"What are you standing there for!? Shout for the others! Have you forgotten what your job is!?" Scheit barked irritably at the frozen fat lackey.
"Ah... right, right!" The fat man snapped out of it. They were men with bounties on their heads, after all. If Akainu caught them... Just the thought made him shudder. He sprinted toward Drake and the others, screaming at the top of his lungs: "Emergency! Akainu is here! It's bad, the Admiral is here...!"
Inside the hall, the blue-haired woman had just finished her introduction. "I forgot to introduce myself properly. My name is Alan D. Ann. You can just call me Ann."
"Hmm?" Drake and the others were enjoying their meal when the pig-like squealing interrupted them. Drake and Kenshin exchanged a look, both seeing the same exasperated resignation in each other's eyes.
This Akainu actually chased us all the way to the New World!?
"What 'Akainu'? Do you mean Admiral Sakazuki of the Navy Headquarters?" Ann asked, looking bewildered.
"Ann-san, Drake-san is someone who has fought Admiral Akainu head-on before. He's incredibly strong," Bell said to Ann with a spark of excitement. But his face quickly paled as the weight of the situation hit him. "Wait... the Navy Admiral is actually coming for us?"
"Not sure yet. We'll know once we go outside," Drake said, standing up and heading for the deck. Kenshin followed immediately.
"Ann-san, let's go too," Bell added, and the two followed behind.
"What's the situation? Is the Navy really here?" Drake asked the panicking fat man at the hall entrance.
"It's true! It's real! A warship is closing in, and standing right at the front is the Navy's greatest power, Admiral Akainu!" the fat man stammered, his heart hammering against his ribs. However, seeing Drake's calm demeanor, he swallowed hard and forced himself to steady his breathing. He remembered: this young man wasn't ordinary; he was someone who had traded blows with the elite.
Drake took the binoculars and quickly locked onto the warship. Akainu seemed to notice Drake watching him. He stared back through the distance, face expressionless, though the corners of his mouth curled into a faint, predatory smirk.
Holy crap, Drake cursed inwardly. He knew killing a Celestial Dragon would bring an Admiral, but he hadn't expected it to be this fast—or that it would be Akainu, of all people. This was going to be a headache.
"Ah... it really is the Admiral!" Bell and Ann watched in horror as the warship became visible to the naked eye, cutting through the waves toward them.
"Drake, what's the plan?" Kenshin gripped his sword hilt, his gaze turning sharp.
"Run! We have to run!" the fat man pleaded when he saw Drake wasn't moving.
"Hmm?" Drake shot him an unfriendly look. The fat man flinched, remembering they were captives and that Drake had already considered trading their heads for cash.
"You idiot!" Scheit, still lying on the deck, looked at the fat man with utter despair. Are you trying to get us killed faster!?
"Get lost," Drake muttered to the fat man, then ignored him and stepped onto the main deck.
Truthfully, Drake knew they could make a strategic withdrawal. The Magic Protector was an "illegal" existence; if they wanted to flee, no one in the world could catch them. But Drake wanted to test something. He wanted to see if his newfound mastery over spatial manipulation had brought him closer to the level of an Admiral. Akainu was the perfect whetstone.
"We aren't running!" Drake's lips curled into a wild, untamed smile. "Let's take him on!"
"Hmph..." Kenshin closed his eyes, a smile touching his face as well. This was their first battle in the New World; they couldn't just flee like dogs with their tails between their legs. When he opened his eyes, a trace of sorrow vanished as quickly as it appeared. He wouldn't run anymore.
"WHAT!?" Scheit and the fat man were dumbfounded. A thousand "What the hells" screamed through their minds. Don't you know who that is!? That's the Navy's ultimate weapon! You meet an Admiral, you run—that's the survival rule for 99% of criminals in this ocean! And you want to fight him!?
"Drake-san..." Bell swallowed hard, unsure of what to say.
"Akainu! Are you here for the Celestial Dragon?" Drake shouted across the closing distance, knowing full well the answer.
"Hmph..." Akainu's smirk widened as his arms began to transform into glowing, bubbling magma. A cold light flashed in his eyes. "Naturally, for the sake of this world, I have come specifically to execute you."
"Is that so?" Drake laughed but didn't bother replying. He gave a grand wave of his hand, and the pirate flag atop the mast unfurled in the wind. The dragon heads on the wings of the skull seemed to roar at the sky. "Our crew was only just established, but starting today, its name will echo across the four seas! We are the Dragon Flag Pirates!"
Drake's voice was resonant and powerful. So what if he was an Admiral? Today, they would fight to make their name known.
Kenshin stepped forward, his blade inching out of its scabbard. "Count me in!" Bell rushed forward as well, his heart thumping, constantly telling himself: I am a member of the Dragon Flag Pirates too.
Ann watched in shock. She knew who the man on the warship was, but she was equally stunned to realize Drake and the others were pirates. They didn't fit her image of "pirates" at all—they seemed kind, even noble. And yet, they were standing their ground against a god of war.
"Just established, you say? Perfect. There's no need for your name to spread. You can find your final resting place at the bottom of the sea today!" Akainu roared. Thick smoke billowed from his body as he punched both fists into the sky, launching molten projectiles into the atmosphere.
"Great Eruption (Ryusei Kazan)!"
Countless magma fists rained down like small meteors, screaming toward the Magic Protector.
Bell swallowed hard, terrified, but he didn't retreat an inch. He knew that while being weak was a fact of life, having no backbone was a choice. This was his first battle as a member of the crew; even if he couldn't help much, he wouldn't let their morale drop.
"Vrumm..." Drake raised a hand. Six spatial walls manifested and fused together, forming a massive, invisible dome over the ship.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
One after another, the magma fists slammed into the spatial shield. The fat man squealed and curled into a ball, while Scheit stared up in silent, paralyzed terror.
The clash has begun! Drake's spatial shield is holding, but Akainu isn't just any opponent. How will the Dragon Flag Pirates handle the Admiral's unrelenting magma assault?