The next day, at dusk, the sun was exceptionally dazzling. Even as it was about to sink below the horizon, the blood-red afterglow still dyed the surface of the sea a deep crimson.
Within Red Port on the side of the Red Line near the first half of the Grand Line, aside from a small number of Marines, there were also large numbers of soldiers wearing spiked helmets and standardized heavy armor. These troops answered only to the World Government and were responsible for protecting the Celestial Dragons.
Compared to ordinary Marines, these soldiers were more elite, and their recruitment standards were far more stringent.
After all, this was the gateway of the Red Line, and the World Government required such guards to secure it.
The soldiers on duty were directing the Bondola upward—this was the normal route for ascending the Red Line. The enormous bubble provided ample buoyancy, and with the assistance of capstan, the Bondola cabins could be raised and lowered with greater ease.
As for other areas of the Red Line… no such facilities existed.
Although the Red Line was vast, encircling the entire planet, in reality only Mariejois was inhabited; all other regions were barren stretches of red earth.
The Celestial Dragons also did not allow anyone to live on land at the same elevation as themselves.
As for crossing the Red Line from elsewhere…
This crimson land, formed by unnatural forces, was flanked on both sides by sheer cliffs. Without using the areas where the World Government had built lifts, one could only climb it by hand, and that was no longer something achievable through effort alone.
For the vast majority of people, it was impossible. That was why Mariejois and the Fishman Island below it had become the only two passages between the New World and Paradise.
Retracting the lift to a high position was also part of the defensive procedure here. After all, most people simply could not shake those towering cliffs that pierced the clouds.
But neither the guards nor the Marines stationed here realized that, far up in the distant sky, a cloud was burping while green smoke continuously seeped out of its body.
“Burp~ Matcha flavor, I like it…”
To humans, Dance Powder was hard to swallow. Even Luffy would loudly complain about how bad it tasted.
But to cloud Homies, this powder that could react with clouds was instead an excellent dessert.
Dance Powder took some time to take effect, so Hermes, acting as the vanguard of this operation, was already laying the groundwork in advance.
Dusk was fleeting. Night gradually fell, and the clouds in the sky grew thicker and thicker. Dense storm clouds blocked out the moon and starlight, plunging the entire Red Port into darkness.
Rumble!
Accompanied by a thunderous rumble, torrential rain poured down, and vast amounts of mist obstructed the view from the watchtowers around Red Port.
“What a heavy rain. Can’t see a thing like this.”
“If you can’t see, then you can’t see. Why be so serious about it? Marineford is in front of us and Mariejois is behind us, who would attack a place like this?”
Inside the sentry post, two Marines on duty were chatting idly. If they were out at sea on a mission, a rainstorm like this would indeed be tormenting.
But right now, it actually made slacking off easier.
Boom!
Another bolt of lightning flashed across the sky. As the thunder reached his ears, the more serious of the two soldiers rubbed his eyes.
“Hey… is there something over by the shore?”
“What’s with you jumping at shadows? There’s nothing there, is there?”
Hearing this, the soldier who had been slacking off stood up and looked in the direction he pointed. Aside from the empty steps, there was still nothing there.
“There really is something there, looks like more than one shadow. Could it be the resentful spirits of those slaves up above…?”
“What nonsense are you talking about? There are no ghosts in this world. If they became slaves, they can only blame their bad luck. It’s not like we did it.”
Buzz!
At the center of Red Port, an unknown aura suddenly erupted. Amid the roaring thunder and torrential rain, a violent gale sprang forth out of nowhere.
The dense curtain of rain was swept up by the gale and slammed wildly against the surrounding walls and windows. The observation windows of watchtowers and buildings were pushed past their limits, creaking loudly before finally shattering under the impact.
Even brick-built walls began to show faint cracks, while the wooden railings on the warships moored in Red Port’s harbor were snapped outright by this mysterious force.
Soldiers stationed at Red Port and aboard the warships lost consciousness one after another, collapsing to the ground.
In an instant, the previously tightly defended Red Port now lay wide open.
“Co… Conqueror’s Haki?! An enemy attack?! Who… who would dare attack this place…?”
On one of the warships, a Marine bearing the rank of captain had already dropped to his knees, barely supporting himself with the saber in his hand.
Aside from him, there wasn’t a single conscious soldier left on the entire ship, and his confusion was soon answered.
Amid the cacophony of wind and rain, faint footsteps reached his ears. A long sword floated up from the weapon rack, and while he was immobilized by the pressure of Conqueror’s Haki, it slashed through his neck.
Such eerie scenes were not isolated incidents, but occurred throughout the entirety of Red Port. The few officers who managed to remain conscious under the suppression of Conqueror’s Haki all suffered the same decapitation attacks.
The attackers were an assassination squad led by Sebastian. Its members included, but were not limited to, Fish-Men such as tiger sharks and wobbegong sharks—individuals capable of changing their body color, even rendering themselves transparent to achieve optical invisibility.
Under the cover of the torrential rain, they had already silently infiltrated the vicinity of the officers’ positions, and launched their attacks the moment Nereus released his Conqueror’s Haki.
However, their abilities only worked on themselves; the weapons in their hands could not enter an invisible state along with them the way the Clear-Clear Fruit could.
“Boss, Red Port is under control.”
“Good. I’ve taken control of the Bondola as well. Action teams, get ready. Jamming devices on. From here on, proceed according to plan.”
Nereus’s voice came through the Den Den Mushi. To wipe out the entire garrison of Red Port in an instant without causing too much commotion, Conqueror’s Haki was the most straightforward method.
Combined with an assassination unit capable of carrying out decapitation strikes, they had completely taken Red Port within just a few minutes.
Once the suppression from Conqueror’s Haki ended, Nereus, who possessed the ability to fly, was the first to seize the Bondola that had already been retracted to the top of the Red Line, and he lowered the bondola cabin once more.
Most of their forces remained below to continue guarding Red Port and to block any Marine reinforcements that might arrive.
A small number of more agile members stepped onto the descending lift and reached the top of the Red Line together.
“Pan, did you memorize all these locations?”
“Yes, Boss.”
Big Pan carried an enormous pack on his back, filled with large quantities of accelerants and explosives, including quite a bit of gasoline.
Fuel that could still be ignited even in weather like this torrential downpour.
“Repeat it to me again.”
“The Celestial Dragons’ armory, granary, and…”
Big Pan counted on his fingers several times, finally confirming that he hadn’t missed a single one.
“That’s right. Once you’ve set fire to those places, your mission is complete. Swim back along the Red Line to Red Port directly, and have the people below ready to receive you.
Remember, don’t get bogged down fighting any enemies. Even if someone locks onto you, it doesn’t matter. I’ll take care of them.”
“Mm.”
Big Pan nodded, then carried his pack and submerged underground, swimming toward the locations etched in his memory.
“Slaves are nothing but consumables in the eyes of the Celestial Dragons. As long as Mariejois falls into chaos, the agents stationed here will prioritize escorting the Celestial Dragons in retreat.
Mariejois will briefly become an empty city. Take advantage of that window to free those slaves and take them away.
Same as always, the enemies are mine to deal with. You only need to carry out the tasks within your own scope.”
The torrential rain continued, and the slaves were once again locked back into the prisons of Mariejois.
During the day, they were used as entertainment, but in the eyes of the Celestial Dragons, lowly slaves were unworthy of living under the same roof as them. They were only kept in cages outside.
Some slaves deemed especially high-quality and rare were even rotated and shared through rentals, so out in the open, slaves were mostly concentrated in the same areas.
Meanwhile, inside Mariejois’s granary, Big Pan was carefully splashing gasoline everywhere, leaving explosives in several spots as well.
The guards outside never imagined that someone could infiltrate this heavily guarded place from below.
“What a waste… all of it… such precious food…”
Big Pan genuinely felt regret, but he still carried out Nereus’s orders. Before this, he had already finished preparations elsewhere and planted delayed fuses.
When he felt the timing was just right, his two fingers were coated in jet-black Armament Haki. He snapped his fingers in front of the gasoline barrels.
Snap!
With the collision of his fingers, a spark appeared. In an instant, the entire granary was swallowed by raging flames, while Big Pan calmly swam downward into the ground.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
At the same time, violent explosions erupted from the direction of the armory. Combined with the previously planted devices, Mariejois was almost instantly turned into a sea of fire.
“What’s going on?! With rain this heavy, how can there be a fire?!”
“The Den Den Mushi won’t connect! We can’t contact the armory or the granary! We don’t know what’s happening!”
The jamming devices began to take effect. The guards who had lost communication had no idea what was happening elsewhere.
But having worked in Mariejois for years, they knew exactly what they needed to do at a moment like this.
“Forget everything else! Hurry and rescue the Celestial Dragons! If anything happens to them, we’re all finished!”
In Mariejois, nothing was more important than the Celestial Dragons. No matter what happened, relocating them to a safe place was the top priority.
But rescuing those Celestial Dragons was far from easy.
“Saint Makelo, please follow us to a safe place to take shelter—”
“You b*stard! With rain this heavy, how do you expect me to go outside?! Go prepare a rain canopy at once! If even a single drop of rain falls on me, I’ll kill you!”
“Saint Miaokelan, you—”
“My little dog is missing! It’s all your fault for frightening it! Go find it now! Otherwise, no one is allowed to leave!”
Facing the sea of fire before them, the guards and agents looked at one another in dismay. Yet under the Celestial Dragons’ orders, they had no choice but to risk their lives rushing into the flames to search for a dog whose whereabouts were completely unknown.
Scenes like this were everywhere. Even in the face of such a disaster, the nature of the Celestial Dragons had not changed in the slightest.
As for the lives of the slaves, no one cared at all.
In one of the slave prisons, watching the approaching flames outside the window, the people inside the cages showed not a hint of fear, only a sense of release.
“So warm… dying like this… isn’t so bad…”
“Is this divine punishment? It’d be great if a Celestial Dragon burned to death. Going to hell with a b*stard like that wouldn’t be so bad.”
Bang!
The door was suddenly kicked open. A stranger appeared before them, followed by a thrown bundle of keys and a large amount of weapons.
They were part of what Big Pan had taken out before blowing up the armory.
“What are you all standing there dumbfounded for?! We’re here to save you. Do you really want to stay caged here for your entire lives, forever being slaves to the Celestial Dragons?!
Open your shackles, take up the weapons beside you, go free more enslaved slaves, and then… run toward freedom!”
Boom!
Lightning once again split the night sky, briefly illuminating the face of the person standing at the prison entrance.
He was a Fish-Man. His features might not have been considered handsome in the eyes of many, but at this moment, he was an angel in everyone’s hearts…
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