Chapter 132

[Marineford]

"Borsalino."

Upon pulling the dial from the Den Den Mushi, Borsalino was met with a stern voice.

"Yes, elders~ what do you have in your mind?" Borsalino said casually, trying to come off as innocently as possible. However,

"Let's stop pretending, shall we?" The Den Den Mushi squinted its eyes as the elder's voice was spoken out, "A Celestial Dragon lost his life in the mortal realm. If this matter is not taken care of properly... the World Government will be looked down upon. Following Grimheart's suit, many filthy criminals will dare to lay a hand onto the noble bodies."

Borsalino tried to keep his face as straight as possible as he replied, "Oh my~ that... I am so sorry to hear that! To think that a Celestial Dragon has descended to the very island where Grimheart made his appearance in, and had himself killed... it surely is tragic~."

"...We sincerely hope that you weren't being sarcastic just now." The voice growled in anger.

'Haa... how troublesome~!' Borsalino couldn't help but think pessimistically, 'Garp-san and Sengoku-san retired, while Sakazuki and Kuzan are out, and you expect us to deal with Grimheart?'

"Back to the world-shocking issue in Sabaody Archipelago... all of us elders and the Celestial Dragons came upon an agreement.

Grimheart has run havoc upon the place that is extremely close to Marineford and Mariejois, and letting this matter pass by will tarnish our reputation."

'You World Government and Celestial Dragons only care about your reputations~ how about us Marine's, who lost the war at our home turf~?'

"There is no necessity to defeat Grimheart. We will leave that matter in the hands of those foolish Emperors. Instead, we order...

the Buster Call."

Borsalino's eyes widened and jaw opened wide upon hearing the words.

'B-Buster Call... oh my~ they really are angry this time, aren't they?'

"Destroy the whole Sabaody Archipelago into ruins. Leave no piece of mangrove on sight. Show the world of what happens when they invoke the wrath of gods.

And Admiral Borsalino, you are to command this operation by yourself."

Borsalino felt like ripping his hair out. If he leave Marineford right now, how will they preserve their faces to Garp and Sengoku, who just retired?

<...Really? I've just retired.>

<Huh, you are leaving the fate of Marine to us, the civilians? Bwahaha!>

Until Garp and Sengoku were properly given a retirement ceremony and fitting titles, they were classified as the civilians.

'You care about the World Government's reputation, but not the Marine's... oh my~ this is wonderful indeed...'

Borsalino could already see the future that awaited them. However, will he dare to oppose the World Government because of such a reason? No.

"Yes... the Marine will execute the Buster Call as quickly as possible. In a span of a day... Sabaody Archipelago will be no more."

In essence, this is who Borsalino was.

Unclear Justice. Borsalino viewed 'marine' as an occupation. His justice was flexible and self-centric, and his ideal constantly morphed in a way that benefited him.

As long as he managed to leave a good impression to the Five Elders up there, he was fine with the erasing a place from the map.

"...We will leave this matter on your hands, Borsalino. Don't fail us."

_______________

[Grove 27]

After the death of Charlos in the Grove 1, Rowan, Nojiko, and Law finally joined the Heart pirates and the Twin Cats pirates in the Grove 27.

"Say hello to our new ship, hehe!" Nami, who was with her crew, said with a smile as she waved at Rowan and Nojiko from the deck of one ship, "Her name is Necrokitty!"

However, on the side, there lied one pirate crew who angrily shouted back,

"Get off of our ship, you pretty burglar!!!"

It was none other than the Bonney pirates.

"Her name is Jewelry Mergherita, not freaking Necrokitty!!" Another member of the Bonney pirates said angrily.

"Haa..." From the middle, the pink-haired woman with a bandage wrapped around his right hand, Jewelry Bonney, began to approach her crew's ship, "Ya know, I'm in a quite bad mood today. Not only does a fatso mafia interrupts my meal, but now...!!"

The Heart pirates gazed back and forth between the Twin Cats pirates and Bonney pirates in nervousness, before giving Law a hopeful look.

Law sweatdropped before speaking up, "Jewelry Bonney... are you sure that you want to fight?"

Out of slight nervousness, Law turned his head to Rowan while trying to seem as impassive as he can.

Rowan simply shrugged. After all, his very own ship, Prominence, was a stolen ship at the beginning.

Nojiko hummed as she placed a hand under her chin, before suggesting to Nami, "Why don't we take the one next to it instead then?"

Nami shifted her head to the right, where another similar-sized ship lied at some distance away, "Oh, you mean that one?"

Spadina, a member of Twin Cats pirates, frowned in disgust, "Ew. This ship has a real big horn at the front."

Another member huffed while nodding, "Yep! We all like this one better!"

However, Nami raised her hand up in realization. Eventually, her eyes began to sparkle in delight, "Wait... big horn... will it cost a lot?!"

Rowan momentarily gazed at the big horn, before stating, "It seems to be composed of a steel. Gold in colour, simply because it has been painted."

"...Oh." Nami turned away from the ship, having lost all interest. Gently rubbing the rail of the Jewelry Mergherita, Nami said with a grin,

"Say hello to Necrokitty!"

"""NO!!!""" Everyone in the Bonney pirates barked out comically.

"But who knows?" Nojiko spoke up, "They may have some valuable treasure inside."

"Hurry, go to that ship and search every single corner!!!" Nami shouted right after hearing Nojiko's words, before leaping toward the ship with the big horn.

"""Aye aye, captain!!!"""

All the Twin Cats pirates grinned crazily as they followed suit, causing the Bonney pirates to stop in stupefaction.

"Tch, consider yourself lucky. I'm letting you go just this... once..." Bonney, who gazed at the Twin Cats pirates with annoyance, froze upon realizing Rowan, Nojiko, and Law on the side.

"E-eh... captain, you noticed them just now?" One member of the Bonney pirates said nervously, "I thought you had a way to deal with them, since you didn't seem to be scared! What—"

"No way, it's you, Grimheart!" Bonney's face suddenly lit up in joy as she grinned and ran toward Rowan, who tilted his head in confusion.

"""Ehhh?!!"""

"You know me, Jewelry Bonney?" Rowan asked while dodging Bonney's hand, "And no touching me."

He wasn't going to risk anything.

"You saved Ace from that hell-hole! Ever since, I was waiting to see you face to face!" Bonney exclaimed with her fists clenched.

"Ace? Are you familiar with him?"

Bonney puffed her chest out proudly, "Aham, the one standing right in front of you is none other than the friend of Portagus D. Rouge, Ace's mother!"

"So... you are at least mid thirties in age." Nojiko remarked, to which Bonney chose to ignore.

"Damn, I still remember those years! Rouge had to hide Ace somehow, so I used my fruit ability to regress his age until the marines were gone! He was all that she had, and to think that he almost died like that, from a public execution..." Bonney gave a thumbs-up to Rowan, "Your intervention was god-sent!"

Rowan nodded, "Cool story. So, does Ace know you?"

"Nope."

"…Wow." The whole situation felt awkward to Rowan. All of a sudden, a seemingly hostile captain of a crew went all charming and friendly, simply because he saved her friend's son, who doesn't even know her?

'Is she trying to buy excuses, just so that I won't attack her and her crew?'

However, that didn't seem to be the case either. Bonney's outburst, in Rowan's sharp eyes, were out of her heart.

"And when Ace ripped off that despicable Blackbeard's hand... ah! I felt relaxed than ever!"

'This is just who she is, I suppose.' Rowan sweatdropped as Bonney continued to blabber endlessly.

'Jwewlry Bonney… just who is this woman?' Law, from Rowan's side, gazed at Bonney with weirded out expression. 'Regress age? Age-related devil fruit? If so... won't her fruit ability technically grant many an immortality, just like the immortal operation of my fruit?'

Age Age fruit... it seemed like a fruit that the World Government would go crazy for, at least to Law.

Then,

"EUREKA!!!"

A loud voice boomed out from the ship with big horn, before Nami and the other members of the Twin Cats pirates reappeared with tons of instruments in their hands.

"Oho, those are some fine money, Nami!" Nojiko grinned coolly.

"Instruments, eh." Rowan chuckled, "Quite expensive."

"Instruments..." Bonney, stopping her talk in the middle, turned and muttered, "If I'm not wrong, that ship next to ours must belong to... the On Air pirates, led by Scratchmen Apoo."

"You docked your ship right next to another Supernova's?" Nojiko raised her eyebrow, "That sounds a little dangerous."

Rowan answered Nojiko's inquiry, "It's more like the showcase of one's confidence. The moment you touch the possession of another crew, you are essentially waging a war. In Sabaody Archipelago, the converging point of the paths in the Paradise, I doubt that many would want to risk a dangerous battle if they can be avoided."

"That only applies to the capable ones." Law commented.

Nojiko retorted, "I don't think it's something that you, who literally killed a Celestial Dragon, should be saying."

Upon hearing Nojiko's words, Nami, Bonney, and all the others in the area froze in shock.

"...Huh?" Nami dropped the pile of instruments within her grasp.

"...Holy s***, man." One member of the Bonney pirates whispered, "He really is insane as the rumour goes by. Maniacal fighting in the Marineford, destruction of the entire Enies Lobby, and now... killed a Celestial Dragon?"

Another member gulped as he nodded, "I can literally see the other Celestial Dragons going 'Courting Death!' all over."

On the other hand, Bonney laughed boisterously.

"LAHAHAHA!!! Did you really do that?!! Wow, I'm freaking in love with you right now!!!"

Rowan looked all around him and spoke casually,

"What's there to fear about? I just killed one Celestial Dragon. That's all."

"""That's hell of a big deal!!!!!!!"""

The Twin Cats pirates began to move around in panic,

"We're screwed!! We're screwed!!!"

"He... hehe... I love this coin. It's spinning like wheeee~!"

And on the other hand,

"AHHHHHH!!!"

Bepo, a bear-like mink of the Heart pirates, began to shriek loudly as he trembled in fear.

"It's fine. Everyone,"

Then, Rowan's voice resounded clearly,

"calm down.

All that's happening right now, is just a couple of Marine Warships approaching from over there."

Law's eyes widened as he heard Rowan, "W-what?"

Bonney lost all traces of grin on her face, "Warships... Buster Call?!!"

Nami turned to Bonney with a pale face, "B-Buster Call?!! You mean that island-erasing military operation?!!"

Nojiko gazed at Rowan with a concerned look, "What should we do, Rowan?"

Rowan simply grinned as he cracked his knuckles.

"Just sit tight and watch."

Rowan began to walk forth,

"If I can't even do this much, then how will our plan ever work out?"

The battle was on: Rowan versus the whole Marine fleet and Borsalino!

_________________

[Water Seven]

From the sky above, numerous News Coos were seen to be flying by, as they dropped one newly updated bounty poster.

"Weird... today isn't supposed to be the day." One resident muttered as he grabbed onto one paper, "What's there to be so urgent about it? Something happened—what?"

The bounty poster belonged to none other than Rowan.

"H-huh? What happened, for Grimheart to receive such an update in his bounty?!"

<'Grimheart' Youchiha B. Rowan. Only Dead. Bounty: 2,500,000,000 Beli.>

"""O-only dead?!!"""

The people shouted in shock, and couldn't help but let go of the papers out of shock.

"Just what has he done?!! Did he murder a Celestial Dragon or what?!!"

"...Oh?" At the same time, a pretty purple-haired woman with sunglasses who was holding a book, Carina, gazed at the bounty poster with squinted eyes.

'Rowan... just what are you doing there in Sabaody Archipelago... without me?!!'

However, she didn't seem to be interested in the raise of his bounty, but only the fact that she was being left out.

"Grr..." Carina began to storm off toward where the rest of the Grimheart pirates were,

"That freaky cyborg better hurry up!! Something is going on... tch, where is the actual newspaper rather than just this useless piece of bounty poster?!!"