"Damn it, damn it, damn it!"
In the ruins of the Flower Capital, Jack the Drought, who had been blasted from the surface into the ground by over forty shipborne cannons, opened his eyes.
Relying on the powerful vitality of his Zou Zou no Mi, Model: Mammoth, and his heritage as a fish-man hybrid, Jack survived the bombardment.
But his severe injuries still left him in a brief coma, buried underground until just now.
Feeling his injuries, Jack knew he wouldn't last long. He had to complete the task assigned by his captain as quickly as possible.
Gathering a final burst of strength, using Haki to force his body to move again, he pushed aside the rubble burying him and climbed out from underground.
Looking around, the Beasts Pirates' soldiers who had been following him were all wiped out by the cannon bombardment. But their sacrifice was not in vain.
The cannons deployed around the Flower Capital had all overheated. Their muzzles were red-hot, and the rifling had partially melted.
And the Flying Pirates' soldiers who had been manning the cannons after Shiki left were now charging out of their defensive fortifications, attacking Jack.
"Hmph, overconfident!"
Jack snorted coldly. He lowered his curved blades to the height of an ordinary person. His massive body erupted with speed that ordinary people could hardly react to.
Clang—!
After the flash of the blade, in the eerie silence that followed, only the faint sound of spraying blood remained.
Jack did not look back at the hell he had created. Instead, he glanced at the constantly flashing thunder and blade light in the sky. His heart tightened. 'Need to speed up!'
He lunged forward, transforming into a battered mammoth, and charged madly toward the center of the Flower Capital. After crushing four or five streets in a straight line, he arrived at the highest room of the Tenshukaku.
Inside was a giant mirror, six or seven meters tall. But the tremors caused by the Flower Capital being lifted into the sky had caused the mirror to fall and shatter on the ground.
"Hey... the rest... is up to you!"
Jack, dragging his heavily injured body, pieced the mirror together. Then his whole body swayed and fell backward. Blood spread across the tatami mats.
A vortex-like fluid appeared in the center of the mirror that had been pieced back together on the ground.
As it expanded, the cracks in the mirror were swallowed up bit by bit, finally becoming seamless.
In just four or five seconds, the mirror was completely repaired. Pirates on the other side of the mirror began climbing out of the mirror's surface, which was like water.
"Tsk tsk tsk, you're badly injured, Jack!"
Who's Who, wearing a mask and a red suit, climbed out from under the mirror, his eyes fixed unkindly on Jack's neck.
But behind him, a golden spiked hammer extended, blocking Who's Who's line of sight.
"Hey, you failed spy. Is that the only thing you're good for, taking advantage of others' weakness? No wonder you couldn't complete your mission back then!" Ulti, wearing a blue cape and a mask, stared at Who's Who with displeasure.
Stung by Ulti's sharp-tongued words, the exposed part of Who's Who's face visibly twisted. "What did you say!"
"Don't be like that, sis. Fighting among ourselves right now will get us scolded by Kaido-san!"
Page One, who had climbed up by bracing against the mirror, played peacemaker, using his gentle voice to dissuade his sister while inserting himself into their dispute.
Seeing the other side had numbers, Who's Who snorted coldly and fell silent.
"Page One, how dare you not side with your sister!!!" Ulti whipped her long, thick, sky-blue and fine-pink striped hair, turned her head, and strangled Page One's neck, shaking him violently.
Sasaki, with long green hair and a sword at his waist, walked out of the mirror. Seeing Ulti's act of placing righteousness above family loyalty, he clapped his hands and jeered, "Oh, fight, fight! It would be great if you could weed out the weak Page One from the Tobiroppo. That would leave two spots open!"
"Bastard! You dare look down on my Page One!!!" Hearing someone badmouth her brother, Ulti instantly became enraged. Her eyes turned into inverted triangles as she roared at Sasaki.
"Ara ara, Ulti-chan is angry again. How cute!"
Black Maria, wearing a black, low-cut, off-the-shoulder kimono with a floral pattern, holding a smoking pipe, was the last to step out of the mirror.
"Stop chirping here. Let's get on with the mission. If we lose, we'll all be living under someone else's roof in Totto Land from now on!" Who's Who glanced disdainfully at the various personalities of the Tobiroppo.
He used his ability to charge out of the Tenshukaku, transforming into a massive saber-toothed tiger with a yellowish pelt, and charged toward the Flying Pirates' members who had occupied the Flower Capital below. Skillfully using the Rokushiki, he began slaughtering every pirate in sight.
"That guy always acts like he's the boss. What a bastard!" Spitting disdainfully, Sasaki also transformed into a triceratops and charged from the tower into the battlefield.
He rampaged, destroying many buildings and defenses, trampling the constantly replenishing Flying Pirates soldiers into pulp.
The carefree, frivolous Black Maria exhaled a puff of smoke and looked down at the Ulti siblings. "My ability isn't suited for the front lines. I'll guard this mirror."
With that, black substance overflowed from her legs beneath her skirt. Using her ability, she transformed her lower body into a giant spider, spraying webs to weave a nest inside the Tenshukaku. She also brought out the courtesans from among the beastified soldiers and placed them at various nodes.
At the same time, she personally guarded the mirror exit, opening a passage from the spider nest to the outside world for the Waiters and beastified soldiers of the Beasts Pirates hiding in the Mirror World.
"Then let's go too!" Ulti happily jumped onto her brother's back, wrapping her legs around his waist. "Charge, Page One, Number!"
"No... wait... sister, walk on your own!"
Page One lost his balance and was pushed by Ulti as they fell through the large gap Sasaki had smashed.
On the way down, Ulti pinned his arms and legs. His head slammed through the ground below the Tenshukaku, and his vision began to blur.
"Ahhh, what do I do? Page One, don't die—!"
The blue-haired girl shaking her brother's body looked up and let out a piercing cry of alarm!
Accompanied by her cry, the beastified soldiers who charged out of the Tenshukaku to fight, along with the blood and flames, became the theme of the Flower Capital.
One life force after another dissipated. The oddly shaped beastified members of the Beasts Pirates, led by the Tobiroppo, gradually tilted the scales of victory.
Excited shouts drifted far, reaching the sky. Shiki, who was exchanging blows, shifted his eyes slightly, then furrowed his brow.
"Wororororo, you feel it, don't you, Shiki! Your subordinates are almost all dead!!!"
Kaido, wearing a ferocious smile, like a wild beast, ran through the clouds on all fours, approached Shiki, and swung his kanabo, crackling with purple lightning, fiercely at him.
"What?"
Greatly alarmed, Shiki hurriedly wrapped his two Skillful Grade Blades in two Haki, crossing them to block in front of him.
Boom—!
The clash of wills condensed into an illusory light in the swords and kanabo, stirring up rolling waves and dark thunder, savagely spreading in all directions.
The long-range clash of Haki once again scattered all the surrounding clouds, revealing the bright starry sky and the bright moonlight.
The clanging sound of weapons resounded. Shiki, his Haki armor shattered, flew backward, falling toward the ground below.
He maintained synchronous flight with another girl in a dark ninja outfit, her body billowing steam, like two meteors tearing across the sky.
Shiki's gaze and Sakura's gaze crossed in mid-air, causing many question marks to appear on her smooth forehead.
'—Little buddy, what's up with you?'