The sunlight carried warmth, gently spilling onto the sea.
Beyond the distant horizon, a large ship with a globe and cross painted on its sails slowly approached.
At the sterncastle, a man took off the white robe draped over him, then removed the mask from his face.
He let out a sigh: "Having to face a monster of the sea... such a headache!"
A hand suddenly reached out from the air and patted his shoulder, causing cold sweat to break out on his forehead.
"Unga, if you fail because of fear... you know what will happen to you."
A middle-aged man of utterly ordinary appearance walked out of the air.
He had a scruffy, unkempt beard and messy hair, with a kind and warm smile, just like any common commoner one might see on the sea.
If there was anything off, it was only the unusual elegance he exuded, which clashed strongly with his appearance.
"S-sorry, Sea Snake boss!"
The CP Agent codenamed Unga kept bowing to the man before him, sweat dripping onto the deck.
"I'm just too worried. How... how can we contend with a monster like that?"
Sea Snake removed the hand from his shoulder and let out a cold laugh.
"Contend? Why would we need to contend with her? The order from the Five Elders is assassination."
Walking towards the ship's rail, this utterly ordinary man opened a newspaper and looked at the day's news.
"Even if she's strong enough to handle a Buster Call, so what? Poisoning, assassination, murder... there are as many ways to kill her as there are stars in the sky."
Sea Snake lifted his head, the outline of Dawn Island faintly visible in his pitch-black eyes.
That foolish pirate would inevitably worry constantly about the blades pointed at her from all directions, regretting every minute and every second that she made an enemy of the World Government!
Making the enemy tremble in fear, unable to control themselves, falling into the abyss of madness and despair to die a cruel death… this was the aesthetic of CP0 Assassination Squad Leader, Sea Snake!
Tap tap tap!
Urgent footsteps sounded as a CP Agent responsible for guard duty ran up to the stern.
"Ch... Ch... Ch... Chief"
The agent, who had looked normal initially, turned pale the moment he stepped onto the stern, his teeth chattering as he spoke.
"Hey, Unga, rein in your ability!"
Sea Snake clicked his tongue, rolled up the newspaper, and hit Unga on the head.
"Yes! My deepest apologies, Sea Snake boss!"
Unga curled up into a ball and rolled into a corner.
The pale-faced CP Agent suddenly recovered, looked around, stood up, and saluted Sea Snake.
"Chief, we are approaching Dawn Island ahead. Jalmack wants to greet the commoners' welcome at the bow and requests your accompaniment."
Hearing the troublesome request from the Celestial Dragon, Sea Snake felt an immense headache.
"I have a mission. Arrange for someone else to guard him!"
"Chief, we tried, but Jalmack doesn't agree..."
The CP Agent's expression became troubled as he glanced slightly at Sea Snake.
"Idiot, just find any ordinary agent to wear the mask. It's not like he can tell the difference, right?"
Sea Snake grabbed the agent by the collar and shouted, then released him, letting him fall to the deck.
"Let's go, Unga!"
After assigning the guard duty to his subordinate, Sea Snake took a small boat with his assistant to go ahead.
Meanwhile, at the port of the Goa Kingdom.
Beautiful ribbons intertwined, and huge, conspicuous welcome banners hung at the entrance to the port.
A brand-new red carpet stretched from the docks all the way into the city. Crowds of people lined both sides to welcome them, and outside them stood guards in gray uniforms.
People's faces were filled with enthusiastic smiles… well, if one could ignore the hint of unnaturalness between their brows.
"Dragon, you guy, are you a genius?"
"Using the nobles' treasure to fight the nobles, and in the end, still making the nobles work for you."
The girl mixed in the crowd raised an apple and took a big bite.
"Ahahaha, it's all thanks to having a very clever friend."
Dragon laughed heartily, his gaze looking into the distance, recalling his meeting with a certain genius under the burnt ruins of the Tree of Knowledge.
"But speaking of which, will the World Government really let you have your way? Aren't you afraid it will affect your homeland?"
Watching the outline of the World Government's inspection ship gradually become clearer in the distance, Sakura tossed the finished apple core into the water.
"Even if the World Government doesn't pay up, the Celestial Dragons' own treasure is enough."
"As for the Goa Kingdom, I specifically left the royal family behind. Let them ask for help, then ambush them. We get weapons and equipment twice!"
Dragon crossed his arms, the aura around him becoming active, already prepared to attack.
The ship below slowly sailed into the port, and the cheers from both sides grew louder.
A man wearing a glass helmet and a heavy white spacesuit walked onto the bow.
"These lowlifes are quite interesting, aren't they, Sea Snake?"
Beside him, the man wearing a huge black-and-white mask made a slight sound.
"Really, you're not as fun as you were the past few days."
The Celestial Dragon, Jalmack, pulled out a pistol from behind him, preparing to shoot a few lowlifes to amuse himself.
The muzzle of the flintlock swayed, aiming at a woman holding a child.
Everyone's gaze froze. Jalmack, his face ferocious, pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The gunshot rang out, a clear, sharp sound entering everyone's ears.
The dazed gaze of the woman holding the child focused. A pink-haired girl was now sitting in front of her, holding something like a needle that had pierced through the bullet.
"Haru... Haruno Sakura!"
The CP Agent standing beside Jalmack immediately recognized their target for this mission.
But before he could react-
A fierce wind swept over the entire inspection ship, lifting it into the sky. All members on the inspection ship were pressed flat against the deck by the sudden gravity.
In this rapidly ascending air, Dragon brought Sakura onto the ship's deck.
"Revolutionary Dragon!"
The man, whose name was thunderously famous within the CP organization, appeared before them. Everyone's mouths fell open.
The masked agent gritted his teeth, reached under his white coat, and grabbed a flintlock loaded with Seastone bullets.
For them, the Revolutionary Army and pirates appearing together was absolutely bad news.
The two largest anti-government armed forces in the world mixing together meant they could shake the World Government's rule more than ever before.
"No! If the government falls, how many commoners will lose sleep at night? I can't let scum like you succeed!"
With the resolve to die, the CP agent ignited his will, injecting it into his heart, stimulating his body's blood vessels, exploding with the power to resist the wind pressure in a short time.
In an extremely brief moment, this agent completed drawing his gun and charging. Broken blood vessels caused blood spots to appear on his face, and blood seeped from his nose, mouth, and eye sockets.
Haki surged on the hand holding the gun. With a ruthless gaze, he pulled the trigger aimed at Sakura.
BANG!
A gunshot.
Gathering the Haki converged from the CP0 Agent's desperate strike to preserve order.
The bullet was propelled out with a flash of fire, carrying immense force from the start. The wooden deck shattered layer by layer under the powerful impact.
A rainbow light flashed in Sakura's pupils. Sensing danger, she subconsciously grabbed the nearest object to block.
Crack!
A crisp sound of shattering glass rang out, causing the eyes of all the agents present to bulge out and their jaws to hit the deck.
"Huh?"
Sakura looked and saw that the guy in the heavy spacesuit she had grabbed had a bullet hole in his head, blood continuously oozing from it.
"Wow~ you killed a Celestial Dragon!"
The girl without the slightest hesitation, turned the tables.
"No, I... cough!"
The man coughed up a mouthful of blood and died on the spot.