White Ghost stared at the approaching pirate fleet with a dark expression.
The pirates aboard were screaming excitedly, eyes blazing with greed.
The crew was already preparing to deal with them.
Then White Ghost stood up.
His great sword appeared in his hand.
The veterans immediately relaxed.
The captain was handling it personally.
That meant there was nothing left for them to do.
White Ghost raised his blade.
"Sword One—Wind Slash."
Whoosh!
A sword aura over a thousand meters long erupted forward.
The pirates stared at the approaching attack.
"What is that?!"
Their eyes nearly bulged from their sockets.
Cannons fired desperately.
It changed nothing.
Boom!
The five pirate ships were annihilated.
Not neatly sliced apart.
The wind-infused slash shredded them into countless fragments.
White Ghost lowered his sword.
Just as everyone assumed he was finished—
A dragon's roar echoed across the sea.
Roar!
White Ghost's body rapidly expanded.
Moments later, a colossal golden dragon over a thousand meters long soared into the sky.
The dragon flew above the sea.
Whenever it spotted a pirate ship, it unleashed either blazing dragon breath or a devastating thunder blast.
Many ships never even understood what happened before golden fire descended from the heavens.
Others were obliterated by pillars of lightning.
That day—
A golden dragon rampaged through the North Blue.
Blood nearly dyed the sea red.
And that day, countless people finally understood how terrifying White Ghost truly was.
When the thousand-meter dragon looked down upon them from the sky, the pressure of death wrapped around their hearts.
Many collapsed after receiving nothing more than a glance.
Fortunately for some, they weren't flying pirate flags.
Otherwise, they would have died too.
White Ghost slaughtered relentlessly.
The moment his Observation Haki detected a mafia stronghold, a blast of dragon breath followed shortly after.
The massacre continued for an entire day.
Many people finally abandoned thoughts they never should have entertained.
The cowards did, at least.
The pirates sponsored by various kingdoms were another matter entirely.
Publicly, those nations remained polite toward White Ghost.
No one dared provoke him openly.
After all, White Ghost truly might destroy their country.
Instead, they secretly encouraged pirates to attack him.
They promised noble titles and countless rewards.
The pirates didn't care.
Why settle for titles when White Ghost supposedly possessed hundreds of billions in gold?
They could simply rob him and buy their own kingdom afterward.
The next morning, Morgans's newspaper spread across the entire world.
It detailed White Ghost's bloody rampage through the North Blue.
It also included a direct quote:
"Come as many times as you want. I'll kill every single one of you. If you're not afraid of death, then come. Let's see if I can slaughter my way through the entire North Blue."
Morgans wasn't finished.
He also took the opportunity to cause trouble for Sengoku.
The headline read:
Shocking! The Most Chaotic Sea Is Filled With Pirates And Mafia Organizations! Is The World Government's Claim Of Peace In The Four Blues A Lie?
Is This Marine Incompetence—Or Something Worse?
Half the newspaper was dedicated to criticizing the Marines.
It never directly called them incompetent.
But the implication was impossible to miss.
Sengoku nearly smashed his desk after reading it.
The truth was that he had already planned to use White Ghost to eliminate the pirates protected by North Blue kingdoms.
The Marines couldn't act freely.
The moment they arrived, pirate flags disappeared and merchant flags appeared in their place.
The Marines left.
The pirate flags came back.
The cycle repeated endlessly.
Many of those criminals were protected by kingdoms themselves.
Even with bounties, little could be done.
Sengoku hated it.
But if he acted too aggressively, complaints flooded in.
If he did nothing, he couldn't sleep at night.
So White Ghost's actions suited him perfectly.
When countless complaints arrived, Sengoku gave the same answer every time:
"He's no longer a Marine. We have no authority over his actions."
The nobles then demanded White Ghost be declared a criminal and hunted by Admirals.
Sengoku simply replied:
"Then why were those merchant ships carrying weapons and attacking him first?"
The politicians immediately fell silent.
Unable to pressure the Marines, they turned toward the World Government.
The Five Elders responded with vague indifference.
Privately, they agreed with Sengoku.
If the Government couldn't act directly, then what other people did wasn't their concern.
A few days later—
"Franky! Laser Cannon!"
A thin blue beam carrying destructive energy fired from Franky's palm.
Whoosh!
Boom!
Two pirate ships exploded instantly.
"Franky! That's amazing!"
A crowd of burly men surrounded him, staring at his mechanical body with open envy.
Chopper was the most excited of all.
He climbed all over Franky, touching every part he could find.
His eyes sparkled.
"Hahaha!"
Franky struck his signature pose.
"This is technology developed from the doctor's latest breakthrough!
"I feel super invincible!"
Everyone stared at the energy core embedded in Franky's chest in amazement.
No one had expected him to strengthen himself this way.
White Ghost handed a glass of wine to Asier.
"You should take a break.
"You've lost weight."
Olga's eyes immediately turned red.
White Ghost was right.
Her father had become noticeably thinner.
Asier took a sip and nodded.
"I can rest for a couple of days.
"But after that, I still have a lot of research to do.
"I've wasted two hundred years already.
"Now that I'm free, and my daughter no longer needs me to worry about her, I'd like to focus on the things I truly want to accomplish."
He glanced at Olga.
After eating the Mythical Zoan Bat-Bat Fruit, Model: Vampire, she had grown to nearly five feet tall.
The once-childish girl had become a graceful young lady.
White Ghost had studied the reason for her rapid growth.
Good nutrition.
The fruit's influence.
And the fact that her true age had always been much older than she appeared.
The combination produced this result.
White Ghost looked at Olga again.
Her already crimson eyes had become even more striking after obtaining the Vampire powers.
As her body matured, her personality had matured as well.
She was no longer the rebellious child she once was.
Now she genuinely cared about her father.
Back when White Ghost gave her the Mythical Zoan Bat-Bat Fruit, Model: Vampire, he had hesitated.
Originally, he had considered saving it for someone imprisoned elsewhere.
A very important figure.
The type of person who would never join any faction easily.
But with Ain's powers developing at an increasingly outrageous rate—
And with Pure Gold in the equation—
White Ghost couldn't help chuckling.
That legendary figure might actually hesitate.
Returning to the present, he glanced between father and daughter.
"No rush.
"At the very least, you should take care of your health first."
He grinned.
"Olga isn't married yet, after all."
Olga's face immediately turned bright red.
In the past, she would have glared at him and fired back several insults.
Now she simply lowered her head shyly.
Asier looked between his daughter and the captain.
A meaningful smile appeared on his face.
But he said nothing.
Instead, he quietly raised his wineglass and took another sip.
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