One Piece: Blue Scale Admiral

"Idiot! Where else can we go? Our boat is gone. If we can't find a boat here, we'll probably die here once that madman gets ashore."

"Hey, I thought you weren't afraid of him at all."

Gary quipped and quickly followed Baines, heading away from the beach.

A dozen minutes later, Dylan, soaking wet, jumped off the steamship, gave an order to keep the steamship as far away from the coast as possible, and then walked alone toward the island.

"Baines, today I will tear you to pieces and avenge Aaron!"

In the soft island.

Baines and Gary walked quickly through the town, which had been reduced to ruins, as they pulled out their phones and dialed numbers.

The Den Den Mushi rang more than a dozen times before being answered.

Bondiwald's voice came through the Den Den Mushi.

"Bynes, what's up?"

“Captain Wald! Gary and I are on Soft Island right now, and that madman Dylan is after us. Our ship is damaged, please send someone to pick us up as soon as possible.”

"Bynes said gruffly."

"Dylan? He's alone?"

Baines nodded and said, "Yes, just him. Hurry up and come over, maybe we can take him down. That way, we can gain a powerful Zoan-type Devil Fruit ability and also take down a powerful executive of the Devil Pirates, which is the best of both worlds."

Wald seemed to consider it for a moment, and then agreed.

He said, "Dylan the Lion, one of Barrett's most troublesome executives, is definitely worth our full effort. Baines, Gary, you two hold him off, I'll bring Teach over right away."

"Then you need to hurry, I think that guy has completely gone berserk. And if Barrett finds out what's going on here, it'll be even worse."

After Baines finished speaking, he hung up the Den Den Mushi and glanced back in the direction he had come from.

His Observation Haki faintly sensed a powerful killing intent emanating from that direction, making his hair stand on end.

"Damn it, I knew that madman wouldn't die so easily. He's catching up. Let's find a place to rest and eat something to replenish our strength before we try to stall him."

As Baines spoke, clutching his chest where two ribs were broken, he quickened his pace and ran toward the hills that came into view.

There, there is a forest that covers half of Soft Island.

Baines, who had been running with Gary for a while, suddenly exclaimed "Eh!" and looked up at the depths of the forest ahead.

"Huh? There are still people on this island?"

Gary squinted and looked up, and saw four people standing outside a cave deep in the forest.

Judging from their attire, they were clearly pirates, just like them.

Baines was taken aback at first, then overjoyed.

Since there are pirates here, it means that there must be other pirate ships somewhere on the island.

If he had a boat, he wouldn't have to stay here and fight the madman Dylan; he could leave by boat at any time.

Although Wald asked him and Gary to hold off Dylan, Baines wasn't stupid and listened to everything he was told.

It would be good if he could hold them off, but if he were to stay and fight to the death, Baines would absolutely not do it.

He had only recently escaped from that dark and hopeless Impel Down, and hadn't even had a chance to fully enjoy the wonderful life in the new world. How could he possibly be so sincere as to risk his life for Wald?

Not to mention, he now possesses a decent Devil Fruit ability, so even if he leaves Wald now, he can still thrive in the New World.

Thinking this, Baines immediately strode forward and headed straight for the pirates.

"Hey! Tell your grandpa Baines, where's your ship?"

Baines had assumed that the pirates in front of him would be alarmed by his arrival.

Even if they don't panic, they will at least be more vigilant.

However, the pirates remained calm in the face of his imposing questioning.

One of the purple-haired old men, who was nearly three meters tall, looked at him with some surprise and muttered something.

"Things aren't even fully prepared yet, how come there are already fish taking the bait?"

He turned his head to look at a three-meter-tall pirate standing next to him and asked, "Rorschach, did you bring this here?"

"Rorschach? That name sounds so familiar?"

Baines paused, feeling like he'd heard the name Rorschach somewhere before.

Gary, who was standing behind him, lost all color in his old face the moment he heard the name Rorschach. Without the slightest hesitation, he pushed off with his feet and his thin body retreated rapidly to escape.

"How can I possibly recruit people before the preparations are even complete? Wouldn't that immediately expose our secret?"

A voice that Baines knew all too well, a voice that had haunted his nightmares countless times, came from the hooded pirate in front of him.

Then, the man slowly turned around, revealing a young face with silver hair and blue eyes.

As Baines stared at the face that had appeared countless times in his nightmares, his eyes widened little by little.

"you you……"

"Hehe, they're all old acquaintances after all."

Seeing the growing shock in Baines' eyes, Rorschach's face slowly curved into a smile.

Without hesitation, Baines turned and ran, chasing after Gary, who had already taken off in a frantic sprint.

He was so terrified by Rorschach's sudden appearance that he dared not linger there any longer, nor did he want to know why Rorschach was there, dressed in pirate attire.

"What do we do?" Zephyr gestured with his chin toward Baines and Gary, who were fleeing.

"What else can we do? We have no choice but to take them out first."

Luo Xia shook his head, sighed, and slowly took a step forward, his figure disappearing instantly.

Watching Rorschach leave alone, Zephyr turned to the others beside him and said, "Let's get to work quickly and scatter the bait so you can get back sooner. Otherwise, it won't be good if the World Government finds out. Enel, you melt down the gold."

Enel, dressed as a pirate, silently stepped out and disappeared into a mine at the foot of the mountain ahead in a flash.

Inside the mine, a large pile of gold artifacts was stacked haphazardly.

There are broken, enormous golden pillars, golden statues covered in moss, and golden utensils, all of which look like they have been around for a long time.

Enel extended his right hand, and terrifying lightning surged forth like a tsunami, crackling and covering the large pile of gold in front of him.

"Thunder Metallurgy".

The gold, completely soaked in liquid-like lightning energy, melted rapidly, turning into a golden liquid that flowed onto the mine floor, where it clung to the soil and gravel, becoming less pure.

"It's my turn."

Zephyr followed in, stood beside Enel, and bent down to press the five fingers of his left hand onto the ground beneath him.

"Earthquake!"

The ground pressed down by his palm surged up as if it were alive, the entire mine trembled violently, and countless pieces of rock fell down.

Those fountain-like waves of earth surging upwards quickly dragged Enel's molten gold-encased body underground and buried it.

There was so much gold that even with Enel and Zephyr working together, it took them more than ten minutes to melt all the tens of thousands of tons of gold, mix it with a large amount of soil and gravel, and bury it deep underground in the mine.

Outside the cave, on the beach of Soft Island.

Dylan, who was unleashing his full Observation Haki to search for Baines' whereabouts on the island, suddenly saw Baines and Gary, whom he had been searching for for more than ten minutes, running off the island and rushing straight toward him, looking like they were coming at a great speed.

Dylan was not alarmed but delighted. His body immediately swelled again, transforming into a lion-man over five meters tall, and charged towards Baines and Gary who were rushing towards him.

"Baines, I didn't expect you bastard to have some backbone. Very well! I'll leave you a whole corpse! Lion Burst Slash!"

The ground beneath Dylan's feet exploded, and his massive body rose from the ground, swinging his hands, which had transformed into two enormous claws, as he slashed down at the charging Baines.

"Damn it! Get out of my way if you don't want to die! Now is not the time to fight you. That devil is on the island, damn it! Get out of my way! I don't want to die here!"

Baines shot a chain to the side, pulling his body diagonally as he flew away, dodging Dylan's crisscrossing slashes.

The sharp slashes from Dylan's claws cleaved the ground where he had stood, creating a network of narrow, crisscrossing cracks.

Dylan landed, baring his fangs and roaring. He placed his hands on the ground, arching his massive body and rapidly transforming into a ferocious and majestic giant lion. His forelegs pounded the ground, creating two deep craters, and he was about to leap high into the air to pounce on Baines, who seemed to be preparing to charge at his steamship anchored a few hundred meters away on the sea.

"Do you think you can escape, Baines!"

The lion roared, its roar like rolling thunder. With a single pounce, its massive body used its two huge claws to pin Baines, who was about to shoot the chain at the steamship, down to the sand, leaving him with a mouthful of sand.

"Dylan, you bastard! Let me go! You have no idea what you're doing! That...that devil is coming!" Baines struggled frantically at his feet, trying to break free.

However, Dylan, who had transformed into a giant lion, was much stronger than he had imagined, and he couldn't break free for a while.

Dylan opened his drool-dripping maw, his white teeth stained with a layer of dark Armament Haki, and bit down on Baines's upper body, which had turned into chains, and lifted it up.

"No matter how much you beg for mercy, I will kill you today to avenge Aaron!"

The lion, carrying Baines in its mouth, raised its massive head, about to close its two rows of jet-black fangs.

But at that moment, a somewhat familiar, gentle voice rang in his ear.

"What a show! If all the pirates in the New World could learn from you and fight each other to wear each other down, that would be great. That way, our Navy would lose fewer marines in the future."

"navy?"

The lion carrying Baines looked towards the sea where the sound came from and saw that Gary, who had originally rushed into the sea and was now swimming towards the steamship a few hundred meters away, had somehow returned to the island.

His thin, bony neck was being gripped by a large, pale hand, held like a chick.

A familiar face was reflected in the lion's huge, pale golden pupils.

"It's you! Lieutenant General Lan Lin!"

“You’re too out of touch.” Rorschach shook the Gary he was holding and chuckled, “Let me introduce myself, I’m now General Bluescale.”

"You're going to stop me from killing Baines?" Dylan hadn't expected to see Rorschach here, and for a moment his mind didn't quite process it. He thought Rorschach had come to stop him from killing Baines.

"No, no, I think you've misunderstood something. I'm a Marine, how could I possibly stop you from killing a pirate? If you want to kill him, just do it." Rorschach shook his head and chuckled, not even glancing at the despairing look in the eyes of the old pirate Gary he was holding, and slowly closed his fingers.

"Baines! Help me!"

Gary screamed in despair, gripping the long sword in his hand. He mustered all his strength, releasing all his Armament Haki, which wrapped around the blade, and slashed at Rorschach, who was grabbing his neck, trying to force Rorschach back.

He had no idea how he suddenly ended up in Rorschach's hands.

He had already dived to a depth of several tens of meters, intending to use the fact that Rorschach was a Devil Fruit user and therefore unable to enter the sea, to escape from this dangerous island.

Then, in the blink of an eye, he not only returned to Soft Island, but also fell into Luo Xia's hands, being held in Luo Xia's hands like a chick.