Nearly twenty warships, large and small, gradually sailed out of Marineford's ring-shaped deep-water military port. Looking out, it seemed that the entire sea was occupied by the expeditionary army's huge fleet.
"Tsk tsk, it's truly spectacular. Compared to this, the Buster Call is simplyseems completely lackluster ." Garp stood on the high level of the fortress, holding a telescope and marveling.
Sengoku leaned against the window with a teacup in his hand, and hooked his finger at Garp, asking for the telescope: "Currently, the expeditionary army is only a prototype. It looks powerful, but its overall combat power is still far from the Buster Call's lineup of five headquarters Vice Admirals and ten Rear Admirals."
The veteran Admiral leisurely took a sip of tea: "But in ten or twenty years, it will be very different. At that time, the real expedition will begin."
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"Hey! So, has the expedition started?" Bellemere, Reiju, and other female soldiers were assigned to a top-class sailing warship of Navy Headquarters.
Besides surprise, there was also some anxiety. Of course, this was also a common feeling for most of the legion's marines.
As everyone knew, the New World was a paradise for pirates, and the control of the Navy and the World Government was at its lowest in this second half of the Grand Line.
Not only were the forces intricate and complex, kingdoms, rebel armies, Navy Headquarters, the World Government, the underworld, armed merchants, arms dealers... all wanted to get their share of the big pie of the New World.
Moreover, the pirate groups that could enter the New World were not weak. Among them, the great pirates who were famous in the Four Seas were the rulers of the islands of the New World.
The target of the expeditionary army was these overlords of the New World.
Reiju shook her head, rejecting Bellemere's guess: "Something's not right. If we were entering the New World, there are only two ways."
"Either the warships would gather at the Sabaody Archipelago to be coated, and then go to the New World through the newly opened Fish-Man Island route, or they would stop on the Red Line side, and then the whole army would cross with a land pass to reach G1, which is located in the New World." A female officer wearing a coat interjected into the conversation.
She held a lengthened special rifle with a scope, and gave a brief self-introduction: "Kerrigan, North Blue retired Colonel, from the reconnaissance corps, sniper."
Bellemere had a look of sudden realization. She stretched out a hand: "Bellemere, East Blue retired officer, served as an assault soldier and other positions. You mean our mission this time is not in the New World?"
The young woman who called herself Kerrigan shook hands briefly with Bellemere: "Our course is exactly opposite to the location of the Sabaody Archipelago, it's towards the first half of the Grand Line."
As she said that, she laughed herself: "Anyway, I don't understand what pirate force in the first half of the Grand Line needs to use such a super-large fleet to encircle and suppress." Kerrigan gazed at the waves split in two by the warship, and a somewhat absurd thought arose in her heart: Could it be that they were heading to the North Blue?
"Who cares what force it is, it doesn't matter, I can do anything for the legion anyway. Such a generous military salary, other troops can't enjoy it." Bellemere's shameless appearance of a dead pig not fearing boiling water successfully amused her two companions.
Reiju teased: "Then how about letting you do anything for the legion commander?"
"No way!" Bellemere rolled her eyes, and then lowered her voice: "We haven't even seen the true face of the legion commander yet."
The female sniper from the North Blue frowned: "What? Shouldn't you be one of the first batches of legion soldiers to arrive at Marineford? Even you haven't seen the legion commander?"
"We've seen him, of course, in the newspapers, oh, and of course, that short Fish-Man Island beheading live broadcast." The tough woman Reiju, whose skin had a bronze luster, shrugged and casually said a witty remark.
The topic of the three unknowingly shifted from the legion's target and course to the life of the supreme commander of this army.
"Reno and I joined the expeditionary army because of the legion commander's style of doing things, but unfortunately, we haven't had the chance to meet him." The sniper from the North Blue was a little regretful.
As the only warship fully loaded with female soldiers, it was guarding the left and right sides of the flagship, but the huge shadow of the ship far beyond their warship was like a sleeping giant, making people feel depressed.
Bellemere put one hand on her eyebrow, looking into the distance, and comforted: "Don't worry, we are next to the legion commander's ship, there will be plenty of opportunities to see him in the future!"
Not only the few of them, but the entire fleet was curious about this mysterious legion commander.
They thought they would be able to see the demeanor of this Navy Headquarters Admiral candidate during the month they were trained at headquarters, but who knew that they hadn't seen the other party's figure until the warships set sail.
Although these veterans from the Four Seas and branches had seen Sakazuki's photo in the newspapers, it was only limited to photos and the deeds published in the newspapers.
"Hey, Tullius, during the legion's welcoming ceremony before, the Admirals Sengoku and Zephyr, who were responsible for organizing the expeditionary army, all showed up, but we didn't see our legion commander. What do you think he's thinking?" On the vanguard ship, an officer hooked his arm around the veteran Tullius's shoulder and asked.
Tullius, who remained silent and continued to observe the wind direction, did not answer him, because he also did not know what this lord of the legion was up to.
Tullius, who had been in charge of the leadership affairs of a branch, realized that this was not in line with common sense – the retired officers of the Four Seas had gathered because of the headquarters' recruitment order, but the legion commander, who was actually responsible for commanding the entire expeditionary army, had been slow to appear?
The veteran shook his head, suppressing the random thoughts in his mind, and scolded the man who was talking to him: "As fellow observers, we are the eyes and tongue of the fleet. We are not allowed to talk casually during work, please be more reliable."
"What are you talking about? I, Reno, am a serious North Blue veteran. I know the rules of the army better than a guy born in the East Blue like you..." This guy who was boasting was thrown into the sea by a huge force from behind before he could finish half of his words.
"Cough cough...who the hell...Ghost...Vice Admiral Onigumo!!" Although he was caught off guard and fell into the sea, the veteran, who was excellent at swimming, paddled a few times in the sea, quickly stuck his head out and roared angrily.
But when he saw who was looking down at him from above on the warship, the "rule-abiding" North Blue veteran was still taken aback.
Onigumo was expressionless. He had listened to Vice Admiral Sakazuki's words. If it had been before, he would have shot him directly.
The eight-armed vanguard officer moved his eyes slightly and looked at Tullius, who was observing the sea conditions honestly beside him: "Name, rank, soldier?"
"Tullius, former Lieutenant Commander of the branch!" The dark-skinned veteran replied with a proper attitude.
"Which branch were you from before?" Onigumo lit a cigarette.
Tullius answered every question: "I used to serve as the chief of staff of the 77th branch in the East Blue!"
Only then did Onigumo look at this veteran who was currently serving as an observer: "Oh, you've also held a leadership position? If you were the commander of this ship, what should you do first when you discover the enemy?"
Tullius was stunned for a moment, and then realized that this headquarters Rear Admiral was testing him.
But he had also been a mid-level officer who had led a fleet, so he was not flustered by Onigumo's random test: "Although it is called the vanguard ship, the first priority of this ship is not to engage the enemy. After detecting the enemy, we must first warn the fleet, and then report the observation information to the flagship."
The other party's serious and responsible attitude on duty and his clear and logical answers reminded Onigumo of Lindbergh, who served as a staff officer on the flagship. He waved his hand to signal other marines to drag the idiot who was still soaking in the sea and following them up. The vanguard officer looked directly at Tullius's resolute face: "My previous staff adjutant was transferred to the legion commander. You will temporarily take over his work on the vanguard ship."
"Yes!"
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The fleet, as Kerrigan had absurdly predicted, departed from headquarters and headed in the opposite direction of the Grand Line's first half, relying on the Eternal Pose.
Although the wheel formation adopted by the fleet was a very stable defensive formation, there shouldn't be any blind pirates daring to provoke such a large fleet, right?
Tullius, who was temporarily serving as a staff officer on the vanguard ship, picked up a piece of information he had just received. Even a great pirate would probably choose to avoid such military force.
But during these days of sailing, it seemed that the legion's large fleet was making slight adjustments to the route based on the information sent by the branches along this route every day.
Tullius took the newly obtained coordinates, pushed open the cabin door, and walked onto the deck: "Rear Admiral Onigumo! This is the latest position. The target is getting closer and closer to us than the previous sea area! We may encounter the target today!"
"It's not that we will encounter the target," Onigumo corrected. He held the rudder wheel with one hand and picked up the telescope with his right hand to look at the foggy sea in the distance – nearly ten black-sailed warships were looming in the fog.
"Notify Vice Admiral Sakazuki, we have already encountered the target!"
"Northwest direction, ten o'clock!" The lookout quickly called the flagship's Den Den Mushi. "Discovered the target fleet!"
Immediately, a cold voice came from the flagship through the shared channel Den Den Mushi to the ears of the marines on each ship: "I am the Legion Commander Sakazuki. Notify all ships, prepare for Level 1 combat!"
Sakazuki put down the Den Den Mushi, looked at the rapidly busy command room, and nodded slightly.
What could awaken the bloodthirsty desire in the hearts of soldiers more than a hearty slaughter?
It surpassed all heroic words, the swinging of the saber, the pulling of the trigger, the strange and eerie pleasure of the steel blade slicing through flesh.
The expeditionary army was different from ordinary Navy units. It was established for the purpose of hunting down those great pirates.
It had no daily duties of guarding and patrolling the sea territory, no requirement to defend naval bases. Its only requirement was slaughter, efficient, swift, a pure annihilation team built specifically for pirates.
And the pirates, who had also discovered this huge Navy fleet, tried to enter the foggy sea area, using the weather to their advantage to get rid of a large army of alarming numbers.
"Legion Commander, the other party seems to intend to use this unfavorable sea condition to escape. Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility that the other party will preemptively ambush our warships." Lindbergh, who was serving as a staff officer, made his judgment. "From a cautious point of view, the fleet should not enter the fog for the time being. We are slightly inferior in terms of weather."
Sakazuki twisted his neck. After so many days at sea, he appeared on the deck for the first time.
"The weather is not on their side!"
He bent his legs slightly and directly used Moon Walk to rise, crashing into the sea fog like a meteorite.
"Someone went in!" The marines on the vanguard ship were closest to the fog and were the first to notice the figure wearing a Navy coat entering the fog.
"Wait, what is that!" A marine pointed to the gradually reddening air mass in the fog.
The fleet maintaining its formation and on alert outside had a more direct and clear overall view. "Hey! Look!" Many marines on the warships exclaimed.
A pair of large lava hands brutally tore open the fog floating above the sea from the inside out, completely pulling the sea fog that troubled the Navy fleet to both sides in the most unreasonable way.
"That's...the legion commander?" Bellemere muttered, witnessing this terrifying power that could change the weather with human strength.
Gion walked to their side at some point. She looked up at the huge lava figure, standing on a pirate ship that had completely collapsed on the sea. There was even a part of the magma immersed in the sea water, causing violent evaporation.
The rest of the pirate fleet, although not affected, looked so small in front of this giant.
Gion's voice carried unquestionable pride: "That is the walking natural disaster, the lord of the Burning Legion!"
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