“Damn it, why is this thing so hard?!”
“It’s completely unbreakable, it’s no use at all!”
After a series of clanging and banging sounds, the pirates under the dome wearily lowered their weapons. The blades of their swords were already chipped and bent, yet they still hadn’t managed to shatter the wax barrier created by Mr. 3.
The wax produced by Mr. 3’s Wax-Wax Fruit becomes as hard as steel once solidified. It was precisely because of the protective coloration and hardness of this white wax that they were able to find this small haven amidst this battlefield enveloped in the flames of war.
But now, the barrier that had been protecting them had turned into a prison.
Originally, Mr. 3 could have dispelled the wax barrier from the outside. Unfortunately, the battle between Yamato and Kuzan had altered the environment of the battlefield. Although Yamato’s goal was to fake the fight, it was impossible to fool Kaido without going all out.
The freezing power of the Ice-Ice Fruit and the new Kyurem had long turned the nearby area into a hellish winter, like the Hell of the Crimson Lotus. This caused the wax to solidify faster than Mr. 3 could melt it.
If someone were to look from outside, they’d see that a massive iceberg had formed over them.
The weight of the iceberg made it impossible for them to push open the lid above. The extreme cold prevented Mr. 3 from melting his own wax. And the hardened texture made it impossible for the pirates to break through. For a time, they were truly trapped in a life-or-death situation.
“Hmm, as expected of wax made by Mr. 3. It’s really sturdy.”
“Captain Buggy! This isn’t the time to be praising Brother 3’s abilities!”
“Yeah, although his ability was of great help during the prison break, it isn’t now!”
“Wait, Captain Buggy, you must have a plan, right? Please do something! If we don’t break this thing soon, we’ll run out of oxygen for real!”
“Hah? What plan could I possibly have? Who knows how thick the ice layer below is—we can’t go up or down. Might as well accept our fate and await judgment.”
The most powerful thing on him was his specially-made Buggy Ball. The problem was, the Buggy Ball’s power had always been something of a mystery. If he detonated it here, he wasn’t sure if it would blow open the cage outside—but he was sure it would blow him to death.
Both mentally and physically exhausted, Buggy simply gave up and sprawled out helplessly on the icy ground.
“Captain Buggy! You’re really just giving up hope like this?! That’s so disappointing!”
Clang!
The surrounding pirates were condemning Buggy for his inaction when suddenly, a flash of sword light flashed above them. The once-sealed wax dome slid to one side, allowing the trapped pirates inside to see the light of day once more.
“It’s… it’s Hawk Eyes and Flower Sword! Their slashes cut through Brother 3’s wax block!”
They were prisoners from Impel Down, but most of them were from the first two levels—very few among them had the ability to cut steel.
But for a swordsman, cutting steel is merely a basic skill. Let alone for someone like Hawk Eyes, the Strongest Swordsman in the World.
He had responded to the government’s summons and wasn’t faking his fights, but up until now, he had only swung his blade once—against Whitebeard—and after that, he began slacking off in his own unique way.
As a pure swordsman, after Shanks lost his arm, Hawk Eyes hadn’t found a worthy opponent for quite some time. Zoro from East Blue had a commendable mindset, but he was still a mere sapling—not enough to spark Hawk Eyes’ interest.
On the battlefield of Marineford, only Vista had managed to catch his eye—if only slightly.
Vista, the 5th division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, also known as Flower Sword, is quite good at Two Sword Style and was an exceptional swordsman himself. And to every swordsman, Hawk Eyes was the ultimate opponent to challenge.
Adding to that, the two stood on opposing sides of the war—thus, a duel between swordsmen naturally unfolded.
…
“We’re saved…”
“Thank goodness… No—wait! Captain Buggy! You foresaw all of this, didn’t you? That’s gotta be it, right?!”
One of the pirates rubbed his now bald scalp. The sword slash from earlier had skimmed right past their heads—if not for the fact that they were bending down to scold Buggy after he laid down, they might have been sliced clean in half at the waist.
“So that’s it… Captain Buggy, you were willing to sacrifice your reputation just to save us…”
“So it was like this! Captain Buggy! We’ll follow you to the death!”
“Ohhhh!!”
The prisoners from Impel Down shouted with fervent devotion, their faces full of fanaticism—leaving Mr. 3 standing on the side, utterly dumbfounded.
“Buggy… these guys might seriously be out of their minds. Are you really going to let them become your subordinates? Buggy?”
Looking back, the Buggy who was just moments ago resigned to fate had become arrogant once again. His body split into pieces and danced in the air as he schemed up a grand awakening plan, worthy of the Lord Buggy.
Amidst the chaotic fumbling of the group, a Transmission Den Den Mushi suddenly woke up again, and the reporters far away in Marineford once again saw the live feed on their screens…
…
“What’s going on?! Why has the broadcast resumed?!”
Below the execution platform, Sengoku grew enraged at the reconnected transmission. After transforming into his Buddha form, the platform was no longer suitable to support his weight, and in order to avoid collapsing it, Sengoku had moved down to the base of the platform.
The direction of this war had long since gone beyond what he had expected—far beyond anyone’s control.
The Encircling Wall had been breached. Whitebeard inexplicably regained his youth. The wyvern unit meant to hunt down the remnants had been thrown into chaos by Hydrachton. The Shichibukai were either slacking off or barely contributing. The one who actually did put in effort had been knocked down by a single swing from Kaido.
After his transformation, Kuma didn’t pose much of a problem, but his combat ability was far inferior to the conscious version of himself. At the moment, he was entangled in a brawl with Ivankov, and the battlefield had already gone completely out of control.
And an even more out-of-control situation was now right beside Sengoku.
“I mean, come on—you’re the Marine Fleet Admiral, and yet you’re doing nothing in this war. You sure that’s okay?”
A voice questioning him rang in Sengoku’s ear, but the person who spoke couldn’t have been less appropriate. It wasn’t a Marine—it was Kaido.
For someone like him, standing idle in a war was worse than death. Whitebeard was still fighting hard to save his son, so Kaido also chose his target.
Akainu and Kizaru had joined forces to battle Whitebeard, Aokiji was locked in intense combat with Yamato—Kaido, for the moment, didn’t see any issues there.
He didn’t intend to cooperate with Whitebeard, nor did he want to steal his daughter’s opponent. Naturally, he set his sights on the two idle old men atop the execution platform.
With all three Admirals engaged in battle, there was no one who could stop Kaido. Or rather, before anyone could even react, Kaido had already reached the base of the platform, his expression filled with greed as he looked up at the two standing above.
“Kaido, this is a war that has nothing to do with you.”
“If it’s a war, how could it have nothing to do with me? Let me see for myself the strength of the Marine Fleet Admiral! Destroyer of Death Thunder Bagua!”
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