Thanks for the powerstones. This is the bonus chapter for reaching 100 Powerstones
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"Impossible…"
Rear Admiral Momonga, who was commanding the fight against the First Fleet ship known for its combat skills, could not believe what he was seeing.
"They didn't take over the ship… they defected!?" Momonga shouted over the din of cannon fire. "That many Marines—turning into pirates!?"
He could hardly accept it, yet deep inside, it also made sense.
Because he had seen it once before.
He remembered the face of that pirate whom the Marines—now former Marines—had trusted with all their hearts, when they had lost hope, lost pride, and could no longer see their future.
The pirate who survived that hopeless place—Silent Step Kuro.
—"The Marine coat and the word 'justice'… they have no value by themselves."
The boy who spoke those words and guided people who were about to break.
—"It is the will to help others that gives meaning to the coat, and the will to protect that makes the word 'justice' shine."
—"Marines, stand tall."
If that black suit of his had a cloak of Absolute Justice on top, Momonga knew he would have followed that back without a moment's doubt, age be damned. The image was still burned into his eyes.
Yes. Back then it didn't exist yet, but later it became their mark—the three-claw marks.
"Push forward! Push and keep pushing!!"
"Cut down the enemy soldiers and help the Black Cats—help our comrades! Riflemen, fire!!"
The former Marines wore black suits marked with those three lines and charged at the Marines.
And the one leading them was—
"Commodore Taki!"
"Commodore Momonga! No—are you a Rear Admiral now? It has been a long time!"
A name known across the West Blue.
An old soldier praised as a great commander, who spent his life improving the field without chasing ranks. Seeing him, Momonga swung his blade on instinct.
If he took down this man, this reinforcement would fall into chaos.
But—
"Watch out!" a woman's voice rang out.
A woman with bright gold hair tied behind her, wearing a black suit, stopped his heavy strike with her black bow as if it were nothing.
"Haki… one of the Guards!!" Momonga hissed, his blade locked against her weapon.
"Oh, Lady Flare!" Taki greeted her with a nod.
She was once a victim of that tragedy, and now one of the core Guards of the Black Cat Pirates—a quiet legend within the Marine. Even she looked shocked, just like him.
"Grandpa Taki! I thought it might be you, but I can't believe you left the Marines to join us!" Flare exclaimed, her eyes wide as she maintained her defensive stance.
"It's not just me," Taki replied with a chuckle. "To stop the new branch commander from attacking the Mogwa Kingdom, six more ships went out with Capone Bege's ship to intercept them."
"Then… ten ships in total!?" Flare asked.
"Don't worry, we stocked up plenty of food and supplies. Everyone emptied their savings, though! Hahaha!!" Taki laughed, the sound booming over the clash of steel.
A high-ranking officer leaving the Marines for pirates was a huge problem.
He had to kill Taki—the center of this rebellion—no matter what.
But guarding him was one of the Black Cats' Guards.
Momonga had five elite captain-class soldiers with him—two of them Devil Fruit users—but both were shot in the legs and fell before they even reacted.
Those shots were too fast to see, strengthened by Haki, powerful enough that only fighters used to fighting pirates from the New World could avoid them.
The remaining three stepped forward, shocked but ready—but they still could not reach her.
She struck them down with her bow, hardened by Haki, stronger than any iron bar, and stabbed with arrows held in her hands.
One soldier thought her hands were full and went in close, swinging his blade—but the next moment she released the arrow, tossed her bow upward, and cut him down with a small sword that had appeared in her hand.
"Why, Taki… why!?" Momonga cried out, his heart sinking as he lost more Marines. People meant to protect peace… or people who could have helped do so… falling in battle.
"…You ask why?"
"Yes! Why betray the Navy!?" Momonga demanded. "You always bragged that your family served the Navy for generations!!"
"True. For generations, we were Marines," Taki said quietly. "My great-grandfather, grandfather, father… my sons who died in battle, even my grandchildren."
"Then why!?"
"…Then let me ask you instead. Why?" Taki's voice grew cold. "Why was my granddaughter—the sweet child who admired the Marines and joined them—taken to the Holy Land?"
Momonga's hand stopped.
Everyone around Taki—the defected soldiers, and Flare of the Guard—also froze.
"Why couldn't she return from the Holy Land?" Taki's voice began to tremble with grief. "Why was it not a Marine… but a pirate who realized what happened to her… and tried to save her?"
"Why did not even her bones return from the Holy Land?"
"Why—why was there only… only…"
"Only one paper. Only the word 'Processed'…"
Everyone's face darkened—especially the Guards'.
If timing had been different, it could have been them.
"…So it is revenge, Taki?" Momonga asked softly.
"I do not know. I don't even know that anymore."
The old soldier was crying.
No sound, only quiet tears.
"Yes, I felt hatred in my chest. I cared so little I even stopped thinking about the pirate alliance… the Marine… even the people we should protect. Even my own life…"
Taki looked down at his hands. "Maybe… maybe I wanted to die. But—"
He remembered a voice: —Sorry for being late. This is pirate Daz Bones. By the Captain's order, we're here to help.
"But the one who revealed my granddaughter's cruel end… he, and they—" Taki looked at Flare.
"To keep the fire of revenge burning in my chest… standing beside those pirates is far too…" Taki struggled to find the words. He remembered one more question: "When Marines risk their lives for their mission… does that pride still shine!?"
In that quiet moment, something new entered the fight.
The first to move were the Guards.
She quickly readied another arrow and fired it behind herself—up toward a strangely high point.
The thin arrow, strengthened with Haki, struck a soldier flying through the air.
Momonga had served as a Marine long enough, but he had never seen that soldier before.
"What are you doing, Momonga!?" a voice barked from above. "That old man is a pirate now! If he's a pirate, kill him!!"
Before Momonga realized it, reinforcements had gathered.
"Special Vice Admiral Jimuguri…!" Momonga muttered.
A Special Vice Admiral.
Unlike Zephyr, who served as a Special Admiral instructor, Jimuguri was one of the Government-appointed leaders responsible for handling reinforcement units.
"Anyone who won't obey the Government is trash!" Jimuguri sneered, landing on the deck. "If the Government tells you to become a slave, it's only natural to give up on your life! That stupid girl who got their attention is the one at fault!!"
The old soldier's fist tightened until it bled.
Both the Marines who had become pirates, and the Marines still standing against them—
"Hurry up and tie those people down! Anyone who catches one of those Guards acting all high and mighty gets a reward from a Celestial Dragon and a payout from the Governm—"
But the words ended there.
—"Don't open that filthy mouth any further, mutt."
Before a blink could pass, his head was already flying.
The soldiers around the Special Vice Admiral, still wearing ugly grins, were splattered with blood.
They were covered in the blood bursting from the neck of the man leading them, yet their minds still had not caught up.
In that red mist, something silver shone.
The silver blade that cut off his head.
And the silver-haired maiden who held it.
"Chris!!" Flare shouted.
"Sorry, Flare. I'm late," Chris said. "It took me two whole minutes to sink the ship blocking my way… Even with that chaos… Sensei will scold me later."
And in the next moment, nearly ten more heads from the foul-mouthed marines spun into the air.
A girl with beautiful black hair tied like butterfly wings and two blades at her waist stood there as if she had been present the whole time.
—H… hi—!?
The moment their commander's head flew, and the comrades beside them were butchered, the reinforcement troops finally understood—the true danger standing before them.
They froze.
They knew that whether they moved or the girls moved, they would die first.
"I get the situation now," Miakis said, her voice commanding. "Flare, please support Grandpa Taki as his aide. I think that will work best."
"Understood. —Grandfather," Flare said, stepping to his side.
"Yes," Taki replied.
The Guards had no official ranks, but everyone knew the order of who led when things turned serious.
Here, the most fit to command was Miakis, and Flare obeyed at once, stepping beside Taki.
"That's how it is, Rear Admiral Momonga!" Taki declared.
While the Marine soldiers trembled at the Guards' overwhelming strength, the morale of Taki's former Marines was completely steady.
Not high.
Calm—calm and ready to carry out their duty as soldiers.
"…Taki…!" Momonga breathed.
"It is not only me!" Taki roared. "The six ships now fighting near the Mogwa Kingdom—altogether 2,377 soldiers—have seen this flag!" He pointed to the mast. "The three-claw flag… and in it, they saw a dawn!!"
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