Spidey watched Kuro dispose of his two best men in no time at all, and his face twisted ugly.
"We can't stall anymore!"
Gripping his serpent spear, Spidey leapt off the ship and charged straight at Kuro.
As he ran, his lower body began to morph—bones cracking, flesh stretching—until a massive snake torso replaced his legs. A long tail lashed from side to side, carving trenches in the ground.
His upper body remained human, but his eyes narrowed into yellow slits.
His hair stood on end—
—and each strand twisted into a living snake, writhing behind his head like a nest of vipers.
CLANG!
Kuro caught the serpent spear with one hand and stared at the snake-man, expression calm, almost clinical.
"Zoan," he said. "Snake-Snake Fruit… Ancient Type—Titan Giant Python."
"Heh. So you've got eyes," Spidey sneered. "Doesn't matter. You're still dying here today!"
He flicked his wrist, knocking Kuro's hand aside, and thrust the spear straight in.
"WHOOSH—!"
Kuro rose into the air with a smile.
"You know mantises are hunters," he said lightly. "Sometimes… we even hunt snakes."
"You?!" Spidey snapped.
His tail whipped up, the sharpened tip spearing toward Kuro's midair position.
Slash-slash-slash—!
Kuro weaved through the attacks midair like a dancer, wingbeats precise, body turning on invisible threads.
"You only know how to dodge, you little bug?!" Spidey's temper flared.
Kuro chuckled, then reached down and raked his claws across the tail.
SCRRRT—!
Sparks burst.
Spidey threw his head back and laughed.
"That's all? With that Haki, you think you can pierce my scales? Dream on!"
He jabbed the spear at Kuro again—faster, dirt spraying from the tail's push.
"Not necessarily." Kuro's wings beat once, shifting his body with effortless control.
Armament flowed across his claws—denser, sharper—
Then he struck again.
BOOM—!
The tail was knocked aside.
Pain shot through Spidey's body.
His slit eyes narrowed as he stared at Kuro's hand.
"…Ryuo. Advanced Armament."
"Correct." Kuro smiled. "No reward."
He dove.
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG—!
Spear against claws. Blades of Haki against razor limbs.
Kuro used flight to keep Spidey suspended—always a half step out of reach, always in control, forcing the snake-man to keep chasing angles he couldn't cleanly bite.
Spidey's face darkened like it had been coated in soot.
Then, with a vicious turn, he shot his snake body toward the hilltop.
Can't catch you? Fine. I'll kill your people.
"That won't do…" Kuro sighed.
He kicked down toward Spidey's vital point—
Spidey raised the spear to block, and his tail swept across like a scythe.
"Shave!"
Kuro vanished, reappearing just off-line, staring at Spidey as the snake-man continued racing uphill.
"So you're forcing me to fight on the ground?" Kuro's smile sharpened. "Fine. I'll indulge you."
He dropped to the earth and raked his claws into the snake body.
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG—!
"What's wrong?" Spidey taunted smugly while thrusting and sweeping. "Not flying anymore, little bug?"
"If I let you reach the top," Kuro said flatly, "it'll make me look incompetent."
"A mantis that can't even stop a snake."
"Arrogant!" Spidey's spear thrusts came faster, his tail joining in—two angles, one rhythm.
For the first time, Kuro looked pressured.
Spidey wasn't especially fast—but his power was brutal.
And worse—Kuro had to constantly avoid being coiled. One mistake and the constriction would end the fight.
Nearby, Django scanned the battlefield.
Everyone had an opponent now. The upper line was taking heavy pressure.
"Brook! Up there—support them!" Django roared.
"Understood!"
Brook casually skewered two lackeys and sprinted uphill, coat fluttering like a funeral banner.
"Hum—!"
When he reached Akin's area, chill flooded his blade.
"Soul Solid—Underworld Blade!"
One slash—
A swath of enemies froze solid in an instant.
"Haah… haah…" Akin panted, soaked in sweat, blood and grit stuck to his face. "Thanks, Mr. Brook!"
"Yohohohoho—between comrades, no need for thanks," Brook laughed.
"You two rest for a moment."
Then he was back in, carving through the incoming wave.
These weren't ordinary pirates. They were desperate criminals, trained killers, people who didn't break easily.
White Ghost's crew understood that—
—so they fought ruthlessly.
"Get him! That skeleton's worth a hundred million on the black market!" someone screamed.
A crowd surged toward Brook, eyes bloodshot.
"Yohohohoho—so you want to capture me for money?" Brook danced away with eerie agility.
"Then show me you have the skill!"
He would occasionally stab—
—but every stab was aimed for the throat.
"I am a swordsman, after all… so!"
"Shave—!"
Brook blurred through the crowd, harvesting heads like wheat.
"Tch—why is even the hundred-million guy this hard?!" a bounty hunter cursed through clenched teeth—
SHHK—!
A hand punched clean through his left chest.
He looked down—
—and saw his heart in someone else's grip, still beating.
Akin's face was blank.
He withdrew his hand and tossed the heart away.
The bounty hunter collapsed, eyes wide open—dead without understanding.
Akin uncorked a bottle of medicine.
It was something Neiqin had prepared—restoring stamina and slightly boosting strength.
But it only worked properly on Zoan users.
The others reacted instantly.
"Kill that brat!"
They rushed Akin.
"Heh." Akin flexed his fingers.
Ten claws extended.
"You think you can?"
He tore through them in a blur.
Brook appeared behind the cluster.
"Swallowtail Slash."
CRACK—
He sheathed his cane-sword.
Bodies dropped in a line.
Akin's four wings trembled as he skimmed the ground at low altitude, slipping between strikes and countering with savage precision.
"Yohohoho—good spirit, Akin!" Brook grinned, raising his blade again as new enemies regrouped.
Wyper finally collapsed, breathing like a dying bull.
His entire body was soaked with blood.
He was out—completely.
He'd already used his medicine. There was nothing left.
"Shave—!"
Kontena flashed in, grabbed Wyper by the collar, and pulled him back.
White Ghost glanced over and waved once.
Take him. Let Neiqin treat him.
Wyper's ceiling was clear—around a regular Marine captain.
But there was no point letting him die here.
White Ghost's gaze shifted across the slope:
A-Er—relying on the sheer toughness of his Allosaurus—was rampaging through the crowd, smashing bodies aside.
A-Da swooped from above, spearing people with his beak between gusts of wind.
Enel and Urouge were shining too.
Urouge, with physique and Haki, was a walking bulldozer—one punch, a pile of corpses.
Enel was more agile. With powerful Observation Haki, he constantly repositioned, never letting himself get surrounded.
"ROAR—!"
Señor Pink was trading raw blows with a massive gray bear—fist-to-fist.
The bear was vomiting blood.
It was nearly done.
Uta's trio was overwhelming their four opponents.
Those four were only around "rear admiral" level.
Before, Kuina would've struggled—
but now, with the Angel Fruit and months of White Ghost's training, she could suppress even that level.
The most terrifying was Uta.
That bizarre, rule-like power of hers forced her two opponents to retreat again and again—
—and their bodies were bleeding from wounds they couldn't fully understand.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM—!
Someone fired mortars at the Silver Fortress.
Nami was exhausted. She was still a child—burning stamina nonstop with her power.
Now she was slumped in Ilena's arms, asleep or half-unconscious.
Stella lifted her hand.
Countless bubbles floated up, wrapping the incoming shells.
BOOOOM—!
They detonated in the air.
White Ghost's eyes slid toward the ship below—the man still waiting there.
A massive sword appeared in his hand.
"That's enough," White Ghost said calmly. "If we drag this out longer, we waste time."
Shura sensed the shift.
He pulled the giant blade from his back.
"A black blade?" he mocked. "Never seen it before."
"Fine. Let me teach you how to use a sword, brat."
WHOOSH—!
A thousand-meter slash tore toward White Ghost.
"Is that your greeting?" White Ghost tilted his head, raised his huge sword—
—and answered with a slash of his own.
BOOOOM—!
The two sword waves collided.
The earth ruptured, rocks and dirt exploded upward.
Anyone who hadn't fled in time was smashed by the shockwave—
—and dropped, vomiting blood.
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