Above Pirate King - Chapter 78
Strala was the head of the largest naval division near the Kingdom of St. Martin.
Strictly speaking, this division belonged to the super-spec division!
Normally, the division heads of the Four Seas are of the rank of Captain to Commander, with the highest rank being Division Captain!
Equivalent to the rank of Captain in the HQ!
Regarding the area near the Reverse Mountain, in order to prevent pirates from entering the Grand Line, their strength and rank are based on the HQ. The strength and rank are both Division Captain.
Strala, on the other hand, had the rank of Vice Admiral and the strength of a Captain.
Vice Admiral is only a rank and not a measure of strength. The rank falls between Captain and Rear Admiral, and can be considered a reserve officer!
As a Vice Admiral, in addition to being responsible for clearing pirates near the Kingdom of St. Martin, Strala also took charge of the naval bases in the vicinity and the security of surrounding allied countries.
The division he belonged to was located on an island outside the Kingdom of St. Martin.
A few months ago, it was still a deserted island, but the arrival of the Navy led to its development.
Now, this naval division had a formal navy of 2,000 personnel, and with logistics and other support, the entire base had about 3,000 people!
Except for the lower-ranking soldiers, all the high-ranking officials had inadvertently become part of the Kingdom of St. Martin!
It can be said that this was the naval division of the Kingdom of St. Martin.
At this moment.
The top floor of the division, Strala’s office.
Strala picked up the Den Den Mushi and made a call.
“Purupurupuru!”
Soon, the Den Den Mushi was picked up on the other end.
“Hello!” a deep voice came from the Den Den Mushi.
“Vice Admiral Akainu!” Strala respectfully said.
“What’s the matter?”
“I’ve discovered Pica, one of the executives of the Donquixote Pirates. He has been secretly appearing in the West Blue recently!”
Upon hearing the 2 words “Donquixote Pirates,” Akainu’s face darkened, and his voice carried a murderous intent as he said, “Kill him!”
“Yes!” Strala nodded respectfully.
In the eyes of the Marines, Doflamingo was nothing but a piece of shit!
Disgusting, nothing but disgusting!
But unfortunately, the Marines couldn’t do anything to him!
After all, he was a Celestial Dragon, albeit a former one!
In recent years, although his bounty had reached over 90 million, it should be much higher. If calculated properly, he had committed enough crimes to have his bounty doubled.
The Marines really wanted to capture him.
But they couldn’t do anything about him!
Because he used to be a Celestial Dragon, they could only capture him alive, not kill him!
In theory, even capturing him alive shouldn’t be a problem for the Marines. As long as they mobilized a high-level combatant, with his current strength, he could only surrender.
The problem was that the Marines couldn’t go after him because the World Government didn’t allow it!
It was really frustrating!
The current Marines wished they had a bounty hunter who could directly kill Doflamingo. That way, when the blame came from the World Government, they could simply push it onto the bounty hunter!
Although Doflamingo used to be a Celestial Dragon, but his subordinates were not!
Moreover, this person had left Doflamingo’s side and appeared secretly in the West Blue!
It was a rare opportunity. Since the Marines couldn’t do anything to Doflamingo, they might as well eliminate his followers!
After hearing Akainu’s response, Strala wasted no time and directly assembled a thousand Marines and set sail with ten warships.
The weather was sunny.
On the vast sea, a merchant fleet consisting of five ships was sailing towards the direction of Black Wolf Island.
On the leading ship, there stood a muscular man wearing armor, a cross-faced helmet, and a tall figure with wavy hair. There was also a spade symbol tattooed on his shoulder. It was Pica, a member of the Donquixote Family!
Pica didn’t raise their Donquixote pirate flag this time since they weren’t conducting pirate business. They were here to establish their reputation in the underground world of the West Blue by selling weapons, so there was no need for a pirate flag.
After all, what was their purpose in the underground world?
To hide their identities, of course!
If they raised the pirate flag, what would be the difference from directly announcing that they were members of the Donquixote Family?
“Sir Pica, there are ten Marine warships approaching us in the distance!” a subordinate holding a telescope reported.
“Hmm?” Pica looked puzzled and pondered for a moment before saying, “Observe them first!”
They didn’t have the pirate flag raised now, and Pica wasn’t sure if the Marines were specifically coming for them or just passing by.
Of course, the chances of them just passing by were higher.
So it was better not to act recklessly!
If they attacked the Marines proactively, wouldn’t that raise suspicion?
After a while.
“Sir Pica, those Marine warships are still heading straight towards us!” the subordinate reported.
Pica contemplated for a moment and said, “Have the fleet make a turn and see if they’re still coming towards us!”
“Yes!”
Then the entire fleet made a turn.
However, after careful observation, it was clear that the Marine fleet was still coming towards them.
Now, Pica didn’t need to be told to know what was happening.
The Marines must be coming for them!
“Head that way!” Pica pointed to a small island full of rocks in the distance.
Although he wasn’t afraid of the Marines, there were ten warships on the opposing side, while they only had five. The strength of the warships was similar on both sides, and if a battle broke out at sea, they would definitely be at a disadvantage!
Moreover, Pica was a Devil Fruit user, and if their ship was destroyed, it would be troublesome. So it was better to find a small island that would be advantageous for him to fight against the Marines.
Soon, they arrived in front of the small island.
It was a small island full of rocks, and among the rocks, there were clusters of beautiful roses. Waves of strong floral fragrance wafted from above.
But Pica didn’t pay much attention to it. Such strange combinations were common in this world.
Pica disembarked from the ship with four hundred subordinates and immediately had the remaining hundred people take the ships away.
This was to prevent the Marines from destroying their ships!
He didn’t want the Marines to directly destroy the ships and trap him here!
If the Marines were indeed targeting him, as long as he stayed here, they wouldn’t pursue the escaped ships.
“Let’s go, let’s go deeper, don’t let the Marines bombard us directly on the sea!” Pica said casually.
“Yes!” the subordinates replied.
Then, Pica led his subordinates into the clusters of roses.
“Ouch!”
As they walked, one subordinate accidentally scratched his arm on a rose, leaving a small wound. However, the subordinate didn’t pay much attention to it and simply wiped away the oozing blood.
“The roses here smell so good, and they look beautiful too. When we go back, I want to pick a couple to bring back!” one of the subordinates said to his nearby friend.
He then took a deep breath of the floral fragrance.
“Hehe, are you planning to pick some and give them to Serena from the Red Light District?” the friend said with a smirk.
“Hahaha! You know me so well!”
…
“Thump!”
Just before that person, who was smiling with pleasure a moment ago, collapsed to the ground.
“Hmm?” Pica furrowed his brow and said, “What’s going on?”
One of the subordinates quickly went to check.
“He… he’s dead!” the subordinate trembled as he felt the body lying on the ground.
Pica’s gaze sharpened as he carefully examined the corpse on the ground. Suddenly, he noticed a small scratch on the body’s arm.
“Be careful, the roses are poisonous!” Pica said sternly.
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