Luffy's punch carried tremendous force, sending Campacino flying until he crashed into a distant iceberg, embedding himself into its surface.
Campacino spat out a mouthful of blood, his eyes rolling back as he lost consciousness. His body then slid down the ice before finally landing on a floating ice sheet below.
"It's over..."
Seeing his older brother defeated, Brindo knew he stood no chance against these people.
Arbell's expression wasn't any better. The moment she saw the massive Water Dragon, she realized—they were done for.
"Manipulating seawater, controlling lightning..." Arbell laughed bitterly. "Is this the power of a Ninja?"
This time, they had truly kicked an iron plate.
This terrifying pirate crew, with a combined bounty of 1 billion Berries, was far beyond what their Accino Family could handle.
At the very least, the few of them were no match for these monsters. As for their father... could even he win against them?
For a moment, Arbell's eyes filled with worry.
"Damn it, I didn't expect you to be this strong," Brindo growled through clenched teeth. "We really miscalculated."
Defeated. Utterly defeated.
From start to finish, they hadn't managed to deal any meaningful damage to the Straw Hat Pirates. Instead, they had been played for fools.
"Now it's your turn," Sanji said.
"Don't get too cocky," Brindo retorted. "The reason our Accino Family is so powerful isn't because of us—it's because our father is strong enough!"
"Just wait. My father will give you all a proper welcome."
"When that happens, he won't just take your Pirate Flag—he'll kill every last one of you and cash in your bounties!"
With that, Brindo leaped into action, pulling out a tool from his pocket and landing beside the iceberg. He immediately began scaling it at an alarming speed, clearly aiming for Robin's position.
"You bastard, stop right there!" Sanji shouted.
He instinctively tried to give chase but realized the sheer verticality of the iceberg made climbing impossible without tools.
"Luffy, remember what you said earlier?" Meiser suddenly asked.
"Yeah," Luffy adjusted his hat. "Since they attacked us first, we have no choice but to fight back."
"Meiser, do what you need to do."
If someone picked a fight, they had to retaliate. They weren't the type to take a beating lying down.
"Reasonable as always."
Meiser smirked. It felt great to be understood so effortlessly—this was probably part of Luffy's charisma.
"Damn it, damn it! Just wait till I get my chance—I'll make you regret this!" Brindo snarled as he reached the summit.
Then, spotting Nico Robin standing near Arbell, his face twisted into a vicious grin.
"Fine. I'll start by collecting some interest from you."
Hearing his voice, Robin glanced back at Brindo—but her expression remained unchanged.
Because she saw someone standing behind him.
Merry even stuck her tongue out at Brindo.
"Bleh~"
"You...you're not afraid of me? You—"
Before Brindo could finish his sentence, he felt a hand land on his shoulder, causing cold sweat to instantly break out on his face.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Meiser's calm voice sounded like the whisper of a demon to Brindo!
"Bastard, don't think I'll give up so easily!" Brindo roared, raising his right hand to attack Meiser with the climbing tool he'd just used.
But Meiser didn't give him the chance. The moment Brindo lifted his hand, Meiser struck.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Attraction!"
"Ahhh!"
Electricity surged from Meiser's hand, sending Brindo sprawling with smoke rising from his body, his eyes rolling back.
What was astonishing was that this Lightning Release only affected Brindo, without reaching Nico Robin and the others in the distance—proof of Meiser's incredible control over Chakra.
After casually tossing Brindo to the ground, Meiser gave Arbell in the distance a "friendly" smile and said, "Ladies, I assume... you won't cause any trouble, right?"
Large beads of sweat immediately rolled down Arbell's face as she nodded in resignation.
With both her eldest and second brothers defeated, and her third brother likely no match for them either, their only hope now was their father.
"Good. I like cooperative hostages," Meiser said with a nod.
"What do you plan to do?"
Nico Robin watched Meiser approach with curiosity.
"Since these guys have already attacked us, we might as well collect some interest," Meiser replied.
Then, glancing at Arbell, he asked, "Tell me, how much money does the Accino Family have?"
Arbell pressed her lips together and didn't answer.
"Looks like we'll have to—"
"Probably around six or seven hundred million Berries."
"Lil?!"
Arbell looked up at her sister in disbelief, clearly not expecting her to reveal their financial situation so easily.
"Sis, do you really think they'll let us live if we don't tell the truth?" Lil said bitterly. "They're pirates, after all."
Arbell fell silent. That was true—they were dealing with pirates.
This wasn't some game; it was a life-or-death struggle. If the pirates lost, they'd be beheaded for bounty. Now that they were the ones who had lost, why would the pirates show them mercy?
With a quiet sigh, Arbell thought to herself, My dear... please don't come here...
She wasn't sure if she'd survive this, but at the very least, she wanted her husband to live.
"I didn't expect you to be so straightforward."
Meiser looked at the girl with surprise. Her decisiveness was unusual for someone her age.
"If I didn't tell you, would you let us go?"
"What do you think?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Lil shook her head. "I just hope that for the sake of the money, you won't kill us right away."
"I have no interest in bullying children," Meiser said flatly. "As long as you cooperate, I won't make things difficult for you."
Since this child could still stand here safely, it meant Merry hadn't made a move against her.
He didn't know why Merry had held back, but since she'd spared the girl, Meiser respected Merry's decision.
"Still... I'm surprised a bounty hunter family like yours only has six or seven hundred million Berries," Meiser remarked. "I thought you'd have more."
"Impossible," Lil shook her head. "Capturing bountied pirates isn't easy, and we have a whole family to support. This is the result of years of hard work."
Meiser nodded without further comment. He could tell the girl wasn't lying.
Just then, Franky came dragging someone over—a man with rolled-back eyes, clearly unconscious.
"I'm back!"
Dumping Hockera unceremoniously before the group, Franky complained, "This guy actually tried fake surrendering. What kind of tactic is that?"
Honestly, if anyone else had been facing him, they might've gotten hurt. That sneak attack slash had landed square on the stomach—anyone not made of metal would've been cut.
"Hockera too..."
"So cool, Franky!" Merry cheered.
"Ha! I'm super this week!"
"SUPER!!"
Flushed with pride at Merry's praise, Franky struck his signature pose, practically glowing. Being complimented by something so adorable made his blood boil with excitement.
"Let's move out," Meiser said.
"Where to?"
"To the bounty hunters' hideout, of course." Meiser glanced at Arbell. "That twin mentioned their father's incredibly strong."
"If we want what we're after, we'll have to deal with him."
He paused, then added, "This was approved by Luffy too."
"Things won't be settled until we beat their boss," Franky grinned. "Just wonder how much cash they've got stashed."
He remembered Nami's interest in the bounty hunters' money.
"About six or seven hundred million."
"That's not bad, hahaha!"
Arbell opened her mouth as if to protest, but ultimately just sighed and resignedly got up, trailing behind Meiser.
"What about them?" Merry pointed at the three defeated figures. "Aren't we taking them?"
"Leave them. Let nature take its course," Meiser said.
Knocked unconscious and near death—if they survived this, it'd be a miracle.
Scooping up Merry effortlessly, Nico Robin naturally stepped forward, signaling for Meiser to carry her down too. Without hesitation, Meiser wrapped an arm around Robin's waist and leapt off Iceberg's peak.
"Guess I'll have to take you two," Franky declared, grabbing one person under each arm before jumping after them.
As they descended, Arbell cast one last glance at her fallen family members and thought: 'At least they weren't executed on the spot...'
I hope they can survive.
With that thought, Arbell was brought aboard the Thousand Sunny by Franky.
"Hey, Franky, you bastard! How can you be so rough with a lady?!" Sanji rushed over and scolded.
Franky: ???
Franky opened his mouth but couldn't find words to say for a moment.
Sanji didn't pay him any mind and turned to Arbell instead: "Are you alright, beautiful lady~"
Arbell: ....
What kind of crew is this?
"Why did you bring these two back?" Usopp asked.
"Isn't it obvious? To have them guide us, of course!" Nami pushed Usopp aside and walked up to Meiser. "Right, Meiser?"
Seeing the glint of money in Nami's eyes, Meiser nodded: "Yeah. That little girl earlier said their family has at least six or seven hundred million Berries."
"If we defeat their father, we can take that money as compensation for our emotional distress."
"That much money?!"
Nami immediately got excited—that was one and a half times Meiser's bounty!
"Meiser, you're so reliable!"
Meiser smiled, then glanced at Luffy: "Luffy, what do you think?"
"Ah, I'll just knock him out," Luffy said. "I hate guys like that!"
The enemy not only wanted to steal their Pirate Flag but also tried to kill his crewmates. Naturally, he couldn't let that slide.
"Got it," Meiser nodded.
Since Luffy had claimed this opponent, he wouldn't fight him for it.
"Let's go get our compensation!" Nami declared.
"Whoo!"
"Wait, where's Zoro?" Merry suddenly asked.
They'd been so focused on their surroundings that they only now realized Zoro was missing.
"Huh?"
"HUH?!"
Meanwhile, on the vast icy plain, Zoro frowned as he scanned his surroundings. "Where the hell did those guys go?"
"Honestly, how can so many people get lost? They're hopeless without me."
Shaking his head, Zoro's gaze landed on a strange building in the distance, emblazoned with the words "Accino Family"!!
Somehow, the three-sword style swordsman, lost in the icy wilderness, had miraculously arrived ahead of Meiser and the others.
"Let's check it out."
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