April 28, 1497, Age of the Sea Circle
The gentle breeze stirred Whitey Bay's long blue hair as she stood on the deck of her ship, gazing at the horizon, where the island where her crew members were imprisoned was now visible.
She remained calm even as she was about to attack a Marine Base in the Grand Line. She had been part of Shirohige's crew and had participated in all kinds of incredible battles, and witnessed all sorts of miraculous events in this world.
In comparison, attacking a Marine Base couldn't be considered something to lose one's composure about.
"Prepare for battle! We will attack quickly, rescue our comrades, and retreat. There's no need for a battle to the death! Understood?" Whitey shouted in a powerful voice that carried throughout the length of the large ship.
The pirates who made up her crew raised their weapons in the air and shouted passionately. It was their way of responding to their captain's orders.
When the large ship came close enough to the shore, cannonballs began to rain down from the base's walls.
However, the Ice Witch's crew would not be deterred by this level of attack.
Whitey Bay and some of her high-ranking officers repelled the cannon fire without incident, and the ship continued moving forward at full speed.
Inside the Marine Base, a meeting was taking place in a conference room decorated with much pomp.
"The Ice Witch has finally arrived," said one of the Marines present, who held the rank of Vice Admiral.
"I didn't think she would be so stupid as to advance into such an obvious trap," said another of those present, who held the same rank.
"After all, it seems Vice Admiral Grodiger knows her best. She came just as you planned, Grodiger," said another of the vice admirals present.
"Truthfully, I still had my doubts about whether she would come or not, but I'm glad everything finally went according to plan. Now we just have to successfully capture her, and the merit we'll earn will be tremendous!" Grodiger said with a smile.
As always, Grodiger was thinking of ways to increase his merit within the Marines, hoping to rise to the rank of admiral in the future.
He knew it was almost impossible for him to continue rising through the ranks of the Marines, since he didn't have the monstrous strength a Marine admiral should have, but he didn't want to give up without trying everything in his power. His dream was to reach the top of the pyramid of power in the Marines, as that would make him one of the most powerful people in this world, not counting the World Nobles.
"It's time to prepare for battle. Don't appear until the Ice Witch's crew has advanced well into our territory," Grodiger told the other three vice admirals present, who simply nodded without saying anything else.
In this operation they were carrying out to capture one of Whitebeard's pirate allies, Grodiger was the de facto leader, because he was the one who had done all the 'dirty work' and planned the entire situation.
In any case, just by participating in the capture of Whitey Bay, they could earn great merit, and they were happy to participate.
None of the four Vice Admirals present could be considered "powerful" within their ranks; they were more or less at the lower end of the vice admiral ranks, but with four of them, it was more than enough to take care of Whitey Bay, who didn't have such a powerful crew.
The cannon shots continued to echo, while the Ice Witch's ship continued to advance toward the beach. The fight was truly about to begin.
................
Orion looked at the ship approaching in the distance, which was being continuously bombarded, and knew he had to take advantage of this opportunity while the Marines were focused on the pirates, to get in and steal the Devil Fruit he was looking for.
He had arrived on this island less than an hour ago, and upon infiltrating the base, he was met with a huge surprise: the entire place was packed with high-ranking Marines!
The Marine lineup here was far beyond the normal personnel configuration for a base of this size. He had even noticed the presence of four Vice Admirals here, which undoubtedly meant they were conducting an operation specifically aimed at taking down Whitey Bay.
Orion remained hidden for a long time, until the pirates entered the bay in front of the base and the confrontation between the two forces began to develop.
However, he didn't make his move immediately. He had to wait for the Ice Witch to reach the island and the battle to reach its climax; only then would the defenses around the fruit be truly low and he could act without interference
From his hiding place inside the base, he watched as the pirates' large ship reached the shore, and a large number of people disembarked at high speed, running toward the island and beginning to fight with the Marines on the beach.
Among the figures in front, Orion caught his first glimpse of Whitey Bay, the Ice Witch, and was struck by her beauty.
Not only was the pirate truly beautiful, but the way she handled herself during combat and the charisma she displayed while leading her troops were truly attractive to him.
Orion had heard the term several times in his previous life, but up until this point, he had denied the possibility of such a thing being possible. The term was "love at first sight," and the presence of the beautiful Ice Witch had completely destroyed his skepticism in that regard.
Perhaps it was because Whitey Bay was exactly the type of woman he liked, or perhaps she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, but whatever the case, Orion decided at that moment that he would try to win her love!
He wasn't indecisive in these matters, and once he had made a decision, he could be very assertive. Furthermore, after obtaining the Conqueror's Haki seed, he tried not to go against his wishes whenever possible.
Whitey Bay and her crew began suppressing the Marines, despite being vastly outnumbered. The disparity in strength between the pirate crew and these common Marines was immediately evident; and rather than a battle, the situation unfolding was a one-sided massacre.
As the pirates advanced along the beach, inching deeper into the Marine Base, some high-ranking officers who had previously remained on the sidelines of the confrontation joined the fray, leveling the playing field somewhat.
Orion finally made his move and headed toward the center of the base, where the Devil Fruit he was seeking was located, according to the information displayed on the system map.
As he advanced through the base's corridors, his Observation Haki suddenly reacted, and he immediately hid within his Pocket Dimension, halting his advance.
His Observation Haki was still at Level 0, so he couldn't use it with great fluency or on a large scale, but it allowed him to detect the presence of potentially dangerous individuals within a small area.
Just at that moment, his senses reacted violently, alerting him to the danger in the vicinity.
A group of four Vice Admirals emerged from one of the rooms and slowly headed outside, where the battle was unfolding.
Seeing these Vice Admirals, Orion felt cold sweat ran down his back.
Fortunately, he had the ability of the Doa Doa no Mi, which had allowed him to escape the detection of these Marines; otherwise his fate would have been sealed!
All the Marine Vice Admirals could use Haki, so it wouldn't have been a problem for them to detect him if he had remained hidden nearby instead of entering his Pocket Dimension.
Through the red membrane that slightly distorted the images outside the small spatial sphere, Orion watched as the Vice Admirals moved away and disappeared into the distance.
"Looks like Whitey Bay is in big trouble this time," Orion said, considering the battle currently unfolding outside. There was no way the Ice Witch could emerge victorious against such a lineup.
Orion looked thoughtful, and thinking of the beautiful pirate, he made a decision about his actions in the near future.
But first, he had to seize the power source. There would be time later to help Whitey Bay.
Orion continued advancing through the base, using his Space Door powers to cut across the path and reach his objective as quickly as possible.
Luckily, he didn't encounter any obstacles, and after a few minutes, he reached the room where the Devil Fruit was stored.
After a few minutes of effort, he managed to unlock the safe and seize the item he had come for.
As soon as he laid his hands on the Devil Fruit, a notification appeared on the system screen.
*A small power source compatible with the Global Improvement System has been found: Devil Fruit, Modo Modo no Mi. Do you wish to absorb it? Yes/No*
*The Devil Fruit Modo Modo no Mi has been absorbed. It will be refined to remove its impurities. The process may take a moment…*
Orion absorbed the fruit without a second's hesitation and immediately retreated from the scene using his Space Door.
However, he didn't immediately head toward the battlefield to see the situation Whitey Bay was in. He had one more task to complete before he could withdraw victoriously from this place.
............…
Whitey Bay was fighting the Marines, suppressing them without too much difficulty. With each swing of her Armament Haki-infused sword, several unfortunate souls were cut down without being able to put up much resistance.
"Captain, the number of enemies is far greater than we expected!" shouted one of the Ice Witch's crew members, who was on the front lines of the battle alongside her.
"No matter, we can still make it! We can't retreat now—keep pushing!" Whitey Bay replied, leading by example and advancing through the ranks of the Marines.
Suddenly, a commotion echoed across the battlefield, and four figures appeared simultaneously, surrounding the pirate captain.
"Hey, Ice Witch, it's good to see you again. You're still as beautiful as ever," said one of the Vice Admirals, a lewd expression on his face.
Whitey Bay saw the appearance of the four powerful men and knew they were in trouble. If they only had to face a large number of low- and mid-ranking Marines, there would be no problem rescuing her crew members, who were imprisoned in this base, and escaping. But with presence of four Vice Admirals added to the equation, it would be impossible for them to accomplish their objective, and it would even be difficult for them to escape safely from this place.
"Grodiger..." Whitey said, seeing her old acquaintance appear. She had clashed with him several times since she had returned to the first half of the Grand Line to become captain of her own crew.
"Good evening, Ice Witch. I see you took my bait and came straight to my doorstep to be caught. I must say, it's nice dealing with simple-minded pirates like you. They make my job easier," Grodiger said with a big smile.
Whitey Bay immediately sped up and attempted to cut off Grodiger's head with her Haki-infused sword, but her attack was stopped by two of the Vice Admirals present, who had already drawn their weapons, ready to engage the powerful pirate captain.
"Damn, I should have known you'd do something like this. After all, it's the only way you can take me on with your level of power," Whitey said sarcastically.
A vein bulged on Grodiger's forehead, and his gaze turned icy.
He was a very proud man, and also very insecure. The fact that Whitey would mention his power level in such a derogatory manner infuriated him beyond belief.
Grodiger's body began to transform into mud, a sign that he was ready to engage in combat. He looked at Whitey Bay closely and said,
"I had planned to offer you an honorable defeat and the chance to surrender voluntarily, but now I've changed my mind. I'll have to teach you a lesson in humility!"
Grodiger transformed into a torrent of mud and fell violently upon the pirate. At the same time, the other three Vice Admirals joined in, each launching an attack.
They knew they had no chance of defeating Whitey Bay unless the four of them acted together; such was the strength of a pirate who had belonged to the original crew of the legendary pirate Shirohige.
Whitey managed to defend herself with great difficulty and began fighting the four Vice Admirals, although it was obvious at a glance that she was being suppressed by them, and that it wouldn't be long before she lost the battle if this dynamic continued.
Some of the most powerful members of her crew saw that their captain was being besieged by the four men and immediately rushed to her aid.
They reached her and attacked the Vice Admirals, but only managed to distract one of the Marines, who took them out in a few minutes before continuing his attack on Whitey.
She watched with great pain as several key members of her crew had been seriously wounded, and it was impossible to tell if they were alive or dead.
There was nothing she could do; her crew had only recently been formed, and her subordinates hadn't had much time to grow. It was true that they were much more powerful than a normal pirate, but against a Vice Admiral of the Marines, they had no chance of success.
Even the Vice Admirals standing in front of her right now, who weren't 'monstrous' were capable enough to eliminate her crew.
Seeing the precarious situation her subordinates were in, the Ice Witch made a drastic decision.
"Attention! This is my order: withdraw immediately from this place!" Whitey shouted loudly, startling her subordinates who were fighting with the lower-ranking Marines nearby.
For a moment, the pirates didn't react to their captain's words, but when she repeated her orders once more, they had no choice but to accept reality.
They were losing, and their captain was giving them the opportunity to escape at the cost of her own safety.
Most of Whitey's crew didn't think to obey this order, because they didn't want to leave their captain behind. it was the voice of the crew's Vice Captain who warned them not to rush to their deaths in defiance of the orders they had received.
"Retreat! Don't waste any more time, damn it! Every moment you waste here puts more pressure on the Captain, you damn idiots!"
The pirates gritted their teeth and finally followed their captain's orders, after being urged by the Vice Captain. It wasn't that they didn't want to stay and fight, but they simply knew they wouldn't be able to help. On the contrary, if they retreated in time, perhaps their captain would have a chance to escape on her own.
Of course, the Marines present at the scene wouldn't allow the pirates to simply escape under their noses, and the situation on the battlefield turned around in an instant. The pirates, who had previously been struggling to penetrate into the base, were now escaping back to their ship, while the Marines tried to stop their retreat.
Whitey saw that her crew had begun to retreat, and she focused completely on the battle.
With her graceful movements, she glided across the terrain as if dancing, while the four Vice Admirals attacked her mercilessly.
Little by little, wounds began to appear all over her body, and her long dress turned into blood-covered rags.
She looked back and saw that the large ship had begun to sail away from the base. Her crew had successfully escaped.
She sighed in relief, and exhaustion suddenly attacked her. The fatigue of having to fight four powerful enemies at once was not something that could be ignored.
One of the powerful Marines besieging her saw that she had let her guard down for a moment and slashed down mercilessly with his sword.
The sword thrust forward at full speed, and just as it was about to penetrate her abdomen, a marvelous scene appeared before the astonished eyes of the four Marines.
A door opened in midair behind the pirate, and a mysterious man wearing a sock over his head, covering his face, suddenly appeared and took the Ice Witch in his arms. He then stepped back, passing through the door again, which closed as abruptly as it had opened, erasing all traces of Whitey Bay and the mysterious man in the area.
The fatal sword pierced the spot where the woman had been standing a moment before and continued its path uninterrupted, finally burying itself in the ground.
The four Vice Admirals looked around, searching for any trace of Whitey Bay and the mysterious man, but they had already left and wouldn't appear here again.
Grodiger clenched his fists so tightly that blood flowed from his palms, and said in a voice filled with hatred.
"You again! You've ruined my plans again, you damned Orion!"
The other three Vice Admirals heard Grodiger's heart-rending scream, and some information surfaced in their minds about a fugitive who had escaped from Guanhao and possessed the powers of the Doa Doa no Mi.