Crunch.
Deadpool chomped on an apple, juice spraying everywhere.
He tilted his head, the white eye patches of his mask warping into an exaggerated grin as he pointed at the slack-jawed crowd below, sounding like he'd just found a long-lost friend.
"Whoa! Look at this welcome! I can feel the love, really it's stronger than the time I ate bad tacos in Tijuana."
He flicked the half-eaten core over his shoulder; it bounced squarely off the brutish head of the motionless giant, Buck.
Buck stood stock-still, a low growl rumbling in his throat like a meat grinder on standby.
On the dock, Captain Galen's cheek twitched as his iron hook slashed a cold arc through the air.
"Where did this lunatic come from? Get down here, now!"
"Lunatic?"
Deadpool clutched his chest in mock agony, twisting into a pretzel atop Buck's broad shoulder.
"How could you say that? I'm a champion of love and peace part-time world-destroyer on the side. And…"
He suddenly jabbed a finger at Galen's tangled beard.
"Dude, is that a dead rat living in there? I can smell it from here. Or is that your signature scent? Either way, back off I've got OCD. I just rolled in corpses, but still."
A ripple of unease ran through the crowd.
This guy's gotta be nuts.
The Donquixote officer in sunglasses scowled, cocking his flintlock until the black muzzle stared at the crimson freak.
"Whoever you are, making trouble on Iron Fang Island has only one ending."
Bang!
The gun spat fire.
The lead bullet carved a straight line and punched squarely between Deadpool's eyes.
Splat.
Blood blossomed.
Deadpool's head snapped back; his body toppled like a ragdoll from the three-meter-high giant.
He slammed face-first into the sawdust-strewn wharf with a wet thud.
Silence.
"Hmph, all talk and no spine," Galen sneered, retracting his hook. "Thought he was somebody dropped with one shot."
The pirates around him exhaled; the eerie tension had raised every hair on their necks.
"Men, seize that shi "
Before Galen could finish, the crimson figure on the ground twitched.
A single finger shot up.
Then a whole palm pressed against the planks.
Deadpool rose slowly, digging at the bullet hole in his forehead.
Clink.
A warped slug came free and pinged away.
The bleeding hole closed before their eyes, smooth as new.
"Damn it, who shot me in the face?!" he bellowed at the crowd. "Everybody knows you don't shoot the money-maker! This handsome mug cost a fortune sure, it's under a mask, but beauty is more than skin-deep, people!"
Gasps all around.
A headshot… and he's still talking?
What kind of monster is this?
"Devil Fruit user?" the man in sunglasses muttered, stepping back to reload.
"Correct! No prize, though."
Deadpool drew twin katanas from behind his back; the blades glinted coldly in the gloom.
He crouched in an outrageously ridiculous sprinter's stance.
"Showtime, baby! Cue the music oh wait, no soundtrack in this dump. Let's make our own screams for atmosphere!"
The words hadn't left his mouth before he blurred into a red streak.
At the same instant, the giant Buck on the prow roared.
"ROAR !!!"
That roar was the starting gun.
The zombie pirates lining the rail spilled overboard like dumplings into a pot, howling as they charged the nearest living thing.
"Fire! Fire!" Galen shrieked, flailing his hook.
Bam-bam-bam!
Guns thundered.
Bullets shredded the zombies in crimson clouds but the horde kept coming.
One took a shotgun blast to the gut, intestines unspooling, yet kept crawling until it clamped its teeth round a pirate's calf.
"Aaaah! Leggo, damn you!"
The pirate hacked at its skull again and again; only when the head was mush did it stop.
But before he could breathe, searing fire burst from the bite.
Black veins spider-webbed across his skin; his vision blurred.
Seconds later, he too was shambling, lunging at his former mates.
"What the hell are these things?!"
Galen booted one zombie aside and spun to flee only to find a red mask blocking his path.
Deadpool stood there, katanas dripping, smiling.
"Where ya going, Beard-Bro? Party's just started; the host can't leave early."
"Outta my way!"
Galen roared, Armament Haki cloaking his hook as he smashed it toward Deadpool's skull.
Clang!
Sparks flew.
Deadpool stopped the heavy blow one-handed, blade kissing iron.
"Nice strength, zero finesse."
His free hand shot out two fingers straight for Galen's eyes.
"Double-Dragon Pearls!"
Aaaagh!
Galen staggered back, blood seeping between the fingers pressed to his eyes.
"Dirty despicable "
"Thank you, that's my motto."
Deadpool slid forward; steel flashed.
Galen's prized hook-arm spun skyward, severed at the shoulder.
Blood showered Deadpool.
"Oh yeah red really brings out my eyes!"
He twirled gleefully and punted the screaming Captain into the zombie pile.
"Enjoy the buffet I picked it just for you."
Zombies swarmed; Galen vanished beneath them.
His shrieks cut to a wet, crunching silence.
[Ding! Detected extreme despair from Galen: Astonishment Points +150!]
[Ding! Detected mass panic: Astonishment Points +300!]
Cash-register chimes rang in Mordred's skull as Deadpool.
Behind the mask, Mordred grinned wide chaos and terror, exactly what he wanted.
Meanwhile, the man in sunglasses retreated with a squad of musketeers, firing as they fell back.
As a Donquixote officer, he'd seen far more than these small-time pirates.
Watching creatures that felt no pain, rose from death, and spread their curse by biting, one name blazed in his mind.
"Shadows… corpses… no pain…"
His pupils shrank; he blurted out:
"Could it be… Gekko Moria?!"
"A zombie army one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea is moving into the Young Master's territory!"
At the word "Warlord," the pirates around him went even paler.
A Shichibukai a top predator of the sea and they were caught between two of them.