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Chapter 120is out!!!! +40 advanced chapters monthly
"Oh, you're here. Perfect. I was getting too lazy to hunt you down anyway!" Baishui smirked, genuinely pleased to see Fenty.
The Red Lip Pirates only had four actual combatants: their captain, "Red Lip" Marina; the "Iron Sword Queen," Fenty; a dwarf samurai; and their cannoneer. The samurai was already dead, and Marina had just been captured. That left only Fenty and the cannon guy.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Fenty wasn't about to give Baishui the luxury of a monologue. In a fraction of a second, she unleashed a flurry of strikes, her blade biting into his barrier six times in rapid succession and causing faint spiderweb cracks to spider across the energy shield.
"Light Particle Stream!"
Baishui raised his left hand. The barrier dissolved as a terrifying barrage of glowing projectiles erupted from his palm, leaving Fenty completely exposed to the onslaught.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Compared to the dwarf samurai, Fenty's defense was airtight. She relentlessly parried the blinding attacks, refusing to give Baishui an opening. Even as she deflected the barrage of light, she rapidly retreated across the massive deck. Her footwork was a serpentine zig-zag, making it nearly impossible for Baishui to lock onto her.
"Clever footwork, but entirely useless!" Baishui didn't even bother aiming. He simply fired another volley. Let's see just how long you can keep this up.
Squelch! Squelch!
Overwhelmed by the suddenly intensified barrage, Fenty began to falter. The light particles slammed into her—some grazing her to leave bloody, mangled gashes, others punching clean through her flesh. Within moments, she was drenched in crimson, the blood pooling and dripping down to stain the sea below.
"Light Particle Kick!"
Baishui materialized right in front of Fenty. His right leg whipped out, slamming into her chest with a sickening crack of splintering bone. Fenty became a blur, skipping violently across the surface of the ocean like a thrown stone. The harsh waves battered her, agonizingly compounding her injuries.
"And then there was one!"
Baishui vanished with a swish, reappearing instantly beside the restrained Marina. Grabbing her, he blinked out of existence again, reappearing high in the air. A pair of wings sprouted from his back, and he glided smoothly toward the Marine battleship.
"Watch her!"
Devoid of any chivalry, he casually tossed Marina onto the wooden deck. With that single order to the Marines, he beat his wings, rocketing back into the sky before diving straight toward the ocean.
A minute later, Baishui returned, unceremoniously dropping the unconscious Fenty in front of the stunned crew. He then turned his gaze toward the horizon. In the distance, a handful of ships were fleeing as if the Devil himself were on their heels. The cannoneer had made a run for it.
"I've had my eye on you this whole time. Did you really think I'd let you slip away?" Baishui sneered, shooting into the sky like a loosed arrow.
"Light Particle Stream!"
Hovering directly above the fleeing pirate vessels, Baishui mercilessly pulled the proverbial trigger. Out on the open ocean, the only way someone was escaping him was if they outclassed him by a massive margin.
"Burst Cannon!"
Realizing escape was impossible, the cannoneer backed into a corner and bared his teeth. He aimed his weapon at Baishui, frantically firing off four or five shells radiating a dangerously volatile energy.
Whoosh!
Baishui vanished.
A split second later, he materialized directly in front of the man, firing a concentrated laser point-blank at his head.
Squelch!
The pirate's eyes bulged in pure terror, but he couldn't even flinch in time. Just like that, a pirate with an 87,000,000 Beri bounty was snuffed out.
"As for the rest of you... the sea can be your grave!"
Baishui soared higher into the sky before raining down a relentless, devastating bombardment upon the remaining ships.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Marines watched in awe as a chain of violent explosions tore across the ocean. The pirate ships, which had looked so menacing moments ago, were reduced to splintered driftwood. Corpses bobbed on the waves, the water around them stained a morbid, unnatural crimson.
Phew.
Baishui landed gracefully on the battleship's deck, letting out a long exhale. The Marines stared at him, their eyes practically shining with sheer reverence. None of them had expected Baishui to be this powerful. His strength completely shattered their expectations.
Meanwhile, not far from the carnage, a small submarine slipped away beneath the waves, completely unnoticed. It belonged to the Golden Crab Pirates.
"I wonder if they're done yet," muttered the captain. "Still, that Marina chick should be enough to give this Ronel Baishui a run for his money. The second we get the signal, we strike!"
"Heh heh! Ronel Baishui won't know what hit him. Right after he exhausts himself dealing with that wench, we'll ambush him!"
"Golden Crab" Moga laughed heartily, thoroughly proud of his brilliant strategy to swoop in and steal the prize.
Thirty minutes ticked by.
Moga paced impatiently, his frustration mounting with every passing second. Finally, his reconnaissance unit returned. The scouting party was the very crew of the submarine that had quietly monitored the Marine ship.
"Well? Who won?" Moga demanded bluntly.
But the pale, shaken expressions on his scouts' faces immediately gave him a sinking feeling.
"Ronel Baishui crushed the Red Lip Pirates!" one scout blurted out. "'Red Lip' Marina and the 'Iron Sword Queen' Fenty were captured alive. The dwarf samurai and their cannoneer are dead. The Red Lip Pirates have been completely annihilated! No survivors!"
Just as Moga feared, the report was beyond his wildest nightmares.
"Impossible!"
Moga's first instinct was total denial. A pirate as fiercely strong as Marina had her entire crew slaughtered, and was captured herself?
"Are you absolutely sure about what you saw?!" Moga pressed, his expression darkening into severe grimness.
"Yes, Captain! One hundred percent sure!" the two scouts replied in unison, their tones absolute.
Moga's face immediately fell. His expression grew as dark and stifling as spilled ink.
"Forget it," he finally grunted, making his decision. "We're not provoking him. We're leaving!"
He had officially abandoned the ambush.
Hearing the captain's order, the entire crew let out a collective sigh of relief. They had been terrified that Moga's ego would force them into a suicidal clash against Baishui. If someone as notorious as Marina was taken alive, they wouldn't fare any better.
Golden Crab Moga would never fully realize just how wise that decision was. At that very moment, barely two kilometers away, Baishui was already cutting through the waves, heading straight for them.
"What a monster... he actually found us! Full speed ahead, get us out of here!" Moga shouted, his face twitching in alarm as he spotted Baishui's distant silhouette on the water.
"Aye, Captain!"
The helmsman practically jumped into action, slamming the engines into full gear and speeding away. Given the bulk and speed of Baishui's Marine battleship, it was impossible for the Navy vessel to catch them. Only by taking to the skies could Baishui have closed the distance.
However, since Moga chose to flee, Baishui decided not to push them into a corner. After all, the current condition of his own ship wasn't ideal.
Baishui was essentially the sole combatant on board. The rest of the Marines were fine for auxiliary support, but in a real firefight against seasoned pirates, they were basically dead weight.
Ever since the official commander, Dils, was critically injured by Fenty and fell into a coma, the crew had inexplicably elected Baishui as their new boss. Every single Marine deferred to him completely.
Baishui found the whole situation incredibly exasperating!
Still, since these men looked up to him so much, he reluctantly accepted the role. Besides, the job was painfully simple: just boss people around. What was a leader for, anyway, if not delegating? Assigning the right lackeys to the right tasks—that was his only real duty.
Baishui remained as laid-back as ever. With his hands tucked behind his head and his eyes closed, he hummed a carefree tune, looking the very picture of leisure.
As the battleship sailed deeper, edging closer to Gecko Moria's territory, the Sea Kings they encountered grew steadily more powerful.
They faced a few pirate ambushes along the way, but none boasted a powerhouse like Marina. Most were small-timers with bounties far below the 100,000,000 Beri mark.
Honestly, if these low-level pirates hadn't been so annoyingly persistent, Baishui wouldn't have even bothered arresting them. They were just too weak! So pathetic they couldn't even spark a sliver of interest in him.
The only ones who could get his blood pumping were those with bounties pushing past a hundred million.
The chaotic weather of the Grand Line was surprisingly cooperative. Aside from one violent squall, they had smooth sailing.
Any pirates who crossed paths with their Marine ship generally had one of two reactions: flee for their lives, or stay and fight.
Yet, out here in the East Blue, Baishui bumped into someone who genuinely caught him by surprise.
The captain of the Spade Pirates—Portgas D. Ace!
"Why are the Marines suddenly here?!" Ace exclaimed, standing on the deck of his ship and staring at the approaching Navy vessel in shock.
He was absolutely certain that running into a Marine patrol at this specific time and place should have been impossible. And yet, in this "impossible" place, here they were.
"What the hell is going on?" Ace muttered, thoroughly confused.
And that guy... he doesn't look like someone to mess with.
Ace's gaze was locked entirely onto Baishui, who was sitting cross-legged at the very bow of the warship. His instincts screamed that Baishui was monstrously strong—a terrifying opponent he currently stood no chance of defeating.
"Lieutenant Baishui, shall we sink them?" A Marine Commander, acting as the ship's temporary captain, saluted and asked.
"Do it."
Baishui nodded, accepting the Commander's suggestion. He was deeply curious to see exactly what level Ace was at right now. The Mera Mera no Mi was quite the impressive Devil Fruit, after all.
"Crap! Prepare for battle!"
Seeing every cannon on the Marine ship pivot to lock onto them, Ace instantly barked orders to his crew.
"Fire!" the Commander yelled.
Dozens of heavy black iron shells blasted out of the cannons. If even a fraction of them hit, Ace's ship would be blown to kingdom come.
"Hiken!"
Ace's entire body instantly morphed into roaring flames. He thrust forward, unleashing a massive, devastating fist of pure fire that incinerated every single cannonball hurtling toward his ship.
Phew.
Seeing their captain obliterate the entire barrage single-handedly, the Spade Pirates let out a collective, shaky breath.
"A Logia user?!"
The Marines on the warship gasped in shock. They hadn't expected to run into a Logia-class Devil Fruit user out here.
The sheer invincibility associated with Logia types was deeply ingrained in everyone's minds; an undeniable wave of fear washed over the crew, instantly dulling their fighting spirit.
"Jujika!"
Ace didn't hesitate, launching a preemptive strike directly at Baishui.
Cut off the head of the snake!
He crossed his index fingers into the shape of a cross. Brilliant flames ignited at the tip, firing off a concentrated beam of blinding, cross-shaped fire. It crossed the distance in an instant, arriving right before Baishui's face.
"Light Particle Barrier!"
Baishui didn't even bother to dodge. To him, the destructive power behind Ace's current attack wasn't nearly enough to make him flinch.