A baby's cry...

As if being stabbed by a needle in the back of her head, Bellemare woke up instantly. She held her saber and forced herself to stand up. She followed the sound and searched for it. Finally, she found the source of the sound under a collapsed shop.

It was a little baby girl who was only a few months old and was still in her infancy. Fortunately, the collapsed wall was blocked and formed a tripod, allowing her to survive.

but.

As the rain fell heavier and heavier, the tripod gradually began to collapse, dust fell, and the life of the infant girl was in danger.

"You have to hurry up, you have to hurry up..."

The girl with a maroon ponytail gritted her teeth, quickly picked up the engineering shovel, and started digging with all her strength.

Pieces of bricks and stones were moved away, and the distance between her and the baby girl gradually became closer and closer. However, her physical strength was exhausted to the limit and her speed could not be increased.

Seeing that the wall was about to collapse completely, Bellemere became increasingly anxious.

She dug desperately... When she finally dug out a road that could accommodate people, her right hand accidentally rusted the steel bars connecting the bottom of the load-bearing wall.

Blah blah blah!

Under the impact of the heavy rain, half of the wall cracked, and gravel and dust rolled down like a flood, directly covering the crying little girl below.

No!

Seeing this, Bellmere's eyes were about to burst. He dropped his engineering shovel and rushed towards the inside. However, he was a step too slow after all. He could only watch in pain as the baby girl was buried...

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a small figure flashed out of the ruins, passed through the narrow passages that adults could not pass at all, picked up the baby on the ground, and quickly rolled outwards a few times——

Boom!

The wall collapsed completely, and outside the wildly falling sand, a small figure gasped violently, stood up with the baby girl in his arms, revealing an equally childish blue-haired face.

This is just a little girl of two or three years old.

Fortunately, fortunately...

Bellmer, who was still in shock, walked over with difficulty, covering the wound on his shoulder blade.

"Is this... your sister?"

The little girl with short blue hair looked up at the female sailor who was covered in blood and shook her head gently: "...I don't know whose child it is."

"That……"

Bellemere was about to continue asking when his knees suddenly softened and he knelt down.

She couldn't hold on any longer... She smiled bitterly in her heart, and simply moved over little by little on her knees, then managed to brace herself up and look at the infant girl.

It was a little guy with orange hair, who was exceptionally delicate and good-looking. She had stopped crying and had been looking curiously at the blue-haired girl holding her in her arms.

At this moment, she didn't know if she sensed Bellemeier's gaze, but she suddenly turned her head and looked at Bellemere.

One big and one small, their eyes were focused in the air.

Then, the orange-haired baby girl's eyes suddenly turned into crescent moons and she giggled.

Under the thunderous torrential rain, amidst the tragic ruins of corpses everywhere, she smiled happily, kicking her legs in her swaddling clothes, which made the blue-haired girl's face itch.

"...I really don't understand other people's feelings at all."

Bellemere also laughed, but her tears couldn't stop flowing. She took the swaddle from the blue-haired girl who was also crying and smiling, and gently stroked the face of the baby girl in her arms.

Giggle--

The little guy smiled even more happily. Bellemeier bit his lip and watched silently. He couldn't help lowering his head and kissing the dirty little face gently, then turned his head and looked at the little blue-haired girl who was wiping her tears.

:

"What's your name, kid?"

"..." The little blue-haired girl blinked and spoke softly, "Nogi Gao."

"Where are your parents?" Bellmeier tried his best to smile, "We just rescued some more people... Have you gone to see them? Are they there?"

"..."

Nuo Qigao shook her head, her expression dimmed.

She was another poor child. Bellemer held her in his arms and kissed Nokigao's forehead gently.

The sky was constantly thundering, and the heavy rain had already soaked her whole body. The girl tried her best to cover the swaddling clothes in her arms, and raised her tired face. It was hard to tell whether it was rain or sweat on her face. The corners of her mouth twitched, and finally she smiled.

come out:

"Don't worry, Nuo Qigao...and this little guy without a name, no matter how heavy the rain is, it will eventually stop. It doesn't matter if the house collapses, I will rebuild it in the future..."

Nuoqi Gao was buried in her warm arms. Hearing the words, he raised his head and stared at this little girl quietly.

The orange-haired baby girl in the swaddling clothes closed her eyes again at some point and fell asleep sweetly...

——

It rained heavily all day long with no sign of stopping.

And when the night passed and a new day dawned, the final rescue was completely completed.

The remaining sailors sadly buried the bodies of the soldiers who died in the battle, and then took the surviving people and supported each other onto the deck, preparing to set sail and return to the 16th branch base.

But, just at this moment.

boom!

There was a sudden explosion of fire in the distance, cutting through the dim dawn, causing everyone to turn their heads subconsciously in shock.

On the sea in the distance, amid the heavy rain, several huge black sailboats could be vaguely seen, sailing towards this side at full speed. Even though they were far away, they could still feel the terrifying pressure.

Boom!

The next moment, a series of roars of artillery fire were heard, and the sound was so loud that it even drowned out the thunder in the sky.

Black artillery shells flew over, and although most of them fell into the sea, there were still a few that exploded on the deck of the warship.

The railings were blown up, the mast was crumbling, and flames were everywhere. The remaining naval soldiers who were caught off guard suffered heavy casualties on the spot. After a brief panic, roars spread on the deck:

"Enemy attack, enemy attack!"

"Everyone is here, ready to fight!"

Bellmer, who was resting on the hospital bed, was also awakened in an instant.

She turned her head and glanced at the two little girls beside her. The orange-haired baby girl was still sleeping soundly, while the blue-haired Nokkigao also woke up. She sat up with some horror and looked out the window.

"Don't go out, protect your sister, and wait for me here."

Although he was still exhausted, Bellemare immediately got out of bed. After giving a warning to Nokigao, he picked up the saber on the corner of the bed, hurriedly opened the door and went out to the deck.

At this time, the pirate fleet was getting closer and closer.

The pirate flag pattern that was originally blurry in the heavy rain became clearly discernible.

——It was a particularly ferocious and terrifying skull with black bat wings painted on both sides.

"It's the Black Bat Pirates!"

A naval soldier recognized it, his face was filled with shock, and he shouted in panic, "How...how is it possible? Didn't they already go to the Grand Line? How could they be here!"

Black Bat Pirates?

The other sailors immediately took a breath and looked at each other, seeing the despair in each other's eyes.

They had survived the bloody battle for days, and all of them were covered in scars. None of them were timid cowards. However, they all looked like this at this moment. There was only one reason.

That is, the enemy is simply too powerful! So powerful that they are unable to resist at all, and have no chance of winning by chance!

The Black Bat Pirates are a behemoth with twelve ships and a total strength of three thousand people.

Captain "Black Bat" Murray was offered a bounty of up to 25 million Baileys just a few months after his debut. He led his troops to repulse the encirclement and suppression of various branches of the navy many times, and even personally killed two branch colonels, leaving nearby

All the branches in the sea area were in panic!

It wasn't until some time ago that there were rumors that the Black Bat Pirates had successfully broken through the blockade of the Navy in Rogge Town and entered the Grand Route. The navy in these branches of the East China Sea secretly relaxed with a feeling that they had finally sent away the God of Death.

Take a breath.

But now, why are you coming back?!

"hateful……"

Bellemare also looked extremely ugly, but the captain in charge of this expedition had been killed. She was currently the highest officer of the warship and she must not mess up the situation.

"Fire back!"

She took a step forward, came to the bow of the ship, and issued a stern order, "Try your best to block their sailing speed. At the same time, hold the right rudder full, fill up the sails, and break out from the south as quickly as possible!"

After all, the warship is faster. As long as she can break through the encirclement of the Black Bat Pirates, she and the remaining navy soldiers under her will be completely safe. The pirates will never be able to catch up no matter what!

"Yes, Lieutenant!"

The sailors also knew that this was their only chance of survival at the moment, and they had to seize it firmly. They immediately took action, and the entire deck was busy.

Regardless of his illness, Bellemare pushed himself to the side of the fort, took up the vacant position, and fired back at the pirate ship over there...
To be continued...