The Lion-headed Three-masted Sailing Ship.
A group of pirates stood on the deck. Their eyes were filled with confusion, panic and unease as they stared at the rapidly approaching Dog-headed Warship.
"Admiral Flood, what should we do?
The enemy is about to board our ship."
Paul Flood let out a lion-like roar. He activated his Zoan-type Cat-Cat Fruit: Lion Form, transforming into a hybrid form. His body quickly swelled up, turning into a five-meter-tall humanoid with a lion's head.
"What are you panicking about! They're out of cannonballs. Prepare for boarding battle!
Seize that warship for me!"
After Garp's wave of Fist Bones: Meteor Shower, twelve out of his thirteen ships were sunk.
Thousands of members of the Lion Pirates fell into the sea.
At this moment, they were climbing up the outer side of the three-masted sailing ship, gathering continuously.
Paul Flood knew that in the pirate world, one could ignore the law and morality.
But...
One must never be without benevolence. Even a superficial show of benevolence had to be maintained!
Once the team's morale was gone, it would be difficult to lead!
Moreover, if word got out that he had abandoned most of his crew.
His reputation in the pirate world would be completely ruined.
Then, how could he recruit new members for his pirate crew...?
Who would trust a man who had once abandoned his comrades...?
To boost morale, Paul Flood could only raise the great machete in his right hand and shout to the pirate members around him:
"Kill those marines and avenge our comrades!"
"Avenge them!"
"Avenge them!"
"Avenge them!"
The pirates' low morale finally recovered a bit, spurred on by Lion Flood.
After reaching a certain distance, both sides exchanged gunfire for a while, each taking out some of the other's crew.
The Dog-headed Warship.
Garp stood at the bow of the ship and shouted:
"Fellow soldiers, charge with me!"
Immediately afterwards, he leaped onto the Lion-headed Three-masted Sailing Ship, entering the mode of easily slaying enemies, knocking down pirates one by one.
Seeing Garp taking the lead, a group of marine soldiers also roared and rushed onto the pirates' ship along the gangway.
Sephiroth also mingled among the marines, boarded the pirate ship, and brandished the Autumn Leaf Sword in his hand, quickly claiming the lives of the pirates.
Pirates kept climbing onto the Lion-headed Three-masted Sailing Ship from the sea. Even on the Dog-headed Warship side, pirates climbed onto the deck from the outer side of the ship and engaged in battle with the marines left behind.
Using the two large sailing ships as the battlefield, the pirates and the marines engaged in a life-and-death struggle!
Seeing that his battle captain with a bounty of over 100 million Berries was punched by Garp, spat out blood, and flew backwards, then "plop!" into the sea, Lion Flood could no longer sit still!
"Damn Garp!"
Flood let out a furious roar. His great machete was quickly wrapped in Armament Haki. His figure flashed as he charged straight at Garp.
"Clang!"
The blade of the great machete collided directly with the pitch - black right fist wrapped in Armament Haki, producing a clash like metal striking metal.
"Interesting. I didn't expect to meet someone who knows Haki in the first half of the Grand Line."
Garp let out a hearty laugh, and a glint of high - spirited fighting spirit appeared in his eyes.
"Don't you look down on me, you asshole!"
Flood wrapped his left hand in Armament Haki and swung it at Garp's head.
Bang!
His punch landed squarely on the target, but Garp was as if nothing had happened. He twisted his neck and countered with a right hook, hitting Flood in the chest and sending him flying backward into the cabin.
On a corner of the pirate ship's deck, Sephiroth glanced at the battle between Garp and Flood.
"Die! How dare you be distracted when fighting me!"
A pirate wearing gray leather armor grinned wickedly and thrust his long sword hard into the left chest of the silver - haired boy, right at the heart, and the sword pierced through the wooden wall behind the boy.
However...
The next moment.
Black bats fluttered out from Sephiroth's chest.
"Swish!"
In the surprised look of the leather - armored man, the fiery red Autumn Leaf Sword instantly severed his neck, and blood spurted out, staining his white uniform red.
"How could it be distraction... It was a fake move to deceive you...!"
When the silver - haired boy completely moved his body away from the sword, the black bats flew back into his body, filling the gap in his heart area.
It has to be said that Observation Haki combined with bat transformation is really useful, giving Sephiroth almost the ability of pseudo - elementalization.
Even if the bats died or were injured, he could consume his vitality to quickly restore the damaged parts.
Flood the Lion was very strong, but unfortunately he met old man Garp. Under the latter's powerful punches, he was knocked unconscious.
Then, in Garp's one - sided mowing - style battle, like a whirlwind clearing up everything in its path, all the pirates on the ship were knocked down.
Among those pirates who were still swimming in the sea, when they saw this situation, some of them surrendered voluntarily, while others hugged a floating log and swam desperately in the sea, trying to escape to the distance in the hope of surviving.
After the battle, the Navy arrested these pirates. In particular, Flood received special treatment and was put on a pair of Sea Prism Stone handcuffs.
What awaited these pirates was a judicial trial. Those with extremely serious crimes would be executed, and the rest would be reduced to slaves, completely losing their freedom and human rights, and sent to the Bridge Kingdom in the East Blue to be enslaved until death.
Of course, some high - quality slaves would also be kept by the Celestial Dragons for their own use...
Therefore, pirates and serious criminals accounted for a large proportion of the slave sources in this world.
The bill to ban the slave trade had actually been introduced long ago, but the World Government had never implemented it, and many people didn't even know about this bill.
If the slave system were really abolished, the first to stand up against it would definitely be the World Nobles, the Celestial Dragons.
After all, both the number of slaves they own and the rate at which they consume slaves rank among the highest in this world...
To meet the needs of the Celestial Dragons, the Sabaody Archipelago near the Holy Land Mary Geoise has been transformed into the world's largest slave - trading area.
The Celestial Dragons, holding supreme power, openly conduct large - scale slave trading, and naturally other nobles or powerful people follow suit. This is why the bill banning slave trading has been completely ignored.
Therefore, Sephiroth once suspected that the World Government actually intentionally allowed the pirate forces to grow, keeping them at a certain level so that the noble class could have a continuous supply of slaves.
After all, it wouldn't be too difficult for the World Government to end the era of the Great Pirates if they really wanted to.
The World Government could directly dispatch a large number of troops and the Admirals to guard the Twin Capes, the entrance to the Grand Line. Once pirate flags are spotted, heavy - fire attacks could be launched, making the start of the new - generation pirates a nightmare.
The total area of all the islands in the Grand Line is estimated to be even smaller than that of one of the Four Seas. As long as the Twin Capes are turned into a pirate graveyard and the number of new pirates in the first half of the Grand Line is reduced to the minimum, the pirate forces in the second half of the Grand Line will lose a large amount of fresh blood.
This would result in two possible scenarios. First, the new - generation pirates would have to find an almost impossible way to break into the first or second half of the Grand Line via the Calm Belt, which is teeming with Sea Kings. Second, they would have to attain the combat level of the Admirals right from the start to force their way through the blockade at the Twin Capes.
As for the pirates in the Four Seas?
The magnetic field in the Grand Line is chaotic, making it difficult to determine the exact position. Moreover, many islands cannot be located using the Log Pose, which allows the pirates to appear and disappear mysteriously.
Otherwise, on the sea, as long as there are no top - notch powerhouses on pirate ships, the warships can completely out - fire most pirate crews with the terrifying number of cannons they carry.
Sephiroth also discovered an interesting military merit rule in the Navy. Besides killing wanted pirates, killing ordinary pirates does not count as a military merit...
However, capturing ordinary pirates alive can earn a certain amount of military merit.
Therefore, the Navy is quite enthusiastic about capturing pirates alive.
Are they merely slave - hunters hiding behind the guise of justice and the Navy's flag...?
Getting back to the main point, after the battle, they didn't hold a victory celebration. Instead, they were busy treating the injured soldiers and cleaning up the battlefield...
"Guys with minor injuries, come get the medical stuff and bandage up yourselves."
"Those unhurt, hurry up and carry the seriously injured to the OR for emergency treatment!"
In this battle, even though Garp showed extraordinary bravery and fought against hundreds of enemies single - handedly, there were still casualties among the Navy.
Seven soldiers died on the spot, thirteen were slightly injured, and six were seriously injured.
The officers ordered Sephiroth and the other recruits to carry the seriously injured on stretchers to the door of the operating room and wait for treatment.
Since there were only two doctors and the number of medical staff was limited, two unconscious and seriously injured soldiers were left in the corridor of the cabin, and they were injected with stimulants...
These two were actually more seriously injured than the four pushed into the operating room!
Sephiroth knew that these two had actually been given up on treatment...
Now, the two military doctors were so busy that they had no time to operate on these two. Also, the operating room was full.
In order to ensure the highest survival rate, the military doctors had to make the most reasonable judgment and choose to treat those with less serious injuries...
Thinking of this, Sephiroth frowned, stretched out his right hand, and pointed at four recruits in the corridor of the cabin.
"Help me carry these two guys into the infirmary next to us."
At this time, most of the recruits' faces were filled with panic and helplessness.
Having just joined the army, they had not received any training but witnessed a fierce battle. There was more or less panic in their hearts.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"What? I'm going to try to save them by doing surgery!
Hurry up and stop standing there like a statue."
The silver - haired teenager glared menacingly at the recruit, scaring the guy into shivering all over.
Since Sephiroth had just gone through a battle, not only was his clothes stained with blood, but there was also blood on his face.
Therefore, his words and looks were intimidating. Those recruits who had never seen blood or killed anyone were immediately too scared to say anything more.
They quickly carried the unconscious injured on the stretchers into the infirmary and placed them on the white beds.
"Cut their clothes open..."
"Huh?!"
"What are you 'huh'-ing for? Get going!"
"Pull the curtain..."
While directing several recruits to assist him, Sephiroth rummaged through the infirmary to find surgical tools and other items.
Given that it was a life - or - death situation and the silver - haired teenager's eyes were extremely fierce, the recruits could only obediently follow his orders.
What Sephiroth didn't know was that while he was busy performing a bullet - removing surgery on the two seriously injured by cutting open their abdomens, the old man Garp had quietly walked outside the curtain.
He stared expressionlessly through the gap in the curtain at the busy figure of the silver - haired teenager.
After a moment, he turned around and left the infirmary.
The two naval soldiers were seriously injured with multiple gunshot wounds. Even though they had been injected with stimulants, it couldn't stop their life force from fading.
Helplessly, Sephiroth had to use the Life Reversal ability of the Vampire Fruit to pour the life force he had stored into their bodies to stop the bleeding from their wounds.
For Sephiroth, life force can be used for rapid regeneration and eternal youth. But when used on others, it can only enhance their life force, eliminate physical aging, and inhibit the deterioration of wounds.
"Who among you can sew clothes?
The silver-haired teenager removed a bullet from the wound of a naval soldier. Then he looked up and asked the four new recruits assisting him.
"Me!"
"Me!"
Two new recruits quickly raised their hands to answer. Sephiroth nodded:
"Okay, watch how I do it once. Although stitching a wound is different from sewing clothes, we don't have time to be picky now..."
After quickly suturing this wound, he began to perform a bullet removal operation on another wound. Performing two operations simultaneously, the four new recruits assisted him as he instructed...
...
The two wooden doors of the operating room were pushed open from the inside by an old military doctor wearing glasses.
When he saw the empty corridor of the cabin, he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.
Did the two seriously injured soldiers die...?
"Don't just stand there. Use cotton to stop the bleeding quickly and then suture the wound..."
Just as the old military doctor was sighing with his head down, he suddenly heard a young man's scolding voice coming from the infirmary.
Filled with doubt, he rushed into the infirmary and pulled aside the curtain that surrounded a group of people.
Then, he saw a group of new recruits performing operations on two injured soldiers... No! It was a young man with blood - stained clothes directing four new recruits to assist.
Seeing Sephiroth's skillful surgical skills, the old military doctor couldn't help but be a little surprised. Skills of this level couldn't be developed without five or six years of clinical experience.
As for the wound sutures of those two new recruits, they were just horrible...
Finally, the old military doctor couldn't stand it anymore and roared angrily:
"Are you two guys sewing clothes or suturing wounds?
Move aside and let me handle it."
As he spoke, the old military doctor pushed the two new recruits aside and skillfully took the needle and suture thread to suture the wound of the injured soldier.
Sephiroth glanced at the old man but said nothing and continued to lower his head and concentrate on the operation.
After nearly an hour of hard work, the two of them finished treating the wounds of the two injured soldiers.
After the operation, the old military doctor first lifted the eyelids of the two soldiers and felt their neck pulses. Then he said in surprise:
"Incredible! I didn't expect them to be so tough..."
Damn it! Spending so much energy on them is like wasting ten years of my life. No wonder they're so tough...
Sephiroth wiped the sweat from his forehead while muttering to himself silently.
"Kid, have you studied medicine?"
"Yeah, for a few years."
Hearing this, the old military doctor's face immediately broke into a big smile:
"How about submitting a report to the medical department after your new - recruit training is over? There has always been a shortage of doctors in the G3 branch..."
"Sorry! I'd rather stay in the front - line combat unit and fight against the pirates."
The silver - haired teenager shook his head and took off the blood - stained medical rubber gloves on his hands.
"Oh! That's really a pity..."
The old military doctor sighed softly and didn't try to persuade him anymore.
For those young guys, combat is indeed the best way to quickly accumulate military merits and get promoted.
However, how many people can guarantee that they will survive the next battle?