Inside the Courthouse.
Sanji continued his heated dance, spinning in swift motions as the fiery trail around him intensified. A ring of blistering heat surrounded Jabra, who stood at the center, sweat dripping from his forehead as the air began to shimmer with overwhelming temperature.
Just then, Zino's wind message echoed through the building.
*"Everyone, some dumbass made a Buster Call. So, it's time to retreat."*
Sanji grinned through the smoke. "Well then... guess it's time to cook the mutt."
Inside the ring of fire, Jabra bared his fangs, his hybrid wolf form snarling. He planted his claws into the ground and roared defiantly, refusing to cower.
"You think flames can stop me?! I'll tear through them all—Tekkai: Wolf Fang!"
His muscles tensed, and his body hardened to the densest form of Iron Body. With claws gleaming, he charged forward in a deadly barrage, each strike packed with raw strength and brutal precision.
Sanji didn't move.
Instead, he planted his heel, spun, and flared up his right leg—now glowing molten red with swirling flames and condensed air pressure.
"I call this one... Diable Jambe: Grillade Morte!"
With a swift, brutal motion, Sanji unleashed a high-speed flaming kick. The compressed arc of heat and air, like a burning Rankyaku, sliced clean through Jabra's Iron Body assault. The shockwave ignited the air between them.
KRAKOOM!
The impact struck Jabra straight in the chest. The heat was intense—far beyond anything the CP9 agent had endured before. The force shattered his Tekkai defense like glass. He was launched backward, crashing through two thick stone pillars, before slamming into a wall, coughing blood.
Sanji lowered his leg slowly, smoke rising from his shoe. He casually adjusted his tie, his expression bored.
"Is he dead already?"
But the moment of peace didn't last. With a grunt, Jabra rolled from the rubble, his body smoldering and singed. He slammed his fist to the ground to smother the flames on his clothes, then rose shakily.
"You... bastard..." he growled, his breath ragged. "You've really pissed me off. I'll make you regret it. I'll show you my next attack."
Sanji's eyes narrowed, leg kicking the floor, and once again, his leg flared in flame. He was anticipating Jabra's incoming attacks.
But instead of attacking... Jabra turned tail and ran.
"Huh?!" Sanji blinked. "Oi! The heck? That bastard's running away?!"
Indeed, Jabra dashed straight toward the main entrance of the Courthouse, panting heavily. "Damn that cook… I need to regroup! If I can take a hostage—"
But just as he neared the doors, two silhouettes stepped into view.
It was Nami and Kaya, arriving from their looting expedition.
There was a beat of silence.
Jabra grinned. "You two'll make perfect hostages."
"Watch out!" Sanji shouted from inside.
Jabra lunged without hesitation, claws extended.
But Nami didn't flinch. She simply clenched her fist, and the air around it distorted slightly.
"Hakua (Shattering Void)!"
BOOM!
A shockwave erupted from her fist. Though she didn't physically touch him, the tremor blasted Jabra mid-air. His body twisted unnaturally, sent flying back down the hallway—straight toward Sanji.
"Thanks for the assist," Sanji muttered.
As Jabra's body tumbled helplessly toward him, Sanji leapt and executed a clean dropkick to his back.
WHAM!
The impact planted Jabra face-first into the stone floor. He didn't move.
Kaya blinked. "Was… was that one of the CP9?"
Nami cracked her knuckles. "He should've picked a better day to be a villain."
Sanji blew out a puff of smoke. "He's done. Let's finish up and get out of here."
With that, Nami continue to loot with Kaya in tow. Sanji decided to help them.
...
On the rooftop of the Courthouse.
The clash on the rooftop was nearing its end.
Friday stood calmly near the edge, a faint tear in space flickering beside him. His opponent, Kumadori, lay crumpled nearby—completely unconscious. The CP9 member had been trapped within one of Friday's spatial distortions, where oxygen was scarce. While he struggled to breathe, Friday had ended the fight with a pinpoint Friday Shigan—a spatially accelerated finger strike to the pressure points. Silent, precise, and absolute.
Now, Friday watched the rest of the battlefield with his usual detached focus.
Nearby, Gin dusted off his knuckles. The fight against Fukurou had barely qualified as a warm-up. The round CP9 agent had relied on brute force and tech, but he was woefully outmatched. Gin's rhythm, speed, and ruthlessness left no room for gimmicks. Now, Fukurou lay sprawled unconscious at the base of the Courthouse, a comically twisted expression frozen on his face.
Another battle had dragged on slightly longer:
Alvida vs Kalifa.
At first, Kalifa had been confident. With the Awa Awa no Mi, she believed her soap could nullify any defense and weaken her opponents through "cleansing." But she quickly found that her Devil Fruit was completely nullified by Alvida's Sube Sube no Mi.
No matter how many bubbles she launched, they slid right off Alvida's eternally smooth skin. It was almost comical.
Shigan? Met with Shigan.
Rankyaku? Alvida countered with her own air blade.
Soru? She matched every step.
Even Geppo? Alvida glided effortlessly through the sky.
Kalifa's Tekkai provided little defense. Alvida didn't need it. Her naturally slippery body deflected attacks without resistance. Kalifa's frustration grew with each failed move.
In the end, it wasn't even close.
With elegance and mockery, Alvida overpowered Kalifa, knocking her out cold. Her control of Rokushiki had also visibly improved, sharpened by the intense duel. She flipped her hair, barely winded. "Smooth wins, darling."
That left only Zoro's battle—and it was far from over.
The rooftop shook with the echoes of clashing steel as Zoro and Kaku continued their duel. But something was wrong.
Zoro's attacks—slashes that could cut steel and mountains—passed right through Kaku. Again and again, his swords cut into the man's body… only to strike gravel.
Kaku stood with a faint smile, utterly calm. "I'm sorry, Roronoa Zoro. But your blades won't be able to cut me."
Zoro gritted his teeth. "Tch... what the hell is going on?"
Kaku extended his arm. It shimmered… then broke apart into thousands of tiny gravel particles, shifting like living sand.
"I am a Logia user now," Kaku said. "I ate the Gara Gara no Mi. The Gravel-Gravel Fruit. I can become gravel, manipulate it, and reform my body at will."
He reassembled his arm, flexing his fingers as pebbles snapped back into place.
Zoro narrowed his eyes. "Great. Just my luck. Another elemental freak…"
He clicked his tongue in annoyance.
He had dealt with all kinds of bizarre powers before, but Logia types? They were in a league of their own. Physical attacks didn't work unless you had Haki.
And that was the problem.
Zoro recalled the teachings from Miria, their captain's mother. She had given the crew a crash course on Haki some time ago, during their training sessions. Observation, Armament, and the elusive Conqueror's Haki. He remembered it all. The concept of infusing willpower into your strikes. Of "touching the untouchable."
But… he hadn't awakened it yet. Not truly. His blades, while deadly, were still ordinary in the face of a Logia body.
So how the hell was he going to fight someone who could turn into gravel?!
His hesitation didn't go unnoticed. Kaku smirked, adjusting his stance. He raised his leg, gathering energy.
"Rankyaku: Sabaki no Tachi!"
(*Tempest Kick: Judgement Sword!*)
The compressed air around his foot shimmered—except this time, it wasn't just a blade of air. It was gravel—hardened stone particles infused into a deadly Rankyaku slash.
A wall of high-velocity stone surged at Zoro like a tsunami of razors.
Zoro didn't back down. He planted his feet, tensed his core, and twisted his swords into the familiar "X" formation across his body.
"Three Sword Style… Oni Giri!!"
He charged forward, blades slashing through the oncoming mass. The gravel screeched against his swords like metal grinding on stone. Sparks flew. The impact pushed him back, his boots dragging deep lines across the rooftop tiles. He carved a hole through the center of the wave—but the resistance had thrown off his stance.
He was exposed.
Kaku saw the moment of weakness instantly. His figure flickered—Soru.
He reappeared beside Zoro's flank, already mid-attack.
"Gara Gara: Ryūmaki!"
(*Gravel Gravel: Vortex Blade!*)
His lower body disintegrated into a spinning vortex of gravel, a maelstrom of jagged stones rotating with deadly speed. It wrapped around Zoro like a living storm, enclosing him in a hellish spiral of slicing grit and grinding pressure.
Zoro growled, trying to swing his swords—but the gravel twisted and moved with each attempt, dispersing where he struck and slamming back harder when he pulled away.
His clothes were shredded. His arms bled. It felt like being caught in a sandblaster from all sides.
Kaku's upper body remained solid, floating above the vortex. He grinned with sadistic satisfaction.
"This is the end, Pirate Hunter!" he declared. "Let me show you the full weight of my judgment!"
He pulled in the entire gravel vortex beneath him, condensing it into a compressed sphere of dense kinetic energy—nearly his entire body's worth of gravel.
"Kaku Jūrai: Hokai!"
(*Kaku's Judgment: Collapse!*)
Then he brought his foot down—hard.
KRAKOOM!
The attack detonated on impact. A colossal shockwave rippled across the rooftop. The floor cracked, then shattered under the immense force. Dust billowed skyward like an explosion had gone off. The entire building trembled under the blow.
Friday, Gin, and Alvida all squinted, narrowing their eyes at the massive blast that rocked the rooftop. Across Enies Lobby, the other Orcas paused for a moment, turning their heads toward the towering Courthouse, where smoke and rubble now billowed upward.
Inside the Courthouse…
A thunderous crash echoed through every level as Zoro's body was sent flying downward, smashing through the upper floors one after another. Marble cracked. Debris rained. A trail of destruction followed him until he finally crashed onto the ground floor, embedding deep into the stone like a broken statue.
Sanji, who was already nearby, searching for loot, caught the end of the fall. His expression shifted instantly from casual to stunned seriousness.
"…Zoro?"
He dashed forward, crouching beside the motionless form of the swordsman. Zoro's swords were scattered, his body cut and bruised all over.
"How the hell did you get beaten…?" Sanji muttered, frowning deeply. He looked up, tracing the line of destruction that led straight to the rooftop.
Nami and Kaya, arriving just behind him, followed his gaze. Their eyes landed on the broken ceiling—and the figure standing ominously at the edge of the hole above.
Kaku.
The CP9 agent stood calmly, his body shifting slightly between solid form and flowing gravel. Sharp chunks floated around him like an aura of death.
"One down," Kaku muttered, scanning the group below. "But there are more of you pests left. No matter... I'll just clean up the rest one by one."
He turned his gaze toward the other area on the rooftop, where another figure stood silently beside the unconscious Kumadori.
Friday.
He didn't flinch as Kaku's gravel body twisted toward him.
"You're also a Logia user?" Friday said flatly, his gaze analyzing the structure of Kaku's body.
"Also?" Kaku narrowed his eyes, suspicious.
Friday gave a casual shrug. "I forgot to mention earlier… I'm also a Logia-type."
Kaku arched a brow, unconvinced. "You expect me to take your word for it?"
"No need," Friday said simply. He extended his hand forward.
As Kaku looked closer, his eyes widened. The space around Friday's hand was… broken. Warped. The flesh dissolved into a void-like rift, shimmering with jagged tears in space.
"You… Space Logia?" Kaku's expression shifted from calm to alarmed. Even for someone as arrogant as him, that wasn't a power to take lightly.
"Correct," Friday said, his voice emotionless. "If you fight me, you will lose."
Kaku didn't appreciate the arrogance. "That still needs to be proven."
In the blink of an eye, Kaku vanished—using Soru to blitz forward.
But he didn't reach Friday.
Instead, a space tear appeared right in front of him—a dimensional rift that swallowed his form mid-dash.
Kaku reappeared abruptly on the ground floor.
Right in front of Nami.
His sudden materialization caused him to stumble slightly, thrown off by the disorientation. Nami didn't move. She simply looked at him calmly, almost pitying.
"W-What?" Kaku blinked. "How did I—?"
Nami tilted her head. "Just now, Zino reminded us of something."
Kaku was still trying to regain his bearings. "Huh?"
Nami took a step forward. "Do you know why earthquakes exist?"
"…What kind of question is that?" Kaku frowned.
"The answer's simple," she said, raising her fist. "Because anything that belongs to the earth... can be quaked."
Kaku's eyes widened. He suddenly remembered—his Logia power. Gravel. A form of earth.
"Wait, don't tell me—!"
"Hakua!!" (Shattering Void)
BOOM!
A shockwave of seismic force erupted from Nami's fist. It didn't even need to hit Kaku directly—the tremor blasted outward, rippling through the air and hitting the gravel body with pinpoint pressure.
And this time, Kaku felt it.
Pain. Real pain.
His eyes shot wide as his form began to unravel—his gravel body destabilized under the internal vibration.
"Arghhh!!"
The shockwave traveled through every particle of his being. He couldn't phase through it. He couldn't reform. It was like the earth itself was being shaken apart. He was… vulnerable.
"Impossible…!"
Kaku gasped, falling to his knees.