The moment the battle began, the SWORD Secret Special Force members immediately found their own opponents.
Black Maria was the first to bear the brunt, becoming Jack's target.
But as a Tobiroppo, although the gap between her and Jack existed, it was not large enough for Jack to instantly defeat her.
And since both of them specialized in close-quarters combat, and both possessed Ancient Zoan powers…
In a short time, they actually fell into a stalemate.
However…
Black Maria wielded her personal weapon, the Wanyūdō.
Jack, meanwhile, fought bare-handed.
So anyone with eyes could see that victory was only a matter of time.
With the two tallest fighters as the center, the surrounding combatants also clashed only seconds later.
Who's-Who held his daggers, preparing to charge into the enemy formation, when his instincts as the user of the Cat-Cat Fruit, Ancient Model: Saber-Toothed Tiger suddenly warned him of danger.
He instinctively lowered his head—and two daggers sliced past.
Judging from the height, they had aimed straight for his eyes.
He had done the same thing to others more than once:
First using speed to take away the opponent's vision to seize absolute advantage… and finally ending the battle with playful cruelty.
But this time, he seemed to be the one being played with.
"This is… really unpleasant."
"Unpleasant? I'll make you so happy you'll fly into the sky!"
Though he dodged the daggers by ducking, an orange-haired girl leaped up, dragging a massive iron hammer completely disproportionate to her size, crashing straight down toward him.
As a former CP9 prodigy, Who's-Who stomped hard—
"Soru!"
"Boom!"
The heavy hammer smashed into the deck, but missed.
"Tch, what a slippery stinking cat."
Marigold snorted.
"Marigold! Don't let your guard down!"
Sandersonia's voice came from behind her. Marigold turned her head—only to see Who's-Who, who had just dodged her attack, already circling behind her…
But her elder sister instantly blocked the pink dagger slicing toward Marigold's neck.
"Your speed… isn't right." Who's-Whou, already transformed into his beastman form, had pupils narrowing to needles. "Devil Fruit?"
"Why don't you guess?"
Sandersonia parried the strike, then used the recoil to flip gracefully through the air, landing atop Marigold's giant hammer.
"Sis… is it okay for us to fight two-against-one like this?"
"Father said this is called righteous two-against-one. If they don't like it, they can call more people." Sandersonia smiled.
"But from the looks of it… they don't have the time."
...
"The legendary Marines, huh… I've heard plenty about you." Sasaki gripped his rotary blade, staring at the man in front of him—head lowered, holding a straight longsword. "If we're gonna fight, lift your head! Face me properly!"
"Hmm?"
A single sound squeezed from the man's throat before he suddenly raised his head.
T Bone's shriveled zombie-like face instantly filled Sasaki's vision. The overwhelming pressure—comparable to Conqueror's Haki—made even a Tobiroppo like Sasaki shudder.
"A zombie!? Are the Marines using zombies now!?"
"How rude!" Shu walked out from behind the towering T Bone, shaking his head with a smile. "T Bone just looks a little like a zombie!"
"A living person who looks like a zombie—that's even sadder!!"
Sasaki's retort pierced straight into T Bone's heart.
"How could you say that about my best friend!" Shu removed his glove with exaggerated grief. The metal on the Beast Pirates' flagship instantly started rusting. "You rude pirate… use your head as an apology for T Bone's zombie face!"
"You're the one mentioning it the most! You obviously love bringing it up, dammit!!"
...
"One of the All-Stars of the Beast Pirates—King. Lunarian. Ancient Zoan: Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Model: Pteranodon. Bounty: 1.39 billion Belly… I didn't get anything wrong, did I?"
Rosinante stood before King.
Though far shorter, his calm presence didn't lose in the slightest.
"Your face… I think I've seen it before."
"Probably because back when I followed Doflamingo, I saw you."
"…You're that guy who didn't like to talk and wore clown makeup?" King frowned. "But I remember—you're Doflamingo's real younger brother."
"Unfortunately, I never considered Doflamingo my brother. On the contrary—he is my father's murderer. I simply knew that killing him myself wouldn't make my father happy in the afterlife… so I refrained." Rosinante smiled softly.
"Besides, I knew that letting him live would bring him a fate far more terrifying than death. I suppose I'm a little cruel at heart."
"How terrifying… Marine brainwashing. Brothers killing brothers." King lifted his sword. "And people still say pirates are worse?"
"No need for petty provocation. I simply chose the right path. And I was fortunate—on this path, I found a guiding light that leads me forward." Rosinante nodded with a gentle smile.
"So… even though I've never liked fighting, right now I have every reason to take you down."
As soon as his words ended, his smile vanished, his aura shifting drastically.
The gentle, good-natured Rosinante unleashed a killing intent no weaker than Hawk Eyes', directed straight at King.
"To be honest, I'm not in a very good mood today… After all, we were forced to retreat earlier. That was the first voluntary retreat in SWORD Secret Special Force history."
"So… all of you can serve as punching bags."
The deck beneath his feet instantly transformed into gold, spiraling upward, condensing around Rosinante's hands into—
A pair of massive golden power-arm gauntlets.
"Gold? The Gold-Gold Fruit? What a flashy ability."
"Really? If you think this is flashy, then your understanding of gold is far too shallow."
Rosinante sneered softly.
The gauntlets roared, venting steam.
He raised his fist—and struck.
Haki infusion, heat radiation, and shattering gold fragments—
All combined to create a blinding golden blast.
"Golden Burst!"
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Fanfic is finished. 583 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg