"Do not fall back!!!"
"Move in and attack!!!"
"That is an order!!!"
The Marine officer roared at the top of his lungs as wave after wave of Marine soldiers charged forward with blades and rifles raised, even though fear was written all over their faces.
But for some reason, the orders from above had been absolute.
If Sabaody had not forbidden the use of a Buster Call, then it would not have been just the Marines already stationed there who had come.
"How strange. Such an uncompromising attitude toward a newcomer with no criminal record at all, one who had never even shown his face before."
Doll drew on her cigarette as she watched that absurdly tall figure.
He was clearly a giant, yet moved with astonishing agility.
Not long ago, she had suddenly received a direct order from Marine Headquarters.
Capture the newly emerged criminal Dark Sun Sadgeo, a pirate with a bounty exceeding one billion berries.
At all costs.
If capture or execution proved impossible, then at the very least drive him away from Sabaody or lure him out of the archipelago. A Buster Call fleet from Headquarters stood ready to depart at any time.
Faced with such an unusual target, Doll had no authority to refuse.
She could only lead the Marines in pursuit.
But...
"I already told you, I do not know any of you people."
Sadgeo steadied the straw hat nearly blown off by cannon fire. A trace of displeasure crossed his face as he raised one fist, then drew it back farther and farther, stretching it longer and longer.
"Gum-Gum... Giant Pistol!!!"
Boom!!!
"Puah!!!"
With a single blow, the ground split open across several hundred meters, and the formation of Marines collapsed in an instant. Bodies were sent flying everywhere by the aftershock.
Only a few were saved in time.
Puff. Puff. Puff.
Using Geppo, Doll landed lightly after catching several soldiers by their uniforms before they were hurled away.
"What a troublesome opponent. Such outrageous brute force combined with Devil Fruit abilities. And according to reports, his Haki is no weak matter either..."
She shot forward, kicking through the air with Geppo and charging straight at the towering young giant.
"Dark Sun!!! Surrender peacefully!!!"
"Not a chance!!!"
Sadgeo laughed. That face, identical to Joy Boy's, now wore a fierce and determined expression.
"I am the king destined to conquer this sea!!!"
"Hahahahaha!!!"
Sadgeo thrust out his fist.
Clang!!!
Jet-black Armament Haki instantly wrapped around it as he punched toward Doll, while Doll answered with a full-force kick of her own.
...
"What was that sound..."
Sanji, who had also just arrived on the island, paused when he heard the crash, but he still decided to find his crewmates first.
Before long, he found Zoro, who had managed to get lost as usual, and then Luffy.
At that moment, Luffy had just run into the fake Straw Hat crew led by Demaro Black in the Sabaody plaza.
Relying on Luffy's name, the impostor had managed to gather a huge crowd of pirates around him.
"Oi!!! Marines, do you even know who I am?!"
"I am—"
Before he could list off Luffy's so-called glorious feats and connections, one of the Sabaody security guards stepped forward and knocked him flat with a single kick.
"No matter how many hundreds of millions a pirate is worth, anyone who comes to Sabaody will follow the rules."
"You are hereby sentenced to corrective labor for disturbing the peace. Behave yourself."
Sentomaru stood where he was, his expression strange. He had actually been about to act himself.
But considering that local security held priority law-enforcement rights over Marines in Sabaody, there was nothing he could do.
"Forget it. We do not have time to waste on a bunch of pirates."
"Our top priority is capturing Dark Sun."
"PX-5, move out!!!"
Luffy, who had been worried about being recognized, looked curiously at Sentomaru and the Pacifista moving away.
How weird...
But there was no time to think about that now. He had to find his crew.
Just as he was about to keep heading toward the harbor, two figures came running toward him.
"Oi!!! Luffy!!!"
"Oh?!!! Sanji, Zoro!!!"
The three main fighters lit up the moment they spotted each other and ran straight for one another.
But just before they could meet—
Boom!!!
A violent impact exploded right between them, instantly shattering the ground across a hundred meters like thin paper.
Dust billowed everywhere as the three of them coughed and climbed back to their feet.
"Cough, cough... what the hell was that?!"
"What happened?!"
Only after the dust settled did they finally see what had happened.
Someone had come crashing in at high speed. She was lying on the ground now, blood at the corner of her mouth.
A short-haired beauty.
"Oh!!!! A lady!!!"
Sanji's eyes turned to hearts at once. God only knew how he had endured the last two years after his foster father had kicked him away.
"Wait, curly-brows. That is a Marine."
Zoro blocked Sanji from rushing forward, and those words were enough to make him calm down a little.
"Huh? It really is..."
"But beating a beautiful lady into that state is unforgivable!!!"
"Who did this?!"
The one who had just been hurled into the ground hard enough to smash it open was none other than Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral Doll.
She slowly got back to her feet, ignoring the three pirates nearby and instead fixing a grim stare on the distance.
From behind the Yarukiman Mangrove stepped a young man.
"I told you already. Stop getting in my way."
The three of them looked over as one.
Their eyes met Sadgeo's.
"Why is there a giant here? And..."
"He looks so similar. Not exactly the same, but he really resembles Luffy. Even the straw hat."
"What is with this guy?!"
The moment Luffy locked eyes with Sadgeo, a strange sense of familiarity rose in his chest.
Alongside it came a trace of instinctive dislike.
The two feelings contradicted each other completely.
"Why are you copying me?! Who the hell are you?!"
Sadgeo had noticed Luffy too, and the same strange reaction stirred within him.
But he simply adjusted his massive straw hat and answered:
"I am Sadgeo. Sadgeo!!!"
"The man who will become King of the World!!!"
Sanji and Zoro were even more baffled, blinking in disbelief.
"Even the way he talks is similar..."
Luffy, on the other hand, felt like he was about to explode. That unpleasant feeling surged straight out of him.
"You are definitely doing this on purpose, bastard!!!"
"Gum-Gum—"
Luffy leapt up, inflating his fist with a burst of air.
As the inheritor of Joy Boy's will, he naturally felt an inborn aversion toward Sadgeo. And with Teach's influence mixed into the equation, that disgust only intensified.
But in the next instant, something happened that made all three of them freeze in shock.
Sadgeo raised his fist too, and even the action of blowing into it was identical, except his fist grew to a monstrous size.
"Do not get in my way, brat!!!"
"Gum-Gum—"
"Giant Pistol!!!"
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