Kurogane Ren took out a mask and put it on.
He was planning to rob a Marine base, sure—but that didn't mean he wanted the Marines to know what he looked like.
As far as Ren was concerned, what was so good about becoming famous?
The Marines were incredibly powerful right now.
The future Admirals had already begun to show their edge, popping up in the newspapers every few days, while Garp and Sengoku were constantly making headlines.
On the pirate side, the future Four Emperors were also rising fast, but overall, they were still mostly confined to the New World. No matter how powerful the Marines were, they still couldn't fully control that region.
Paradise was different.
From the newspapers over the past few years, Ren had already realized that the Marines were tightening their grip on the first half of the Grand Line.
Most likely, the growing number of pirates pouring into the New World had put more and more pressure on them.
Ren understood the situation clearly.
Pirates in the New World were already terrifying to begin with, and with Whitebeard, Big Mom, and Kaido growing stronger by the day, more and more pirates were being drawn under their banners.
That swelling pirate population kept compressing Marine territory in the New World, which in turn allowed even more pirates to grow stronger, feeding a vicious cycle.
So to weaken the pirates at the source, the Marines had shifted their focus to the first half of the Grand Line.
They wanted to cut off the blood flowing into the New World.
Which meant that at a time like this, laying low and developing quietly was still the smartest path.
That was why Ren had Martha make him a mask.
If he was going to rob the Marines, he at least wasn't going to do it with his real face exposed.
Moving along the outer wall of the Marine base, Ren stopped at a section marked with a painted cat.
Behind that wall was the base warehouse.
He intended to rob the Marines, yes, but he had no intention of charging in through the front gate like an idiot.
A five- or six-meter wall wasn't enough to stop him.
With a single leap, he cleared it.
The moment Ren landed inside the base, he quickly scanned his surroundings.
No one.
Then he made his way straight to the warehouse.
He took a deep breath, raised his fist, and muttered lowly,
"Iron Body."
Boom!
His punch smashed a hole straight through the wall.
Then, moving with all the speed of thunder and absolute shamelessness, he rushed into the warehouse.
Inside, food was piled up like a mountain.
Ren didn't care what kind of ingredients it was. He simply started sweeping everything into his storage bag.
For tonight's operation, he had deliberately emptied the storage bag in advance, all so he could cram in as much food as possible.
But the explosion of sound from his punch had already alerted the Marines inside the base.
"What happened?"
"No idea, but it sounds like someone broke into the base!"
"Hurry! Sound the alarm!"
A piercing siren rang out across the entire Marine base.
Marine soldiers came pouring out of the barracks in disorder, many of them half-dressed and clutching their weapons.
By then, Ren's storage bag was nearly full.
He took out a cloak.
It was an Invisibility Cloak from Harry Potter, something he had drawn from the lottery earlier.
And that cloak was precisely why he had dared to rob the Marine base in the first place.
It couldn't hide him from Observation Haki, but in the first half of the Grand Line, people who knew Haki were still rare.
Before the Marines reached the warehouse, Ren threw the cloak over himself.
Bang!
The warehouse doors were slammed open by a group of Marines.
They stared at the wrecked warehouse, then at the large hole punched through the wall, and for a moment, all they could do was look at each other in confusion.
Meanwhile, Ren had already slipped away to steal a few Marine cannons.
Most of the Marines were now scrambling around inside the base, searching for the intruder, which meant there were fewer people on the walls.
This was the perfect chance.
Just as Ren was about to shove a cannon into his storage bag, his Observation Haki suddenly screamed a warning.
But the attack was too fast.
There was no time to think.
He twisted aside on instinct.
A yellow beam of light pierced straight through the Invisibility Cloak.
The damaged cloak lost its effect immediately.
And just like that, Ren was exposed.
At the same moment, multiple searchlights locked onto him.
"There! The intruder's on the wall!"
"Move! Surround him!"
In an instant, Ren was boxed in by large numbers of Marines.
He turned toward the direction the beam had come from.
On the roof of a distant building stood a man in a white pinstripe suit, wearing a broad-brimmed hat. A cigarette hung from his mouth, and his lips were tilted in that infuriatingly lazy way of his.
One hand was still pointed in Ren's direction.
The other scratched idly at the back of his head.
Then he said, in that unmistakable drawl,
"How scary... You actually dodged."
The moment Ren saw his face clearly, his heart almost stopped.
Holy shit.
Why is Kizaru here?!
That's right.
The man who had just attacked him was none other than Borsalino—the future Marine Admiral Kizaru.
The man with a wage-based work ethic, a terrifying Light Logia, and one of the most obnoxiously broken skill sets in the entire world.
Ren wasn't weak anymore.
Against an ordinary Marine Vice Admiral, with all the tools he had on hand, he honestly wouldn't be afraid at all.
But Kizaru?
That was completely different.
First, the bastard was a Logia user.
Right now, Ren only knew Observation Haki. He still hadn't learned Armament Haki.
If they really fought, Ren would only get beaten one-sidedly.
And second, Kizaru was the last person he wanted to run into.
That monster was too fast.
Way too fast.
Ren forced a friendly smile onto his face and said, "I just had too much for dinner and came out for a walk. I didn't disturb anyone, did I?"
Kizaru lazily replied, "I think I just sensed you trying to steal Marine cannons."
Ren's smile stiffened.
Damn it.
He'd forgotten that on top of having an absurd Devil Fruit, Kizaru's Haki definitely wouldn't be weak either.
Ren kept going anyway.
"I personally just really like cannons, you see, so I thought I'd stop by and admire what kind of artillery the Marines use—"
Before he could finish, Kizaru fired another beam of light.
"Damn it, Kizaru, you shameless bastard!"
The truth was, Kizaru was already in a foul mood.
He had finally fallen asleep after several exhausting days spent hunting the Sun Pirates, only to be jolted awake by the sound of Ren smashing through a wall.
Anyone would be pissed.
Ren cursed and whipped out his flip-flop, smacking the beam of light apart in one clean strike.
All around him, the Marines froze in shock.
They had just watched someone slap Kizaru's laser away with a flip-flop.
Even Kizaru raised his brows slightly.
"How scary."
Then he turned into light and flashed directly to Ren's side.
But Ren's Observation Haki had already sensed where he would reappear.
The instant Kizaru materialized, Ren swung his flip-flop at him.
Kizaru didn't take it head-on.
A flip-flop that could disperse his laser without leaving so much as a scratch on itself was obviously no ordinary object. Until he understood what it was, there was no way he'd let that thing hit him.
So he shifted positions at the last second.
And Ren didn't waste the opening.
He turned and ran.
He hadn't forgotten where he was.
He was still inside a Marine base.
The longer he stayed, the more Marines would gather, and once that happened, escaping would become much more troublesome.
Of course, Ren also understood Kizaru's power very well.
So as he fled, he used his ability to create several air zones of different temperatures behind him.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Kizaru fired multiple beams of light after him.
But every one of them only skimmed past Ren without actually hitting.
Using that tiny but precious window, Ren dove straight into the forest.
Kizaru looked down at his fingers, tilted his head, and rubbed his chin.
"How strange. Why can't I hit him?"
A nearby Marine asked carefully, "Vice Admiral Kizaru, aren't you going after him?"
Kizaru yawned.
"No need. I'm here to hunt the Sun Pirates, not some random pirate. I'll leave the cleanup here to you people. I'm going back to sleep."
And with that, he vanished.
A man like Kizaru—who clocked in, clocked out, and never worked a second extra without reason—was absolutely not going to take on extra tasks for free.