[2650 Words]
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The Grand Line, Paradise.
Alabasta, Rainbase City.
The clash of the sword blade with the giant fireball caused a loud noise and an explosion far exceeding the explosions Nojiko used to cause.
*Boom!*
*Bubble!*
*Boom!*
The blade pierced the fireball like a hot knife through butter, its Haki-infused edge and sword energy moving freely and fiercely towards the attacker.
The flame struck Ren's body covered in Armament Haki but only managed to burn his clothes, which quickly returned to their original state.
*Swoosh!*
*Splash!*
*Flow!*
The fireball couldn't stop the fury of the blade death, intent on claiming Ace's life, as Ren's attack quickly struck him.
"Agh...!!" Ace coughed up blood as he looked at his wounded body.
Then he looked at his left hand...
It was gone...
The flames subsided, revealing a scene that shocked everyone.
Ace lay on the ground with a large wound on his chest, his left hand severed and bleeding profusely.
Meanwhile, Ren stood there unharmed, even his clothes became clean again, calmly staring at Ace.
"This battle...is my victory."
Immediately after his words, cheers erupted from the people of Alabasta, while Vivi, Kaya, and Lorena breathed a sigh of relief.
Nami had already defeated Zoro; there was a major wound in Zoro's chest, and he was thrown to the ground powerless.
"The savior is so strong!"
"He defeated the commonder 2nd division of the whitebeard pirates!!"
"Amazing! The savior is amazing!"
"Woohoo!"
Luffy ignored the people's cheers and looked at Ace with tearful and trembling eyes. "Ace..."
"Aceeeee!!!"
Luffy screamed and rushed madly towards Ren, anger burning in his eyes.
He reached out his hand and used his Devil Fruit powers to direct a quick and powerful punch towards Ren.
The punch hit Ren, but it couldn't even penetrate his defensive clothes, Ren smirked and then grabbed Luffy's stretched hand and pulled him towards him.
Luffy screamed as he found himself being pulled towards Ren.
Ren coated his hand in Armament Haki and then punched Luffy in his stomach with force, causing his eyes to roll back and losing consciousness.
"Stay calm until I return you to your grandfather..."Ren muttered softly, but Luffy couldn't hear him as he had already passed out.
"L-Luffy...!" Ace held his missing left hand in pain and screamed when he saw Luffy being defeated.
"Damn it! Damn it! I couldn't defeat him! I couldn't protect my little brother! I couldn't kill teach! I'm useless..." Ace cried as he lay on the ground.
"Luffy!!"
"Damn it, Luffy's been captured!"
"Oh no, what do we do?! What do we do?!"
"Even Zoro was defeated!"
Luffy's remaining crew screamed in fear. Sanji looked at Zoro lying on the ground, Luffy unconscious, and Ace unable to fight, his arm severed.
He gritted his teeth in anger and said, "We must at least save Luffy!"
He stepped forward towards Ren, but his body was already trembling with fear.
Was he hoping to take Luffy from this person's hands? Sanji knew it was impossible.
The other side's strength was monstrous to him, He fought Crocodile and defeated him, then killed a Vice Admiral and fought with Luffy's powerful brother, defeating him as well, Then he defeated Luffy, who was much stronger than him, How could he save Luffy from this person?
But there was no other option but to resist. They couldn't escape from here anyway.
"Haah!" Sanji yelled as he stood in front of Ren and delivered a quick and powerful kick towards his head.
Before the kick could reach Ren's face, the latter raised his right hand wearing gloves and caught Sanji's foot.
Ren's hair fluttered slightly in the wind. Sanji's kick could break rocks and walls; it wasn't an ordinary kick, but Ren's physical strength was superior.
He pressed on Sanji's foot, and the latter screamed in pain, his body flipping backward.
Sanji's head faced the ground, raised by Ren's hand alone.
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
He held him by his foot and slammed him into the sandy ground.
Sanji's head struck the ground and bled profusely; he had already lost consciousness. But Ren continued to strike him, and after he was close to death, he stopped and left him unconscious on the ground.
He looked at the rest of Luffy's crew and ordered, "Mikita, don't let them escape."
"Understood!" Mikita quickly moved and began dealing with the other members of the Straw Hat crew.
"King Cobra, I'll trouble you to bring some Sea-stone handcuffs to restrain these two individuals," Ren said to King Cobra as he carried Luffy and Ace.
These two were important to him, so he had to keep a close eye on them.
Ace was already unconscious, and Kaya had stopped his bleeding, but he remained unconscious. Luffy, on the other hand, had not yet woken up.
King Cobra looked at the strong pirate in front of him; he was truly shocked by his strength, The people said he had defeated Crocodile and a Vice Admiral some time ago.
Cobra wondered how he was still strong enough to deal with other powerful enemies like Ace.
After hearing Ren's words, Cobra smiled and said, "As you wish, Ren-san, How about going with me to the palace for some rest?"
"I won't refuse your kindness," Ren replied calmly, then ordered some of Cobra's soldiers to carry Ace and Luffy instead of him, while Sanji was carried by other soldiers, and they were all heading back to the capital.
"What will we do with these agents...?" Pell wondered.
Pell was a tall man with a purple line under each eye extending down his face. He wore a long white suit with star patterns and a matching hat, He had an orange scarf around his neck and a sword on his right hip.
Before Cobra could answer, Ren intervened and said, "I'll deal with them."
Cobra wanted to say something, but he nodded instead and looked at the Marines with concern, asking, "Will you kill these Marines...?"
Ren looked calmly at Hina and Tashigi when he heard Cobra's words and opened his mouth, "No, I have another use for them."
Cobra nodded his head and didn't want to interfere in the affairs of the Marines and pirates,The crowd began to move towards the capital, and news of the battle began to spread throughout the country.
---
*Downpour*
*Downpour*
*Downpour*
Rain poured heavily on Alabasta at last, An old lone man in a certain deserted city wept, The raindrops fell on the bones of the dead from dehydration as if mourning them.
As the sky wept for the tragedy, the blood was washed away from the battlefield in Rainbase, and the inhabitants cleaned the streets and buried the dead bodies.
But they couldn't find Vice Admiral Doberman's body; don't get it wrong, Ren had stored it in the Infinity Space secretly to return it to the Marines.
Why would he return it to the Marines? So they wouldn't have the ability to lie about the events that happened in Alabasta.
Although there would be some distortion or maybe a lot, he would make sure the WG didn't just put lies in the newspapers.
After several hours, the crowd arrived at the capital and was warmly welcomed by the residents. The gratitude Ren and his crew received was endless.
Vivi looked at Ren with tearful eyes.
'He said he would save my country and he did...'
'If he hadn't been here, I don't know what would have happened...'
'I thanked him several times on the way to the capital, but my gratitude for him never diminished !, But it became stronger, seeing the joy of her people finally relieved of their suffering...and seeing the natural rain still falling on Alabasta...'
"Thank you..."
---
POV Robin.
After Ren defeated Ace, the boy who approached him angrily, I looked at him in shock.
I know the power of the commander 2nd division of the whitebeard pirates, so I doubted his ability to defeat him, especially since he had just come out of a tough battle.
But he did it, and he doesn't seem to have any wounds, not even his clothes were scratched!
Why was he so strong? I didn't know, and my thoughts quickly left me when I saw him approaching me and whispering something in my ear.
I nodded to him, and a strange feeling began to rise within me when I felt his breath touch my ear.
What is this feeling?
I don't know, it's strange, I've never felt anything like this before.
I quickly did what he wanted, and remained troubled in Rainbase, waiting for his call through the Den Den Mushi.
---
POV Third-person.
Ren arrived at Alubarna, the capital of Alabasta, and made sure that Ace, Luffy and his crew, and the rest of the agents were restrained with Seastone and dragged to their cells.
A few Seastone handcuffs were not a problem for an ancient kingdom like Alabasta; there was plenty in stock, and King Cobra didn't spare anything.
Ren's work wasn't done yet; the hard part would come now—negotiating with the Marines.
.
"Call the Fleet Admiral," Ren said to the restrained Hina, who was now in his cell, while the girls went to rest.
Ren asked King Cobra for some private time with the prisoners, and Cobra complied, then prevented the guards from approaching the prison.
Hina wasn't alone in the cell; Tashigi and the other Marines were also restrained with ordinary handcuffs.
"W-what do you want from the Fleet Admiral?" Hina asked fearfully.
"Sigh... just call him," Ren threatened her when he saw her resistance.
"Do you want your soldiers to die?"
He pointed to the Marines imprisoned with her.
Hina gritted her teeth, but she didn't dare to gamble that Ren wouldn't kill them.
This pirate was decisive and stern; she didn't doubt for a moment that he wouldn't follow through with his threat.
"Hina is restrained...How will Hina contact him?" Hina asked, pointing to her hand.
Ren took the keys and removed the Sea-Stone Prism restraints from Hina, He wasn't afraid she would pull some trick.
He could kill her with a single blow; why would he be wary of her?
Once she was free, Hina didn't dare to do anything foolish, She was convinced she wasn't his opponent, and if she provoked him, she and her subordinates would be killed.
Hina retrieved the Den Den Mushi from her bosom, Ren didn't know how, but that's what happened, Then she dialed the specified number.
After a while, the Den Den Mushi started emitting its distinctive sound, Then the call was answered, and the snail took on the form of Sengoku.
"Fleet Admiral here."
Sengoku's strong voice came from the snail's mouth, Hina wanted to speak, but Ren asked her to hand over the Den Den Mushi, She didn't dare to object and handed it over.
"Hi, Fleet Admiral, nice to meet you."
Sengoku heard an unfamiliar voice coming from The Den Den Mushi.
He had a bad feeling about this strange situation and asked, "Who are you? Where's Doberman?"
"I killed Vice Admiral Doberman, and I am Ren, or as you call me, the Black Death," Ren said, his expression unchanged as he casually spoke of Doberman's death.
Hina's lips trembled as she listened to the current conversation, Was this man insane? Admitting to killing a Vice Admiral in front of the Fleet Admiral...
Back To Sengoku, he remained stunned in his office for a few seconds.
It so happened that Garb and Tsuru were there too,They were also shocked to the point that Garb dropped his food.
"What did you say?! Doberman is dead?!" Sengoku shouted into Den Den Mushi.
Tsuru and Garb listening to the conversation with serious expressions.
"As I told you, unfortunately, Vice Admiral Doberman is dead and I am still alive, talking to you, Fleet Admiral,Rhahahahaha" Ren laughed, provoking Sengoku's anger.
"You scoundrel! Do you think you can get away with this after what you've done? And why are you contacting me?" Sengoku tried to control his anger, but Ren's laughter provoked him.
Ren sighed and cracked his neck slightly before saying, "I want to inform you that I defeated Crocodile, the Warlord, and I want to take his place."
"Even Crocodile?!" Sengoku shouted again.
"It seems we underestimated the power of the Black Death..." Tsuru sighed and listened intently to the conversation.
"What's your proof that you defeated him? And you want to become a Warlord after killing a Vice Admiral?! Don't dream of that!" Sengoku's voice was loud and stern, He wasn't sure about the accuracy of Ren's information, but he partially believed it.
Or how did the other party manage to get his Den Den Mushi number?
"Rhahahaha, don't rush to refuse, Fleet Admiral. I want you to talk to one of your subordinates to confirm what I'm saying."
Ren's voice came from the Den Den Mushi, and it entered the ears of the three persons ,They all wondered about the identity of the subordinate Ren referred to.
"H-Hello... Fleet Admiral..." Hina's weak voice, full of shame, came from the Den Den Mushi.
"Hina..." Tsuru recognized the speaker and sighed in relief. At least Hina wasn't dead yet.
"Hina! Tell me what happened to you there?" Sengoku's anger subsided slightly when he learned that Ren didn't kill all the Marines he sent.
"A lot happened, sir. Warlord Crocodile invited us to his casino, but the casino was attacked by the Black Death and his pirate crew... After a long battle, the Black Death defeated Crocodile, and... Vice Admiral Doberman tried to stop him, but he was killed in the process!"
Hina confirmed the information Ren had told them earlier, Garb was surprised that a newcomer could kill a Vice Admiral, but that was all; he wasn't interested in the conversation and continued eating his food.
"I see..." Sengoku sighed and suppressed his anger.
"This mission has failed," Tsuru said sadly, then added:"But why is the Black Death holding Hina? Does he really think we'll give him the Warlord position after what he did?" Tsuru didn't know how Ren thought there was a chance he could become a Warlord.
"Hina, what does the Black Death want from you? Are you alone, or are there still some surviving Marines?" Sengoku bombarded her with questions.
Ren remained calm on the other side and allowed Hina to speak.
"Hina isn't alone; Hina is being held with 18 other Marines...We are the only survivors...The rest all died!" she said with deep sadness.
"Fuck! Out of hundreds of Marines, only these few survived?!" Sengoku struck the table in anger.
Even Garb stopped chewing his food and showed a sad expression, The loss of lives was always a sorrowful thing.
"But, sir, Fleet Admiral Sengoku, Hina hasn't finished yet... Something big happened after the Vice Admiral Doberman's death!"
"What's there again?" Sengoku had already had enough surprises in this day; he just wanted to negotiate with Ren about the lives of the Marines and then close the line.
Hina glanced at Ren and was about to speak, but he grabbed the Den Den Mushi and put his finger in her mouth, making her tremble, and said, "Shh, I'm the one who should tell them."
He chuckled at her angry expression, took the Den Den Mushi, and then said calmly:
"I've captured Ace, the commonder 2nd division of the whitebeard pirates!"
*Bam!*
In the Fleet Admiral's office, Garb slammed his fist on the ground, causing it to crack, and silence filled the room.
Sengoku stared at the Den Den Mushi in shock, while Tsuru frowned, realizing that this was Big news.
If her guess was correct and the Black Death wanted to replace Ace's position with the Warlord positive...
There would be a fierce bloody war!!
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Author's gossiping.
It's a new week, give me your power stones, humans!
200 power stones = Bonus chapter.