Chapter 23 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"Nami, talking reason with these people is pointless. Let me handle this."

Rorschach pulled Nami behind him and stepped forward.

"Jee-jee-jee-jee, who the hell are you? You dare defy the Navy? Obstructing naval justice is also a pirate act. Take them all in!"

"Hoh? Who am I? I’m the one who’s going to take your lives."

Rorschach had had enough of Captain Rat’s disgusting laugh. Before the Marines could surround him, he made the first move.

"Slash Wave!"

Even without Armament Haki, the slash was strong enough to tear through them easily.

Whoosh!

Before the Marines could react, everyone in front was cut clean in half — including Captain Rat’s body.

The Marines who had been surrounding Rorschach from behind were frozen in terror. They wanted to run from this demon-like man, but their legs were shaking so badly they couldn’t move.

Rorschach gave them no chance to beg. In an instant, he slaughtered every last Marine.

In less than three seconds, the entire force Captain Rat had brought was wiped out.

"Rorschach..." Nami ran up, swallowing hard as she looked at the sea of corpses.

"Don’t worry. Since they came here, there was no avoiding this," Rorschach said as he sheathed his sword and turned to the girls behind him.

"They were probably here to steal the credit. They likely didn’t report it to Headquarters. Now that they’re dead, we only have two options," Karina analyzed, holding up two fingers.

"Let’s hear them."

"First option: we run immediately. We’ll probably end up wanted by the Navy afterward."

"Hmm~ That sounds pretty bad. We got wanted so quickly. What’s the second option?"

Karina let out a long sigh, her expression complicated as she stated the second plan.

"The second option is to infiltrate Branch 16 and silence every Marine inside. That way, no one will know it was us."

Rorschach thought for a moment. The second option was clearly better, but he didn’t want to massacre indiscriminately. Not every Marine was corrupt, so he still wanted to check first.

"Have you decided?" Karina asked.

"Not yet. Let’s go to Branch 16 first and see. The base might have information I want."

Rorschach shook his head. He still hadn’t fully decided.

"Fine, I’ll go with you."

"Yeah. Karina and Nami, come with me. Kaya and Nojiko, wait for us here."

Rorschach turned to the two girls, then wrapped his arms around Nami and Karina’s waists and flew off toward the Marine base.

Kaya looked worried. Nojiko hugged her gently and comforted her.

"Don’t worry. They’ll handle everything."

"Mhm."

...

Flying at full speed, Rorschach reached Marine Branch 16 in no time.

Carefully avoiding the patrolling Marines, they made their way to the captain’s office.

After taking out the guards at the door, the three began searching the office.

They quickly found a mountain of evidence of Captain Rat’s crimes.

It turned out this base wasn’t completely without justice. Some Marines had reported the villagers’ pleas for help to Captain Rat, but he had suppressed everything. The decent Marines who couldn’t tolerate it anymore tried to report directly to Headquarters, but Rat had spies among them. Those Marines were labeled deserters and kicked out of the Navy.

As a result, the entire base was now filled with only Rat’s corrupt lackeys.

"Disgusting. It’s a complete nest of snakes and rats. There’s not a single good person here," Nami and Karina said angrily after reading through the documents.

"Yeah. Leaving this base here would only continue to harm the surrounding villagers. They don’t deserve to exist anymore."

With his mind made up, Rorschach’s gaze turned cold. He stopped hiding and walked openly out of the captain’s office.

"Who are you?!"

"Intruder!"

He soon ran into several Marines who pointed their guns at him. Before they could fire, Rorschach vanished from their sight.

His sharp slashes took their lives. He stored all the bodies in his Storage Space.

What followed was a massacre of the Marine base.

In less than half an hour, Rorschach had purged every corrupt Marine in the base.

With his Observation Haki confirming no one was left alive, he dumped all the corpses into the sea. Sea beasts drawn by the blood quickly swarmed to devour them.

"Why are you throwing the Marines into the sea?" Nami asked, a bit confused by his actions.

"I’m taking this entire base with me. That Rat guy really knew how to enjoy himself — he built a lot of luxurious facilities here."

"It’d be a waste to leave them. I don’t want the next Marines who come here to enjoy them."

Rorschach explained clearly, but Nami still looked puzzled.

"Take it with you? Where to?"

"Hehe, just watch."

He didn’t explain further. He wanted her to see it with her own eyes.

Rorschach pressed his hand to the ground and unleashed the full power of the Float-Float Fruit.

RUMBLE! RUMBLE!

The entire Marine base began to shake violently. Nami and Karina felt their view rising as the whole island lifted off the sea.

The next scene completely shattered their worldview. Both girls stared at Rorschach with mouths wide open.

"It... it’s flying! The whole base is flying!"

Nami stammered in shock.

Violent seawater rushed into the spot where the base had been. The entire Marine base had now completely lifted off the ocean surface.

"Whew... Good thing I had enough stamina. If I hadn’t stored so much energy, I might not have been able to lift the whole base so easily."

Rorschach exhaled, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

Floating an entire island with the fruit’s power was extremely draining, especially since he hadn’t awakened it yet.

But once the ability activated successfully, it no longer required constant stamina to maintain.

"How did you do that?! That’s a whole island!" Karina asked in disbelief. She was a Devil Fruit user herself, but she had never imagined someone could do something like this.

"As long as the fruit is strong enough and you have enough stamina, it’s possible. Just like your strongest defense — if you develop your fruit to the limit, there won’t be any attack in the world that can break it."

Rorschach explained with a smile.

"I plan to raise this island to 10,000 meters in the air. From now on, this will be our secret base!"

Rorschach looked at the base with satisfaction. The only eyesore was the Marine flag.

No good. I’ll have to remodel this place later and turn it into my own headquarters.

"Let’s head back to Cocoyasi Village first. We’ll rest for a few days, then set sail for Loguetown!"

Rorschach suggested. The two girls, still in a daze, simply nodded without really listening and followed as he raised the island higher into the sky.

Then he called Nami and Karina to help search the base’s treasury.

Captain Rat had sucked the blood of the surrounding villages dry and pocketed huge amounts of military funding every year, using it all for his own luxury. The lavish facilities proved it.

Now, everything belonged to Rorschach.

After leaving the treasury, he finally understood just how rich Rat had been. There were 3 billion berries alone, plus several famous swords in his collection.

This money made Nami smile so wide for the next few days that she couldn’t close her mouth even while sleeping. She kept murmuring in her dreams, "So much money... all mine..."

Back in Cocoyasi Village, seeing that all three were unharmed, Nojiko and Kaya breathed sighs of relief.

The next three days passed peacefully.

"Hey, Nojiko, you don’t want Nami to be alone in the future, right? Hehe, if you know what’s good for you, come on my ship too," Rorschach said with a wicked grin, reaching out to grab her.

"You idiot captain! What are you doing to my sister again?! Hurry up and get on the ship, we’re setting sail!" Nami kicked him flying with a double flying kick.

"I’m just trying to make sure you two sisters don’t have to separate!" Rorschach said, pretending to be in pain as he held his cheek and looked at her pitifully.

In reality, the kick hadn’t hurt him at all.

Nojiko watched their warm, everyday interaction and couldn’t help laughing. Then she showed a gentle smile and said softly:

"Okay."

She agreed? Rorschach thought he had misheard. Nojiko had always been quiet and reserved.

Nami was also shocked. She had assumed her sister would stay behind to watch the orange orchard. She never expected Rorschach’s persistent coaxing would actually work.

"Even I can’t keep refusing such a sincere invitation. Besides, I want to go out to sea and see the world too."

Nojiko winked playfully at Nami. This cute, mischievous side was completely different from her usual gentle and kind big-sister image.

"Woo-hoo! Awesome!"

Rorschach spun around while holding Nami and Nojiko, making both girls scream in surprise. But seeing him act like an excited child, they couldn’t help laughing along.

"Set sail! Destination: the stars and the sea!"

Rorschach shouted his chuuni slogan as he flew off while carrying the two girls.

On the cliffside, Genzo watched the departing sailboat with a faint smile.

"Bellemere, your daughters have found good companions. From today on, they’re setting out to sea. If you were still here, you’d be really happy to see this."

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