Screams erupted across the Undying City as the rare beasts poured in from every direction, crashing through buildings and hunting down anything that moved.
"What are these things? Monsters?"
"That mantis is enormous, someone help!"
"They're nothing like normal animals. What is wrong with them?"
"I don't care if you're a rabbit, there's no way you should be able to do that. No, no, no, someone save me!"
The city filled with the sound of chaos.
These were not ordinary creatures. Each of them had been subjected to years of IQ drug injections designed to amplify aggression and sharpen combat instincts, then pushed through relentless fighting to force their evolution further. The result was a collection of beasts whose fighting ability and hunger for battle far outstripped anything their species should have been capable of. Ordinary civilians had no chance against them, and more than a few pirates carrying genuine bounties would have found themselves in serious trouble.
Up on the edge of the floating island, a distinctive shuffling sound preceded the appearance of a figure who walked to the cliff's edge and looked down at the destruction below with an expression of quiet satisfaction.
"Kale kale. What do you think of my rare beasts, Dragon King? Consider this a personal gift, prepared especially for the Grey Kingdom." Indigo smiled as he called down to Rosinante and the others.
Rosinante glanced at him once, then looked back at the beasts still leaping down from the floating island in waves. His brow tightened slightly.
"Katakuri, Binks. Take the Oathblood and deal with these beasts. Do it quickly, and make sure the city doesn't take more damage than it already has. Nobody gets hurt."
"Understood." "Yes, Your Majesty."
The response came in unison. Then in the next breath, the Oathblood Guards were moving, bodies flickering as they launched themselves toward the beasts tearing through the city streets, and the fighting began.
With Katakuri and the others already in motion, Rosinante turned his attention back upward, fixing his gaze on Scarlett and Indigo above.
He wasn't concerned about the beasts. With the strength the Oathblood possessed, those creatures weren't going to cause any lasting trouble. Formidable as the rare beasts were, every Oathblood Guard was comparable to a pirate carrying a bounty well into the hundreds of millions. At that level, the gap between a fighter and an ordinary combatant stopped being a matter of degree and became a matter of kind. With that many elite fighters deployed, plus Katakuri and Binks, handling a pack of beasts was well within their capabilities.
"So then," Rosinante said calmly, looking up at Scarlett and Indigo. "I suppose it's your turn. You've brought me quite a bit of trouble."
"Kale kale. Consider that just an opening gesture, Dragon King. What comes next is your head, to avenge Master Shiki." Indigo's voice carried clearly from above.
"Avenging Shiki. If you think you can manage it, you're welcome to try. Though you'll need to reach me first." Rosinante glanced sideways. "Enel. Didn't you just say you wanted another shot at a Fuwa Fuwa no Mi user? That ape is yours. Show me what you've been doing with yourself these past few years."
"Ara ara, so I'm being tested, am I?" Enel smiled. "Well then. I can't very well embarrass myself."
The lightning crackling across his body flared once, and he was gone.
An instant later, a bolt of electricity crackled into existence directly in front of Scarlett on the floating island, and from within that flash, a fist of pure lightning drove itself into the red ape's body.
The impact hit like a cannon. Scarlett had no time to react. The blow sent him flying backward into the island itself, carving a deep crater into the stone on impact.
Enel materialized out of the lightning, shaking his head with mild disappointment.
"Compared to the last Fuwa Fuwa no Mi user, you're nowhere near the same level. Though I suppose I can't expect too much from an animal."
The crater exploded outward.
Scarlett came out of it fast, far faster than the impact should have allowed, closing the distance to Enel in an instant and driving his fist straight through Enel's torso.
"Uncle Enel!" Elsa cried out from below.
"Ara ara. What did I just say?" Enel's voice floated out from where his body should have been, completely unbothered. "This ape really is a bit slow."
As a Logia user, physical attacks passed through him as though he weren't there. What Scarlett discovered instead was that punching through Enel's lightning-charged body had consequences. The current jumped through his arm and into the rest of him in an instant, and Scarlett stood there with every hair standing rigid, eyes rolled white, his entire body seized in trembling paralysis.
"Idiot! You stupid lecherous ape, he's a Logia user!" Indigo was shouting from the island above. "Use Armament Haki! Armament Haki, you fool!"
Scarlett roared in response.
He wrenched his arm back out of Enel's body through sheer physical stubbornness, fighting through the current still running through his muscles. The moment his hand was free, he drove another punch forward.
This time, his fist was coated black.