"Lord Grimm!"
To hear someone call him that right in the heart of Mary Geoise — he knew exactly who it was before he even turned around.
The three Hancock sisters came running toward him, the blazing ruins of the holy city burning brightly behind them.
When they reached him, their attention was immediately drawn to the green‑haired man lying on the ground nearby, twitching in agony from the gunshot wound in his shoulder.
All three looked at him with suspicion and distaste.
Grimm glanced at them briefly, then simply stepped over the man's body and walked straight ahead.
Unlike the escaping slaves, who were all rushing toward the exits, he was heading inward, straight toward the burning heart of Mary Geoise.
The sisters hurried after him. "Lord Grimm… ahead of you is the inner city… the heart of Mary Geoise!" Boa Hancock stammered nervously.
It would have been one thing if he was still disguised as Saint Epthelm — but he was walking right in, completely in his true form, with no protection or disguise at all.
"It's fine. I'm just going in to… watch the show," Grimm replied casually.
Hancock was stunned. Watch the show… inside Mary Geoise?
In this entire world, who else could say such a thing and treat the World Government as if it didn't even exist?
Not even the ruler of Amazon Lily, whom Hancock worshipped so deeply, possessed such overwhelming confidence and boldness.
---
At that moment, a voice suddenly echoed in Grimm's mind — the System's voice. It had been quite a while since he last heard it. And this time, it was issuing a temporary mission.
"Ding! Congratulations to the Host: Mission Accepted — The Scapegoat."
Mission Description:
Because of the Host's "brilliant idea" in the past, a large number of fish‑men were captured. This directly led to this Slave Liberation Uprising led by Fisher Tiger.
Right now, the Marines and World Government are about to discover their involvement and issue bounties for their heads.
You must prevent this from happening — make the Marines and the Government believe that everything was planned and done entirely by you.
Mission Reward:
Achievement: Trust of Fish‑Man Island
Mission Failure Penalty:
A permanent mark — The Hoof of the Flying Dragon — will be branded onto the Host's forehead. It can never be removed.
Grimm: ... You have got to be kidding me…
---
Outside the burning Royal Palace — now turned into a living inferno.
Fleet Admiral Kong and his forces were severely short‑handed. They were already stretched to the breaking point just trying to rescue the nobles trapped inside the palace — they simply had no time to pursue or investigate the pirates.
To this very moment, they still hadn't even figured out who actually started the fire.
As for those five cunning old foxes — the Five Elder Stars — God only knew where they were hiding or what they were doing right now.
"Wahahahaha! This feels amazing! I never thought the day would come when I, Arlong, would set fire to Mary Geoise itself!"
A large group still lingered near the palace gates — mostly fish‑men, with a handful of humans mixed in.
Among them, a shark‑man with a saw‑shaped nose, wearing nothing but a vest and shorts, threw his arms wide and laughed uncontrollably.
BAM!
Suddenly, a heavy punch landed hard on the back of his head. The attacker was a large, stout blue‑skinned whale‑shark fish‑man.
"Keep it down! We agreed to keep a low profile! Hurry up and get ready to retreat!"
"I was just expressing how happy I am inside!" Arlong protested, rubbing his head.
"If we keep acting so scared and cautious all the time, how will we ever make our names famous across the seas?!"
The one who had punched him was none other than the future Warlord of the Sea — Jinbe, the Knight of the Sea.
Aside from Jinbe, there were many other key figures present: Fisher Tiger (future captain of the Sun Pirates), Hatchan, and others.
Also Revolutionary Army commanders — Emporio Ivankov and Inazuma, who had followed Dragon here.
If you looked closely, you could even see Hatchan — who would later become one of the Revolutionary Army's leading fish‑man officers.
With so many powerful fighters striking while the defenses were down, burning Mary Geoise to the ground was never an impossible feat.
Even more importantly: Dragon had used the Celestial Dragon hostage to lure away most of the Marines' top fighting strength from headquarters.
As for the World Government… and those five old foxes… why hadn't they sent their elite forces? Only they themselves knew the answer to that.
"Relax — you boys are definitely not going to become famous today."
The voice rang clear and sudden in Tiger and the others' ears.
They spun around sharply. Standing right behind them was a single man, with three young women standing guard behind him.
Fish‑Man Island lay 10,000 meters deep underwater; news traveled slowly there, and they rarely read newspapers.
So Arlong, Hatchan, and the other fish‑men didn't recognize Grimm immediately.
But Ivankov and Inazuma — former pirates who had traveled the world — recognized him instantly.
Ivankov's laughter died instantly. His heart began pounding wildly in his chest, and his eyes filled with absolute awe and reverence.
"T‑T‑The Supreme Pontiff… Grimm…!!"
"Why did you suddenly appear here… three months after you vanished?" Inazuma asked, staring at him in utter confusion. "And… what did you mean just now?"
"Oh, that?" Grimm smiled calmly. "I was thinking… let me take all the blame for burning Mary Geoise. Fish‑Man Island needs peace. And the Revolutionary Army needs to remain hidden in the shadows. It's better this way."
Before anyone could even react, Arlong shouted loudly in disdain.
"Who the hell are you?! And who gave you permission to steal our glory?!"
Arlong sneered and drew a massive saw‑toothed cutlass he had brought specifically for this mission from his back. He charged straight at Grimm.
"Don't even think about taking credit for our work! You're nothing but a weak little human!"
"Idiot Arlong! He's clearly an ally! What do you think you're doing?!" Jinbe shouted — but it was already too late. Arlong was already rushing forward.
"AAAAHHHH!!"
Arlong swung his giant blade down hard.
When the blade was barely ten centimeters from Grimm's face… Grimm's smile hadn't changed in the slightest.
At the same moment, Arlong saw a black shadow flash before his eyes — and a heavy blow smashed hard into his sword arm.
CRACK!
Before he could even recover, a second strike landed. This time Arlong saw clearly: it was a young girl, no more than thirteen or fourteen years old, attacking him.
Arlong tried to counter‑attack, but Boa Hancock moved far faster than he could follow — and her strength was terrifying.
Just two moves later, she forced Arlong stumbling backward right to where he started.
"Arlong… as annoying and stupid as ever, aren't you?" Grimm walked past Hancock and moved closer to Tiger and the others.
"Dammit… have you had enough yet?!"
Being beaten back by a little girl was a humiliation he could not accept. Arlong prepared to charge again — but suddenly Fisher Tiger slammed his huge hand down onto Arlong's head, driving his face hard into the dirt.
Arlong writhed in pain, turning to look up at Tiger in confusion. "B‑Big… Big Brother…?"
"I have half a mind to kill this idiot Arlong right here and now," Grimm said, his voice dropping low.
"Just looking at him, I can tell he's going to bring shame and disaster upon the fish‑men in the future. Why don't I just finish him off right now and save you all the trouble later?"
He recalled all the terrible things Arlong would do in the future — and genuine anger rose within him.
"Who… exactly is he?"
The surrounding fish‑men whispered nervously. Anyone who could speak to Big Brother Tiger and his comrades like this was clearly no ordinary person.
Fisher Tiger stood up and spoke clearly, loud enough for everyone to hear.
"This man is Tirion D. Grimm — one of the Four Emperors in the New World, a great pirate with a bounty of over 2,000,000,000 Berries… and also… our official ally and partner of the Revolutionary Army."
__________________
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