"Wild man?"
Zaraki raised an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth curving with faint amusement.
That title sounded surprisingly down-to-earth.
Diamante did not focus much attention on this "wild man." His gloomy eyes remained fixed on Viola, as if he were looking at a piece of art he was about to tear apart with his own hands. He could smell something wrong in the air.
"The Young Master sent Buffalo and Baby 5 with you, and they still haven't reported back."
Diamante lowered his voice, each word squeezed out through his teeth with the rough texture of metal scraping metal.
"And now you show up here... Viola, what did you do to them?"
Viola's body trembled lightly.
Her tears had already dried in the wind, leaving only cold hatred behind.
"They're alive," she said coldly. "But they won't be reporting anything for a while."
"Won't be reporting?"
Diamante burst into sharp, ear-piercing laughter, as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world.
"Hahahaha! In the Donquixote Family, only the Young Master's will decides guilt and punishment! You ungrateful woman, you actually dared raise your hand against your family! This is... rebellion!"
He roared the last word with a fierce, murderous tone, and killing intent erupted from his body, blowing the dust on the ground outward in all directions.
The toy soldier struggled to climb up, shielding Rebecca with his intact tin arm as he shouted hoarsely at Viola on the rooftop.
"Run! Viola! This isn't a place you should be! Leave now!"
Viola's gaze fell on the toy.
Why was he protecting Rebecca so desperately? Why did his voice sound so faintly and vaguely familiar?
Rebecca also looked at "Mr. Soldier" in confusion.
She did not understand why he wanted the aunt who had just saved her to leave.
Zaraki took in the subtle atmosphere.
The Hobi Hobi no Mi really was convenient and cruel. It could erase a person from everyone's memories, leaving behind only vague, unexplainable instincts.
He had no interest in watching a family drama play out here.
"Finished talking?"
Zaraki spoke, his voice not loud, yet it was like a stone dropped into a tense pond, instantly drawing everyone's attention.
"If you're done, then it's time to send you on your way."
Only then did Diamante's gaze land on Zaraki again.
He looked at this man in a Marine-issue coat who somehow had no sense of Marine justice about him, and his brows tightened.
"Who the hell are you? Some helper Viola found?"
Diamante waved his ripple-shaped sword, pointing its tip straight at Zaraki.
"No matter who you are, if you dare interfere in our family's affairs, there's only one ending for you—"
Before he could finish, Viola's sharp warning rang out.
"Careful!"
In the image she saw through Diamante's movement and intent, his figure turned into a blur. His target was not Zaraki, but her.
Capture the leader first.
Simple and effective.
But in the face of speed, her warning was barely enough.
Diamante's body had only just moved, and the wind pressure he stirred up had not even reached Viola's skirt.
A black shadow arrived after him and yet reached first, moving several times faster.
There was no flashy technique, no earth-shaking roar.
Just one simple body check.
Boom!
A dull crash rang out like a siege ram smashing into a city gate. Diamante's charging figure looked as if it had been hit head-on by a rampaging beast.
His entire body folded backward at a strange angle, and he spat out a jet of blood before flying away like a cannonball.
He smashed through three walls along the way before embedding himself deeply into the base of a gladiator statue, rubble and dust spreading everywhere.
For a moment, the entire world seemed to fall silent.
Rebecca and the toy soldier stared blankly at Zaraki, who slowly withdrew his shoulder.
Viola's pupils shrank sharply. Even with all her effort, she had only managed to catch one blurry frame of Zaraki's afterimage.
From within the dust came a burst of violent coughing.
Diamante struggled out of the rubble. One hand clutched his agonizing chest while the other propped himself up with his sword. His face was filled with disbelief and horror.
That impact had made him feel as if all his internal organs had shifted places. At least eight of his ribs were broken.
What kind of terrifying physical strength was that?
Diamante's gaze locked onto the rough, unfamiliar blade at Zaraki's waist.
That was not a standard Marine sword.
It was not even the black demon blade Murasame described in the old intelligence.
This weapon looked newer, rougher, and far more savage.
A name that made his entire body go cold instantly matched the latest top-secret intelligence from G-18.
The blade that cut Jack.
Nozarashi.
Diamante's voice trembled with fear.
"You're... War Demon Zaraki!"
Only now did Diamante finally understand.
Viola had not simply betrayed them.
She had colluded with the Marines!
And not just any Marine, but the one madman in the Marines they absolutely could not provoke.
"You only recognized me now? Pretty slow."
Zaraki rolled his shoulder, and his bones cracked with a series of sharp pops.
"You actually dare openly attack the territory of a Warlord of the Sea?! Are the Marines declaring full war on the Donquixote Family?!"
Diamante shouted with more bluster than courage, trying to suppress him with the family's name and the rules.
Zaraki seemed to hear a joke and gave a soft snort.
"Don't misunderstand."
He raised one finger toward Diamante and shook it lightly.
"I'm not here to start a war with you."
Zaraki paused, and his gaze suddenly turned cold. The pure killing intent made the air around them feel frozen.
"I'm here to cut Doflamingo down, and while I'm at it, clean up annoying trash like you."
The moment those words fell, every hair on Diamante's body stood on end.
Only one thought remained in his mind.
Zaraki was serious.
He really intended to kill them all.
He had to tell the Young Master immediately!
Without the slightest hesitation, Diamante stomped his foot and activated the power of the Hira Hira no Mi, turning the ground beneath him soft and fluttering like cloth.
Borrowing that force, his body shot backward into the air at high speed.
While fleeing, Diamante swung his sword back fiercely in Zaraki's direction.
"Army Bandera!"
A massive section of ground, fluttering like a giant flag, was lifted up by him and turned into a solid earthen wall that came crashing down over Zaraki's head.
This was Diamante's best defensive technique, and the only delaying tactic he could think of right now.
Facing an attack powerful enough to crush an entire house, Zaraki did not even blink.
Boom!
The huge Army Bandera slammed down and completely covered Zaraki, throwing dust high into the air.
Diamante did not even look at the result. He desperately pushed his ability, fleeing for his life toward the King's Plateau without turning back.
But in the next second, a terrifying aura that made his soul tremble shot into the sky from the dust behind him.
He instinctively looked back.
From within the smoke and dust, Zaraki walked out completely unharmed, without so much as a wrinkle on the corner of his coat.
Clang.
A soft yet incredibly clear sound of a blade leaving its sheath rang across the deathly silent ruins.
The newly awakened Zanpakutō, Nozarashi, was slowly drawn by Zaraki.
A chilling gleam reflected in Zaraki's emotionless eyes.