Whoosh!
Despite his massive frame, Kuma moved with a speed that utterly outclassed the vast majority of Devil Fruit users. In an instant, he vanished and reappeared behind Alucard, reaching out a hand toward Dr. Vegapunk.
He had no intention of fighting Alucard right now; his primary objective was to seize Dr. Vegapunk.
Dr. Vegapunk knew Kuma all too well. The man was the perfect specimen he had intended to use to replace Zephyr for the completion of the "Pacifista" project. When it came to Kuma's capabilities, Dr. Vegapunk knew them forward and backward.
As he watched that palm, designed like a cat's paw pad, reach out to grab him, Dr. Vegapunk didn't panic. Instead, a smile played on his lips.
It wasn't because he had some secret mechanism installed on his person; it was because Alucard was still there.
Sure enough, when Kuma's hand was a mere half-meter from Dr. Vegapunk, it came to a dead halt. Upon closer inspection, the giant's massive body was being held fast by countless shadow hands erupting from the ground, rendering him unable to move an inch.
"Pad Ho!"
Kuma twisted his arm and aimed at the ground, instantly repelling the shadow hands. His body broke free from the restraint, but in that split second, Alucard moved even faster. The black pistol, Jackal, was already pressed against Kuma's right leg.
"It's over, Bartholomew Kuma."
Whoosh!
Kuma used his spatial displacement once more to vanish, pushing the powers of the Paw-Paw Fruit to their absolute limit. Even among the Seven Warlords of the Sea, his mastery was top-tier.
Alucard's lips curled into a smirk. Just as Kuma reappeared on the beach behind him, a beastly claw covered in black fur, larger than even a Giant, erupted from the sand. Caught off guard, Kuma was snatched up in its palm. His massive frame looked like nothing more than a grasshopper held in that gargantuan grip.
"!?"
Kuma's mouth hung slightly agape, showing shock for the first time. He tried to break free, only to find that his body couldn't budge. The strength of this thing was absurd.
Trapped in the claw, he tried to activate his paw pads to send the monster on a "trip," but he found that even upon contact, the giant claw binding him showed no sign of vanishing.
"Scary, truly scary. To think you caught Kuma, who is nearly Admiral-level, so easily."
Dr. Vegapunk clapped his hands before stuffing them back into the pockets of his lab coat. "As expected of... the Captain."
"Heh..."
Alucard and Dr. Vegapunk walked over to the beastly claw. Alucard controlled the giant limb to slowly lower Kuma. Just before he hit the ground, Dr. Vegapunk produced a set of Seastone chains he had prepared earlier, snapping them around one of Kuma's wrists like a bracelet.
"An undying, invincible army, combined with Human Weapons based on the precedent set by Zephyr... I'm going to be quite busy for a while," Dr. Vegapunk said with an excited laugh.
Sssss—shoooo...
Suddenly, a whistling sound reached their ears. The two looked up. To Alucard, the sound was uncannily similar to a jet engine.
Looking up, he saw that the object did indeed resemble a jet.
A woman stood suspended in mid-air. She wore a steel mask branded with long horns, though her delicate features were visible through the large gap in the center. Clad in deep dark-red armor, she had a pair of medium-sized steel wings on her back. Intense gas flared from small vents in the wings, allowing her to maintain her position in the sky.
After surveying the situation below for less than two seconds, the woman turned to retreat, vanishing from their sight at extreme speed.
"Aranea Highwind."
Dr. Vegapunk called out the woman's name. "The Commander of the Second Mobile Regiment under Air Force Commander Yako, and the one who has mastered the use of the Flight Armor most perfectly."
Alucard glanced in the direction Aranea had disappeared. "Is that thing your handiwork too?"
"It's just a creation based on the principles of Breath Dials. It's nothing special, still in the experimental phase," Dr. Vegapunk shrugged. "But Aranea is strong. She uses that armor perfectly; even I was surprised during the initial testing. She's known now as the Female Dragon Knight."
'Hmph, I really have been running into 'Dragons' a lot lately,' Alucard thought to himself.
First, there was "Dragon" of the Revolutionary Army, then the "Dragon" of the Salamander Fruit, and now a female "Dragon" knight. Was he fated to have some strange connection with "Dragons" recently?
Alucard retracted the claws of his True Ancestor familiar, Baskerville, back into the pool of blood. He smiled and called out, "Don't let them have it too easy, Shirahoshi."
Countless creatures rose from the depths of the ocean—massive Sea Kings of all shapes and sizes, looking like an army of the sea. Sitting atop the head of a whale-like Sea King in the center was their Queen: the ten-year-old Princess Shirahoshi.
Hearing Alucard's words, Shirahoshi gave a ditzy, innocent nod. "Okay!"
Watching the thundering army of sea beasts chase after Aranea, Dr. Vegapunk rested his chin in his hand and repeated the same line Kizaru often used: "How terrifying... the Immortal Pirates..."
"What will the Government's next move be?" Alucard asked Dr. Vegapunk after using a Den Den Mushi to issue orders to Ivalis and the others still at Arderay.
"Well..."
Dr. Vegapunk closed his eyes and thought for two minutes before opening them. "They will retreat. They won't dare move again for a short while. Their original backup plan was an Air Force ambush, followed by inciting conflict between three of the Yonko, but all of that has gone up in smoke now."
"Though, they will likely continue their attempts to stir up trouble between the Yonko. We'll just have to deal with it as it comes."
"If there's nothing else, I'm going on a trip." To Alucard, these matters weren't particularly interesting. His subordinates could handle them, and he couldn't be bothered to manage the details.
"Leaving the mess to your subordinates? You really are just like Kaido," Vegapunk remarked.