Within minutes, the second Marine warship arrived and Gar dropped from the sky like a predator, hunting knife in hand, plunging straight into a blood-soaked slaughter.
On the third warship, a wave of searing heat spread outward. A crimson glow blazed above the deck like a miniature sun. Wallace stood at its center, his body radiating molten energy. With his mastery of the Steel-Steel Fruit evolving, he was now walking the path of melting steel instead of merely becoming it.
The heat was so intense that the decks themselves began to burn. Though the warship's hull was plated with steel, its core remained wooden—only the highest-grade Marine vessels were made entirely of metal. Those were costly luxuries, as the rare timbers used for shipbuilding were nearly as expensive as steel itself.
"Molten Steel Fist!" Wallace roared, his punch unleashing a shockwave of blistering air. The scream that followed was brief and final. Within moments, the warship fell silent, its surface glowing red before flames consumed it whole.
There was no hesitation, no mercy. The Nightfall Pirates fought with ruthless efficiency; every second spent here risked Marine reinforcements.
Moments later, Gall and Wallace returned to the fleet.
"Everyone, move! We're climbing Reverse Mountain!" Teach shouted.
The three ships turned toward the roaring current ahead. For many of the crew, it was their first time seeing the legendary waterway—and the sight alone was enough to make even hardened pirates uneasy. The mountain loomed in the dark, its torrents lit only by the glow of Wallace's molten aura.
"Helmsman, keep steady!" Teach ordered. "Stay centered in the current, don't scrape the walls!"
"Aye, Captain!"
"Wallace, light the way."
Wallace's heat flared brighter, casting the waterway in reddish-gold light. The path ahead gleamed like molten glass but the air became stiflingly hot, sweat pouring from every brow.
Then suddenly...
"Not good!" someone shouted. The Ironclad at the rear shuddered violently. The helmsman lost control of the rudder, and the ship began drifting toward the jagged rock wall.
"Brace yourselves!"
The stone wall was rushing up fast—too fast to correct.
"Watch me!" Kaguya shouted, leaping onto the ship's keel. He gripped the railing with one hand, thrusting the other forward.
"Bone Tree!"
White growth burst from his arm, the sound of cracking bone echoing over the roar of the water. In moments, a massive bone structure sprouted from the hull, its trunk and branches slamming against the rock wall and forcing the ship back into the current.
The helmsman seized the rudder again, straining to bring the vessel back on course.
It was a narrow escape but they made it.
The fleet pressed on, climbing the mountain against the raging current.
Meanwhile, at the mountain's base, Marine warships finally arrived too late once again. One ship still burned, half-submerged. Another floated eerily empty. The last was filled with corpses.
Vice Admiral Brom's face was unreadable as his officers gathered around.
"They escaped to the Grand Line," one Lieutenant Commander muttered.
"They got away again."
A few officers spoke in hushed tones, exchanging glances of both relief and exhaustion. None of them wished to face the Nightfall Pirates directly. For a month straight, they had been chasing ghosts across the East Blue. If those pirates had finally left the sea… that was fine by them.
Brom stood silent, his fists clenched beneath the table, nails biting into flesh. Blood trickled down between his fingers.
He had mobilized the entire East Blue fleet, yet failed to stop them. Now they had escaped beyond his jurisdiction. He could already imagine the mockery that would follow—the headlines, the reprimands from headquarters, the laughter of rivals.
"Hmph."
He rose without another word and stormed out, leaving the room in heavy silence.
At the summit of Reverse Mountain, the Nightfall Pirates reached familiar ground once more. The four waterways stretched before them, each leading to a different sea.
The last time Teach had stood here, his crew had barely numbered ten. Now, six hundred pirates filled three ships, their flags snapping proudly in the night wind.
"West Blue, huh?" Teach muttered, glancing at the carvings etched into the stone walls, ancient markers denoting the directions of the Four Seas. No one knew who had carved them, or how long they had been there.
He grinned. "Let's go. A new ocean and a new hunt."
"Brom, you can't just resign like that!"
Fleet Admiral Sengoku's furious voice boomed from the Den Den Mushi.
"I don't care, Sengoku," Brom replied flatly. "Send someone else to babysit the East Blue. I'm done. I'll capture the Nightfall Pirates myself. They humiliated me, I won't rest until I've erased them."
"Denied. You're staying where you are," Sengoku said, his tone ice-cold. "The Navy isn't your personal vendetta. Orders are orders."
Click.
The line went dead.
Sengoku scowled, rubbing his temples. Brom's obsession with the Nightfall Pirates was bordering on madness but he couldn't deny the man's instincts. The moment Teach's identity as a former Whitebeard Pirate surfaced, Sengoku had known they were facing someone dangerous.
"Forget it," sighed Vice Admiral Tsuru from beside him. "Let him go. You know how stubborn Brom is. Once he's set on something, he won't stop. We can send another Vice Admiral to cover the East Blue."
Sengoku exhaled slowly. "And you? You're bound for the North Blue, aren't you?"
Tsuru nodded. "Yes. There's someone there who needs to be captured personally. His influence is spreading fast too fast."
Sengoku didn't need to ask who she meant. "The 'Heavenly Yaksha,' Donquixote Doflamingo."
"Exactly. The World Government wants him alive, which makes the job harder."
Sengoku's expression darkened. "Do it quickly. We still need to finalize the World Conscription plan. With Zephyr and Garp holding the New World and our current numbers stretched thin, the Navy's barely staying afloat."
"If the New World collapses, the Marines lose their foothold entirely," Tsuru said grimly. "But yes, conscription is necessary. Pirates outnumber us more than ever. The Beast Pirates have risen early, the Flying Pirates are still dominant, and smaller crews are springing up everywhere."
"The balance is slipping," Sengoku murmured. "If we can't hold the line, retreating from the New World might become our only option."
Neither of them said what that would mean, the death of Marine prestige.
Back in the East Blue, Brom stood on the deck of his flagship, cloak of justice fluttering in the sea wind.
"Return to Loguetown," he ordered. "We rest one night then set sail for the Grand Line."
"What? Vice Admiral, to the Grand Line?"
Brom's expression hardened. "We're hunting the Nightfall Pirates. I won't stop until they're in Impel Down."
His subordinates exchanged uneasy glances, but the order was final. The East Blue's defenses would soon be reassigned to other Marine branches; a new commander from Headquarters would take Brom's place.
At the same time, the Nightfall Pirates emerged into the West Blue.
Compared to the other seas, the West Blue was a world of quiet power, less chaotic than the South, but more dangerous than the East. Its underworld ran deep, ruled by sprawling Mafia networks that rivaled kingdoms in influence.
Teach had only one goal here: to find his navigator and future diplomat.
But he had no idea where the man was.
He pulled out a Den Den Mushi—an encrypted one. After a few rings, a familiar woman's voice purred through the receiver.
"Yo, little Teach. Long time no see. What can I do for you?"
"Need a favor," Teach said, smiling faintly. "Help me find someone."
"Name?"
"Laffitte."
"Hmm." Shakky's tone grew thoughtful. "That's all the info you've got?"
"Born in the West Blue. Seventeen or eighteen years old now. That's it."
"That narrows it down," Shakky said with a laugh. "Still, if you're looking for him, he's not ordinary. You know my rules."
"I know. How much?"
"Fifty million Berries," she said smoothly. "And by the way, I've got something else for you, the lead you asked about on the Dark-Dark Fruit."
The air around Teach seemed to still.
"…Where is it?" His voice dropped low, hoarse with restrained excitement. Even with all his composure, the name alone made his pulse quicken.
"It's not confirmed," Shakky warned. "But the trail points to the West Blue. My sources say the fruit was stored in the treasury of the Kraken Kingdom more than ten years ago. I don't know its current status."
Teach's hand tightened on the receiver. "Kraken Kingdom, huh?"
He trusted Shakky's intel. Her reach extended even into the World Government's networks, and if she said the lead was real, it was worth chasing.
"What can you tell me about the kingdom itself?" he asked.
"Militaristic. Aggressive. Their entire economy feeds the army. Internal unrest is constant, but the military keeps crushing it before it explodes. When it finally does, it'll be bloody."
"Send me everything you've got," Teach said.
"Seventy million total, including the intel on Laffitte and the Kraken Kingdom," Shakky replied lightly.
Teach frowned. "That steep for one country's dossier?"
"Don't underestimate them. Kraken's basically a pirate nation, only without a flag. Their economy runs on plunder, not production. The royal family rules with iron control, and they've been doing it for decades."
Teach chuckled quietly. "Fine. If the intel checks out, I'll give you a billion when we meet again in Sabaody."
"Where do you want the files delivered?"
"Trade Island. Modern Island, West Blue. My stronghold's there. Have your people deliver it when it's ready."
"Got it. I'll call if anything new comes up," Shakky said, then hung up.
Teach leaned back in his chair, the sea wind sweeping across the deck.
The hunt for Laffitte had begun.
And in the depths of the West Blue, a new shadow awaited, the kingdom of Kraken, and perhaps the key to the Dark-Dark Fruit itself.