Spandam slammed the door shut and shook his head in desperation.
"How could that possibly be Blackbeard?! That guy just attacked Impel Down—how could he be here now?"
Outside, constant laughter and explosions echoed, and for a while Spandam was panicking, praying that the CP agents outside would be able to hold him off, at least long enough for The Watch to arrive.
Suddenly, the noise outside the base fell silent.
Carefully, Spandam slowly cracked the door open and peeked through the gap. All around, CP agents lay unconscious—there was no one else in sight…
He took a deep breath. The island was huge, with plenty of buildings. Maybe those guys had gone elsewhere—he needed to hurry and find a way to move Dr. Vegapunk...
Just as he was about to close the door again, it wouldn't budge.
"Huh?" Spandam pushed with all his might, but the door still wouldn't move.
His heart pounding, he looked up—and saw a dark hand gripping the door tightly, high above his head.
Spandam's pupils shrank, and suddenly he was hit by a tremendous force that pushed his body back along with the door.
Teach opened the door.
A shadow fell over him, and Blackbeard's terrifying, grinning face appeared before him, echoing with his trademark shriek, "Ze-ha-ha!" And then Spandam heard him say:
"Good afternoon."
"Blackbeard is being polite?" That was Spandam's last thought before a massive fist crashed down on his head, and his mind went blank. Spandam collapsed, unconscious.
...…
Not far from the shoreline.
Golden flashes streaked across the sky, sending two massive waves rolling over the surface of the sea.
For the first time in his life, Borsalino Kizaru hated that he had eaten the Light Fruit. Why was he always the one charging ahead alone? It was all because of his speed!
They had lost the war at Erume, he was defeated during the confrontation in North Blue, he had failed against the mysterious swordsman's attack on Impel Down, and now—now it was Vegapunk slipping away.
Even before he reached the coast, he already had a bad feeling.
The Door-Door Fruit's power was impressive, but since neither its user nor Kizaru had ever been here before, there was simply no way for them to appear directly beside Vegapunk.
"I have to be on the front lines at my age!"
Luckily, this time one of the Shichibukai was with him. That was better than nothing.
Before Enel and Kizaru could reach the island, they were forced to stop by an overwhelming, terrifying sword aura. The two of them had to join forces to dispel it. They looked toward the shore. There stood two pirates.
"This can't be," Kizaru muttered, surprised as he recognized the figures.
The Blackbeard Pirates!
There's no way this is just a coincidence… There could be no doubt—those were definitely members of Blackbeard's crew.
Enel clenched his fists, memories from the recent past flashing in his mind. He usually tried not to think about those times. The experiences he'd endured on Sky Island and in Desert Black prison still haunted him, but they had also taught him a vital truth. He was indeed strong in this ocean—but there existed monsters even more terrifying.
On the shore stood a man dressed in a black coat and black hat, slowly sheathing a demonic sword—Raiu—that gleamed with an enchanting blue light. This was none other than God of Death Doc Q of the Blackbeard Pirates.
There was no doubt it had been his blow just now.
Kizaru looked puzzled.
"When did God of Death Doc Q become a swordsman?"
Beside him stood the Champion, Jesus Burgess, his chubby face gnawing on a chicken leg, occasionally hit by violent hiccups, with several flasks fastened to his belt. Did he have a sword too?
Teach himself was nowhere to be seen.
"If it's just these two…" Kizaru finally regained his Admiral's composure. Despite the surprise, he was confident he could handle these opponents alone. "Just a pair of little chicks." "Seems like this won't be difficult at all," Kizaru thought.
"Hey…"
But in the next moment, Doc Q stared him down and drew his sword again.
With a swing that shook both heaven and earth, the sword came crashing down!
Kizaru's pupils shrank sharply as he faced the terrifying flash of the blade, his body tensing in response. There was almost no time to react; he didn't even manage to transform into a beam of light.
What he wanted to say caught in his throat, and his chest wound still throbbed painfully, as if dragging him back to that recent confrontation with a swordsman in Impel Down—the same overwhelming, familiar pressure of that fearsome fencer.
"Ah…" Kizaru clutched his chest.
He realized that the man before him had enough strength to match his own, and his swordsmanship was just as refined as that mysterious swordsman's. There was no doubt that there was some connection between these two events.
Doc Q swung his sword again.
Kizaru summoned his blade, Ama no Murakumo, to block the strike and clashed fiercely with Doc Q. The longer the battle went on, the more frightened he became. This guy seemed extremely familiar with the other swordsman's attack style—not just his sword movements, but, more importantly, that same desperate intensity.
"The fighting style—it's almost identical to that guy's! Who could withstand this?! Thank goodness I'm not alone here!"
Kizaru managed to turn with difficulty and glanced at Enel.
Boom!
At that moment, Enel was attacked by Burgess, whose right arm was coated in Armament Haki, and Enel crashed to the ground.
Crack!
The earth split open, and Enel coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Kizaru:
"You've set me up again!!! Did you seriously not know that the Blackbeard Pirates had landed on this island?! And it turns out all your intel on the Blackbeard Pirates' strength was completely made up, wasn't it?!"
Enel couldn't make sense of the situation, transformed into lightning, and retreated dozens of meters. This guy was way stronger than he'd imagined!
Burgess took another bite of his chicken leg, drew his sword, pointed it at Enel, and said in a carefree tone,
"Hey, show me what you've got, kid!"
A terrifying aura erupted from Burgess's body, scattering the clouds above and nearly blotting out even the light of Enel's lightning!
"Conqueror's Haki?!!"