Chapter 3: The Paramecia-Type Life-Life Fruit
Half an hour later, Louis stood on the blood-stained deck of the warship, holding the lifeless body of the Marine Rear Admiral, lost in thought.
"This is actually the East Blue?" The corner of Louis's mouth twitched slightly. He recalled the unknown powerhouse he had encountered in the storm earlier, and his face froze. "Does that mean the powerful Haki in the storm was Garp's?"
In his memory, the only powerhouse who frequently popped up in the East Blue was Garp. Besides Garp, there didn't seem to be any other major figures wandering around.
Furthermore, the Marine movements were also strange. The Rear Admiral-class officers Louis had encountered one after another were not the kind of military strength that should appear in the East Blue.
"Did something big happen in the East Blue during this time? Why are so many warships heading in the same direction?" After leaving the sinking Rear Admiral's warship, Louis continued on his way, encountering several more warships led by flag officers.
This left Louis feeling deeply confused. Had the Fleet Admiral lost his mind? Piling up Rear Admiral-level forces in the East Blue.
"A Buster Call?" Louis casually tossed the Rear Admiral's body into the sea, but he quickly shook his head. The warships he had seen so far were only standard flag-officer vessels; he hadn't even seen a Vice Admiral's ship, let alone the specialized fleet required for a Buster Call.
After pondering to no avail, Louis flicked the blood from his spear and turned to walk towards the ship's island.
As he walked, his body began to glow with a golden light. He was bathed in a mysterious radiance, appearing as mystical as an angel. Then, wisps of light scattered like fireflies in the night, landing on the warship beneath his feet.
In the next moment, a faint glow emanated from the warship's surface. It then began to show signs of life, briefly becoming a living creature.
This was one of the abilities granted to him by the Paramecia-type Life-Life Fruit he had obtained on the sky island.
Besides the basic ability to heal external wounds without side effects, it could also temporarily grant life to inanimate objects. As long as they weren't killed or Louis didn't actively reclaim the life force, they could continue to move. Louis was also capable of infusing life force only into the bacteria and viruses within a person's body, but aside from torturing people, this trick didn't seem to have much use.
Of course, Louis could also strip the life force from other living things.
Unlike Charlotte Linlin's ability, the inanimate objects Louis granted life to had no thoughts of their own, only obedience to commands and the basic instinct for survival. However, Louis speculated that once he awakened his Devil Fruit, he could very well create life in the truest sense—species with emotions, lifespans, and the ability to reproduce and endure in the world.
After Louis entered the warship, the vessel automatically furled its sails and began to cruise in the direction he had planned.
Inside the warship, in the Rear Admiral's office, Louis leaned back against a chair he had cut in half. He closed his eyes, alleviating the fatigue from hours of supersonic flight.
But soon, Louis's eyes snapped open and he shot up from the chair.
"A Human Hunt!"
Louis suddenly realized that so many warships heading in the same direction in the East Blue was very likely to support the Celestial Dragons in sealing off an island to conduct one of their "human hunts."
Louis's expression became complicated. He wondered if, should his guess prove correct, he should use a Den Den Mushi to call Arcordon on the sky island and the old muscle-heads deep in the Calm Belt to come and give the Celestial Dragons a real party.
Participating in a human hunt was extremely risky, but the rewards for success were equally rich. They could kill the participating Celestial Dragons to avenge their fallen kin, and they could also seize the Devil Fruits that had caught the Celestial Dragons' eyes.
In the previous era, a few years before their clan was besieged by the Celestial Dragons, Marines, and Cipher Pol, a strong female warrior from their tribe had intercepted a Devil Fruit from the Marines that a Celestial Dragon had taken a fancy to. Later, with the power of that fruit, she single-handedly saved many of her people, settling them in two separate locations: the Calm Belt and the sky island.
Louis had a deep impression of her. A few years ago, the now-aged woman had placed her high hopes in him, telling him stories of her experiences. She had passed away from old age just a year ago. Louis and a few other clansmen had secretly buried her in a cliff face on the Red Line.
Before she died, she had seen that Louis did not want to stay on the sky island. In light of this, she had instructed him to find the Devil Fruit she had eaten. She said it was a twin Devil Fruit, one that could change the fate of a war even in the hands of a weakling.
Returning to the matter at hand, Louis thought for a moment before he started rummaging through the Rear Admiral's office, searching for any possible clues.
A few minutes later, he found something.
It was a letter containing deployment orders. However, it completely overturned his recent guess.
Stripping away the convoluted phrasing and formal terminology, the content was: "Proceed to the Jacob Kingdom and cooperate with Vice Admiral Gummir to escort a person with Oni bloodline to Mary Geoise."
"..." Louis fell silent. After a long moment, he put down the letter with a blank expression and dismissed the idea of calling for backup.
Then, Louis silently controlled the warship beneath him, increased its speed to maximum, and fell asleep.
"..."
Several hours later, the Den Den Mushi on the desk suddenly rang, startling Louis awake. With a fierce glare, he grabbed the Den Den Mushi and threw it out of the room, then closed his eyes again.
A few more hours passed, and Louis slowly woke up. He stretched, yawned, and walked out the door with his weapon in hand.
After replenishing his energy in the warship's galley, Louis took flight again, flapping his wings. He ignited the flames on his back mid-air and vanished with a tremendous roar.
At the same time, the fire humanoid he had left inside the warship walked into the armory and detonated itself.
BOOM—
The armory exploded in a chain reaction. A pillar of fire shot into the sky, blowing the entire warship to smithereens. The massive shockwave traveled for several nautical miles on the sea breeze.
...
Aboard a large, Vice Admiral-class warship, a man in a Marine soldier's uniform saluted a middle-aged man standing with his arms crossed. "Reporting, Vice Admiral, sir! We've lost contact with all three warships sent to the Jacob Kingdom under your orders. We presume they have been lost with all hands."
The old Vice Admiral, wearing a red suit and sporting a bald-on-top hairstyle, frowned at the news, deep in thought.
After a long while, the communications officer received a new order from the Vice Admiral. "Transmit a message to Marine HQ. State that besides the Marines, other forces are involved in this matter, and that three Rear Admiral-class warships have gone missing."
"Understood!" the communications officer responded respectfully.
Afterward, the aging Vice Admiral left the communications room and turned to his adjutant, who had been waiting for a long time. "Inform the entire crew to increase the warship's speed. We must complete the capture before any other powers can intervene!"
"Yes, sir." The adjutant, Dole, a woman with short black hair and soft facial features, nodded. She then turned, her cape of Justice whipping behind her as she departed.