"It's Sergeant Hana."
Hearing the familiar voice, Moss finally lowered his rifle in relief. "So, reinforcements have arrived?"
The scouting squad looked at each other, equally stunned as Moss and his men lowered their weapons. Slowly, they too eased their grips, the tension in the air softening just a little.
Hana exhaled. "Sergeant Moss, what's the situation? How's the battle? Are there any other survivors?"
"The colonel and the lieutenant colonels are all dead," Moss said in a low, heavy tone. "We've got… maybe less than a hundred men left."
Hana's face paled. She had expected terrible losses, but hearing the number still hit her hard. "So few… What about the Krieg Pirates?"
"Hmm."
Moss scratched his chin for a moment. "Not too sure. But there should be a few dozen of them left. You've come at the right time we'll finish off the rest together."
For a moment, the air froze.
Hana blinked, her brain struggling to catch up. Weren't the Marines the ones who were completely wiped out? Why were they now the ones chasing the pirates? And how could the enemy have been reduced to just a few dozen?
The rest of the scouting squad looked equally stunned, wondering if they had somehow stumbled into an illusion.
"You're the recon team, right?" Moss asked. "I see… The colonel hasn't landed yet, then. Haas, go back and report to him. Tell them to bring the reinforcements here."
Hana stared at Moss in confusion. "Sergeant Moss… what on earth happened?"
"It's like this…"
Moss gave them a quick rundown of everything that had happened. By the time he finished, he still looked half in disbelief himself. "Hard to believe, I know. But it's the truth."
Hana and the others stood frozen like statues.
A bounty hunter?
One man against two thousand?
Krieg killed in a single strike?
It sounded impossible like a fever dream.
Marine Headquarters, Grand Line.
Inside a vast and well-furnished office, Vice Admiral Burning Mountain paced back and forth with a pipe between his teeth, his expression heavy. "Any new reports?"
"None yet," an officer replied. "But the 170th Branch reinforcements should be arriving soon. Still, even with their numbers, I doubt they'll be able to handle it."
"Tch. The Grand Line is already enough of a headache, and now the East Blue wants to stir up trouble too. Two branches, two commanding colonels, and they can't even suppress a single pirate crew. What a disgrace."
A rear admiral sitting on the sofa scowled as he spoke.
Burning Mountain exhaled a puff of smoke. "It can't be helped. The pirates in the Four Seas are weak, but the territory is enormous. Just the East Blue alone has over three hundred branches. We can't station high-level officers from headquarters at every one."
The Grand Line and the Four Seas were worlds apart not just in strength, but in geography.
The Grand Line was relatively compact, with limited routes and island chains that ensured constant clashes between pirates and Marines. In the Four Seas, however, months could pass without a single encounter. Pirates could vanish across the endless waves, and the Navy could do nothing but search blind.
That was why even sending a few powerful officers from headquarters made little difference. Hunting pirates in those seas was like chasing ghosts.
At least the East Blue was still peaceful by comparison its pirates weaker, its violence less frequent.
"Still," another officer muttered, "we need some quality control. Two branches managing an entire sea should at least have one officer worth his salt."
The first rear admiral snorted. "If I could round up all those East Blue pirates myself, I'd be done with it in a week. Then maybe I could enjoy some quiet."
A third officer chuckled. "Perhaps we should start promoting the few who actually show results. Catch one of the more notorious pirates in the East Blue, and that alone should earn a colonel's rank."
Burning Mountain nodded slightly. "A reasonable suggestion… Hmm? The latest report just came in."
The den-den mushi on his desk began to ring.
He picked it up, listened in silence for several seconds, and then his half-closed eyes snapped open, a faint flicker of surprise flashing through them.
"Oh? That's what happened?"
He listened a moment longer. "Understood."
When the call ended, he set down the receiver, taking a slow drag from his pipe. His expression, once stern, had eased slightly.
The other officers looked at each other, equally curious. They had caught fragments of the report through the den-den mushi's echo.
"So it's true," one murmured. "A single bounty hunter took down the entire Krieg Pirates. That kind of strength is no joke."
"Too bad he's just another mercenary type," said another. "If he had joined the Navy, he'd have been the perfect replacement for the fallen colonel of the 171st Branch."
A few others nodded in agreement.
Burning Mountain puffed a cloud of smoke and sighed. "It's fine. Even as a bounty hunter, he'll serve as a deterrent. But his victory… is almost too impactful. It'll cast a shadow over the Navy's reputation in the East Blue."
One of the rear admirals grimaced. "Too late to stop that now. The East Blue is too far from here. The story's already spreading like wildfire. We can only ask the World Government to tone down the newspaper headlines."
Burning Mountain gave a weary chuckle. "I suppose that's all we can do."
He took another slow drag of his pipe, smoke curling in the light. "A pity though… a real pity."
The Marines had seen bounty hunters like Ron before, talented, ambitious, but untethered. Some stagnated in the seas they started in; others entered the Grand Line only to disappear into obscurity.
Unlike pirates, bounty hunters didn't face daily battles for survival. Unlike Marines, they lacked guidance, training, and missions that honed strength through constant combat. Most earned a bounty, celebrated, and vanished into luxury until the next easy job came along.
Few ever grew stronger.
"If Ron had joined us," Burning Mountain murmured, "with that talent… he might have become one of our finest officers in no time."
He sighed again, the regret clear in his voice. "But since he's chosen otherwise… that's as far as he'll go."
A potential talent lost. Burning Mountain shook his head, the disappointment lingering for a moment before he waved it away with another cloud of smoke.
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