The wind along the coastline always carried a salty, fishy tang.
On the dirt road from Mt.
Colubo leading to the bay, rainwater from the night before had pooled.
Ron walked slowly, his flip-flops splashing into mud puddles.
His shirt was unbuttoned, and his baggy floral shorts billowed in the wind.
In his left hand, he carried a large, five-tiered lunch box that Makino had packed before dawn, stuffed with thick slices of grilled meat, tuna rice balls, and several bottles of iced fruit juice.
In his right hand, he held a dry branch he had picked up along the way to brush aside the thorns.
Luffy and Ace were running ahead, taking two steps forward and three back, spinning in circles with impatience.
“Big Brother, can you walk any faster?!” Luffy stretched his arms out, grabbed a tree trunk ahead, swung his body forward, landed a dozen meters away, and then anxiously ran back to urge him on.
Ace kicked a stone, which hit a tree trunk and bounced off.
“If we’re any later, Sabo will sink into the sea, boat and all.
The Celestial Dragons’ ship won’t take a detour!”
Ron stopped, leaned on the dry branch, and switched the lunch box to his other hand.
“Listen up, you two brats.” Ron lifted his eyelids slightly, his tone languid.
“Saving people is hard labor.
After this trip, the next three months of dishwashing, sweeping, chopping wood, and lighting fires are all on you.”
“Forget three months, three years is fine!
Just hurry!” Luffy jumped up and down, agreeing.
Ron nodded.
He pulled a bottle of fruit juice from the lunch box, took a big gulp, and continued walking down the path.
Meanwhile, out on the East Blue, the morning mist had yet to disperse.
This area, which usually only saw fishing boats and small merchant ships, was welcoming a true steel behemoth.
The flag bearing the World Government’s cross emblem snapped in the sea breeze, asserting its dominance.
This was a moving fortress on the sea.
The three-tiered open deck was paved with expensive marble.
The bottom level housed strict artillery batteries, the middle level was garrisoned by heavily armed guards, and the top level even featured a small freshwater swimming pool and a sky garden filled with exotic flowers and plants.
In the center of the main top deck, a huge parasol blocked the direct sunlight.
Saint Charlos wore a thick, bloated white protective suit, with a transparent glass bubble covering his head.
He reclined on velvet cushions, his legs crossed.
A mahogany round table was placed in front of him.
Kneeling on his left was a shirtless, burly man with a heavy explosive collar around his neck.
He had once been a vicious pirate with a bounty of 30 million Berries, but now he was only fit to kneel on the deck, using all his strength to hold up a large peacock-feather fan, carefully controlling the airflow.
Kneeling on his right was a beautiful female slave, holding a pure gold tray with both hands, lifting a mousse cake covered in cocoa sauce above her head.
Her knees were bright red from the hard marble, but she did not dare move.
“The air in this backwater countryside is truly nauseating.” Saint Charlos picked up a pure silver fork, swallowed a bite from the very center of the cake, and poked the rest to pieces.
The captain of the guard standing behind him to the side leaned in, his face plastered with a fawning smile.
“It is already their greatest honor that you have deigned to visit these waters.
As long as we cross this coastal area, we will soon reach the port of the Goa Kingdom.
Those nobles have already laid out red carpets into the sea waiting for you.”
Saint Charlos did not commit.
He threw the silver fork at the female slave’s face, leaving a bloody cut.
In the sea ahead, undercurrents surged.
Sabo was struggling on his dilapidated fishing boat against the leaking seawater.
It was too dark when he stole the boat last night, and he had not noticed a palm-length crack below the waterline.
Cold seawater poured in, flooding over his ankles.
He wrapped his hands with rags and used a chipped wooden ladle to desperately bail out the water.
The speed of bailing was barely keeping pace with the leak.
The oar was only half-broken, unable to provide stable propulsion.
He had been drifting at sea for half the night, completely at the mercy of the currents.
His stomach let out a long string of growls, and gastric acid churned.
He dropped the ladle, fished out half a piece of rock-hard black bread from his pocket, bit off a corner with force, and swallowed it with difficulty, mixed with saliva.
He missed Ron’s grilled meat a little.
He pulled his top hat down to block the blinding light.
His mind was a mess.
The screams from the burning trash heap and his big brother’s sword qi that had split the sea of fire flashed alternately.
“When I grow up and make a name for myself in the New World, I’ll definitely come back to drink with you guys.” He muttered, picking up the ladle to continue dealing with the accumulated water.
The current took a strange turn at this moment.
The small fishing boat was pushed onto the crest of a wave.
Before Sabo could stabilize his center of gravity, a huge shadow descended from the sky, blocking all the sunlight.
The surrounding temperature plummeted.
He looked up.
Before him was no longer the boundless horizon, but a steel wall that towered out of sight.
The white waves were brutally torn apart by the giant ship, and the water on both sides crashed down, nearly overturning his small boat.
Warship lookout tower.
The on-duty Marine soldier blew his whistle and reported to his superiors via the loudspeaker Den Den Mushi, speaking at high speed.
“Report!
One hundred meters directly ahead on the course, an unidentified vessel has been spotted!
Flying a black pirate flag!”
The tranquility of the main deck was shattered.
Rows of fully armed guards rushed to the ship’s side, muskets resting on the railing, muzzles pointed diagonally downward.
Saint Charlos turned his fat neck and walked to the railing.
The captain of the guard handed over a telescope encrusted with jewels.
Through the lens, below floated trash made of rotten wooden boards, and on the boat was a patched-up brat.
Saint Charlos’s facial features crunched together.
Through the bubble helmet, his breathing became rapid.
“The low-class people of the East Blue actually dare to throw trash on the Creator’s route.” He raised his hand to point at the sea, his sharp voice full of disgust.
“What is this?
This is a defilement of my eyes!”
The captain of the guard sweated on his forehead and whispered a suggestion.
“This boat is too small, and the waves are rough.
It might have entered the route by mistake.
I will shoot him dead, and we can just sail past.”
“Shoot him dead?” Saint Charlos turned his head and slapped the captain’s helmet.
“Using a musket to kill a bug stained with low-class blood, this trash boat will hit my warship’s hull!
You want my ship to be grazed by such dirty things?”
He stomped his feet and issued the final order.
“Fire!
Use the main cannon!
Blow that broken boat and the person on it into ashes invisible to the naked eye!”
The order was passed down level by level.
The lower armor plates of the warship slid open to the sides.
A heavy cannon slowly pushed out of the chamber.
The loader pushed a solid gunpowder shell weighing dozens of catties into the breech and closed the breech door.
The gunner pulled the fuse cord, eyes fixed on the dial, coldly executing the destruction order.
One hundred meters, for a large-caliber artillery piece, was zero error.
On the small boat, Sabo stood up straight.
He stared at the black hole of the cannon muzzle above, large enough to fit ten of him inside.
There was no way out.
The small boat was pinned down by the water pushed away by the giant ship.
Going left or right was a dead end.
Jumping into the sea was also death.
There was nothing to grab onto in this area, and the undercurrents would drag a person into an abyss hundreds of meters deep.
Death came too fast, so fast that even fear had not had time to fully spread.
The cruelty of the Celestial Dragons finally converged in this descending artillery fire.
Sabo gripped the gunwale with both hands.
He did not want to die, but he lacked the power to change any of this.
The vow not to cause trouble for others became a joke in the face of absolute power.
“Luffy!
Ace!” He raised his neck and roared hoarsely toward the boundless sea.
“Big Brother!”
…
Author’s Note:
One Piece: The Lazy Brother of Luffy —
Dragon Ball: Oolong’s Sex Adventure
2.
Elements of Lust – ATLA & Korra Mixed Smut
3.
Doraemon: Filtering with Nobi Tamako
4.
The Naive Me Who Became Someone’s Everyday Secret
5.
High School DxD: Rias Gremory, the Phenex Bride
6.