Crisis Island.
BOOM!
Zephyr skidded back, boots carving deep furrows in the ground.
His jet-black fists trembled.
"What a monster…"
The old admiral stared at the hulking, round-bodied man in front of him.
Six meters tall, all meat and muscle, clutching a massive naginata like a toy.
"That's it, that's it, Weevil!" shrieked the old woman at his side, her face a maze of wrinkles, jewelry clinking with every movement.
"Yahaha! Zephyr, you're done for!"
Zephyr spat blood and straightened, chest heaving.
"Don't joke…"
"I'm… cough… an ex–admiral of the Marines."
"Black Arm Zephyr doesn't lose to pirates."
He stepped forward again, fingers curling into fists.
"When I'm finished with you… I'll drag you all to Impel Down myself!"
"Zephyr-sensei…" Ain gasped, bracing against a shattered rock face.
Her leg was burned and bleeding, her breath ragged.
"Stay back," Zephyr barked.
"This thing isn't something you kids can handle."
"Yahaha, listen to him brag, Weevil!"
The old woman—Miss Buckin—cackled.
"Go on and kill him."
"You're Whitebeard's son, remember~?"
"Okay, Mama."
Weevil waded forward, lifting his naginata.
The blade came down in a blurring arc.
"Old man," he rumbled. "I'm gonna cut you in half."
"Shave!"
Zephyr flickered aside, then stepped in.
His blackened fists flashed.
"Black Arm…"
"Break!"
He hammered the naginata aside and drove both fists repeatedly into Weevil's gut and chest.
BANG BANG BANG BANG—!
Weevil's massive body smashed through a boulder, rock exploding outward.
"Guh… cough cough…"
Zephyr doubled over, hacking.
His asthmatic lungs wheezed like broken bellows.
"Zephyr-sensei!" Ain cried.
"Is he dead?" Binz, wrapped in his ninja gear, peered through the dust.
Miss Buckin's grin stretched.
"Yahaha."
"You're fine, aren't you, Weevil? You're Whitebeard's son—this little scratch is nothing!"
"Oh… it hurts, Mama," Weevil whined, clutching his smoking belly as he stood back up.
"What?!" Ain's eyes widened.
"That didn't even hurt him?"
Zephyr frowned.
His body… is wrong.
Feels like hitting iron.
"Yahaha."
"Go, Weevil," Buckin shrieked. "Hurry and finish them off before anyone else comes!"
"Okay, Mama."
Weevil suddenly surged forward.
"So fast!" Zephyr thought, teeth gritted.
"Faster than before…"
He had no choice but to dodge and counter, trading blows as best he could.
"Yahaha, let him wear himself out, Weevil," Buckin said.
"His lungs are bad. He'll drop soon."
Another crushing hit slipped through Zephyr's guard.
He blasted across the ground, plowing up dirt and stone.
"Damn…"
"No medicine left."
A vial arced toward him from the ship.
"Catch, Zephyr-sensei!" Shuzo shouted.
Miss Buckin's eyes narrowed.
"Cut it, Weevil."
"Okay, Mama."
The naginata swung, smashing the bottle out of the air.
"This is bad," Zephyr thought bitterly.
No more meds…
My body won't hold.
"Enough playing around, Weevil."
"Kill them all and let's go!" Buckin shrieked.
"Okay, Mama."
The naginata turned.
This time, it fell toward Ain.
"Run!" Shuzo roared, dragging Binz back.
Ain's leg buckled.
She tried to move, but pain shot up her spine.
"I'm too slow…"
"Ain!"
Zephyr's body moved on reflex.
"Shave!"
He flashed between her and the incoming blade.
"Black Arm—Break!"
CRACK!
The naginata's edge splintered, sparks flying.
Zephyr staggered.
"Cough cough cough!"
Blood flecked his lips.
"Leave… cough… leave me and run," Ain shouted through her tears.
"Zephyr-sensei, go, please! Just… avenge us later!"
"Don't be stupid," Zephyr snarled between coughs.
"You're my students. I don't abandon my students and run."
He raised his hands again.
"Not ever."
Weevil's blade smashed into him again and again.
Each block rattled his bones.
"Damn…!"
"I can't just dodge forever."
"If I don't stand… he'll go for them."
Another strike blasted him away.
CRASH—!
He rolled, coughing violently.
"Agh… cough…!"
"Weevil, his guard's broken."
"Take his arm!"
"Cut his arm off so he can never throw a punch again!"
"Okay, Mama."
Weevil lumbered closer, naginata raised high.
"Zephyr-sensei!"
Ain, Binz, and Shuzo all screamed at once.
Zephyr tried to raise his arm.
His lungs spasmed.
His Haki flickered.
"Damn it…!"
He saw the blade descending.
Then—
Shooong—
A single arc of sword aura cut across the battlefield.
"Weevil, behind!" Buckin shrieked.
Too late.
The slash smashed into Weevil's huge frame and hurled him away like a kicked ball.
He crashed through a rocky ridge and vanished in a plume of dust.
"Who—?" Buckin turned toward the sea, eyes narrowing.
Ain, Binz, Shuzo, even Zephyr looked the same way.
Out on the waves, a warship was cutting through the surf.
—
A few minutes earlier.
"We've got Crisis Island in sight!" the navigator shouted.
Tokikake and Gion moved to the bow, faces set.
"Not fast enough," Jin said quietly.
He could feel the clash of Haki and steel ahead.
Feel Zephyr's breathing falling apart.
"Then go," Gion said.
Jin didn't need more.
"Watch this," he said lazily.
Golden wings burst from his back, light streaming off the feathers, wind screaming around him.
He gripped his greatsword and kicked off the deck.
WHOOOM—
The air shockwave nearly knocked half the crew flat.
"What the—he's got wings now?!" Tokikake yelled, clinging to the rail.
"I thought his fruit was some kind of dragon?!" a sailor shrieked.
"Oh, it is," Gion said dryly, bracing herself against the gust. "Just a more annoying version."
"Shit," Jin muttered as the island rushed toward him. "No time to be fancy."
He raised his blade.
A line of sword aura shot out as his wings beat once, tripling his speed.
Behind him, the warship rocked in his slipstream.
"Keep moving!" Gion shouted. "Follow him in!"
"Jango, you're with the ship! Kuro, we're going ahead!" Tokikake yelled.
"Right!" Jango barked.
Kuro shifted into mantis form and shot into the air.
Gion and Tokikake used Moonwalk to launch themselves skyward, following the trail of golden feathers.
Fwooosh—
Jin's slash hit like a cannon.
Weevil barely had time to turn his head before it smashed into his chest and sent him tumbling.
On shore, Zephyr's battered body sagged with relief.
"Cough…"
"Reinforcements, huh…"
"Just in time."
Gion landed beside him in a swirl of dust, already pulling out an inhaler.
"Zephyr-sensei, can you still breathe?" she asked.
"Here."
"Cough… psshhh…"
Zephyr inhaled the medicine and held it, then slowly exhaled.
"…I'm fine."
"If you'd come a bit later, we'd have been corpses on the beach."
Weevil stumbled back into view, clutching his chest.
"So painful, Mama…!"
Buckin's eyes widened.
"Pain…?"
Even she knew how absurd his durability was.
Jin flicked his sword, sHaking the dust off.
Tokikake and Kuro landed behind him.
"Zephyr-sensei, you okay?!" Tokikake called.
"Fine enough," Zephyr grunted.
Then he looked past them, pupils narrowing.
A white-robed man wearing a bird-like mask stood a short distance away, quietly talking with Buckin.
"Those two…"
CP0.
The masked man turned.
"Your Shichibukai application has been denied, Miss Buckin," he said.
"The Seven Warlords' seats are full."
Buckin's wrinkles twitched.
"Full?! There were only six!"
"After Seven Warlords Bartholomew Kuma and Hawkeye Mihawk," the CP0 agent said calmly, "Amazon Lily's Empress, Boa Hancock, was approved."
"And now, North Blue's Donquixote Doflamingo has been accepted as the final member."
"However…"
"The Five Elders are willing to designate Edward Weevil as a reserve Warlord."
Buckin's eyes glittered.
"Conditions?"
"Provide the clone research data," CP0 replied, tone flat.
"And cease all unauthorized actions against the Marines."
He raised his voice, looking straight at Jin.
"Stop now, Arakaki Jin."
"That is an order."
Jin batted Weevil's naginata aside with an easy flick and didn't even look back.
The CP0 agent frowned under his mask and turned to Zephyr.
"I don't have the authority to command him," Zephyr said coldly, letting the medic wrap his arm.
"I'm just a training instructor."
"Then you two, Vice Admirals?" CP0 demanded, looking at Gion and Tokikake.
"Will you stand by while a government-approved asset is crippled?"
Gion and Tokikake both looked at the shattered ground, the torn bodies of Zephyr's cadets, the blood drying around them.
Their jaws clenched.
"This is the World Government's directive," CP0 said, voice turning steely.
"Stand down."
"Do not damage Weevil further."
Tokikake's hands balled into fists.
"Damn it…"
Gion's eyes were ice-cold.
On the field, Jin rolled his shoulders and met Weevil's enraged glare.
He smiled.
"Sorry about that."
"The briefing must've gotten lost at sea."
"I didn't hear anything about you being off-limits."
He lifted his sword again, golden eyes narrowing.
"Let's see exactly how much 'Whitebeard in his prime' you actually have, huh…"
Weevil roared and charged.
And Jin happily met him head-on.
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