Chapter 46

BOOM!

Gion couldn't believe her eyes.

'"Mad Bull" Aramaki. Though he has only started his career as a bounty hunter a year ago, his feat...'

Though she didn't admit, she was aware of the bounty hunter's identity at first glance.

'The brash act of going to Jaya, the well-known hub of the pirates, and catching every criminal there single-handedly... without a doubt, this man's strength isn't something that can be ignored.'

Aramaki wasn't someone whom the current Gion could assure a victory in an all-out duel. And yet, he, in front of her eyes, was being pummeled by Smoker without a single chance of retaliation.

'...Just how far have you gone, Smoker?' Gion found herself amazed, '2 years ago, you advanced all the way from "Chore Boy" to "Captain," shocking the entire organization. Within 2 years, I thought I caught up to you, working my hardest to earn this rank. But it turns out that our gap only became wider.'

And upon this thought, Gion, as a strong woman, found a smile on her face, '...Tch, enough of being amazed. Guess I'll have to train harder then.'

BOOM! Just when Gion thought so, Aramaki was sent flying high up in the air, with Smoker's left fist outstretched upward.

"RAHAHAHA! So this is the White Hunter, I see!" Aramaki, laughing as his body was covered with multiple bruises, didn't exhibit any sign of yielding. Then, he began to descend at Smoker, "Forget winning! All I want to do now, is to land a single blow to you...!"

Aramaki opened his palm. As he was falling, he aimed his palm at Smoker, who stood without moving a single step.

"Still going, huh?" Smoker rolled his shoulder while grinning, "Now that's the spirit."

Then, Smoker leaped from his spot, toward the falling Aramaki. At the same time,

"Morning Wood!!!"

a huge beam of wood suddenly shot out of Aramaki's palm toward the ascending Smoker.

'...He already had Forest Forest fruit during this time around?'

BOOM! However, from a single blow, the wooden beam shattered into pieces, and Aramaki found the same fist on his chest once again, before his vision abruptly shifted. In an instant, gone was the sky, and he was now impaled in the ground.

Smoker, landing back on the ground, spoke with interest, "So you too ate a devil fruit, huh?"

"Cough... I wanted to try my chance without using it. But... heh, this Aramaki admits... it's my complete loss."

Within the huge hole that was created by Smoker's punch, Aramaki lied with his eyes half-lidded in exhaustion. His entire face was swollen, and through the ripped sections of his garments, the painful-looking bruises could be seen. Nonetheless, the man grinned, "Rahahaha, it's the first time I've been beaten up like this—I don't even have enough strength left in me to move!"

"Then..." Doll spoke up with expectation, "...Speak the whereabouts of Red Hair. That was the deal."

Aramaki, ignoring Doll's words, then sat up from his spot, "As expected of the White Hunter!"

"Hey, don't ignore me!!!"

"I admire your strength, Captain Smoker!"

"HEY!!!"

"Rahahaha! Coming here really was a great decision!"

"Fucking hell... are you deaf?!" Doll, seething in rage, was currently being held by my arms, "Hnnnnggg!!! Let me go, Smoker!!!"

"What's with this sudden anger, Doll? Relax." I, on the other hand, watching as Aramaki's eyes sparkled like that of a child's, found myself smirking.

Doll, seeing this, looked at me with a look that seemed to convey the following message, 'Really?'

Meanwhile, Cancer inquired Aramaki with squinted eyes, "...By the way, didn't you say that you don't even have the strength to move? So how did you manage to sit up like that?"

"...Oh, oops!" Aramaki, forming O-shape with his mouth, lied back down, earning sweatdrops from the marine soldiers all around.

__________

"The reason I've come to this island in the first place, was to catch that Red Hair Shanks for my own. Of course, I lost, rahaha! But before Red Hair left, I managed to see," Aramaki, now wearing the standard marine costume and having been treated with the bandages underneath, explained with his arms crossed, "the Eternal Pose in his hands! And I tell you, I saw very clearly; that Eternal Pose was the one for the island of Banaro!"

"Wait, wait, hold on." Cancer, holding his hands up, asked, "Why is this dude wearing marine attire?"

Cancer looked at Doll. Doll looked at me. I shrugged, "He said he wants to become my underling, so I allowed it. What else can it be?"

"Yes, yes, yes! If I want to become strong, I must learn from the best, rahaha!!"

Doll then turned to Gion, who stated stoically with her arms crossed, "'Mad Bull' is a strong combatant, and his background has been cleared by the Marine Bureau of Investigation a year ago. If he wishes to join, there is no reason for us to reject."

Cancer groaned, "Great, another weirdo."

"Says the weirdo," Said Doll, rendering Cancer heartbroken by the beauty's words. The blonde fell to the ground and sulked,

"RAHAHAHA! What's with this simp!" To which Aramaki laughed in mockery.

Cancer grew a tickmark on his forehead, "You wanna have a go? HUH?!!"

Aramaki snorted, "Bring it on!!"

And thus began the childish fight between two grown-up men.

"Anyway, back to the topic. So Eternal Pose and Banaro..." Ignoring two men on the side, Gion hummed in a thoughtful manner before turning her eyes and asking me, "What do you think?"

"Pirates travel by the Log Pose. In the first half, their destination is set, and we, using that to our advantage, usually located our target pirates." Leaning my back against the rail of the ship, I deduced, "The purchase of Eternal Pose means one thing: the Red Hair pirates managed to foresee the huge-scaled attack of the Marine, and changed their route to evade it."

"Then Banaro..." Doll exclaimed with certainty, "...is where the Red Hair pirates currently are."

"We don't know that." I refuted Doll's claim in a composed manner, "But that's the best guess that we currently have."

"Whether it's true or not, my body's feeling itchy." Cancer, now standing with a swollen cheek, said with yet another cigarette in his mouth, much to my bewilderment, "Let's go right away and beat up that 'Red Hair' Sanks or something."

"Rahaha! You? Beat up Red Hair?!" Aramaki, whose nose was bleeding, laughed in response to Cancer's words, "That's a nice joke there! I tell ya, you're going to last only ten seconds at max against that man!"

"So you want to get beaten up again." Cancer growled before bumping his forehead against Aramaki, who maintained his grin, "Fucking Chore Boy... let me show you your place!!"

The second round began, causing the marine soldiers to quickly retreat from their side of the deck.

"Ugh..." Gion, facepalming with visible fatigue, groaned, "This is far too out of control for my liking..."

Watching the green man and yellow man having a comedic feud, I couldn't help but think, '...Are greens and yellows destined to fight each other?'

__________

[Unknown Location]

BAM! A hand slammed onto the wooden table. Such a hand belonged to a muscular man with long black hair tied into a ponytail: Ben Beckman, the Vice Captain of the Red Hair pirates.

"Basically, this is what's happening." Beckman, pausing to puff out smoke, continued with the other members of the Red Hair pirates listening to him, "For around a month or so, the Marine has been awfully quiet after consecutive failures for the whole year. This suggests that they are preparing for something... something big enough to change the current view of the civilians—"

"Mmhmm. Nyom nyom, soooo good as always~"

Beckman deadpanned at one obese man standing nearby: Lucky Roux. Lucky Roux was busy munching on a big piece of cooked meat, but the noise he generated was disturbing enough for Beckman.

Bam!

"Oi, Roux, grow some sense, you fatso!" Another member of Red Hair pirates slammed the back of Lucky Roux's head, causing the obese man to kiss the deck as the result.

"""Hahahaha!!!""" The rest of the pirates laughed at the state Lucky Roux's been reduced to,

"Pff—hahahahaha!! My bad!" Lucky Roux too laughed, finding this situation funny.

"All of you, shut up and listen!!!" Beckman barked at the crew, causing them to go silent. He then looked at the captain of the crew, who was busy wiping the tears off of his still-smiling face, "And you, Shanks! Show some dignity as the captain!!"

"Dahaha! Come on, Beckman!" Shanks winked, "You know that I'm not some overgrown ass like that!"

"""Hahahahaha!!!"""

"SHUT. UP!!!" Beckman shouted while slamming his fist on the table, shutting everyone down. Taking in a deep breath to calm himself down, he then continued,

"Ha... anyway, based on this notion, I came to believe that a change from the normal course won't hurt. And agreeing to this idea, our goofy captain here decided that we head to Jaya, for the purpose of riding the knock-up stream to Sky Island." Beckman then lifted up the Eternal Pose that read 'Banaro,' and shook it to gather everyone's eyes on it, "And this. We purposely exposed it to the bounty hunter we've come across, the 'Mad Bull.' Though I can't be sure if he will spread this 'fake' information with others or be reckless enough to travel there himself, on the island of Banaro, there currently is..."

Beckman pointed at the wooden wall behind him, where a couple of bounty posters were attached. In the middle, there lied one bounty poster that read,

*'Hell Flame' Diego. Wanted Dead or Alive. 448,000,000 Beli.*

"The second highest bounty holder one among the seven rookies, after 'Martini' Hook in the New World."

__________

In a large room that consisted of huge windows and checkered tiles on the floor, five elderly-looking men made themselves comfortable. Going by the title of 'Five Elders' or 'Gorosei,' these five men were the leading figures of the World Government.

And this room they currently dwelled within, was a part of Pangaea Castle, the iconic building that stood in the middle of the holy land, Mariejois.

In the center, there lied one round table with an exquisite design latched on it. Atop of it, there sat one Den Den Mushi, which had its eyes open. Then, the Den Den Mushi spoke,

<<All for the glory of the sky. Cipher Pol Aigis Zero, Pierro here.>>

One among the five elders asked after taking a sip of tea, "How is the situation going?"

<<Through our vigorous effort, we managed to delay Morgans for a short while. Tomorrow, the news regarding Sengoku's declaration of war will be sent out.>> The voice from Den Den Mushi paused momentarily, before continuing, <<And it seems that Sengoku has fallen for it, coming to believe that the World Government is cooperating with the Marine.>>

"Give us the specifics."

<<Sengoku and Garp headed to Nextra, intending to catch Douglas Bullet. Akainu and Kizaru are currently clashing against the Beast pirates. Haironezumi and Aokiji are clashing against the Big Mom pirates. Bayard, Tsuru, Stainless, Momonga, and many other Vice Admirals are sent to monitor the movement of the Whitebeard pirates.>>

"...Hm." An elder wearing white attire, which contrasts with the black suit that the rest of them were wearing, muttered, "So Sengoku did expend most of the Marine force this time around."

"It is only natural." Another elder stated, "His ideal lies on the 'Reigning Justice.' And us, as the ones who rule above all, are the 'Absolute Justice' in the eyes of that man."

<<Heh, the elders seem pleasantly surprised.>> The voice remarked with a chuckle, <<Though you did invoke the notion of opening a full-blown war to Sengoku, you didn't expect him to go to this extent, did you?>>

"...Watch your mouth, agent. We ordered nothing, and everything was based on Sengoku's own decision."

<<Ah... my apologies.>>

The World Government, having been wary of Marine's abrupt growth force within the last 3 years, discretely interrupted their duties during this year around. The Cipher Pols, disguising as pirates, disposing of the marines with potential, and secretly helping the targeted pirates, lead to the marines' failures. Simply put, the World Government worked to limit Marine's control over the sea.

And yet, Marine's capability seemed too much for the elders' liking. This biased perspective of theirs wouldn't have developed in the canon, however, due to Smoker's influence on Kuzan 2 years ago, the Admiral candidate has been sailing all around the sea, inspiring the other marines to live on to their justice. This sense of 'hope' that lingered in the Marine left a bad taste in the elders.

Hence, the World Government blackmailed Sengoku, that if the Marine fails to show a substantial result by the end of the year, the funding will be cut by a tremendous amount—ultimately leading to the current situation.

<<Your honor... what shall this little clown do?>>

"...Paradise."

The elders all looked at the map that was posted on the nearby wall,

"Marine is perfect as it is right now, and change is unnecessary. After all, change... it tends to bring chaos."

The Den Den Mushi grinned in return,

<<...Roger that.>>