New World, Kigan Island Coast.
The sun set on the western horizon, and night slowly blanketed the sky.
Above the choppy ocean, a G-5 Marine Headquarters battleship pointed its cannons at the wreckage of five destroyed large ships. The soldiers inside the ship's hull, after quickly loading the cannons with explosive shells, lit their fuses.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The cannon fire continued to roar, splitting the air with a deafening sound. The shells hit the ocean, exploding the pirates who were swimming among the wreckage. Flesh and blood flew everywhere, limbs were severed, and the vast ocean turned red, accompanied by endless desperate screams.
"Gunners, fire as you please! Snipers, keep an eye on the sea around the battleship so no enemies dive!"
Standing on the deck, Frank, with a calm face, skillfully commanded the soldiers in a brutal battle to annihilate the pirates. Although Sephiroth had just slashed the five ships, making the enemy lose their long-range combat ability, the number of remaining pirates was still very large.
Since he served under Sephiroth, Sephiroth's role had always been the decisive one on the battlefield, while they, the soldiers, were fully responsible for the cleanup. Therefore, after receiving the order, Frank dutifully directed his ship to complete the mission, instead of acting tough and helping on Kigan Island.
Swoosh!
A thin red line cut through the void. A Dimension-Space Door opened, and Sephiroth emerged from the giant hole on Kigan Island. His right hand held a sword, and his left hand dragged Queen's fat body to the deck of the battleship.
"Commodore Sephiroth," Frank greeted. He hurried over, ready to wait for the next command.
However, he froze when his eyes fell on the body being dragged behind Sephiroth. He recognized Queen's face which was still intact on the right side.
"I-is that… is that… Queen?" he asked with a trembling voice.
"Yes. I killed him," Sephiroth replied in a flat tone.
Frank immediately panicked. "This is bad! Commodore Sephiroth, you're in big trouble! You actually killed one of the Beast Pirates' Three Disasters?! Kaido will never let you go!"
Initially, Frank thought that Sephiroth would at most destroy the facilities and kill a few ordinary fighters. There were at least twenty cadres of that level in the Beast Pirates. The death of one or two of them would not cause a big problem. After all, every year, Supernovas came and went in the New World. The fighters in the Beast Pirates, even the Tobi Roppo themselves, had changed several times.
But this… Sephiroth killed Queen the Plague?! This was no longer a trivial matter! Kaido, the Beast, would surely go on a rampage!
"Let's go! Don't waste any more time here. Reinforcements from the Beast Pirates can arrive at any moment," Sephiroth commanded.
He closed the Dimension-Space Door, dropped Queen's body, then walked to the bow of the battleship. "Frank, have your soldiers adjust the sails and rudder. Sail against the wind!"
"Okay!" Frank had no choice. He immediately ordered his men to stop the attack and change the ship's direction.
Pushed by the sea wind, the battleship began to sail. Sephiroth, standing at the bow, felt the presence of the bloody bat he had left on Polo Island. Then, he spread the black wings on his back, shot into the ship's path, and opened a "hole" in the air.
Whoosh!
A giant space door more than fifty meters high opened. The sea water turned over, but the battleship managed to break through the current and went straight in.
After landing on the deck, Sephiroth gave an order to his aide. "Frank, we will be back at G-5 Headquarters soon. Take Queen's body to the morgue. Tomorrow I will report the situation to Vice Admiral Tokikake…"
Killing Quinn was a big deal, and Sephiroth knew he couldn't come without proof. The World Government would keep questioning him. He didn't care if he was held accountable by Fleet Admiral Sengoku. On the contrary, he would laugh heartily. At least he wouldn't have to pay back the favor he received from Fleet Admiral Kong at that time. If the Marines fired him, it wasn't his fault. The swords he had could be considered a gift for his service all this time!
Sephiroth then looked at Queen's still-intact mechanical left arm. His technology company was still in the research stage of laser weapons installed on robot arms. If he brought this model, the research could be accelerated.
He wrapped his sword with Busoshoku and Haoshoku Haki, causing the sword to be shrouded in dark red lightning.
ZING!
With one slash, he cut off Queen's left arm from the still-intact special alloy skeleton. The increase in attack power thanks to Haoshoku Haki was indeed extraordinary. 'If only I could have used Haoshoku at that time, maybe I could have cut him with one sword, even though he had coated his skeleton with Busoshoku Haki to the extreme,' Sephiroth thought. He put the robot arm into his Portable Space.
He felt a little regretful. If only he hadn't been so impulsive and had directly destroyed Queen's body, he might have been able to read his memories by sucking his blood, and get knowledge and technology that far exceeded this era. However, it was too late. Quinn's body was shattered into pieces, and many of his mechanical parts had turned into scrap metal.
Ignoring his regrets, Sephiroth flapped his black wings, shot into the air, and flew toward the island in the distance.