45 Chapter 45
40 million Beli. 'Grimheart' Rowan.
The first time Gasparde stumbled across Rowan's bounty poster, Gasparde felt nothing but an amusement, wondering how long it will take for this newbie to meet his end.
However, Gasparde had to acknowledge now... that the threat level of this man, Grimheart Rowan, was far above the value of 40 million Beli.
CLANG!
The sparks flew as two blades met. Gasparde seized the opportunity to quickly conjure loads of candy syrup and surround Rowan with it, but Rowan quickly backpedalled to escape from candy syrup. Candy syrup immediately began to melt from the environment full of heat, to which Gasparde clicked his tongue at.
Then, Rowan placed his foot against the wall and propelled himself back at Gasparde. Gasparde, while forming spikes of candy syrup all over his body, prepared to meet Rowan's blazing Sting with his blade.
However, Rowan, by flipping his body forward right before Sting clashed against Gasparde's blade, flew past Gasparde and landed on his back. Gasparde quickly turned around, expecting Rowan to back-stab him. However, immediately after he turned his body, he saw Rowan's foot striking his chin.
Gasparde's eyes widened before his head exploded into a messy fit of green candy syrup. Now, in usual cases, he would've received no damage. However, in this environment full of heat,
Tsss...
the candy syrups that were separated from Gasparde's head began to sizzle and burn from the fire that was spread all around, actively dealing damage to Gasparde. In addition, Gasparde's vision was momentarily obstructed by this, and Rowan used this golden time as his chance.
Utilizing Observation Haki to his advantage, Rowan evaded the aimless slashes that Gasparde made with his blade to protect himself. Rowan began to slash Gasparde with his blazing Sting countless times, be it the arms, legs, chest, stomach—wherever Sting decided to go.
Gasparde's body was diced into numerous pieces. Morphing into gooey candy syrup, they plummeted to the metallic floor and began to sizzle from the heat that was transmitted from the fire everywhere.
Feeling the intense burn, Gasparde quickly reformed his body in an instant. With burn marks and wounds here and there over his body, Gasparde gritted his teeth as he crossed his arms to block Rowan's kick.
"Oh?"
Rowan then commented,
"You didn't use your devil fruit ability just now."
Gasparde grimaced. One of the biggest advantages of logia-type devil fruit, which was to render all types of physical attacks null by morphing one's body into his or her respective element... Gasparde gave up on that advantage.
"..."
No, to be more specific, he didn't have a choice but to give up on that advantage. First, the battle of Rowan and Cavendish versus Gasparde caused his candy syrup to cover up the majority of the room. Second, Rowan started a fire with a lighter, one that quickly spread all across the room throughout those candy syrups. Now, the room was burning in heat, which made the use of Gasparde's devil fruit ability unideal.
CLANG!
Sting met Gasparde's blade. Then, they met several times more in a split second, harbouring murderous intents that aimed to end the lives of their targets.
Rowan spun Sting in his hand, and Gasparde slashed his blade again, thinking that Rowan would clash it with his Sting once more. However, Rowan let Gasparde's blade slash through the air as he took a step forth and now stood right in front of Gasparde's chest.
BOOM!
Gasparde's eyes became bloodshot and blood splattered out from his agape mouth, as he was sent crashing onto the metal wall behind him. Gasparde stood right back up and lifted the blade in his grasp.
CLANG!
It met Rowan's Sting, but Rowan didn't put any strength behind his slash. Letting Gasparde's blade push against Sting, Rowan drew his Sting-holding arm back. Gasparde, not having expected this, lost his balance from the momentum and began to fall forward.
Gasparde, with panic in his eyes, saw that Rowan was about to send a punch right at his face. Gritting his teeth, he morphed his head into candy syrup for a brief moment and created a hole in the middle, thinking that this was the only way for him to evade Rowan's punch.
Then, Rowan's Sting, still blazing from fire, came in, stabbing Gasparde right in the chest.
"Kurgh...!"
Gasparde fell to the ground, unable to maintain his posture from the blow he received from Rowan. He huffed profusely as the blood dripped down from his mouth. His hands were sizzling as they touched the floor, but he didn't have the time to register the pain on his hands as the burning sensation deep in his chest was sending a pulsing pain that dominated his thought process.
"WATER!!!"
Then, Gasparde screamed as he desperately glared at the marine soldiers who were standing at the entrance of the storage room, not knowing what to do.
"SUBDUE THE FIRE!!! DO SOMETHING, FUCKARDS!!!"
However, contrary to his roar, they stood still, frozen. Gasparde... his actions of not bothering to improve the condition of his base, ignoring the deeds of corrupted marines—they were now biting back at him. Those marines, not having received proper training, were engulfed by the fear. Their faces were pale and some even lost strength in his or her legs, having fallen to the floor.
Now, Gasparde found himself gulping while sweating profusely. Rowan's Sting, plucked out of Gasparde's chest, now had its bloody tip pointed right at Gasparde's neck. Gasparde lifted his head and saw Rowan, whose grin seemed to have reached Gasparde's soul.
"Y-You..."
For the first time in his life, Gasparde felt the fear of death.
"Get away... g-get away!!"
Uncaring of the sizzling noises beneath his hands, Gasparde backed away from Rowan, using all his arms and legs on the ground.
Gasparde, whose back was now against the fall, trembled as he gazed at Rowan in fear. Gasparde, whose identity was defined by the pride he held in him, now had his dignity crumbled down.
The marines, who believed in Gasparde's absolute strength, were rendered speechless.
With Gasparde's will having shattered, the victor of this battle was: Grimheart Rowan.
"Do you wish to live?"
Rowan, crouching down in front of Gasparde, smirked. As Gasparde viewed Rowan with his eyes trembling, Rowan suggested,
"Then, how about you hand us a log pose? You know, one that's fully recorded or ready to leave. Or, if you don't have that, I'd accept an eternal pose as well—"
"OI, CAPTAIN!!!"
Then, a shout was heard from the outside. Rowan immediately turned his head towards the direction in which the shout came from; there lied nothing but a metal wall.
But Rowan, grinning knowingly, left Gasparde and walked up to the wall. Then, he punched on it.
BOOM!
The marines winced. Cavendish, who was finally freed thanks to Vasco, widened his eyes at Rowan's action. Everyone was shocked, for Rowan's punch on the wall left a dent on it.
"What the hell... is that strength...?"
BOOM!
A second one. Rowan relentlessly punched on the dent he created, and upon the seventh one, the wall finally revealed an opening. There was a sun rising from the horizon, signalling that the night was over and the day had returned.
"Rowan!!!"
From below, on the body of water, Shooting Star, along with Nami, Deuce, and Bartolomeo, were awaiting Rowan. Rowan grinned casually as he waved at them,
"All ready to go?!"
"Yeah!!!"
"What about the log pose?! Don't we need something to guide us?!"
"Bartolomeo found one that we can use!! We can leave immediately!!"
"Huh,"
Rowan, turning around to face marines, Gasparde, Cavendish, and Vasco, remarked,
"Seems like I'm leaving now."
The way which he spoke was free of concern. Marines couldn't help but think what was wrong with this pirate given the title of Grimheart.
"Ja ne!"
They were left flabbergasted as Rowan casually exited through the hole he created in the wall. At the same time, they were terror-stricken, knowing that if Rowan wished to do so, all of them could've died.
They held their thumping hearts, before,
"Fucking... hell..."
Cavendish, who seemed angered, roared,
"HE TOOK MY SPOTLIGHT!!!"
That's when marines realized, that there was another pirate for them to face. They turned to look at Gasparde,
"P-Please... I don't... I don't want to die..."
but he was simply the shell of who he used to be. Marines knew, that they stood no chance against 'White Knight' either.
__________
"Finally, we're out!! Finally, finally, finally!!"
Shaking his head in disdain, Bartolomeo took in a deep breath, filling himself with a sense of freedom.
"I need, ha..."
Nami, filled with exhaustion, slumped on a chair that was brought out to the deck. Nonetheless, she stood back up and checked their path of sail, the log pose, and any abnormal fore-warning of the weather.
"...Everything seems fine so far."
Deuce, on the other hand, was busy recording events that happened up until now in his journal. Bartolomeo danced around like a madman, but he didn't seem to have noticed, being fully invested in his work.
Lying atop the crow's nest, Rowan was found yawning as he gazed at the bright sky. Having gotten out of the marine uniform that he wore for 3 weeks, Rowan deduced that it would be fine to relax for a while.
'Cavendish, huh.'
And currently, in his head lingered the thought of the pirate who had a phenomenal speed that surpassed even him. Rowan cracked a light smile,
'Strange fella.'
That's the conclusion that he drew out about Cavendish. After that, no thought remained in his head, and Rowan entered the slumber, enjoying a rest as the light breeze embraced him.
And the journey of Grimheart Pirates continues, having gotten past the entry of Grand Line.
__________
__________
[2 weeks after]
"G-11... the destruction of the base mediated by Grimheart Pirates and Beautiful Pirates... defeat and subsequent resignation of Rear Admiral Gasparde."
A marine officer wearing a cowboy's hat seemed to have gotten interested in the event. In his papers were the bounty posters—ones that were just released.
"Now now, isn't this interesting? Two rookies, infiltrated a large marine base and successfully escaped... while inflicting a wide-scaled damage onto the base?"
The marine officer chuckled, remembering how the higher-ups reacted to this.
"But alas, if someone at the rank of Rear Admiral isn't enough to defeat them, then isn't it only natural for Vice Admirals to target them?"
The more dangerous a criminal is, the higher the bounty that is assigned to them. Bounty, in other words, is a measure of a criminal's threat level.
Rear Admirals are generally recommended to take on criminals whose bounties lie within the range of 30 million to 70 million Beli.
The criminals whose bounties are surpass such range... they were for Vice Admirals or higher-ups to take care of.
"Let's see... if they just left G-11 with a fully recorded log pose... they should on..."
The man mumbled to himself before his eyes lit up, having remembered the information he was seeking.
"Onsen island, a great place for tourism! With G-11 protecting its front, this island has rarely received any threats! But... will they be there by the time I reach there? Err, guess I'll have to ask—wait."
The man momentarily paused.
"Speaking of Onsen island... isn't that where Commodore Resol was recently defeated... gahh, whatever."
Standing up from his seat, the marine officer left the scene. The bounty posters that he was looking at were he left on his table. They read:
*'White Knight' Cavendish. 78 Million Beli.*
.
.
.
*'Masked Enigma' Deuce. 11 Million Beli.*
*'Cannibal' Bartolomeo. 33 Million Beli.*
*'Weather Witch' Nami. 36 Million Beli.*
And finally,
*'Grimheart' Rowan. 87 Million Beli.*
