“Graaagh—!”
An inhuman snarl tore from Helmeppo’s throat as he and the others lurched forward, lunging at the Marine soldiers.
The soldiers had been standing ready with their rifles raised, but the moment they recognized the charging figures as their superior’s own son and two of their comrades, they froze as if struck by lightning.
“Helmeppo-sama?!”
“What’s wrong with you—”
Before the words could even finish, Helmeppo had already sunk his teeth into the arm of the soldier at the very front.
The man screamed in pain, his rifle clattering to the ground.
The rest snapped out of their daze and hurriedly raised their guns to aim, but with Helmeppo’s identity hanging over them, none dared pull the trigger.
In that single moment of hesitation, Helmeppo and the other two zombies were already tearing and biting through the crowd.
The Marines they bit soon found their own skin turning ashen gray, their eyes rolling white, as they too rose unsteadily and joined the attack.
In the span of mere moments, the entire squad of Marines had been transformed into snarling zombies—a scene as eerie as it was horrifying.
“That ability of yours is pretty strong,” Zoro said, watching the zombies obediently gather together.
It was a rare word of praise.
Rika clutched the hem of her clothes tightly, her small face pale as she hid behind Koby.
Koby pushed up his glasses, his voice trembling.
“Are they…
are they really okay like this?”
“Not dead,” Lucian answered shortly, his gaze falling upon the gray mist coiling around his palm.
The mist seemed thicker than before.
He tested it, pushing it outward, and it extended a full three meters.
It seemed that by absorbing the gray mist from those pirates earlier, he had drawn in their very life energy as well.
A glint of light flickered through Lucian’s hollow eyes.
If he withdrew the gray mist from these Marines too, how many more meters could he extend it?
He quietly clenched his fist, planning to test it soon.
“Something’s happening inside,” Zoro said.
He had been about to ask Lucian something when he noticed him drifting off, but now his eyes suddenly lifted toward the Marine base, his brow furrowing slightly.
“That racket…
could it be Luffy-san causing all that?” Koby stared anxiously at the base’s front gate, worry etched all over his face behind his glasses.
“He’s strong.
He’ll be fine,” Lucian said, pulling his thoughts back, his tone utterly certain.
The group waited a while longer.
Finally, Zoro’s patience ran dry, and he abruptly rose to his feet.
“I’m going to find my swords myself.”
The words had barely left his mouth before he shot off like an arrow toward the Marine base, clearly having run out of patience.
“Hey!
“Watch her,” Lucian said, pointing at Rika, and turned to follow.
Rika clenched her tiny fists and mustered up all her courage, shouting after Lucian and Zoro, “Onii-san, do your best!”
But before Lucian had taken more than a few steps, Zoro came walking right back, stopping in front of everyone with a blank look on his face.
“Huh?” Lucian looked at him, puzzled.
“How’d you end up ahead of me?” Zoro was even more confused.
Hadn’t he been running toward the base this whole time?
“We’ve been here the whole time, Zoro-san,” Koby spoke up from behind them, then cautiously added, “You wouldn’t happen to be…
directionally challenged, would you?”
“Bastard!
How could I possibly be directionally challenged?!” Zoro exploded on the spot, his face red and his neck bulging as he roared.
He spun around and charged off in the opposite direction.
Yet not long after, he appeared before them once again, his expression stiff, meeting Lucian’s gaze head-on.
Lucian stared at him in silence, his eyes clearly telegraphing, “Confirmed.
Directionally challenged.”
“What are you looking at?!
I just took a wrong turn, that’s all!” Zoro snapped, his face flushing with humiliation as he turned away, though the tips of his ears had gone red.
Just then, a thunderous crash rang out from the direction of the Marine base, followed by Luffy’s unmistakable booming voice.
“Zoro!
Your swords are here—!”
Luffy came leaping down from the second floor of the base, three swords in his arms, with a mob of furious Marines spilling out behind him like a flock of startled ducks.
The moment Zoro saw this, his eyes blazed to life.
He didn’t even wait for Luffy to get close before he shot forward in a single bound and caught the three swords as they flew toward him.
“Finally…” He flexed his still-numb wrists, and in an instant, all three blades were drawn, their cold, piercing gleam dazzling under the sunlight.
“Three-Sword Style: Onigiri!”
The moment the low shout fell, the Marines charging at the very front were already sent flying by the slash, slamming hard into the wall and losing consciousness on impact.
Luffy burst out laughing at the sight.
“Zoro, nice job!”
Zoro paid him no mind.
His razor-sharp gaze swept over the remaining enemies, his tone ice-cold.
“These small fry—leave them to me.”
Lucian watched Zoro clear the field in an instant, the corner of his mouth curving upward.
Koby stared, utterly stupefied, murmuring under his breath, “S-So strong…”
Rika suddenly pointed toward the entrance of the Marine base and cried out, “Look! This story is hosted at g.com.
It’s Captain Morgan!”
Everyone turned to look.
Standing at the gates was a Marine captain built like an iron tower, his face an ashen, livid green that looked ready to drip venom—none other than Helmeppo’s father, Captain Morgan.
The axe fitted onto his arm glinted coldly under the sun, and by now, he was clearly seething with rage.
“You brats dare stir up trouble at a Marine base and set a criminal like him loose…” Morgan’s voice boomed like rolling thunder, rattling eardrums.
“Today, every last one of you dies here.”
Yet his words drew no reaction whatsoever from Luffy’s side.
“So you’re in?” Luffy bounded up beside Zoro in a few quick steps, his eyes blazing bright beneath his straw hat, his voice brimming with irrepressible excitement.
“From now on, we’re going up against the World Government!”
Zoro bared his teeth in a grin, a flash of wild ferocity showing through.
“You really are a piece of work, you know that?” He hefted the blades in his hands, their edges gleaming coldly under the sun.
“But hell—seeing as we’ve already started swinging, what’s wrong with being a pirate?”
“Awesome!” Luffy threw both hands high into the air, nearly sending his straw hat flying, his laughter so hearty it seemed to pierce the clouds.
“You’re gonna be my crewmate!”
Lucian nodded along as well, his eyes sparkling as he gazed straight at Zoro.
Koby and Rika were nodding firmly beside them, too, genuine smiles spreading across their faces.
“This is wonderful!”
“You little punks!” Over on the other side, Morgan watched them laughing and joking as if no one else were there, completely dismissing his presence, and his fury boiled over.
His axe slammed into the ground with a clang, splitting a thin crack across the stone.
“You dare ignore me?!” His roar, thick with towering rage, seemed to shake the very air around them, cutting harshly through the group’s celebration.
“What are you all standing around for?!” Morgan drove his foot viciously into the knee of a soldier beside him, veins bulging across his twisted face.
“Get them!
Seize every last one of these bastards!”
The soldier who had been kicked stumbled to his feet and cast a trembling glance toward the still-snarling Helmeppo and the others in the distance, his voice shaking.
“B-But…
Helmeppo-sama, they…”
“Useless trash, all of you!” Morgan cut him off with a savage roar, slamming his axe into the ground and sending stone chips flying.
“Forget those worthless fools!
Attack!”
His bloodshot eyes locked dead onto Lucian, and seeing the gray mist shifting around him, his pupils constricted sharply.
“That brat’s not right!
He must’ve eaten some damn Devil Fruit!”
He raised his axe and pointed it straight at Lucian, his bellow making the soldiers’ ears ring.
“Open fire!
Anyone who takes a single step back—I’ll split him in two myself!”