The little schemes in Yamato's mind were unknown to King, and even if he did know, he wouldn't care.
The Beasts Pirates had ruled Wano for over a decade, their influence deeply entrenched, and their power formidable—it was not something that could be easily overthrown.
The Raijin Pirates were indeed strong.
Sanders, in particular, was an unprecedented existence, possessing multiple Devil Fruit abilities.
However, the power of the Raijin Pirates was still somewhat inferior to that of the Beasts Pirates.
Aside from the blind swordsman Issho, the rest of Sanders' crew were hardly a threat.
Perhaps some of them had great potential, but they would need time to grow.
The Beasts Pirates and the Raijin Pirates had no deep-seated hatred between them.
King didn't believe Sanders would be willing to wage war against the Beasts Pirates just for the sake of liberating Wano.
At that moment, a pirate hurried up behind King.
"What is it?"
Sensing the presence behind him, King slightly turned his body and asked indifferently.
His tall frame and cold gaze exuded an oppressive aura, making the pirate's heart tremble involuntarily.
"Lord Wildfire, a Marine warship has been spotted ahead to the left," the pirate reported in a shaky voice.
Lord Wildfire was truly terrifying. He enjoyed torture and killing—countless people had perished by his hands.
Just standing beside him was enough to make one break into a cold sweat.
No wonder no one else had dared to come and report this.
"The Marines?"
King's eyes remained emotionless, filled only with cold indifference.
"Ignore them. If they dare to approach, fire upon them to drive them away."
"Y-Yes, Lord Wildfire!"
The pirate responded quickly and then fled as if escaping from danger.
Not long after, the Marine warship appeared within their sight.
The warship made no aggressive moves, merely hovering at a distance, seemingly observing something.
Under his mask, King's face showed no surprise.
A ship belonging to one of the Five Emperors, the Beasts Pirates, had suddenly appeared near the territory of the Raijin Pirates—it was only natural for the Marines to investigate.
The Marines often sought to prevent meetings between the Emperors of the sea.
Especially when there was no existing enmity between them.
This was to prevent pirate alliances.
The Marines were already struggling to deal with just one Emperor's crew in the New World.
If two Emperor crews were to join forces, even the World Government would be extremely wary, let alone the Marines.
In the original story, when Red-Haired Shanks attempted to meet with Whitebeard over the issue of Blackbeard, the Marines had tried to intercept them as well.
"Like a bunch of flies," King muttered with a hint of disdain in his eyes.
Meanwhile, Yamato was curiously gazing at the Marine warship.
In Wano, Marine ships were an impossible sight.
In fact, the Marines rarely ventured anywhere near Wano, even in the surrounding seas.
This was Yamato's first time seeing a Marine warship—her first time seeing Marines at all.
Her eyes were filled with curiosity as she continuously observed the Marines aboard the warship.
The standardized Marine uniforms, the sturdy warships, and the powerful cannons all gave off an air of authority.
Yet, a trace of disappointment still flashed through Yamato's eyes.
Too weak!
These Marines were too weak!
She figured she could probably take them all down with a single swing of her club.
With such weak forces, how had the Marines become the strongest power on the seas?
Completely incomprehensible!
Yamato had never left Onigashima since she was a child.
She knew very little about the outside world.
All she knew was that the world was vast, and the sea was endless.
But just how vast the world truly was, she had no real concept. She had never actually sailed the seas.
She also had no understanding of the full extent of the Marines' power.
Boom!
The pirate ship beneath Yamato's feet trembled as the ferocious cannons roared.
Several cannonballs shot through the sky in graceful arcs before landing near the Marine warship.
Deafening explosions erupted, leaving craters in the sea's surface.
Waves surged, and water splashed in all directions.
Flocks of seabirds, startled by the cannon fire, fled in panic toward the horizon.
Fish scattered in the shallow waters below.
Even though the cannonballs didn't hit the warship directly, the Marines aboard were still thrown into a frenzy.
"This is bad!"
"That pirate ship just opened fire on us!"
"What do we do? Should we move away? That ship belongs to Kaido of the Beasts!"
Faced with the warning shots from the Beasts Pirates, the Marines were gripped with panic.
"Silence!"
A powerful voice cut through the commotion.
"What are you afraid of? We are the Marines! We are justice!"
On the deck, a tall Marine rear admiral with a long sword at his waist and a white "Justice" cape draped over his shoulders barked at his subordinates.
His sharp eyes locked onto the pirate ship in the distance, his face full of fury.
"How arrogant!"
Pirates were actually daring to fire at the Marines first—who was supposed to be the just force here?!
The rear admiral felt humiliated.
His right hand gripped his sword hilt tightly, veins bulging from the force.
"Rear Admiral, that ship belongs to the Beasts Pirates!"
"Those cannonballs were just a warning to drive us away."
"I believe we should retreat as soon as possible."
A lieutenant stepped forward and whispered cautiously.
He kept his voice low, ensuring that only he and the rear admiral could hear.
After all, retreating in the face of pirates would indeed bring shame to their justice.
Besides…
This rear admiral had only recently been transferred to the New World. He had previously served in the first half of the Grand Line. The lieutenant worried that the rear admiral was still unfamiliar with the rules of the New World and might recklessly provoke an Emperor's crew.
"Warning? Retreat?"
The rear admiral's bronze-toned face darkened.
Since when did the Marines have to back away from pirates?
Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around?
Weren't pirates supposed to flee at the sight of Marine warships?
How could such a humiliating word as "retreat" be used in reference to the Marines?
This was nothing short of a betrayal of justice!
These thoughts surged through his mind as he turned a sharp gaze toward the lieutenant, suspicion creeping in.
He now felt that his own subordinate had betrayed justice.
The lieutenant, sensing the rear admiral's gaze, could only smile bitterly.
He already knew what his superior was thinking.
But he had no choice.
That pirate ship belonged to the Beasts Pirates.
No one was allowed to start a war with an Emperor's crew without orders from the World Government.
"Without orders from Marine Headquarters or the World Government, we cannot engage in war with a Yonko."
The lieutenant's expression dimmed as he let out a sigh.
As a Marine devoted to justice, he naturally wanted to eliminate all pirates at sea.
But the power of the Emperors was simply too vast.
"Yonko..."
The rear admiral froze for a moment, then recalled that the Raijin Pirates' Sanders was now also considered an Emperor.
After Sanders had decisively defeated Whitebeard, the "Four Emperors" had become the "Five Emperors."
Everyone on the seas knew—
Sanders' rise to the throne of an Emperor was set in stone.
The rear admiral clenched his teeth, his fury boiling over.
"Damn Sanders!"
"He betrayed justice! We should have never sent him to Impel Down—we should have executed him on the spot!"
He took a deep breath to suppress his anger before continuing.
"Our mission is to gather preliminary intelligence on the Beasts Pirates, not to start a battle. We'll observe from a distance."
The lieutenant's eyes flickered with a trace of regret.
He didn't want to talk about Sanders' defection from the Marines.
In fact, within the Marines, Sanders' name had practically become a taboo. Everyone tacitly avoided the topic.
And yet…
Many Marines couldn't help but wonder—
If Sanders had never left the Marines, wouldn't there be far fewer pirates flooding the seas?
At the very least, wouldn't there be two fewer Emperors?
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T/N:
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