“I’d love to argue with Headquarters over this, but I already know it wouldn’t change anything.” Zephyr gave a helpless shrug.
There was little point wasting his breath on people who had already made up their minds.
Soon afterward, the Marines began their latest operation.
This time, they were heading deep into the New World to hunt down remnants of the former Rocks Pirates.
According to intelligence gathered by Cipher Pol at considerable cost, three former members of Rocks’s crew had already established formidable forces of their own in those waters.
Edward Newgate, better known as Whitebeard.
Kaido, the man already earning a reputation as an inhuman monster.
And Charlotte Linlin, wielder of the immensely powerful Soul-Soul Fruit.
Of the three, Whitebeard currently stood above the others.
Even before the Rocks Pirates disbanded, Newgate had been one of the crew’s most prominent members.
His name had long since spread across the sea.
He had clashed with Garp and Sengoku more than once, and both sides knew exactly how terrifying the other could be.
Whitebeard’s Devil Fruit in particular possessed enough destructive power to turn entire battlefields upside down.
And despite already entering the prime of his life, there was no sign of decline in him whatsoever.
If anything, he remained as vigorous and dangerous as ever.
That was why Marine Headquarters was committing two Admirals to the coming operation.
Originally, they had hoped to field three.
Unfortunately for them, Garp had rejected yet another promotion to Admiral, leaving both Fleet Admiral Kong and Sengoku with headaches.
But that was Garp.
He had always been the most stubborn man in the Marines.
Known for his fists and his uncompromising nature, he lived much the same way he fought—straight ahead, with no interest in crossing the lines he had drawn for himself.
Before departure, Zephyr had also continued pressing Headquarters over the unpaid bounty issue.
He requested 40,000,000 Berries toward the outstanding bounties on the Jackal Pirates.
Headquarters approved only half.
Even so, the twenty million covered what Zephyr had promised Kael.
The only thing remaining was the personal favor he still owed him.
That was a relief.
For a man as frugal as Zephyr, paying twenty million Berries out of his own pocket might have taken years.
…
Seventeen days passed.
The Arbiter finally returned to Kuraigana Island.
The voyage home had taken a few days longer than the trip to Sabaody because the ship was now heavily loaded with supplies and sat noticeably deeper in the water.
Kael and Mihawk hardly cared.
Their routine hadn’t changed.
They trained every day.
And for Mihawk, one question had become increasingly impossible to ignore.
Does Brother ever get tired?
Kael stood a full head taller than him.
Muscles tightened across his arms and back as he swung Requiem again and again, combining every slash with precise footwork.
Whenever golden sword light erupted from the blade, enormous waves rose across the surrounding sea.
And still…
Kael didn’t stop.
Sweat poured from his body.
His breathing grew heavier.
Yet Requiem continued moving.
Again.
Again.
Again.
As though exhaustion simply didn’t apply to him.
Mihawk stared.
His hawk-like eyes had widened more times than he could count.
He was a swordsman himself.
More importantly, he had already reached the level of a great swordsman.
He understood exactly how much stamina it took to repeatedly unleash flying slashes at that level.
Which only made what he was seeing more absurd.
“Brother…” Mihawk swallowed.
“Are you even human…?” He forced himself back onto his feet.
His legs immediately began trembling.
Still, he tried to follow Kael’s pace.
He lasted only a few moments.
Then his knees gave out.
Thud.
Mihawk dropped back onto the deck.
Beside him, Quinn stood like an iron tower.
“Young Master, there’s no need to force yourself.” He spoke with the grave confidence of a man who had learned that lesson through painful experience.
“Keep going like this and you’ll only injure yourself.” And Quinn knew exactly what he was talking about.
Over the years, thirty-five fighters had gradually gathered around Kael and become part of his personal guard.
Every single one of them had, at some point, tried to match his training.
And because of that, every one of them had pushed past limits they once thought impossible.
Yet none had ever managed to keep up with Kael.
Kael’s limits seemed impossible to find.
No matter how long he trained, he always seemed capable of continuing.
It was terrifying.
Unfortunately, not trying to keep up felt even worse.
How were they supposed to accept being crushed in battle when they couldn’t even survive the man’s training routine?
Strength didn’t appear from nowhere.
Neither did weakness.
If someone trained harder than you, longer than you, and refused to stop when you did…
Then perhaps it wasn’t so strange that they stood above you.
Fortunately, Mihawk was spared any further humiliation.
“Young Master.” Rolin approached in her black-and-white maid uniform.
Her blue eyes caught the light as she stopped a short distance from Kael.
The wind generated by his training whipped violently at her clothes and hair, but she had clearly grown accustomed to scenes like this.
“We’ve arrived home.” She smiled.
“You should wash up and change before we dock.” “All right.” Kael stopped.
Requiem’s golden glow faded.
Then— Click.
The blade disappeared into its sheath.
The wind died with it.
Kael’s muscular frame was soaked in sweat, every line sharply defined beneath the sunlight.
Rolin’s eyes lingered for a second.
Then she swallowed.
Perhaps a little too obviously.
Kael either didn’t notice or chose not to.
He accepted the towel she offered and headed below deck.
After a quick wash, he changed into the loose formal robes he normally wore as lord of Kuraigana Island.
With that, their journey was essentially over.
Kael usually made trips like this around the same time every year.
He would make another near the end of December.
And every time the Arbiter returned, it brought food, materials, tools, and strange new goods from across the sea.
The more than three thousand people living around Black Rose Castle had even given these occasions a name.
The Blessing Festival.
Some of the residents were orphans left behind by the war that destroyed Shikkearu.
Others were refugees and wanderers who had arrived on Kuraigana Island from elsewhere.
Those who passed Kael’s inspections were permitted to settle here.
And once accepted…
They lived under his protection.
In the earliest years, the islanders had described Kael with a simple phrase.
An army of one.
Once, an entire pirate fleet had attempted to raid Kuraigana Island.
The battle began in the middle of the night.
It lasted less than an hour.
By the end, flames illuminated the waters surrounding the island.
Every pirate in the attacking fleet had been buried beneath the sea.
Their ships were salvaged afterward and dragged into Kuraigana’s docks, where the island’s newly trained shipwrights used the wrecks for materials and practice.
Stories like that had spread among the people for years.
And that was why, to the residents of Kuraigana Island, Dracule Kael was more than their lord.
More than their protector.
To them, he was the undefeated Demigod of Kuraigana.
A man no enemy had ever overcome.
Add to library.
Send some Power Stones.