Thanks to Eli's easygoing chatter and irreverent humor, Fisher Tiger's tension eased slightly. After half a day of grueling climbing, the two finally reached the top of the Red Line the sacred city of the Celestial Dragons, Mary Geoise.
They crouched quietly in a shadowy corner, the dazzling cityscape stretching around them golden domes, white marble streets, and elegant towers glimmering under the sunlight.
"Cough, cough… so, little brother," Tiger whispered, breaking the silence. "What's your plan from here?"
After spending half a day together, he'd grown familiar with Eli. The human's calm demeanor and odd sense of humor had convinced him that Eli meant no harm.
"Me?" Eli replied casually, eyes glinting with mischief. "Just going for a walk. What about you?"
"Just going for a walk?!" Tiger hissed. "We're infiltrating Mary Geoise! Try acting like it, will you? You can't just stroll around like it's your backyard!"
Eli gave a lazy grin. "Relax. I told you I'm strong. You should be worrying about your own part. It's still daylight; when are you planning to move?"
"You'll die if you don't brag for five minutes, huh?" Tiger muttered under his breath. Then, after a moment of hesitation, he said, "I'm going to plant explosives at a few key spots. You coming with me?"
Eli's smile widened. "Sure thing. I'll handle the explosives. You focus on finding your people free as many fishmen and humans as you can. Once I create enough chaos, you'll have a window to escape. Don't wait for me I can get out on my own."
Tiger studied him for a long moment. Despite the man's flippant tone, his eyes were calm and sincere. Finally, Tiger nodded. "All right. I'll trust you."
He handed Eli the heavy pack of explosives from his back before quietly slipping into the city, following the hidden paths in his memory toward the slave cells.
Eli tucked the explosives into his spatial storage and vanished in a shimmer of distorted air.
When he reappeared, he stood inside an opulent palace hall filled with ornate chandeliers and velvet drapes. With a thought, his Observation Haki flared, mapping the entire building in his mind. Moments later, he found the treasure vault.
In a blink, he phased into the chamber. His eyes gleamed as he took in the piles of gold and jewels glittering under lamplight. "These fat-headed nobles sure live well," he muttered, grinning. Among the treasures lay two Devil Fruits, each sealed in crystal cases. He didn't bother to identify them he simply gathered everything.
A flick of his wrist, and the treasure room was empty. "Nice and clean," Eli chuckled to himself, setting two explosives in the center and marking them with spatial tags. "One down."
Then, with a grin, he disappeared again.
Meanwhile, not far away, chaos of a very different kind was already brewing.
In another luxurious palace, three men clearly not Celestial Dragons were feasting and drinking, their laughter echoing through the grand hall. The palace's true owner, a grotesquely fat Celestial Dragon, was hanging from the wall, gagged and whimpering as one of the intruders lazily lashed him with a whip-arm that extended and snapped like steel.
At their feet knelt several trembling slaves, collars still clamped around their necks. The guards who had rushed to protect their master the CP agents stationed here now lay dead in a pool of blood.
The Celestial Dragon's misery had begun much earlier that day. He had suffered three humiliating defeats in the slave arena, losing several prized gladiators he'd spent years training. Enraged beyond reason, he'd stormed back to his mansion, smashing furniture, screaming at his servants, and venting his fury by flogging his slaves until they bled.
But before he could calm down, fate sent him new tormentors the three pirates now lounging in his hall.
They were known, rather infamously, as the Amir Brothers Amir, Salman, and Madhavan. Each possessed a Devil Fruit ability, and each was reckless enough to think himself invincible.
Amir, the eldest, possessed the Float-Float Fruit, allowing him to manipulate gravity and drift freely through the air. Salman's Whip-Whip Fruit let him morph his limbs into flexible, razor-edged whips, and Madhavan, the youngest, wielded the strength of the Bull-Bull Fruit, granting him the form of a colossal minotaur.
At that moment, Madhavan leaned back in a plush chair, a roasted leg of meat in one hand and a goblet of stolen wine in the other. "Damn, these nobles really live the good life," he said between mouthfuls, grease shining on his grin.
"Don't get too comfortable," Salman muttered, coiling his whip-like arm. "All that noise earlier someone's bound to come check. We should move fast."
Madhavan snorted. "Let them come. The last batch of CP agents went down like flies. You think anyone here can stop us?"
It was clear the victory had gone to his head. He'd once feared the World Government's agents, but after cutting through several of them without breaking a sweat, arrogance had taken root.
Amir calmly set down his wineglass, eyes gleaming with ambition. "He's not wrong about one thing these dogs are weak. Still, we shouldn't linger. Here's the plan: we take every last treasure in this mansion, then drag this fat pig with us as a hostage. If we play it right, we'll fight our way out and make history." He grinned, eyes distant. "Just like Captain Shiki the man who challenged the world."
Salman and Madhavan exchanged a glance, excitement flaring in their eyes. They could already imagine it their names spreading across the seas, the world trembling at their newfound fame.
But their "legend" had a far less glorious beginning.
Weeks earlier, after raiding a coastal village, the brothers had thrown a drunken victory feast aboard their ship. One of their crewmates, half-blind and half-sober, suddenly shouted, "Look! Someone's sailing toward us riding a coffin!"
Curious, the pirates crowded the deck just in time to see a lone man with a massive black blade calmly cleave their ship in two. The brothers barely escaped death, Amir saving them by using his floating ability to lift them into the air.
After drifting at sea for over two months on a small lifeboat, they finally stumbled upon the Red Line. That was when Amir had his "brilliant idea."
"If Shiki the Golden Lion could fly into Marineford, why can't we storm Mary Geoise?" he'd declared with drunken bravado. "Once we do, the world will remember our names forever!"
And so, using his Float-Float powers, Amir carried his brothers up the Red Line. At first, they moved cautiously. But when they found the patrols thin and the guards lazy, confidence replaced caution. Soon, they'd chosen the wrong palace to raid and the right noble to enrage.
Now, as the sound of boots thundered outside, Salman swiftly bound the terrified Celestial Dragon with his whip-arms, pressing a sharp point against his throat.
Moments later, the palace doors burst open, and a man with cold, viper-like eyes strode in, flanked by armed soldiers.
When the bound Celestial Dragon saw him, he let out muffled cries for help.
The newcomer's expression darkened. "You three must have a death wish," he said coldly. "Do you even know who you've touched? That's Saint Stedler of the Celestial Bloodline! Release him now, and I might let you die quickly. Defy me, and not only will you perish but your families, your islands, everything you've ever known will be erased."
Madhavan snorted. "Big talk. You think I'm scared of your fancy threats?" He roared, body expanding and twisting as thick horns burst from his skull. "Let's see you erase this! BULL CHARGE!"
The ground shook as he thundered forward, hooves pounding like war drums. The officer dodged smoothly, his soldiers scattering as the massive creature smashed through a marble wall, bringing down half the palace in a cloud of dust and debris.
"Kill them all," the officer hissed, his composure cracking at last.
And so began a brutal, one-sided battle the three reckless pirates against the full wrath of the World Government's elite guards.
Far away, crouched in another mansion's shadow, Eli heard the explosion and smiled faintly. "Heh. Looks like someone else's making noise tonight."
Somewhere across the sprawling city, Fisher Tiger was unlocking chains and breaking open cells while above them all, the chaos in Mary Geoise was just beginning to burn.
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