Watching The Lucky pulling farther and farther away, a Marine Vice Admiral in a red uniform aboard Warship Twenty-Five gave a cold order.
"Fire."
"Vice Admiral Sakazuki, Vice Admiral Beart is still in that section of the sea. Firing now could easily cause friendly casualties."
Sakazuki's face remained expressionless as he replied, "If the Myriad Worlds Pirates escape our encirclement, then the justice of the Marines will be utterly disgraced. Fire."
Faced with Sakazuki's command, the Marines aboard the ship had no choice but to obey.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Huge columns of water erupted across the sea.
"Ah!"
Inside the wall of exploding spray, Beart watched one of his own subordinates take a direct hit from a cannon shell.
He stared blankly at the red-stained seawater.
As a Marine Vice Admiral, he had long since grown used to death.
But he had never imagined that one day, he might die at the hands of his own side.
He turned toward the warship that had opened fire, and when he saw the number painted on its hull, a low growl escaped his throat.
"Sakazuki..."
"What's going on? Why is Vice Admiral Sakazuki firing? Vice Admiral Beart is still in that area!"
"No idea!"
"Report! Vice Admiral Sakazuki has sent an order for all ships to open fire and sink the Myriad Worlds Pirates' ship at all costs!"
"What? Then what about Vice Admiral Beart?"
"Vice Admiral Sakazuki gave no further instructions."
"No. Tell Vice Admiral Sakazuki that I cannot obey that order."
"I will not open fire on my own comrades."
...
There were four Marine warships pursuing Ren's crew.
In the end, only Sakazuki's ship ignored the Marines still stranded in the sea and continued bombarding Ren.
The other three all refused to fire.
"Martha, steer left."
"Captain, the Marine warships are directly behind us. If we turn left, we will remain within their artillery range for more than five minutes."
"If we continue straight, we can break free of their firing range in less than one minute."
"I know," Ren said. "But follow the order."
"Yes, Captain."
Under Ren's command, The Lucky veered sharply to the left.
"Vice Admiral Sakazuki, the Myriad Worlds Pirates' ship has changed course. They're turning left."
Sakazuki stared at the vessel cutting sideways across the water and said coldly, "Increase the bombardment."
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As The Lucky turned, the Marine fire became even denser.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Even with the ship spirit's protection, Xu Nian still had to shoot down some of the incoming shells herself.
Those shells might not hit The Lucky directly, but their near misses created massive water columns, and for such a small ship, that was enough to disrupt its stability and course.
Floating among the waves, Beart watched The Lucky complete its turn and pull away.
A complicated feeling rose in his chest.
With that speed, the ship could easily have continued straight and escaped.
But once it turned sideways, it only prolonged the time it spent under fire.
No normal pirate would make that choice.
No—even an ordinary man wouldn't.
There was only one explanation.
The reason The Lucky had changed direction...
was to keep the Marine cannon fire from continuing to fall around him and the others in the water.
He had never expected that one day, a pirate would be the one to save his life.
"Move aside."
Watching the prolonged bombardment produce no results, Sakazuki finally decided to act personally.
He stepped onto the bow of his ship and raised both hands.
"Meteor Volcano."
Chunks of magma shot into the sky.
The moment Ren saw the molten projectiles, he knew something was very wrong.
He knew that technique far too well.
That was Akainu's signature move.
"Martha, faster!"
Unfortunately, he shouted a little too late.
By then, a rain of magma was already crashing down.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Every falling chunk that struck the sea sent up a huge column of water, while the intense heat instantly vaporized enormous amounts of seawater.
In moments, thick steam blanketed the entire area.
Then Ren saw one massive chunk of magma falling directly toward The Lucky.
Looking at its size, two words flashed through his mind.
We're done for.
But just as it was about to smash into the ship, a Sea King suddenly rose from the water beneath it.
The magma chunk landed right on its head.
The Sea King was dumbfounded.
It had only surfaced for a little fresh air.
How had it gotten hit the second it came up?
Not only did the thing hurt, it was hot. It even burned off one of its beautiful tendrils.
How was it supposed to court the Sea King living nearby now?
"ROOOAAAR!"
With an enraged howl, the Sea King glared at Sakazuki, who was still hurling magma, then dove back under the sea.
When it surfaced again, it was right in the middle of the Marine formation.
Its enormous body made the warships look like toys.
With the Sea King creating chaos, Ren and the others finally succeeded in shaking off the Marines.
Once they were far enough away, The Lucky slowed down.
At this point, the Marines were too busy keeping themselves alive against the Sea King to worry about pursuing pirates.
Even from a distance, Ren could still hear the Sea King's furious roars, the endless thunder of cannon fire, and the hiss of rising steam.
"Tch. Marine luck really is terrible."
"Captain, do you realize that your earlier order could have gotten us killed?"
Now that the danger had passed, Xu Nian finally turned and confronted him.
Ren looked at her and asked, "Do you know why I usually avoid killing Marines?"
Xu Nian said nothing.
Ren continued, "Because once, when I was drifting at sea and almost died, it was the Marines who saved me. Even though I'm a pirate now, I still don't want to slaughter Marines."
"And besides, most Marines really are decent people. They protect civilians, maintain order, and hunt criminals. This world could survive without pirates—but not without Marines."
After hearing that, Xu Nian nodded.
"I understand."
"Oh? Ren, are you alright?"
At that moment, Ren heard Shanks's voice from behind him.
He turned around and saw the Red Force following them.
But the ship had changed dramatically.
Its once-red dragon figurehead had turned black, one of its horns was completely gone, and out of all its sails, only one remained intact.
Worse still, the ship's starboard side had a massive hole in it, causing the entire vessel to tilt heavily to the right.
When the Red Force drew closer, Ren realized the damage was even worse than he had thought.
The hull was riddled with shell marks and burn scars, and the breach in its side was enormous.
Looking at the wrecked state of the Red Force, Ren silently thought to himself—
Yukikaze's ship spirit really is terrifying.
Of course, he would never tell Shanks the true nature of his ship spirit's special ability.
If Shanks ever found out, Ren was absolutely certain that even Beckman would gladly join the group beating him to death.
After all, for pirates, their ship was basically their home.
And if your home got wrecked because your ally's ship spirit shifted the damage that should've hit them onto you...
what would you do?
Staring at The Lucky, which looked almost completely untouched, Shanks asked, "Ren, most of the Marine fire was aimed at you. So why is your ship still in perfect condition?"
"Hahaha..."
Ren forced out an awkward laugh.
"Well... I used my ability on my ship. It has the trait of good luck now, so it's very hard to hit in naval battles."
"What the hell? That kind of trait exists too?"
The entire Red-Haired crew stared at him in disbelief.
Ren immediately changed the subject before he said too much.
"So, Shanks, what are you planning to do now?"
Shanks glanced back at the battered Red Force and sighed.
"We'll have to find a place to repair the ship first. After that... I'm going to look for a sniper."
The moment Ren heard that, he immediately realized one thing.
He hadn't seen Yasopp yet.
Which meant Yasopp hadn't joined the Red-Haired Pirates at this point.
Feeling a little guilty about the condition of Shanks's ship, Ren said, "I know of an extremely talented sniper in the East Blue. As for where exactly he is, that's something you'll have to find yourself."
"And Shanks... in the East Blue, you're going to meet someone special. He'll inherit your straw hat, and you'll wager something important on him."
Shanks stared at Ren.
He had never once told Ren anything about the straw hat.
And yet Ren had just mentioned it.
Seeing that look in Shanks's eyes, Ren smiled faintly.
"I know you have a lot of questions. Next time we meet, after you've found that person... I'll tell you."
"Fine," Shanks said casually.
Soon after, the two crews exchanged farewells and parted ways.
Each headed for their own road.