On the blue sea, white seagulls flew freely across the sky.
Their cries signaled that today would be a day of beautiful weather.
However, on the surface of the ocean, something unnatural was happening.
A strange-looking ship was cutting through the water at an unimaginable speed. It moved without sails, driven by paddle wheels on the sides.
If anyone had seen it, they would have called it a miracle.
For eight hundred years, the world believed that no one could safely cross the Calm Belt.
It was a nest of monsters, a place where the wind never blew. Yet, this ship was breaking all the rules.
"Hiss... that was too close. We actually encountered a Sea King. Luckily our ship is small and fast."
On the deck, Queen wiped sweat from his forehead.
He looked back with lingering fear at the dark waters of the Calm Belt they had just left behind.
Beside him, Caesar Clown was trembling uncontrollably.
His face was pale, and his knees were knocking together.
"You bastard!" Caesar suddenly shouted, grabbing Queen's collar. "I almost thought we were going to die just now! Why did you have to mess with that Sea King!"
The two of them had been traveling smoothly.
Theoretically, they should have reached the North Blue by midnight.
But along the way, Queen had spotted a lone Sea King—a "small" one—sleeping near the surface.
Queen, wanting to test a new biological weapon he was working on, decided to stop the ship.
"I just wanted to see if the toxin would work," Queen defended himself.
Initially, there didn't seem to be any problem.
But just as Queen was about to deploy his weapon, the water exploded.
A head over a hundred meters tall emerged from the sea. Its eyes were the size of houses, staring deathly at the two tiny humans.
If Caesar Clown hadn't desperately taken the helm and engaged the emergency boosters, both Queen and Caesar would have been Sea King food last night.
"Bastard! The Chief specifically said that making noise attracts the large Sea Kings!" Caesar screamed, his voice cracking. "
If you want to die, don't drag me down with you!"
Caesar was furious.
In his mind, he was a great scientist. His life was far more valuable than ordinary people.
In the MADS organization, only Judge and Vegapunk were on his level, and Caesar was confident he would surpass them both one day.
He couldn't die here because of Queen's stupidity.
Queen brushed Caesar's hand away. "Alright, alright. I didn't expect the parents to be nearby."
Queen composed himself, lighting a cigar.
He put on a careless expression.
"Tell you what. Later, when we capture the test subjects on the island, I'll give you half of my share. You can use them for whatever gas experiments you want."
Caesar's anger vanished instantly. His eyes lit up.
"Fine," Caesar said, pouting like a child. "You better remember that."
Ultimately, Caesar was simple-minded when it came to his research.
He forgave Queen immediately upon hearing that he would get more humans to experiment on.
Queen turned away, his gaze fixed on the island appearing on the horizon—Chaniaral Island.
He didn't say much more, his mind already calculating the most efficient way to kidnap the locals.
...
Buru—Buru—Buru—
The unique, deep sound of a Den Den Mushi ringing broke the peaceful morning silence.
Raleigh had just finished his black coffee and breakfast. He wiped his mouth with a napkin and picked up the receiver.
"Moshi Moshi, this is Raleigh."
From the other end of the Den Den Mushi came a voice that sounded like it was grinding its teeth in anger and desperation.
"Commander Raleigh! It's an emergency!" the voice roared. "Those detestable bastards have appeared again! There are only two of them this time, but their weapons are extremely strange. And... they are Devil Fruit Users! We can't hold them off!"
Bang! Boom!
Raleigh could hear the chaotic sounds of constant gunfire and explosions coming through the speaker.
Raleigh's lazy expression vanished instantly. His eyes sharpened.
"Hold your ground. I'm coming."
He slammed the receiver down.
Without a second thought, he ran to the balcony. He bent his knees and pushed off with explosive force.
Whoosh!
His body soared into the air like a rocket, flying over the rooftops toward the coast.
...
By the time Raleigh was airborne, the side of Chaniaral Island facing the sea was already ablaze.
Thick black smoke rose into the sky.
The scene on the beach was a nightmare. Marine soldiers lay scattered on the sand, groaning in pain.
A large number had already collapsed, foaming at the mouth.
"Shurororororo! The Marines are just too weak!"
A strange, floating figure made of gas laughed maniacally.
It was Caesar Clown.
He recklessly released purple clouds of poisonous gas from his body.
Under the influence of his Gas-Gas Fruit, the soldiers choked.
Behind him, Queen was calmly walking through the chaos.
He was carrying unconscious civilians over his shoulders like sacks of potatoes, loading them onto their strange ship.
"Hold on a little longer, Caesar," Queen called out, not looking back. "Just two more trips, and we'll have enough experimental subjects."
Caesar, who was busy terrorizing the soldiers, grumbled irritably.
"Just worry about yourself, fatty! No one can resist my ability," Caesar boasted. "You hurry up and move faster—the sooner we get back, the sooner we might make a breakthrough in our research."
Hidden behind a pile of crates, a wounded Marine soldier named Fox Andy watched them.
Andy's arm was bleeding badly, and he had a wet cloth pressed tightly over his nose and mouth to filter the air.
His eyes were fixed intently on Caesar.
He was calculating.
Earlier, when the squad had first encountered Caesar, they had underestimated him.
Caesar looked like a teenager, a child. They didn't expect him to be a monster.
Many soldiers inhaled the gas and fell instantly.
Some brave soldiers had tried to tackle him, but Caesar had detonated the gas around his body, blowing them away.
That was why so many were wounded.
'A Logia-type Devil Fruit...' Andy thought, sweating.
He knew that Logia users could turn their bodies into elements—fire, ice, or in this case, gas.
Physical attacks passed right through them.
Usually, only high-ranking officers with Haki could touch them.
Fox Andy was not a high-ranking officer. He was just a regular soldier.
But he had sharp intuition.
"He lacks experience," Andy whispered to himself.
After observing for a few minutes, Andy noticed a pattern.
Caesar's breathing was heavy.
He seemed to have poor stamina. He rarely used his full elemental form to dodge bullets, likely to save energy.
"He's tired," Andy realized. "He probably only has enough energy for one big move."
Just as Queen finished throwing the last kidnapped villager onto the ship, Caesar retracted his gas cloud, looking confident.
"Now!"
Fox Andy burst out from his cover.
"You vile pirates!" Andy shouted, his voice hoarse. "You won't get away! Vice Admiral Raleigh will capture every last one of you!"
He raised his rifle and aimed it directly at Caesar.
Caesar turned, looking bored.
"What a boring trick," Caesar sneered. "How dare a lowly Marine soldier like you waste my time? Do you have any idea how precious my genius is?"
Caesar didn't want to deal with this pest.
He had what he came for.
He just wanted to go home and start cutting people up.
"Die," Caesar muttered.
Without holding back, Caesar released a concentrated cloud of flammable gas.
He prepared to ignite the air with a spark from his castanets and blow the soldier—and the entire dock—to smithereens.
"Now's the time!"
Fox Andy, who had been waiting for this exact moment, didn't shoot Caesar.
He lowered his aim.
Bang!
He pulled the trigger.
The bullet flew through the air, but it wasn't aimed at the villain. It struck the hard flint stone slab right beneath Caesar's feet.
"Hahahaha!" Caesar laughed, closing his eyes. "What an impulsive idiot. I'm standing right here and you still missed—"
Clang!
The bullet hit the stone.
A few insignificant, tiny orange sparks flew up from the impact.
The sparks flew right into the cloud of flammable gas that Caesar had just released.
Caesar's arrogant laughter cut off.
His eyes went wide. His expression shifted from pride to pale horror in a split second.
"Damn it—bastard!"
The gas ignited instantly.
BOOM!!!
A tremendous sound erupted, deafening everyone nearby.
A beam of blinding white light shot out from where Caesar stood.
It was followed by a massive shockwave as the air was compressed and then expanded violently outward in all directions.
Fox Andy threw himself flat on the ground, digging his fingers into the dirt to keep from being blown away.
The heat washed over him.
A huge mushroom cloud of fire and smoke rose from the ground, towering over the coast.
The explosion shook the entire island, signaling the start of the real battle.
---------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator