Blood—again, blood splattered through the air.
Bartley stared in disbelief, his face frozen with shock. That slash had come out of nowhere. He had clearly seen Jack's chest get split open by Burs's axe—so how…?
A blow like that should've left Jack near death, if not outright dead. At the very least, he shouldn't have had the strength to retaliate. Yet that scythe strike had been as ferocious and decisive as if Jack were at his peak. Caught completely off guard, Bartley failed to evade in time, and the blade tore across his chest.
Thankfully, Bartley was a Zoan-type Devil Fruit user, the Swift Wolf. His incredible speed saved him at the last second. When the cold gleam of steel flashed before him, years of battle-hardened instinct screamed that something was wrong. Fully beastifying, he sprang back just in time. Thanks to his swift reflexes and toughened body, the slash only grazed his chest—it didn't seriously wound him.
"Impossible... You were obviously seriously injured. Even an Ancient Zoan can't recover that fast... Don't tell me your Devil Fruit has awakened?" Bartley growled in his full werewolf form, one gleaming eye narrowing in suspicion.
Everyone knew that Zoan-type fruits offered powerful regenerative abilities. But even by those standards, Jack's recovery was outrageous—unless… he had achieved the mythical state: Zoan Awakening. That was the only possibility Bartley could fathom.
"What are you two waiting for?! Hemmie, get over here! There's something seriously wrong with this guy. You know how crazy Jack is—if we don't kill him now, we'll never get another chance!" Bartley shouted, his voice urgent.
If Jack truly had awakened his Devil Fruit, then he was more terrifying than either of them had anticipated.
"Devil Fruit Awakening, huh? Well, I'd like to see whether your awakening can block my sword," Hemmie said coldly as he drew the long blade from his waist and strode forward.
Jack showed no fear at all as the two powerful captains moved in to flank him. On the contrary, his face twisted into a mad grin. With a savage roar, he charged toward them, wielding his scythes with the fury of a demon.
Bartley the One-Eyed Wolf. Hemmie the Blood Swordsman. They weren't at the level of legends like Roger or Whitebeard, nor on the same tier as fearsome names like Charlotte Linlin or Kaido, but they were notorious across the New World. Pirates of strength and reputation equal to Jack.
Yet facing their combined assault, Jack didn't flinch. Madness, bloodlust, and a thirst for carnage radiated from him as his scythes clashed against Hemmie's blade and Bartley's Armament Haki-coated claws. Each impact released shockwaves that rippled through the air. Lesser pirate captains tried to intervene but couldn't even get close. All they could do was order their men to charge the Mammoth Fleet, hoping to relieve the pressure from Burs's fallen forces.
…
"I was dead… wasn't I? How…?" Burs stirred, slowly regaining consciousness.
He remembered it clearly—Jack's scythe had split open his belly, his guts had been slashed apart. The pain, the despair—it had all felt so final. He had resigned himself to death. But now… the pain was gone. His body was whole again.
At first, Burs thought he might have already crossed into the afterlife, his soul wandering some underworld. But no… the sounds of battle rang clear around him—Jack still fighting Bartley and Hemmie, pirates still clashing. It was all real. He was still alive… still in the New World.
"Still confused? I pulled you back from the hands of death." A calm voice spoke from behind him.
Burs turned swiftly. A man stood behind him—Rosie.
"You? Who are you? You brought me back? A Devil Fruit power?" Burs asked warily, leaping to his feet.
His recovery should've been miraculous, and yet nobody around seemed to notice. The rest were still fighting as though he hadn't risen at all.
"Correct. I'm the user of the Silence-Silence Fruit. My ability suppresses sound and aura—just like now. We can speak freely here, and unless someone's directly watching, no one will know you're back. As for your wounds, I used a Silent Seal on you to silence your injuries," Rosie explained coolly.
"Ho ho ho, what a convenient little power," Burs chuckled, looking at the seal on his body.
But the smile didn't last. In the very next instant, he suddenly raised his giant axe and swung it down toward Rosie.
Rosie, seemingly expecting the betrayal, simply tilted his body and sidestepped the strike with ease.
"Oi, oi, is that how you treat someone who saved your life?" Rosie asked casually, weaving smoothly through the narrowest gaps, his movements minimal yet effective as Burs's axe swept again and again.
"Save me? You think I'd believe someone so kindhearted they'd heal an enemy? I saw it—Jack's body. He had the same seal as me. That mark doesn't just silence wounds, does it? There must be more to it. Otherwise, a monster like Jack wouldn't serve under you," Burs said through clenched teeth as he attacked.
"You're not wrong. The so-called 'silencing' only hides the wounds temporarily—they never truly disappear. The moment the seal is lifted, all your injuries return. Like this." Rosie raised a hand.
Burs's expression twisted with agony. His hand clutched at his abdomen in disbelief. His stomach was torn open again, guts shredded—it was as if the healing had been nothing but a dream.
"And since I control the seal, that means I control your life," Rosie said calmly, reactivating the Silent Seal to keep Burs from dying again.
"So now, make your choice. Death… or allegiance?" Rosie asked without a flicker of emotion.
No one ever truly chooses death—not when they've felt it once already.
In the end, Burs chose to submit.
After all, he had once pledged himself to the Golden Lion. Swearing loyalty to Rosie now didn't feel so foreign.
Meanwhile, Jack, Bartley, and Hemmie's battle raged on. The other pirate crews continued their assault on the Mammoth Fleet. Especially Burs's crew—they had lost their captain to Jack, and in their eyes, that made Jack their mortal enemy.
The Mammoth Fleet, savage and deadly as it was, faced an overwhelming number of foes. Several of the enemy captains had bounties well over 100 million. It wasn't long before the Mammoth Fleet began to falter, pushed back step by step.
Then suddenly—
A massive axe tore through the sky, slicing forward with an enormous blade of energy.
The moment the axe wave flew, Bartley and Hemmie both noticed. They looked up, startled—but not alarmed. After all, Burs had been one of them… and had fallen to Jack. This strike had to be aimed at Jack, right?
Wrong.
As the slash came crashing down, Hemmie's eyes went wide with disbelief.
He barely raised his blade in time to block—but he hadn't braced for it. The surprise of the betrayal meant he hadn't summoned his full strength.
The impact hurled him backward like a cannonball, slamming him into another pirate ship with a deafening crash.