Several days had passed since the battle with Zephyr-san, or rather, "Z," on Sekan Island. Since then, there'd been virtually no movement. No reports of the Neo Marines appearing anywhere, no word of anything happening at Pirio Island.
Well, that was partly because we'd been keeping a careful watch to make sure it stayed that way.
Then, after several such uneventful days.
I received a communication from Fleet Admiral Kuzan for the first time in days.
"I see... Yes, yes. Understood."
Click.
"Mom. What did the Fleet Admiral say?"
"...He said the Marines will handle the rest from here, so we should pull out."
"""Huh!?"""
When I summarized the phone call as concisely as I could, well, naturally that was the reaction I got.
Can't really blame them. The situation being what it is.
Officially, we weren't supposed to know about the Grand Reboot, meaning the Cataclysmic Eruption that would be triggered by destroying the End Points. So right now, the reasons we were pursuing the Neo Marines, pursuing Z, were ostensibly:
- Apprehending outlaws as part of our duties as Shichibukai
- A request from the Marines, essentially asking for reinforcements
- Stopping Zephyr-san, who was our benefactor
Those three.
The second one, the Marine request, had mainly been about rescuing the Marines who were wounded fighting the Neo Marines at Sekan Island. If the Marines had finished their preparations and could handle things on their own now, it wasn't strange at all for them to withdraw that request.
As for the first, that was more of a best-effort obligation to begin with, and most Shichibukai weren't exactly enthusiastic about it anyway.
So from the Marines' perspective, the only remaining reason for me to stay involved was my "debt to Zephyr-san." And just now, Fleet Admiral Kuzan had tried to talk me out of that one.
Not in a heavy-handed or condescending way, either. You could tell from his tone alone that he was being quite sincere about it.
'Wanting to stop that person, feeling like we have to stop him... the Marines feel the same way. Sorry, but, Pirate Literary Master, let us have this one. We'll settle things with our own hands.'
When someone says something like that... well, what can you do?
"So Mom, are you really pulling out of this?"
"On the surface, yes. We have to let the Marines save face, at least."
That said, just because I was told to step aside didn't mean I could meekly say 'oh, sure thing' and comply.
I wanted to respect Fleet Admiral Kuzan and the others' resolve, and I could understand how they felt, but the success or failure of this operation genuinely had the fate of the world hanging on it. I had no choice but to take every possible precaution.
Otherwise, what was the point of Snow and Iris traveling back through time to warn us?
The Marines hadn't stated it explicitly, but judging from the way Kuzan spoke, it seemed they had finished assembling their forces to defend Pirio Island. If they managed to stop Zephyr-san with that, great, mission accomplished. But if we sat around hoping for that and they failed, it would be the end.
Besides, Zephyr-san had to know the Marines would try to interfere. There was no way he hadn't prepared for it in some form.
On top of that, there was still the mysterious girl who looked like a Seraphim, about whom we still knew almost nothing. With this many unknowns remaining, the odds of everything going according to plan were slim, not favorable.
And above all else, no matter how persuasive Kuzan had been, I still wanted to stop Zephyr-san. Just sitting back and doing nothing felt far too unsatisfying.
"In that case... what do you intend to do, Sue? Officially, we don't know about any of the End Point-related facts, so we can't exactly set up a position at Pirio Island and wait for the Neo Marines to come to us."
"We don't need to. The Marines are going to do exactly that. Well, they've probably already deployed some of their forces there. It sounds like the full-scale positioning is still in progress. If that's enough to stop Zephyr-san, then no problem. The problem is if it isn't enough."
For example, Zephyr-san and his forces charging in practically kamikaze-style before the Marines finished their deployment, and blowing up Pirio Island as-is.
Actually, I was pretty sure that was exactly how they'd play it, nine times out of ten. Even for Zephyr-san, it would be difficult to break through a defense the Marines had put together in earnest and still achieve his objective.
Apparently that was exactly what had happened at Sekan Island, too. If the fighting there had dragged on just a little longer, other nearby forces and the newly appointed Admiral, someone called Green Bull, would have been deployed.
An Admiral who'd been mentioned by name in the Original Work but never actually appeared in the portion I'd read.
I still hadn't met this person in this world, either. I wonder what they're like?
Ring ring ring... Ring ring ring...
Just as I was thinking about that, the Den Den Mushi rang again. Who was it this time?
"(Click) Hel—"
"HELLOOOOO!! SUE-CHAAAAAAN! IT'S MEEEEE!"
...A terrible ambush. Catastrophic damage to my eardrums.
Not just me; everyone in the room had their ears ringing, but Mama kept right on talking without a care. Her voice in an enclosed space was brutal even through a Den Den Mushi...
Was it just my imagination, or did the Den Den Mushi transmitting her voice also look like it was struggling? Volume-wise.
My hearing had gotten a bit fuzzy from that blast, but even so, Mama's voice reached my ears without any trouble. Whether that was something to be grateful for was debatable...
"I FINISHED LOOKING INTO THAT THING YOU ASKED ME ABOUT THE OTHER DAAAAY! YOU SAID TO TELL ME RIGHT AWAY WHEN I FOUND OUT, RIIIIIGHT? IS NOW A GOOD TIIIIIME?"
"Yeah, it's fine. So... did you find out anything bad?"
"WELL, TO START WITH THE CONCLUSION, IT'S NOT IMMEDIATELY CATASTROPHIC, BUT I DID FIND OUT SOMETHING FAIRLY BAAAAD! IF YOU LEAVE THINGS ALONE, THE MARINES MIGHT GET OUTWITTED, YOU KNOOOOOW!"
"Ahh... that's not great. Mama, give me the details."
***
That afternoon.
In the waters near Pirio Island, the last of the End Points.
Marine warships had deployed there in formation, tasked with blocking the Neo Marines led by Z from reaching Pirio Island, holding the defensive line until the Main Force arrived from Marine Headquarters.
Among those stationed there were Vice Admiral-class officers, making this a Quasi-Buster Call level concentration of force. That much firepower had been assembled, all to prevent the destruction of the End Point at any cost.
With forces like these, they could hold out against even Black Arm until the Main Force, led by a Marine Admiral, arrived. In fact, they might even be able to take him down outright.
The Marines on defense were operating with that exact mindset: if possible, settle things before the Main Force even gets here.
Even though the person they'd be pointing their guns at was Black Arm Zephyr, their very own Sensei.
They had steeled their resolve. They intended to stop him and crush his plans with everything they had.
And yet... those Marines would never directly face their Sensei, never cross blades with their former comrades-in-arms.
"Reporting, Fleet Admiral! All eight warships defending Pirio Island have simultaneously lost contact! No matter how many times we try, we can't get through... It appears they've been wiped out..."
"What the hell does that mean...? I thought the Neo Marines didn't have any wide-area Ability Users. This isn't Whitebeard we're talking about. Eight warships taken out all at once...?"
"We don't know! We're rushing all available reserve forces in the area to the scene, but whether they'll make it in time..."
Around the time that report reached Kuzan.
Zephyr, having confirmed through his telescope that every last warship in the deployed formation had capsized and sunk, had just given the order to his subordinates: 'Advance.'
"Methane Hydrate... Burning Ice, was it? The sea holds some truly fascinating things. Even at my age, I'm reminded of how much I still don't know."
"That's understandable. In this era, only a handful of experts, starting with Dr. Vegapunk, would have knowledge of such substances."
Standing beside Zephyr was a mysterious figure draped entirely in a black hooded cloak, hidden from head to toe.
The voice was slightly muffled, but clearly female. Even through the cloak, the figure was visibly slender and seemed relatively young.
This person, known in some circles as the Advisor, remained a mystery to almost everyone in the Neo Marines, save for a select few. Investigating the Advisor's identity was expressly forbidden.
More than a few had their suspicions, but Zephyr clearly trusted this person and kept them close. Every piece of advice the Advisor offered proved useful, and the results spoke for themselves. No one voiced complaints.
The annihilation of the Marine defensive line this time was also thanks to a strategy proposed by the Advisor.
Beneath the waters where the Marines had positioned themselves, there happened to exist deposits of Burning Ice.
If torpedoes were fired into it from underwater, the resulting reaction could wipe out all, or at least most, of the warships on the surface.
They did exactly that. The massive volume of bubbles rising from the seabed, produced by the combustion of the Methane Hydrate, capsized all eight warships just as predicted. The formation collapsed entirely.
The one silver lining was that since this wasn't an attack using firearms, casualties and injuries were minimal. However, the impact of the capsizing had apparently ignited and detonated the gunpowder stores aboard the ships, so the damage was far from insignificant.
"Go back to your cabin and rest. The rest is our job. Your body must still be suffering."
"Yes... I'm ashamed that I can't be of more use..."
What was known about this person amounted to what had already been mentioned: for some reason, Zephyr trusted them; they appeared to be physically frail and rarely showed themselves in public, spending most of their time resting indoors.
And one more thing: their name.
"You've done more than enough. Thanks to your advice, I can see my way of life through to the end... I'm grateful, Zwei."
"...Please, take care. And may fortune favor you."
The Advisor, the woman called Zwei, gave a small bow, then retreated back inside the ship, her posture still downcast.
Watching her go, Zephyr let the faint trace of gentleness that had remained on his face, the tenderness he'd shown when worrying about Zwei, fade away. In its place came the face of a warrior who had made his resolve. He raised his voice.
"All ships, full speed ahead! The Neo Marines will now advance on Pirio Island! We will destroy it and activate the Grand Reboot! We end this godforsaken era with our own hands... steel yourselves!"
"""Yes sir!"""
***
"...Based on what I saw, that's pretty much what happened."
'Thanks. ...By the way, I asked you the other day to stay out of this, and you never went home after all, did you?'
"Well, no... but if the Marines had handled things properly, I wasn't planning to do anything. I was just going to watch without interfering. At most, help with rescue operations if needed. So, should I still just sit here and watch?"
'You already know the answer when you're asking that... Ugh, fine. Sorry, Pirate Literary Master, help us out again. Just until we arrive, please. I'm leaving Zephyr-sensei to you.'
"Under— wait, Fleet Admiral Kuzan, what did you just say? 'We'? You don't mean you're actually— (click) Ah, damn, he hung up."
Above the waters where the Marines had been wiped out.
Sue and her crew, who had been standing by and monitoring the battlefield in case of exactly this kind of development, looked down at the scene from the deck of their ship, hidden among the clouds.
All eight Marine warships had capsized, showing their hulls to the sky. People and debris scattered around them. Explosions and pillars of fire erupted intermittently, likely from secondary detonations.
Cutting straight through that wreckage, the Neo Marines' fleet pressed forward. At this rate, they would pass through the area without encountering meaningful resistance.
Some individuals, Vice Admiral-class officers among them, might try to fight back, but even so, they likely couldn't stop the advance. If the Neo Marines were allowed to reach Pirio Island and achieve their objective... the world would end.
It was precisely because Sue and her crew had anticipated this possibility that they were here now.
"...Well then. Let's go."
***
Target spotted.
Commencing elimination of the objective.
To be continued...