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Schlick!
Blood sprayed everywhere—
Kanzai's face froze in shock as a massive gash ripped across his back from shoulder all the way down to his waist.
"Tiger!" Mizaistom turned into a streak of white light and blasted straight at Chrollo's back at blinding speed—saving his partner by hitting the enemy head-on!
One more slash and Kanzai would've been dead. Smart move.
But…
Chrollo's lips curled with a hint of amusement. He leaned back just a fraction, like he'd seen the attack coming the whole time, and slipped out of the way with ridiculous ease.
Then, mid-air, he snagged Mizaistom by the leg, swung him around like a baseball bat, and slammed him straight into the ground!
BOOM—
Dust and debris exploded upward as the earth cracked open into a terrifying crater.
Mizaistom lay at the center, completely dazed, seriously questioning every life choice he'd ever made.
From the pitch-black Armament Haki that had coated Chrollo's right hand earlier—and the way he'd dodged without even turning around, like he'd predicted the strike perfectly—Mizaistom realized in a flash:
"That's… advanced Armament Haki… advanced Observation Haki…"
He stared up at the figure floating in mid-air, eyes wide with disbelief.
What kind of monster is this guy…?
He'd thought that after training with the God's Knights and getting those Devil Fruits from the World Government, the gap between them had finally narrowed.
But…
Chrollo was operating on an entirely different level.
"Damn it!"
"Adrenaline boost! Sensory enhancement! Vision boost!"
Kanzai activated all three enhancements at once. Ignoring the savage wound on his back, he launched himself skyward like a cannonball straight at Chrollo!
His arm cocked back. "Smash-Smash Fruit—one hit!"
White light flared around his fist. The air itself seemed to shatter into fragments as the punch hurtled toward Chrollo.
"Turn into dust!"
Chrollo's eyes sparkled with interest. "Smash-Smash Fruit, huh? Like Kildas? Nice ability."
His body had already turned into lightning, so the punch passed right through him without touching a single hair.
Chrollo slowly extended a hand crackling with blue electricity, clamped it around Kanzai's neck, and said calmly, "Discharge—one hundred million volts."
CRACKLE!
Thunder roared. Kanzai's body went charred black and dropped from the sky like a rock.
"How the…"
"How is the gap this huge?!"
"Closed Room Court—Yellow Card warning!" Mizaistom snarled, pouring every last ounce of strength into slapping down a Yellow Card. A massive aura cage slammed shut around Chrollo, pinning him in place.
"Got him!"
But right after…
Mizaistom's face twisted in shock.
Chrollo's entire body turned pitch-black with Armament Haki. He casually stepped out of the cage like it was made of tissue paper, and the whole thing shattered behind him.
Chrollo strolled toward the two of them, that signature calm smile on his lips.
"Sorry," he said with a shrug. "My version's way ahead of yours."
Mizaistom looked like he'd been hit by lightning. Chrollo's strength had completely blown past anything he'd expected. In a desperate flash, he yanked out a blade and slashed his own throat—then Kanzai's—in one lightning-fast motion.
Before Chrollo could even reach them, both Zodiac Knights were dead.
"?"
Now it was Chrollo's turn to look surprised.
"Bro, seriously? That quick? What the hell kind of grudge do you guys have? You'd rather kill yourselves than let me take your abilities??"
After dealing with the two Zodiac Knights, Chrollo didn't feel a thing. It was like hitting a speed bump on the highway—what was there to feel?
He turned his gaze toward the battlefield where the rest of the fight was going down.
From what Kanzai had said earlier, Chrollo's suspicions were confirmed.
"Figures… Moria really is collecting the remains of the Rocks Pirates."
At the same time, the same question the Zodiac Knights had been asking popped into his head: what the hell was Moria planning?
The bodies of these dead powerhouses weren't all that different from regular corpses—just a little tougher. Their fighting instincts and minds were long gone. There was no real reason to go out of his way to collect them.
Just like Chrollo expected, the battlefield ahead was playing out exactly as he'd pictured.
The six legendary Rocks Pirates members—who once ruled the seas like gods—were getting absolutely crushed by Uvogin and the others without breaking a sweat.
First up was zombie number one: Gan Sui, "The Smuggler," still in his golden armor and carrying that massive sword. The armor gave him insane defense and offense.
But the shadow controlling him was just some random pirate from the island.
Uvogin smashed him with two punches and bent the golden armor like cheap tin foil—taking out all the small-fry zombies around him in the process!
Zombie number two—Silver Axe—fared about the same.
His axe packed ridiculous power. One swing could split the ground wide open.
It proved just how monstrous this guy had been when he was alive!
But with a random shadow pulling the strings, his movements were clumsy as hell and way too slow. Nobunaga knocked the axe flying with two clean sword strikes and dropped him where he stood.
Zombie number three—the fish-man "Fish Hercules" Babel—used his huge body and full-body armor to keep charging at Phinks.
Too bad Phinks's barrier didn't even budge. One final Ripper Cyclotron sent the thing flying.
Zombie number four—the four-armed gun king—was even more pathetic. Without the original soul behind the guns, his aim was trash and the shots had zero punch.
Straight-up spray-and-pray.
Feitan ended him with one quick thrust of his bone blade.
Zombie number five—the Hook-Claw guy—and number six—the Long-Blade guy—got taken down by Shizuku and Bonney in no time.
With no other choice left, Absalom and Perona had to jump in themselves.
Absalom was the Clear-Clear Fruit user. Under the moonlight his body slowly faded away as he crept toward the Troupe.
Perona, the little goth-loli floating in mid-air with her umbrella, used her Hollow-Hollow Fruit to control all kinds of ghosts—negative ghosts, impact ghosts, bomb ghosts…
Right now she was sending a swarm of negative ghosts straight at the six of them.
Nobunaga slashed out two sword waves, but they passed right through the ghosts without doing a thing.
"No solid body," he muttered.
"I don't know what they do, but getting hit probably isn't good."
Before he could finish, he tried to end the fight fast with the Float-Float Fruit—only for a giant hand to split the battlefield in half.
It left Shizuku standing alone against the two of them. Nobunaga was about to jump in when Chrollo stopped him.
"Let Shizuku handle these two. Her ability's the perfect counter."
"The rest of you—go finish off Moria."
Chrollo's lips curved into a grin.
"Shizuku's about to give Absalom and Perona a big surprise."
Uvogin and the other four nodded and charged straight at the giant Moria.
Bonney hurried back to Chrollo's side, eyes wide with panic.
"Chrollo… what the hell happened to my dad just now?"
"Why did you say he's a machine?!"
Chrollo looked at her, voice gentle but firm.
"Bonney… it's time I told you the truth. Ever since you were little, you and your mom both suffered from that incurable Sapphire Scale disease."
"Your father, Bartholomew Kuma, made a deal with the World Government. He agreed to take part in one of their experiments in exchange for Vegapunk curing you."
"That experiment… is called the Seraphim Project."