Chapter 128: Why Would Pirates Care About Martial Ethics?

Chapter 128: Chapter 128: Why Would Pirates Care About Martial Ethics? Chapter 128: Why Would Pirates Care About Martial Ethics? Whoosh—Whoosh! A sea breeze, carrying a chilling cold, swept across a rough ice surface, assailing them. After the continuous fierce battle, the entire frozen sea region was now shattered, with countless giant ice floes drifting slowly. "Is it over?" Yamakaji stood on an ice floe, his eyes squinted in his honest, simple-looking face, as he gazed towards the exhausted Luffy in the distance. Lucci, hailed as the World Government’s ’strongest killing weapon’, was now beaten and unconscious on the ground. Victory and defeat had been decided. "The young people nowadays are truly terrifying." Yamakaji brushed off a few shoe prints from his clothes. "The strongest of CP9 in eight hundred years, actually defeated at the hands of Straw Hat." Since CP9 has failed, the Straw Hat crew should be preparing to escape, right? He turned his head to look behind him. The three Vice Admirals led by Gion had all landed, looking battered. They were either clutching their abdomens or supporting their shoulders, all staring warily at Reiner in the distance, yet making no move. "Diable Jambe: Mouton SHOT!!" An furious yell reached his ears. Yamakaji immediately shifted his gaze back. A figure in black, his foot blazing with scorching heat, had charged before him in the blink of an eye. "Tekkai!" (Iron Mass!) Yamakaji, ’greatly shocked’, found it was already too late to dodge. He could only react quickly, bracing his arms by his waist, sinking into a horse stance, and tensing his entire body. BANG!! Sanji’s powerful kick landed solidly, his entire foot even sinking into his opponent’s chest. The powerful impact tore through the air, spreading outwards, sending Yamakaji’s entire body flying like a cannonball loosed from its bore. Thump! "Cough cough cough." Yamakaji crashed heavily onto the ice, creating a deep crater. He clutched his chest with his left hand, propping himself up on his right, kneeling on one knee. This kid’s kicks... their power is truly heavy. Blood trickled from the corner of Yamakaji’s mouth. He couldn’t help but look up at the figure in the black suit, his arm trembling as he tried to push himself up. He was defeated in one blow? Seeing this, Momonga stood frozen on the spot. Seriously? At least exchange a few blows! Not even bothering to put on an act? "Hey! What are you looking around for!?" A loud shout erupted. Momonga turned his head towards the sound, looking at Zoro, who, holding his three swords, was actually just standing there! Momonga was baffled again. You should be sneak-attacking!! Why are you specifically reminding me? You’re a damn pirate! Are you trying to lecture me on martial ethics? A whole shipload of Marines is watching from the warship! If you act like this, how am I supposed to save face!? Do you really want Old Me to cut you down!? "Roronoa. I have to admit, you are a respectable swordsman." Momonga’s expression was grave as he growled in a low voice, "But the Straw Hat crew poses too great a threat to the World Government! Today, Old Me is determined to wipe you all out!" As he spoke, he sheathed his longsword, his gaze like a blade, staring straight at his opponent as he assumed an Iai stance. "Old Me will use my strongest technique to finish you!" "One move to decide it all, huh? My thoughts exactly!" Zoro’s eyes burned like torches. He held his arms out flat, longswords crossed, the phantom of a three-headed, six-armed demon seemingly materializing behind him. "Kiki Kyutoryu!" (Demon Spirit Nine-Sword Style!) Zoro pushed the Haki within his body to its limit. An immense sword aura instantly erupted centered on him. As his aura climbed to its peak, he pushed off hard with his feet, his figure shooting out in an instant, his entire being transforming into a streak of green light. "Asura: Ugui!!" (Asura: Piercing Drill!!) Zoro shot forward from the air in a piercing thrust. As his body twisted forcefully, his nine rotating swords moved so fast they were almost invisible to the naked eye! "Such terrifying power!" Momonga’s expression was grave; he couldn’t help but be alarmed. The aura erupting from his opponent’s technique forced him to respond with all his might. "Come, Roronoa!" His legs split into a half-squat, right hand gripping his sword hilt tightly, poised to strike. "Iai Slash: Long Heaven Flash!!" Veins bulged on Momonga’s entire wrist as he drew his longsword from its scabbard, a cold glint imbued with condensed sword intent! Just as Zoro’s figure flashed before him, it was as if a blinding light erupted, carrying an unmatched might— ZING—! ZING—! The clear cry of swords was like a dragon’s roar. The two figures intersected in an instant, cold steel drawing two arcs of blood that sprayed into the air. Momonga gritted his teeth, half-kneeling on the ground. A ghastly wound had been opened on his chest, blood flowing unceasingly. His left hand clutched his right shoulder. "Vice Admiral Momonga’s strongest technique was broken!" "What are you saying!? The opponent was hit too!" "That Roronoa... actually managed to wound Vice Admiral Momonga!" On the distant warships, the Marines cried out in alarm upon witnessing this scene. Momonga was renowned in the military as a master swordsman! To think he would be wounded while using his strongest Iai slash! "Idiots! Look at Vice Admiral Momonga’s hand!" A Marine strode forward, pointing at Momonga’s figure and yelling, "He’s clutching his shoulder! It must be that the wound he received from that Reiner guy earlier in the fight has acted up!" "That’s right! It must be!" "Otherwise, how could the exhausted Roronoa possibly injure Vice Admiral Momonga!" Seeing this, the Marines immediately understood and chimed in with agreement. Momonga didn’t hear the Marines’ speculations. Gritting his teeth, half-kneeling on the ground... he was wounded, that was true. Zoro’s final sword technique was indeed very strong; Momonga hadn’t completely blocked it and had been genuinely slashed. But whether his shoulder wound had truly acted up... who knew? "Zoro!" Sanji rushed forward frantically, kicking the ’critically injured’ Momonga away, and hurriedly crouched beside Zoro. "Bastard Moss Head! Are you alright!?" At this moment, Zoro was already utterly exhausted, his face showing extreme fatigue. In a hoarse, weak voice, he said: "Still alive..." "Good that you’re not dead! Let’s go!" Sanji gritted his teeth, hoisted Zoro’s body onto his back, turned, and immediately rushed towards Reiner’s direction. Reiner, carrying Luffy, was riding the undead hawk. He met Sanji, and they quickly regrouped. "Get on!" He reached out, pulling Sanji up. Then, he immediately directed the hawk to soar upwards, and in the blink of an eye, they vanished towards the horizon. "Are you alright, old friend?" Yamakaji, smiling amiably, walked up beside Momonga. "That slash just now was truly incredible. I couldn’t help but worry for you for a moment." "Not that bad. Just a flesh wound. However, that swordsman, Roronoa..." Momonga gazed at the disappearing figures in the sky and said gravely, "Old Me doesn’t know if doing this is appropriate or not. That fellow will definitely become extremely troublesome in the future." "Who knows..." Yamakaji replied softly, then turned towards the direction of the warships. "Let’s go. Time to report back to Admiral Aokiji." After a short while, the five Vice Admirals had all returned to their warships, gathering around a deck chair on the deck. Aokiji, dressed in his light blue suit, lay on the chair like a salted fish, basking in the sun. "Ai~~ Lost seven whole warships. Going back, I estimate the Fleet Admiral will give us a severe scolding." Gion sighed, complaining, "Kuzan-chan, since you were here, why didn’t you act sooner?" Kuzan lifted his eye mask and said lazily, "Mah~~ It’s no big deal." In fact, this outcome wasn’t bad for Aokiji; it was even better. After all, Enies Lobby had a garrison of ten thousand soldiers. And the mission of a Buster Call was to erase Enies Lobby from the map; cannonballs don’t have eyes. Although the destruction of seven warships caused some casualties, if not for that meteorite, under the bombardment of a full-strength Buster Call, the casualties would surely have been several times higher perhaps not many on Enies Lobby would have survived. As for the seven warships... the Navy’s money comes from the World Government. If they’re gone, just ask for more. The Buster Call was activated by Spandam; these were losses incurred during a mission. The World Government had no reason to refuse. After a short while, several Vice Admirals also gradually realized this point. Gion sighed in relief and remarked with emotion, "Come to think of it, the World Government really suffered a huge loss this time." In this Enies Lobby incident, the World Government not only failed to obtain the Ancient Weapon blueprints and didn’t capture Nico Robin, but Enies Lobby was also destroyed, the Straw Hat Pirates escaped, and all of CP9 were defeated. They had practically suffered every possible loss. Of course, their Navy also suffered heavy losses, a whole seven warships were... hmm? No, that’s also the World Government’s loss! But the Navy still didn’t gain much benefit. After all, the five Vice Admirals, including herself, were all heavily—!! —Lightly injured. "Anyway, since you’re here this time, Kuzan-chan," Gion patted Aokiji’s shoulder and chuckled lightly. "We’ll leave the reporting to you. We can’t handle the Fleet Admiral’s side. He’ll probably fly into a huge rage." "Arara~ How troublesome." Aokiji slapped his forehead. "Ai, forget it. At least I don’t have to face a certain irritable old geezer." (Referring to Garp) "However, are you really okay acting so nonchalantly?" Gion, covered in wounds, pointed to herself, gesturing. "A great Admiral present, yet you let the entire Straw Hat crew escape, while you yourself didn’t even get a speck of dust on you. With so many subordinates watching, it doesn’t look too good, does it?" However, right in front of all the surrounding Marines, Aokiji spoke lazily, "—Mah~ What can be done? Who let Straw Hat be Vice Admiral Garp’s grandson?" This wasn’t much of a secret among the higher-ups. Many of the older generation knew Garp’s surname; they had recognized Luffy when his first bounty was issued. Earlier, when Garp first found out, he had even gone directly to pester Aokiji, complaining to him endlessly, crying his eyes out with snot and tears. Many flag officers knew about this. But while the high-ranking officers knew, the ordinary soldiers certainly didn’t. Hearing this, their jaws dropped to the floor, their eyeballs nearly popping out. "NANI!!" "Vice Admiral Garp’s grandson!!" "Arara." Realizing he had let it slip, Aokiji immediately turned his head, waved his hand dismissively, and said coolly, "You all misheard just now. There’s no such thing." "Oh, so we misheard." "Yeah, I was thinking, how could something like that be possible." The Marines all sighed in relief upon hearing this. One soldier patted his chest and said in a low voice: "Phew~ I almost thought Admiral Aokiji didn’t make a move because of that." Just as his words fell, all the soldiers seemed to suddenly realize something again. If not for that, then why didn’t Admiral Aokiji make a move at all? They all looked up, staring at Aokiji with utter disbelief. "So that was TRUE after all!!!" The Marines, dumbfounded, burst into a clamor of exclamations. Aokiji looked troubled, scratching his afro. "Aiya! Still got found out. Can you all just forget about this? Otherwise, it’ll be very difficult for me." "Then don’t admit it!!!" A row of soldiers instantly roared, collapsing to the ground, tears streaming down their faces. Is this something we’re allowed to know!!? "Can’t you be a little more serious?" Gion facepalmed helplessly. "Honestly. Master and disciple are both the same." Enies Lobby Front Island. Two trains floated on the tracks suspended above the sea. "It’s really all fixed!" "As expected of Big Bro!" "Long live robots!" Zambai and the other hoodlums looked at Franky with adoration. Chopper and Usopp’s eyes shone with golden light. Franky wiped his nose and said proudly, "This old me is a shipwright with SUPER skills! This kind of thing is a piece of cake!" "That’s great!" Chopper couldn’t contain his excitement. "This way, as soon as Luffy and the others get back, we can all return to Water 7 together!" "Speaking of Luffy and the others..." The group instantly fell silent again. "Hey! What are you all doing!?" Franky looked at them discontentedly. "Didn’t you say you believed in your companions? Standing around with long faces is useless! All of you, pull yourselves together and help!" "I believe they will all definitely return safely! After all, they are all true men!" Franky raised his hands above his head, brought them together, took a step to the side with his right foot, jutted out his hip, and yelled, "A true man! Will definitely keep his word!—Su——Per!!" "That’s right! That’s right!" The two square-headed sisters stood on either side behind him, striking the same pose and shouting, "—Su——Per!!" Just as their words fell, two voices came from afar, growing closer. "We’re back, everyone!" "Miss Nami~ Miss Robin~ I’ve returned to protect you!" "That voice is!" Hearing that exaggerated, love-struck voice, everyone whipped their heads around to look. A familiar hawk came into view. Standing on it were two golden-haired figures, one carrying Luffy, the other carrying Zoro, waving towards them as they approached. "Reiner... Sanji..." "That’s great!" "Waaah!" Chopper and Usopp cried out excitedly, tears in their eyes. Bang!! Bang!! As Reiner got close, he recalled the hawk. The four of them tumbled into the train carriage, crashing about in a daze. "Luffy! Reiner!" Nami, teary-eyed, rushed forward and threw herself at Reiner. "Are you okay!? How’s Luffy? Zoro, is he alright?" "Puwah!" Reiner’s eyes nearly popped out as he directly spat out a mouthful of old blood. The gash across his chest had just barely stopped bleeding. Nami’s two heavy punches directly tore it open again, blood gushing out like it was free. "Ah! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!" Nami’s face turned ashen with fright. She grabbed his neck and shook him violently. "I didn’t do it on purpose! Don’t die, Reiner!" "Ch-Chopper! Help!" Reiner’s face was deathly pale. As if grasping at a life-saving straw, he tremblingly raised a hand towards the back for help. Chopper jumped up in terror, grabbed his medical bag, and rushed forward. "Reiner! I’m coming to save you!" "Miss Nami~" Sanji climbed up from the floor, his eyes turning into hearts. "I’m not injured, you know. You can hug me too." Nami smiled faintly, reached out, and ruffled Sanji’s hair. "Nice job. You worked hard, Sanji." Thump!! "Miss Nami... touched my head..." Sanji looked incredulous, as if he had lost his soul. His entire body stiffened and toppled backward. "I’m too happy... Just let me die with this feeling..." "Ah! Sanji!" Here, Chopper had just opened his medical bag, then immediately rushed frantically towards Sanji. "Chopper, check on Luffy and Zoro first." Reiner sat up, taking some bandages from Chopper’s medical bag. "Those two are more seriously injured. Sanji and I can manage on our own." Chopper nodded. "Mm. I understand." "Hey! Don’t look down on me." Zoro lay on the floor, head propped against the wall, looking half-dead. "I’m fine. Chopper, just go treat Luffy." "King of Stubbornness." Reiner scoffed. Both of them were heavily injured, but Luffy was a Mythical Zoan; his recovery rate was far beyond what Zoro could match. He handed the bandages to Nami. Reiner tore off his tattered blue shirt and discarded it. "Help me bandage this up." "Mm," Nami replied softly. Taking the bandages, she looked at the bloody, mangled wounds all over his body and couldn’t help but feel her heart tremble. Just what kind of monsters had he been fighting? She couldn’t help but ask worriedly, "This wound of yours... are you really okay?" "Relax. It just looks exaggerated," Reiner smiled faintly, reaching out to ruffle her orange short hair. In terms of injury, he was indeed seriously hurt. But he was an Awakened Zoan user; as long as he wasn’t dead, most injuries weren’t a big deal. A wound like this, with some treatment, would recover in a few days. In contrast, those Vice Admirals... would probably need ten days to half a month of recuperation to recover. Nami, after asking Chopper, took out several bottles of wound medicine, dabbed some on her fingertips, and gently applied it for him, then carefully wrapped bandages around him. "Cough cough cough!" Sanji stood up, clutching his chest, his expression pained. "I’m also seriously injured! Can someone help me bandage up?" Your abacus beads are clattering all the way to Laugh Tale, Reiner rolled his eyes at him with disdain. "Didn’t you just say you weren’t injured?" Usopp looked speechlessly at Sanji, then walked over, picking up a roll of bandages. "I’ll help you." Bang! Sanji directly kicked him back, yelling with a grimace, "Get lost, Long Nose! What are you trying to show off for at a time like this!?" Reiner: "." Nami: "." "If you don’t mind..." Robin smiled, walking forward, and took a bottle of wound medicine. "Let me help you treat your wounds." "You’re such a lifesaver, Robin-chwan~~" Sanji’s eyes turned into hearts, his entire body twisting like a pretzel, drool nearly escaping his lips. Love makes people twisted... so this is how twisted, Reiner smiled helplessly. "All aboard, everyone!" Granny Kokoro’s voice came from the driver’s cabin. She laughed and shouted: "Departing from Enies Lobby! The Sea Train bound for Water 7, the runaway Rocketman, is about to depart! Passengers who have not yet boarded, please change your tickets and wait for the next train! Passengers already on board, please prepare for departure!" Woo— Woo— Woo!! Reiner smiled and shouted towards the front of the train, "You’re quite the professional, old hag!" "But of course! This old lady used to be a bona fide driver!" Granny Kokoro’s reply came from the front. "A bona fide driver wouldn’t drink and drive!" Reiner couldn’t help but laugh and curse, then looked out through the train window towards the front. Rocketman, LAUNCH!!! (End of this Chapter) ♧♧♧ -> SUPPORT ME WITH POWER STONE -> FOR EVERY 200 PS = BOUNS Chapter ♧♧♧ -> 20 Advanced Chapters Now Available on Patreon!! -> https://www.patreon.com/c/Segais (Just remove the hyphen to access patreon normally) If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that’s help the story a lot Thank you