Drake's expression tightened as he barked, "Are you planning to betray the Lord?"
Lucci rolled his eyes. "You really are as dumb as ever…"
"Tell Kaido that the Gorosei have sent a highly classified Zero to clean out his lair. He'd better watch his back."
With that, Lucci turned to leave.
Drake called out urgently, "How the hell am I supposed to pass on top-secret intel like that?! What am I supposed to say—'Lucci told me'!?"
Lucci didn't even look back, lazily replying, "Figure it out. Worst case, yeah—just say I told you."
---
"Zero…"
"Vegapunk…"
Roya stood gazing into the vast, cloudless sky, Lucci's words echoing through his mind.
"This Vegapunk… is one of the World Government's most powerful trump cards."
After rescuing Nico Robin, he decided, it would be best to head to Wano next—to uncover what this so-called Zero truly was.
Just then, a familiar presence entered the edge of his Observation Haki.
It was aboard a heavily damaged battleship—clearly under full-speed evasive maneuvers, barely dodging an unrelenting barrage of cannon fire from the rear.
"Why is Ivankov being chased?"
Roya furrowed his brows and immediately gave the order:
"Starboard twelve degrees, full speed ahead. Main cannon, prepare to fire!"
Jinbei spun the wheel instantly, and Ace leapt down to the bow cannon with a grin.
His right hand ignited with blazing fire as he placed his palm on the barrel—not to burn it, but to envelop the cannon itself in intelligent, living flames. A kind of magical fire enchantment spread across the surface of the weapon.
Roya called out, "Maximum elevation—fire!"
Ace triggered the enchantment with a snap of his palm.
The gunpowder roared as the shell blasted out of the barrel—transformed by Ace's fire into a giant, burning projectile like a flaming meteor streaking across the sky.
Fujitora arrived on deck, his all-white eyes wide open as he focused on the flaming cannonball soaring into the distance.
With his right hand raised high, staff-sword gripped tight, he sent his gravity powers skyward—summoning a real meteorite from beyond the atmosphere, syncing it with the shell's trajectory to guide its descent.
---
Another cannonball whistled past the hull and exploded in the sea, sending waves splashing onto Ivankov's face. He wiped away the seawater—now mixed with blood from a head wound—and hissed in pain.
Looking back at the three Marine flagship-class warships chasing them, he cursed:
"Damn that Blackbeard! Since when can he control lightning?! Once I get Robin to safety, I swear I'll make you one of my fabulous okama beauties!"
Beside him, Inazuma shouted, "Commander! Incoming shell, dead ahead!"
Ivankov looked up and saw it: a massive, flaming projectile screaming toward them.
His expression flipped from fear to joy.
"That heat… it's the boy Ace!"
"Hold on, my beautiful okamas! Reinforcements have arrived!"
The blazing cannonball arced over their ship, landing dead-center on one of the pursuing flagships—Blackbeard's own.
Standing at the bow, Blackbeard licked the gap in his teeth and cackled:
"So, Ace… you finally caught up. Took your sweet time, huh?"
With a casual motion, he threw a punch into the air.
A terrifying whirlwind materialized from thin air, perfectly catching the incoming shell. Under its force, the cannonball spun off like a peanut, vanishing into the distant sea.
Blackbeard scoffed.
"Keep firing! Sink that pathetic ship!"
His pirates, emboldened by their captain's display, cheered and prepared for another volley—
When suddenly, the sky overhead turned a brilliant, blazing red.
The air grew scorching.
The clouds glowed like fire.
And from the heavens, came the howl of destruction.
Blackbeard looked up—his grin vanished.
High above, dozens of tiny red specks rapidly grew in size—first pinpoints, then grains of rice.
It took mere seconds for him to recognize them.
Meteorites.
More than ten of them, tightly packed, descended like an apocalyptic rain—headed straight for his three warships.
In the blink of an eye, the meteorites were only thirty meters overhead.
No evasive maneuver, no whirlwind punch, could hope to stop this heaven-sent cataclysm.
"Abandon ship! Head for that island! MOVE!"
Blackbeard roared, grabbing a broken plank from the deck and vaulting overboard.
Even mid-air, the meteorite impact triggered shockwaves that crashed into him—blistering heat and walls of compressed air tearing from every direction.
In that critical moment, Blackbeard activated both his Devil Fruit powers.
Using the Yami Yami no Mi to absorb frontal shockwaves…
…and creating a cyclone platform beneath his feet with the Gura Gura no Mi to cushion his fall.
With the board underfoot like a makeshift surfboard, he rode the shockwaves across the sea.
Seconds before he hit the water, he flipped the plank beneath him and launched onto a nearby uninhabited island—crashing into the beach, coughing and gasping.
He turned back, just in time to witness the end.
His three flagships didn't last a full second.
They were obliterated by the meteor barrage—torn apart and reduced to burning debris.
The pirate mercenaries and conscripted prisoners who manned them suffered catastrophic losses.
Bodies flew like ragdolls, flung into the sea. A handful of powerful lieutenants clung to drifting wreckage—but soaked in seawater, their strength was gone.
Lambs to the slaughter.
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