"I'm not a man who enjoys being disturbed…"
Frost filmed Patrick Redfield's gaze. From the moment he was born, he'd carried a peculiar gift of Observation Haki he could feel other people's emotions. As he grew, voices from their hearts crowded his mind. For a child, it wasn't a boon it was a curse, a nightmare.
He didn't "read women's hearts" and become some king of romance, nor did he glide through life as a winner out of some fairy tale.
He was just a boy.
They called him a monster. His parents abandoned him. And the world filthy as hell showed him its true face.
Alone ever since.
Back to the present.
Sengoku lunged like a wolf; Redfield raised the slim-handled umbrella, face as cold as permafrost. A flick of his wrist
and a slash of sword-light bolted forth like lightning through rain.
Boom
The razor-thin arc checked Sengoku's charge.
"I only hunted a Mythical Zoan to become strong enough that people like you would stop bothering me," Redfield said, sour. "Yet it never works out that way."
He wanted only to be left alone. But so long as one lives in this world, solitude is a wish the world won't grant.
Sengoku didn't bother with niceties. He barked, "If you don't want people knocking on your door try Impel Down. No one will disturb you there!"
He stamped forward; a thunderhead of air rolled from his fist.
Boom
The umbrella met that fist a blink before it landed. Redfield's voice was cool. "Foreseeing the future? I taught myself that long ago."
"I've already seen your next step."
"'Lone Sovereign in Red,' pride goes before a fall!" Sengoku shot back. At thirty-something he was still all edge, all drive "Justice that reigns" not a slogan but the goal he bled toward.
His faith surged. Fists pounded like war drums; air exploded in ripples.
Redfield rotated his wrist; the umbrella shifted with surgeon's poise and absorbed another blow.
"While I seize the initiative at every turn, you cannot defeat me."
"See all you like planning to turtle forever?" Sengoku pressed, a barrage of fists pouring in.
"I've already found your opening." Redfield's umbrella blurred, a thrust lancing for the gap between punches
a bead of cold sweat ticked down Sengoku's temple. He twisted that thick, towering frame through an uncanny angle and slipped the sting.
A man who hones a single discipline to its absolute peak… truly terrifying, he thought, scowling. This peacock in aristocrat's colors radiated a danger that rivaled Rocks himself.
And that Observation Kenbunshoku Haki pushed to an extreme was the keenest Sengoku had ever seen.
No more holding back. Light blazed from Sengoku's skin; his body swelled, transfiguring into a golden Buddha of foreign cast afro and round spectacles gleaming on a gilded colossus.
Redfield's pupils tightened. He murmured, "So Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Model: Daibutsu…"
"Why is it I never stumble on a Mythical Zoan?"
His research through ancient tomes had led him here; the clue had proved sound yet the Fruit eluded him.
"Buddha Shockwave!"
Sengoku thrust out a massive palm; a milky sphere of compressed air burned white in his hand.
"Compressed air as a shock blast?" Redfield didn't dare belittle a Mythical Zoan rarer than a Logia, and every one bizarrely potent.
His forearm blackened with Armament Haki, flames of hard will licking along the umbrella's ribs. He lunged
Boom
The special shockwave detonated, carving the plaza anew and flinging rubble in rings.
Two apex predators colliding made a mess you could see from miles away.
Wang Zhi, far off, paled as sweat chilled his spine. "Redfield and the Marines? Here? And fighting?"
Decision made, he ghosted away. First priority: find the others. Besides, he was in no shape to jump in now.
Meanwhile.
The siren Slardar dragged Captain John and Silver Axe to the island's shore. By their plan, John and Wang Zhi had split to search in opposite directions.
Following one of those headings led not to Wang Zhi, but to Tengetsu Ares trading meat-blows with Garp in a sky black with storm.
John and Silver Axe both stiffened.
"How are Marines here?!" Silver Axe blurted.
John's eyes cut, voice going flat. "They're here for us. Zephyr is standing off on the warship that's a planned operation."
He'd already guessed as much, but this wasn't the moment to say more.
Slardar squinted up into the thunderhead where two figures brawled in blood and lightning. "Ares…"
"To face a man like that and not even use his Devil Fruit?"
Silver Axe clapped his shoulder. "That guy likes his fists. He's probably giddy right now. Didn't you see? Half those hits he doesn't even try to dodge."
He thought of Ares's training and that "madman-devil" look in battle and shivered despite himself.
"My advice? Don't get in his way. If Ares isn't satisfied, he won't stop," Silver Axe warned.
Slardar recalled how Ares had hounded him in the sea relentless. The man truly was like that.
Silver Axe turned to the brains of the pair. "So the Marines are tying Ares down. What do we do?"
John weighed it. "We came for the treasure. Slardar knows where it is. We have to break away."
"Let that troublesome woman fall to the Marines."
He'd misjudged one thing: Slardar's will.
"No." The refusal was instant. "I can't watch Her Highness be put in danger."
Even a glimpse of that sky-duel told the story: anyone who could stand with Ares was terrifying and Marines rarely hunted alone.
No matter how strong Princess Sistra was now, danger swelled like a tide.
Silver Axe's temper spiked. "Why so stubborn? Your country's gone. What are you still calling her princess for?!"
"She's nothing but hatred now!"
Slardar's tiger eyes went hard. "Whether the Sirens stand or not she is, and will always be, my princess."
That did it. Silver Axe shut his mouth, muttering inside, You can't argue logic with a simp… Love rots the brain.
He tossed the hot potato back to John. "Your call, Vice-Captain."
John glanced toward the Marine flagship. "Zephyr is there, plus several officers at general-class. The three of us…"
"…are not their match."
He and Silver Axe were both badly hurt; they'd live, but their fighting strength was ten, maybe twenty percent. Only Slardar could still be called a proper combatant.
And Zephyr Black Arm Zephyr cast a long shadow. If Whitebeard, Shiki, or Linlin were here, fine. The rest of Rocks's cadre? They could stall Zephyr, nothing more.
John thought it through and offered, "Slardar take us to the treasure first."
"Once we have it, we regroup with our people and pull out."
As for Kaido and Wang Zhi… if they met them, good; if not, they'd look; if they couldn't then fate would choose. Among pirates, "bonds" and "brotherhood" were usually the first things to die.
Silver Axe's eyes lit. "Right. That brat Ares is a monster. He hasn't even used his Fruit against Garp yet."
"Even if Zephyr piles on, they won't kill Ares quick."
John added oil to the flame. "We get the treasure, and we can withdraw at once."
"Look at Ares hyped up, refusing to lose. Even if you told him to leave, he wouldn't."
Slardar had lived more than two centuries, but dealings with humans had been rare. He mulled it over then nodded.
If he brought back the treasure, Ares should depart. With his speed, it wouldn't take long either way and Slardar could use that chance to lead Princess Sistra away from danger.
"Fine."
He set off with John and Silver Axe in tow.
Joy bubbled in John's chest, visions already casting themselves. Captain Rocks ordered me to secure the Fruit. With a Mythical Zoan in hand
no one will stop Rocks.
And the reward I'll earn…
Hours later
Slardar slowed. "We're near."
They edged toward the cache site.
"Why's there so much driftwood out here?" Silver Axe frowned.
John curled a lip. "Our ship, most likely. By the look of it, the sea kings or the waves finished it while we were fighting."
"I wonder how that kid Kaido's doing."
"He's Ares's junior. If he's gone missing, Ares might lose it."
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