"Ahem, no, I was talking about Pluto Rayleigh," Jerry quickly corrected himself, smoothly tucking the documents inside his jacket while turning around with an innocent smile. He waved casually to everyone present as if nothing significant had happened.
"Really? Because what I just heard didn't sound like that at all," Cavendish said, tilting his head with obvious uncertainty about Jerry's sudden explanation.
After making his dubious clarification, Jerry completely ignored the reactions of others and walked directly toward the door with obvious excitement and satisfaction.
"Ahahaha! Ace, let's get going. That was a pretty good haul," Jerry called out cheerfully.
"Sure thing. Let's head out now that we've settled our business here," Ace agreed, having observed the entire confrontation from beginning to end. He nodded and spoke in a calm, measured tone.
The three of them quickly exited the building and began heading toward Shipwreck Island, but suddenly their vision blurred as several figures materialized from nowhere, effectively blocking their intended escape route.
"Leviathan Jerry," came a cold, authoritative voice. "Hand over what you just acquired."
The newcomers were CP9 agents Kaku and Bruno, led by the imposing figure of Rob Lucci himself. All three wore extremely serious expressions, and notably, Lucci had abandoned his characteristic ventriloquist act with his pigeon friend and was speaking directly.
Their mission in Water 7 was specifically to obtain the design blueprints of the ancient weapon Pluton—a goal they had been working toward for years through careful infiltration and investigation.
After several years of methodical undercover work, they had finally begun collecting crucial intelligence, but they never expected Jerry to reach their target first due to this completely unexpected incident.
Lucci and Kaku had been secretly following and monitoring the situation from a distance, though they hadn't yet completed their investigation of Franky. Since Shipwreck Island had once been the location of Tom's legendary workshop, they maintained constant surveillance of activities in this area.
Due to the urgent time constraints, they had only managed to hastily notify other organization members and their headquarters on Enies Lobby. Even though they knew backup wouldn't arrive immediately, they absolutely could not allow Jerry to escape with such valuable intelligence.
Jerry widened his eyes and adopted an expression of exaggerated surprise:
"Eh? You can actually speak? I thought you were mute and could only talk through that pigeon!"
He continued with mock confusion, "Also, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. I didn't obtain anything except the satisfaction of beating up some local thugs."
The CP9 agents maintained their serious expressions as Lucci spoke with dangerous intensity:
"I strongly advise you to assess your situation clearly. We are intelligence officers operating under direct World Government authority."
His voice grew more threatening as he continued, "The Pluton blueprints you acquired are precisely our mission objective. If you don't want to become an enemy of the World Government, you'd better surrender them immediately. Otherwise, even a pirate with your substantial bounty won't be able to escape the consequences."
Jerry shrugged with complete nonchalance: "I don't know you people well enough for serious conversation. Don't spread false accusations, or I'll sue you for defamation."
He added with feigned innocence, "What's this about Pluton? I've never heard of such a thing. What I have here is just a picture of Rayleigh, who happens to be called the Dark King."
Jerry produced a torn, weathered newspaper and held it up for inspection. "Look, this is exactly what you're worried about."
Lucci clenched his fists tightly, determination flashing in his eyes as he shouted with growing frustration:
"Stop making ridiculous excuses! We witnessed with our own eyes that you retrieved an entire collection of technical documents!"
His voice became more menacing as he added, "You'd better think very carefully about the consequences of making an enemy of the World Government!"
Jerry burst into genuine laughter, completely unbothered by the agent's threats and intimidation tactics.
"Haha! I suppose I can't hide anything from such skilled observers," Jerry admitted with obvious amusement. "But do you really think I'll just hand over valuable items so easily?"
As he spoke, Jerry's expression suddenly shifted to something much darker and more dangerous. He crooked his finger in a gesture of pure contempt:
"You want them? If you think you can take them, then come and try!"
Lucci immediately abandoned all hesitation and roared as he launched himself toward Jerry with tremendous speed, clearly intending to end this confrontation quickly through overwhelming force.
Seeing their leader's aggressive move, both Kaku and Bruno shouted battle cries and attacked simultaneously, hoping to coordinate their assault.
All three CP9 agents utilized their mastery of the Marine's Six Styles technique "Shave," hoping to combine their efforts in a devastating coordinated siege against Jerry.
However, they hadn't anticipated that Jerry's friends would intercept them with equally amazing speed, creating three separate individual duels instead of the group battle they'd planned.
"Finger Pistol: Madara!" Lucci announced his technique.
Facing Jerry directly, Lucci's hand moved like a phantom as he launched a devastating series of rapid-fire stabbing attacks designed to overwhelm any defense.
Jerry swayed left and right with completely relaxed movements, effortlessly avoiding every single one of Lucci's fierce strikes and making them completely ineffective.
"My turn now! Maelstrom Abyss Breaker!" Jerry declared with obvious enthusiasm.
The tremendous force behind Jerry's counterattack caused Lucci's pupils to contract violently. When the powerful wind pressure reached his face, the CP9 agent felt genuine, unprecedented danger.
At this critical moment, Lucci didn't dare rely on his "Iron Body" defensive technique. Instead, he stomped his feet hard and his body instantly exploded with the extreme speed of "Shave" to create distance.
Although Lucci reacted with impressive quickness, he still failed to completely avoid Jerry's attack and its accompanying water tornado effect. His left arm received a significant gash, and blood began slowly seeping through his torn clothing.
"It seems my normal human form isn't sufficient for this level of combat," Lucci observed grimly.
After speaking, Lucci released a low growl as his entire body underwent a dramatic transformation. In the blink of an eye, he shifted into a half-human, half-leopard appearance—the powerful hybrid form of his Zoan-type Cat-Cat Fruit, Model: Leopard.
"Hey, I play with big cats every single day," Jerry replied with obvious amusement, even producing a colorful cat toy and waving it teasingly. "You really can't intimidate me with that trick."
Jerry privately speculated that Lucci probably hadn't yet reached the advanced level of Devil Fruit awakening, likely due to spending so much time focused on undercover missions rather than pure combat development.
"You're asking for death!" Lucci snarled, raising his leg to deliver a devastating spinning kick.
"Tempest Kick: Leopard Tail!" he announced as razor-sharp compressed air blades flew toward Jerry.
"That technique won't work against me," Jerry said dismissively.
As he spoke, Jerry casually tossed aside the cat toy, rushed forward with explosive speed, and swung his fist with tremendous force. His punch instantly shattered Lucci's air blades into harmless fragments that scattered through the atmosphere.
"Then try this instead!" Lucci roared with increasing fury.
The leopard-man quickly gathered his strength and launched a ferocious kick toward the approaching Jerry, putting everything he had into this desperate attack.
"Tempest Kick: Flying Bird!" Lucci called out his technique.
This represented a powerful extension of Lucci's unique mastery of the Tempest Kick technique. The slashing attack he unleashed resembled the wings of a massive flying bird, carrying incredible destructive power that could easily slice through the thick iron plating covering Marine warships hundreds of meters wide.
The devastating attack carved a deep chasm into the ground where Jerry had been standing, and smoke obscured the immediate area where the strike had landed.
On the other side of the battlefield, Ace faced off against Bruno, the user of the Door-Door Fruit, while Cavendish engaged Kaku, the long-nosed swordsman who had not yet consumed his giraffe Devil Fruit.
Despite Bruno's desperate efforts and creative use of his spatial manipulation abilities, he proved completely helpless against Ace's superior combat skills and devastating fire techniques.
Ace skillfully combined his Devil Fruit powers with advanced physical techniques to rapidly suppress Bruno, leaving the CP9 agent in an increasingly precarious situation with virtually no opportunity for effective counterattacks.
Meanwhile, Cavendish and Kaku engaged in an intense sword duel, with both combatants demonstrating impressive skill as they fought back and forth in a display of pure swordsmanship.
However, based on the flow of their exchange, Cavendish clearly maintained the upper hand throughout their confrontation.
Due to his ongoing struggles with his dangerous Hakuba personality, Cavendish had already earned a bounty exceeding 100 million Berries despite not yet venturing into the New World. This impressive bounty reflected both his individual skill and the collateral damage caused by his alter ego's violent episodes, which he constantly worked to suppress and control.
Kaku combined his mastery of the Six Styles—particularly his varied and creative Tempest Kick techniques—in an attempt to match Cavendish's swordsmanship through pure technique and speed.
While concentrating intensely on his duel, Kaku suddenly heard the tremendous noise generated by Lucci's powerful finishing move against Jerry.
Unable to resist, he glanced distractedly toward his teammate's battle, preparing to cheer for what he assumed would be Lucci's victory. Instead, he immediately shouted out in genuine fear and concern:
"Lucci! Watch out!"
"How dare you ignore me during our fight?!" Cavendish demanded, his face darkening with insulted pride.
Seeing his opponent's attention waver at such a crucial moment, Cavendish immediately mobilized every ounce of strength in his body. His speed increased to its absolute maximum as the sword in his hand shot forward like a bolt of lightning.
"Beautiful Sword: Blue Bird!" Cavendish announced his signature technique.
Even though Jerry had previously deflected this powerful straight thrust during their earlier confrontation, it remained an extremely formidable and devastatingly sharp sword technique in its own right.