Grand Line, first half.
On the wavy sea, a ship with a black flag was pulling up its sails, dropping anchor, and floating quietly.
The surrounding ships, seeing it from afar, steered away, afraid of being noticed.
It was a pirate ship!
Judging by the skull symbol on the black flag, it wasn't familiar. It was probably a pirate group that had just entered the Grand Line.
…
"Hard to starboard, avoid them!"
Under the captain's command, a merchant ship quickly turned to avoid them.
"Phew, good thing they didn't chase us. Looks like they're resting."
For experienced merchant ship captains, the thing they least wanted to run into was this kind of pirate group.
These reckless guys had just entered the Grand Line, and they were full of themselves after a bit of success. They thought they'd get rich, so they did whatever they wanted.
They were often very harsh, and even if the merchant ships offered them passage fees, they wouldn't let them go easily.
They hadn't heard of the old rules of the sea, let alone obey them, so they did things that were like killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.
The old captain didn't want to mess with these young punks.
While puffing on his pipe, he picked up his small telescope and looked into the distance, planning to check the pirate ship's movements.
Suddenly, the old captain noticed the sea not far away.
There was also a merchant ship there, raising its sails and going full speed ahead.
This ship was several times the size of the old captain's small merchant ship, it was almost a warship. It was also very deep in the water, obviously fully loaded with goods.
A lookout nearby asked, "Captain, should we send them a signal, warning them about the pirate ship ahead?"
The old captain narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "No need. Tell everyone, we'll follow that ship for a while!"
"Huh?"
The lookout was stunned, and reminded him, "Captain, they're heading straight for that pirate ship! We just escaped from there!"
The old captain grinned.
"You little rascal, haven't you heard of this route?"
The lookout was a little embarrassed and said, "Didn't we usually run the Water 7 route? You've never taken us here before!"
The old captain scolded, "Then you should read the newspapers more and learn about current events!"
The lookout scratched his head, "Captain, I can't read."
The old captain: "..."
After a pause, the old captain said, "Look at the flag on that ship."
The lookout looked through the telescope and saw a blue flag fluttering in the wind, with what looked like a spear on it.
"It's not a black flag or the Marine one, what is it?"
"It's the Four Seas Alliance flag."
The old captain quickly told everyone to follow and explained, "The reason I gave up the Water 7 trade and came to run this trade route is because of them!"
The lookout blinked, not understanding.
The old captain was having rare moments of relaxation he enjoyed during trading, so he was in a good mood and patiently explained:
"The Four Seas Alliance is a business group that suddenly appeared recently. I heard it was founded and led by the super power Alabasta."
"With national-level military power, they've established a safe, fixed route between Drum Island and Alabasta. You don't even need a Log Pose to travel!"
Hearing the old captain's words, the young lookout didn't seem very surprised.
He asked, puzzled, "Just a single route isn't very useful, right?"
Buying and selling goods between two countries would only earn a little money, not worth the risk of sailing on the sea.
But the old captain chuckled. "Of course it's not just that, or the Four Seas Alliance wouldn't have caught my attention."
He moved closer to the lookout. "I heard the Four Seas Alliance also has a fixed route to Sky Island!"
"Sky Island?!"
The lookout was stunned. "Isn't that just a legend?"
When he was a kid, he even laughed at the little kids who believed in Sky Island.
The old captain shook his head. "You're too young. Sky Island is real, but it's hard to get up there. It's normal for people who live near here to think it's a legend."
He looked at the sky with a smile.
"Speaking of which, I've only heard about it. I really want to see it for myself soon!"
"Can we go to Sky Island?!"
The lookout was excited, his eyes filled with anticipation.
"Hahahaha, anyway, on fixed routes, Four Seas Alliance merchant ships are under the protection of the Alliance, and no pirate ship would dare approach. We're in luck today!"
The old captain laughed. "If we follow them closely, we'll be able to reach Alabasta soon!"
"Okay!"
The crew shouted excitedly.
After all, they were always worried about pirate attacks when running trade routes. Now that they had some rare downtime, they were naturally very happy.
…
On the Four Seas Alliance warship.
Crocodile, who had some free time, was in charge of escorting this ship.
...Well, not exactly free time.
He went to the medical research institute on Drum Island to collect some intelligence and information about Zero for future use.
It wasn't that he was eager to learn, but why wouldn't he use such quality resources when they were available?
Hearing the cheers from the small merchant ship behind him, Crocodile frowned slightly.
He wanted to teach those ungrateful guys a lesson, but he was too lazy to deal with Rowan's questioning afterwards, so he gave up.
Sigh, sailing the sea is so boring.
Crocodile was about to return to his cabin to rest when he suddenly spotted the pirate ship anchored in the sea not far away.
"Oh?"
Crocodile lit himself a cigar.
"Oh!"
His eyes gradually became excited, as if he had found an interesting prey.
Then, he suddenly said in a deep voice, "Enemy attack, everyone be alert!"
Whoosh!
In an instant, everyone on the ship became alert. They looked around and found the pirate ship anchored there.
The accompanying vice captain scratched his head and asked, puzzled, "Mr. Crocodile, they, um, don't seem to be planning to attack us..."
"Heh heh heh, really? I don't believe it!"
Crocodile took a puff of his cigar and said with a sinister smile, "And I think they're heading towards us at full speed!"
The vice captain paused, wanting to retort, "Aren't we the ones sailing towards them?" but Crocodile interrupted him.
"Don't any of you take action. If they get hurt, that old man will say I'm looking for trouble again!"
Looking at the approaching pirate ship, Crocodile smiled even more happily.
"They're too 'dangerous', so I'll take care of it..."
…
On the other side.
On a small raft.
A large, burly man was staring intently at the Log Pose in his hand, paddling with the other hand to move the raft forward.
He came from Marineford, heading to Alabasta to establish a new Marine branch.
Born in a slum, he had no last name.
His name was Baro.
Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral…
Former Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral.
Current Marine Headquarters Special Assignment, Alabasta G-T Marine Branch Base Commander, retaining the rank of Vice Admiral.
He carefully folded his most precious justice coat and put it in the deepest part of his bag. Then, shirtless, he paddled his small raft towards Alabasta.
The wind and rain along the way had added to the burly man's weary look.
But before he reached Alabasta, Baro saw a merchant ship and a pirate ship from a distance away.
What would happen when these two things were put together?
Baro unhesitatingly reached the answer—
Oh no!
There are weak and helpless citizens being threatened by terrible pirates!
Baro stood up on the small raft, holding the paddle, and started paddling quickly. The small raft rushed towards the two ships at an amazing speed!
Marine, carrying out justice!
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