Suke stood frozen in place, gazing wide-eyed at the roaring sea of fire blazing before him. The radiant glow of the flames mirrored an ember of pure, burgeoning hope within his eyes.
From the heart of the inferno, a solitary silhouette stepped forward at a measured pace. A metal pipe spun effortlessly between his fingers, twirling in fluid, unbroken motions.
Short blond hair, a black cravat, a top hat fitted with goggles—every single gesture Sabo made radiated an effortless blend of perfection and absolute strength.
So cool!
Suddenly, Suke's eyes went wide. Only now did he notice that cradled in Sabo's left arm was a little boy of four or five years old.
"Fu!"
Crying out the name, Suke sprinted forward without a second's hesitation.
Sabo offered a gentle smile, setting little Fu down onto the cobblestones.
Fu was Suke's younger brother—the very child who had been dragged away by the gang of thugs moments earlier.
Watching the two brothers embrace, a heartfelt smile touched Sabo's lips. It was remarkably reminiscent of that distant day when he and Ace had pulled Luffy from the clutches of danger.
Taking advantage of the brief lull, Sabo had already conducted a thorough appraisal of the town's situation.
The thugs he had just neutralized were nothing more than bottom-feeding ruffians, petty bandits, and low-tier pirate stragglers lacking any real renown or combat capability.
Such vermin were of little consequence; even standard garrison troops could put them down with ease.
Right now, a vast majority of the troublemakers in Loguetown fit that exact description—impotent opportunists running amok. Only a rare few possessed the individual strength to pose a legitimate threat to the new Marine forces.
And those few were precisely the operational targets of his mission.
Of course, the most pressing menace remained the suffocating wall of dark mist expanding across the skies above.
"Alright, Suke. I still have work to attend to," Sabo said warmly. "Take Fu and find a safe place to lay low for now. Before long, I'll restore this entire town to the way it was before the disaster struck."
"Big Brother Sabo, when you say... you're going to restore everything to how it was before..."
"I mean exactly what you think I mean!" Sabo flashed a confident grin. In the next instant, his frame dissolved into a burst of bright flame, vanishing into thin air before the boy's eyes.
Suke stared at the empty space where the fire had faded, standing motionless for a long time. Eventually, a radiant smile broke across his face.
"Come on, Fu. Maybe... maybe things really will go back to the way they were." Clutching his little brother's hand tightly, Suke dashed away down the alley.
Sabo's operational efficiency was terrifyingly swift. Before Suke and Fu could even make it back to their makeshift shelter, a series of violent tremors reverberated through the entirety of Loguetown.
Practically the entire population of the town began swarming toward the epicenter. At the central plaza, standing proudly upon the newly erected execution platform, Sabo stood in solitary majesty.
Scattered across the flagstones below him lay dozens upon dozens of unconscious bodies.
The townsfolk recognized those faces all too well.
Every single one of them was a notorious scourge who had brought ruin to the region—including several pirates and mountain bandits who carried considerable bounties across the East Blue.
Just moments ago, Sabo had hunted down every single ringleader across the district, hauling them to the foot of this execution scaffold and beating them all senseless in one fell swoop.
This one-sided suppression had been witnessed by scores of local residents. Word had spread like wildfire from ten to a hundred, and from a hundred to a thousand, until virtually every soul in Loguetown had caught wind of the spectacle.
Having been unable to dissuade Fu from seeing what was happening, Suke had scurried over as well, squeezing into an inconspicuous corner of the crowded plaza.
Watching the dashing, composed figure of Sabo atop the execution platform, the eyes of both boys sparkled with pure adoration.
"I heard that guy even took down Hu Yalan! I literally ran all the way across town just to see if the rumors were true!"
"For real? Even the highest-bounty fugitive in the East Blue got wiped out?!"
"See for yourself! Right down there at the base of the scaffold—his entire Tiger Fang Pirates are piled up like cordwood."
"You see that fat, round-faced bastard in the green coat? That's him right there..."
"It really is him!"
"Does this mean... our Loguetown is finally out of this living hell?!"
"That's right! It's over!"
"HAHAHAHA! Thank the heavens, thank the heavens...!"
Listening to the ecstatic chatter of the crowd, a fierce fire ignited within Suke's eyes. Looking up at Sabo's frame—which was hardly towering in physical stature—he felt as though no one beneath the heavens stood taller.
Even Hu Yalan, the notorious butcher feared throughout the East Blue, had been brought low by Sabo's hand. Could anyone in this world possibly be stronger than him?
"Big Brother Sabo! Thank you!" Little Fu shouted at the top of his lungs, waving his tiny arms with an ear-to-ear grin.
Suke joined in, shouting with everything he had.
Though their childish voices were nearly drowned out by the roaring clamor of the crowded plaza, Sabo caught sight of them almost instantly.
He turned toward their corner, offering the two brothers a warm nod and a smile.
Nearby in the crowd, a middle-aged man's eyes suddenly widened as he overheard the children. "What did you just call him? You said his name is Sabo?!"
"Yeah, what about it?" Suke asked, puzzled.
The man snapped his gaze back toward the figure standing upon the execution platform, an expression of sudden enlightenment washing over his face.
"No wonder... No wonder he possesses such monstrous power! He really is Sabo!"
"Since he's the one deployed here, Loguetown is completely safe! What an absolute blessing..."
"Mister, do you know Big Brother Sabo?" Suke hopped down from a nearby drainage pipe, looking up at the man with boundless curiosity.
"What do you mean do I know him?! Across the entire world, is there a single person who doesn't know the name of the Revolutionary Army's second-in-command—Chief of Staff Sabo?!"
"Wait, no—he's the Chief of Staff of the New World Government now!"
Suke froze on the spot, his lips parting in a silent murmur: "The Revolutionary Army's... Chief of Staff..."
Gradually, the eyes of both boys grew brighter and brighter. Scrambling back up onto the iron piping, they gazed toward Sabo with breathless awe.
Up on the scaffold, Sabo raised a single hand, sweeping his arm outward as his commanding gaze washed over the vast assembly below.
"Listen up, everyone! I am Sabo of the New World Government! From this moment forward, the public safety and defense of this town are under my personal jurisdiction!"
The declaration hit the plaza like a thunderclap, sending massive shockwaves through the gathered multitude. Sabo's renowned reputation was, if anything, even more illustrious than the former Three Marine Admirals.
Every soul across the seas had heard that name to some degree.
Sabo raised his hand slightly, and the buzzing uproar instantly died down into rapt silence. "Over the past few days, Loguetown has weathered multiple existential crises."
"Every single one of you must pull yourselves together and rebuild your homes. Help one another, and let us restore our daily lives to how they were before the disaster in the shortest possible time!"
Sabo's words carried the absolute weight of a settled decree.
"From this point on, I am garrisoned here. As for your safety, you need not worry about a single thing!"
As that promise rang out, the plaza erupted into a deafening roar of sheer jubilation.
This was the Chief of Staff of the New World Government! His personal combat might required no explanation.
Hu Yalan—a demonic butcher who had held the entire town hostage in terror—and his entire crew had been reduced to a pile of half-dead corpses with a single sweep of Sabo's hand.
His strength was terrifying beyond belief.
With him standing guard, no crisis was insurmountable!
Under Sabo's steady direction, the restoration of Loguetown kicked off in swift, organized fashion.
With the initial chaos brought under control, Sabo strolled over to the flat rooftop of a seaside building, fixing an unblinking gaze upon the suffocating mass of dark mist rolling across the horizon.
"Judging by this expansion rate, the black mist will swallow Loguetown in roughly two hours."
"I have to prepare our countermeasures ahead of time!"
Meanwhile, in a distant sector of the sky concealed behind dense layers of the dark tempest, the Demon Warder piloted by Drake was locked in a world-class clash against Im.
With every concussive exchange of blows, the seismic shockwaves radiating from the collision rocked the firmament.
The sea below heaved in violent, unending swells.
Across the darkened heavens, lightning flashed, bitter frost howled, and crystalline snowflakes danced through the apocalyptic gloom.
"Im, is this truly the full extent of your power?" The greatblade in the Demon Warder's mechanical grasp gleamed with razor-sharp luminescence, a faint smirk playing at the corners of Drake's lips. "Because if this is all you have, I'm going to bring this battle to a close..."