Chapter 191

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Marine Headquarters, Marineford

It was a late night, with the moon hanging high and the cold wind blowing, weak light dispersing the surrounding darkness.

"Borsalino, this isn't like you, appearing here so late."

The red Justice cloak fluttered slightly as Sakazuki walked over. Seeing Kizaru standing on the reef continuously releasing his powers into the sea, a look of surprise appeared on his usually expressionless face.

He and Borsalino were both students of Admiral Zephyr and had joined the Marines as part of the same batch of recruits, so they were quite close in private.

"You're here, Sakazuki. I was just driven by curiosity to conduct a little experiment."

Kizaru retracted his hand from the sea, shaking off the seawater from his arm.

Sakazuki looked at Kizaru's naturally hanging arm and asked in a deep voice, "I saw you using your abilities from far away. Did you have an interesting idea?"

"Do you think that Devil Fruit users like us, without considering Haki, can swim freely in the sea without being affected?"

Kizaru transformed into a beam of light and moved to the shore to stand beside Sakazuki.

"What do you mean by that..." Sakazuki frowned slightly, somewhat confused.

Even top experts like Sengoku of the Marines and Whitebeard of the pirates, who possessed Conqueror's Haki, couldn't resist the sea's curse. Simply wearing Seastone handcuffs containing the sea's energy would make them weak and lose most of their mobility!

This was a recognized phenomenon and fact in the pirate world. He couldn't understand why his fellow ability user was asking such a question.

"For example, water conducts electricity, so an electricity user can ignore the sea's side effects," Kizaru said lazily.

Seeing Sakazuki's frown deepen, he added, "The Evil Thunder, Zyhark, he can swim in the sea as if nothing happened, right in front of me."

The last few words carried a heavier tone.

"What did you say?!"

Even Sakazuki, the future Fleet Admiral Akainu, couldn't help but widen his eyes in shock.

According to the World Government's intelligence department, it was basically confirmed that Zyhark had eaten the Goro Goro no Mi, becoming an electricity user.

As for summoning magma, they attributed it to some special race, like the flames on the back of the Lunarians.

But for Zyhark to overcome the recognized influence of the sea as a Devil Fruit user!

"Incredible, isn't it? He claimed that water conducts electricity, so I wanted to see if light could achieve a similar effect."

Kizaru sighed heavily, "As expected, it was a complete failure."

"Be it Haki or physical strength, if that man can do it, there's no reason we can't!"

Calming down from the shock, Sakazuki slowly took off his Marine coat and neatly folded it on the beach.

"Hey, Sakazuki, wait..."

Kizaru had just guessed what he was going to do when he heard a splash. Sakazuki jumped into the sea with a graceful posture.

And then, the future Fleet Admiral...

Cough, just kidding.

Bubbles rose from the sea. Even with Haki enhancing his physical strength, without the protection of his fruit power, Sakazuki's strength was drained, and he sank, eyes rolling back.

Unlike other ability users, he did struggle and twitch a bit before sinking.

Kizaru: "..."

Golden light flashed from his fingers, forming a powerful laser beam that cut through the sea surface. He quickly retrieved Sakazuki from the bottom.

Fortunately, they were in the nearshore waters. Otherwise, even he would have had to run back to the officers' quarters to get help!

At that time, Akainu, the Marine Admiral candidate, would have become famous throughout the Marine Corps in an unusual way...

"Huff, huff, huff."

Back on shore, Sakazuki sat on the beach, gasping for breath, his heart still pounding with fear.

Seeing his usually cold and stern friend in such a sorry state, Kizaru first froze, then couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Hahaha, Sakazuki, you look so lame~"

He recalled their early days in the Marines when both were green recruits who knew nothing.

Those training days were tough, but they were the happiest times of their Marine careers.

"Borsalino, this is what I call an experiment!"

Even Akainu couldn't help but blush slightly.

Normally, he would never do something so impulsive, but after suffering from Aqua's water-based attacks, he was desperate to overcome the Devil Fruit's drawbacks.

Now, hearing that Zyhark could ignore seawater's effects, he naturally became impulsive.

Of course, this also showed his trust in Borsalino.

"By the way, Sakazuki, I heard that the new members on the Endless Dream crew are very powerful?" Kizaru asked.

"I'm not sure about the skeleton, but the child-like one has inhuman strength, possibly some kind of Mythical Zoan."

"After Tom's modifications, their ship has even caught the attention of the Five Elders."

"Indeed, combined with the Water Witch, their threat level on the sea exceeds that of the Four Emperors."

"Our current era has suddenly become more dangerous..."

The two future Marine leaders stood on the shore, gazing at the distant, dark sea, talking for a long time.

And the "culprit" causing the rapid acceleration of the era's gears was undoubtedly Zyhark and his crew!

The next day, news of the "Water 7 Incident" reignited the previous Sabaody Archipelago incident's flames, causing an uproar worldwide.

"Shocking! The power of a tsunami, the Endless Dream ship, even three Marine Admiral-level combatants couldn't stop them. This crew possesses terrifying power to shake the seas!"

Inspired by who knows what, Morgans began using sensational headlines.

But this was typical of his crazy style.

He chose a misleading topic instead of following the Five Elders' narrative that Zyhark's crew attacked the great shipwright, hoping for bigger disruptions.

Recently, their actions made Morgans realize the potential explosive news value.

For a journalist with no bottom line, this was an irresistible temptation!

As news spread through the seabird network, this explosive story quickly reached every corner of the sea.

Along with it, the new bounties for Zyhark's crew surfaced:

Captain of the Endless Dream, Extreme Evil Thunder Zyhark, bounty of 750 million Berries!

Water Goddess Aqua, bounty of 562 million Berries!

Emperor Engine Blond King, bounty of 480 million Berries!

Loli Dragon Kanna, bounty of 330 million Berries!

Sinister Pet Scientist Meowth, bounty of 100 million Berries!

Some unknown skeleton toy, bounty of... 888 Berries!

Grand Line, on the way to Alabasta, aboard the Infinite Dream

"This is too much! Just too much! Even as a vice-skeleton, I shouldn't be bullied like this!!"

Brook's skeletal hands trembled violently, radiating rare, tangible anger. He couldn't even muster his usual "yohohoho" joke.

Back in the Rumbar Pirates, he had a bounty of several million. How could he now, after returning to the sea, be reduced to a mere three-digit bounty?

Normally, he wouldn't care much about the bounty amount, but 888 Berries? That was just insulting! Even his bones would sell for more than that!

The reason for this absurd bounty was that Brook hadn't shown any significant threat during the Water 7 incident, barely revealing his face.

When Akainu boarded the ship, he didn't even get a chance to fight before Kanna blasted him into the sea.

This led the Marines to have no intel on him, resulting in the low bounty.

"Brook, I understand your feelings. I really do, Meowth understands."

Having faced a similar situation, Meowth was the first to comfort Brook.

"You're the best, Mr. Meowth."

Brook found solace in Meowth, feeling a deep kinship.

Although he was just a skeleton, he wouldn't shed tears, yohohoho~ Meowth waved his bounty poster, blinking with a puzzled expression, "Huh? Brook, did you know my bounty is 100 million Berries?"

"Damn cat!!" Brook felt deeply hurt.

Trusting a cute and charming villain was his biggest mistake!

"That's an enviable bounty, Mr. Brook."

Just then, King, with a face that Brook perceived as disdainful but was actually worried, expressed his genuine envy.

"Damn you, King!" Brook broke down again.

A world where only an old skeleton gets hurt, achieved.

"Hahaha! It's changed back, Zyhark, look, the title changed back!"

"Finally, finally! My nightly curses on that damn birdman worked!"

On the other side, Aqua's smile was wide, waving her bounty poster wildly in Zyhark's face.

At times like this, any pride of being a Water Goddess and complaints about the bounty being too low were forgotten.

It was what psychologists call a "concession mindset."

Listening to Aqua's ridiculous claims, Zyhark couldn't help but twitch.

Sorry, Morgans, throwing you under the bus was necessary.

If you suddenly drop dead one day, don't blame me, blame Aqua!

Calming his emotions, he thought, maybe Morgans really did change Aqua's title.

Water 7's residents now saw Aqua as a symbol of hope, the Water Goddess. Normally, the World Government wouldn't make a decision that didn't benefit them.

It was likely Morgans, loving chaos, who meddled to annoy the Five Elders.

This also hinted that after the Sabaody incident, the World Government had probably taken actions that displeased Morgans.

Aqua's title change was his straightforward retaliation!

"Alright, alright, it's just a title. Look at you, so happy."

Ignoring Aqua's chatter, Zyhark turned his attention to his bounty poster, his brows furrowing slightly.

Seven hundred million? In this pre-inflation era, that was the highest amount below the Four Emperors, right? This meant the World Government had marked them as a major focus.

They needed to recruit strong allies and new partners quickly...

"Hey Zyhark, what's the bounty for?"

As he pondered, Kanna popped up, holding her bounty poster.

Turning to look, Zyhark saw a cute, explosion-worthy half-body photo on the poster.

Cough cough, compared to the bounty, Kanna's photo was more worrying.

After all, the pirate world had many perverted lolicons!

"Huh?" Kanna tilted her head, looking puzzled.

Clearly, she didn't realize how "illegal" her human form face was...

Just as Zyhark had expected, in friendly territories like Windmill Village, Shimotsuki Village, and the Goddess Kingdom.

Seeing Kanna's photo on Zyhark's new bounty poster, people from the elderly village chief to the young Axis followers erupted with maternal instincts, cursing Zyhark for employing child labor, vowing to venture into the Grand Line to reclaim Kanna!

While they cursed, their reactions were mostly joy at the news of their safe escape.

Sabaody Archipelago, Marine Base

"Hahaha! Well done, they even soaked that old Zephyr."

Garp, legs crossed, sat on the sofa, munching on a mouthful of senbeis.

As an old soldier from the same era, he relished seeing his old comrades suffer, especially at the hands of Zyhark's crew!

"Stop grinning, Garp. Those brats are significant criminals we must capture!"

Beside him, Sengoku scolded, "And I came to Sabaody for business with Smoker. Why did you tag along?"

"What does it matter? Back at headquarters, I have to listen to Kong's nagging." Garp nonchalantly picked his nose.

Knowing Garp's personality well, Sengoku sighed and looked at Smoker.

"That's the situation, Smoker. The World Government approved your request to remove the slave auction house from Sabaody!"

Smoker, biting his cigar, nodded slightly, "Understood."

After running around, his face had grown more mature and weathered at twenty-four.

"But remember, removing the auction house doesn't mean slave trading will stop. Don't act rashly when you see the lingering darkness."

As long as the root cause, the Celestial Dragons, existed, slave trading wouldn't end.

Not even he, the Fleet Admiral, nor Kong could change that.

He worried the hot-headed Smoker might do something "foolish."

"I understand, Sengoku-san. Some matters need a higher position to address."

With a serious expression, Smoker stood up, the "Justice" on his coat becoming more prominent and heavy.

"You're still young. Once we old folks step down, it will be your era." Sengoku said solemnly, with a touch of helplessness.

"Smoker, after handling Sabaody, come to Marineford. I'll speak to Kong."

Garp, surprisingly serious, looked at Smoker.

Hearing this, Smoker was taken aback.

Garp grinned, showing the Monkey family's signature smile.

"I haven't trained a rookie in a long time. Want to test the hardness of the ships at the headquarters scrapyard?"

(End of Chapter)