Chapter 254
Several hours later, the Oni Slayer moved slowly along the northern waters of Kalles Island rather than entering the main harbor.
Zaraki stood near the bow with a metal flask in one hand, lazily swirling the clear liquor inside while the morning sun reflected off the water.
The central fortress was visible beyond the island's ridgeline, its dark walls rising above the mist, but the warship kept its distance from the obvious approach lanes where Tsuru's latest map suggested the seastone batteries had been positioned.
The situation was almost peaceful.
Almost.
Gion had left the Oni Slayer less than half an hour earlier aboard a small reconnaissance launch with six Marines.
Her job was simple: confirm whether the northern shelf could support a landing party and identify any hidden artillery positions before the warship moved closer.
The last transmission from her launch had been perfectly normal.
Then the signal disappeared.
The Oni Slayer's senior captain approached from behind, his expression far more serious than it had been at breakfast.
"Still nothing from Vice Admiral Gion."
Zaraki did not turn immediately.
"How long?"
"Eleven minutes since the scheduled check-in. We've tried the secure channel three times."
Zaraki took another drink.
Eleven minutes was not enough to declare a reconnaissance team lost.
It was enough to be annoying.
The captain lowered his voice.
"We also detected traffic farther north. Pirate vessels, several of them, moving along a route that shouldn't be busy this close to Kalles."
Zaraki's eyes shifted toward the horizon.
That was more interesting.
A small dark speck had appeared in the distance and was rapidly growing larger.
A pirate ship.
The skull-and-crossbones flag above its mast snapped in the wind, and rough-looking men crowded around the bow, waving bottles and shouting the moment they realized they had found a Marine warship operating without an escort fleet.
"HEY, MARINES!"
The shout carried across the water.
"You've got some nerve sailing through here! Hand over your cargo and maybe we let the ship keep floating!"
The senior captain stared at them.
Zaraki slowly smiled.
The captain sighed.
"That expression is exactly what Vice Admiral Gion told me to stop you from making."
"She's not here."
"That is currently part of the problem."
The pirate ship's gunports opened.
Several black cannon barrels swung toward the Oni Slayer.
"FIRE!"
Flames erupted from the muzzles and cannonballs screamed across the water.
Zaraki's right hand moved to the sword at his waist.
Sealed Nozarashi came free with a clean metallic ring.
He did not release it.
He did not need to.
A loose swing sent a flying slash across the water, meeting the incoming cannonballs in midair and cutting through the volley before continuing through the smoke.
The pirate crew's laughter stopped.
CRACK—!
The slash crossed their bow and tore through the upper structure of the ship, splitting the forward mast and carving deeply into the hull without cutting the vessel completely in half.
The pirates were thrown from their feet as rigging collapsed around them and seawater began pouring through the damaged planks.
Several nearby pirate vessels immediately changed course.
One of them launched a red signal flare high into the sky.
The flare burned far too brightly to be a casual distress signal.
The senior captain saw it too.
"That wasn't for us."
Zaraki slid Nozarashi back into its sheath.
"No."
A few seconds later, another signal answered from much farther north.
The captain's expression hardened.
"They already had someone nearby."
Zaraki looked toward the distant horizon.
His earlier amusement faded slightly.
Maybe the pirate attack had been random.
The response waiting behind it was not.
The Oni Slayer's guns turned toward the damaged ships as the Marine crews prepared to defend themselves, but Zaraki had already stopped paying attention to the small fry.
A larger silhouette was emerging from the haze.
Pink and cream.
Biscuit-like ornamentation around the bow.
Charlotte Linlin's flag flying above the mast.
The timing was far too convenient.
And Gion still had not answered her Den Den Mushi.
...
The pirates who had attacked the Oni Slayer were still trying to regain control of their damaged ships when the much larger vessel appeared from the north.
The sight of Charlotte Linlin's flag changed their panic into desperate relief.
"It's one of Mama's ships!"
"Signal them again!"
The captain of the nearest damaged vessel seized a flare gun and fired a second red signal high into the sky, although by then the approaching ship was already close enough that the response could not possibly have been caused by the flare alone.
That was what caught Zaraki's attention.
The vessel had been nearby before the first pirates ever fired.
The Oni Slayer's senior captain reached the same conclusion.
"They were waiting within response distance."
"Yeah."
The Marine gun crews kept their weapons trained on the smaller hostile vessels, but the captain did not order a blind slaughter simply to preserve a secrecy that no longer existed.
Their route had already been compromised long before this encounter; the sensible priority was keeping the attackers from regrouping around the larger Big Mom vessel.
"Disable the ships that are still aiming weapons at us," he ordered. "Do not fire on anyone who abandons the attack."
"Yes, sir!"
Marine cannons thundered.
Two pirate ships attempting to bring their guns around were hit near the waterline, while a third crew immediately threw their weapons onto the deck and raised both hands rather than test whether the Marines were bluffing.
Zaraki barely watched.
His attention remained on the approaching Big Mom ship.
A huge man with an unusual topknot stood at the bow.
Charlotte Snack.
One of Charlotte Linlin's powerful sons, with a bounty of six hundred million Berries.
The senior captain recognized him as well and immediately looked toward Zaraki.
"This is no longer a minor patrol problem."
"No kidding."
Snack's ship positioned itself between the Oni Slayer and the smaller pirate vessels. Several survivors immediately steered toward him, shouting accusations before they were even safely alongside.
"Lord Snack! Help us!"
"The Marines attacked us!"
"They came into Mama's waters and started killing people!"
Snack's gaze moved across the damaged ships, then settled on the Oni Slayer.
He recognized Zaraki almost immediately.
"War Demon."
His voice carried across the water.
"You've got nerve sailing this close to Mama's routes and cutting down crews under her protection."
Zaraki leaned against the railing.
"They shot first."
Snack's expression did not change.
"Then you could have turned around."
"That sounds boring."
The senior captain closed his eyes briefly.
Snack's eyes hardened.
"This is a route protected by the Big Mom Pirates. You don't get to decide what happens here."
Zaraki's mouth curved faintly.
"Looks like I already did."
Several pirate crews found enough courage to start shouting again now that Snack stood between them and the Marines.
"You hear that, Marine dog?! Lord Snack is here!"
"You're finished!"
"Get on your knees!"
Zaraki's expression became flatter with every word.
Then sealed Nozarashi left its sheath again.
He swung once.
A silver-white flying slash crossed the water and struck the already damaged pirate vessel carrying the two loudest captains.
The attack cut through the ruined mast, deck, and upper hull before the ship broke apart along the damaged line and began sinking beneath the waves.
The pirates who survived the first impact threw themselves overboard.
Snack's face changed.
Zaraki slid Nozarashi back into its sheath.
Click.
The simple sound carried strangely clearly across the sudden quiet.
Then he raised his eyes toward Snack.
The pirate's earlier arrogance had turned into open anger.
Behind Zaraki, the Oni Slayer's senior captain glanced once toward the silent reconnaissance channel.
Gion still had not called back.
That mattered far more than the sinking pirates.