Chapter 193 The Player's Helper
"All warships, stand by! Gunners, adjust the direction of the main and secondary guns and aim them at God Valley ahead!"
"As per the pre-departure assignments, advance team members, find your captains. We'll be landing in five minutes!" a loud-voiced soldier in uniform shouted, making sure everyone could hear him. "Remember the instructions given to you before departure!"
"Don't look at what you shouldn't look at, and don't ask what you shouldn't ask. Your only task is to guard the coastline. From now on, no one is allowed to enter or leave. Do you understand?!"
"Understood!"
Mixed among the heavily armed navy, Monkey D. Dragon, who was just an insignificant soldier at the moment, gripped a gun loaded with tranquilizer darts and stared with a cold sweat at the island with towering mountains not far away.
What exactly happened on that island? What was the purpose of their mission?
"What does this mean?!"
With a bang, Garp slammed his fist into the wall beside him. A palm-width crack appeared in the solid wall from beneath his fist, spreading rapidly in all directions before collapsing with a crash.
Behind the rising dust, a squad of sailors came running in panic after hearing the noise.
"Vice Admiral Sengoku, Vice Admiral Garp... Is there an enemy attack?"
Garp, panting heavily, glared at Sengoku opposite him. Sengoku helplessly raised his hand to rub his forehead and reassured his uneasy subordinates: "It's nothing. Vice Admiral Garp and I just suddenly felt like sparring... You can all step back now. We'll take care of things here. You don't need to patrol here anymore."
"Yes, Vice Admiral Sengoku!"
After the navy squad left, Sengoku lowered his hand and looked at Garp with a helpless expression: "Garp, calm down a bit and listen to me..."
"Don't try to fool me with those fancy official words, Warring States, I only have three questions for you!"
"First, what exactly is the objective of our mission this time?"
"Second, who exactly are the people on those World Government ships?"
"Third, he ordered the navy to surround the entire Valley of the Gods and distributed tranquilizer guns to all soldiers. Who are these guns meant to be pointed at?!"
Garp's three questions left Sengoku speechless.
As a candidate favored by the Air Marshal and groomed to be the next Admiral or even the next Fleet Admiral, Sengoku could find countless reasons to tell Garp that everything they were doing now was a sacrifice for the safety of more people on the high seas.
The navy needs funding from the World Government to train new recruits, build weapons and warships, and develop technology. Only when the navy is strong enough can it deter pirates and prevent them from turning the entire ocean into a gladiatorial arena where the strong prey on the weak.
The World Government controls the funds that the Navy needs most, so the Navy will be subject to the World Government and will not be able to say no to their demands like Garp does based on personal likes and dislikes.
The Celestial Dragons and the World Government spent hundreds of years shaping a twisted and dark order of rule. Sengoku, who had gone much further and deeper into the political arena, could spend an entire day endlessly listing the absurdity and ridiculousness of this order, and the bloody filth of this rule.
It's always easy to voice your grievances and identify problems, but then what?
Should they refuse the World Government's unreasonable demands, leaving the Navy in a financial mess, or simply rebel?
After the rebellion, who will rule this world—Flying Marshal Kong or Garp himself? And how can he be sure that the new order will be better than the current one?
Sengoku could find far too many reasons for the compromise between the air marshal and the navy, but... does it matter?
For the ordinary people living in God Valley, they did nothing wrong.
To suffer such a devastating disaster without having done anything wrong is unacceptable, no matter how many reasons one may have.
This lieutenant general, known for his intelligence, looked at his friend's eyes, which were red with anger, and opened his mouth but couldn't utter a single word.
Sengoku looked out the window at the Valley of the Gods. What a beautiful island! The towering mountain peak rose straight into the sky. It would be a good choice to clear the surrounding shipping lanes and develop tourism.
Sengoku subconsciously considered how to develop such a small island, but quickly realized that the island would soon cease to exist.
The existence of the "competition" would greatly undermine the authority of the World Government, and they would not allow anyone who had personally experienced all of this to leave alive.
"The World Government... has ruled this world for eight hundred years."
Sengoku clenched his fist, slowly raised his head and looked directly into Garp's eyes: "If you can't accept this, you can stay on the warship from now on, and your part will be taken care of by me and Tsuru."
Compared to Garp, who is fiercely opposed to evil, he and Tsuru had witnessed the darkness of the World Government earlier, yet they still chose to stay in the Navy and appear here at this time, which proves their inner bias.
Instead of pinning their hopes on a rebellion with almost zero success rate, they acted like a patchwork maker, mending and whitewashing the situation, turning a blind eye to the plagues and insects on board, and simply hoping that this dilapidated and rotten ship called the World Government could continue to sail.
"What kind of person do you take me for?"
Sengoku looked at Garp with a helpless expression: "I'm serious, I don't trust you to go."
Bang!
The sudden gunshot that rang out in God Valley was like a signal, signifying that the once beautiful island had become a living hell from that moment on.
More intense gunfire and screams echoed across the island.
Garp's face grew increasingly ashen, while Sengoku, who was somewhat prepared, began to breathe more rapidly.
"Sengoku, I only ask you, are you worthy of the cloak of justice you wear?" Garp looked up at Sengoku, his expression gradually hardening from pain. "After today, if a new recruit asks you what the justice behind the Navy really means, how will you answer?"
Can you still answer?
Dark Armament Haki gradually wrapped around Garp's hands: "I don't want to be left speechless by a bunch of new recruits, so I will not stand idly by."
"Garp! Are you crazy? If you were to attack a Celestial Dragon, you would..."
Sengoku, realizing Garp's intentions, suddenly stood up to stop him. Attacking a Celestial Dragon in full view of everyone would be unthinkable, even for Fleet Admiral Kong!
He'd rather knock Garp unconscious now than watch him be executed for such a ridiculous reason!
Just as the two were about to start fighting, a flag that was extremely familiar to both Garp and Sengoku quickly rose on the distant horizon.
That's the flag of the Rocks Pirates!
The navy officer standing on the ship's side looked at the black flag fluttering in the wind with a look of fear, but soon, the navy officer next to him noticed that the ship that appeared on the sea was not just the Sword of Giebeck!
"Lox...wait, there's more?!"
In the hazy mist rising from the sea, ships of various shapes and sizes emerged one after another.
"So many...pirate flags, what's going on?!"
The news of the Celestial Dragons coming here was clearly kept under tight control, so why are there so many pirates appearing at this time? Where did the news leak from?!
"The Rocks Pirates, and the Roger Pirates?!"
Standing at the bow of the ship, Lockes crossed his arms and looked excitedly at the island surrounded by warships in the distance.
"Captain, should we furl the sails and slow down?"
"No, don't slow down, full speed ahead... Shiki!"
"no problem!"
Shiki laughed loudly, raised his arms high, and the warships blocking their way floated up one by one, hovering above the warships next to him. Then, with a powerful clench of his fist, Shiki slammed them down!
The warships that were hit broke apart one after another. The terrified sailors jumped into the sea and could only watch helplessly as the Sword of Giebeck broke through their encirclement and rushed onto the beach with ease!
"Haha!" Shiki floated up. "I will definitely be the first person to rescue Shakky. Once I've done my heroic rescue, Shakky will know who the most trustworthy man on this sea is!"
"Huh?!" John smashed the bottle he was holding onto the deck. "The man with the most treasure is the one most worthy of trust!"
Lingling strode onto the thunderclouds with her long legs: "You two can keep arguing, this treasure is definitely mine!"
Newgate's lips twitched slightly: "Linlin, even if you manage to snatch Shakky, it won't mean anything, will it?"
Kaido glanced enviously at his fellow Devil Fruit users, then suddenly remembered someone and asked, "Where's Violet?"
Shiki sneered maliciously, "Ha, that kid is probably terrified by this big scene and is cowering in some corner, trembling with fear."
John, however, diverted a fraction of his attention from the island's treasures and looked at Lox, who was standing at the very front.
"That guy said he went to show the way to his helpers."
"Help?" Wang Zhi didn't believe it. He thought Violet must have deserted at the last minute. "We're going to steal things from the World Government and the Celestial Dragons. Besides 'evil' pirates, who else would dare to help us?"
Shiki: "Haha, you're right. Besides, God Valley is right here. What kind of helper would be so stupid that they can't even find their way around?!"
As soon as Shiki finished speaking, a gust of wind suddenly appeared above his head, blowing his brilliant blond hair into a mess.
What?
A shadow fell over the Sword of Gibbeck, and then rapidly expanded until it covered the entire ship!
"Mmm—"
A deep, robust sound, like a donkey or a goose, rang out from above, accompanied by the loud flapping of wings.
All the pirates on the ship looked up at the sound and saw a huge goose with sharp antlers and a donkey-like head swooping down and landing on the beach not far away.
"Mmm—"
The strangely shaped deer-goose flapped its wings, raised its head high, turned its head once, and looked at the people on the deck with its round eyes.
rustling, rustling...
A rustling sound came from below the beach, and then one after another, collapsed pits appeared out of nowhere on the sand. Those unlucky sailors who happened to be standing next to the pits were instantly knocked unconscious, and they fell to the ground one on top of the other, still clutching their guns.
Two dark brown, sharp tentacles pierced the sand, and clumps of sand gushed out of the ground like fountains. From among the falling golden sand, an "insect" with six sharp tentacles and fluffy, scraggly yellow fur like a lion emerged from the ground.
Wipe—
It rubbed its claws together and easily cut the stone embedded in it in two.
Violet's head popped out from the top of the elk goose's fluffy head and met the gaze of Lox, who was standing not far away at the bow of the Gibeck Sword ship.
"...This is the helper that brat was talking about?" Looking at the monsters appearing one after another in front of him, Shiki didn't know what expression to make.
When did so many strange creatures appear on this sea?
"It's truly... a chaotic mess."
That's true, but if the World Government turned God Valley into a real-life hell, wouldn't that attract demons like them?
Violet cupped her hands into a megaphone: "Lox, I'm ready!"
Rocks raised his arm high: "Take back the treasures that the World Government stole from us!"
"Anyone who dares to stand in our way, whether they are Marines, agents, or Celestial Dragons..." Under the burning gazes of the pirates, Rocks drew his sword and charged forward first, "They will all die!"
"Oh."
Violet chuckled and patted the deer-goose beneath her. Receiving Violet's command, the goose happily flapped its wings and carried Violet into the air.
Violet looked down over the Valley of the Gods, and over the rings of ships belonging to the Navy and the World Government surrounding it.
Have they completely sealed off the sea area surrounding God Valley? They're certainly well-prepared.
However, they never expected that they would not only face pirates from the sea who were determined to reclaim their treasure, but also seasonal bosses from the sky and the ground.
The title of [Dog Training Master], visible only to Violet, shone brightly above her head. The elk and goose beneath her cried out, summoning a continuous spring rain and lightning, and then swooped down toward the center of the island amidst thunder!
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Author's Note: Haha, didn't expect that, did you? The helper that Violet invited is the seasonal boss. Although I really want to bring Dragonfly out for a spin, I'm worried that if he goes, it'll be hard to say whether he's going to rescue someone or kill someone. [doge]
I'm a bit traumatized by the dragonfly after having to reload my save file so many times. [Cracking face]
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