Their fists collided, sending them both flying back at the same time.
Lucci, recovering a moment sooner, closed the distance with the high-speed movement of Soru, pursuing Luffy as he slid across the bridge. Noticing this, Luffy didn't try to stop, but instead deliberately slammed himself into the bridge's support beam to avoid the attack. What would have been a needlessly damaging move for an ordinary person, the rubber man endured without a hint of pain. As if it were an afterthought, he used the rebound to stop his momentum, took aim with one hand, and fired his fist.
"Gomu Gomu no JET Pistol!!"
Lucci, leaning forward, couldn't completely dodge the attack. It grazed his shoulder as he rolled to the side, minimizing the damage. The two, having clashed countless times, got back to their feet after each exchange, breathing heavily but never falling.
"Hah… hah…!"
"Hah… hah… You're a persistent one, for a mere pirate…! But your luck has run out."
Lucci deliberately averted his gaze from Luffy and looked toward the Gates of Justice. Luffy, following his gaze, could see warships appearing one after another from beyond the gates.
They were the ten warships dispatched for the Buster Call.
"The warships have arrived… The bombardment will begin shortly. Your friends on this island, and the members of Twilight, will all be exposed to a rain of cannonfire."
There were still Marines and World Government soldiers remaining on the island, but they had likely not been informed that a Buster Call had been invoked. They would have been wiped out by the advancing Twilight forces anyway, but he felt a pang of pity for the soldiers who would now be exposed to a rain of cannonfire on an island with no escape.
Five Vice Admirals and ten warships. A total of over ten thousand Marines—a force on the scale of a nation's army. Twilight's warships had also arrived, but the numerical advantage was with the Navy. In this situation, it was nearly impossible for Luffy's crew, a single pirate group, to make it out alive.
"Give it up, Straw Hat. Now that it's come to this, your friends will not be leaving this place alive."
"We won't know that until we try!!"
"No, we know."
He glanced at Pedro, who lay defeated after his encounter with Akainu. Dilus, who was fighting Guernica and Stussy, looked to have stamina to spare, but in reality, he was being pushed back. The fight was taking time, but that didn't mean he could win.
Lucci let out a sigh at the naivete of Luffy, who still boasted that he could win in this situation.
"Even if you could defeat me, the underground passage is already flooding, and there are still two CP-0 agents—and on top of that, Akainu is the one pursuing Nico Robin. It's not my place to say, but that man's tenacity is fearsome."
Lucci was well aware of Akainu's battle record, having cornered countless pirates. There were almost no pirates who had escaped from that man's pursuit. The only exceptions were those known as the Four Emperors.
But still, Luffy's eyes had not given up.
Still, he roared with defiance.
"That's no reason for me to take my eyes off you. I'm going to stop you here so you can't go after my friends."
"…Hehehe. You have the makings of a good boss. Those are words I'd like a certain fool to hear…"
He believed they could escape even with Akainu as their opponent. That was why Luffy's job was to not let Lucci get away.
CP-0 was here. A Marine Admiral was here. The Buster Call was in full swing.
Even so.
Luffy did not lose sight of what he had to do.
"There—the warships have arrived while we were talking."
The galleon-class warships were considerably fast. It wouldn't take them long to pass through the gates, cross the Bridge of Hesitation, and reach the Tower of Justice. More importantly, now that they were this close, they were within firing range.
The first target was the fence surrounding the island. The next was the escort ship meant to travel from the Bridge of Hesitation to the Gates of Justice.
To ensure that Luffy and his crew had absolutely no chance of escape, the Navy made a thoroughly ruthless decision. That was the nature of a Buster Call.
The place where Luffy and the others were fighting was also a target of the bombardment.
"Tch!?"
"Oops."
The first pillar, which served as their main battlefield, was connected to the Tower of Justice by an underground passage. The state of the passage below was unknown, but the area above, which had seemed fine until now, was now exposed to cannonfire.
The underground passage was buried under rubble, rendered unusable. To bury alive anyone who might have been inside.
"Hah, hah… they got away, right…?"
"Is this any time to be worrying about others?"
Lucci, having caught his breath, closed the distance with high-speed movement and swung his sharp, elongated claws in a Shigan. Luffy dodged it and parried the arm that came for a follow-up with a JET Stamp. Readjusting his stance, Luffy immediately countered with a JET Pistol, but Lucci ducked low to avoid it and retaliated with a Rankyaku.
"That doping from before seems to be taking its toll! Your breathing is ragged!"
Lucci hadn't been making small talk just to taunt him. He had been using even those brief moments to catch his breath and prepare his exhausted body to move again. The same was true for Luffy, but it was clear that his stamina was draining faster. Lucci could tell it was because of the technique that produced a steam-like, or smoke-like, substance from his body.
It was a technique that could be said to shave away not just stamina, but life itself. It was a technique that only a rubber man could withstand, but it was not something to be used lightly.
Lucci's Rankyaku grazed Luffy's body, throwing him off balance. He was then struck by a flying Shigan and collapsed. He had lost a lot of blood, and the steam that had been pouring from his body was gradually dissipating. He could no longer maintain Gear Second.
"Hah, hah… Damn it!!"
"Even with doping, that's all you've got… I thought you had some backbone, but you're nothing special after all."
He had reached Enies Lobby from Water 7 and had been fighting nonstop ever since. The fact that his stamina had lasted this long was nothing short of miraculous, but to Lucci, that was not worth considering. If someone stood before him, he would demand a serious fight, a thirst for blood, no matter their condition.
Though out of breath, Luffy stood up once more and bit his right thumb.
"Then I'll show you—a fight with some real backbone!!"
Gear—Third.
…
CRACK, CRACK. With sounds that no human body should make, Kaie and Joseph traded blows.
Their Haki strength and their mastery of the Six Powers were not so far apart as to be decisive. When skill was evenly matched, the victor was decided by physical strength. In this respect, Kaie, being a Zoan-type user and possessing a second ability as a Mythical Zoan, was in an extremely advantageous position.
"Damn it, that eye of yours is a nuisance!!"
The Gorgon of myth was said to turn those it looked upon to stone. Kaie, its user, also possessed the extremely vicious ability to petrify any opponent within her line of sight. While it could be repelled with Haki, concentrating one's Haki to resist her ability left their physical defenses vulnerable.
Joseph and Maha were careful not to enter Kaie's line of sight at the same time, moving in a way that prevented either one from being taken down.
"I now understand firsthand why you are called the 'Evil Eye.' It's troublesome enough that it works on those of lower rank, but for it to be effective against those of equal or higher rank is a nuisance beyond measure."
"Yes, I have trained to be able to use it against opponents such as yourselves."
She hadn't been able to use it like this from the beginning. She had two methods: a wide-area petrification that turned everything within her line of sight to stone but was completely ineffective against those of equal or higher rank, and a localized petrification that could be focused on an extremely narrow area but was effective enough to slow down even those of equal or higher rank.
Originally, she could only use the former, but she had adapted it through long years of training and a new approach to her ability. In reality, even if both of them entered her line of sight at the same time, she couldn't even slow one of them down without concentrating on them, but there was no need to tell them that.
The fist she swung, accompanied by the sound of tearing air, was sharp and heavy. Joseph blocked it but was sent flying back.
"Kaie! Robin and the others have come up!! We're heading for the Sea Train station, but what about you!?"
"Go on ahead!! I'll hold them off here!!"
"There's no time! The Buster Call has already been issued! If we stay here, we'll just be caught in a rain of cannonballs!!"
"I won't die from mere cannonballs. More importantly, taking my eyes off them here is the bigger problem!"
CP-0 were not assassination specialists, but with their extremely high level of mastery of the Six Powers, there was a possibility they could get ahead of them. If Kaie took her eyes off them, they would go after someone else, and that could lead to a fatal mistake in Robin's escape. In that case, holding them down here until the very last moment was the best course of action.
"…Got it! I'm leaving this to you!!"
"…!"
Robin looked as if she wanted to say something, but she was urged on, told that even that was a waste of time, and she started running. The Seastone cuffs that had been on her hands were now gone, and it seemed she could move without any hindrance.
As Caterina and Robin's group escaped the Tower of Justice, Kaie lightly checked the condition of her hands. They could still move well enough. Her Haki was dwindling, but not to a critical level.
She ducked to avoid the kick of Maha, who had closed the distance at high speed, and swung a fist from his blind spot. However, he dodged it instantly, and a rain of Rankyaku slashes was unleashed from above. Kaie dodged them with a backstep while keeping her eyes on Joseph, who was running along the ground, creating a diagonal line with Maha.
"Guh."
His movements slowed slightly, and Maha, seeing that she had diverted her attention, attacked from above. Kaie blocked the high-speed kick with one hand and swung a hook at Maha's abdomen with her free hand.
With a loud crash, Maha was sent flying. Kaie then cut her gaze from him and deliberately unleashed a Rankyaku that sliced through the building, causing it to collapse and kicking up a cloud of dust that obscured her vision. Joseph had not been fighting without a plan. He understood that her "Evil Eye" would be ineffective if her line of sight was blocked, and he believed that if he could obstruct her vision by some means, the fight would become easier.
The result was just as he had thought. Joseph clashed with Kaie without his movements being hindered.
"You seem to be quite annoyed. Is having your movements hindered a problem for you?"
"Of course it is. It's a nuisance that just creates more trouble."
That being said, even if her vision was obscured, as long as she could use Observation Haki, she had no trouble knowing her opponent's position. It was as if they were all fighting blindfolded, but neither Kaie, Joseph, nor Maha showed any signs of difficulty as they clashed.
As they fought, the Tower of Justice shook with a particularly violent tremor. Considering the sound of cannonfire from outside and the current tremor, it seemed the Buster Call had begun to earnestly burn this island.
"If we dawdle too long, this could get troublesome…"
"That's my line. I wish you'd just give up already."
"That's a request I cannot grant. If I were to give up on Robin and return with my tail between my legs—I wouldn't even be able to complain if Lady Kanata killed me later."
"…It depends on whether your attachment is to Nico Robin as an individual, or to the archaeologist who can read the Poneglyphs… but in the end, you're after that woman just like the other Four Emperors."
"Not as much as you are, you—!!"
There was the sound of a steel-reinforced pillar shattering. If he hadn't dodged, Joseph's head would have met the same fate.
Simply cladding oneself in Armament Haki would not produce the same result. The skillful use of Haki was a common trait among the Twilight executives, he had heard, so he guessed that she had flowed her Haki into it to destroy it from the inside.
A rumbling sound echoed again, and the Tower of Justice shook violently. If they stayed here for too long, they would really be caught in the bombardment.
He had thought as much… but the rumbling did not stop. In fact, it even felt as if it were getting closer. Joseph moved to dodge something that came crashing through the wall.
"What…?"
Smashing through the wall, sliding across the floor in a spray of debris, was none other than Yuisheeze. His body was blackened in places as if it had been burned, and he was coughing up blood, a clear sign of the heavy damage he had sustained.
Appearing shortly after him was Akainu, with magma roiling from both his arms.
"Akainu!? At a time like this…!!"
"Guh… Damn it, he's strong, a Marine Admiral…!"
"It took a useless amount of time… Where is Nico Robin?"
"She's heading for the port. Not much time has passed, so you should be able to catch up soon."
"I see… I'll prioritize the pursuit, if you don't mind."
"Yes, failing the mission at this stage would be the bigger problem."
Akainu and Joseph quickly exchanged information and decided on a course of action. Joseph and Maha would delay Kaie and Yuisheeze, while Akainu would pursue Robin. The two CP-0 agents stopped Kaie and Yuisheeze, who tried to interfere, and Akainu ran past them with ease.
"Brace yourselves. I will not let you escape, Nico Robin…!"