The black-red slash met a palm and stopped. Dimon flicked his arm—and Roger's blade aura curved away, hurled into the open sea like a shot-put from hell.
The ocean split.
A trench ripped forward to the horizon, a chasm so deep it looked starless.
Sengoku froze.
He expected the Chief Warden to block Roger's sign-name slash—but not to toss it aside like a nuisance.
Roger's face tightened.
So the Chief Warden of Impel Down… was even stronger than the rumors.
This just got worse. With one more high-tier enemy on the board, breaking out went from "hard" to "nearly impossible." And Gunzi of the Holy Knights was still watching from above—ready to call the Godly Host at any time.
"Sorry, Shakky," Roger said inwardly. "Not today."
He spun, bellowing toward the tunnel mouth: "All hands, retreat!"
Everyone hesitated.
The crew fighting Vice Admirals in the underground entrance looked back, shocked.
"Captain… what?"
"We're turning back now?"
"What about Shakky?"
But an order from Roger was absolute. Teeth clenched, they began to pull out.
"You think we'll let you come and go?"
The Vice Admirals surged, pressing the retreat.
Sengoku's eyes flashed. He broke from Rayleigh and Jabba at once, angling to cut the crew off—
—and Rayleigh mirrored him.
"Picking on our mates, Admiral? Tacky." Rayleigh lifted his blade with a grin. "Your fight is with me."
Sengoku's gaze flicked across the carnage as he moved, and he shouted past Rayleigh's shoulder:
"Columbus, stop those pirates!"
Dimon sighed. Shouldn't have walked this close. Now Roger was bailing—what about beloved Shakky?
…Right. Shakky wasn't actually captured. Then we're good.
"I'll try," he called back.
"Try," in this case, meant strolling toward the exit lines while thinking up ways to miss on purpose. He knew these people. He'd sung and drank with half of them.
Gunner Pittam. Tactician Moon Isaac Jr. Helmsman Donchino. Examiner Miller Pine. Scholar Loweng—
No, he didn't want to bag them. He wanted them gone—and his "Chief Warden" mask still had uses if he planned to keep eating from the world's buffet.
Sengoku started to bark again—but Rayleigh lunged first, forcing him to defend.
"Hah! Your Chief Warden looks a little… unmotivated," Rayleigh teased, blade sparking against golden knuckles.
—
Judicial Tower, broken crown.
Gunzi lifted a Den Den Mushi and spoke softly:
"Deploy. Roger's crew is escaping. As for the plan being blown? Unknown. These targets aren't undying."
When the line clicked off, a pentagram etched in a subterranean interrogation room began to smoke. A bolt of black thunder slammed down; a golden-haired woman with a dangerous figure stepped out of the sigil like she'd just walked off a runway.
Two more black flashes followed.
"Just us three?" the blonde asked, glancing back.
One looked like a snow ogre with too many teeth. The other, dressed all in black, was Saint Somaz, a wineglass in hand—until he wasn't. He sputtered red across the ogre's chest.
"I was on vacation…"
The snow-thing bared his double racks of fangs. "Don't spray me, Somaz."
The blonde flicked her hand, chasing the stink from her nose. "Talk later—move now. And who etched that summoning array in a dungeon? It reeks."
They left the cell, bantering as they climbed.
"Not Gunzi," the ogre grunted.
"Not CP0 either. Report said CP9's superior signed the request," Somaz replied.
They joined Gunzi on the Tower's ruined rim—and the moment the three Holy Knights arrived, the field felt it. Roger, Sengoku, Rayleigh, Jabba—all of them twitched as if a cold draft had found their spines.
Dimon felt it too. He'd been leaking opportunities with both hands, and the Roger Pirates had made it back aboard the Oro Jackson.
He looked up. Right on cue—the Holy Knights stepped off the Tower.
Truth? He barely knew these three. He recognized only Saint Somaz: Paramecia Thorn-Thorn Fruit.
He remembered the guy getting bisected by old Jabba back in the Giant Kingdom arc. Not promising.
Would these three really stop Roger, Rayleigh, and Jabba?
Those three weren't bound to Devil Fruits. Worst case, they could jump into the sea and swim. Even old man Rayleigh once swam from Sabaody to Amazon Lily on a whim.
The Knights moved, and Dimon's musings popped like soap.
They weren't aiming for Roger. They were diving at the crew on the ship.
"Cripple their ride—no one leaves," Saint Somaz said, flicking his wrist.
"Thorn Jungle!"
Vines burst from the sky like a nest of iron pythons, plunging for the Oro Jackson.
"Over my score!"
Jackson Bana, the musician who preferred a blade, carved a handful of arcs into the air, chopping down a swath. The rest of the crew threw everything they had; fire burned, wind sliced, fists hammered—most of the vines perished short of the water.
One thick coil still slipped through. It sprouted a serpent's head and bit the hull, punching a hole just above the waterline.
Somaz grinned and lifted his hand for another volley—
"I'd watch something else, first."
He paused, scowling toward the voice. "You're the Chief Warden… Columbus, was it? What are you playing at?"
Dimon raised a single finger and pointed up.
"Forget the small fry. We're not the only ones with reinforcements. Enemies from the sky."
All three Holy Knights tilted their chins.
Above, a fleet of flying skiffs dropped through the clouds.
"The Flying Pirates," the blonde said, face hardening. "Why is the Pirate Admiral here?"
Laughter rolled across the sky like cannon thunder.
"Jiehahahaha! Marines—how's my Shakky?"
A beat—then a taunt: "Roger, you're a mess. Guess I'll save her myself!"
"Golden Lion!" Roger blinked.
Shiki, with his Float-Float Fruit and a sky full of ships, had sucker-punched the chessboard. The Marines' faces all tightened at once.
"Here's a greeting," Shiki drawled.
He slashed a hand downward.
A small island slid out of the clouds—then fell toward the Bridge of Hesitation.
Dimon stared at the shadow swallowing the world. Ah. So that's the rescue plan? Drop a rock on your sweetheart?
He didn't move.
Everyone else did.
Sengoku. Garp. Roger. Jabba.
Marine and pirate alike launched, all streaking toward the falling mass.
"Shockwave!"
"Bone-Meteor Fist!"
"Axe Rhapsody!"
Some to protect Enies Lobby. Some to protect Shakky.
For one heartbeat, every fist and blade in the bay had the same target.
Fine. If we're putting on a show—
Dimon rolled his wrist and cut a clean crescent into the sky, just to look busy.
—To be continued…
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