Zephyr's expression was not pleasant.
When his ship hadn't yet docked, he could already see the vessels moored in the harbor. There were simply too many pirates on this island.
"Admiral Zephyr, should we clear out all these pirates?" A crew member gripped the ship's railing tightly, looking at him with expectant eyes.
Zephyr knew this man—a pitiful soul whose entire family had died at the hands of pirates. After narrowly surviving, he had joined the Navy, dedicating himself to purging all pirates from the world.
Unfortunately, his eyes were filled only with hatred. He couldn't see that his own power was far from sufficient to accomplish this.
Zephyr shook his head in silence, his mind drifting to his child who had just turned one this year. If his own child and family had all died at the hands of pirates, perhaps he would have become just as full of hatred as this young man.
But for now, he could still think rationally.
"We can't deal with all the pirates here, Fido. After we go ashore, find a place to settle down first, then rescue as many civilians as possible," Zephyr said helplessly. He could already imagine the tragedy on the island. The number of civilians still alive was probably not large.
Even those who were alive had long since suffered pain worse than death.
Zephyr only hated himself for not arriving sooner. But Navy decision-making took time. As a massive organization, the Navy's mobility in certain matters wasn't particularly high.
Besides, he was now a Navy Admiral. As one of the Navy's highest combat forces, he couldn't just mobilize on a whim.
The Navy fleet hadn't even approached before it was spotted by the pirates on the island.
"Captain Shutenmaru, the Navy is here." Over the past few years, the advance squad had expanded somewhat. Originally numbering only thirteen members, there were now many more.
However, the combat strength of the more recently developed advance squad members wasn't particularly strong. Captains like Garo, whose fighting ability could rival that of executives, were rare. Normally, anyone with a bounty exceeding 70 million Berries had enough strength to serve as an advance squad captain.
"Navy? No need to worry about them. Those people won't make a move against us," Shutenmaru glanced back and said indifferently.
The Navy was now Inazuma's biggest customer. The relationship between the two sides couldn't be more ambiguous. The Navy, at least on the surface, wouldn't actually make a move against them. At most, they'd just put on a show. If they really had a falling out, the Navy would have to go to the black market to purchase those expensive and damaged Ruin Guards and Ruin Crushers.
And now, there were even people within the Navy proposing to revoke the bounties of everyone associated with Inazuma.
Actually, Ren's bounty had been issued under unclear circumstances from the beginning. Until now, Inazuma hadn't engaged in piracy like burning, killing, and looting. There really was no need to define all of Inazuma as a pirate nation.
"But that person is Zephyr, right? It's impressive that he dares to come to a place like this," someone scoffed.
"What do you mean?" Shutenmaru didn't understand what he was implying and asked in return.
"Don't you know, Captain? This guy is an incredibly naive Marine. I heard he's always followed a 'no-kill' principle. Until now, not a single pirate has died at his hands."
"Is there really such a fool?" Shutenmaru asked in surprise.
He simply couldn't imagine that in these outer seas, which were even more brutal than inside Wano, there would be such a naive fellow.
Showing mercy to enemies is cruelty to oneself. The pirates captured by Zephyr wouldn't feel grateful for his leniency. There was only hatred.
However, this was the Navy's business, and Shutenmaru couldn't be bothered to interfere.
Zephyr's ship docked without any obstruction. After seeing him, many pirates on the island looked at him with disgust and hatred.
Zephyr had quite a few enemies on these seas. The pirates sent to Impel Down certainly couldn't escape, but one great prison couldn't hold all pirates. In fact, every Navy branch had its own prison.
Typically, after Zephyr captured pirates, he would send them to the nearest Navy base branch. So in reality, the number of pirates who escaped prison each year was not small on a worldwide scale.
Even pirates who hadn't been captured by him personally had subordinates or acquaintances who had been. And there were plenty who simply found Zephyr's "no-kill" behavior disgusting.
For many great pirates, such "mercy" was like mockery, making them feel sick.
But these people didn't make any rash moves.
No matter how deep their hatred ran, they clearly understood what the words "Navy Admiral" meant.
It wasn't just a military rank—it represented unmatched strength.
After coming ashore, Zephyr deliberately avoided the flags of major pirates. According to his intelligence, the truly major pirates hadn't personally arrived on this island yet, but clashing with their subordinates would still be unwise.
He wasn't afraid of any single pirate crew. But the flags of major pirates carried a certain degree of rallying power. Especially when the enemy was the Navy, a rash conflict could easily unite the pirate forces on the island.
Similarly, the pirates on the island wouldn't want to stick their necks out. The enemy was the newly appointed Navy Admiral "Black Arm" Zephyr. Standing out now would be suicide.
It could be said that aside from Ren and Redfield, no one on the island was a match for Zephyr—even Kaido was significantly weaker at this point.
Zephyr chose a direction far from where Kaido had set up, almost half the island away.
After seeing them land, nearby pirates began retreating as if they'd spotted something unlucky. These low-level pirates were even less likely to confront the Navy head-on. Seeing the Navy approach, they could only retreat.
But Zephyr didn't stay put. After all the Navy personnel were settled, he began patrolling other areas with a few subordinates.
He had no intention of capturing any pirates—only planning to rescue any civilians he saw and bring them to their occupied territory for protection.
It wasn't until evening that Ren learned of the Navy's arrival.
The child who had been sleeping had also woken up. She looked much better now than before. Moli might have taken her to bathe and changed her into clean clothes.
When Ren returned to the room, he happened to see her gulping down a bowl of porridge.
Seeing Ren return, the girl cautiously raised her eyes and stopped eating, though her grip on the bowl didn't loosen. After a moment, seeing that he didn't say anything, she started eating again with big mouthfuls.
She must have been starving.
[
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