…
Sea Circle Calendar Year 1519.
East Blue, offshore of the Marine 16th Branch.
"Want to live?"
The questioner's voice was calm, as if asking what was for dinner.
The nearby sea was empty.
Moments ago the swaggering pirate crew and nearly a hundred sailors had all sunk to feed the fish.
Only their captain, Scimitar, drenched and miserable, knelt on the deck of the marine warship, shaking like a sieve.
"I do, I want to live."
Scimitar almost roared it, hoarse and on the verge of tears.
He kept his head pressed low, not daring to look at the young marine standing before him.
Too fast, everything had happened too fast.
This marine lieutenant colonel in his early twenties, alone and bare-handed, had slaughtered nearly a hundred members of the Scimitar Pirates cleanly.
The East Blue 16th Branch's Blood Eagle, Lieutenant Colonel Rayne Hawk.
It was said his every move drew blood and he hunted pirates like a raptor, thus the title Blood Eagle.
Now Scimitar's mind was blank, leaving only one thought, to stay alive.
"Very good."
Hawk spoke softly as the sea breeze ruffled the black fringe at his brow.
"What can I say, I am a merciful man."
He tipped his chin toward the side.
Major Dane stepped forward at once and produced a document from his pocket.
"According to Article One of the Marine 16th Branch Pirate Management Regulations: if a pirate voluntarily turns in all illegal wealth gained during his crimes, and after verification no discrepancies are found, he may be exempted from punishment."
"What?"
Scimitar snapped his head up. "Voluntarily turn it in and you can be exempted from punishment?"
"Yes, exempted from punishment."
Hawk stretched out his hand and patted Scimitar's shoulder, even brushing away a few droplets for him. "Relax, we are Marines."
"We stand for justice and rules."
"Speak freely and boldly."
"All right, I will say it, I will say it."
"The treasure is hidden at…"
Like a drowning man finally getting air, Scimitar stopped doubting and poured everything out like beans from a bamboo tube, terrified of leaving out even half a Beli. "The total is…"
Wealth could be stolen again.
But if life was gone, then everything was gone.
Before long, after a burst of buru-buru ringing, Dane hung up the Transponder Snail and turned to Hawk with a salute.
"Report, Lieutenant Colonel. All stashed treasure has been found."
"Counting is complete and basically matches branch intelligence. The numbers line up."
"Lieutenant Colonel Hawk…"
The fire of survival rekindled in Scimitar's eyes. He stared hard at Hawk, waiting for the words of pardon.
"Hah."
Hawk smiled noncommittally.
He took the document from Dane and lightly tapped the very bottom edge with his fingertip.
There was a line of tiny text no bigger than ants: All rights of interpretation of these regulations belong to Rayne Hawk.
Hawk raised his eyes to the face of Scimitar, which was growing rigid, and kept the same kindly smile. "You see, the regulations are very clear."
He paused. "As for what 'exempted from punishment' means, how much to exempt, and how it is exempted…"
"That is decided by me."
"…"
"You were willing to hand over your wealth, and I am pleased."
"So I have decided to exempt you from a living penalty and grant you the quickest death."
Before the words finished, Hawk lifted his fist.
Jet-black Armament Haki instantly sheathed it.
"You… you lied?"
Scimitar screamed, all color draining from his face, leaving only absolute terror.
"People? Do bandits who commit evil at sea count as people?"
"What about your Marines' justice? What about rules?"
"The justice I believe in is the justice of slaughter."
"Rules? Sorry, my rules are the rules."
Thud.
The black iron fist crashed down and the air gave a muffled boom.
Scimitar flew like a rag sack, slammed heavy onto the deck, and moved no more.
Ding. Eliminated all members of the Scimitar Pirates, gained 500 Justice Points.
Hawk lit a cigarette and took a hard drag. "Dane, same old rules."
"Seventy percent of the haul goes to the people, twenty percent split among our brothers, and the last ten percent, put it on my tab."
"Yes, Lieutenant Colonel."
Major Dane snapped to attention with a textbook salute.
The marines behind him straightened unconsciously as well, eyes on Hawk filled with open trust and reverence.
The rank and file of the 16th Branch had long been used to this distribution scheme.
It was one reason why, even with rot among the branch leadership, the grassroots combat strength stayed fierce.
As for the top commander, Colonel Nezumi.
Marine 16th Branch Chief, Colonel Nezumi.
That greedy rat saw only Beli. He clutched the funds allocated by Headquarters and used his post to line his pockets.
He could not care less about the branch's development or affairs and gladly handed command to the second-in-command who had fought his way up from the bottom, Lieutenant Colonel Hawk.
But the soldiers were not fools.
They all kept a scale in their hearts, who sent them as cannon fodder and who truly led them to hunt pirates.
Colonel Nezumi only hid behind and shouted, "Charge."
Lieutenant Colonel Hawk was always, "Follow me."
By regulation this haul should have been turned over to the branch first for redistribution.
But everyone knew that once money went into Nezumi's pocket, not a single coin would ever come out.
Only, if the lieutenant colonel took nothing, how would the rest dare take anything.
So when the lieutenant colonel took ten percent, they could take the remaining twenty with easy minds.
…
Ignoring the reverent gazes, Hawk stood on the deck and looked out over the boundless sea, lost in memory.
Six months ago he crossed over into the pirate world.
When he woke he was already in a marine uniform, a Seaman Third Class of the Marine 16th Branch.
Along with waking came the Justice System.
The host can gain Justice Points by killing evildoers and upholding justice.
If the host fails to execute justice, the system will execute justice upon the host.
Remaining survival days for the host, one day.
What did that mean?
Execute justice on me?
Either the evil of this world or I would live.
Heh.
Then there was no choice.
I never wished for slaughter.
But if you do not die, must I die.
He soon figured out the system's rules.
The amount of Justice Points gained was tied directly to the target's bounty and evil deeds.
For example, Scimitar just now had a bounty of five million Beli.
Killing him yielded five hundred Justice Points.
Justice Points had two uses.
First, directly boosting one's combat power: Observation Haki, Armament Haki, physique, body techniques, Conqueror's Haki.
Each was divided into five tiers: Basic, equal to a Headquarters Colonel; Intermediate, a Headquarters Rear Admiral; Advanced, a Headquarters Vice Admiral; Top, a Headquarters Admiral; and the Ceiling, the world's apex.
For the first four, the point costs were Basic 100, Intermediate 1,000, Advanced 10,000, Top 100,000, Ceiling 1,000,000.
Conqueror's Haki cost ten times as much, the initial tier alone required 1,000 points, and so on.
Second, purchasing survival days, which meant extending the justice-execution countdown.
Within ten years, one point bought one day.
Beyond ten years, ten points bought one day.
Thinking of this, Hawk glanced at the system panel.
Current Justice Points, 1,025.
Remaining survival days, 3,649.
Hmm.
I forgot to add a survival day today.
In his heart Hawk said, Redeem one day.
Ding, deducted 1 Justice Point, added 1 survival day.
Remaining Justice Points, 1,024.
Remaining survival days, 3,650.
Exactly ten years, perfect.
The corner of Hawk's mouth lifted.
Why not keep adding?
Because beyond ten years, adding a single day costs ten points.
But Justice Points can be hoarded without limit.
So all I need to do is stockpile Justice Points like mad and sit on that ten-year line, adding days little by little.
What is that, the system says I lack martial virtue and I am exploiting a bug.
You can execute justice and you can jack up the price.
I use my wits to play the rules to the extreme, which is perfectly reasonable.
Besides, even if I add a thousand-odd days, it is only a bit over four thousand.
Is that a lot?
Not at all.
Just a bit over a decade.
No sense of security.
Far too little security.
Until the number after Justice Points becomes a long string of nines.
I, Rayne Hawk, and evil, cannot share the same sky.
The sea wind brushed Hawk's face, carrying the briny reek.
They called him Blood Eagle, Marine mad butcher, pirate-crew extermination machine.
But who knew he was only fighting to live.
Do you really think I enjoy killing.
"Lieutenant Colonel."
Dane's voice sounded then, filled with obvious excitement. "The place where Nezumi hid his treasure, the brothers have found it."
He strode up and handed over a scrawled list with staggering numbers.
"We did a preliminary count just now. The total is enormous."
"It is basically certain this is every drop of the people's fat and marrow he has squeezed out since taking office by all kinds of means."
"Oh?"
Hawk took the list and the corner of his mouth curved into a cold arc. "Very good."
Across the Marine 16th Branch, aside from Nezumi's diehard cronies, most of the rest were already under his control, openly or in secret.
The biggest reason he had not moved on Nezumi was this vast hoard of dirty money.
It had been wrung from countless East Blue civilians and must never be allowed to be destroyed by Nezumi.
Now the money had been found and was in their hands.
So.
"Where is that dead rat."
"Trading with Arlong in Cocoyasi Village."
"Move out. Time to sweep up this piled-together trash in one go."
"Yes."
…
Warning: The protagonist here is no saint. He is an executioner. And the Marines are not an organization of justice; they are an absolute war machine. We will see beloved characters die, and the concept of "good" will be crushed under the boot of pragmatism.