"Major General."
The thick fog wall, connecting sky and earth, stood like a barrier before everyone who passed through this stretch of sea.
The lookout on the bow of the warship, his face filled with horror, pointed at the dense fog ahead and shouted to the captain behind him, "The fog, the fog, the fog is dissipating..."
"Fog?"
"Dissipating?"
The Major General was stunned for a moment, then he abruptly stood up, quickly walked to the bow, and looked forward.
He saw that the dense fog, which seemed to have existed since ancient times, was now, as if freed from some power, rapidly scattering in all directions.
From a distance, it looked like a giant white flower.
"This, this, this..."
Even with the captain's experience, he couldn't describe the bizarre scene before him at this moment.
He turned and looked at the man in the CP0 mask who had appeared on the bow at some unknown time. The captain opened his mouth, thought for a moment, and finally asked, "Sir, looking at the scene before us, should we retreat?"
Who knew what that fog was? If it hadn't been dissipating, but expanding, they would have been the first to be engulfed.
This was a death zone. If they were swallowed by the fog, they might end up like countless ships that had mistakenly entered these waters, never to return.
The masked man didn't speak. He just stared blankly ahead, watching the ship silhouette that had appeared in the indistinct fog at some point.
"Damn..."
The masked man wanted to curse, "Can't you guys wait another day to show up?"
If he wasn't mistaken, that ship silhouette was the Silver-Haired Pirate Crew's ship. The windmill on the bow was clearly visible even from the silhouette.
Seeing the masked man's long silence, a trace of anxiety appeared on the captain's face.
Just as he was about to ignore the masked man and turn to issue a retreat order to his crew, the lookout on the bow suddenly lowered his telescope, turned to the captain, and said urgently, "Major General, I'm afraid we can't leave. The Silver-Haired, the Silver-Haired Pirate Crew has appeared."
"What?"
The captain, as if he had heard something incredible, abruptly looked up at the lookout, "What did you say?"
"Major General, if I'm not mistaken, that should be the Silver-Haired Pirate Crew's ship."
Following the direction pointed by the lookout, the captain leaned over the railing, looking as far as he could.
Indeed, in the dense fog, he saw a ship silhouette. The ship hadn't fully emerged from the slowly dissipating fog, but based on the windmill at the bow, the captain knew, knew it had to be the Silver-Haired Pirate Crew's ship.
He glanced at the masked man, his eyes filled with inquiry.
Their main purpose for coming here was to escort the masked man to meet Silver-Haired. The specific mission was known only to the masked man.
"Wait... wait."
The masked man's voice carried a bitterness that everyone could hear, but he didn't flee.
In this world ruled by the World Government, he couldn't flee, nor could he escape. Even knowing that the person he was about to face was someone who treated CP0 with extreme cruelty, he couldn't escape.
The captain opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn't.
He didn't care, after all, everything Kōta did at sea had a reason. He wasn't like that rat of a Marine Colonel in the East Blue, nor was he like the Marines following Spandam. He didn't need to fear Silver-Haired at all.
Of course, fearing him was useless.
On this vast ocean, if Silver-Haired wanted to kill them, they couldn't escape, not even with wings.
Before long, the fog reached them, and the fog didn't stop at all, instantly engulfing the warship.
"It's actually dissipating!"
Looking at the surrounding fog, the captain raised his hand, watching the mist thread through his fingers, a flicker of surprise on his face.
"Did you do it?"
He looked down at the two-masted sailing ship that came with the fog. Because it was dissipating, not spreading, the fog here was only a thin layer, not as dense as it was within the fog bank.
So, even though they were obscured by the mist, they could clearly see the approaching ship and the red flag with yellow illustrations fluttering from its mast.
"Yo! Marines, and CP0, were you waiting for us specifically?"
As the two ships met, from the bow of the Freedom, Kōta and everyone behind him revealed themselves amidst the fog.
No one on the warship spoke.
The CP0 masked man and the captain wore stern expressions.
However, the lookout beside him, and the Marine soldiers on deck who came out to watch, looked at Kōta with a hint of fanaticism.
Their gazes were not directed at a vicious pirate, but rather as if they were looking at their idol.
This fervent gaze, to be honest.
It made Kōta a little overwhelmed.
He didn't know the immense impact his song and speech in Allegia had created in the world, especially after being amplified by the World Economic News, implicitly approved by the Marines, and further fanned by the nations he had saved and the Revolutionary Army.
Civilians regarded him as a hero.
Then, why did the Marines do the same?
The reason, it turned out, was the recent, unprompted whispers that the Silver-Haired Pirate Crew was going to overthrow the World Government, overthrow the Celestial Dragons.
Overthrowing the World Government was something countless Marines had never even considered.
But overthrowing the Celestial Dragons, this cancerous growth of the world, was something anyone with a sense of justice must have dreamed of in their youthful days.
However, this was just a fantasy; people eventually had to face reality.
But at this moment, a person who clearly surpassed everyone's understanding, the world's strongest, was going to realize their youthful, passionate justice. How could they not admire him!
Putting that aside.
The deeds of the Silver-Haired Pirate Crew since they set sail, as reported by the World Economic News throughout the world, had also earned the respect of countless lower-ranking Marines.
Kōta glanced at the Marines on the ship, a flicker of bewilderment on his face.
Ahua and the others looked at Kōta with equally strange expressions.
Shaking his head, Kōta ignored the Marines' gazes and looked up at the masked man, "Since you were waiting for me, then hurry and speak!"
"If you don't, we'll be leaving!"
"Silver-Haired, this is a letter from the Five Elders."
The masked man pulled a "declaration of war" letter from his chest.
"A letter?"
Staring at the letter in the masked man's hand, Kōta's eyes showed a hint of amusement.
Then, with a casual wave of his hand, the letter in the masked man's hand vanished into thin air. To his surprise, the letter strangely reappeared in Kōta's hand, held vertically between his thumb and forefinger.
"This..."
The pupils of the masked man and the captain contracted violently, their bodies instantly tensing, their entire beings filled with extreme tension.
No aura, no fluctuation.
They could teleport objects. This...
Looking at the young man on the bow of the Freedom, holding the letter with his right hand, the two were filled with shock.