On the azure sea, Gern’s warship slowly sailed.
For several weeks, they had followed the Marine’s designated patrol route, searching for traces of the Elephant Lord along the way.
“Rear Admiral Gern!” Suddenly, the observer on the lookout shouted, “Anomaly detected ahead!”
“What anomaly?” Gern raised an eyebrow and quickly walked to the bow.
At the same time, in the observer’s telescope on the lookout, a ship bearing a pirate flag slowly emerged on the distant horizon.
“This standard… this flag…” The Marine soldier on the lookout cried out in alarm, almost dropping the telescope in his hand.
“Alert! All hands, alert!” His voice trembled with undisguised fear, “Ahead… ahead is a ship from the Gold Lion Flying Pirates!”
As his words fell, the deck instantly became silent.
All Marine soldiers froze, and someone’s ammunition box fell to the deck with a “thud.”
The legs of a few new recruits began to tremble uncontrollably, while the veterans instinctively reached for the weapons at their waists.
“Golden Lion… is it that Golden Lion?” a young soldier asked tremblingly.
“Shut up! It’s just a pirate crew under the Golden Lion!” The Sergeant reprimanded sharply, then quickly ran to Gern’s side, lowering his voice significantly.
“Rear Admiral Gern, the lookout has confirmed it’s the Flying Sky Pirates’ flag, we…” The Sergeant’s words were cut off by Gern.
“Besides the pirate ship, did you see anything else?”
“Anything else?” Hearing Gern’s words, the observer picked up his telescope again, and sure enough.
Not far away, there was a very large… shadow that seemed to be moving but didn’t appear to be moving.
He then reported truthfully. Hearing this, Gern was even more excited than hearing about the pirate ship, taking the telescope handed to him by the Sergeant.
In his line of sight, not far from the pirate ship, a huge black shadow was slowly moving.
The outline of the shadow could be seen from afar as an elephant.
“Finally found it, Elephant Lord…” Gern murmured in a low voice. After confirming the black shadow was the Elephant Lord, Gern slightly moved his telescope.
“It really is the Flying Sky Pirates…” Gern’s lips curled into a slight smile, “What a small world.”
Just then, in the telescope’s view, a familiar figure appeared on the pirate ship’s deck.
The man wore a black top hat, a dark red overcoat, and carried a golden long spear carved with intricate patterns on his shoulder.
In his other hand, he played with a small pocket watch.
“I wondered who it was, turns out it’s you…” Gern put down the telescope and sneered.
“Now bounty of 1,090,000,000 Berries, the captain of the third division of the Gold Lion Flying Pirates… ‘Death Knell’ David.”
.........
At the same time, on the pirate ship.
David seemed to sense something, slowly raised his head, his gaze piercing through the sea, his Observation Haki locking directly onto Gern on the warship.
He pulled down his top hat, revealing a gloomy face, a cold, sinister smile playing on his lips.
“Heh heh…” David gently shook the pocket watch in his hand, making a crisp “click” sound, “Looks like we’ve met an old acquaintance.”
His voice was not loud, but it clearly reached the ears of the pirates beside him.
“Captain David, that’s…” A pirate swallowed, his voice trembling slightly, “The Marine’s Heaven Quake…”
“That’s right.” David’s lips curled into a cruel smile, and the golden long spear elegantly spun in his hand.
“It’s that brat who only knew how to sneak attack from behind Zephyr when Fleet Admiral attacked the Marine G-3 Base.”
David unhurriedly adjusted his grip, every movement exuding the calm of a cat playing with a mouse.
“I let him get away back then, this time…” David suddenly lowered his voice, a hint of killing intent flashing in his eyes, “It won’t be that easy.”
In David’s perception, Gern was merely a newcomer who had gotten lucky.
The Golden Lion Fleet Admiral had personally told him that the injuries that day were clearly caused by “Black Arm” Zephyr.
This Navy brat was at most an opportunist who took advantage of the chaos to deliver a finishing blow.
Thus, with the Golden Lion being very stubborn, the Golden Lion Pirates’ cadres also believed that their boss’s injuries were due to Black Arm Zephyr.
Especially since the bounty the Golden Lion placed on Gern back then had always circulated within the Flying Sky Pirates.
This led to David not taking Gern seriously at all now.
.........
On the warship deck, the air seemed to solidify.
“Rear Admiral Gern!” The Sergeant’s voice trembled noticeably, fine beads of sweat trickled down his forehead, and the documents in his hand were crumpled.
“The lookout has confirmed it’s the Flying Sky Pirates’ ship, they… they have locked onto us.”
He quickly stepped forward, lowering his voice, “Moreover, according to the latest orders from headquarters, we are not to engage in direct conflict with the Flying Sky Pirates when an Admiral is not present.”
“Should we… temporarily avoid them?”
“Heh heh.” Gern’s fingers lightly caressed the hilt of his sword, a dangerous curve appearing on his lips.
“You want me to…” His voice suddenly turned cold, “Avoid him?”
His cloak rustled in the sea breeze, Gern’s slow turn exuded a suffocating pressure.
The Sergeant unconsciously took half a step back, his Adam’s apple bobbing with difficulty.
“But Rear Admiral Gern, headquarters’ orders explicitly state that we are not to engage with the Flying Sky… without an Admiral present.”
“So?” Gern suddenly interrupted, a chilling smile appearing on his face, “Do you think I’ll listen to headquarters’ orders?”
Facing Gern’s decisiveness, the Sergeant sighed, “Reporting, Rear Admiral Gern, unknown pirates detected ahead, requesting permission to destroy them!!”
“Really good!”
Gern’s gaze, like a sharp sword, pierced towards David in the distance, the scene of their brief past encounter flashing through his mind.
“In that case, pass on the order.” Gern’s voice suddenly became unusually calm, yet it made everyone’s hearts tremble.
“All hands, battle stations.” Saying this, Gern paused, then added,
“Remember, keep the cannon fire away from the Elephant Lord. When that guy gets angry… he’s much scarier than the Golden Lion.”
“Yes!!!”
........
On the pirate ship, David stood like a statue at the bow, the gilded tip of his golden long spear rhythmically tapping the deck, emitting crisp “ding, ding” sounds.
At the same time, his narrow eyes slightly narrowed, his gaze, like a venomous snake, used Observation Haki to firmly lock onto Gern in the distance, a cruel curve on his lips.
“Captain David, should we directly…” A pirate had just begun to ask when he was pulled by the sleeve by his companion.
“Shhh—” The older pirate lowered his voice, “The captain is ‘timing’ it.”
David’s slender fingers elegantly played with the silver pocket watch, the watch chain flowing between his fingers with a cold gleam.
Suddenly, his sinister smile abruptly froze, and the pocket watch cover snapped shut with a crisp “snap”!
“Time’s up, Death Knell—” Before his words finished, David’s figure had already transformed into an afterimage.
The golden long spear traced a perfect arc in his hand, and at the moment the gun flower bloomed, a dazzling flash of fire erupted from the muzzle.
“Strike!!”
A deafening gunshot, like a bell, tore through the calm of the sea. A specially made Sea Stone bullet, imbued with Armament Haki.
It shot through the air at a speed indiscernible to the naked eye, heading straight for Gern’s brow!
This shot was so fast that even the sound couldn’t catch up with the bullet. It was David’s signature technique— “Instant Prison Sniping”!