Six years later...

[Chapter 26: Six years later...]

...

"Hmm, pirates are getting more and more reckless these days..."

A man sitting on a chair while enjoying the sun tanning his skin exclaimed with an exhausted expression on his face after reading a certain article on the newspaper.

This man wore a strange beard on his face and had completely red hair that reached his shoulders due to being too long. He was Mitsuaki Bronze-Fist, a commander of the marine that was in charge of the Loguetown headquarters whenever Captain Smoker wasn't present.

"To think that some mere unknown pirate could actually have the balls to enter the marine base and steal great amounts of Sea stone... Tch... there must be some kind of mole inside the organization, otherwise how could he even know where the sea stone was?!"

"...Huff... Sir.... Puff..." An exhausted voice came from behind Mitsuaki, gasping for air every once in a while.

"What?"

"We already finished our daily training"

"Oh, very well, then you all go and take a rest, we need to go and patrol the city later after all. Who knows... maybe you will end fighting pirates while you're on duty, and I need you to be in top condition until then."

"Huff... Yes sir..."

The young marine left the place while barely managing to walk while letting out deep breaths trying to gasp some air.

With completely black hair, and reddish-brown eyes, the seemingly "Tired" marine left the place and went to tell his companions about them finally taking a break after an infernal morning full of exercises.

"Yo Sid, what did the commander say?" A thin and blond guy appeared next to him and placed his hand on the young marine's shoulder.

"We were allowed to take a break for some hours as we will go to patrol the city later, so I guess we can finally rest from exercising for now..."

"Come on, the exercise wasn't that bad. It's just that you're quite weak compared to all of us" The blond guy chuckled mischievously while he ridiculed the young man called Sid. Something that seemingly angered the later a lot.

"What did you say?!"

"Huh, Wanna fight?!"

"Bring it, fucker!"

*Thud*

*Bam!*

*Paf!*

As the two weakest people of the entire marine base entered into a quarrel (Again), Another person appeared from behind them and grabbed their clothes before lifting both of them in the air.

"What the heck are you two doing again? Can't you two get along?"

"Don't mess with our duel! Or else I won't have compassion with you either, Blue!" The blond guy struggled to get free while looking at the man with an expression full of disdain.

"Yeah, unless you want to face my almighty heaven shattering fist, you better let us go right now!" Sid yelled angrily at the man called Blue.

"Huh?! What did you say?! Do you two want to be beaten up again?!" Soon the face of the man called blue turned somber and scary as he glanced at them with a terrifying gaze.

"Sorry..."

"Sorry..."

"Yeah, that's better. Anyways, I overheard that we are allowed to take a rest for now, so why don't you guys come with us all to go party while we are at it, What do you say, Sid, Aveir?"

"Sure! The chicks are going to melt when they see my glorious masculine body!" The blond guy called Aveir grinned mischievously while making different poses to flex his almost non-existent muscles.

"The only thing masculine about you is the trash odor you release whenever you move..."

"What did you say Sid?! Do you want me to show you why a sissy like you will never be able to match the great me?!"

"Like when you showed me how to conquer any girl? Damn that time was so funny... you know, with you being beaten up to a pulp instantly after trying to kiss that woman"

"Tch... It's just that my spring hasn't arrived yet..." Aveir averted his gaze from the two and walked to the edge of the window, before he started looking at the sunset with melancholic eyes.

"..."

"..."

"Anyways, what do you say Sid?"

"Sure... I don't have anything else to do anyways..."

"Perfect, Then let's go! I heard just now that the female cadets were going to take a break as well, so there's the possibility that we might meet them to celebrate together!"

"Uwooooooh!!!" Aveir appeared from the side and raised his fist while shouting with excitement at the possibility of knowing some ladies.

"Uwooh..." Sid just raised his fist weakly and let out a shout devoid of any emotion.

After that, the group started walking towards a nearby bar where they thought they could find the female cadets while some other marines joined them while they walked.

Suddenly, a flying newspaper hit Sid's face and blocked his vision.

"What the...?"

After he grabbed the newspaper out of his face, he couldn't help to notice a certain article on it that called his attention.

°°°

[Yesterday at 5:21 Am, A suspicious group of unknown pirates infiltrated into the marine headquarters at Marineford, and stole great quantities of Sea stone before escaping successfully without leaving any trail behind. Many of the witnessed expressed their astonishment, as they said that even before they could even manage to grasp what was going on, the Sea stone and the pirates were already gone.

The man who we suspect to be the leader of the criminal group, wore a long dark coat that covered his entire body, and a metallic mask with the shape of a skull that hid his whole face except from the dreadful red eyes that imprinted fear on all marines that met his gaze.

Fortunately, after the said man fought against an enormous group of vice-admirals, and defeated all of them with the use of his astonishing sword techniques, as well as using small robots with the shape of crows, one of our employees managed to take a photo of the dangerous criminal while he was resting from his fight.

(Photo)--->

After a meeting, the marine's high ranks decided upon giving this unknown man a bounty of 120,000,000 Bellys with the name of "Shadow Raven".

Unfortunately, our employees were not able to take pictures of his crew members, however, as far as the witnesses related their appearances, one of them was said to be a red haired woman wearing a dark jacket made of leather and a mask similar to a devil that hid her features. She was said to have incredible abilities with the sword as well, as she was also able to take care of a few vice-admirals without problems.

Who are these people? Why did they steal that enormous amount of Sea stone? We will continue investigating with the purpose of informing you!]

°°°

As Sid read that, a small grin appeared on his face momentarily before he ripped the newspaper apart and threw it into the trash can, after that he started walking away with a devilish expression on his face as his reddish-brown eyes shone with a sinister red glow.

"Ah, My newspaper!! How could you?!" An old man suddenly appeared right after Sid ripped the newspaper apart, and soon started demanding Sid to return him the money he paid for the newspaper. To which he had no other option but to accept, as he was the one that ripped the newspaper apart for the sake of looking cool.

After the old man left, Sid turned his head and looked towards the sunset.

...

"It's beginning"

...