the Marine battleships ahead.
Blazing fire lit up the pitch-black night sky, while endless artillery roared out a symphony of death.
Wave after wave of pirates threw themselves forward, and in the end, countless of them reached the side of the first Marine warship.
Then, whether by climbing with their bare hands or using their blades for support, they forced their way upward.
After paying a tremendous price, they successfully reached the deck of the first battleship and, like a pack of vicious demons, drove every last Marine off the ship.
Naturally, brave Marines rose up to resist during the process, and quite a few Vice Admirals and Rear Admirals even stood on the front lines.
But in front of pirates with bounties exceeding a hundred million, like Hajrudin and Cavendish, almost no one stood a chance aside from a handful of elite Marine Vice Admirals.
In less than half an hour, the pirates had successfully seized a Marine warship and driven every Marine aboard off the vessel, forcing them to flee by emergency lifeboat toward the neighboring ships.
And with that first warship now serving as a base, the pirates' next moves would only become even smoother.
The battle grew fiercer and fiercer, until the blood and flames across the sea wove together into a truly tragic tableau.
At the same time—
High above the battlefield, Issho, who had taken everything in, revealed an expression of unbearable sorrow.
"Sir Red, is it truly necessary to go this far?!"
As he summoned enormous meteors down from the cosmos and hurled them toward the Going Merry below, he still could not help but voice his question to Red.
Red, who knew exactly what Issho was hesitating over, waved one hand and used Hyperspace Hole to send the meteors into the distant sea. Then he answered in a solemn voice:
"There's no other way."
"If we don't do this, the sacrifices in the wars to come will only be greater than today's!"
"I know that many of the dead Marines were acting in the name of justice."
"But I also know… that what they truly serve is not just the justice on their backs, but also the World Government behind them."
"If we want to purify the Marines into the force we need as quickly as possible, this is the fastest method!"
"..."
Under Red's words, Issho gradually fell silent.
In truth, there was no need for him to grieve over those fallen Marines.
Because in a certain sense, those Marines were even his enemies.
That's right...
The Marine soldiers and officers facing the pirates head-on this time had all been recruited and promoted during Akainu's tenure.
And, in a sense, they were unwilling to obey the command of the current Fleet Admiral of the Marines—Aokiji.
Quite a few Marine officers had even bypassed Marine command entirely, secretly contacting and colluding with World Government officials.
That was why...
They had been assigned to take part in this pirate suppression operation.
That was why...
They had become the first wave to clash with the pirate forces!
This pirate festival was not just part of the Straw Hat Pirates' scheme to eliminate unstable elements within the pirate camp.
Aokiji, seated within the Marines, was carrying out the exact same kind of operation.
Compared to Issho, whose heart embraced the whole world and who could not bear to watch living lives vanish like this...
Aokiji's resolve was firmer than Red had imagined.
Just as he had once become a pirate in the original timeline and could attack the Marines without hesitation...
Now that he had chosen to join the camp seeking to overthrow the World Government, he showed absolutely no mercy when dealing with the pro-World Government faction inside the Marines!
Even if those people had originally joined the Marines for justice, even if those officers had once contributed greatly to the stability of the seas—
This...
was war.
In war, there were only sides—no right or wrong.
Seeing Issho's expression grow heavier and heavier, Red finally softened and consoled him:
"Don't worry. I'll leave spiritual marks on those who truly uphold justice..."
"When their lives are in danger, I'll save them."
"If that's the case... then that's truly for the best!"
After hearing those words, Issho's expression visibly eased.
Though he also understood clearly that Red was not a god and could not guarantee everything one hundred percent...
At the very least, doing this would keep Issho from being so burdened with guilt.
If possible, he still hoped the Straw Hat Pirates and the Revolutionary Army would make up their minds soon and storm Mary Geoise.
At the very least, if it came to that, he would not have to bear such a heavy psychological burden when killing people.
As the first rays of sunlight pierced the night, the distant horizon was dyed in a faint golden-red glow.
The arrival of dawn seemed like some sort of signal, and all the smoke of war finally came to a halt.
When the warm sun rose from beneath the sea, this massive battle involving tens of thousands of people finally came to an end.
Five battered Marine warships followed behind the Going Merry, sailing toward the Pokémon Sea.
Around Festival Island, meanwhile, groups of battered and wounded Marine soldiers watched the departing ships grow farther and farther away. One after another, they clenched their fists in fury and slammed them into whatever was beside them.
"Damn it! They got away!!!"
One Marine officer clutched his chest, his voice filled with bitterness.
Although he had nearly died the previous night and had somehow survived in the end, he felt no fear at the brutality of war. Instead, he only hated that he had not killed more pirates.
Pirates were vermin that destroyed peace upon the seas.
Clearly, he was already a firm believer in and executor of Absolute Justice.
And at that moment, Issho, his body likewise covered in wounds, descended from the sky and directly issued orders to the dejected Marines:
"Medical team, treat the wounded immediately."
"All other soldiers still capable of moving—search the surroundings for any surviving pirates and arrest them."
"In two hours, prepare to return to Marine Headquarters."
At Issho's command, the Marines gathered from warships in every direction immediately sprang into action.
Because their position had not been the point of the pirates' direct assault, aside from the five ships that had been taken, only the crews of three or four neighboring warships had been dragged into the fighting.
Moreover, the pirates' goal had been to seize ships, not kill people. So compared to the thousands of pirate corpses scattered across the shoreline and sea, the Marines' casualties of just over a thousand were hardly worth mentioning.
The Marines had not succeeded in this battle.
But they had not failed, either.
In fact, considering the total number of pirates who had died over the past few days, it was even great news for the Marines as a whole.
...
...
At the same time—
While the Straw Hat Pirates were reaping tremendous gains and returning laden with spoils...
News about them spread everywhere as if it had grown wings.
Some of it was true, some of it false—but none of that stopped the Straw Hat Pirates from shocking the world once again.
Defeating Demon Heir · Bullet, subduing the legendary pirate Redfield, obtaining the Eternal Pose to the Final Island, Roronoa Zoro defeating the world's greatest swordsman, and Dracule Mihawk seemingly joining the Straw Hat crew, along with the effortless crushing of the Beasts Pirates' upper echelon...
In just two short days, the Straw Hat Pirates had accomplished what many people could never achieve in a lifetime.
And even more terrifying was this...
When the world began tallying up the Straw Hat Pirates' overall strength, they were stunned to discover that the current Straw Hat Pirates had already completely surpassed the power level expected of a single Emperor crew.
Captain Monkey D. Luffy, whose strength absolutely rivaled an Emperor's at the highest level—and perhaps even exceeded it;
Combatant Roronoa Zoro, who had slain Fleet Admiral Akainu and was suspected to be the new world's greatest swordsman, likewise an Emperor-level fighter;
Vice Captain Red, cook Sanji, and newcomer Redfield, all with strength comparable to a Marine Admiral;
Helmsman Jinbe, with power on par with an Emperor's right-hand man;
Sniper Usopp, a one-man army whose strength remained unknown;
And beyond them, the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates' senior officers, each no weaker than a Seven Warlords of the Sea-level powerhouse, plus the lords of dozens of islands and the tens of thousands of New World pirates under their banner...
All of that added together made it seem as though the Straw Hat Pirates and their subordinate forces were already more terrifying than the Whitebeard Pirates and the Red-Haired Pirates combined!
Below the Pirate King, above the Four Emperors.
That was the position the Straw Hat Pirates currently occupied.
But since the dawn of the Great Pirate Era, no one had ever reached such a level.
Considering that two of the Four Emperors had already been defeated by the Straw Hat Pirates, and that one seat among the Four Emperors now stood vacant, continuing to call the Straw Hat Pirates one of the Four Emperors no longer seemed particularly appropriate.
For a time, the entire sea erupted into fierce debate over what exactly the Straw Hat Pirates should now be called.
And that argument lasted for several days.
Major media platforms appeared one after another, putting forward all sorts of options for the masses to choose from, hoping to ride this wave of attention and expand their own influence.
And so, just a few days later...
Before the Going Merry had even returned to the Pokémon Sea, the world had already reached a broadly accepted title for the Straw Hat Pirates—
Emperor Sovereign!!!
(End of Chapter)