"Marine Vice Admiral?"
Asgati looked at Rowan approaching him, a cautious look in his eyes.
But deep down, he knew that if he showed even the slightest hint of fear at this moment, every crew member behind him would scatter and flee.
That was the wisdom he had gained from everything he had experienced over the years.
These men were less companions than a bunch of scum who had gathered around him because of his strength, allowing them to do whatever they pleased.
Of course, he was scum himself. He had never denied that.
"A mere Marine Vice Admiral thinks he can stop me? I am... going to become the man of a Yonko!"
The instant his words fell, a massive burst of explosive flames suddenly swept forward.
However.
"Smack!"
"Boom..."
With nothing more than a casual slap, an invisible force erupted and directly sent the blazing flames flying.
Yet Rowan himself didn't even have the slightest scorch mark on his clothes.
"Ho... How is that possible?"
At this moment, Asgati had completely lost his previous composure. The caution in his eyes had turned into fear.
What was that just now?
Why could he disperse his flames from a distance with a single slap? Why didn't he even need to make contact?
"Using Haki is fundamental in the New World, but projecting Haki outward requires a stronger will and greater talent."
As Rowan spoke, he walked over to Hina's side, took out a Healing Dandelion, and pressed it against the charred skin of her exposed shoulder.
In just a few seconds, the injuries disappeared, and her skin returned to its flawless state. Rowan subconsciously glanced at the area that had been exposed.
Hmm, very white.
"Vice Admiral, does it look good?"
Hina glared at Rowan, though she was amazed by how quickly her body had recovered.
Rowan coughed twice before taking off his Justice coat and draping it over Hina's shoulders.
"This thing is a secret. Remember, don't report it to Vice Admiral Tsuru."
Hina nodded. "Don't worry. Ever since that time Vice Admiral returned to Headquarters, I've stopped reporting to Headquarters."
Hmm?
Those words made Rowan somewhat puzzled.
That old woman Tsuru wasn't easy to fool.
There was no reason for her to trust Hina this much. Or had she already decided that Hina had switched sides?
"You actually... dare to ignore me like this!"
A voice suddenly rang out. Dozens of streaks of fire shot toward Rowan like bullets, but not a single one managed to hit him. He dodged every attack.
"Oh, right. I should take care of business first."
Rowan looked at Asgati. "Come to think of it, I originally thought you should already be dead. But now that I look at it, I guess today is the day you die."
Asgati lowered his head.
"Why? Why can you ignore me? Seven years ago, I swore that from that day onward, no one would ever be allowed to ignore my existence!"
As his words fell, he suddenly raised his head.
His eyes were bloodshot, filled with rage and savagery.
"Bastard! Don't act like this is nothing!"
In an instant, monstrous flames erupted from him and spread outward from his body. Even the pirates behind him were caught in the flames.
"Boss!"
"Ah... Boss, what's wrong with you? It's us, Boss!"
"Run! Asgati has gone crazy!"
For a moment, the pirates of the Burning Pirates began jumping into the sea from the harbor one after another, diving as deep as they could to avoid being burned alive.
Rowan slowly walked forward.
Armament Haki flowed through his body as he threw a punch!
"Boom!"
The tremendous force erupted, tearing through the overwhelming flames. Rowan stomped down and instantly closed the distance to Asgati.
The sudden attack was so fast that even his Observation Haki failed to react in time. His elemental transformation had only just begun when Rowan's fist caught him in his physical form.
"Crack..."
A series of bone-crushing sounds rang out. The flames dissipated as Asgati was forced back into his physical form.
His entire abdomen was smashed into pulp by a single punch, while every rib on both sides was shattered.
"Pfft."
A mouthful of blood spewed out, along with pieces of his ruptured internal organs.
All his internal organs had been shattered. After taking a punch like this, his life was unquestionably coming to an end.
Asgati's eyes were blank as he suddenly dropped to his knees. His mangled abdomen could no longer support his body, and he collapsed onto the ground.
"G... G5..."
Rowan crouched down. "What?"
Asgati spoke intermittently. "Like... G5... Marines... why... weren't they there... back then?"
At this moment, Hina, wearing Rowan's Justice coat, walked over.
"Asgati. He was from a certain country in the South Blue. In order to reduce the amount of Heavenly Tribute it had to pay, the country's king traded all its elderly and children to a human-trafficking organization."
"Because it was the decision of the king of a World Government-affiliated country, the Marines had no legal authority to stop it. Later... those elderly people and children were sold as part of a package deal. Since they had no value, most of them ended up becoming participants in a killing game."
At this point, Hina looked at Asgati.
"You experienced such suffering, yet after gaining power, you didn't take revenge on the king, nor did you take revenge on the human-trafficking organization. Instead, you inflicted that same suffering upon other ordinary people just to satisfy yourself."
"So... Hina thinks you were wrong, and she also thinks you were guilty. If you had taken revenge against the king or targeted the Marines, Hina might even have respected you. But you didn't..."
After Hina finished speaking, Asgati, lying on the ground, breathed his last.
Rowan looked at him and sighed.
A person like this had already been driven insane by the world, and what was worse, he was a cowardly and weak-willed madman.
Perhaps back then, all he could think about was how, once he gained enough power, he would slaughter every one of those evil people. But after actually obtaining that power, he had backed down.
He had turned his target onto the people who were once like himself, found a ridiculous excuse to justify it, and treated that excuse as the truth.
Rowan stood up and grabbed a handful of small stones from the beach.
"Whoosh!"
A stone was flung out. Before long, a bloodied corpse surfaced on the sea near the harbor.
"Whoosh, whoosh..."
Two more stones were thrown out, and all the foolish pirates who had been clinging to the hope of surviving ended up as corpses floating on the water.
The Burning Pirates had been completely wiped out.
"Long live Vice Admiral!"
"Quick, quick, quick! It's time to loot the spoils!"
The Marines from more than a dozen support teams swarmed forward, while Rowan continued staring calmly at the sea.
"A world that can drive ordinary people into madness like this... In the face of despair, even staying alive has become a form of torment."
Rowan sighed. "The king of an affiliated country personally sells the elderly and children of his own nation just so he can afford the Heavenly Tribute, leaving behind only the young and middle-aged who can still produce value."
"But the young and middle-aged will eventually grow old, too. And if children are sold away before they even have a chance to grow up, then what kind of future can such a country possibly have?"
Behind him, Hina replied, "Hina is only a Marine. Hina doesn't have Vice Admiral Tsuru's wisdom, nor does Hina have strength like Vice Admiral Rowan."
"Hina... can only do what she believes is right, even if it means paying with her life."
Hearing this, Rowan turned around and suppressed the sudden emotions that had welled up inside him.
He smiled and reached out to ruffle that messy pink hair, only to earn an angry glare from Hina.
"Don't make it sound so serious. No matter what happens, you and Smoker still have me standing in front of you, don't you? At least for now, actually killing me is still pretty difficult."
Hina dodged Rowan's evil hand and was just about to say something when her Observation Haki detected movement behind them.
Before long, a group of ordinary villagers came running over, carrying manure forks, wooden sticks, kitchen knives, and hatchets.
The two of them could see the fear in the villagers' eyes, but they could also see their determination.
Fearing pirates was instinctive for ordinary people, but they had managed to summon the courage to pick up weapons and emerge from the sealed underground shelters to support the Marines who had fought desperately to protect them.
Their actions mattered more than their thoughts.
Even this alone was enough to show how much the area under the jurisdiction of the G5 branch had changed.
"Ma... Major Hina!"
An elderly man who was clearly the leader of the group came forward, using a cane as a makeshift club. He obviously knew Hina.
But then his gaze shifted to Rowan, and he stared at him in disbelief.
"Vice... Vice Admiral Rowan?"
Overcome with emotion, the old man immediately ran over and, together with the group behind him, dropped to his knees with a loud thump.
At his age, performing such a grand gesture made Rowan feel that he still wanted to live for a few more years. After all, he'd only just been bragging about how hard he was to kill.
With a flash, he dodged away from the kneeling crowd. "If you have something to say, just say it. You're already this old, why are you kneeling to me? What if you kneel me to death and I die tomorrow?"
His casual remark eased the atmosphere somewhat.
Among the kneeling villagers were also some young people. A few of the bolder ones stood up and asked,
"If Vice Admiral Rowan is here, then is the guy who died over there a pirate? We could see flames that huge even from our village. Vice Admiral Rowan, you're amazing!"
The young man's father tried to pull him back down, but after hearing Rowan's words, the village chief could only stand up as well.
The old man bowed repeatedly as he thanked him, his voice trembling. "These past few years have been completely different from before. I'm an old fool who doesn't understand much, but I know these changes only started after Vice Admiral Rowan was appointed here."
"When the pirates came, we hid like we always did. I sent my only surviving fifth child to keep watch. He came back and told me that this girl Hina had been injured and was coughing up blood."
"In the past... the Marines of G5 would never have done something like this. An old man like me knows very well what would happen to us if you Vice Admirals weren't here."
The old man rambled on, and Rowan listened attentively.
Compared with Hina and Smoker, Rowan rarely went down to the ports to speak with the civilians under his jurisdiction.
However, when the area was being cleared out a few years ago, Rowan had also participated as part of the supporting forces, so these villagers had seen him before.
Now that they finally had the chance, these villagers who had dared to come out carrying weapons had far too much they wanted to say after experiencing such a drastic swing between despair and joy.
However, after about half an hour, the adjutant from Rowan's warship came running down with a Den Den Mushi.
"Vice Admiral, it's a Den Den Mushi connecting to the frontline branch."
Rowan's expression turned strange. After thinking for a moment, he ignored the ringing Den Den Mushi.
He exchanged a few words with the old man before returning to the warship and answering the call.
Hina followed him aboard.
"Click."
"Rowan, where are you right now?!"
Hmm? The voice and the appearance mimicked by the Den Den Mushi were both quite familiar.
Sakazuki?
"Ah? Is that Vice Admiral Sakazuki?"
Rowan deliberately sounded confused. "Why are you personally making the call? Is there no one else available?"
Sakazuki roared, "I'm asking where you are right now! Answer me!"
Another mad woman's voice suddenly came through the Den Den Mushi.
"Brat playing with fire, your magma is barely enough to light the candles on my cake! Get down here!"
"Boom!"
A violent thunderous roar erupted.
Sakazuki's furious roar followed immediately. "Bastard! A pirate like you belongs in Impel Down! Fat hag!"
"Hmm? Mamamama..."
Amid her manic laughter, BIG MOM was clearly furious. "I'll peel the skin off your body and show the Marines whether I'm inferior to that old bastard Newgate!"
Even Rowan, listening through the Den Den Mushi, felt that Sakazuki was genuinely fearless.
Calling a woman a "fat hag" was practically a critical hit.
And as far as he knew, Charlotte Linlin had actually had a pretty decent figure when she was young. It was probably because she kept having more and more children later on.
Was it nine babies at once, or fourteen? He couldn't remember anymore. Anyway, her figure had eventually gotten so distorted that if she fell over, she couldn't even get herself back up without using the recoil force.
"ROWAN!!!"
The furious roar came through again. Rowan thought for a moment, then swung a fist toward the sea below the warship.
"Boom!"
"Crash!"
The sea exploded upward before crashing back down.
Rowan hurriedly replied, "I'm fighting over here too! Vice Admiral Sakazuki, hold them off for now. Once I finish off that bastard Aska, I'll immediately come over and support you!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Rowan directly hung up the Den Den Mushi.
The scene left Hina completely dumbfounded. She turned her head to look at Aska, who was already dead beyond any doubt over at the harbor, then looked at the Den Den Mushi in Rowan's hand.
Her confusion was obvious.
Rowan spread his hands. "That bastard provoked BIG MOM himself, and everyone aboard his warship except him ended up dead. Otherwise, there'd be no way the guy fighting right now would be the one making the distress call."
Rowan rubbed his chin. "Should I go over there? If he's exhausted after fighting her, I could just put a hood over his head and throw him into the sea. Then we can blame BIG MOM for it."
(⊙д⊙)
Hina's eyes widened.
He could actually do that?
Was Vice Admiral Rowan holding a grudge? Or was he genuinely as dissatisfied with that man as she was? Were all those fellow Marines really dead?
That confrontation at Headquarters... Had Vice Admiral Rowan deliberately lost?
Judging from this, Vice Admiral Rowan was probably even stronger than Sakazuki, who was about to become an Admiral.
Rowan thought for a moment before standing up. "Earlier, the commanders of the other two units made a suggestion. They wanted to station our forces separately and have them support each other whenever necessary, in order to maintain stability throughout the territory. I agreed."
"I'll contact Smoker later. As for you, Hina, stay in Area 09. When pirates appear, estimate the difference in strength between both sides and call for reinforcements whenever necessary."
Hina saluted. "Understood."
With that movement, the Justice Coat that had been covering her body slipped slightly.
Hmm... Very white.
Not only was it very white and quite attractive, but the look in her eyes was pretty obvious too.
After lowering her hand, Hina took out a cigarette and lit it without the slightest hesitation. "Does it look good, Vice Admiral Rowan?"
This time, Rowan wasn't embarrassed at all. He answered directly, "It looks pretty good. That's all for the arrangements. I'm heading to the Totto Land waters to see if I can pick up any leftovers."
A man was a boy until the day he died. It wasn't like he had suddenly entered some enlightened sage state. How could he possibly control his eyes when they automatically locked onto something?
Seeing that she hadn't managed to tease Vice Admiral Rowan, Hina blew out a ring of smoke, wrapped the Justice Coat tightly around herself, and disembarked.
She needed to return to her own warship to change clothes. She would also be stationed here for the time being.
Rowan waved his hand, signaling the subordinates who had automatically moved away from the two of them to come back. Then they set sail toward the Totto Land waters.
"Don't travel too quickly. That guy has thick skin and tough bones. Although he can't beat BIG MOM, he should be able to fight her for a few days."
"Let's circle around our territory first. We need to clean up the trash at our doorstep. Otherwise, we might come back and find that someone has broken into our home."
Once the order was given, all the people within G5 who were on Rowan's side remained silent, but faithfully carried out his orders.
The New World had incredibly rough seas. Who knew why it would take several days just to get over there? They might even end up being blown around the waters near their own territory by the storms for several days.
Rowan yawned, returned to the cabin, entered the lounge, opened his notebook, and began writing again.
The concealment and range expansion of wireless radio signal transmission would have to wait until he obtained the giant mechanical soldier and they developed its enormous energy source.
But before that, the cloned owls could already be used to imitate the World Economy News Paper's news-bird delivery system without any problems.
As for the newspaper, it naturally needed to keep up with current events, such as the truth behind the recent struggle for the Four Emperor positions.
But a newspaper had plenty of space, and using words to subtly awaken people's minds was something Rowan, this otherwise rather useless "Teacher," had to handle himself.
After all, he couldn't exactly expect a scientist like Vegapunk, or someone like Dragon, to come up with realistic stories capable of stirring people's hearts.
So... how was he supposed to write this thing?
After getting a start down, Rowan felt as if his mind had turned into a complete mess.
This world had been ruled for eight hundred years. Perhaps even during the existence of that Ancient Kingdom eight hundred years ago, it might have been ruled by a dictator.
Trying to awaken the people's minds without exposing his true intentions was difficult.
It was all because he hadn't paid attention in class in his previous life. His knowledge of political science was an absolute disaster.
As his thoughts wandered, Rowan suddenly thought of Sakazuki, who was probably being beaten senseless by BIG MOM right now.
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