Chapter 120: As You See
A tall, thin man in a yellow-and-white striped suit stood in the middle of the street.
His short hair was neatly trimmed. A sparse beard framed his chin and mouth, and orange-tinted sunglasses hid his eyes. He bent slightly at the waist, smiling in that lazy, almost indecent way of his, and asked the passerby in a drawn-out voice,
"Excuse meee… which way is Island Number One?"
The man he had stopped had been about to curse at whoever was blocking his path.
Then he looked up.
His face drained of color.
"A-A Marine Admiral!"
The three Admirals were known as the highest fighting force of Marine Headquarters. Their faces appeared often enough in newspapers and propaganda bulletins that even ordinary civilians could recognize them at a glance.
The passerby froze for half a breath, then his body moved before his mind did. He raised a shaking hand and pointed down the road.
"T-that way!"
Borsalino followed the direction of the finger and scratched his head.
"Ohhh… how strange. Didn't I just come from there? Did I miss it? What a mistake. I should've brought Sentomaru along."
His mouth crooked to one side. His expression looked ridiculous, but nothing about his eyes revealed what he was thinking.
Then he took two slow steps forward.
On the third, his body turned into light.
A golden beam tore across the street and vanished into the distance.
Although he had complained to Fleet Admiral Sengoku over the Den Den Mushi, Borsalino never actually refused a mission. It was not that he enjoyed work, nor that he possessed some fiery sense of duty.
It was simply the way he survived.
Do the job.
Avoid unnecessary passion.
Go home alive.
That was all.
Elsewhere, behind the auction house, Eli's voice rose so high it almost cracked.
"No ship?!"
His face was full of disbelief.
"Yeah," Axel replied calmly. "No ship. We came here on Uncle Rebil's boat."
"Then where is this Uncle Rebil?!"
"He left."
Eli stared at him.
For a moment, no words came out.
No ship.
They had attacked a human auction house, killed Celestial Dragons, and stirred up enough trouble to make the whole world shake—and they had no ship.
Eli almost wanted to kneel down and beg the heavens for a refund on his life.
But panic would not help. One thing was certain: staying on Sabaody was the same as waiting for execution. Time was running out.
"The first priority is finding a ship and getting off this island," Eli said quickly. "There's no time to prepare one from scratch. This auction house deals with nobles. It definitely has its own private vessels. We just need to find where they're docked. Leave that to me."
Now that he had joined them, he had no choice but to work with everything he had.
Besides, he was not alone. A large number of newly freed slaves were helping him search. From them, Eli learned that most of the slaves had been brought in from the coast behind the auction house.
Following that clue, they soon found it.
A ship was moored at the rear shore, hidden behind the auction house and screened by roots and structures.
Eli nearly cried from relief.
"We found a ship! Let's leave, now!"
"No."
Issho's voice stopped him.
Eli turned back stiffly.
Issho stood with his cane-sword in hand, his expression quiet.
"Someone has to hold off the pursuit," Issho said. "If all of us flee at once, the target will be too large. Should a powerful enemy catch us at sea, I may not be able to protect everyone."
His blind eyes faced the direction of the auction house.
"I will remain here and draw their attention."
"Then I'll stay too," Axel said.
It was not the wisest choice.
He knew that.
The rational decision was to escape. The enemy coming would almost certainly be a Marine Admiral. By staying, he would be throwing himself into a storm far beyond his current strength.
But his feet did not move toward the ship.
His body had already chosen before his mind finished arguing.
Hawkins drew a card and began to divine. After a moment, he looked at Issho.
"Death does not show on your face," he said. "You will not die today. I agree with leaving."
Eli quickly followed Hawkins' words. "Axel, we should go. If this gets exposed, an Admiral will definitely come after us. Mr. Issho should… probably be fine."
He said probably with very little confidence.
He had seen Issho summon a meteor from the sky. That was already beyond common sense. But an Admiral was an Admiral—the highest fighting force of the Marines. Who could say what would happen when monsters met monsters?
Issho turned slightly toward Axel.
"You staying here would only hinder me."
The words were blunt.
But Axel understood what lay beneath them.
Issho wanted them to leave. He intended to take this delayed danger upon himself.
"Okay," Axel replied.
He knew Issho's temperament. Once the man decided something, persuasion was useless. It was better to agree for now, escort the freed slaves onto the ship, and then decide what to do after that.
Soon, the group began retreating toward the coast behind the auction house.
The freed slaves moved in tense but orderly lines. Some were limping. Some supported others. Brenda helped guide them. Eli ran back and forth, forcing the frightened group into motion. Hawkins walked at the rear, watching the surroundings with cold, unreadable eyes.
Only Issho remained behind.
Inside the auction hall, gravity still pressed the nobles, merchants, guards, auction staff, and those who had failed the test flat against the ground. None of them could move. None of them could flee.
After a while, Issho sensed presences approaching from all around.
Disciplined footsteps.
Steady breathing.
Hearts without malice.
"Marines?" he murmured.
Only the Marines could gather so many men whose hearts were not steeped in evil. They were not here for greed. They were following orders. In their minds, perhaps they were even upholding justice.
"To be an enemy of the world…"
Issho gave a faint, self-mocking smile.
He had lived a mediocre life into middle age. He had blinded himself rather than continue looking at the filth of the world. He had wandered, gambled, eaten simple meals, and carried his own justice quietly in his chest.
He had never expected that, at this age, he would one day stand against something so enormous.
"But all I have done is protect the justice before me."
His grip tightened slightly around his cane-sword.
"This island's evil must be cleansed."
Issho's body slowly rose into the air.
He floated upward from the stage, passed through the ceiling, and broke straight through the auction house roof. Splintered wood and shattered tiles burst outward around him as he emerged above the building.
Below, Rear Admiral DeWitt had arrived with the surrounding Marine forces.
Though age had begun creeping into his body, DeWitt's instincts had not dulled. If anything, they were sharper than when he was young. The instant Issho appeared above the auction house, DeWitt sensed it.
A powerful aura.
Not the rotten, nauseating malice that usually seeped from places like this, but something stern, heavy, and upright.
A righteous presence.
DeWitt leapt onto one of the towering stone pillars outside the auction house, using the height to observe.
There.
A figure floated above the roof.
He rose slowly, then stopped.
His hand moved to his sword.
A drawing stance.
DeWitt's pupils narrowed.
He did not understand what the man was about to do, but every instinct in his body screamed danger.
He turned and roared at the Marines below,
"Everyone, scatter!"
A heartbeat later—
Boom!
A deafening explosion tore across Island 1.
The auction house collapsed inward as though an invisible giant hand had crushed it from the heavens. A violent shockwave surged in every direction, throwing the Marine formation into chaos. Soldiers were flung off their feet. Dust and shattered debris rolled out in a thick gray wall.
The air shook.
For a long while, no one could see anything.
When the dust finally began to settle, Marines groaned and pushed themselves up from the ground. Their weapons were scattered. Their formation had been completely shattered.
DeWitt ignored all of that.
His gaze was fixed on the center.
Where the massive auction house had once stood, there was now only a vast crater.
The building was gone.
Gone so thoroughly that even its shape had vanished.
A chill ran through every Marine present.
The human auction house—the symbol of that filthy trade, the place that had stood arrogantly under the protection of nobles, dark forces, and Celestial Dragons—had been erased from Sabaody.
A lone figure slowly descended from above.
The Marines raised their rifles in panic. Fingers tightened around triggers, but no one dared fire.
Issho landed amid the dust, cane-sword in hand, his face calm.
Seeing that he did not immediately attack, DeWitt forced himself to breathe. Then he jumped down from the stone pillar and strode forward.
He stopped at a cautious distance.
His voice was tense.
"Did you do this?"
Issho faced him quietly.
DeWitt's next question came heavier.
"Where are the Celestial Dragons who were inside?"
Issho lowered his head slightly.
"As you can see," he said. "I did this."
The dust drifted around him like ash.
"And I killed all the Celestial Dragons, along with everyone else who remained inside."
The world seemed to fall silent.
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]