Chapter 38

The entire medium-sized warship entered the base.

"Return to base!"

After passing through the main gate, the warship soon reached the harbor and docked at the side of the port.

Drop anchor,

Halt the ship.

Led by Navy Ensign 'Darms', over a hundred marines escorted handcuffed pirates down from the warship, preparing to send them to the Navy branch fortress's prison for confinement.

At the same time.

The group of marines at the harbor, upon seeing the pirates being escorted by Darms and the others, caused the atmosphere on the scene to become noisy and lively.

"Holy crap? I'm not seeing things, am I?"

"The pirate personally captured by Ensign Darms is Pirate King Karl? A pirate with a bounty of up to six million berries?"

"As expected of Ensign Darms!"

"Even a great pirate with a six-million-berry bounty was captured so easily."

"Ensign Darms is way too strong."

Everyone chimed in with their own opinions.

Hearing the flattery from the surrounding marines, Darms revealed a proud smile.

To capture Pirate King Karl, he had spared no effort, and had nearly died several times; if his strength hadn't been a notch higher, he might have fallen for it.

"Just a small scene, just a small scene."

The corner of Darms's mouth lifted slightly.

This kind of attention-grabbing scene made him feel physically and mentally delighted.

"After capturing Pirate King Karl, a great pirate with a bounty of up to six million berries, I'm one step closer to being promoted from ensign to lieutenant."

"A six-million-berry great pirate…"

"That's a huge merit!"

With joy in his heart, Darms, under the gaze of many admiring eyes, escorted Pirate King Karl and prepared to leave the harbor.

But just at this moment.

Crash—

The atmosphere erupted into an uproar.

"Quick! Look over there!"

"Another warship is coming!"

"And…"

"It doesn't seem to belong to our East Sea!"

"What a massive warship!"

The marines at the harbor stared in astonishment, dumbly watching the colossal vessel approaching from afar.

It was also a Navy warship.

However…

Whether in style or presence, it was far beyond what Darms's warship could compare to.

Immediately after,

The many marines also saw.

Besides this massive warship, they saw that directly behind it, a pirate ship of considerable size was following!

"I-Is that a pirate ship?!"

"What's going on?"

"Why is there a pirate ship following behind the warship?"

"Are the pirates attacking?"

"No, something's off. Look quickly, that pirate ship seems to have already been taken over by our Navy."

"In other words, all the pirates on that ship have been arrested and wiped out!"

Amid the commotion,

Darms, who had been lingering at the harbor without leaving, suddenly narrowed his pupils, his face showing some doubt and shock.

Seeing that somewhat battered pirate ship…

He suddenly recalled a memory he didn't want to revisit.

Some time ago,

A powerful pirate crew repatriated from the Grand Route appeared in the East Sea; at that time, Darms personally led his men to pursue and capture that pirate crew.

In the end…

He failed.

A crushing defeat!

He was counter-killed by that pirate crew!

Forced into a continuous retreat!

Darms had no choice but to grit his teeth and give up the pursuit, slinking back to Navy Headquarters in disgrace.

The failure of this mission made Darms the laughingstock of the Navy branch.

And this was also the greatest shame of his life!

The pirate crew that had repelled Darms and his men…

Was called the White Ostrich Pirates!

"This, this..."

"No way?"

"Could that pirate ship be..."

Damus's throat went dry, his face full of terror and horror.

He stared blankly at the pirate ship following closely behind that warship.

He was far too familiar with that pirate ship!

He absolutely hated it to the bone!

He never expected...

That today, of all days, he would actually see this pirate ship being escorted to the Navy branch fortress base!

What did this mean?

In other words...

"The White Ostrich Pirates, wiped out by someone?!"

"Impossible?!"

"Such a powerful White Ostrich Pirates — even I could do nothing against them."

"Just who wiped out the White Ostrich Pirates?"

Although Damus didn't want to admit it, he had to.

Given the White Ostrich Pirates' overall combat strength, unless the Vice Admiral personally responsible for guarding the Navy branch fortress took the field himself, basically no one could reliably defeat the White Ostrich Pirates.

Precisely because of this,

The appearance of the White Ostrich pirate ship at the Navy branch fortress at this very moment was what made Damus react with such shock.

At the same time,

The group of Marines standing at the port also gradually, belatedly, pieced together the identity of that pirate ship.

"Holy shit?!"

"For real? That actually is the White Ostrich Pirates?"

"This is a pirate crew with a total bounty of up to twenty million Berries!"

"Looking across the East Sea, who has the capital to annihilate the entire White Ostrich Pirates?"

"It's really the White Ostrich Pirates! Absolutely true!"

"It's said that the captain of the White Ostrich Pirates, Captain Kukali, is a Zoan-type Devil Fruit user, and his bounty alone reaches as high as eleven million Berries."

"Who has the strength to not only take down Captain Kukali, a great pirate of fearsome renown, but also wipe out the entire White Ostrich Pirates?"

The atmosphere at the scene was ablaze.

Everyone was scrambling to guess.