Laurentina's dreamy, almost singsong voice echoed across the silent deck — sweet, but laced with something disturbingly unhinged.
"The act of cutting…
it's wonderful, isn't it?
Some things… were never meant to stay together in the first place."
Her tone was soft, but it crawled under the skin like ice.
The scent of blood and gunpowder swirled through the air.
The crazed nun stood amid the crimson-staind planks, her empty red eyes gleaming, pale hands brushing across her own cheeks as if savoring the sensation.
"A… a madwoman—"
Jeston, for the first time in his life, stepped backward.
He had slaughtered towns, tortured victims to death, become feared across the seas…
But this girl—
This girl was truly insane.
She finished whispering to herself, then slowly turned her head toward him, lifting the chainsaw.
Dragging the spinning blade along the deck, she took one step.
Then another.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Each footstep hammered directly against Jeston's heart.
A suffocating sense of death crushed him like a collapsing mountain.
And in that moment — one suspended breath — Jeston's mind replayed his entire life.
His starving, emaciated mother.
The girl he planned to marry but never had the courage to speak to.
The civilians who had knelt, crying, begging for their lives beneath his blade.
This suffocating age pushed people to madness.
Like a tiny boat swallowed by a tidal wave, only at the edge of death did he taste the bitter regrets of life.
Robin watched his panicked expression and felt—strangely—sympathy.
Even she would not have faced death calmly.
His crew was dead.
What reason was left to fight?
Jeston's spirit had cracked.
Laurentina walked toward him, a hauntingly beautiful smile twisting her lips.
Then—
BUMP!
A completely inappropriate sound echoed through the tense air.
"Huh?"
At the critical moment—
The deranged yandere nun…
collapsed to the ground.
The battlefield fell into dead silence.
Jeston froze mid-motion, face full of question marks.
Robin scratched the back of her head and sighed softly.
The surviving passengers looked at one another, confused murmurs spreading.
"What… happened?"
Jeston picked up his sword cautiously, inching closer.
At two meters away, he kicked a piece of debris toward her.
Tap.
It landed on her motionless body.
No reaction.
"A forbidden technique…? One that demands a price?"
A thought flashed in Jeston's mind, and slowly, a triumphant smile crawled up his face.
Regrets? Reflections?
He forgot all of that instantly.
"PRIMAL CLAW!"
His massive fin, coated in hardening Haki, swung down toward Laurentina's skull with terrifying speed.
"Hahaha! Die!"
Relief and glee twisted his features.
He could already picture the splattered—
"DIVINE DEPARTURE!"
A violent slash tore the air open —
red and black lightning crackling along its arc.
The strike passed straight through Jeston's body.
Blood sprayed skyward.
A shockwave ripped him apart instantly, splitting his giant form clean in two.
"B… Ba—"
He never finished the word.
His torso hit the deck with a heavy crash.
The death of Jeston marked the annihilation of the Mad Lion Pirates.
The survivors collapsed onto the deck, trembling.
For obsessive personalities, seaing the entire pirate crew wiped out was… oddly satisfying.
From the horizon, a massive red figurehead approached — the Red Force, Shanks' ship.
Two other ships drew near as well.
The merchant sailors, who had barely begun to relax, immediately went pale.
The Red-Haired Pirates!
"We surrender!"
A passenger cried out desperately.
Shanks glanced at him, holding Griffin casually.
Shaking his head with a smile, he spoke:
"You can go. Leave your treasure behind.
These two women stay."
The merchant sailors looked heartbroken —
but alive was better than dead.
They handed over their valuables and fled as fast as they could, casting sympathetic looks at Laurentina and Robin — their saviors — before disappearing.
"Well done, young nun."
Shanks grinned, then turned to a tall, long-haired man with a forehead scar.
"Doc, how are they?"
The ship doctor crouched and checked both.
"Nothing serious.
The small one? A light injury and a dislocated arm.
The older one just fainted."
"Got it."
Shanks nodded.
"Alright boys — pack the loot. We're setting sail."
His officers cheered, scattering to load treasure.
Lucky Roo munched on a huge bone-in meat chunk while looting the Mad Lion ship.
Even before entering the New World, they'd scored two ships' worth of treasure.
Enough to fund several big feasts.
"Shanks. What about these two women?"
Beckman asked quietly, exhaling smoke.
"Let them go."
Shanks answered without hesitation, hopping onto the pirate ship to help move goods.
Beckman watched silently.
One of them he recognized — Nico Robin, the Devil Child.
A woman capable of reading ancient texts — invaluable to pirates seeking the One Piece.
But Shanks clearly had no intention of recruiting her.
The battle for the title of Emperor would be brutal.
Robin couldn't protect herself; and the crew couldn't waste manpower to protect someone who couldn't survive the New World.
As for the other girl…
Young, frighteningly powerful — a future top-tier fighter in less than five years.
But…
Red-Hair Pirates have no time left.
And behind the Red Force followed someone troublesome.
"Don't do anything stupid, Kuzan."
Beckman turned suddenly — gun drawn — aiming straight at the unexpected figure.
Click.
Yasopp and Lucky Roo instantly raised their guns.
The lazy Marine admiral offered a half-hearted French bow.
"Give me some credit, Beckman.
Those two women… are part of my goodwill."
Shanks cracked open a stolen barrel of wine, poured himself a full cup, and handed another to Aokiji.
"Ara ara…
Red-Haired Shanks, you really are troublesome."
Aokiji sighed, draind the drink, then looked toward Robin.
His gaze softened briefly.
Then he jerked his chin at Laurentina's unconscious form.
Robin instantly understood.
Time to wake her up.
"Watch me wake her up with a fierce MUA!"
A moment later, Laurentina jolted awake — startled.
Satisfied, Aokiji turned and jumped off the ship.
"Ice Age!"
The raging sea froze instantly into a solid plain of ice.
In the Red Hair crew's stunned silence,
the three figures slowly drifted away across the frozen ocean.
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