Three days later.
North Blue, Minion Island.
A winter island buried under permanent snow, and one of the North Blue's largest underground black market hubs.
Deep inside an abandoned castle at the island's heart, a bulletproof glass case sat in the center of the main hall. Inside rested a Devil Fruit, its surface covered in swirling patterns and resembling a puddle of purple sludge.
"This is the rare score you were bragging about? It looks like a pile of mud."
A red-haired young man in a red cape and sunglasses sat at the head of the long table, one leg crossed over the other. A number "1" was printed on his chest.
"Prince Ichiji, we don't know what fruit it is, but it's a treasure of the sea regardless. As a bonus for this arms deal, it's certainly worthy of the Germa name!" The arms dealer across from him wrung his hands, his face plastered with a smile.
"Tch. If it didn't turn you into a hammer in the water, I'd eat the damn thing myself and see if it's stronger than my shock." The blue-haired young man beside him, Niji, let out a cold snort. Faint electrical sparks crackled across his body.
"Enough talk. Father sent us to inspect the arms. We're taking the fruit." The green-haired Yonji stood up impatiently and reached for the glass case.
CRASH!
Without warning, the castle's sturdy stone dome was torn open by a violent physical impact.
A cascade of rubble and snow poured into the hall.
Through the dust cloud, a massive metal disc hovered steadily in the breach above the castle.
"Who the hell are you? Looking to die?!"
Yonji, pelted by falling debris, roared in fury. The superchargers on his green combat suit popped open, and he snapped his head up to glare at the intruders.
BOOM!
A tall, powerfully built silhouette dropped directly off the metal disc, crashing into the center of the hall like a bomb. The heavy impact cracked the stone floor into a spiderweb of fissures.
Right behind him, a slender figure with a dark red ponytail descended like a feather. She floated down gracefully and stopped, suspended effortlessly in midair.
"Right on target. Shame about the roof."
Leonora brushed some dust off her coat, her left hand resting casually on her sword hilt.
"So this is the North Blue black market?"
Shark stood with Samehada strapped to his back, his cold, inverted-triangle eyes sweeping the room. His gaze locked onto the glass case on the table.
"Carina's intel was right. The target is here."
"Who are you? You dare snatch something from Germa 66's hands?" Ichiji rose to his feet, a dangerous glint flashing behind his red sunglasses.
"Germa 66?" Leonora tilted her head. "Never heard of it. Some North Blue small-time pirate crew?"
"You're dead!"
Yonji, the most volatile of the three, roared and ignited his thrusters. He launched himself forward, fist wrapped in high-tech alloy, straight at Shark. "Winch Slam!"
CLANG!
The dull thunder of metal hitting metal rang out.
Yonji's punch, powerful enough to shatter a small warship, was stopped cold by Shark's bare hand.
"This tin can has some bite." Shark looked at the green-haired young man and his arm bulged. "But against water, it means nothing. Fish-Man Karate: 5000 Tile True Punch!"
BOOM!
A brutal bolt of compressed water shot from Shark's fist, bypassing Yonji's exoskeleton entirely and tearing into his body.
Yonji grunted. The internal shockwave blasted him back a dozen steps, smashing through a stone pillar before he stopped. He spat a mouthful of blood, but there was no trace of pain or fear on his face. He simply cranked his neck with a mechanical snap and settled back into an attack stance.
"Hm. A painless cyborg?" Shark's eyes flickered with mild surprise.
"Careful, Yonji. These two are dangerous!"
Ichiji and Niji immediately dropped their arrogance, both activating their combat suits at maximum output.
"Laying a hand on the Vinsmoke family? Neither of you is leaving this island alive!"
Niji dissolved into a blur of blue lightning, reappearing behind Shark in an instant. "Lightspeed: Vanishing Slash!"
CLANG!
A massive, dull-edged greatsword blocked his blade.
"That's your speed?" Leonora had shifted to cover Shark's flank without a sound. In her Death Line anatomy sight, this speed was miles slower than the CP0 agent's, and infinitely more predictable.
"Gravity Return!" Leonora's left hand dipped.
A crushing physical weight slammed onto Niji, forcing him back a dozen steps as sparks flew from his suit. He gritted his teeth, completely overwhelmed.
"Spark: Light Fist!" Ichiji seized the opening, hurling a blinding fireball at Leonora from the side.
"Water Heart: Sea Current Throw!" Shark churned his arms through the air, summoning a coiling water dragon that swallowed Ichiji's flames whole.
The hall erupted into chaos.
The three Germa siblings, lacking any sense of pain and armored by their dense exoskeletons, charged like rabid dogs in a suicidal blitz.
"Lightspeed: Vanishing Slash!" Niji flickered across the air, trying to overwhelm Leonora with raw speed.
"Annoying."
Leonora's eyes went cold. She pointed the tip of her heavy blade, Meteor Fall, downward and stabbed it into the floor.
"Lion's Roar: Earth Roll!"
CRASH!
The stone-tiled floor and crumbling walls of the entire hall roared to life around her. Countless massive boulders surged like tidal waves, morphing into snarling, shrieking lions of compacted earth. From every angle, they lunged at Niji in midair.
"What the hell is this?!"
Niji was forced into a desperate midair dance, slashing at the endlessly reforming stone lions with his electrified sword. But under the crushing weight of the terrain assault, his vaunted speed finally hit a breaking point, forcing him into a brief hovering stall.
"Tagged. White Night: One-Sword Style: Death Line Severance."
SWISH.
Leonora shot forward, riding a floating chunk of debris. A single arcing slash of silver-black steel carved the air.
The supposedly impenetrable armored suit covering Niji's chest split open under the Armament Haki-infused blade. Blood erupted from the deep gash as he crashed heavily to the ground.
Leonora sheathed her sword, surveying the settling wreckage of stone with a satisfied nod.
"That old bastard's mind might be gone, but his fruit development was pure genius. No wonder Ace told me to study his moves. This kind of no-blind-spot terrain assassination is disgustingly effective."
Across the hall.
"Winch: Barrage!" Yonji's fists rained down like a storm on Shark.
Shark didn't retreat. The valves on Samehada's sides hissed wide open. High-pressure water surged in sync with his Fish-Man Karate, and he met Yonji blow for blow.
CRACK.
During one exchange, the alloy bones in Yonji's right arm let out a crisp, clean snap.
"Your punches are getting lighter."
Shark grabbed Yonji's shattered right arm and yanked him forward, driving a vicious knee deep into his chest.
BOOM!
Yonji's entire sternum caved inward. His massive body punched through the castle wall and sailed into the frozen wasteland outside. He didn't get back up.
Ichiji watched his two brothers fall. Not a flicker of fear crossed his face. His eyes glowed blazing red as he pushed his suit's energy output past its breaking point.
"Spark: Valkyrie!"
"Pathetic. Tools that don't care if their comrades live or die, only knowing how to execute commands like machines."
Shark watched Ichiji charge with cold eyes and brought his hands together in front of his chest.
"Fish-Man Jujutsu: Secret Art: Great Water Prison Dance!"
ROAR!
Moisture from the air and snow from the ground were violently ripped from their resting places and compressed into a colossal sphere of water, swallowing Ichiji and his flames whole.
"Glub... glub..."
Ichiji thrashed wildly inside the water prison, but under Shark's suffocating, crushing currents, his movements slowed. Then stopped entirely. He floated frozen inside the sphere, a lifeless machine.
SPLASH.
Shark released the water prison. Ichiji's corpse hit the floor.
"Emotionless tools."
Shark shook the water from his hands and strode toward the glass case. Ignoring the arms dealers, who had long since fainted or fled in terror, he smashed the bulletproof glass with a single punch and retrieved the Numa Numa no Mi.
"Got the fruit. Let's go."
"Boring." Leonora flipped her blades in a neat flourish and sheathed them. She grabbed Shark and carried them both back up to the metal disc hovering above.
A sonic boom echoed across the island as the disc transformed into a plunging meteor and vanished over Minion Island's horizon.
Left behind in the rubble and ice were the three once-proud princes of Germa, sprawled like broken, discarded toys.
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