"Rat! Monga!"
"Are you two slacking off again?"
A sharp reprimand cracked across the deck, startling a cluster of seagulls perched along the Marine warship's rails.
Two scrawny deckhands crouched on the planks, clutching worn rags as they scrubbed with all their strength. Faces pale, they hurried to respond.
"No, Major, sir. We're working. We're not slacking…"
A thunderous impact cut them off.
Boom.
A humanoid figure descended from the sky with the force of a meteor. The massive warship crumpled inward as if struck by divine judgment. The deck caved into a colossal crater, fractures racing outward along the hull in jagged lines.
The violent tremor flung dozens of soldiers into the air. Some splashed helplessly into the sea below.
Flames erupted from nowhere.
They devoured the sails first, then raced down the masts like living serpents. Within seconds, the entire deck was swallowed by an ocean of fire.
Marines poured out from the cabins, shouting, hauling buckets, trying desperately to contain the inferno.
At that moment, a tall figure kicked open a cabin door and strode straight into the flames. Nearly two meters in height, he swung his katana and severed the burning sails, sending them crashing into the sea.
He scanned the blazing battlefield with hard, searching eyes.
"Major Doro, dump every shell in the ammunition hold into the ocean. Now. We cannot risk a chain explosion."
"Yes, Rear Admiral!"
Major Doro immediately gathered more than a dozen soldiers and rushed below deck toward the most dangerous point on the ship.
Then came the sound.
Thud. Thud.
Heavy footsteps echoed through the fire.
Every Marine raised his rifle and fired toward the source. Gunshots thundered in rapid succession. Dense rounds tore through the flames, striking the tall silhouette barely visible within the inferno.
The footsteps did not stop.
Instead, they grew closer.
The heat intensified. Smoke thickened. Eyes reddened, lungs burned, coughing spread among the ranks.
Suddenly, the sea of fire parted.
A path opened.
From within emerged a young man of imposing stature. He wore an ornate toga-like robe. Snow-white wings stretched from his back. His short hair gleamed pale gold in the firelight.
Flames coiled around him like loyal guards shielding a sovereign. The scorching heat and suffocating smoke seemed unable to touch him.
Rear Admiral Strelitz of Marineford frowned, his expression turning cold and severe.
Louis rested a four-meter steel spear across his shoulder and walked forward step by step, ignoring the barrage of bullets raining down on him.
As he advanced, he raised one hand.
A golden glow formed in his palm.
It dissolved into radiant light, blending into the surrounding flames and the sea wind.
The fire pulsed.
The wind howled.
In the next instant, both elements twisted and reshaped themselves into genderless humanoid figures made of flame and gale. Without discipline or formation, they charged headlong into the Marines.
Chaos erupted.
Blazing bodies crashed into the ranks, igniting every soldier they touched. Screams tore through the smoke as uniforms burst into flame.
From the warship's superstructure, more Marines fired desperately into the swarm. Those who attempted to rescue their burning comrades felt the air turn unstable around them. A violent gust seized them and hurled them skyward. Their bodies spun through the air before falling back down in crimson arcs.
Strelitz's face changed.
He vanished from sight using Soru of the Six Powers and reappeared behind Louis in an instant.
Rescuing men could wait. The source of this catastrophe had to be eliminated first.
"You dare attack a Marine vessel and slaughter soldiers. Who are you?"
With a furious roar, he infused his katana with Armament Haki and slashed toward Louis's neck.
Louis did not answer.
He turned slightly, eyes cold and detached, and swept his spear sideways.
Clang.
Steel collided with Haki-hardened blade. The shockwave rippled outward, knocking Marines off their feet dozens of paces away. The humanoid flames pierced through the fallen bodies without slowing.
They locked for a breath.
Then Strelitz's eyes widened.
He staggered backward, barely managing to brace himself with his sword planted ten meters away. His arm trembled violently, pain screaming through his bones. His face drained of color.
"Is he a giant?"
Louis had already disappeared from his sight.
A spearhead filled his vision.
"Tekkai!"
Acting on instinct, Strelitz hardened his body with Tekkai and coated himself fully in Armament Haki.
It did not matter.
A dull, brutal sound echoed as steel tore through flesh.
His Haki shattered. His iron defense broke like glass. The bloodied spear burst through his back.
Louis lifted the spear with no change in expression, raising the Rear Admiral high before him. Blood streamed down, spreading across the scorched deck.
In just the second exchange, the Rear Admiral had fallen, mortally wounded by a sudden and overwhelming force.
Strelitz coughed up blood. Agony tore through his chest. He knew his heart had been pierced.
Cold crept into his limbs as blood loss drained his strength. His vision blurred.
"You… villain… attacking without cause…"
His eyes burned with fury and contempt.
Summoning the last of his will, he grabbed the spear shaft with blood-slick fingers and pulled himself closer to Louis. With everything he had left, he gripped his katana and unleashed one final strike.
The blood-soaked blade carved a red arc through the air and fell upon Louis's neck.
Clang.
The sound rang like metal striking metal.
The force rebounded violently. The shattered blade fragments spun away, embedding themselves into the cracked mast. Broken steel scattered across the deck, flashing in the sunlight.
"How… is that possible…"
Strelitz's bloodshot eyes widened. Another mouthful of thick blood spilled from his lips.
Louis felt a flicker of surprise.
He had not expected the first Marine he encountered in the Blue Sea to show such resolve.
For that alone, he abandoned the thought of crushing the man outright. Instead, he allowed him a dignified end.
He pulled the spear free in one smooth motion and watched silently as the Rear Admiral's life faded.
At the edge of death, Strelitz's eyes slowly closed. His consciousness drifted, yet even then he murmured weakly:
"Retreat… retreat… You are not his match…"
Louis did not respond.
Within the range of his Observation Haki, no life remained aboard the ship. Even if there had been, he would not have spared any Marine he had chosen to strike.
Decades ago, Marines had taken part in the suppression that nearly annihilated his people. They had shown no mercy then.
Defeating a Rear Admiral was merely a beginning.
On the sky island of Bar, when Louis trained against the beasts of the Calm Belt, he had torn them apart with his own hands. Whole swaths of island cloud had been stained red, so deeply that even sea clouds could not wash the color away.
A violent crack split the air.
The warship, already fractured from his descent, finally broke apart along its massive fissure and began to collapse into the sea.
Standing at the edge of the shattered deck, Louis looked down at the fallen body before him.
"If I had not been born a Lunarian, perhaps I would not single out Marines."
He carried the responsibility of one day returning his people to the Red Line and restoring the glory of the Kingdom of the Moon. That burden left no room for indifference toward forces aligned with the World Government.
Before his departure, some of his kin had spoken in bitterness, saying that once Louis grew strong enough, he should retaliate not only against officials but against their families, to repay the blood debt of decades past.
Louis rejected that path.
He was not a madman who killed indiscriminately or sought endless war. He bore no hatred for ordinary civilians. When in good spirits, he even helped injured people he encountered in the Blue Sea.
On Bar, that kindness had made him unexpectedly popular.
On average, every time he stepped outside, more than a dozen Sky Island girls would crowd around him, pinching his cheeks and teasing him. A young girl from his own tribe once called him a succubus and was promptly scolded for it in public.
Even without witnesses from the Sky Islands, the tragic fate of his so-called trainers, the beasts of the Calm Belt, was proof enough of the kind of strength hidden beneath his gentle smile.