One Piece: Blue Scale Admiral

“However, it’s clear that the disappearance of many villages and their inhabitants is related to the countless human trafficking operations at sea.” Kizaru picked up a document about pirates abducting people and selling them to slave owners.

Sengoku tapped a photograph in the center of the coffee table with his index finger, drawing everyone's attention. He said in a deep voice, "Xiaohe and I have also considered the issue you raised. Therefore, all the missing persons cases appearing here have undergone rigorous screening. These all occurred in the Paradise Sea, not far from the Calm Belt, especially those within a thousand miles of Alabasta. I had Brannew organize a team to thoroughly investigate these cases, and ultimately, all the clues pointed to this place."

The photo he tapped with his index finger was actually a simplified map.

The most prominent feature on the map is the red earth continent, which occupies half of the map.

To the right of the marked red earth continent, marked with an X-shape, is the Inverted Mountain.

Ahead lay a vast expanse of brownish-yellow land, the largest of which was none other than the Kingdom of Alabasta.

But a small mark, marked in red pen and located close to the red earth continent, less than a fraction of the size of Alabasta, had three words written on it.

Karp read out those three words.

"The Insect Kingdom?"

His brows furrowed.

"I've never heard of this place."

“It’s normal that you haven’t heard of it.” Sengoku looked at the simple map. “This country only appeared in Paradise a few years ago. If it hadn’t suddenly applied for and been approved as a member state of the World Government a year ago, even our navy’s intelligence would not have collected any information about this suddenly appearing kingdom.”

"Republics? What does that have to do with missing persons?"

Karp picked up the documents and scanned them, becoming increasingly alarmed with each reading.

The data he reviewed already contained more than 10,000 missing persons cases involving dozens of communities of varying sizes.

"Of course there's a connection. You know, even the World Government would investigate such a large number of missing persons cases very carefully. And after numerous investigations, CP personnel discovered that all the missing people eventually went here. Furthermore, when CP investigators entered this small country bordering the Red Line, they also found those missing people..." Sengoku pointed to the red circle on the map again.

"So, this so-called 'Insect Kingdom' is actually a slave trading community disguised as a fraternal state? How did the higher-ups approve their application to become a fraternal state? What are the Five Elders thinking? Do they really think that as long as they get paid, everything will be fine?" Garp's face showed obvious anger.

"That's not the case."

Sengoku shook his head and continued, "The CP investigators initially thought so too, but after questioning those who were trafficked there, they learned that they voluntarily stayed in the Insect Kingdom and became residents of that kingdom, and no one forced them."

Lieutenant General Crane added, "Everyone says the same thing, including the king of Chongfeng Kingdom."

"King?" Kizaru scratched his head, not quite understanding.

"That is to say, everyone in that country came from other places. This gathering included human abduction, human trafficking, pirates sailing the seas, travelers going on sea adventures, and merchants trading at sea. Even their king came from elsewhere."

As Lieutenant General He spoke, he pulled out another photograph from the documents and placed it in front of the group.

The people in the photo were all familiar to those present.

Karp was stunned.

"Isn't that Luo Xia kid?"

The photo shows Rorschach standing on the ruins of the Prince of Princes capital street.

Lieutenant General Tsuru chuckled lightly, "It is him, but what I want you to see is the corpse lying at his feet."

"A corpse?" Karp picked up the photo and looked at it carefully. He found that at Rorschach's feet, there was indeed a robust but gruesome corpse.

Before he could ask a question, Lieutenant General Crane said, "The owner of this corpse is named Mig Jones. He was born in this Insect Kingdom and once served as the army commander of this country."

Garp, still puzzled, held the photo: "So, what does this have to do with Zephyr's disappearance? Do you suspect that Zephyr also went to this Bug Kingdom?"

"I don't know." Zhan Guo shook his head. "It's just that I have some guesses because of the connection between the geographical location and the missing persons."

“Since we already have a guess, why not just send someone over to check it out?” Garp said.

Kizaru stood up and said lazily, "How about I go take a look?"

Sengoku waved his hand, "No need, I've already sent Kuzan over. He's going to this Insect Kingdom, and Luo Xia is searching the Calm Belt. With a two-pronged approach, a warship as large as Zephyr can't just disappear into thin air. I believe news will come back soon."

.

.

On this day, in the usually calm and windless seas, a massive warship, like a seagull soaring through the sky, spread its wide wings and swooped down from hundreds of meters in the air, crashing heavily onto the shimmering sea.

The hundred-meter-long hull crashed down, instantly creating waves more than ten meters high, which splashed and scattered in all directions.

The tremendous tremors attracted the attention of the indigenous people, the most common species in the calm zone.

"Brother Rorschach! A sea king has been spotted approaching from the right!"

From the top of the watchtower, Lark spotted a massive dark shadow rapidly approaching from beneath the distant sea.

Without Yun Que's reminder, Luo Xia, who had regained his human form and hurriedly changed into a military uniform, had already noticed the abnormality around him.

There's no need to even use Observation Haki to sense things.

Because a wave the size of a mountain peak had already risen on the sea outside the Kirin.

"Pamel! Keep the rudder steady!"

Luo Xiachao, standing behind him, gave a command to Palmer, who was holding the helm, before turning to look at the enormous, mountain-like behemoth, which, judging by sight alone, was no less than 500 meters in size.

Splash!

Waves even higher than the Kirin surged in rapidly, causing the warship beneath their feet to rock violently in the seawater.

Rorschach opened his palm, and crackling electricity crackled in his hand. A golden hair tie on the back of his silver hair melted into golden liquid, which flowed out and flew onto his palm.

The golden liquid twisted and quickly condensed into a golden sphere, enveloped in a hazy electric light.

Roar!

The massive wave crest burst open, revealing a maw two hundred meters in diameter. To the horror of Bepo and the others, it unleashed a deafening roar and lunged at the Kirin.

At that instant, the golden ball crackling with electricity in Rorschach's hand shot out of his grasp.

The golden ball flew at such a speed that, apart from Enel's Observation Haki enhanced by lightning, no one else on the Kirin could catch a glimpse of that golden phantom.

The next moment, what appeared before everyone's eyes was the gaping maw of the attacking sea king, its front and back pierced through, with a bloody tunnel fifty meters in diameter.

Only then did everyone hear a crackling electrical noise in the air.

Ignoring the soldiers' shocked gazes, Luo Xia spread his right hand, and invisible air currents rapidly gathered, transforming into a huge air barrier. With a tremendous impact, it slammed into the Sea King's corpse, which was still hurtling towards the Kirin.

With a muffled rumble, the Kirin glided hundreds of meters toward the sea behind it, while the sea kings in front were blocked by a powerful force and slammed onto the surface of the sea.

The explosion sent seawater flying everywhere, and large amounts of blood, reeking of blood, gushed out wildly from the ruptured body of the sea king that resembled a fathead fish, quickly turning the seawater within a radius of a thousand meters into a blood-red color.

"Start the outer vessels! Get out of here." Rorschach waved.

"Yes!" Bepo led his men into the cabin to start the steam engine.

The strong smell of blood here will likely attract even more sea kings soon.

Whoosh.

A golden ball flew from afar and hovered silently in front of Luo Xia. With a casual wave of his hand, it transformed into long golden threads that automatically flew to the back of his head, encircling his long silver hair that cascaded over his shoulders, gathering it together, and transforming it back into a golden ring-like hair tie.

He turned around and looked at Enel, Hibari, and Law standing on the deck.

"To expand the search area, we will split into three groups. Enel and I can both fly, and our Observation Haki has a wide enough range. We will split up and search forward. Law, you and Hibari will stay on the Kirin and follow the central axis of the Calm Belt. If you find anything unusual, contact me immediately via Den Den Mushi."

"Yes, Brother Luo Xia, please be careful," Yun Que said solemnly.

Luo Xia nodded, a whirlwind swirling around his body, and he leaped into the sky, taking off from the deck of the Qilin and flying rapidly towards the distant sky to his left.

Enel's body shattered into tiny arcs of electricity with a snap, disappearing from the ship. When he reappeared, he was already hundreds of meters away in the sky, flying towards the sea to his right.

Meanwhile, the Kirin started its steam turbines and sailed straight ahead.

A few minutes later, about twenty kilometers away from the Kirin, in the sea to the left, Luo Xia's body was being lifted by invisible air, flying at high speed in the vast sky.

Tiny arcs of electricity shot out from his body, extending in all directions and amplifying the range of his Observation Haki several times over, easily covering a vast area of ​​sea and airspace with a radius of twenty kilometers.

Everything within the range of his Observation Haki was clearly perceived by Rorschach, and he even saw it.

Compared to the Observation Haki of others, it can only roughly perceive the aura, emotions, and energy fluctuations of other things.

Rorschach's Observation Haki, enhanced by the power of lightning, created a massive surveillance effect, similar to a God's-eye view.

Those electric currents that extend out and float in the air are his eyes.

The same principle applies to Enel's mental network.

With such a wide-ranging sensing capability, Luo Xia's search efficiency was extremely high. In just half a day, he had thoroughly searched every inch of the sea area to the left of the Kirin.

Unfortunately, aside from spotting some sea kings, he found nothing.

The vastness of the Calm Belt made even the physically strong Rorschach feel somewhat fatigued.

Whether it's manipulating air currents to fly or using Observation Haki, both require stamina.

After searching for another two hours, and with the sky in the windless zone about to darken, Rorschach sighed and stopped in mid-air.

After searching for so long, neither Law nor Enel have called back with a Den Den Mushi, so it seems they haven't found anything.

Thinking this, Luo Xia manipulated the air currents and flew towards the central axis of the doldrums, while taking out Hibari's Den Den Mushi from his pocket and dialing.

He retracted the electric current floating in the surrounding air to avoid interfering with the Den Den Mushi's communication.

"Pulling pulling, pulling pulling..."

The Den Den Mushi rang more than a dozen times, but no one answered.

An ominous premonition gradually rose in Luo Xia's heart.

not good!

Something happened to Hibari!

Chapter 355 Reunion in the Country

One hour ago.

On the Kirin, which was sailing along the central axis of the doldrums, Hibari stood at the top of the observation tower with binoculars, carefully searching the surrounding sea.

On the deck, the naval soldiers were also busy. Although they didn't have binoculars, they were all carefully looking around, trying to find something unusual.

Bepo, whose eyes were a little sore from keeping them open, couldn't help but rub them and look at Law standing next to him.

"Lieutenant Colonel, it seems there's nothing in this Calm Belt except seawater and sea kings. Can we really find Professor Zephyr and the others by searching aimlessly like this?"

"do not know."

Luo's voice was cold but tinged with a hint of irritation, as if he wanted to vent the unease that filled his heart.