"Moria hasn't become one of the Shichibukai yet? But it should be soon. Right now he's probably building the Thriller Bark… or looking for a doctor with powerful medical skills who's willing to conduct zombie experiments with him."
After being defeated by Kaido, Moria became convinced that his companions weren't strong enough and fell into an obsession. He kept seeking powerful subordinates, so he went around collecting the corpses of famous figures to create strong zombies.
The giant Oars, Ryuma's corpse… in any case, extremely obsessive.
This path was wrong from the very beginning. Whether the zombies Moria created were strong depended not only on the corpse, but also on the shadows he stole to implant into them. His own strength was just so-so, and his ceiling was right there.
A person cannot lift himself up. Moria also couldn't create zombies stronger than himself.
"As for the Shichibukai… it's not impossible. But your World Government is unlikely to agree to let me take a seat."
The Shichibukai system has been in place for many years, yet not even half the positions are filled. Clearly, the World Government has its own considerations when selecting candidates.
Someone like me, who killed a king, would naturally be rejected by the World Government. They would never prioritize me… especially with what I'm about to do.
"The Seven Warlords of the Sea… you Marines really know how to use your brains, coming up with a policy like that."
The Shichibukai are legalized pirates. Their bounties no longer increase, and when they plunder other ships, the Marines won't interfere.
At the same time, they must share part of the Marines' burden and deal with a certain number of pirates.
In this regard, Vane has always thought Moria was one of the Shichibukai who did the best job. His performance was outstanding, yet after the Summit War, he was backstabbed and discarded by the World Government.
Short-sighted World Government. Do they even understand who the true king of performance is?
"Alright, stop being so suspicious. I said I'm taking you to carry out justice, and it will absolutely be justice. I'm just afraid that when the time comes, you Marines will start making excuses and refuse to execute justice."
Strawberry: "You can kill us, but we will never allow you to insult the justice of the Marines!"
"That's exactly the line I wanted to hear. Don't disappoint me."
Vane left behind a smile that made Strawberry uneasy and returned to the Thunder Fortress.
"Vane-sama, what should we do next?"
"We'll temporarily suspend heading to the Grand Line… contact the information broker. We'll play the role of righteous men for a while."
...
Strawberry didn't know what these pirates were planning. The two ships had sailed for two consecutive days. If they were heading for the entrance to the Grand Line, they should have arrived by now.
But the surrounding waters showed no trace of any familiar islands. It didn't look like the entrance to the Grand Line at all.
"Rear Admiral, what are these pirates trying to do?"
The branch Captain, also bound, moved closer uneasily.
Compared to Strawberry, who was wrapped in layers of chains, the branch Captain only had a pair of handcuffs.
"I don't know… but it doesn't seem like they intend to kill us."
If they wanted to kill them, they would have done so long ago. Why drag them around at sea for two days?
"As long as they don't kill us, that's fine. That's fine."
Better to live in disgrace than die in glory. The older branch Captain had long lost his ambition; now he only wanted to survive.
"R-Rear Admiral! They seem to have found a target!"
Aside from being shackled, the Marines were relatively free and could observe the sea from the deck. A Marine spotted a ship appearing ahead of their two vessels.
Strawberry struggled to his feet and looked out to sea. Sure enough, a merchant ship had appeared ahead, and it was flying the World Government's emblem.
"Damn it! I understand now. These pirates plan to use our Marine warship as cover to launch an easy surprise attack on that merchant ship!"
If a merchant ship spotted a pirate vessel at sea, it would either flee at top speed or retaliate with its strongest firepower.
But if it saw a Marine warship, it would certainly lower its guard—only to realize the danger when the ships were already close.
"I knew these pirates had no good intentions. So they plan to use the Marine identity to plunder! They might even make us share the blame."
"How sinister! Truly sinister!"
Strawberry wanted to shout a warning to the other side, but unexpectedly, the merchant ship opened fire first as soon as the two ships entered range!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The cannonballs landed in front of the two ships, seemingly as a warning not to approach further.
"This is a merchant ship directly under the World Government! Do not approach! Do not approach!"
Strawberry froze. There had already been too many unexpected things today. Since when were World Government merchant ships this arrogant? Opening fire directly on a Marine warship? Was this some kind of mistake?!
"Heh~ as expected of the World Government. Quite arrogant indeed."
"Big Pan, slow them down."
Now grown to six meters tall, Big Pan took up a large trident and led the other loach Fish-Man into the sea.
In water, Fish-Man move as fast as cheetahs on land. In just moments, they reached beneath the merchant ship.
Big Pan began using his trident to damage less critical sections of the hull. These spots would cause the ship to take on water without sinking, significantly reducing its speed.
The merchant ship quickly noticed the abnormality. The sound of the hull being drilled was obvious, and fragments kept surfacing.
Forced to slow down, they were soon caught up.
"This merchant ship… it has quite a lot of armed personnel."
Strawberry saw that the ship was filled with armored guards, far exceeding his expectations. He had seen World Government merchant ships before; they had never been like this.
"Charge! Finally, we get to fight again!"
Tant rushed out first as usual, followed by Dice and other Rocket Team grunts.
Bonez didn't make a move. Lena stood atop the mast, picking off the guards on the merchant ship one by one. No armor could stop her bullets.
Soon, dozens of guards were piled up in a corner of the deck.
"A-All of them… killed…"
The branch Captain saw that those dozens of guards had all become corpses. The Marines had been spared… so why were the people on the merchant ship all slaughtered?
Could it be just as Strawberry said? Were they deliberately being brutally vicious to smear the Marines as well, forcing them into becoming pirates?
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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