Faced with Norton, his silver hair whipping wildly in the air, the palace guards felt as though they were standing at the edge of an abyss.
Especially after discovering the king's headless corpse among the ruins.
"This bastard killed His Majesty!"
The palace guards glared at Norton in fury, pinning the king's murder on him without the slightest attempt to distinguish right from wrong.
Or rather, to them, assuming Norton was the killer felt only natural.
Who wouldn't suspect the man who had stormed into the palace and torn it apart?
Unless they had personally witnessed Mongola killing the king a second time, Norton could never clear himself of that accusation.
At that moment, Saint Ari crawled out from behind the throne, filthy and disheveled, and pointed at Norton.
"That's right! He's the one who killed the king! Arrest him now!"
"You lot! And you too! Protect me!" the Celestial Dragon shouted at the palace guards and CP agents alike.
The CP agents immediately gathered around Saint Ari. The palace guards looked at one another, unsure what to do.
"Idiots! This is the honored Saint Ari, a Celestial Dragon! He's far more important than your king!" one of the CP agents roared. "Get over here and protect Saint Ari!"
"A Celestial Dragon? What would a Celestial Dragon be doing in the royal palace?"
"Who cares? Better if he's fake—but if he's real, none of us can bear that responsibility!"
After a brief hesitation, the palace guards stepped in front of Saint Ari to shield him.
"I almost forgot about you, you worthless piece of trash." Norton's gaze passed through the crowd and settled on Ari.
With so many people surrounding him, Saint Ari's confidence immediately rose again.
He sneered at Norton.
"Just wait, silver-haired brat! The moment I return to the Holy Land, I'll tell the God's Knights about what you did to me!"
"You think you're leaving here alive?" Norton said flatly. "Don't tell me you actually think numbers are enough to bring me down."
"What do you mean?" Saint Ari froze.
Though he stood protected within a wall of people, a chill still crept up his spine.
"You still don't understand?" Norton's smile suddenly turned savage. "If I want you dead, no amount of people can save your miserable life."
"This is bad! Protect Saint Ari!" One of the CP agents seemed to realize what Norton meant.
But it was already too late.
The instant the words fell, Norton vanished from where he stood, as if he had never been there at all.
"He disappeared!"
The CP agents and palace guards looked around frantically, but there was no sign of Norton anywhere.
"Forget it! Protect Saint Ari first!"
Someone in the crowd shouted.
So everyone's eyes turned at once toward the rear—
And saw a horrifying sight.
The silver-haired young man stood in a pool of blood, holding an ugly severed head in one hand. At his feet lay a corpse with its neck torn open, blood gushing like a spring.
At some point, Norton had passed straight through the wall of bodies and cut off the Celestial Dragon's head without anyone noticing.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Norton said with a broad grin, "it's time to close the curtain."
Everyone instinctively took half a step back.
"Call for reinforcements! Send an emergency distress signal to Marine Headquarters! Notify the nearest Marine branch and have them send everyone!"
"This man is not someone we can fight!!"
---
Meanwhile, on the street outside, Nami stood dumbfounded beside a trench that stretched like a giant mark across half the island.
Not long ago, she had watched that path come into being with her own eyes, as though some invisible giant object had plowed through the streets at incredible speed.
Other than that, she had seen nothing clearly.
Following the trench back to its origin, she could see the palace wall blown open.
It was as if something had shot out from deep inside the palace and annihilated everything in its path.
"What on earth happened inside the palace?" Nami murmured.
Funing and the duke stood staring at the same trench in silence, utterly shaken.
At that moment, the light suddenly dimmed, as though a massive dark cloud had covered the sky overhead.
"Well now, so this is where you are."
A voice suddenly spoke from above them.
Nami, Funing, and the duke looked up—
And saw the silver-haired man crouching on a rooftop with one hand supporting a hundred-meter-long ship.
"H-Hey, that's ridiculous! That ship's bigger than a warship!" Nami's jaw dropped.
He was holding it up that casually?
"M-Mr. Norton!" Funing looked so overwhelmed she nearly burst into tears. "You brought out the White Pearl!"
"Of course I did. That ship can only belong to me!" Norton grinned. "Finding you lot took a bit of effort. Get ready, we're putting out to sea."
"Wait! Tell us what happened first!"
Nami pointed at the enormous trench running all the way to the coast.
"Don't tell me there's some kind of laser cannon in the palace or something! I didn't see any beam at all!"
"Oh, that?" Norton said with a smile. "That was me. I made a little more noise than intended, but it's fine. I already took care of all the enemies."
"You did that?!" Nami sucked in a sharp breath. Could a human being even do something like that?
"What's the situation in the palace? And what about that Celestial Dragon?" the duke asked, swallowing hard.
"Didn't I already say they were all taken care of?" Norton replied. "The Celestial Dragon, the CP0 agent, the palace guards, and the World Government agents—same result for all of them."
Hearing that, the duke collapsed to the ground in despair.
"It's over! It's all over! Everything is ruined!"
Once a Celestial Dragon was dead, someone truly powerful would be sent. Everything connected to the case would be investigated thoroughly. There would be no hiding it.
The wrath of the World Nobles would destroy everyone involved.
Norton merely glanced at him.
"Pull yourself together. It's not that bad yet. I killed the Celestial Dragon, and the king is dead…"
"That CP0 agent probably won't survive either."
"Even if the World Government wants to investigate, they won't be able to find anyone who knows the truth."
"As long as I leave this country, all of you will be fine. Those guards and agents only saw my face."
The duke's expression brightened immediately.
"If that's the case, then we still have a chance. Back to the castle—then we set sail at once!"
The group returned to the castle and began making arrangements immediately.
"Sanosuke, go bring the remaining pirates aboard. We need to leave before the Navy and the World Government's real heavyweights arrive," Norton ordered.
Though Norton wasn't afraid of pursuit from the Marines or the World Government, avoiding trouble when possible was still preferable.
"What happened?" Sanosuke still looked bewildered. Why were they suddenly leaving? It was far too abrupt.
"It's a bit troublesome to explain. I killed a Celestial Dragon, that's all," Norton said.
"What?!" Sanosuke was stunned.
"Are you ready? Hurry up and board!" Nami had already packed up the treasure and luggage and boarded the White Pearl.
The chef team, shipwrights, and other attendants who had gone ashore earlier to gather supplies had already returned to the castle and were now carrying provisions aboard the White Pearl.
Beside it, on another ship, the duke was also arranging for his family members and descendants to board. Servants continuously loaded treasure and gold onto the deck, making Nami's eyes shine.
Since something this big had happened, the duke also planned to head out to sea and lie low for a while—perhaps for a year or half a year before returning.
"Funing! Hurry and board! What are you still looking at?" the duke called to Funing, who was standing at the harbor.
But unusually, Funing did not answer him.
She stood staring fixedly as the White Pearl was lowered into the sea.
"The launch is complete… The White Pearl is really setting sail…" she murmured.
The duke froze for a moment, then followed her gaze to the White Pearl. Stroking his beard, he hesitated before walking over to stand beside her.
"Do you want to board that ship, Funing? Your White Pearl?"
"Huh? Father? Is that really okay?" Funing blinked, and joy quietly welled up in her eyes.
"The reluctance in your eyes is practically spilling over, you silly girl…" The duke gently patted her head.
"Of course it's okay. Mr. Norton is very strong. Honestly, in times like these, even I don't know whether I can keep you safe—but with Mr. Norton, I'm certain you will be."
"I trust Mr. Norton to protect my Funing."
A Celestial Dragon had died in this country.
The World Government would absolutely investigate it to the bitter end.
The duke knew that although he had chosen to flee to sea early to avoid the investigation, that didn't mean safety was guaranteed. The World Government's eyes were everywhere, and they might still be found at any time.
But if Funing stayed with Norton, even being found wouldn't matter.
Nothing could stand against that man's fist.
At least, that was what the duke believed.
Though he hated the thought of letting Funing leave his side, for her safety he was willing to let go.
"Go on, Funing. Didn't you say you wanted to travel the world with the ship you built? The chance to fulfill that dream is right in front of you now." He ruffled her white hair gently.
Funing bit her lip, looked once at the duke's ship and once at the White Pearl.
At last, she made up her mind and threw her arms tightly around the duke.
"Father! Be careful! When I've fulfilled my dream, I'll come back to your side!"
The duke laughed softly.
"We'll see when the time comes. At this rate, I may well lose patience and come looking for you before then, Funing."
Funing let out a small laugh, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, then turned to look at Norton, who was crouched on the White Pearl's figurehead, gazing into the distance.
"Mr. Norton! May I join you? I want to set sail together with the White Pearl!!" Funing shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth like a horn, her skirt fluttering in the wind.
Norton looked down at her and smiled.
"Of course you can, Miss Funing. My ship just happens to be short one excellent shipwright."
"And no one knows the White Pearl better than you, right?"
Although the White Pearl already had a team of shipwrights, not all shipwrights were the same. Funing's skill was better than the entire team put together. She was the perfect person to lead them.
The White Pearl was massive, nearly a hundred meters long—with abundant interior space. Even with Funing aboard, there would still be plenty of extra rooms.
"Hurry and come aboard!" Nami called with a smile.
The White Pearl was filled with men; she had been the only girl on board. If Funing joined them, at least she would have company.
Funing lifted her skirt and stepped onto the gangway.
At that very moment, clouds began to gather overhead, and the sky darkened rapidly.
Nami looked up, and her expression changed.
"This is bad! A storm's coming!"
Funing looked up too, worry filling her face.
"It's lightning! My second ship was destroyed by lightning! Hurry, set sail! Get away from the area under those clouds!"
She remembered it clearly. Her second ship had been struck by heavenly lightning on the day it was completed, and even its keel had been split apart.
"It is misfortune!" the duke looked up, awe-struck, his face heavy. "Fate truly cannot be escaped! This ship is cursed by gods itself!"
On the White Pearl, the remaining members of the Redbeard Pirates cast sidelong glances at Sanosuke.
The corner of Sanosuke's eye twitched.
Even he couldn't help wondering whether his bad luck had flared up again.
No… wait…
Everyone else was saying this was the ship's problem!
Nami wiped the sweat from her brow. A bad-luck man plus a bad-luck ship—was it really okay to head out to sea like this?
"Ever since earlier, all I've heard is fate, fate, fate…"
Deep within the black clouds, thunder boomed like war drums, and blinding lightning flashed.
BOOM!!
A bolt of lightning a hundred meters thick crashed down from the sky!
"Didn't I already tell you?" Norton leapt high into the air, his laughter wild and unrestrained. "Damn fate, before me, is just a little bit more entertaining!"
Facing the terrifying might of the world itself, Norton threw a serious punch.
The force of the punch surged upward like an invisible continent rising from below, smashing straight into the black clouds over the White Pearl.
The hundred-meter-wide lightning bolt was blown apart at its center and vanished without a sound.
The sky cleared in an instant—
Because Norton's punch had blasted a hole straight through the black cloudbank.
One punch.
The lightning collapsed.
For a brief moment, everyone was too stunned to speak.
"Raise the sails—set sail!" Norton landed at the prow of the White Pearl and spread his arms wide, as though embracing the sea.
---
At the same time, while Norton, the duke, and the others were preparing to depart, a group of Marines in the palace began overturning shattered stones and squeezing through the gaps into the ruined hall.
The horrifying scene before them, and the thick stench of blood—nearly made some of the marines vomit on the spot.
Bodies were strewn everywhere across the wreckage.
Blood ran like rivers.
"All new recruits with no field experience, get outside now!" the leading Marine officer barked, his face grim.
"Colonel, judging from the wounds, all of them were killed in a single blow! Not one intact skeleton remains in any of the bodies!" his adjutant said, frowning.
"Who could have attacked the palace and caused such a massacre…?" the Marine colonel growled angrily. "Unforgivable. Justice will punish them!"
"Colonel! This body… it seems to belong to the king!"
"We found another one over here! It's the corpse of a Celestial Dragon! There's no mistaking those clothes!"
"What?! Even a Celestial Dragon was killed?!"
The Marine colonel walked over for a closer look.
Sure enough, the two headless corpses were dressed in luxurious clothing. Their identities were obvious at a glance.
"The same manner of death… They were likely killed by the same person. But who would attempt to commit something like this?" the officer said, deep in thought.
"To think such an evil criminal has appeared in the East Blue—someone bold enough to murder both a World Noble and a king! No… Marine Headquarters must be informed immediately. We can't allow them to roam free!"
"Understood!" The adjutant pulled out a Den Den Mushi, thought for a moment, and asked, "I heard Vice Admiral Garp recently returned to the East Blue on leave. Should we contact him too?"
The Marine colonel nodded.
"That works. After something like this, even if we said nothing, Vice Admiral Garp would never stand by and ignore it."
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
If you liked the story, adding to library and dropping stones are enough. I will add extra chap for stone milestones:)
400 P.S - Bonus chap
800 P.S - Bonus chap