Jabra never reached Camie.
He crossed the final few meters with Soru, his body blurring past Jinbe's shoulder as one hand extended toward the explosive collar.
A rough sword sheath entered his path.
The impact caught him across the jaw.
Jabra spun through the air, struck the stone road, and slid until his shoulder smashed into the base of a lamp post.
The post bent around him with a metallic groan.
The kneeling crowd remained frozen.
Most had not seen Zaraki move. One moment he stood beside Garp; the next, he was between Camie and the World Noble's guards with Nozarashi still sheathed in his hand.
Jabra pushed himself upright, blood running from the corner of his mouth.
"You—"
"You were told to grab her," Zaraki said. "No one told you I would let you."
Spandam's eyes bulged behind his half-mask.
"Z-Zaraki?!"
Recognition arrived several seconds too late.
The War Demon's name had filled newspapers for months, but Spandam had been too busy flattering Saint Charlos and protecting his own position to pay attention to anything that did not threaten him personally.
Now the threat stood in the middle of the avenue.
Spandam pointed with a shaking hand.
"You're a Marine! This is a direct order from a World Noble! Stand aside!"
Zaraki glanced at Charlos.
The Celestial Dragon had finally recognized that someone was blocking his view of Camie. His pistol shifted from Jinbe to Zaraki.
"You have ugly hair," Charlos declared. "Move, or I'll make you my slave too."
Yamakaji closed his eyes briefly.
Gion's hand remained on Konpira.
Garp muttered something that sounded suspiciously like a prayer for Sengoku's blood pressure.
Zaraki looked back at Spandam.
"Dorry and Brogy want to speak with you."
The color drained from Spandam's face.
"What?"
"Oimo and Kashii spent fifty years guarding Enies Lobby because someone told them their captains were prisoners."
"I-I don't know anything about that!"
Yamakaji lifted the command Den Den Mushi.
The Enies Lobby administrator's voice came clearly through it.
"The service extension and prisoner claim were both authorized under Chief Spandam's office."
Spandam stared at the snail.
"That is classified judicial information!"
Dorry's voice thundered through the receiver.
"SPANDAM!"
Every bubble along the avenue trembled.
Brogy followed.
"YOU WILL EXPLAIN THAT LIE TO US!"
Several World Noble guards stepped backward before remembering who stood behind them.
Spandam's fear transformed into shrill anger.
"Do you have any idea who I am? I command CP9! I act under the authority of Enies Lobby and the World Government! Those two giants were useful, and the arrangement kept them obedient. That is all the explanation anyone needs!"
Jinbe slowly turned his head.
"You enslaved warriors with a lie."
"They were not slaves!" Spandam snapped. "They served voluntarily!"
"Because you told them their captains would be released after a hundred years."
Spandam's mouth closed.
The visual Den Den Mushi carried by the evacuation team recorded the silence.
Gion looked at Yamakaji.
"That is the statement Marineford needed."
Yamakaji nodded.
"Chief Spandam, you will accompany us back to Grove 1 and provide a formal account."
"You cannot arrest me!"
"This is temporary detention during an active Fleet Admiral investigation," Yamakaji said. "Resist if you want the recording to become more interesting."
Saint Charlos shrieked from atop his slave.
"No one is taking my servant! Spandam still has to carry my purchases!"
"He is not your servant," Gion said.
The words left her before caution could stop them.
Charlos's bubble helmet turned toward her.
"What did you say?"
The World Noble raised his pistol.
Gion did not lower her gaze.
Jinbe shifted subtly, placing more of his body between Charlos and Camie. Garp moved one foot, while Zaraki's hand returned to Nozarashi's hilt.
Yamakaji's Den Den Mushi rang.
The western watch officer shouted through the receiver.
"Beasts Pirates fleet has crossed the inner marker! Estimated arrival at Grove 1 and the western channels: thirty-eight minutes!"
The evacuation teams along the avenue began shouting again.
Panic moved through the kneeling crowd, but the World Noble's guards kept their rifles trained on anyone who tried to rise.
Garp stepped forward.
"Saint Charlos, Sabaody is under emergency evacuation. You and your escort are leaving this road now."
Charlos blinked.
Then his face twisted with disbelief.
"You're ordering me?"
"I am informing you before the order becomes less polite."
The guards looked from Garp to Zaraki and visibly reconsidered their careers.
Spandam found enough courage to hide behind Charlos's slave.
"You heard Saint Charlos! Marines exist to serve the World Nobles! If Kaido comes, send an Admiral to stop him!"
"There is no Admiral close enough to arrive before the fleet," Yamakaji said.
"Then use the War Demon!"
Zaraki looked toward him.
Spandam pointed frantically toward the western sky.
"Yes! Send him! That is what Marines are for! Let him fight Kaido while we return to Mary Geoise!"
Zaraki's smile returned, but there was no humor in it.
"I was already planning to fight him."
"Excellent! Then stop wasting time with a mermaid and—"
"But the road stays open first."
Charlos fired.
The bullet crossed the few meters between them.
Zaraki tilted his head. The shot passed his ear and struck the wall behind him.
The World Noble fired again, this time at Camie.
Jinbe began to move.
Zaraki moved first.
He did not draw Nozarashi.
His hand closed around the decorated pistol before Charlos could pull the trigger. Metal crumpled between his fingers.
The weapon folded inward with a sharp crack, trapping the hammer and bending the barrel toward the sky.
Charlos stared at the ruined gun.
No one on the avenue breathed.
Zaraki released the crushed metal and looked up through the transparent bubble.
"The next shot costs you the hand."
Gion's eyes widened.
Yamakaji went pale beneath his beard.
Even Garp's brows rose.
Charlos's mouth opened.
For perhaps the first time in his life, no sound came out.
Zaraki turned toward Jinbe.
"Can you remove the collar?"
Jinbe looked at Camie's neck.
"The explosive mechanism is linked to the clasp. Breaking it carelessly will kill her."
Garp glanced toward Gion.
"Can you cut it?"
"Not without knowing the internal trigger."
Zaraki lifted Yamakaji's command receiver.
"Law."
Static answered, followed by the surgeon's irritated voice.
"I am still treating the agents who tried to kill us."
"There's an explosive collar in the auction district."
A pause.
"On whom?"
"A mermaid."
Law's tone changed.
"Keep her still. I am bringing the Polar Tang closer to the eastern canal. Once she enters ROOM, I can remove the collar without touching the trigger."
Spandam shouted.
"You cannot bring a pirate submarine into a World Noble's procession!"
Garp struck him on the head.
Spandam collapsed face-first onto the road.
"I have been waiting to do that since you started talking," Garp said.
Jabra tore himself away from the bent lamp post and entered a fighting stance, fur beginning to spread across his arms as he shifted toward his wolf form.
"You hit my chief."
Garp looked at him.
Jabra slowly lowered his hands.
"That was an observation."
Behind them, evacuation Marines began lifting civilians from the road and moving them east.
With Charlos's pistol destroyed and his escort suddenly unwilling to challenge two Vice Admirals, Garp, Jinbe, and Zaraki at once, the human wall finally broke.
Camie remained on the stones, breathing weakly.
Zaraki crouched beside her.
"Stay awake."
She stared at him through frightened eyes.
"You're... a Marine?"
"Unfortunately."
Gion knelt on Camie's other side and applied cloth around the worst wounds on her tail without disturbing the collar.
"Law will remove it."
Camie's fingers closed weakly around Gion's sleeve.
"What about Hatchan and Pappag?"
Jinbe leaned closer.
"They are safe. I found them near the auction house after tracing the transport. I came ahead when I heard you escaped."
Relief loosened Camie's face for an instant.
At the western end of the avenue, a deep horn sounded across the archipelago.
The note did not belong to any Marine vessel.
Garp raised his head.
The Beasts Pirates had announced themselves.