The giant vine-hand failed to grab its target. It unfurled, revealing Aramaki not far away.
At this moment, Aramaki had fully transformed into a massive tree-giant, fused completely with the pirate ship beneath him.
His enormous face protruded grotesquely from the ship's cabin, eyes locked on Marco.
Marco was about to counterattack Aramaki—but Weevil again rushed in, swinging his blade!
Marco was forced to divert his focus, blocking Weevil's slash.
Locked with Weevil on one side, Aramaki took the opportunity on the other.
Countless sharpened vines burst from the shattered deck, stabbing toward Marco's back.
This is getting ridiculous…
Forced to deal with both Aramaki and Weevil at once, Marco began to feel the pressure.
He was just about to rely on his Phoenix powers to tank Aramaki's vines when a figure streaked across his peripheral vision.
Slash—slash—slash—
A flurry of cuts flashed by, severing the threatening vines.
Marco looked—and found it was Kuro.
And beside him was Buggy.
"THE GREAT BUGGY HAS ARRIVED!"
Buggy cackled wildly, his body split into floating pieces behind Kuro. He flung a storm of flying knives, skewering Weevil's underlings who failed to dodge in time.
Screams erupted across the deck.
Kuro, now wearing his Ten-Claw Cat Claws, swung side to side like a pendulum—and vanished.
In an instant, he appeared before Aramaki, stabbing his claws toward the tree-giant's body.
Aramaki brought out thorned vines to clash against the claws, enraged.
A pirate worth over 700 million… where do you get the courage to challenge me, a candidate for admiral?
This should be reversed—I should be the one hunting you pirates!
Yes… where did they get the nerve?
That realization struck Aramaki—and a chill tore through him.
He turned—and saw a tall, black-cloaked silhouette step onto the ship.
Hum—
Suddenly, every one of Weevil's subordinates dropped to the deck, unconscious, like dead fish.
A thick wave of Haki—ferocious, primal—pressed down on Aramaki with crushing force, cornering him as if into a dead end.
Weevil didn't fare much better.
Trapped in the shockwave, dizziness overwhelmed him. He gagged, wanting to vomit but unable to.
Bakkin clung to the railing with one hand and her cane with the other, teeth clenched just to remain upright.
Davy Jones. It had to be Davy Jones.
The same thought struck Aramaki, Weevil, and Bakkin at once.
Just by releasing Haki and stepping forward, Davy Jones had completely crushed their spirits.
If he actually attacked, what kind of destruction would he unleash?
Weevil barely regained his breath and blasted Marco away with a quake strike when he suddenly felt the atmosphere shift.
Bakkin screamed:
"Weevil—! Behind you!"
With beastlike Observation Haki, Weevil spun around immediately.
Davy Jones was standing right behind him.
Weevil jolted in shock, raising his massive blade in panic, unleashing a quake-charged downward strike!
Davy Jones calmly reached out, lightning-fast, and grabbed the weapon by the hilt—completely stopping Weevil's blow. The quake shockwave still blasted the deck apart—
BOOM—
Weevil was launched upward with the still-intact deck beneath his feet, yet Davy Jones held the hilt firmly.
Weevil tried to yank it free—
—it didn't move an inch.
How… how is that possible?!
Eyes bulging, Weevil strained with all his monstrous strength, face contorting—yet the blade still refused to budge.
Then—
Davy Jones simply let go.
Weevil stumbled back, clutching his reclaimed blade, flipping backward and landing near the railing. Feeling humiliated, he roared and leapt again.
This time he swung with full power—an explosive, thunderous strike capable of splitting ship and sea.
Davy Jones sprang forward as well, moving like a thunderbolt. He threw a straight punch—simple, unchanged, terrifyingly pure in force—his fist landing square in Weevil's chest.
BOOM—
Weevil felt like a locomotive had struck him. Blood sprayed from his mouth, his grip shattered, his entire body blasted backward.
He smashed through the mast—
through multiple cabin walls—
and finally skidded to a halt at the stern.
Davy Jones caught Weevil's dropped blade, paused—then advanced like a demon.
Weevil lay spread-eagled at the stern, gravely injured, bleeding, bones broken and protruding from torn flesh—but even then he tried to rise.
Davy Jones glanced down at him—then flipped the blade and brought it down.
THUD—
Weevil raised both arms, unleashing quake power—but Davy Jones' strike sheared straight through.
Both arms severed.
Then the shoulders.
Then the chest.
Then the abdomen.
SPLAT—
Blood sprayed like a crescent moon. Davy Jones cleaved him open, spilling his organs across the deck.
Weevil let out one final scream, then his eyes glazed over. Conscious fading, he began crying—like a child.
Moments later, his mouth hung open, breath gone.
CLANG—
Davy Jones dropped the blood-soaked blade.
Bakkin shrieked, tossing aside her cane as she stumbled forward, collapsing over Weevil's corpse, wailing.
"Weevil… Weevil, my darling…"
Davy Jones had no interest in an old woman. He turned toward Aramaki.
Aramaki had just fended off Kuro's claws with his vines when a chill shot up his spine. His Observation Haki told him what had happened.
Weevil is dead.
His expression changed drastically.
As expected of one of the "Three Emperors"—Weevil felled in an instant. Even Admiral Kizaru and I couldn't end him that fast…
I can't keep fighting. If this continues, I'll be next.
He didn't doubt it. He'd heard enough stories about Admiral Akainu's defeat at Davy Jones' hands.
He knew his strength wasn't equal to the old Admirals. And with Weevil's fate lying before him, hesitation was pointless.
Aramaki immediately dissolved his tree giant form. The flower on his back spun again, lifting him skyward.
Run!
Marco had kept his eyes on him. The instant Aramaki fled, Marco soared after him, firing a spear of blue phoenix flame.
Aramaki dodged Marco's flames, avoided Kuro's claw-slashes and Buggy's knives, and in moments reached open sky.
To obstruct pursuit, Aramaki twitched his fingers—commanding spores he'd left inside the ship to sprout.
SHRRK—SHRRK—
Countless vines burst from the ship like a swarm of swords, stabbing indiscriminately at anything still alive.
The entire vessel shuddered violently, breaking free from the Terror Ghost's prow.
It slammed back onto the sea, vines whipping in all directions from deck and hull.
From beneath Davy Jones' cloak, black tendrils lashed out, effortlessly cutting down every vine that reached him.
Marco, Kuro, and Buggy destroyed the ones targeting them just as easily.
But Bakkin—had no such ability.
Aramaki had no time to distinguish friend from foe. His vines attacked without discrimination.
STAB—
Clinging to Weevil's corpse, Bakkin was instantly pierced through the abdomen.
Blood gushed. Pain exploded across her body as she realized she had been impaled.
But with Weevil dead, she no longer wished to live. She didn't resist—letting the vines skewer her into a bloody pincushion.
"My Weevil… I'll… I'll join you…"
Murmuring her final delirious words, she died.
CRACK—CRACK—
The pirate ship swelled like a balloon, expanding larger and larger—
BOOOOM—
—and exploded.
Wood and metal scattered across the sea as the ship was obliterated.
In the midst of the debris, a colossal lotus bloomed, petals unfurling toward the sky.
And Aramaki, using the flower on his back, fled at full speed—leaving the entire fleet without command, drifting helplessly on the waves.
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