As the Judgment of Sloth that blanketed the battlefield slowly dissipated, the air was no longer filled with gunpowder and blood, but with something far more suffocating: a fear born from the unknown.
Charlotte Daifuku stood on his now-lonely flagship, staring at the empty sea around him and the crew members trembling in the water. His back was already soaked with cold sweat.
More than ten warships, along with their heavy armaments, had vanished right before his eyes, silently.
This level of power, beyond any logic, shattered the pride and fighting spirit he once held as one of the Big Mom Pirates' top officers.
He looked at the Marine Admiral who was casually enjoying the stolen chocolate on his recliner, and for the first time, truly understood what powerlessness meant.
"Good."
Renzo seemed quite satisfied with Daifuku's sense of timing.
He turned around and lazily waved at Vice Admiral Onigumo, who was still frozen in shock not far away.
"Hey, grumpy dude. Come wrap this up."
Onigumo jolted as if waking from a nightmare. Only now did he fully re-enter reality.
His gaze at Renzo was a mix of gratitude, awe, but mostly an indescribable dread.
He swallowed hard, then issued an order to his men:
"...Everyone, prepare for… uhh… prisoner intake."
He didn't even know what words could describe this situation.
'Was this even a battle?'
'No, this was a one-sided annihilation.'
Marine warships slowly approached Daifuku's flagship.
No cannon fire.
No shouts.
Not even a single insult.
Daifuku's men climbed out of the sea one by one, heads drooped, quietly lining up to be cuffed with restraints.
Their eyes were vacant, as if their souls had been sucked out. They didn't have the will to resist anymore.
Their captain, Charlotte Daifuku, was personally supervising his own men as they unloaded every dessert-related item from the ship, box after box, neatly stacking them on the deck.
Life Chocolate, sugar-frost cookies, special jam, several sealed barrels of top-grade cream from Totto Land…
Each crate that came out felt like a knife to his heart.
But every time he accidentally glanced toward the man relaxing on the deck of the Nightmare Sheep, all resentment dissolved into pure terror.
"Move faster!"
He even urged his own men, terrified that moving too slowly might irritate Renzo, causing even his flagship to decide it was "too lazy to exist."
On the Endless Sheep, Sanji and Potts were happily organizing the "war spoils" with a team of chore boys.
"Oh! It's Totto Land's Rainbow Frosting! I've only ever seen this in recipe books!"
Sanji held up a jar of shimmering, multicolored frosting, eyes sparkling like a chef beholding divine ingredients.
"And this! Memory Cream! They say it can perfectly replicate the flavor of any fruit!"
Potts hugged a crate of life chocolate, practically drooling.
Renzo lay slumped in his recliner, uninterested in the ingredients themselves, only in whatever delicious creations they would become later.
Watching the peaceful, orderly "war spoils handover ceremony," he nodded in satisfaction.
"Mmm. This is fine," he muttered. "No noise, no destruction. Everyone solves problems kindly and efficiently. That's what I call productivity."
Onigumo, aboard his flagship, listened to the casualty report:
"Three minor injuries, no ship damage, ammunition consumed: zero."
He felt like he was dreaming.
He looked out toward the leisurely Endless Sheep and felt his perception of this new Admiral shift into something unprecedented, almost worldview-shattering.
Maybe this was what true "highest combat power" meant.
Not destruction, but making conflict itself meaningless.
Half an hour later, all dessert supplies were completely unloaded.
Daifuku and his crew were peacefully escorted onto the Marines' prisoner ship.
Before being taken away, Daifuku gathered the last bit of courage he had and bowed deeply toward the Endless Sheep.
"Sir… may I know your name?"
He simply wanted to know who had defeated him so utterly.
Renzo didn't even lift his eyelids. He merely grunted out:
"Marine Headquarters. Admiral. Haiiroyō."
"Haiiroyō?"
Daifuku repeated the unimpressive codename, yet still shivered uncontrollably.
He swore he never wanted to meet that monster again in this lifetime.
Vice Admiral Onigumo approached to offer thanks.
"Admiral Haiiroyō, we are deeply grateful for your assistance. On behalf of the entire 73rd Fleet, I salute you!"
He gave a perfect Marine salute.
Renzo just waved impatiently.
"Yeah, yeah, spare me the formalities. If there's nothing else, I'm leaving. The air here is too humid, bad for my afternoon nap."
He paused and added, "Oh, and the after-action report, write it for me. Just say… I performed 'friendly tactical deterrence,' causing the enemy to 'voluntarily abandon resistance,' resulting in a 'zero-casualty decisive victory.'"
Onigumo: "…"
He stared at Renzo's lazy-earnest face, completely unsure how to respond.
Finally, he stiffly saluted again.
"…Yes, Admiral."
The Nightmare Sheep slowly turned and sailed away under the wide-eyed stares of the entire Marine fleet.
From the kitchen, Sanji's excited voice echoed:
"Perfect! With all these ingredients, I can make at least thirty new desserts! Hey, sloth-boy, what do you want tonight? Rainbow Frost Mille-Feuille? Or Memory Cream Puffs?"
Renzo, soaking in the drifting sweetness in the air, smiled in satisfaction.
"Only kids choose."
He yawned lazily.
"I want all of them."
Potts scribbled furiously beside him, documenting the "battle." After debating for a long time, he finally wrote the title:
"A Model Report on Using Non-Contact Deterrence to Induce Enemy Surrender."
To him, it perfectly captured the essence of Admiral Renzo's sloth-based wisdom and his peaceful philosophy.
An hour later, while Onigumo was still organizing prisoners and preparing to return, a strange aroma, milk, fruit, and cocoa, drifted across the sea from the direction the Nightmare Sheep had gone.
Marine soldiers' stomachs growled. Even Onigumo swallowed involuntarily.
He knew that the Admiral… was already enjoying his "war spoils."
Onigumo could only smile bitterly, his respect for this new colleague reaching an entirely incomprehensible level.
Going to battle under the banner of protecting desserts, ending conflict with an absurd, reality-defying method, and immediately savoring the spoils of victory,
This was probably a kind of "strongest-tier" privilege.
He picked up the Den-Den Mushi, dialing Fleet Admiral Sengoku to report this magical "triumph."
He could already imagine the color changing on Sengoku's face, from green to purple to pitch black.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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