The night was as dark as ink, the sea breeze howling.
Four small Marine warships cut through the waves like ghosts, silent and swift, heading deep into the heart of the archipelago.
At the bow, Ronan stood with his hands clasped behind his back. His black hair and flowing robes whipped in the night wind, his eyes sharp as cold stars—burning with a chilling, focused fighting spirit.
Beside him, Rett stood rigid, fists clenched. Armament Haki coiled around his knuckles like black flame. His breath came steady and powerful, like a panther coiled to strike.
[Intelligence Briefing]
First Island – Stone Cone Island
Occupying Force: Sharp Cone Swordsmen
Tactics: Precision thrusts, terrain-based traps
Second Island – Dead Tree Island
Occupying Force: Rotten Fang Pirates
Tactics: Poisoned weapons, ambushes
Third Island – Blue Reef Island
Occupying Force: Thunder Axe Pirates
Tactics: Heavy armor, overwhelming brute force
Fourth Island – Vine Island
Occupying Force: Dark Tide Pirates
Tactics: Stealth infiltration, coordinated surprise attacks
Strategic Notes:
The four islands form a fan-shaped cluster, each only a dozen nautical miles apart—reachable within half an hour by fast vessel. Though allied in name, the crews remain territorially divided, suspicious of one another, and have yet to unify under a single command.
—An ideal opening to eliminate them one by one.
Ronan swept his gaze across the deck, eyes sharp as blades. He raised a hand and gave a single, silent command.
"First target—Stone Cone Island. Land."
The order fell like a guillotine. The fleet shifted seamlessly into arrowhead formation, slicing through the black sea like blades through silk.
[First Engagement – Stone Cone Island | Sharp Cone Swordsmen]
Stone Cone Island rose from the waves like a jagged spine—rocky, chaotic, riddled with narrow crevices and hidden caverns.
The moment their boots touched the shore—
Whiiiiizzz!
Hundreds of gleaming spikes erupted from the shadows, screaming through the air like a storm of steel!
"Trap-reliant trash," Rett sneered.
His arms blazed with Armament Haki, crossed before his chest in an instant.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Sparks exploded as the spikes shattered against his hardened forearms.
At the same moment, Ronan's eyes narrowed.
His right hand snapped forward.
"High-Frequency Air Shock Slash!"
BOOM!
A blade of compressed air ripped through the darkness, cleaving the storm of spikes mid-flight. Metal shards burst apart like iron dust in a gale.
Rett grinned and surged ahead.
Fists wreathed in black Haki, he barreled through the enemy line like a berserker wolf—shattering bones, collapsing defenses, leaving only wreckage in his wake.
Ronan vanished.
"Air Compression Step!"
He became a black meteor weaving through the chaos, manipulating air vibrations with every step. Each punch sent a dagger-wielding swordsman flying—ribs cracked, lungs collapsed, bodies crumpling into the stone.
From behind, the enemy captain—Sharp-Dagger Milo, hefting a massive triangular blade—lunged for a killing strike.
But Ronan didn't turn.
He simply punched backward.
The air imploded.
BOOOOM—!!!
Milo and his weapon were obliterated by the detonating shockwave, blasted through three layers of solid rock before vanishing into unconsciousness.
[Sharp Cone Swordsmen – Neutralized in under five minutes]
[Stone Cone Island – Secured]
Ronan flicked a droplet of blood from his fingertips. His voice was ice.
"Next."
Rett fell in beside him without a word, eyes alight with battle-lust.
The four warships turned as one and vanished into the night—course locked on the second island.
[Second Engagement – Dead Tree Island | Rotten Fang Pirates]
Dead Tree Island loomed ahead—a rotting tangle of skeletal forests, choked in miasma and laced with treacherous undercurrents.
The moment their boots met the blackened shore—
Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!
Dozens of arrows and javelins, glistening with venom, rained down from every shadowed bough and moss-clogged ruin!
"Poison?" Ronan narrowed his eyes, a cold smile curling his lips.
"Air Barrier!"
BOOM!
A rapidly spinning shield of compressed air flared around him—translucent, humming with lethal pressure. The incoming poison-tipped arrows struck the barrier and shattered mid-flight, their venomous tips bursting into harmless mist.
Rett let out a guttural roar, his fists sheathed in flickering Armament Haki—black as volcanic glass.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Before him, a net of writhing, venom-dripping vines coiled toward his throat. He didn't dodge. Didn't flinch. Instead, he met the trap with brute force—each punch detonating like a cannon blast, pulverizing the vines into splinters. Not a single step backward.
He charged forward like a storm given flesh.
The Rot Fang Pirates surged in from all sides, blades drawn, eyes bloodshot with desperation. But Rett was already a blur—a savage silhouette wreathed in shadow. He spun, driving a backfist into one pirate's jaw, then pivoted and launched a knee into another's chest. The crack of a shattered sternum echoed as the would-be ambush victim crumpled.
"I'll clear the path!" Rett bellowed, every muscle coiled with raw, unrelenting strength.
Above, Ronan descended like a falling blade.
"Vacuum Compression Fist!"
His palm twisted the air itself, compressing atmosphere into an invisible, hammer-like mass of concussive force.
BOOM!!
Venom Fang Sau—the Rot Fang captain—didn't even register the strike. Half his torso imploded in a spray of blood and bone before his body hit the ground, lifeless.
Less than ten minutes later,
the Rot Fang Pirates were annihilated.
[Second Island Cleared]
[Third Engagement – Blue Reef Island – Thunder Axe Pirates]
Blue Reef Island rose from the sea like the spine of a dead leviathan—jagged obsidian cliffs, wind-scoured and steep, forming a natural fortress. Here, the Thunder Axe Pirates ruled: hulking brutes clad in reinforced steel armor, each wielding massive, cannon-barrel-thick axes crackling with stored kinetic force. They fought with nothing but overwhelming strength—and they expected their enemies to break beneath it.
The earth trembled as dozens of armored warriors charged, their synchronized war cries shaking loose pebbles from the cliffs.
"Don't meet them head-on! Create space!" Rett shouted over the din.
But Ronan—calm, almost bored—merely smiled.
The air beneath his feet imploded.
[Air Compression – Shockburst!]
BOOOOM!!!
An invisible shockwave erupted outward. The charging line—weighing hundreds of tons combined—was lifted off the ground like chaff. Armor buckled. Limbs snapped mid-air. The thunder of breaking bones drowned out their screams as bodies cartwheeled into the sky.
Rett didn't waste the opening. He surged into the chaos.
"Armament Haki – Heavy Strike Style!"
His fists became wrecking balls. Each blow sent a fully armored pirate flying, ribs caving inward, blood spraying from clenched teeth. They never saw the next strike coming.
At the rear, their captain—Ray Fang Fred—roared like a dying storm. He raised his thunder-imbued axe, arcs of electricity licking its edge, and brought it down in a cleaving arc aimed straight at Ronan's skull.
But Ronan's presence shifted.
"Overpressure – Penetrating Strike!"
BOOM!!!
The air itself became a lance. Fred's armor split like dry bark. His axe shattered mid-swing. His body cratered into the island's bedrock, sinking three meters deep in a cloud of pulverized stone—unconscious before he hit bottom.
One strike. One kill.
[Third Island Cleared]
[Fourth Engagement – Vine Island – Dark Tide Gang]
Vine Island was a place of silence and suffocation. Thick, clinging fog smothered the canopy. Twisted vines, slick with something darker than dew, coiled around trunks and roots like waiting serpents. Sunlight never touched the forest floor.
This was the Dark Tide Gang's domain—masters of psychological warfare and shadow-step assassination.
The moment the crew stepped into the mist, the ordinary soldiers swayed, grips faltering. Whispers slithered through their minds. Hallucinations flickered at the edges of vision.
Rett gritted his teeth, sweat beading on his brow as he fought the mental fog. He kept his body between Ronan and the unseen threats, eyes scanning every shifting shadow.
Then—Ronan's eyes narrowed to slits.
"Air Compression – Ultrasonic Field."
A high-frequency pulse radiated from him—soundless, invisible, devastating.
Like a storm of shattered glass, the vibration tore through the underbrush. Hidden assassins clutched their heads, blood trickling from ears, nose, even eyes. One by one, they stumbled into view, disoriented, collapsing as their nervous systems short-circuited.
The fog didn't hide them anymore.
Rett roared, his body sheathed in Armament Haki, the blackened aura flaring as he braced himself against the onslaught of shadowy assaults. With sheer resilience, he weathered every blow—unyielding, unbroken.
Meanwhile, Ronan shot through the air like a phantom.
[Air Compression Step – Consecutive Strike]!
Seven explosive impacts per second—each strike precise, lethal, erasing a foe from existence.
When the storm of violence subsided…
Blood rained from the sky.
The Dark Tide Gang—utterly eradicated.
[Fourth Island Purge – Complete]
[Mid-Sea Islands – Operational Summary]
Duration: 48 hours
Pirate Crews Eliminated: 4
Sea Area Safety Rate: 100%
Civilian Casualties: 0
—Perfect eradication.
The warship cut through calm waters, returning to port.
On the deck stood Ronan, hands clasped behind his back, his dark hair whipping in the wind.
Beside him, Rett, eyes burning with unwavering resolve.
Behind them: a sea scoured clean by fire and blood.
Ahead: a world awaiting the rebirth of justice.
The first step toward Absolute Justice had begun—flawlessly.
At the bow, Ronan stood in silence, the sea breeze brushing his face.
A translucent interface shimmered before his eyes:
[Ding!]
[Pirate Crews Eliminated: 4]
[Judgment Points Acquired: 4,000]
[New Growth Unlocked: Advanced Observation & Armament Haki Enhancement]
[Air-Air Fruit Mastery: 60%]
—
Night deepened. Dew clung to the quiet harbor.
In a spacious, dimly lit office, a single lamp cast flickering light over a stark desk.
A crisp battle report lay open before its occupant.
The man slowly set down his cigar.
Sakazuki.
His crimson eyes, sharp as magma under ash, scanned the document in silence. After a long moment, the faintest smirk tugged at his lips—low, resonant, like the rumble of an approaching volcano.
"This…" he murmured, voice thick with approval, "is the justice I want to see."
No mercy. No compromise.
Only clean, decisive eradication.
Swift. Total. Perfect.
Zero casualties. Absolute success.
Sakazuki rose, stepping to the window. Beyond it, the eastern sea lay veiled in morning mist.
—
[East Blue – Situation Report, Five Years Later]
From 1504 to 1510, Ronan—accompanied by Rett and their growing cadre of elite operatives—executed a relentless campaign across the East Blue.
Petty pirate crews vanished.
Black markets crumbled.
Smuggling dens and rebel mercenary camps were razed, one by one.
Like a blade sweeping through rot, Ronan's forces uprooted every vestige of lawlessness.
Under his command, recruits were forged into disciplined, iron-willed soldiers—swift in action, merciless in judgment.
Rett, tempered by countless battles, honed his Armament Haki to razor-sharp precision. His body became a weapon—unstoppable, indomitable.
Five years passed in the blink of an eye.
The East Blue—once a haven for smugglers, cutthroats, and fledgling pirates—was purged of its criminal underbelly.
The Marine Headquarters' latest assessment declared:
[World's Most Stable Sea – Security Level: A]
[Pirate Activity Index: Lowest Globally]
[Civilian Survival Index: Highest Globally]
[Comment]: "The East Blue has become the most inhospitable sea for aspiring pirates."
And at the heart of this transformation stood one name:
Ronan.
Through Absolute Justice, he extinguished the seeds of chaos before they could take root—turning the East Blue into a model of Marine order.