North Blue, Iron Fang Island.
This was a notorious gold-consuming pit in these waters.
The sky was perpetually shrouded in gray industrial waste gas, and the air was a pungent mix of low-quality perfume, rum, and rust.
All kinds of ships were docked at the pier.
Some flew skull flags, while others, though flying merchant flags, carried sailors with fierce faces and fresh bloodstains on their decks enough to reveal their true identities.
This was Joker's backyard.
In the Underworld, everyone knew the name of the Donquixote Family.
This was not only the largest supply station but also the premier transit point for slaves and arms.
As long as you had Berries, you could buy anything here.
"Clang!"
A heavy chest of gold was thrown onto the pier's walkway.
"You made a killing this trip, Captain Galen."
The fat manager in charge of dock registration was looking at the burly man in front of him with a fawning expression.
The man called Galen was hulking, with a cold, glinting iron hook attached to his left hand, and a thick beard stained with wine.
He was the Captain of the Iron Anchor Pirates, with a bounty of fifteen million Berries.
"Cut the crap, get me the best women and the strongest booze!"
Galen spat and used his iron hook to scratch his hairy chest.
As the territory of one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, there were no Marines on this island to carry out justice.
Just then, a black dot appeared on the distant sea.
As the distance closed, the hideous shark-head figurehead on the bow gradually became clear.
Galen narrowed his eyes and let out a sneer.
"Is that... the Rabid Shark?"
A lackey next to him immediately leaned in.
"Boss, it looks like 'Bone-Smasher' Buck's ship. I heard that big idiot went to stake out near the entrance of the Grand Line a while ago, hoping to rob a few fat sheep."
"Pah! That moron only knows how to use brute force."
Galen curled his lip in disdain.
He and Buck were old rivals; the two had clashed many times over shipping routes.
"Looking at how tattered that ship is, he probably got taught a lesson by the storms. What an embarrassment."
The surrounding pirates burst into laughter.
The state of the Rabid Shark was indeed poor.
The sails were shredded, the mast was tilted, and the ship's waterline sat very low, making it look as if it could sink at any moment.
More strangely, the ship was silent.
There were no chants from sailors furling the sails, nor any flag signals from the lookout.
It simply headed straight for the pier.
Its speed was even increasing.
"Hey! What does that guy think he's doing?"
The fat manager on the dock sensed something was wrong, and the ledger in his hand almost slipped.
"That direction... is he trying to crash into us?"
"Buck! Are you crazy! This is Iron Fang Island!"
Galen roared toward the sea.
"Slow down! Do you want to wreck my ship too!"
No response.
The Rabid Shark was like an out-of-control beast, carving through white waves as it crashed straight into the busiest berth.
"Run!"
Someone shouted.
The porters and idle pirates on the dock immediately scattered in all directions.
Three.
Two.
One.
"Boom!!!"
The massive sound of the impact echoed throughout the port.
Under the force of the Rabid Shark, the hard wooden walkway shattered like paper.
Splinters flew and seawater surged.
The immense inertia sent more than half of the Rabid Shark's hull onto the shore, and the keel at the bottom of the ship made a tooth-grinding snapping sound.
Two unlucky small pirate ships docked nearby were crushed to pieces.
Dust filled the air.
The entire pier fell into a deathly silence.
Everyone stared dumbfoundedly at the semi-grounded wreck.
Causing trouble here?
And a suicidal kind of trouble?
This was a direct provocation to the dignity of the Donquixote Family!
"Cough, cough... cough..."
Galen waved away the dust, his face so dark it looked like it could drip ink.
A flying piece of wood had just nearly sliced off his nose.
"Buck! I think you're tired of living!"
He drew the scimitar at his waist and led dozens of his subordinates to surround the ship aggressively.
"Get the hell down here! If I don't fry the fat out of you today to light a lamp, I'm not Iron Anchor Galen!"
The dock's guard team also arrived.
Leading them was a tall, thin man in a black suit and sunglasses; he was an outer cadre of the Donquixote Family.
"Anyone who dares to run wild in the Young Master's territory must die."
The man in sunglasses said coldly, fiddling with a flintlock pistol in his hand.
However.
There was still no sound from the ship.
Neither an apology nor a counterattack.
Only a heart-palpitating silence, accompanied by a faint stench of decay drifting down with the sea breeze.
"Playing tricks!"
Galen had a violent temper; he smashed his iron hook hard against the ship's hull.
"Boys! Get up there! Drag that one-eyed dragon out for me!"
"Yes, sir!"
Several pirate lackeys eager to show off immediately grabbed the ropes and climbed onto the deck.
The people below waited for the show to begin.
A few seconds later.
"Aaaargh!!"
An extremely shrill scream erupted from the deck.
Then came a second, then a third.
Those were sounds made only when humans face extreme terror, their voices breaking and changing pitch.
"What's going on?"
Galen's heart skipped a beat.
Before he could react.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
Several bodies were thrown off the ship, landing heavily on the pier.
The crowd instantly erupted.
Those bodies... no, they could no longer be called complete corpses.
Their necks had been bitten clean through, their internal organs were hollowed out, and the expressions on their faces were distorted to the extreme, as if they had seen hell before they died.
"What... what is that..."
Someone pointed at the bow in terror.
The dust cleared.
Several figures appeared staggeringly at the edge of the broken railing.
They were the crew of the Rabid Shark Pirates.
But their current appearance sent a chill from everyone's soles straight to their skulls.
Their skin was an eerie, grayish-pale color, and their bodies were covered in black veins.
Some had eyeballs hanging out of their sockets, while others were missing half their heads, yet they were still moving.
"Roar..."
A low growl emerged, like countless beasts grinding their teeth.
"These... these are Buck's men? How did they turn into these ghostly things?"
Galen's hand holding his sword began to tremble slightly.
He had killed many people.
But he had never seen a situation where the dead could still move.
"Tap, tap, tap."
A series of slight but clear footsteps sounded.
Surrounded by those monsters, a massive figure slowly walked to the bow.
It was a terrifying giant over three meters tall.
His right arm was a massive bony claw, his back was covered in black bone spikes, and his muscles bulged like granite.
That was Buck.
Or rather, the creature that used to be Buck.
And on Buck's broad shoulders, there actually sat a weirdo in a bodysuit.
The red and black bodysuit tightly wrapped his body, outlining lines that were smooth yet carried a hint of playfulness.
The weirdo held a bright red apple in his hand, which looked completely out of place in this hellish scene.
"Crunch."
Deadpool took a bite of the apple, the crisp sound especially piercing in the silent pier.
He looked down at the dense crowd below.
"So many people."