Grand Line, Standing Kingdom.
They were unaware that they had already caught the attention of the Beasts Pirates from the New World. And what had attracted them was their fleet, which was used to combat pirates.
“Your Majesty, this is Orlumbus’s report for the year. They found a treasure and eliminated some competitors. The treasures have already been sent to the national treasury.”
Orlumbus, the fleet captain (Admiral) hired by Standing Kingdom and the actual leader of the Yonta Maria Grand Fleet, was known on the seas as the “Made-Up Explorer.”.
He has an agreement with the Standing Kingdom: they provided him with logistical support, and he was responsible for sea battles.
This included, but was not limited to, treasure hunting, combating pirates, and eliminating competitors.
“Not bad. It seems this deal was the right choice. With Orlumbus around, the nation’s income has been steadily increasing. We won’t have to worry about struggling after paying the heavenly tribute anymore.”
“His Majesty is wise. By the way, Your Majesty, a group of pirates has raided the island in the east and is currently occupying it. The garrison has already sent several requests for reinforcements…”
“Send Orlumbus to reinforce them. You don’t need me to tell you how to handle such minor matters, do you?”
“Yes, I understand.”
The Yonta Maria Grand Fleet doesn’t always have to fully mobilize. Due to the Standing Kingdom’s tasks, they often split their forces. For instance, this time, Orlumbus was leading twelve ships and over a thousand crew members towards their destination.
That island, though remote, was still Standing Kingdom’s territory. Due to historical reasons, many countries didn’t have contiguous landmasses. Kingdoms like Alabasta, with vast continuous territories, were rare.
Even if much of it was desert, it was still real territory, which was incredibly rare in this world. No one would complain about having too much land, and it was common to occupy some archipelagos.
…
“Sir, I’ve already sent out the distress signal as you requested. Can you let me go now…?”
At this moment, the island that sent the distress signal had already been occupied. The distress signal was sent under the threat of the Beasts Pirates, with the purpose of luring the reinforcement fleet to them.
“Throw him in prison. We’ll decide what to do with him later.”
Ignoring the man’s plea, the Beasts Pirates threw him into the island’s prison and placed him under guard again.
“Boss Jack, is all this trouble really necessary? Can’t we just attack them directly?”
“Yeah, Boss, I’ve never heard of anyone strong around here.”
Some of the pirates didn’t understand why they needed to set a trap to ambush the reinforcements. Or rather, it was more like they were setting a trap to rob them.
“Boss Kaido said we need steady sustainable development. The Marine’s G1 and G5 branches are nearby. If they show up, it’ll be difficult to get our ships out.”
A blatant attack on an affiliated nation would likely prompt them to call for Marine reinforcements. Jack wasn’t afraid of the Marines; he didn’t think they could do anything to him. After all, it was just an ordinary kingdom, and an Admiral from headquarters wouldn’t take action over this.
But if they did get entangled, it would be extremely difficult to get their ships out.
“Also, we can’t scare them too much, otherwise, what should we do if we need to take action again in the future? We need them to think we dare not attack their homeland—that will make it easier to act.”
“But Boss, what if the Marines do receive the news and come?”
“Then we sink them! They’re just Marines. Do you know who I am?”
Under Mandrell’s patient guidance, Jack learned what it means to be cautious, but at his core, he remained a reckless brute. When reminded, he would act carefully, but if something went wrong, he would resort to extreme violence to resolve everything.
“Alright, go ahead and arrange the personnel. Also, bring me some strawberries—make sure they’re fresh.”
“They’re already prepared, Boss. This island’s kitchen has everything. No wonder so many nobles come here for vacation.”
Ginrummy handed over a basket of fresh strawberries, which were Alcremie’s lunch for the day. Since they had been sailing on the sea for so long and strawberries aren’t easy to preserve, it had been a while since Alcremie had any fresh strawberries.
“You’re wrong. It’s precisely because nobles vacation here that there is such a complete logistical supply. Remember to squeeze a good amount out of them.”
“Understood.”
The unrelated people were dismissed, leaving Jack alone to feed Alcremie while waiting for reinforcements to arrive.
…
“Admiral! We’re almost there!”
“What about the identity of the enemy?”
“We haven’t seen them yet. It seems they haven’t raised a pirate flag in the town…”
“Strange. Are the ones who occupied this place really pirates?”
Typically, when pirates occupy a town, they immediately hoist their pirate flag in the most prominent spot, making sure everyone knows who has occupied it. This unusual behavior seemed a bit odd.
“Admiral, should we proceed… Wait… Admiral! There’s a new development—several pirate ships are on the move; they seem to be trying to surround us!”
“Attack as soon as we’re within range. They only have three ships; do they really think they can surround us?”
Orlumbus gave his orders, but as he spoke, he noticed that the wind on the sea had started to pick up, and something began to hit his face repeatedly, causing a slight stinging sensation.
The sky started to darken, and visibility gradually decreased until he could only faintly make out the silhouettes of ships in the distance.
“This… a sandstorm???”
In all his years of life, it was the first time he had seen a sandstorm on the sea. Even though the Grand Line is known for its unpredictable weather, he’d never seen anything this absurd.
This intense sandstorm was, of course, the work of Tyranitar. However, without the energy from Seastone, it was just an ordinary sandstorm. The energy consumption was lower, and the sandstorm’s range was broader, enough to cover this small area of the sea where the battle was about to take place.
“Hmm, the ship on the far left—Tyranitar, sink it.”
“Tyranitarrrr?”
Though Tyranitar didn’t quite understand why, it decided to follow the order. It opened its large mouth, and began to charge Hyper Beam.
“Boss, why are we sinking that ship? Isn’t our mission to take back the ships?”
“Hmph, Boss Kaido said we should bring back ten ships, but there are twelve here. Boss Kaido also said to bring the ships but not the people, so leave one ship for them to sail back. No need to scare them too much.
We’ll use the remaining ship to make an example out of them, so they won’t dare to resist. Doesn’t that conveniently leave us with ten ships?”
“Boss Kaido must have foreseen this situation, which is why he gave such an order.”
Shayna regards Arceus’ words as a divine decree, and Jack feels the same way. For Jack, who deeply admired Kaido, he believed Kaido was omnipotent. So, he imagined that Kaido, by saying ten ships, must have foreseen the scale of the enemy’s reinforcements.
Meanwhile, far away in Onigashima, Kaido had no idea that he had just casually guessed a number, but Jack overthought it and came up with this whole scenario…
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