"Gah!! Don't do anything rash! We're on the same side. I'm Sniper King from the Straw Hat Pirates!"
Usopp scrambled to thrust both hands into the air, tears and snot practically leaking from his face in pure terror. His eyes bulged as he stared at the pitch-black blade radiating a chilling aura; a microscopic millimeter of further forward momentum would have permanently terminated his life signs.
The execution velocity was too damn high! One microsecond they were chatting, and the next, cold steel was pressed against his throat.
"Every syllable clearing my jaw is verified data! If your system flags an error, cross-reference it with Luffy! I even hold the intel that the Drake Pirates and Ace have already consolidated their vanguard inside Wano..." Usopp rattled off his entire database in a desperate, rapid upload.
He had zero choice; the situation was far too terrifying. Both of these combatants possessed an elite tier of raw power, leaving him with an absolute zero percent probability of staging a successful resistance. He had to resolve this interface error immediately.
With a crisp, metallic click, Bell smoothly returned his straight-edged ninjato to its scabbard.
"You're claiming to be Sniper King of the Straw Hat crew?" Kenshin's brow slowly unfurled, his aura re-stabilizing.
"Mmm, mmm, mmm!" Usopp nodded frantically.
Kenshin and Bell exchanged a brief glance, nodding in synchronization. Their internal indices held a complete file on the Straw Hat Pirates' roster; after all, they were dealing with the crew of Drake's younger brother. Furthermore, Usopp's physical features mapped perfectly onto the specific traits associated with the Sniper King profile.
Seeing that the vanguard had successfully validated his data, Usopp let out a massive sigh of relief. He adjusted his stance, attempting to project an air of confidence. "My sensors just intercepted your tactical outline. Launching a solo assassination deployment against the Shogun of Wano Country is a highly unoptimized strategy."
"The localized power balance within this territory is currently divided between two primary factions. The absolute apex seat is occupied by Kaido's Beast Pirates, while the secondary administrative cluster comprises the localized samurai and ninja networks."
"Therefore... shouldn't your operational blueprint include reinforcing your numbers before launching an offensive?"
When it came to Kenshin and Bell's impending deployment, Usopp's internal safety algorithms were flagging a total rejection. It held zero complex variables: the risk index was far too extreme. The enemy commanded a massive garrison, while their unit comprised a grand total of two fighters.
"Ahem! Of course, my analysis doesn't stem from a deficit in personal courage; I merely calculate that a direct frontal assault is far too reckless. This deployment demands maximum tactical caution."
Staring at the grand display of righteous posturing from Usopp, a genuine thread of amusement rippled through Kenshin's thoughts. It marked his absolute first smile since breaching the borders of Wano Country.
The Udon Prisoner Mines
Following the abrupt manifestation of Locke and Ann, the baseline variables of the sector caved into absolute chaos once more. A portion of the garrison experienced severe system shocks over their destructive raw power, while others found their visual sensors entirely locked onto Ann's ethereal, peerless beauty.
However, the enslaved inmates occupying the excavation pits remained frozen in a severe processing loop, not a single soul summoning the intestinal fortitude to take the initial step forward.
To align themselves with Marco's unit meant downloading an absolute, unchangeable blueprint of rebellion. It would lock their survival parameters into a permanent, total war against the combined weight of the Beast Pirates and Shogun Orochi—a macro-war for which the broken populace possessed zero psychological readiness. They simply failed to see a viable path to victory or a clear blueprint of the future.
Even if they cleared this localized perimeter, what exact change would it yield? The surrounding geography remained heavily fortified enemy territory. They possessed zero statistical probability of overthrowing the regime—or at least, that was the definitive conclusion their internal processors returned.
"Everyone!!"
Suddenly, a tiny, heavily decrepit old man stepped out from the thick of the frozen crowd. Pivoting his frail frame to face the assembly, he barked with surprising authority, "This exact microsecond represents our supreme tactical opening!"
"The historical ledgers of the Whitebeard Pirates are deeply integrated into my files; decades ago, Lord Oden himself served as a core Commander anchoring their Second Division!"
"The twenty-year timeline dictated by destiny has officially elapsed, and the sacred prophecies uttered by Lady Toki are on the absolute precipice of fulfillment! The Kozuki lineage is rising from the ashes! Exactly what baseline parameters are you waiting for?!"
"Lord Hyogoro... it truly is you! Old man Hyo really is Master Hyogoro of the Flower!!" The eyes of the surrounding inmates instantly illuminated with a profound, desperate thread of hope as they locked onto his small stature.
Hyogoro of the Flower! The undisputed supreme authority who had once ruled the entire criminal underworld of the Flower Capital! His administrative reach had historically commanded every single rogue and outlaw across the nation—a legendary titan of Wano's golden age.
"You decrepit piece of garbage, your vital signs are hovering at the threshold of deletion, yet your system still attempts to draw attention to itself?" Queen growled, his expression darkening as he leveled a glare at the old master.
However, Queen's internal processors were actively wrestling with a severe layer of tactical anxiety. The First Division Captain of the Whitebeard Pirates! Marco's planetary renown had been locked into the global database for decades; his baseline combat metrics were an absolute anomaly that permitted zero doubts.
Furthermore, the two reinforcement assets who had just pulverized the entry checkpoint were blatantly high-tier combatants. Ordinary fighters possessed zero capability to systematically reduce reinforced iron gates to fine splinters. The data was clear: the enemy had engineered a high-precision, coordinated offensive.
"Marco, what exact strategic calculations prompted your deployment to these coordinates? This sector maps directly to the sovereign domain of the Beast Pirates. Tell me, do the Whitebeard Pirates intend to officially declare total war against our empire?" Queen demanded, a subtle alarm tripping his internal danger-radar.
He held a clear index on the data that Governor-General Kaido had personally mobilized to engage the newly crowned Yonko, Fire Emperor Ace. But with Marco anchoring a high-intensity prison break in Udon, the reality was stark: the Whitebeard Pirates were launching a full-scale, uncompromised campaign to systematically delete their empire.
Not a single strategist across the New World had pre-calculated a scenario where the Whitebeard remnants, supposedly locked in a low-power recovery phase after the Payback War, would compress their deployment timeline to launch a direct invasion of Wano. Judging by this display, they were explicitly here to trade lethal blows!
The Whitebeard command structure had executed a magnificent strategic maneuver. With Captain Ace engaging the Governor-General on the coast and First Division Captain Marco spearheading the Udon offensive, any rational lookout would deduce that the entire imperial fleet of the Whitebeard Pirates had entered the hot zone.
Yet, the actual reality of the board was that their sovereign crew had only allocated a grand total of two fighters to this campaign.
Correction: three assets! For a final, unmapped powerhouse had successfully breached Wano's maritime perimeter just moments prior.
"Hmph..." The corners of Marco's lips curled into a sharp, subtle smirk before his voice boomed across the pits: "Kozuki Oden historically commanded the seat of our Second Division Captain!"
"Twenty rotations of the calendar ago, our information networks suffered a severe latency error, preventing our fleet from intercepting the data before he sustained a fatal deficit at the hands of your Beast Pirates..."
"That historical debt has remained hard-coded into our processors ever since! Today, we are explicitly here to trigger the total war!" Before the final syllable could clear his jaws, a violent current of energy erupted. Vrumm! Marco launched his frame forward, converting into a high-speed projectile aimed straight for Queen's coordinates.
BOOM!
The blazing talons of the Phoenix slammed dead-center into Queen's fortified forearm, the massive kinetic displacement generating a localized concussive gale that forcefully drove the surrounding infantry and prisoners backward.
Unleashing a piercing, sonic avian shriek, Marco channeled his advanced Armament Haki—Ryuo—through his claws, scaling up his torque parameters instantaneously.
"Damn it...!" Queen's jaw tightened, the sheer pressure forcing him to instinctively swallow his own lit cigar down his throat.
His pupils dilated to their absolute limits in pure shock. Before his motor centers could execute a counter-maneuver, Marco's blazing talon slammed heavily against his face.
BOOM!!!
Queen's massive, rotund mass was converted into a high-velocity projectile, rocketing backward through the air until he crashed violently into the reinforced stone walls of the quarry.
"Agh...!" The surrounding infantry of the Beast Pirates experienced total morale failure, their faces draining of color as they scrambled backward in a panicked frenzy.
"Lord Queen!!" "The First Division Captain of the Whitebeard Pirates... Marco the Phoenix!"
As active denizens of the Grand Line, not a single soul among their ranks was blind to his profile. The legacy anchoring the Whitebeard Pirates was an absolute myth ruling the pirate world; even with decades of shifting eras, that crew remained a sovereign titan of the seas! Marco was still the exact same terrifying entity that left common pirates paralyzed with fear!
"Do the Whitebeard Pirates truly intend to systematically liquidate our faction...?" The Udon guards swallowed hard, their internal safety radars blaring with instinctual dread.
"What the hell is paralyzing your circuits?! Launch a synchronized offensive immediately!" the Chief Warden roared, his features contorted in absolute fury as he attempted to re-align their discipline loops. "What weight does a pirate crew carry against our numbers? We are the Beast Pirates!"
"Precisely! Advance the line!"
BOOM!
A colossal silhouette suddenly erupted from the mountain of pulverized stone, Queen's throat-shredding roar echoing across the facility: "MARCO!!" He ignited his propulsion loops, charging back toward the Phoenix with apocalyptic momentum.
"Heaven and Earth: The Crushing Gavel!!"
A thunderous, feral shriek suddenly echoed from the absolute rear of his trajectory. Without a single microsecond of warning, a gargantuan iron staff measuring a full meter in diameter swept through a massive, bone-shattering horizontal arc aimed straight for Queen's midsection.
The extreme atmospheric displacement instantly inverted the local air currents, the sheer, crushing wind pressure compressing and contorting the thick layers of Queen's biological tissue before the solid gold steel could even make physical contact with his frame!