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Kuma's face was a stony mask. The events in the Sorbet Kingdom had forged his heart into steel. The old Kuma, who hated to hurt anyone, was gone.
For scum like Spandam, he would show no mercy.
"I'll talk! I'll talk...!"
Amidst his agony, Spandam spilled everything.
The Tequila Wolf... a place where every worker was a slave. Most were from countries that had refused to join the World Government, or they were convicted criminals. But... there was another source. People like those from the southern part of the Sorbet Kingdom, betrayed and abandoned by their own king. The bridge was located in the East Blue. Construction had begun seven hundred years ago, an endless project to link the islands.
"The East Blue?"
Kuma suddenly remembered something Dragon had once said—that the East Blue held secrets unknown to the world. Could this be one of them?
In that moment of distraction, a door opened in the wall behind Spandam. A pair of hands reached out and pulled him through.
At the same time, Iceburg, Lucci, and Kaku appeared, attacking Kuma from all sides.
Kuma still had a grip on Spandam's arm. He threw a punch at the closing door. Blueno, terrified, slammed it shut.
Spandam's arm was torn clean off, a spray of blood arcing through the air.
The attacks from Lucci, Kaku, and the others slammed into Kuma's back. He stood firm, unfazed by the massive explosions.
He turned, shot a sidelong glance at Lucci, and swatted him out of the air like a fly.
"Get out of my way," he said. "I don't want to hurt you."
He took a step forward.
The others rushed to stop him.
One punch each. He sent them all flying. Iceburg took a slap as well.
No one could stop him.
Kuma picked up the Devil Fruit sword and walked out of the hotel. His Observation Haki locked onto Blueno's fleeing presence. He leaped, his massive body moving with incredible speed, and in a matter of moments, he was standing in front of him.
Blueno created a door in the air and scrambled through, pulling the screaming Spandam with him.
Kuma pressed his palm forward, and an invisible wave of his Paw-Paw Fruit's power rippled through the area.
Blueno and Spandam fell out of the sky. Blueno couldn't believe it. His fruit's power had failed.
No... Kuma had "pushed" them out of the pocket dimension.
There was no escape.
Blueno hurled Spandam into the distance. Kalifa, who had come to meet them, caught him with her whip and, after a quick glance, fled.
Blueno stood his ground, facing Kuma.
"Tempest Kick!" he roared, lashing out with his leg.
Kuma deflected the attack with his palm, then threw a heavy punch.
"Iron Body!" Blueno crossed his arms, his body hardening like steel.
The punch was heavier than he could have ever imagined. His arms shattered. His chest caved in. He was sent flying, blood pouring from his nose and mouth.
Before he even hit the ground, Kuma was there. He hung the Devil Fruit sword on Blueno's back and enveloped him in a bubble of compressed air.
"If you were to take a trip," Kuma asked, "where would you like to go?"
He slapped the bubble.
Blueno and the sword vanished.
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They reappeared moments later on the deck of the Empress—
Before the dazed Blueno could even process what had happened, the deck split open and swallowed them both.
"Package delivered," Jin's voice echoed from within.
Kuma's Paw-Paw Fruit could repel the air around him, allowing him to move at the speed of light, a form of spatial displacement. After the Thriller Bark incident, he had used this ability to send the Straw Hats to islands he had previously visited.
Jin had tested it. With the "mark" he had placed on Kuma, Kuma could send things—and himself—to the moving carrier.
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His mission accomplished, Kuma went after Spandam. He found them at the shore, just as the Marine warships appeared on the horizon.
"Quickly! Open fire! Kill him!" a blood-soaked Spandam shrieked at the ships.
Kuma advanced, his presence overwhelming. Kalifa, her face pale, dragged Spandam into the sea.
"FIRE THE CANNONS!" another voice roared. Spandine, having heard his son was in trouble, had rushed from Enies Lobby.
"But, sir! That's a residential area! There are civilians—"
"To hell with the civilians! Our mission is to capture Kuma!" Spandine snarled, lighting a cannon himself.
The cannons roared.
Kuma frowned. The citizens, who had been drawn out by the commotion, were now in the line of fire.
He flashed in front of them and pushed his hands forward, creating a cushion of air that repelled the cannonballs.
"What??"
"Look out!"
The cannonballs rained down on the ships, and the sea erupted in a series of massive explosions.
"How terrifying," Kizaru said, a lazy drawl in his voice. A beam of light shot from his body, streaking across the night sky like a shooting star. In an instant, he had crossed a kilometer of open water.
He appeared above Kuma and brought his leg down in a devastating kick.
Kuma met the blow with a punch.
The impact sent a massive shockwave rippling through the air. Kuma's massive body slid backward, his feet carving two long furrows in the ground.
Kizaru was surprised. He hadn't held back. He hadn't expected Kuma to be able to block it.
Kuma looked up. "To capture a criminal, you would fire on civilians? Is this the justice of the Marines?"
He was angry.
"I didn't give that order," Kizaru said. "It was Cipher Pol, acting on their own."
As he spoke, the cannons roared again.
Kizaru looked back.
What??
He'd just been contradicted.
The Five Elders, upon learning of Kuma's appearance, had bypassed Marine Headquarters and taken direct command of the fleet. They didn't care about civilian casualties.
Kuma ignored Kizaru. He leaped high into the air, facing the oncoming barrage.
"Pad Cannon!" he roared, firing a continuous stream of paw-shaped shockwaves from his palms, filling the sky and deflecting every single cannonball.
The sound of the explosions echoed across the island, waking everyone. They looked up at the sky, the fiery bursts like fireworks, illuminating their terrified faces.
To stop the attack, Kuma "pushed" himself, instantly appearing on the deck of one of the warships.
"It's Kuma the Tyrant!"
"Get him!" Vice Admiral Onigumo charged forward, his swords drawn.
Kuma had no intention of fighting the Marines. He stomped his foot.
A Zoan-type Triceratops Fruit.
Combined with a paw-print shockwave.
The raw, brutal force of the stomp shattered the deck and the keel below.
Seawater poured in, and the warship began to list. The soldiers, along with Onigumo, lost their balance.
By the time they had recovered, Kuma was already on another warship.
It was as if he were dancing between the warships.
A dance...
Of Nika.
Borsalino recognized it instantly.
'??' He was stunned. Not that Kuma knew the dance of Nika, but that he had changed so much.
One by one, the warships were destroyed. He leaped from one to the next, free, unbound.
Kalifa, who had dragged Spandam from the water, watched, horrified.
Spandam, seeing Kizaru just standing there, was furious. "Hey! What are you doing?? ADMIRAL BORSALINO!" he screamed.
The shout snapped Kizaru back to reality. He was a Marine Admiral... he couldn't just stand by and watch this happen.
"STOP!" Kizaru leaped into the air, particles of light gathering in his hand.
"Ama no Murakumo Sword!" he roared, swinging the blade of light at Kuma.
Kuma shattered the last warship and leaped into the air, repelling the very atmosphere with his palm.
"Ursa Shock!"
The brilliant light and the shockwave met in the sky and exploded, unleashing a violent blast of air.
Kizaru was sent flying.
The sea below was churned into a maelstrom, a tsunami that tore the shattered warships apart and sent them to the bottom of the sea, the surviving marines struggling in the water.
Suddenly, a massive paw-print of compressed air descended upon them. As the marines panicked, the paw enveloped them and the water around them.
Kuma slapped the bubble, and they were all sent flying to the shore, landing in a heap, drenched but alive.
Kuma was angry, but he wasn't a murderer.
Just as Kizaru's kick was about to land, Kuma slapped his own body and, with a soft thump, vanished.
The kick hit empty air. Kizaru landed on a piece of driftwood, the waves churning around him, a perfect mirror of the turmoil in his own heart.
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