Rocks and Newgate had arrived!
This meant that the two warships responsible for covering the rear outside had been sunk by them.
At the same time, the current that had originally been moving at high speed also returned to normal.
That was because the destruction of the Gate of Justice had connected the waters on both sides.
“Hey, Ren!”
“You’re taking too long!”
Rocks stood at the bow of the ship and spoke calmly.
“There was a tough one.”
“This guy’s a real handful.”
“Everyone, let’s jump him together!”
Ren called out.
The awakened tiger-man froze.
Even Rocks and Newgate raised their eyebrows in surprise.
Under normal circumstances, for the sake of one’s pride, even if one had to force oneself to keep going, one would still insist on fighting one-on-one.
Ren, however, didn’t care about pride in the slightest.
Without the slightest hesitation, he called for reinforcements.
Seeing Rocks and Newgate approaching, the awakened tiger-man CP0 completely panicked.
If his opponent had been Ren alone, even though Ren was an ability user of the strongest Logia, the Goro Goro no Mi, the awakened tiger-man would have had no fear.
With his awakened Zoan abilities, he was confident that he could engage Ren in a prolonged battle.
In the end, he believed the odds would be fifty-fifty.
But once Rocks and Newgate were added to the equation, everything changed.
A person’s reputation casts a long shadow.
Rocks’ reputation had been built upon the corpse of a Marine Admiral.
The awakened tiger-man CP0 was confident that he wasn’t weaker than that slain Admiral.
But he certainly wasn’t much stronger, either.
“You…
despicable bastard!”
“If you’re a real man, fight me one-on-one!”
The awakened tiger-man attempted to provoke Ren.
“Despicable?”
“We’re not playing pirate house here!”
Ren didn’t take the bait at all.
Provocation was useless against him.
He had never been someone who cared much about saving face.
He knew that he couldn’t defeat CP0 in a short period of time.
If he stubbornly continued fighting just for the sake of his pride, not only would he suffer unnecessary injuries, but more importantly—
If they kept dragging things out, the Marine reinforcements would probably arrive.
At that point, they would truly gain nothing and lose everything.
“Wahahaha!”
“Well said!”
“This isn’t pirate house!”
Rocks leaped into the air and brought his sword crashing down.
BOOM!
The entire warship was severed in two.
The Marines aboard screamed in terror.
THUD!
The heavens and earth trembled.
Newgate had thrown a punch.
A vibration punch struck the awakened tiger-man directly in the face.
The terrifying vibrational force shattered his skull.
Ultimately, with the assistance of Rocks and Newgate, the awakened tiger-man failed to last even half a minute.
Ren fired a Railgun through half of his body, finally ending him completely.
[Congratulations, Host!
You have defeated a user of the Neko Neko no Mi, Model: Tiger.]
[The Zoan-type Neko Neko no Mi, Model: Tiger ability has been successfully recorded.]
With the fall of the final resisting enemy, Ren, Rocks, and Newgate’s operation to raid the Heavenly Tribute had ended in complete success.
The pirate ship towed the World Government battleship, which had suffered relatively little damage, and sailed away triumphantly.
By the time reinforcements from the Marine Headquarters arrived, all they found were battered warships and Marines struggling in the currents.
“Everyone!”
“Rescue them!”
Marine Admiral Black Hawk waved his hand.
Soon, every Marine who had fallen into the sea was rescued.
That included Vice Admiral Pitt.
“Pitt.”
“What exactly happened?”
Admiral Black Hawk asked in a deep voice.
“Cough, cough…”
“Rocks…”
“It’s Rocks!”
Vice Admiral Pitt coughed twice, his face pale.
“No…”
“Not just Rocks.”
“He recruited two monster crew members!”
“One is the super rookie who has recently risen to fame—Edward Newgate!”
“The other is an unfamiliar face.”
“But he’s Rocks’ vice-captain…”
“And he’s an ability user of the strongest Logia, the Goro Goro no Mi!”
“What?!”
Admiral Black Hawk’s eyes suddenly widened.
He was utterly shocked by Pitt’s report.
“There’s one more thing.”
“That man named Ren…”
“He killed Celestial Dragon Saint Sorodos!”
Pitt spoke.
Hisssss—
…
…
Raiding the Heavenly Tribute.
Killing a Celestial Dragon.
These were practically the most heinous crimes in the world.
It was an outright challenge to the authority of the World Government.
Even looking back across the past eight hundred years of history, events of this magnitude had occurred only a handful of times.
An incident this serious naturally couldn’t remain hidden.
On the third day after the incident, a general report about what had happened was published.
In an instant, people across the four seas and the Grand Line were utterly shaken.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa…
Th-this…
Is this really true?!”
“Someone actually dared to…”
“If it were anyone else, I’d still have doubts.”
“But this is Rocks!”
“Rocks D.
Xebec…”
“What a terrifying man!”
“He caused such a huge disturbance in the Holy Land of Mary Geoise just last year!”
“He even killed an Admiral…”
“And how long has it been?”
“This guy actually dared to rob the Heavenly Tribute too…”
“Does he intend to oppose the entire World Government all by himself?!”
Whoosh—
An enormous wave of shock and uproar spread with the currents of the sea, reaching every corner of the world.
“Wait!”
“He’s not alone!”
“Rocks isn’t acting by himself!”
Someone suddenly exclaimed.
“Edward Newgate?!”
“Th-this guy…
isn’t he the one who recently sank a Marine base…?”
“Speaking of which, who exactly is this man named Ren?”
“I’ve never heard of him before.”
“But…”
“A bounty of 500,000,000 Berries!”
“His very first bounty is already 500 million!”
“What exactly did he do?!”
Looking at the 500,000,000-Berry bounty issued by the World Government for Ren, the entire sea was stunned once again.
Everyone knew that merely participating in the robbery of the Heavenly Tribute could never have been enough to earn him a first bounty of 500 million Berries.
There had to be something more behind it.
Although the newspapers did not report in detail what Ren had done, those with connections and those willing to investigate eventually uncovered the truth.
“A Celestial Dragon…”
“He…
he…”
“This man named Ren killed a Celestial Dragon!”
“The Celestial Dragons!”
“The World Nobles!”
“The descendants of gods!”
“Someone actually killed one of them!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”
“He even dared to kill a Celestial Dragon!”
“That’s insanely gutsy!”
“This man named Ren is something else.”
“I don’t respect anyone else—I respect him!”
“As expected!”
“Not a single person capable of sailing alongside Rocks is ordinary!”
…
The world remained in shock.
The seas began to surge with unrest.
It wasn’t only the ordinary people who were shaken.
The powerful figures of this era, the great monsters of the sea—especially those ruling the Grand Line—all turned their attention toward this incident.
Red Demon Erik.
Captain of the Red Demon Pirates.
The ruler of Paradise, the first half of the Grand Line.
He was as famous as a certain man in the New World.
With the Red Line serving as the dividing line, the two men each dominated one side of the Grand Line.
“Rocks D.
Xebec, Edward Newgate…”
“And this man named Ren.”
“Newcomers being this high-profile and reckless isn’t a good thing.”
The man known as the Red Demon grinned.
“Shiki.”
“You go bring them here.”
“Let them learn exactly who rules Paradise!”
“Zehahahaha!”
“Understood!”
The super rookie who had joined the Red Demon Pirates this year—
‘Golden Lion’ Shiki
—laughed loudly and accepted the order.