Master and Servant Clash!
15: Emergency Reinforcements!
Master and Servant Clash!
Chapter 15: Emergency Reinforcements!
Master and Servant Clash!
Sabaody Archipelago, Area 1.
This was one of the most prosperous areas in the entire archipelago, but it was also among the most chaotic.
To put it simply, the area’s most famous establishment was the Human Auctioning House—or, as the Marines politely called it, the Employment Office.
Area 1 also possessed a sizable harbor, making it one of Sabaody’s busiest districts.
Zephyr sat beside the window of a cafe overlooking the harbor.
Wrapped in a coat and scarf, with sunglasses and a fedora hiding most of his face, anyone who wasn’t personally familiar with him would have difficulty recognizing him.
He quietly drank his coffee while keeping Observation Haki spread across the nearby harbor at all times.
Nobody knew whether the escapees would actually come to Sabaody.
Kuzan’s search had produced nothing so far, and because every guard at Impel Down’s harbor had been killed during the breakout, nobody knew which direction the fugitives had taken.
They could hide somewhere in Paradise, flee toward the East Blue or South Blue, or come straight to Sabaody.
“Haa…” Zephyr slowly exhaled.
‘We’ve done everything we can.’ ‘Now we’ll just have to see what happens.’ Buru-buru-buru!
The sudden ringing of a Transponder Snail interrupted his thoughts.
Zephyr paused for an instant before immediately pulling it out and answering.
“Instructor Zephyr!” Binz’s terrified voice came through the receiver.
“They’re here!
They actually came!
I think they’re planning to take that coated ship straight into the New World!” “…” Behind Zephyr’s sunglasses, his pupils contracted sharply.
‘They really came?’ And they had arrived much faster than expected.
Marineford was fairly close to Sabaody, but Impel Down was considerably farther away.
Yet the fugitives had escaped only last night and had already reached the archipelago.
‘This is bad.’ At this rate, they could descend into the deep sea within minutes.
Even worse, Zephyr was too far from Binz’s location to arrive immediately.
“Binz!
I’m coming right now.
Don’t do anything reckless!” Zephyr’s tone sharpened.
“Contact Nate and have him go ahead of me!” Nate was much closer.
For the moment, Zephyr could only rely on him.
‘Nate, hold them there until I arrive.’ Zephyr shot through the cafe window like a cannonball and launched himself into the sky, leaving the civilians inside staring after him in complete disbelief.
After ending the call with Binz, Zephyr immediately contacted Marine Headquarters.
Even if he reached the fugitives in time, capturing them would be extremely difficult.
Their combined strength was far too great, and Borsalino hadn’t even returned to Headquarters yet.
Reinforcements would take even longer to arrive.
Still, there was no other choice.
‘No matter what happens, we can’t let them escape into the deep sea.’ …
Area 16.
After dinner, Nate and Ain had resumed watching the underground shipyard.
Ain was clearly still embarrassed about what had happened earlier and hadn’t spoken to Nate at all.
That suited him perfectly.
With half his consciousness focused on the fugitives, Nate could spend the entire surveillance mission acting like an NPC without worrying about holding a conversation.
Buru-buru-buru!
His Transponder Snail suddenly rang.
Nate raised an eyebrow and answered.
“Get over here, Nate!
The fugitives showed up!
They’re right here!” Ain instantly turned toward him, her eyes widening.
“I’m coming.
Don’t do anything reckless, Binz.” Nate ended the call without hesitation.
“I’m coming too.” Ain’s expression immediately became serious.
“Then don’t slow me down.” Nate wrapped one arm around Ain’s slender waist and kicked against the air with Geppo.
The two shot upward like a cannonball before racing toward Binz’s position.
Ain, who had blushed just from holding his hand earlier, now showed nothing but concentration.
As for Nate—Of course he already knew Binz was watching that particular ship.
But it didn’t matter.
‘Instructor Zephyr won’t be able to stop this.’ …
At the secluded bay, Binz put away his Transponder Snail and slowed his breathing.
Hidden inside the tree canopy, he carefully watched the coated ship through a gap between the leaves.
“Instructor Zephyr and Nate are both on their way.
They told us not to do anything reckless.” His partner barely dared to breathe.
“How exactly would we do anything reckless against those monsters?
If we ran out there, wouldn’t we just get killed instantly?” Binz swallowed and gave a small nod.
Neither man spoke again.
They could only watch as figure after figure descended from the sky and landed on the ship’s deck.
The fugitives immediately moved into position without hesitation.
One of them approached the coating membrane’s air inlet and prepared to activate it, clearly intending to inflate the coating and depart immediately.
“Damn it!
They’re preparing to leave!” Binz anxiously bit the nail of his right thumb.
“Instructor Zephyr and Nate still need time to get here!” “What do we do?” His partner sounded just as anxious.
“Are we supposed to stand here and watch them leave?” “…” Binz fell silent for a moment.
Then he drew a deep breath.
“I’ll buy some time.” “Binz?” The Marine beside him stared in shock.
“Don’t even say you’re coming with me.
You’ll only slow me down.” Binz shoved the Transponder Snail into his partner’s hand.
“Brother, I’m counting on you to tell future generations about my heroic last stand.” Before the other Marine could respond, Binz launched himself from the tree.
The instant his feet touched the ground— “Soru!” His body transformed into a blur and shot forward.
“Binz!” His partner clenched his fists in the canopy.
“Criminals!
Where do you think you’re going?!” As Binz raced ahead, he began moving in a strange dance.
“OVERGROWTH!!” Thick vines erupted from beneath his feet, twisting forward like giant pythons toward the ship at the shoreline.
The people gathered around the small harbor froze before quickly retreating to clear the area.
This was Sabaody.
Violent conflicts like this were hardly unusual.
…
Aboard the coated ship, Buckingham watched the rapidly approaching Binz with amusement.
“Oh?” She narrowed her eyes.
“He knows who we are.
A Marine?” “Lady Luna?” Anthony turned toward Luna, waiting for instructions.
“Continue preparing the ship.” Luna remained completely calm.
“We enter the deep sea as quickly as possible.” “Understood.” Solt immediately activated the air inlet.
A large volume of air began pouring into the coating, causing the membrane that had been pressed tightly against the ship to slowly inflate around the hull.
Only then did Luna look toward Binz.
She raised one hand and casually pointed at one of the escapees.
“You.
Deal with him.” “Hahaha!
Leave him to me, Lady Luna!” The Level Six prisoner grinned before launching himself away from the ship.
He crashed onto the shore like a cannonball, landing directly atop one of Binz’s vines.
The prisoner exposed a row of yellowed teeth.
“Kid, have you decided how you want to die?” Binz glanced toward the steadily inflating coating and drew a deep breath.
He swung both hands, sending even more vines toward the man.
“Trying to tickle me?” The prisoner turned his right hand into a knife-hand and coated it in black Armament Haki.
With one casual swing, his hand became as sharp as a real blade and sliced straight through Binz’s vines.
But Binz had already changed tactics.
Several vines twisted upward to form stepping points in midair.
He ran across them and suddenly accelerated.
“Soru!” He intended to leap over the prisoner and head directly for the ship.
Unfortunately— “You really think I’m that easy to ignore?!” A dark figure shot upward.
The prisoner caught Binz by the ankle and violently swung him back toward the ground.
Whoosh!
Binz fell like a meteor.
BOOM!
The earth exploded beneath him, leaving a huge crater while shockwaves rippled through the surrounding ground.
“Ugh!” Binz coughed up a mouthful of blood.
‘Too strong…’ This man was far beyond someone he could fight.
“Hahahaha!” The prisoner landed inside the crater and grabbed Binz by the throat, lifting him effortlessly.
“Someone this weak actually tried to stop us?” He grinned.
“If you don’t die, who should?” Binz’s head spun.
He could barely think properly anymore.
‘Is this really as far as I go?’ ‘After all that…
I didn’t accomplish anything?’ “BINZ!!” His partner finally lost control.
The Marine jumped from the tree and sprinted toward them while screaming Binz’s name.
He hadn’t even mastered the Six Powers yet.
“Oh?
You’ve got a friend too?” The prisoner grinned.
“Don’t worry.
I’ll send him to join you immediately.” He drew his Haki-coated knife-hand backward and aimed directly at Binz’s heart.
“Die—” “ROKUOGAN!” An invisible shockwave erupted directly against the prisoner’s chest.
The force passed straight through his body and exploded from his back.
“UWAAAAAH!!” Caught completely off guard, the prisoner screamed as tiny fragments of internal organs sprayed from his mouth.
His grip loosened, dropping Binz to the ground, while the prisoner himself was launched violently through the air.
“RANKYAKU!” A huge, razor-sharp vacuum blade appeared immediately afterward and tore toward the airborne prisoner.
“Hah!” A figure descended from above.
Luna swung her enormous sword downward and split the vacuum blade apart.
With her other hand, she caught the wounded prisoner and casually threw him back onto the ship’s deck.
Among the people watching from a safe distance, several more knowledgeable spectators froze the instant they saw Luna.
“N-No way…” “Is she a Lunarian?” “Binz!
Are you okay?” The empty air nearby rippled.
Nate and Ain gradually appeared from nothing.
Ain immediately crouched beside the wounded Binz and checked on him.
“Ain…?” Binz forced his eyes open and focused on her face.
Then his gaze shifted past her toward the figure standing ahead.
“Nate…” He groaned.
“You bastard…
took you long enough.” “You were just too fast.” Nate didn’t turn around.
“But fine.
I’ll admit it, Binz.” His lips lifted slightly.
“You looked pretty cool this time.” Then Nate’s attention settled completely on Luna.
“Now it’s my turn to look cool.” He spoke without looking back.
“Locke, get Binz out of here.
Ain, keep your distance and use your ability to support me if you see an opening.” “Damn it!
Then you’d better look really cool too, Nate!” Locke rushed over, hoisted Binz onto his back, and immediately began retreating.
“Understood.” Ain nodded and moved away with him.
Weakly hanging from Locke’s back, Binz turned his head toward Nate.
“Nate…
be careful.” “Instructor Zephyr still needs some time to get here.” …
On the nearby ship, the coating continued expanding and was already nearly halfway inflated.
Anthony stood by the railing and studied Nate.
“That kid was invisible just now?” He narrowed his eyes.
“He’s pretty strong.” “Lady Luna!” Solt shouted from farther down the deck.
“Do you need us to help?” “No.” Luna calmly held her enormous sword at her side.
“A little entertainment before we leave sounds nice.” “Understood.” Solt nodded heavily.
Buckingham merely rolled her eyes.
‘It’s that brat.’ ‘Then what the hell is the point of fighting?’ This was obviously just an act to fool the Marines.
How ridiculous.
Nate quietly studied Luna.
The last time they’d met face-to-face with their real bodies had been almost a year ago.
‘Then show me, Luna.’ ‘Let me see how much you’ve improved over this past year.’ Luna raised her greatsword and pointed its blade directly at Nate.
“Then allow me to show you—” Her black wings spread behind her.
“—my strength.” In the next instant, Luna became a blur and shot forward like an illusion.
Nate’s lips curved upward.
‘You’re coming?’ ‘Then so am I.’ “Soru!” … …