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For Barrett, the Descendant of the Devil, this outcome was a humiliation beyond words.
He had believed, going into this, that his years of cultivated strength would be more than enough to handle a little girl. He would crush Sadi, break out of Impel Down, and then go looking for Ikki, the man who had been making so much noise across the high seas. That had been the plan. Simple. Clean.
Instead, Sadi had not only stopped him. She had stopped him and dozens of other criminals simultaneously, without breaking a sweat.
What did that make him? If one girl could hold back so many, what did his own strength amount to?
Rage ignited somewhere in Barrett's chest, irrational and hot. It drove him past what he knew was reasonable, past any calculation of how much more punishment his body could absorb, and left him with only the need to keep Sadi from walking away. Even though he didn't know, couldn't know, that the Sadi he'd been fighting all this time was one of many clones she had deployed with her Noble Phantasm. Not the real thing.
"Hehe. Trying to catch me?"
"At your speed, it'll take a few more years."
Sadi laughed at him, light and dismissive.
Then she was gone.
Her figure blurred out of existence, vanishing from Barrett's sight before he could close the distance.
That was the nature of the Noble Phantasm she was using. So long as she had energy to spend and enough left in reserve, she could initiate a spatial jump the moment danger came for her, and if she chose, she could leave a clone behind when she jumped. In theory, as long as her stamina held and her danger sense stayed sharp, nothing could touch her.
The first time Sadi had used the Noble Phantasm, even she had been taken aback by it.
Astolfo. What a formidable Heroic Spirit.
And such a beautiful person, and actually a boy.
Well. That settles that. No competition for Lord Ikki's attention.
Still, considering how useful this is...
I'll make the effort to summon the Heroic Spirit named Astolfo myself.
He mentioned a different class, not Saber. Rider, I think he said.
I wonder what abilities and Noble Phantasms he'll have when summoned as a Rider.
Will they be even more powerful than the Servant template I'm using now?
She was still mulling it over as she reappeared at Magellan's side.
What Sadi didn't know, and what she couldn't have known, was how wrong her assumption was. She had concluded that Astolfo, being a boy, posed no threat to her position at Ikki's side. But the truth was more complicated. If Astolfo were actually summoned, his involvement in winning Ikki over might exceed hers in ways she hadn't accounted for. He might, in the end, prove even more captivating than Sadi herself.
It was fortunate, in that sense, that Ikki's preferences ran exclusively toward women. Otherwise, the situation might have gone differently.
Back in the passage, Barrett stared at the empty space where Sadi had been. His teeth clenched so hard they ached. His eyes burned.
If he had known she'd spent those seconds after leaving him thinking about other things entirely, his fury might have been ungovernable.
He was still searching for her, for any sign of her, when her voice rang out clear and sharp near Magellan's position.
"Get to work, Director Magellan."
"Right now."
After Sadi and her many clones returned to Magellan's side, they all shouted at him in unison.
"Clear!"
Magellan's eyes widened, making his already fearsome face look even more intimidating.
Sadi was back. He no longer needed to worry about his Hydra accidentally catching her in the crossfire.
Without hesitation, he directed the massive creature coiled behind him and drove it forward into the mass of criminals ahead.
The cell passage, not a narrow corridor by any measure, looked suddenly cramped against the three-headed Hydra filling it from wall to wall. There was nowhere to run. The pirates knew it. It didn't matter.
This was consistent with what the original manga had shown: Magellan had swept through the entire Blackbeard Pirates invasion with his Hydra, giving them no time to react. Blackbeard's own arrogance and carelessness had been a factor, yes, but even setting that aside, the sheer speed of the Hydra when Magellan was fighting at full strength was something else entirely.
Speed alone wasn't even its most dangerous quality. Its true terror was its raw destructive power.
Swish swish swish!
Several sounds cut through the air in rapid succession.
The Hydra had already swept through the length of the passage.
In an instant, nearly all of them were down. Only a handful, Barrett foremost among them, a man of exceptional defensive capability and formidable Armament Haki, managed to offer any resistance at all. The rest were overwhelmed before they could react, like men swept off their feet by a flood, unable to do anything against the dragon's exaggerated force.
"As expected of Director Magellan..."
"That kind of offensive power is truly astonishing."
Sadi watched the aftermath with something between admiration and resolve. The feeling settled into her quietly, and she let it. She thought of Ikki, of his plan, and her resolve only grew firmer. She would train harder. She would climb higher in Impel Down. One day, perhaps, she might even surpass Magellan and take the warden's seat for herself.
"You're amazing too, Sadi."
"I am proud of your growth."
"With you here, Impel Down's future is more secure."
Magellan regarded her with undisguised satisfaction.
"Of course!" Sadi nodded firmly. "But now probably isn't the time for that."
"There are still pirates holding on."
"In that case, I'll lend a hand."
"Noble Phantasm, deploy! Vulcano Caligorante!"
She let out a sharp shout, first drawing all the surrounding clones back into herself and recovering some of her magical energy. Then she released it.
Blue-white light flared around her body.
The next moment, the longsword in her hand transformed into a braided, extended blade that seemed to stretch endlessly forward, and she sent it lancing toward Barrett and the others who were still standing.
The area ahead was already saturated with Magellan's venom. But Sadi herself didn't advance. She attacked from range, keeping clear of the poison. Magellan noticed and allowed himself a quiet breath of relief. This way, he could use the Venom-Venom Fruit's abilities without restraint.
It took some time, but even Barrett, a man of extraordinary endurance, eventually succumbed. His body gave out, and he went down.
"Phew. Finally."
Sadi exhaled, and the tension she'd been carrying left her all at once. With it went the fatigue she hadn't allowed herself to feel until now. It hit her in a single wave, flooding through her body. Her legs went out from under her and she sagged sideways.
Domino was there before she could fall. She caught Sadi neatly and held her upright.
"Are you alright, Sadi?"
Domino's voice was tight with worry. The sound of it drew every eye in the corridor, Magellan, Hannibal, all of them.
"I'm fine."
"Just used too much power."
"A little tired, that's all."
"I'll recover after a short rest."
Sadi shook her head from where she rested against Domino's arms.
At that, Domino, Magellan, Hannibal, and the others all breathed easier. None of them fully understood the nature of Sadi's power, and the fear that her Noble Phantasm might carry some harmful side effect had been sitting at the back of all their minds.