Cover Story Serial – Four Emperors Arc Part 5: "The Faded Spirit of the Samurai"
Page after page of newspapers were laid out in front of Yamato. She spent more than two hours reading through them, her small face full of shock. At only twenty years old… he could already fight her father to a draw?
"The Marines, huh…" Yamato stared at the overly handsome face in the photo for a long time before snapping back to her senses. She clenched her little fist, deep in thought. Without even realizing it, the Kozuki Oden she once idolized above all others no longer held the same special place in her heart.
...
"No, Captain."
The pirate in the crow's nest stammered, "And… it looks like they're speeding straight at us?"
The girls who had just been dragged onto the deck heard this. Their lifeless eyes suddenly lit up with surprise.
"Hmph."
The red-haired, dreadlocked female captain noticed their reactions and snorted coldly:
"Report this to Lady Sofia, then get back to work. Don't pay them any mind. I want to see if these Marines really have the guts to interfere!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
The pirates went back to work with renewed effort, dragging young girls from the alleys of the town onto the deck. Any men who dared resist were killed on the spot.
In just moments, another seven or eight girls were violently hauled aboard, while more corpses of their family members littered the streets.
At that very time—
A G-5 branch warship entered the harbor. But it didn't fire. It simply docked and stopped quietly.
"See that, little ones?"
The red-haired, dreadlocked female pirate sneered, turning her head and speaking mockingly to the girls.
"Did you really think these Marines were here to save you? Don't bother dreaming such a..."
Whoosh!
Before she could finish, a sharp whistling sound suddenly cut through the air. Her pupils shrank as she instinctively dodged to the side.
She avoided it—
But not completely.
BOOM!
The surging sword energy slashed the pirate ship's mast clean in two.
The red-haired dreadlocked woman was also struck on the shoulder by the sword's aftershock, and a large spurt of blood instantly burst forth.
She cried out, clutching her shoulder in pain, then became furious. She looked up at the graceful figure walking step by step toward them and roared,
"Hey! What the hell are you doing, Marine?! Don't you recognize the pirate flag on this ship? Lady Sofia is one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea under the World Government! This is legal plunder—you've got no right to interfere!"
"…"
Molly didn't answer. Her gaze swept to the ruined town, the corpses strewn across the ground, the trembling girls on the deck…
An indescribable fire of rage ignited inside her.
"Sofia…"
She turned back, staring coldly at the dreadlocked woman.
"That bounty of 460 million… joined just last year… the one they call the strongest of the Seven Warlords, the 'Bubble Queen' Sofia?"
"So you have heard of Lady Sofia!"
The dreadlocked pirate thought Molly was afraid. Holding her bleeding shoulder, she stepped forward with a sneer:
"Judging by your rank, you're a Vice Admiral? Impressive. But you can't possibly afford the consequences of breaking the treaty, can you?"
Molly narrowed her eyes.
"And just so you know—Lady Sofia is waiting less than a hundred nautical miles from here. If something happens to us, she won't let you off easy. If you're scared, take your men and get the hell out now, or else… ahhh!!"
Her threat was cut off by a piercing scream—her arm had suddenly been severed, falling to the ground.
Her face twisted in disbelief, while Molly's icy voice echoed again:
"This is your first and only warning. Within fifteen minutes, return all the loot and every girl you've taken. Then leave this island with your crew."
"Otherwise… next time, it won't just be your arm. It'll be your life."
—"OHHHH!! So badass!! She's amazing!!"
Behind her, the Marines of G-5 suddenly had sparkling eyes, full of awe and worship.
As expected of Big Sis Molly! Even knowing the enemy was under a Warlord's banner—and that the so-called strongest Warlord, Sofia herself, was nearby—she still stood firm in upholding justice.
In the entire world, probably only their G-5 branch, only their boss, could do something like this, right?
If it were any other Marine branch commander, faced with this kind of situation, they would've either tried to smooth things over or pretended not to see and walked away.
Among the group, only Kawakawa Shuma was an outlier.
After hearing the red-haired dreadlocked woman's threats, his face shifted. He glanced at Molly, hesitated a moment, then quietly slipped back into the cabin.
"You—!"
The dreadlocked female pirate clenched her teeth, just about to explode, when Molly pulled her sword out halfway again and said flatly:
"You have fourteen minutes left."
The gleaming blade instantly made the woman swallow her words.
"Captain, what should we do…"
The bald, burly man asked in a low voice.
"What else can we do?"
The dreadlocked woman glared hatefully at Molly, then stomped her foot hard.
"A wise person doesn't suffer immediate losses. Do as they say for now, and throw all the people back!"
Clashing head-on with a Vice Admiral from headquarters?
She wasn't that stupid. After all, Lady Sofia wasn't far. Once they got back and reported, these meddling Marines would pay.
So, though unwilling, she gave the order. The loot they had already hauled aboard, and the girls they had imprisoned, were all thrown roughly back off the ship.
"Let's go!"
The dreadlocked captain waved her hand viciously and led her officers striding back toward the ship.
The girls dumped on the ground stared blankly as the pirates swaggered away. Suddenly, one delicate girl in a beige long dress, who had just woken up, jolted. She rushed to Molly, dropped to her knees, and began slamming her head against the ground, sobbing hysterically:
"Vice Admiral! Vice Admiral!"
"My mother and brother were killed by them! The mayor, my grandpa, so many of our townsfolk… they killed so many! You can't just let them walk away!"
"Aren't the Marines supposed to capture pirates? Please, arrest them all! Arrest them, I'm begging you… begging you!"
Her face was covered in tears, her forehead soon bloodied from her desperate kowtowing. The other girls fell to their knees beside her, crying too hard to speak, only slamming their heads down with her.
The Marines exchanged glances, fists clenched tightly, but none spoke a word.
Meanwhile, the dreadlocked woman and her crew, already walking away, glanced back with undisguised mockery on their faces.
"…I'm sorry."
Molly looked up at the sky, taking a deep breath, trying to calm herself. But when she finally spoke, her voice was still strained:
"Rescuing you, driving them away… that was the most I could do. As for arresting them…"
She didn't have the authority. And she couldn't afford the consequences.
The ordinary soldiers may have only vaguely known that the "Bubble Queen" Sofia was recognized as the strongest of the current Warlords.
But with Molly's rank, she knew more clearly: since signing the treaty, Sofia had contributed greatly to the Marines' New World expansion plans. Rumor had it she was closely tied to CP-0, often working with them. This time, in the incident with the Poneglyph, it was thanks to her connections that the CP could reach out to the Karina Pirates. By now, she was one of the World Government's most trusted and relied-upon pirates.
Even so… how could Molly say all that to these tear-stained girls?
"…I'm sorry."
She could only repeat those two words.
"HAHAHA!"
Wild laughter drifted from the shore as the red-haired, dreadlocked woman waved dismissively with her back turned, leading her crew onto the ship.
That scene completely ignited the fury of the surviving villagers.
"Pah! Marines, pirates—you're all the same, a bunch of bastards!"
"Our families died for nothing?! You're all in cahoots, the same rotten lot! Damn scum, go to hell!"
Many villagers were overcome with rage, shouting curses. Some even began hurling stones. A few young Marines couldn't help but want to scold them back, but were quickly restrained by older veterans, who pulled them aside with bitter smiles.
—Having suffered such a catastrophe, yet with no way to take revenge, they could only watch the Marines let the pirates who plundered their village walk away. The villagers' fierce reaction might seem unreasonable, but it was only natural.
"..."
Molly remained silent, her gaze locked on the red-haired, dreadlocked pirate captain. She watched as the woman stepped onto the deck, as the sails of the pirate ship rose. Her right hand clenched tighter and tighter on the sword hilt, the blade half-drawn…
But in the end, she let out a weary sigh and slid it back into its sheath.
"Go calm the villagers. Help bury the dead. Distribute all the recovered belongings back to their owners."
Molly called her adjutant over, but after only a few words of instruction, her expression froze.
The adjutant, puzzled, followed her line of sight into the distance—and froze as well.
Out on the sea—
Amid the twilight, countless bubbles shimmered with dazzling colors, tumbling and swirling like playful little fairies, rolling in from the horizon toward the shore.
Under the glow of the setting sun, the scene looked like something straight out of a fairy tale—dreamlike, surreal.
"The power of a Logia… the Bubble-Bubble Fruit…"
The adjutant muttered unconsciously, then snapped back to himself. His eyes widened, and he gasped sharply:
"The Bubble Queen Sofia! She actually came here in person!"
"Shilololololo…"
As the bubbles drew closer, a sharp, eerie laugh echoed across the entire coast:
"How amusing… Marines of the G-5 branch. I've long heard you were a pack of oddballs. But I never expected you'd even dare steal back what I wanted…"
Splash splash...
Bubbles swirled and gathered at the shore, and in an instant they formed into the figure of a hook-nosed woman in her forties.
She stood over five meters tall. Her gloomy gaze bore down from above, like an old witch just stepped out of a castle. Yet she exuded the natural authority of a ruler—commanding and oppressive, chilling everyone to the bone.
"Looks like you don't care much about the treaty signed with the World Government."
Sofia's eyes fell on Molly . She grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow, rotten teeth. "Quite the nerve you have."
It really is her…
Seeing up close the same face they'd seen countless times on bounty posters and newspaper headlines, many Marines gulped hard, instinctively stepping back in fear.
"Lady Sofia!"
The red-haired dreadlocked captain's face had lit up with wild joy the moment the bubbles appeared. Now she hurried back down from the ship with her officers, rushing to the shore.
"How did you get here so quickly, and in person?"
"Shilolololo… couldn't be helped."
Sofia smiled warmly at her. "What can I do? I'm stuck with a bunch of useless subordinates."
That gentle, amiable smile hit the dreadlocked woman like a bucket of ice water. Her expression drained of color, and she stammered:
"M–My Lady, this wasn't my fault! We already announced your name, we flew your flag, but these Marines refused to recognize it. They not only seized the goods, they also attacked me heavily…"
She raised her empty right arm, intending to win pity. But Sofia didn't even glance at it. Her face still wore that kindly smile as she said:
"Oh? So what you mean is, it's my fault? My name and my flag weren't enough—that even a small-time Vice Admiral from some branch dared show me no respect?"
That's not what I meant at all!
Panic rose in the pirate's chest. She wanted to explain.
But for some reason, a suffocating pressure jammed in her throat, leaving her unable to force out a single word. At the same time, something inside her skull seemed to swell larger and larger, her breath growing shorter and shorter—
Pop!
A sound like an exploding balloon suddenly rang out, scaring the people around them.
And when they looked again, they were horrified to find that a huge transparent bubble had grown on the red-haired woman's neck, reflecting a strange red glow in the setting sun.
And on the ground around her, eyeballs, brains, and skin… were scattered everywhere like a cracked watermelon, with red, white, and green colors all over the place.
"Y-YAHH!"
The girls who were the closest shrieked in terror. Some of the more timid ones even fainted.
Molly also stared in disbelief, whipping her head around to look at Sofia.
But Sofia only blinked, then muttered in mock annoyance:
"My, my… what's going on here? It was just plundering a small village. And yet you Marines went so far as to kill my most capable officer?"