"How about I go catch a pirate with a bounty over a hundred million right now to pay off my debt?" Seeing Shakky's increasingly unfriendly expression, Nagasawa tried to negotiate.
"I can pay for the drinks, and the intelligence too."
Shakky gave him a look that clearly said Do you think I'm that easy to fool? Then she smiled and said, "Why don't you just say you'll go rob a Celestial Dragon and use that to pay me?"
"That's not impossible." Nagasawa answered seriously.
To him, there was essentially no difference between pirates and Celestial Dragons. They were all trash that belonged in the garbage heap.
Shakky became even more convinced that he was just freeloading and talking big. Although Celestial Dragons themselves weren't powerful, even pirates with bounties exceeding a billion Belly didn't necessarily dare touch them, because Celestial Dragons had the authority to summon an Admiral directly.
However, because he was so mysterious, knew about her and Rayleigh, and his strength was unknown, otherwise Shakky would have already beaten up the white-haired man who refused to pay.
"Then go ahead. As it happens, Saint Charlos is wandering around Sabaody Archipelago right now. If you've got the guts, go rob him," Shakky said casually.
What she didn't expect was for Nagasawa to nod before saying, "Pour me another glass of that ten-million-Belly liquor. I'll be back soon."
With that, he calmly walked out of the bar under Shakky's gaze.
Looking at his expression, for a brief moment, she actually wondered whether this white-haired man was really going to rob a Celestial Dragon.
But she quickly shook her head.
Who would really rob a Celestial Dragon just for money? At the very least, the goal should be something bigger.
Not everyone was a hothead like Luffy. Hitting a Celestial Dragon came with extremely serious consequences.
"Forget it. I'll just treat it as spending a glass of beer to hear a joke, even if it wasn't very funny." Shakky no longer believed Nagasawa would return.
Still, she decided to notify Rayleigh and see if he knew anything.
At this moment, Rayleigh was still teaching Luffy Haki.
...
After learning from Shakky that there was a Celestial Dragon on Sabaody Archipelago, Nagasawa immediately began searching.
A rather bold plan had formed in his mind.
He would rob a Celestial Dragon, then when the Admiral arrived, kill that Celestial Dragon right in front of the Admiral, delivering a vicious slap to the Marines, the Celestial Dragons, and the World Government.
Another reason was to make his current identity famous. On these seas, having no reputation really made things inconvenient.
If he were some ruthless pirate with a three-billion-Belly bounty, Shakky might have handed over the Revolutionary Army's intelligence directly. In fact, if the outside world merely learned that he intended to start a revolution, the Revolutionary Army would probably come looking for him on their own.
Saint Charlos... Nagasawa remembered this Celestial Dragon as the one who had nearly killed Sabo.
He belonged to the kind of Celestial Dragon whose sins couldn't be erased even after suffering all ten great tortures.
Not every Celestial Dragon was completely rotten.
For example, Donquixote Homing had clearly understood the sins of the Celestial Dragons.
He willingly gave up his status as a Celestial Dragon and left the Holy Land of Mary Geoise with his family to live as ordinary people.
Thanks to his incredible speed, Nagasawa quickly found Saint Charlos.
At that moment, Saint Charlos was strolling around Grove 30 with a large group of servants and attendants.
The arrival of the Celestial Dragon caused everyone on the street to lower their heads and kneel, not daring to glance around lest the Celestial Dragon become displeased and start shooting people for amusement.
Celestial Dragons possessed the privileges of World Nobles.
The idea that murder required repayment with one's life was nothing but a joke when applied to them.
Even though everyone on the street looked submissive, Saint Charlos still wore an unhappy expression beneath his bubble helmet.
"Bring me the cannon."
An attendant immediately handed him a handheld cannon with a barrel about as thick as an arm.
Saint Charlos pointed it directly at a tall passerby on the street and cursed, "You deliberately grew so tall just to block my view. You deserve to die!"
The tall passerby froze instantly.
He had imagined he might die one day, but never that he would die for such a ridiculous reason—simply because he was too tall.
None of the surrounding pedestrians dared say a word. They merely moved away from the tall man.
After all, this was a Celestial Dragon.
No matter how absurd the reason, nothing was surprising.
All they could hope was that the Celestial Dragon's anger wouldn't spread to them.
Almost visibly, the taller people on the street curled themselves up, wishing they could shrink into the ground for fear of catching Saint Charlos's attention.
Bang!
The shell was fired.
Even if the tall passerby wanted to dodge, he couldn't.
He wasn't some high-bounty pirate, nor a hidden master living among civilians.
He was simply an ordinary man.
One of the countless ordinary people in the world.
Ordinary people could never be faster than cannonballs.
But while ordinary people couldn't, Nagasawa could.
Picking up a tiny pebble from the ground, he flicked it toward the shell.
Just as Saint Charlos was about to celebrate killing the lowly commoner who had ruined his mood, a violent explosion erupted directly in front of him.
The blast knocked him over, and the explosion covered him in dirt and debris, making him look like a beggar.
"Who did that?!"
Among Saint Charlos's attendants were several CP elites.
They reacted immediately.
Some surrounded Saint Charlos to protect him, while the others rapidly scanned the surroundings for the enemy.
They quickly found the attacker.
Because Nagasawa had never tried to hide.
Standing openly in the middle of the street, he stood out instantly from everyone else, who remained kneeling.
"C-Capture him! I want to torture him for a hundred years!" Saint Charlos trembled as he shouted after recovering from the explosion.
His eyes were bloodshot with rage.
This was the first time anyone had ever attacked him.
Every previous trip had been meticulously prepared.
Not only had no one dared attack him, but every destination had offered him the finest sightseeing experience, and everywhere he went, the people had been required to kneel in greeting.
His fury reached its peak.
He intended to capture the attacker alive and torture him until death.
He was a Celestial Dragon.
A descendant of the Creator.
These filthy commoners should have considered it the greatest blessing of their lives merely to behold his noble appearance up close.
Yet they had actually dared injure his precious body.
Before Saint Charlos could utter another word, however, he realized that all of his usually fierce attendants had already collapsed unconscious.
Meanwhile, the white-haired man walked calmly up to him.
Looking down at Saint Charlos and his unusually shaped head, Nagasawa smiled.
"This is a robbery. Hand over every bit of money you have."
Although he had been enraged by the Celestial Dragon's utter disregard for human life, Nagasawa hadn't forgotten his original goal.
Besides becoming famous, he also intended to rob the rich and help the poor.
For some reason, even after all his subordinates had been defeated, Saint Charlos still acted incredibly arrogant.
"You filthy commoner! Someone will come deal with you soon! Just wait to spend the rest of your life drowning in suffering!" Saint Charlos shouted arrogantly without the slightest trace of panic.
"Who gave him this confidence? Doesn't he realize his life is in my hands?" Nagasawa asked curiously, looking toward the men lying on the ground.
As he spoke, he stomped down, crushing the square helmet on Saint Charlos's head before grinding his foot into his face.
"AAAAH!"
Saint Charlos screamed in agony, his face twisting in pain.
"What a nuisance. I stepped a little too hard and broke your helmet. Breathing the same air as trash like you is really unpleasant."
Nagasawa twisted his foot across Saint Charlos's face, making him howl in pain.
The bystanders watching had already been completely dumbfounded.
They had thought Straw Hat Luffy, who punched a Celestial Dragon a year ago, was already unbelievably bold.
Yet now someone had appeared who was stepping on a Celestial Dragon's face while insulting him nonstop.
What kind of great pirate was this?
He was unbelievably fearless.
Many of the bystanders had already begun fleeing.
No matter how this ended, this area was bound to become a battlefield.
The CP agents lying on the ground felt their eyelids twitch uncontrollably as they watched Nagasawa treat a Celestial Dragon this way.
If this continued, even if the incident ended, they wouldn't survive afterward.
"Sir... if you want money, there's two hundred million Belly in that chest. Please spare Saint Charlos," one of the CP agents lying on the ground said.
Nagasawa kicked Saint Charlos aside before opening the chest the CP agent pointed out.
Inside were stacks of Belly.
Whether there were truly two hundred million or not, he couldn't be sure.
Satisfied, he nodded.
He had gone from having not a single Belly to becoming a wealthy man with two hundred million Belly.
Sure enough, if you wanted to get rich quickly, Celestial Dragons were the answer.
Catching pirates wasn't nearly as efficient.
You still had to go through Marine Headquarters to claim the bounty, along with a mountain of paperwork.
"So... which Admiral do you think will come?" Nagasawa suddenly asked after putting the chest away.
"It'll probably be Kizaru. He's the fastest."
Cold sweat instantly covered the CP agents' foreheads.
Protecting Celestial Dragons wasn't limited to those in plain sight.
Hidden forces were stationed nearby as well to ensure absolute security.
If nothing unexpected happened, those hidden guards had already reported the situation through a Den Den Mushi, and the Admiral would arrive very soon.
Marine Headquarters was currently located on the opposite side of the Red Line.
With an Admiral's speed, it wouldn't take long.
What they couldn't understand was how Nagasawa had discovered this—and why he hadn't tried to stop it.
Naturally, they had no idea that fighting an Admiral was also part of his plan.
Simply attacking a Celestial Dragon only proved you were courageous.
But if you could also fight the Admiral sent after you...
That would make you instantly famous throughout the seas.
Kizaru didn't keep Nagasawa waiting long.
After Marine Headquarters received word that a Celestial Dragon had been attacked, Akainu immediately ordered Kizaru to eliminate the assailant.
"How terrifying. Even a World Noble has been beaten into such a miserable state."
The moment Kizaru arrived and saw Saint Charlos's condition, he showed a surprised expression before beginning his usual sarcastic remarks.
"World Noble? I prefer calling them trash."
Smiling, Nagasawa stomped down and crushed Saint Charlos's head right in front of everyone.
Even Kizaru failed to stop him.
His action exceeded everyone's expectations.
Although attacking a Celestial Dragon was rare, it wasn't unprecedented.
But killing one directly in front of an Admiral...
No one had ever done that before.
Even Kizaru looked stunned.
He hadn't expected Nagasawa to actually kill a Celestial Dragon.
At the same time, the speed Nagasawa had displayed in that instant caused Kizaru to put away his usual wretched grin.
As for Saint Charlos's servants and slaves, they completely broke down.
With Saint Charlos dead, there was no way they would survive.
His family would undoubtedly execute all of them.
Kizaru wasn't in a good mood either.
A Celestial Dragon had been killed right before his eyes.
The trouble waiting for him afterward would certainly be endless.
He wasn't even interested in making sarcastic comments anymore.
Without hesitation, he fired a powerful laser at Nagasawa.
Nagasawa dodged effortlessly.
Taking advantage of the opening, Kizaru snatched Saint Charlos's corpse and handed it over to his attendants.
Perhaps because he was in such a bad mood, Kizaru became completely serious.
His attacks were both swift and deadly.
Had he fought Luffy like this during the Summit War, Luffy probably wouldn't have survived.
However, no matter how fast Kizaru was, he still couldn't surpass the Flying Thunder God.
Relying on its overwhelming mobility, Kizaru practically turned into a demolition crew, giving the island free redevelopment.
Yet he couldn't even touch Nagasawa.
"That ability..."
The usual relaxed smile vanished from Kizaru's face.
Instead, he frowned deeply.
This wasn't the first time he had seen such an ability.
Before the Summit War, Whitebeard had demonstrated the very same power.
Kizaru remembered it vividly.
After all, Akainu had nearly died to it.
"Yasakani no Magatama!"
Kizaru instantly widened the distance and flew high into the air to avoid being ambushed by the Flying Thunder God.
Golden light erupted from his palms as countless light projectiles rained toward the ground in a carpet bombardment.
This time, however, Nagasawa didn't dodge.
He erupted with Chakra, instantly entering Breathing Style Sage Mode before using his immense Chakra to perform Water Release.
"Sage Art: Super Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
Being so close to the sea, combined with Nagasawa's enormous Chakra and Senjutsu enhancement, allowed an enormous water dragon over a thousand meters long to form instantly.
It blocked Kizaru's countless light bullets before charging fiercely toward him.
Seeing such an incredible spectacle, Kizaru's expression worsened even further.
He couldn't understand a single thing Nagasawa was using.
That gigantic water dragon...
Was it some kind of water-related Devil Fruit?
He had never even heard of anything like it.
However, Kizaru's speed was astonishing.
He easily avoided the water dragon, which instead became a demolition crew itself, destroying countless buildings.
By this point, there was almost no one left on Grove 30.
Everyone had fled to the other groves long ago after realizing the situation had gone terribly wrong.
At that moment, Kizaru pulled out a black Den Den Mushi while continuing to attack from the sky, intending to report the situation to Akainu.
"Moshi moshi, Sakazuki, over here—"
Halfway through speaking, he realized he had taken out a black surveillance Den Den Mushi rather than a communication one.
Nagasawa also had no intention of dragging the fight on.
The Shadow Clone's margin for error was still too low.
It couldn't withstand excessive damage.
He intended to unleash one powerful attack on Kizaru before leaving.
"Sage Art: Water Shockwave!"