Arceus's Pirate Journey

Chapter 53: Chapter 53: Phantom’s Overlord

Navy G-4 Branch, even at night, powerful spotlights illuminated the nearby sea area.

In this era, there is never a shortage of pirates daring to challenge the Navy. The Four Seas are relatively peaceful, except for the incident caused by John, and it’s been a long time since the branches there have had any issues.

Relying on solid fortresses and coastal defense cannons, the branches in the Four Seas can handle most local pirates, but since John’s incident, each branch has also increased its vigilance.

The firepower of the branches within the Grand Line is even stronger because they face more formidable enemies. John’s incident served as a wake-up call for the entire Navy, and no one wants to be the next ”disgrace” of the Navy.

Moreover, this incident seemed to have triggered the nerves of some pirates, who always want to make a name by stepping over a Navy branch, which is why the G-4 Branch has enhanced its vigilance.

Besides the powerful spotlights directed at the sea, there are also several beams of light in the sky.

In the past, unless facing a special enemy, the Navy would not be on aerial alert. The technology of this world is skewed, capable of producing war machines like the Peacekeeper, yet lacking in large-scale airships.

The World Government is like this, let alone the pirates. Except for the Golden Lion, no pirate currently possesses large-scale aerial forces.

So the branch base wouldn’t waste manpower and resources, but under current circumstances, they’ve added a few spotlights to the sky.

However, those sparse lights were unable to lock onto Elizabeth; King lent them a small hand, for Inteleon’s ability is gliding rather than flying, so it needed a sufficient height.

King served as the airdrop plane.

Elizabeth’s wing membrane soared in the high sky with the help of the sea breeze, circumventing the Navy’s spotlights under the cover of night, landing inside the G-4 Branch.

”This Captain really is a worry...”

The people on the ship had various names for Kaidou, Olga preferred to use Captain, Arceus called him by name, while Shaina, King, and others frequently used titles like Sir, Boss, and Big Brother.

The newly recruited subordinates were much the same; at this time, Kaidou had not established a standardized rank and naming convention for the pirate crew. But even if he did, he wouldn’t care.

”Over there...” The speaker was Elizabeth. Over a few months, she made some progress in learning, successfully mastering a new language, but so far, she still couldn’t form long sentences.

Usually, she just used a few words to express her idea.

The Life Card was a handy thing, not easily damaged (Spandam’s part in the earlier text was already modified), and with this, she could easily locate Kaidou to avoid wandering aimlessly within the Navy Base.

Ability activated, a phantom enveloped the two of them. Zoroark’s illusion isn’t like Ditto’s which changes its form, but rather like a holographic projection enveloping itself.

Olga only had initial control over her ability. The application of the illusion ability was simple; Observation Haki could detect her difference, but no Navy would always maintain their Haki within the base.

Olga casually pinched the faces of two random passersby; with so many people in the Navy Base, she didn’t believe anyone could recognize all their colleagues.

And the next step was to find two solitary ones and replace them.

Even on a pirate ship, someone would keep watch at night. In a base this large, there must be patrols at night, and perhaps even passwords are involved.

Olga and Elizabeth walked through the Navy Base, occasionally appearing to have clipping issues.

Although Olga could change her external image to that of an adult Navy Soldier, her body structure didn’t change, so her perspective remained the old one, inadvertently leading to collisions with some structures.

The phantom had no physical form, and the phantoms she created wouldn’t vanish just because of such collisions, thus causing ”clipping.”

The range and effectiveness of a phantom were related to one’s power. Zoroark’s phantoms were realistic enough to deceive cameras, trick perception, and even keep Entei, Suicune, and Lei Gong trapped in a false phantom prison, the principles of which Queen hadn’t figured out.

Olga couldn’t influence an entire city, but a small area was still manageable.

She and Elizabeth followed a similarly directed patrol team, diverting the last two members of the team onto a wrong path.

Elizabeth, lurking on the wall, flung out her tail, snatching someone into a corner like an alien predator, then came two karate chops from Olga post-transformation.

If one wants to fully unleash a Pokemon’s inherent abilities, complete transformation is the best choice.

Although Olga now appeared as a Navy Soldier, her true form underneath the phantom was a golden-haired Zoroark.

Initially, Asie didn’t want Olga to become a combatant. Even after joining Kaidou, she could choose to be in the rear as a researcher. His intention was for Olga to learn tech from him.

He worked hard for this, but a genius’ child is not necessarily a genius. Olga had no real aptitude for learning. She’d rather train with Kaidou than listen to Asie’s lectures.

After the hotel incident, she deemed personal strength as more crucial than technical knowledge in her head.

However, her talent in combat was quite decent, provided she didn’t use the Wolf Fang Club; she excelled in unarmed or dagger-based combat.

She and Elizabeth discreetly replaced the phantom at the tail of the original team, following the patrol soldiers deeper into the base.

Meanwhile, in the G-4 Base prison, Kaidou was tied up like a dumpling, but it did not affect his deep sleep at all.

On closer inspection, it seemed like a temporarily converted prison, as it was originally just a wine cellar, with the scattered barrels around indicating this.

The Navy Base did not prohibit alcohol; navy soldiers on rotating shifts often got drunk, and even those on duty could drink with minimal allowance.

Tobacco and alcohol were necessities within the base; people here needed them to release stress, as pirates could appear at any moment, facing the constant potential of dying in battle.

”Vice Admiral Hedra, why don’t you take some rest? You haven’t closed your eyes for three days.”

An old man sat on a chair in front of the temporary cell; ever since Kaidou inexplicably appeared here, he personally guarded the place.

”No, this is a pirate with a bounty of 1,573,000,000. You can’t handle him.”

”Aren’t there Seastone Handcuffs? If he’s a user, he should be powerless by now.”

”The purity of those handcuffs’ seastone is too low, and the quantity is limited; it might not fully restrain him. This is a remnant of Rocks. The Prison Ship from headquarters will arrive tomorrow.

Once this matter concludes, I can apply for retirement when returning to headquarters.”