"Is that Zephyr?" "No way, really?"
"Zephyr? Who is Zephyr?"
"Are you an idiot? You've only been a pirate for a few years and you don't know Zephyr? He's the Marine who gave a lot of us a hard time back in the day!"
"Heh heh... I've heard of Marines falling to piracy, but this is the first time I've seen an Admiral fall."
In the ruins of the Arderay Kingdom, upon seeing Zephyr enter, the entire Alucard Pirates crew exploded with chatter, even those who had experienced the last encounter. Hearing the
possibility of "Zephyr joining," they collectively swarmed him, acting like they were seeing Hancock for the first time, eagerly jostling to get a good look.
Despite leaving the Marines, Zephyr's disdain for pirates remained unchanged. When a large crowd of them surrounded him, gawking like he was a monkey, his veins throbbed, and he nearly lashed out.
After entering the castle's inner hall, the escorting pirate automatically left. Zephyr sat down on the red carpet opposite Alucard and said, "I have no intention of mixing with trash like you."
"Heh... How does it feel after witnessing the darkness?"
Alucard never brought up the topic of "joining," or rather, he didn't care at all whether Zephyr joined him or not. He was merely intrigued and wanted to see what the man would do after witnessing so much darkness.
He expected Zephyr to leave, but becoming a pirate was something Alucard couldn't be sure of. "Zephyr, the Black Arm, is dead," Zephyr replied.
Alucard slightly raised his sunglasses-covered face. "Oh?" "There is no Zephyr in this world. I am... Z!"
Alucard chuckled upon hearing this. "The Hero of Dressrosa? Heh..." "Is there a position you'd like to try?" Alucard suddenly asked.
Zephyr frowned. After Alucard finished speaking, he remained silent for a long time before finally replying, "Fine, but I have one sole condition: I will not attack civilians."
"You don't need to make any demands of me. You can leave whenever you want. Of course, when you do, I will kill you myself," Alucard said indifferently.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Just then, the sound of cannon fire erupted. Alucard glanced toward the window. A member of the pirate crew rushed into the inner hall and reported, "Alucard-sama, some reckless rookie pirate crews are attacking us. Please don't worry, we'll take care of them immediately..."
Whoosh!
Zephyr stood up from the red carpet, his greatcoat flaring out, and walked toward the door.
As Zephyr walked past the reporting crew member, the man looked bewildered. He turned his head to look at Zephyr's retreating figure, then confusedly turned back to Alucard.
"Alucard-sama... this is..."
Alucard's lips curled up. "The Trash Disposal Unit can't wait to start working." "Trash... Disposal Unit?"
The crew member looked dumbfounded, unable to recall the existence of such a "unit" within the crew.
When Zephyr reached the shore of the island, he saw three ships, each flying a different pirate flag, engaged in a naval battle, exchanging cannon fire with Alucard's ships.
Zephyr, with his wealth of combat experience, immediately recognized the situation: the enemy had formed a Pirate Alliance, gathering several pirate crews with a shared goal to confront a powerful enemy before disbanding.
However, they appeared to be nothing more than greenhorn kids. Only three pirate crews came to attack a Yonko's territory?
"Trash Disposal Unit... Hmph, this title suits me very well."
Muttering this to himself, Zephyr used Geppo to leap into the sky. He first targeted the ship in the middle, clenched his right fist, and descended, slamming his fist heavily onto the deck of the pirate ship.
BOOM!
In an instant, the enormous pirate ship, which was not much smaller than a Marine warship, snapped in half like a brittle biscuit. Amidst the startled cries of the numerous pirates, the ship began to sink rapidly.
"What's going on? Who did that?!"
One of the crew members backed away, looking toward the broken section of the ship. He saw Zephyr, still holding his fist in the striking position, his knuckles pressed against the fractured deck.
"Old man, who are you? Are you a member of the Alucard Pirates, too?" The captain of this pirate crew was very young, appearing to be no older than thirty, and didn't recognize Zephyr.
Zephyr gave a cold sneer. As expected, they're just wet-behind-the-ears brats. They recklessly attack a Yonko's territory and don't even recognize me.
Zephyr stood immovable on the warped deck, his massive body like a mountain. He charged toward the pirates. "Listen to my name, brats! I am... Z!!"
BOOM!!
Accompanied by a violent crash, Zephyr launched his second attack.
On their ship, when Matthew saw this sight through his telescope, he raised his hand to stop his men. "Cease fire! We don't need to intervene now."
The sharpshooters with better eyesight could barely make out the situation on the enemy ships without a telescope, but they still couldn't believe it. "Matthew-san... is that the real Black Arm Zephyr?"
"If you don't want to die, don't use that name for him ever again."
Matthew's eyes, visible through the slits of his Iron Mask, shot a glare at his subordinate, then he turned back to look at the second pirate ship, which was now beginning to sink. "Didn't you hear him? His name is Z!"
In less than ten minutes, Zephyr sank all three giant pirate ships, showcasing astonishing strength that left everyone in awe.
Only the veteran crew members remained calm. To them, this was simply what was to be expected.
Two hours later, Dr. Indigo, rarely seen by Alucard due to his obsessive research, finally came to him. As a mad scientist devoted to research, his visit was, naturally, about business... Of course, apart from Hancock and the other women, who else would dare to approach Alucard for small talk?
"Um... well, after observing Zephyr... oh, I mean Z's battle just now, I noticed the virus in his body is highly unstable and is in a critical state. I plan to use the crystallized stone, which I invented last time to expel the infected, as a raw material to create something to suppress the virus's rampage for him."
Alucard, holding an ancient book, listened to Dr. Indigo's words. Without saying much, he simply made a gesture, indicating that he should go ahead and do as he pleased.