After his theatrical shout, Jerry slapped a hand over his mouth, his other hand protectively clutching the small bag at his waist. His eyes darted around as if he'd just realized his catastrophic mistake.
"Ahem! What I just said doesn't count!" he announced to the street at large, waving his hands dismissively. "You didn't hear anything. Let's all just forget this happened, haha."
His cringe-worthy attempt at backtracking was met with a collective, deadpan silence. It felt as if a single, giant bead of sweat had just rolled down the forehead of everyone present. The damage, however, was done. The words of both the leaky CP9 agent and the world's worst secret-keeper had reached every ear.
Carina didn't know exactly what Jerry was planning, but she recognized a cue when she saw one. "What do you mean, you didn't hear anything?" she snapped, instantly adopting an indignant expression. "Are you all deaf? The man just confessed!"
Before anyone could respond, a deep, gravelly voice cut through the awkward atmosphere. "Hmph. Causing such a commotion in my territory… you must be tired of living."
The air swirled as gusts of wind and sand rose from the ground, coalescing into the figure of a man. He had slicked-back hair, a massive cigar, and a long, horizontal scar bisecting his face. A gleaming golden hook replaced his left hand, and a heavy black fur coat hung from his shoulders, radiating an aura of supreme arrogance.
Jerry glanced at the newcomer's coat and cigar, then looked down at his own. "Am I not dressed pretty similarly?" he asked with genuine curiosity, popping his own cigar back into his mouth and striking a cool pose.
"You look like a ghost!" Carina roared from the sidelines.
"Crocodile! You've come at the perfect time!" the masked CP0 agent exclaimed, his face lighting up with renewed hope. With one of the Seven Warlords on their side, his chances had just improved dramatically. Eager to press the advantage, he began barking orders. "Leviathan Jerry attacked a World Noble! You will cooperate with me and Vice Admiral Gion to capture him immediately!"
Without waiting for a reply, he shot toward Jerry like an arrow. Seeing this, Gion sighed softly at the sight of the pig-headed Celestial Dragon, then moved to follow.
Crocodile was not a man who took orders from anyone. However, in this particular situation, their goals aligned. Capturing Jerry was undoubtedly in his best interest, not for the sake of justice, but for the prize Jerry had just "confessed" to holding: the blueprints for the ancient weapon, Pluton. The CP9 agent's outburst seemed genuine, and while Jerry's performance was laughably exaggerated, Crocodile was willing to bet it was true.
He disdained to even acknowledge the agent's command. With a cold snort, he raised his golden hook, preparing to unleash a torrent of sand. But just as the storm began to gather, his vision blurred. His body was sliced cleanly in two.
"You must be the Sand Crocodile," a voice brimming with self-importance declared. "What business do you have with our captain?"
Lightning crackled around Cavendish as he elegantly swung his blade, Durandal. He squinted at the man who was already reforming from the swirling sand.
"Hm? Lightning?" Crocodile turned his head, his eyes narrowed with surprise at the flamboyant pirate who had appeared from nowhere.
"You guessed correctly! As a reward, you win a thunderbolt!" Cavendish grinned, then swung his sword down. A massive bolt of lightning descended from the clear desert sky, striking Crocodile with pinpoint accuracy and blasting his body into a cloud of dust.
The attack stunned everyone. The ongoing skirmish between Carina's group and the other CP9 agents paused. Under the gazes of Gion, the CP0 agent, and his own crew, Cavendish reveled in the satisfaction of being the center of attention.
"The Rumble-Rumble Fruit!?" Gion asked, her professional composure finally cracking.
"Hahaha! That's right! I, in all my beauty, am the incarnation of lightning itself!"
Seizing the rare opportunity, Cavendish tossed a rose into the air, transformed into a bolt of lightning to zip across the sky, and reappeared just in time to catch the flower's stem in his teeth. He spun around rapidly, striking a series of different, dramatic poses as if surrounded by his own special effects. The display, while utterly cringe-worthy to Jerry and Carina, earned a chorus of delighted cheers from the civilian women who were being evacuated by the Marine.
His performance lasted all of two seconds before a blade of hardened sand shot from the dust cloud and sliced him in half from head to toe.
"Boy, do you have any idea who I am?"
Veins bulged on Crocodile's forehead as he fully reformed. He would not allow his heroic image, so carefully cultivated among the people of this nation, to be tarnished. It was critical to the success of his grander plans.
"My rose!" Cavendish reformed instantly, looking down at the now-wilted flower in his hand with horror. Enraged, he charged toward Crocodile.
Jerry quickly assessed the chaotic field. He was now split into three distinct battlefields, surrounded by the retreating Celestial Dragon entourage and the encroaching Marines.
There was his own three-way dance with Gion and the desperate CP0 agent. Then there was the clash of egos between Cavendish and Crocodile. Finally, there was the CP9 fight: Kumadori, now covered in wounds, was being thoroughly suppressed by Carrot's electrified attacks. Fukuro, meanwhile, was holding his own against the combined efforts of Carina and Kotatsu, his Iron Body proving too tough for her bullets to pierce head-on.
"Yoyoi! Why is this little girl so difficult to deal with?!" Kumadori cried theatrically as he narrowly dodged another lightning-fast claw strike. He had been so confident after blocking her first few attacks, but then he saw the crackling electricity in her hands…
"Kotatsu, put me down," Carina said, patting the big cat's head. "I can't get a clean shot like this. We need to end this quickly."
Worried about throwing her off balance, Kotatsu had been tempering his speed. Even so, the tacit coordination between Carina's gunfire and his swiping claws had left Fukuro with numerous scars.
On the surface, Jerry looked ferocious. He loudly cursed the CP0 agent, continuing his performance about the "bad guy complaining first," accusing them of framing him after attacking their own master. In the midst of the fierce battle, Jerry's eyes flashed. He blocked a slash from Gion's sword with his Haki-coated fist, took a few steps back, and then swung the fishing rod in his right hand toward the masked agent.
"Water Blade: Sky-Render!"
The agent's reaction was impressive. He stomped hard, using Moonwalk to launch himself into the air, evading the massive arc of water and accelerating downward. His fingers were outstretched like talons, his arm glowing with a dangerous layer of Armament Haki.
"Finger Pistol!"
Jerry's attack missed. The agent, capitalizing on the opening, slammed his clawed fingers directly into Jerry's chest. The impact sent him flying backward uncontrollably.
With a final, resounding crash, Jerry's body smashed directly into the battlefield where Cavendish and Crocodile were locked in their duel.