On the pirate ship flying a ferocious skull flag, the sea breeze filled the black sails, billowing them taut.
The flag itself bore the image of a skull with a gaping, bloody maw.
“Boss, you sure that’s a merchant ship ahead?” A pirate stood by the gunwale, shading his eyes with one hand as he gazed at the massive, ornately designed vessel in the distance.
His voice held a hint of uncertainty.
The man he called “Boss” stood at the very prow of the ship.
“Hmph.
Are you questioning my judgment?” The pirate captain snorted coldly, his fingers lightly stroking the hilt of the saber at his waist.
“A ship of that size is definitely a major merchant vessel from some kingdom.
And judging by how deep it’s sitting in the water, it must be loaded to the gills.” He spoke with absolute certainty, his eyes gleaming with the thrill of the hunt.
The truth was, he had failed to recognize the World Nobles’ flag fluttering on the other ship.
Or rather, with his limited experience, he had never even seen a real World Noble’s flag before.
“Alright then!” Hearing his boss’s confidence, the pirate subordinate’s face lit up.
He rubbed his hands together, his fleshy cheeks bunching up in a grin.
“The Shrek Pirates are gonna hit the jackpot again!” The rest of the crew erupted in cheers, as if they could already see a hold full of gold and silver waving to them.
Just as they were lost in their greedy fantasies…
“Boss!
Look!
There’s a black speck flying toward us!” A sharp-eyed pirate subordinate suddenly pointed to a rapidly approaching shadow in the sky and screamed at the top of his lungs.
The burly, bearded captain, chomping on a cigar, impatiently snatched the spyglass from his first mate’s waist and grumbled, “What are you yelling about?
It’s probably just a sea bird…” His voice trailed off.
In the circular field of vision of the spyglass, the black speck rapidly enlarged, its outline becoming clearer.
That was no sea bird, let alone a flying fish.
It was a person.
A white-haired youth, clad in a white cloak with a sheathesless longsword tucked into his waist, was defying all logic—alternatingly stepping on the air as if it were solid ground, suspended in mid-air.
“How…
How is that possible?!” The captain lowered the spyglass, rubbed his eyes vigorously, and raised it again.
“How can a human fly?!
A Devil Fruit?
No, he doesn’t look like he’s eaten one!” His worldview was violently shattered.
And in the few seconds he was frozen in shock, another white figure appeared in the sky.
A pair of massive bat wings unfurled in the air, coming to a steady halt beside the white-haired youth.
It was a woman with a voluptuous figure in a white uniform, her golden curls dancing in the sea breeze, a cold smirk playing on her lips.
Saint Dio looked down from above at the pirate ship, which seemed as small as a toy beneath his feet, his eyes showing no ripple of emotion.
He slowly tightened his grip on Jormungandr’s hilt, feeling the slumbering power of the great beast within the blade beginning to awaken.
He raised Jormungandr high, its tip pointing straight at the heavens.
The next instant, he violently swung it downward— Under the sunlight, the dark silver longsword carved a blinding arc through the air.
And as this arc descended, the blade underwent an incredible transformation.
It expanded and swelled at a visible speed, as if some colossal entity sealed within the metal was breaking free from its bonds.
In the captain’s spyglass, his field of vision was suddenly filled with a massive object covered in dark green scales.
The scales were absurdly large; a single one was wider than his entire ship’s deck.
Then, the sky went dark.
Not a metaphorical darkness, but the literal blotting out of the sun.
The captain lowered his spyglass stiffly and looked up, his pupils shrinking.
Directly above the pirate ship, a serpentine body of suffocating proportions was manifesting out of thin air, as if summoned from the void.
Its dark green scales gleamed with an eerie, cold luster in the dim light, each one the size of a ship’s sail.
The serpentine body coiled and writhed, blotting out most of the sky.
Its shadow, like a moving island, plunged the pirate ship and the surrounding hundreds of meters of sea into complete darkness.
“Monster…
It’s a monster—!!” “Jump ship!
Quick, jump ship!!” The pirates, who had been so menacing a moment ago, instantly broke.
Wailing and crying out for their parents, they abandoned their weapons and scrambled over the gunwales, leaping into the sea one after another with resounding splashes.
Treasure and plunder meant nothing now—survival was the only thing that mattered.
As for the captain, the self-proclaimed “Caesar” with a bounty of 130 million, his legs were shaking like sieves.
A warm liquid trickled down his pant leg, soaking his boots.
He tried to maintain a facade of bravado, roaring, “I am Caesar, a great pirate with a 130-million-berry bounty!
A mere snake can’t—” But his legs had already betrayed him.
As the sky-blotting serpentine body descended with unstoppable momentum, the captain finally broke.
Letting out a sharp shriek, he leaped into the sea with a desperate fish-dive, flailing his limbs to swim as far away as possible.
But could he ever escape?
The massive serpentine body slammed down like divine punishment.
BOOM—!
An earth-shattering crash echoed as the ocean surface seemed to be struck by an invisible, colossal hammer.
The ocean exploded outward, sending walls of white water surging dozens of meters into the air.
The pirate ship, despite its costly construction, crumpled like wet paper under the serpentine body’s crushing weight.
The keel snapped, the deck shattered, and the masts broke in two, sending splinters flying in all directions.
In just a few breaths, the entire ship was reduced to a heap of floating wreckage.
Immediately after, the colossal impact of the snake’s descent churned the sea into a violent whirlpool.
The water spun frantically, forming a massive vortex nearly a hundred meters wide, its powerful suction dragging everything nearby into its maw.
The pirates who had just leaped into the sea, paddling desperately to escape, were seized by the vortex’s irresistible pull before they could swim far.
They screamed in terror, struggling in vain as they were dragged toward the center of the whirlpool, one by one vanishing beneath the churning white foam.
Within minutes, the once-chaotic sea returned to a deathly calm.
Only broken planks and a few pirate flags floating on the surface remained to testify that a ship and its crew had ever existed here.
In the sky, Saint Dio expressionlessly recalled Jormungandr.
The sword returned to its original size, resting quietly in his palm.
Stussy fluttered her massive bat wings, landing gracefully beside Saint Dio.
She covered her mouth with a giggle, her lake-blue eyes curving into crescents.
“Oh my~ It’s over already?
I haven’t even had my fill.” Her gaze lingered on his sharp, sunlit profile, her expression gradually turning dreamy.
As if drawn by an invisible force, she leaned into him.
Her full chest, encased in a tight white uniform, pressed unceremoniously against Saint Dio’s arm, its softness transmitted through the thin fabric.
She raised a slender, fair finger and gently tapped his chest.
Through his casually draped outer robe, her fingertip traced slow, teasing circles, over and over again.
In her lake-blue eyes, an almost obsessive light now flickered.
She rose onto her tiptoes, bringing her cherry-red lips to his ear, her warm breath fanning his skin.
“I want to be punished by my Master’s big sword, too…” Her voice was like a feathered tickle with a hook, brushing against his eardrum and itching all the way down to his heart.
His other “big sword” stirred.