“How is this possible?
They’re just a pirate crew that only recently entered the Grand Line.
How could they possibly be this strong?”
On an island in the first half of the Grand Line, a group of defeated pirate hunters stared in disbelief.
“Kishishishi!
You ignorant trash really don’t know your place.
Don’t you even know what pirate crew you’re dealing with?
You actually dared attack us?
Our captain is a pirate with a bounty of five hundred million Berries.
Isn’t it only natural that we’d be this strong?” Kemp sneered.
Ever since entering the Grand Line, Yuri’s group had frequently been attacked by pirates and pursued by Marines because they openly flew a pirate flag.
Those pirates and Marines weren’t particularly strong, so Yuri never even needed to make a move.
Kemp and the others dealt with them all.
Because Kemp and the others defeated so many pirates and Marines, bounties were gradually placed on their heads as well.
And those bounties weren’t low.
Naturally, that caused many pirate hunters to set their sights on them.
This time, the moment they landed on a deserted island, they discovered a massive number of pirate hunters waiting in ambush.
It turned out those pirate hunters had already analyzed Yuri’s route and predicted that his crew would eventually arrive on this island, so they had come here ahead of time to wait.
Yet several thousand pirate hunters were easily defeated by Kemp and the others.
Kemp, in particular, transformed into a gigantic Titan Great Ape and became like a living god of destruction.
Every strike he unleashed carried monstrous strength that shook the entire island.
With Daz, Ashby, Brain, and the others fighting alongside him, nearly all of the thousands of pirate hunters were wiped out in the blink of an eye.
The surviving pirate hunters could only scream that they were monsters.
What kind of pirate crew was this?
How could they possibly be this terrifying?
“Five hundred million Berries?
Impossible!
I’ve been a pirate hunter for years, and I’ve never heard of any Gadile Pirates.
If your captain really had a bounty of five hundred million Berries, there’s no way I wouldn’t know about him,” one pirate hunter said while gasping for breath.
“Hahaha!
Captain, looks like you’ve been gone for too long.
Even the pirate hunters have forgotten you.
Three years ago, you were the hottest target in the entire West Blue.
Every pirate hunter in the sea was going crazy over your head,” Bege said with a laugh.
“It has been three years, after all.
During these three years, the captain completely vanished from the world,” Daz said calmly.
“Three years?
Don’t tell me you’re the Railgun, Gadile Yuri, who disappeared after receiving a five-hundred-million-Berry bounty three years ago!” a female pirate hunter suddenly cried out.
“Heh, not bad.
You actually figured out who I am.
You’re pretty good.
Want to join my pirate crew?” Yuri asked the female pirate hunter.
“You want me to join your crew?” she asked in surprise.
“Your Devil Fruit is pretty good, and you’re still young.
If I bring you to the New World and let you train there for a few years, as long as you don’t die, you’ll become an officer capable of handling things on your own.
So, what do you say?
Want to come train in the New World with us?” Yuri asked with a smile.
Yuri had noticed her during the battle just now.
Among all these pirate hunters, she was the youngest, yet her strength was among the very best.
Yuri had also recognized her.
This female pirate hunter was none other than Zala, who would later become one of Crocodile’s senior agents in Baroque Works and a user of the Spike-Spike Fruit.
Come to think of it, Yuri seemed destined to keep crossing paths with Baroque Works.
First there was Robin, then Daz and Mikita, and now he had run into Zala, the Spike-Spike Fruit user.
If possible, he might as well recruit everyone who would have joined Baroque Works in the future.
That was why Yuri extended an invitation to Zala.
Just as Yuri said, even if Zala’s current strength was only average, if she were taken to the New World and trained there for a few years, as long as she survived, her Devil Fruit ability would allow her to become a powerful officer before long.
The New World was a sea that forced people to grow.
Because if you failed to become stronger, what awaited you was death.
“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea.
Besides, it looks like I don’t really have much of a choice.”
“Heh.
Welcome to the Gadile Pirates.”
Yuri smiled.
But just as he finished speaking, he suddenly felt the surrounding temperature rise dramatically.
His expression changed, and he snapped his gaze toward the sky.
At some point, the entire sky had turned crimson.
Even the clouds had become blazing red.
“Sakazuki.” Yuri’s expression changed.
The moment the words left his mouth, enormous magma fists tore through the clouds and appeared before everyone’s eyes.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“This isn’t funny.”
“What the hell is that?
It looks like the whole world is about to be destroyed.”
As they stared at the magma fists filling the entire sky, everyone’s expressions changed drastically.
Even for people like them, facing an attack of this scale filled them with despair.
“That’s Vice Admiral Sakazuki’s ability!
Captain, what do we do?” Robin asked anxiously, cold sweat pouring down her face.
“Heh.
You really know how to cause trouble for me, Akainu.” Yuri looked up at the magma fists covering the sky and gave a cold smile.
At the same time, he extended one hand and opened his palm.
A small black sphere appeared above it.
Robin and the others looked at it in confusion.
Even they had no idea what Yuri was doing or what that black sphere was.
Then Yuri tossed his hand upward.
The black sphere rapidly flew into the sky.
Could such a tiny black sphere really possess enough power to deal with the countless magma fists filling the heavens?
Just as everyone watched in surprise and doubt, the black sphere that had risen into the sky suddenly released an incomparably powerful attractive force.
Under that terrifying pull, every magma fist originally descending toward Yuri and the others was dragged toward the black sphere instead.
One magma fist after another was continuously pulled into it.
With the black sphere at the center, an enormous mass of magma gradually formed in midair.
It looked like a gigantic burning sun hanging in the sky.