Chapter 46: Who Do You Think I Am? Bring the Ship Closer!
On the azure sea, sunlight glinted on the waves.
A battleship, black like a cola bottle, sailed against the wind.
The Marine Soldiers of the Detainment Unit were happily munching on food, clearly in high spirits.
This mission had been completed very smoothly.
The criminals they needed to detain were already in the ship's brig. This pirate even cooperated exceptionally, actively revealing the location of hidden treasures.
This was another extra merit.
For anyone, having their first mission after vacation go so smoothly would naturally put them in a good mood.
But at this moment...
"Hey, Far, tell Chief Petty Officer Hans, what do you think the boss is thinking?"
In a corner of the deck, Hans and Far huddled together, whispering.
"...Can you stop bringing up your Chief Petty Officer rank? Do you want to fight again?"
Far glared, but then lowered his voice. "As for what the boss is thinking, how would I know?"
He grumbled like that, but also admitted that Hans's question at this moment made sense.
Because at this moment, while the Marine Soldiers were celebrating the smooth completion of the mission...
Loy was lying on a deck chair, basking in the sun in the "cola bottle cap" position at the front of the deck.
Beside him, there was a bottle of ice-cold cola and a glass, making him look very comfortable.
But Far and Hans knew that wasn't the case—because they noticed Loy hadn't picked up his cola glass for a full twenty minutes.
For Loy, who always declared, "The chilling of cola must never be sloppy," this situation basically confirmed that he was thinking about something, and his mood was probably not very good.
"What's up? Thinking about something but not saying anything... Acting all high and mighty?"
Hans, as usual, spoke without restraint.
"...You shouldn't say that. The boss might actually be a master now—he did become an apprentice to Admiral Zephyr."
Far, however, understood Hans's point.
And their guess was indeed correct.
"What should I do?"
At this moment, Loy was indeed pondering something.
He was thinking about going to Water 7.
Having finally left Marine Headquarters, he naturally planned to use this opportunity to go to Water 7.
He had even thought of an excuse—Water 7 was a famous island in the Grand Line for shipbuilding and ship repair, renowned as the "Shipwright Island."
Even many Marine officers had cooperation with shipyards in Water 7 and would send their warships there for maintenance.
So, Loy only needed to use the excuse of warship maintenance to naturally head to Water 7.
But he hadn't expected...
"That Hans fellow actually took care of a round of maintenance during the warship modification... Why was he so polite about it?"
This was where Loy had a headache.
Although he could still forcefully order them to go to Water 7 now, doing so would be a bit too obvious.
For him, being cautious, he couldn't accept any risk of exposure.
"Since that's the case, I might as well just..."
Just as Loy was muttering to himself...
"Boss! Boss!"
A voice from above interrupted his thoughts.
"There's a ship in the northeast direction..."
That was the report from the Marine Soldier responsible for lookout duty at the masthead.
But a moment later, Loy heard his voice clearly become tense.
"It's... it's a Pirate ship!"
As soon as these words came out, the Marine Soldiers on deck instantly became vigilant.
They each grabbed their weapons and quickly went to their assigned positions.
Hans and Far immediately picked up their telescopes to look. Then, both their expressions changed drastically, and they rushed to Loy's side.
"Boss... it seems a bit tricky."
"Tricky?"
Loy took the telescope and looked, then he saw that Pirate ship.
The ship was a common three-masted sailing vessel. The figurehead was like a horse's head burning with flames, and the main sail was emblazoned with the word 'SPADE'.
And the Pirate flag on that ship featured a skull wearing a hat, with flames burning on its head, and a black spade motif.
The entire Pirate ship was badly damaged, as if it had just been through an intense battle.
"That ship..."
Loy was slightly puzzled.
He felt like he had seen that Pirate flag somewhere before, but he couldn't recall it at the moment.
Fortunately, Hans and Far gave him the answer: "Boss, that ship seems to be the *Spade*—it's the Black Spade Pirate Crew's ship."
"The Black Spade Pirate Crew!?"
Hearing that name, Loy felt even more familiar with it.
"That's—that super rookie who just rose to fame this year, 'Fire Fist' Ace's Pirate Crew!"
Far's expression turned serious.
And Hans had clearly heard of them too: "They say this Pirate crew's captain, Portgas D. Ace, is a Logia Type ability user, as strong as a monster..."
"Not long ago, he even destroyed a fleet belonging to 'Tyrant King' Huaben, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, which triggered that Warlord's personal pursuit. His bounty subsequently exceeded 100 million Beli!"
Hearing this, Loy was no longer unfamiliar.
So it was Ace's Pirate crew that he had founded himself before joining the Whitebeard Pirates—no wonder he felt like he recognized it but couldn't recall.
"Boss, let's not deal with them. Let's retreat first—and report the information to the nearest Marine Branch."
At this moment, Far and Hans clearly didn't want to stir up trouble.
For pirates with bounties over 100 million Beli, normally, only a Marine Admiral would be sent to capture them.
But...
"Retreat?"
At this moment, Loy chuckled instead.
He looked at the Pirate ship on the distant sea, a plan already forming in his mind.
"What's so funny? Who do you think I am?"
He slowly stood up, stretching his body.
"Bring the ship closer!"
"That's right, although it looks a bit peculiar, it is indeed a Marine warship."
At the same time, on the *Spade*.
A tall man, with a mask covering his eyes, put down his telescope.
He was the "Black Spade Pirate Crew's" ship doctor, Masked Deuce.
At this moment, his expression was somewhat grim and worried, his gaze fixed on the deck in front of him.
He saw that the entire ship was covered in signs of damage, and the deck was littered with people lying around.
Every single one of them was bandaged, clearly not lightly wounded.
"It just *had* to be at this time..."
Deuce muttered softly, feeling a headache coming on.
Ever since they had eliminated a fleet under Huaben more than a month ago, they had been continuously facing danger.
Especially not long ago, after they once again dealt with another one of the enemy's pursuit ships, that particular Seven Warlord of the Sea actually personally came to hunt them down.
After battling all the way, now the only ones on the entire ship with relatively minor injuries were him, the ship doctor, and the captain, Ace.
They had just managed to shake off their pursuers today, but now, of all times, they encountered the Marines.
If a battle broke out now, the situation would be unfavorable.
"Captain, we'll have to rely on you again."
So at this moment, Deuce also turned his gaze to another person standing on the deck.
That was a young man wearing an orange cowboy hat, bare-chested, with some freckles on his face.
His arm was tattooed with his name—ACE.
And after hearing his comrade's words, Ace shook his head.
"No need to be polite, Deuce."
He reached up and adjusted the orange hat on his head, then looked at the gradually approaching warship and grinned.
He also had some injuries on his body, but they were clearly not serious enough to affect his ability to fight.
What's more...
"It's just one warship. It can be dealt with in a single strike."
As he spoke, scorching flames already began to burn around his body.
Then...
"Boom!"
He stomped on the deck fiercely and leaped up.
On his right hand, fire swirled.
"Fire Fist!"
(end of chapter)
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