Chapter 78

"But sir! We're not allowed to shoot our weapons inside Doctor Vegapunk's Laboratory!" one of the marine infantries complained.

"Then use your swords, idiots!" the marine officer shouted as he drew his sword.

The marines quickly sprang into action. They drew their swords and entered Vegapunk's Lab, attempting to trap the Royal Aces in an encirclement.

"This is perfect!" Hepha said. Despite their current situation, she didn't really seem bothered, as did most of the Royal Aces currently inside the lab except Eri and Kotatsu. "Kotatsu, get them!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Kotatsu said. "I can't fight!"

"Yes you can, you big cat!" Hepha shouted at Kotatsu who shivered under her gaze despite the massive difference in size. "Look at you! You can tear these marines into pieces easily!"

Kotatsu's seemingly cowardly nature made the marines ignore him at first despite being so big. But when he spoke, that's when they noticed him.

"Hey, is that their pet?"

"I-I don't know!"

"We're supposed to fight that?"

The marines stopped after realizing that Kotatsu, the giant white tiger, was a member of the Royal Aces. They stared at Kotatsu, a gesture he returned. Kotatsu wasn't intending to intimidate them with his gaze, but that's what happened anyway.

Seeing how everyone stopped for a moment, Tanya turned to Eri.

"Hey, Eri," Tanya said, nudging Eri to get her attention. "Show them what we practiced!"

"...now?" Eri said in a hushed whisper as her face paled slightly in a panic. "But… it's not perfect yet!"

"Don't worry! I'm sure you can do it!" Tanya said, encouraging Eri.

"...o-okay! I'll do it!"

In a surprising turn of events, Eri stepped forward. Both the Royal Aces and the marines turned their attention to the little girl who stepped up.

"Eri? What are you doing?" Mihar asked, about to pull Eri back. But, Tanya stopped him.

"Watch," Tanya said.

Eri suddenly struck a pose. Both of her hands were together and one of her legs was raised. It was a pose made by someone about to throw something small like a ball that can fit in one hand with all their power.

"Take this!" Eri shouted as her throwing hand glowed pink before doing a throwing motion.

Everyone watched a small pink ball of energy fly towards the marine officer that Eri targeted. But of course, Eri was bound to be disappointed. Marine officers aren't the same as an average marine, after all. The officer that Eri aimed at ducked under her attack and hit the marine behind him instead.

Suddenly, the marine that was hit by Eri's throw shrank. His clothes collapsed into a heap on the ground as the marine turned into a small boy who looked barely older than Tanya.

"I did it! HAHAHAHA!" Eri celebrated with a little jump. "I did it, Tanya!"

"Yes you did, Eri!" Tanya said with a big smile that widened even more after seeing the rest of the Royal Aces show a surprised look in their faces.

"Wh-What the hell is this?" the marine that turned into a small boy asked those around him as he looked at his small hands.

"Devil Fruit!"

"Is that a permanent effect?"

"Scary!"

"That little girl's power is dangerous!" the marine officer that ducked under Eri's throw shouted at his marines before glaring at Eri. "Kill her!"

"S-Sir?"

"I said, kill her! Kill that little girl!"

Some of the more loyal and experienced marines charged forward towards Eri with their swords raised, clearly ready to use it. Eri froze in fear at seeing around a dozen marines charge towards her all at once.

At that moment, Kotatsu felt time slow down. It was the first time for Eri to be in actual danger. He felt his cowardly self freeze, but something deep inside him roared. A hot and vigorous energy seemingly flowed within Kotatsu's veins as he realized that his best friend was about to be killed if he didn't do something. Without realizing it, Kotatsu bounded forward and stood over Eri's small figure protectively.

The twelve marines that charged towards Eri in an attempt to take her head froze under Kotatsu's bestial glare. His blue eyes shimmered in a threatening glow.

Kotatsu roared. A hot wind surged with him and Eri as its center. It was indiscriminate and spread in all directions, but it was mostly directed towards the marines.

The Royal Aces who now stood behind Kotatsu felt themselves lose their balance for a second under Kotatsu's powerful roar. They weren't too bothered, but the same couldn't be said for the marines.

Despite having only one good eye, Hepha clearly saw the effect of Kotatsu's roar on the marines. A large number of them directly passed out, which were mostly the weak looking marines. The more experienced marines either pissed their pants or were now feeling tense and slightly paled.

"Conqueror's Haki?" Hepha said. "No, that's not it. It's something more… primal."

"Don't touch Eri!" Kotatsu roared before leaping towards the marines who managed to stay conscious.

"Retreat!" the marine officer that ordered Eri to be killed shouted before leading the retreat.

The marines quickly ran out of the marine base. Kotatsu followed them with the Royal Aces behind him.

"Get back here!" Kotatsu roared at the marine officer before jumping towards him.

"Don't underestimate me, you animal!"

The marine officer leapt out of Kotatsu's falling strike. Kotatsu's claws fell on empty snow, missing his target. The marine officer acted quickly and made an offensive move of his own. With his sword, he slashed the leg that Kotatsu used to try and slash him.

"Kotatsu!" Eri shouted, worried for the big cat's wellbeing.

"Hmph! Not so tough!" the marine officer said smugly, but then he realized that there was no blood on his sword.

"Was that supposed to hurt me or something?" Kotatsu asked the marine officer.

The marine officer turned around to see the giant head of Kotatsu grinning at him. He paled in realization that he was about to die. Kotatsu didn't delay and pounced on the marine officer, biting him whole. Kotatsu's fangs sunk into the marine officer, stabbing big holes into his body.

Kotatsu shook his head around with the marine officer still in his mouth. He soon let go of the corpse, spitting it on the feet of the remaining marines.

"C-Captain!"

"He's… dead!"

The marines morbidly stared at the mangled corpse of their captain that resulted in Kotatsu playing with him like how a cat plays with a mouse in its mouth. They were only roused from their stupor by the heavy footfalls of Kotatsu running towards them.

"Sh-Shoot that thing!"

"Kill it!"

The marines fought back. Seeing how they were already outside of Doctor Vegapunk's Laboratory, they had no more qualms about using their guns to try and shoot Kotatsu. But, they were bound to be disappointed. Kotatsu's fur and hide was tough enough to act as armor against their attacks. If that wasn't enough, Tanya observed how wind billowed around Kotatsu.

"What a Devil Fruit!" Tanya said. "It even gives him some control of the wind!"

Kotatsu leaped upwards and crashed down on the marines who could barely defend themselves. The Royal Aces watched Kotatsu, a cat who never once fought in his life, tear through the marines like an animal.

"What a Devil Fruit!" Doppol said, watching Kotatsu behave wildly; something he never did before.

"Go, Kotatsu! HAHAHAHA!" Eri cheered on Kotatsu, not at all bothered by the bloody sight.

The Royal Aces didn't know what to think after seeing how Eri seemed so desensitized to such violence. They were curious what she would become when she grows up since she seemed to have a great propensity towards both kindness and ruthlessness.

…

Ace gazed down on the sea as he stood behind the railings on the side of the Ashen Dragon. But, it wasn't the sea he was looking at. His gaze was locked with a man standing in the middle of the sea with a bicycle beside him.

Even though they never met in this life yet, Ace knew who he was. Among the Navy Admirals he knew, Ace can say that the one he was staring at was the second among those he liked most.

The staredown between Ace and Aokiji was as cold and long as the winter that Ace knew Aokiji was capable of conjuring with his power. With an Admiral right in front of him, Ace already knew the answer to a question he always wanted to know.

If Aokiji was the standard, Ace still can't be called stronger than Navy Admirals. If they were to fight right now, Ace had to be smart and careful with his moves if he wanted to win.

Aokiji broke the ice between him and Ace by averting his gaze from Ace's stare. Aokiji took an observing glance at the Ashen Dragon, assessing the ship that carried the son of the King of Pirates.

"Swanky ship," Aokiji said with a casual whistle. "You been to Water 7? I hear they make great ships there!"

"Not yet," Ace said, humoring Aokiji's attempt to start their confrontation with a casual chat. "But, I plan to. Maybe someday."

"Ho? Really now? You must have struck gold stealing this ship, then!" Aokiji said.

"Yeah, I really did," Ace said. There was no need to reveal what his crew's potential and current capability was, so he went along with Aokiji's guess.

"Hmm. Y'know, you really landed me in a difficult spot," Aokiji said with a tired sigh, massaging the back of his neck.

"Really now? Do tell," Ace said.

"Your gramps is really hurt, y'know?" Aokiji said, much to Ace's surprise. "He really wanted you to become a marine."

"Me? A marine?" Ace laughed after imagining himself in a marine uniform. "Yeah, that's not really for me."

"Why not? Your gramps is a pretty great marine, y'know?" Aokiji said, but Ace just raised an eyebrow at him. "C'mon, don't give me that look! I already know you're Garp-san's grandson!"

"Tch. The old man really loves running his mouth, huh?" Ace muttered under his breath as he fondly remembered some memories of his childhood with the violent old man they had as their grandfather.

"Fine, don't say anything," Aokiji said. "Y'know, for a ship as big as this one, you don't seem to have a very big crew!"

"A crew's a crew," Ace said. "As long as they get the job done, they're good."

"Not really," Aokiji said. "From what I hear, you're gathering a pretty capable crew! You even have the Merchant of Death aboard your ship!"

"Merchant of Death?" Ace raised a brow at the unfamiliar moniker. Then, it hit him. "Ahh, you mean Hepha?"

"I'm really curious now!" Aokiji said. "She hasn't joined a crew permanently, y'know? Are you just another one of her customers or did that remorseless monster actually find a den?"

Ace felt his nerves tick at Aokiji's remark of Hepha. But, he stayed calm and collected and only stared at Aokiji.

"Hmm. You're smarter than you look," Aokiji said. "Not making it easy for me to collect information, huh?"

Ace remained silent.

"You mind if we talk on your ship?" Aokiji asked. "It's freezing here!"

Ace and Aokiji spent another few moments staring each other down. Eventually, Ace relented.

"Fine," Ace said. "Come on aboard."

With Ace's permission, Aokiji used Shave to climb aboard. Ace assumed that it was Aokiji's own little way of assessing him, so he pretended to be unable to track his movements. Once Aokiji slowed down to a halt, Ace started acting.

Ace did his best to look tense after realizing that Aokiji was much stronger than he seemed. He turned around to look at Aokiji who was also looking at him. Just as Ace expected, Aokiji gauged his reaction but only for a moment.

"Don't be so nervous," Aokiji said. "I'm not here to hurt you."

"Surprising. With you being an Admiral and all, any pirate would think that you're here to arrest them."

"Well then, you'll be glad to know that I'm here on unofficial business," Aokiji said with a small chuckle. "Like I said, Garp-san really wanted you to become a marine. Like your brother did!"

"What are you saying?" Ace asked, genuinely surprised.

"Uhhh… was it Lovely? No, that's not it. What's his name again?" Aokiji spent a few moments thinking. "Ahh, that's right! Luffy!"