The two pirates were struck by the Hammer's Haki-infused blow. Even the thick-skinned T. rex and crocodile couldn't move for a moment.
The face-breaking hammer's attack had pierced through their bodies. The force of the Armament Haki combined with the direct hammer strike gave them a full-body hammer massage, painfully 'refreshing'.
"Damn it, we really hit a wall this time."
The T. rex, Dorta, looked terrible; every inch of him ached.
Razor's face was also grim.
"Didn't expect to run into a monster like that right after entering the New World... Damn."
With their defeat, the rest of the Tyrannosaurus Pirates were quickly turned into fish on the chopping board. It didn't take long for Lance, Shirley, and the marines to clean them up.
"Bind those two with Seastone. They're Devil Fruit users, stay alert."
Looking at the two still unable to move, Lance couldn't help but sigh at how ruthless Hammer was.
"Lance, now that they're taken care of, keep going through the Calm Belt. Proceed to our destination, the North Blue!"
After giving instructions, Hammer returned to the forge to continue his blacksmithing session.
"Lance, these pirates were loaded, over 200 million Berries and plenty of good stuff too."
"What should we do with it?"
Shirley had already scouted the pirate ship with her speed advantage.
"Do you even need to ask? Confiscate it all!"
The two of them laughed naturally, clearly very satisfied.
"Hello? This is the Warhammer, Lance speaking."
"This is Sengoku. Lance, where's Hammer? Where are you now?"
"Admiral Sengoku, Rear Admiral Hammer is forging. We just left Punk Hazard and defeated a group of pirates. We're preparing to cross the Calm Belt toward the North Blue."
"Forget the North Blue. Tell Hammer to head full speed toward the Edd sea zone, full speed!"
Lance: '…Did he just hang up that fast??;
But it was an Admiral's order. He didn't dare delay and quickly ran toward the forge room.
"Hammer! Admiral Sengoku ordered us to head full speed to the Edd sea zone!"
Outside the forge, Lance shouted. He would never touch that door, not even if it killed him.
With the sound of a heavy hammer falling, the forging halted instantly.
The door opened, and Hammer stepped out with a frown.
"Roger and Golden Lion, huh?"
Lance looked confused as Hammer mumbled to himself.
"Hammer, what did you say?"
"Nothing. Get everyone ready for combat. We're heading to Edd sea. A world-shaking battle is about to erupt..."
With that, Hammer returned to the forge, but this time, he wasn't forging.
He was remembering the Battle of Edd War.
The Flying Pirate Golden Lion Shiki vs. the future Pirate King, Roger...
Sigh. Troublesome times indeed.
If he'd known this would happen, he wouldn't have gone to Punk Hazard. Going straight to the North Blue to find Judge would've been much better.
In the New World, five marine warships sped across the sea. On one of them-"
"Sengoku, do you really think Shiki and Roger will clash at Edd sea?"
"This time, I'm trusting Garp. No one knows Roger better than him."
In the command room, Sengoku was speaking seriously with Vice Admiral Tsuru, both of them wearing worried expressions.
"Garp! Stop sleeping!"
"Garp!!" Sengoku's anger flared as he saw Garp still snoring.
Suddenly, a young man beside Garp drew a sword and placed it against his neck.
"You bastard, Kuzan!! Huh? Sengoku, why are you staring at me like that?"
Yes, the young man was none other than Kuzan, a third-generation trainee at the Navy Elite Training Camp.
"I called you several times, Vice Admiral Garp. Since you kept sleeping, I gave you a little freeze with my Ice Blade," Kuzan said.
"Worked great, right? Hahaha!"
Although Kuzan was supposed to be in training, he was currently aboard the ship heading to Edd sea.
It all started after he arrived at Marineford.
Although the third training camp hadn't officially started, Zephyr was a talent scout, he immediately began training Kuzan.
He was a rough gem. In just a few days, Zephyr had taught him the Marine's Six Powers, and his physical capabilities were excellent, which made Zephyr very satisfied.
After Hammer went to sea, Zephyr put all his focus on this curly-haired kid.
Then, when the camp did start, Kuzan applied for early graduation...
Zephyr was furious. After digging around, he found Garp's shadow behind it all.
Using the excuse that his son Dragon was on a solo mission, Garp dragged Kuzan onto his ship to serve as muscle.
Kuzan, eager to fight strong pirates, agreed immediately.
In the end, it created a situation where only Zephyr was left uninjured.
"Garp, are you certain Roger will go to Edd sea?"
"Of course! That bastard's definitely heading there!"
"Alright, I've contacted all Marines in the New World, including Hammer and Dragon. They're all heading to Edd sea at full speed."
Garp was picking his nose, but when he heard his son was coming too, his vein popped.
"That bastard Dragon! How dare he ditch his old man! I'll teach him a good lesson with my Fist of Love!"
Sengoku: '...Honestly, him not following you is probably the smart move.'
"Hammer's coming too? This battle's gonna be fun!"
Tsuru: '...No wonder Hammer keeps saying the higher-ups are all lunatics. Sigh...'
"All cannons, fire! Don't hold back, we're approaching the Edd sea zone!"
"Lance, these pirate crews all have the Flying Pirates' insignia. Is this Golden Lion's fleet?"
"Looks like it. Everyone, stay alert!"
As the marine fleet drew closer to Edd sea, pirate ships began appearing in greater numbers.
In just a short time, they had already clashed with three pirate crews.
"Shirley, check the 9 o'clock direction, is that a warship?"
Suddenly, Hammer's voice rang out.
Sherry leaped onto the observation post and adjusted her glasses.
"Yes! I see Rear Admiral Dragon!"
"Hmm... Lance, move towards Dragon's ship."
"Yo, Dragon! Even you showed up, huh?"
"Looks is gonna be a big one."
Hammer used Soru to leap from his ship onto Dragon's.
But once on deck, he noticed something off, Dragon seemed unusually gloomy.
"My dearest friend, Hammer, you came too."
"Only because of that old man Sengoku's orders. Otherwise, I'd be enjoying the North Blue by now."
"What's with you? You don't seem like yourself."
Dragon suddenly turned serious.
"Hammer, if one day, if I were to leave the Marines, would we still be friends?"
Hammer was momentarily stunned, but then quickly understood.
His smile faded, and his face grew serious.
"Dragon... do you know what being 'dearest friends' means?"
"To me, it means no matter what you do, or plan to do, your friend will always support you silently and not stand in your way."
"What could possibly stop a man from going to sea? Right?"
Dragon couldn't help but smile a little.
"Hammer... thank you."
"Oh, come on. I'm just a little Rear Admiral. Word is, you're about to get promoted to Vice Admiral soon. That'll make you the first among the four of us to, wait, no... that monkey is already a Vice Admiral, right?"
"Yes, Borsalino got promoted after the World incident. Even though he mostly slacked off, he still earned his stripes. He just hasn't officially been awarded yet."
"That guy... such a slacker," Dragon said with a slight smile, thinking of Borsalino.
"I want to leave the Marines…"
'So it really has come to this, huh? Inevitable.'