Yep, it was Lancelot.
He stared right at Gin.
Oh, it's this guy. "Gin the man demon."
Famous for being a total psycho who shows zero mercy... but also super loyal.
The guy who, in the original story, couldn't bring himself to finish off Sanji.
Honestly? If Lancelot was a pirate, he'd totally try to recruit this dude.
Strong, loyal, ruthless... what a combo.
Too bad, so sad.
He was a marine.
Gin sneered, "A mere Lieutenant? That's pathetic. With skills like yours, you could beat most Captains in the East Blue."
Lancelot glanced at Tashigi, who still looked like she'd seen a ghost.
"Hey, I got this guy. You go help Smoker. Go, go, team up and take down Krieg."
Tashigi: "..."
She still couldn't believe this was the same loser from before.
But she knew what was important.
She nodded and waved to the marines behind her. "Follow me...!"
Swish—
After the marines fired another round, Tashigi charged the leftover pirates, planning to steamroll them and get to the town.
Seeing this, Gin tried to run after her—but Lancelot just poofed right in front of him, blocking his path.
"Uh-uh. Your opponent is me."
Gin's eyes narrowed. "Are you not afraid of death?."
"Ogre Whirlwind Staff!"
The giant metal ball on his cane started spinning like crazy, howling like a... well, like an ogre!
Then, he swung it right at Lancelot.
Lancelot just raised Frost Demon and blocked it.
"Hmph..."
Gin sneered, spinning his other cane-thing and smashing it toward Lancelot's gut.
Lancelot's eyes narrowed.
'Whoa, okay.'
But this new body was awesome.
It was like he had cheat codes.
His new sword skills just... took over.
Before the hit could even land, Lancelot just flexed and pushed Gin back.
"One-Sword Style: Iai—Ice Seal Slash!"
Lancelot put his sword back in its sheath, striking a cool pose.
Gin's face went pale.
After those two hits, he knew, 'Oh crap, this guy is stronger than me.'
The next second, Lancelot vanished.
When Gin saw him again, Lancelot was standing ten meters behind him, slowly sliding Frost Demon back into its sheath.
Shlick—
A clean cut opened up right across Gin's chest.
But... no blood?
Nope.
The wound was frozen solid.
Thud—
Gin dropped to his knees.
He was literally breathing out frost.
His eyes were getting cloudy! A normal person would be an ice-pop by now, dead.
But just as he was about to pass out,
Gin gritted his teeth, His eyes focused.
And... he... stood back up.
He turned to face Lancelot.
"Shield Shattering Strike!"
This was the attack that, in the story, could break even Pearl's "unbreakable" shield.
Lancelot was actually impressed.
"Dude. Okay. Points for being stubborn."
Then, his tone changed.
"But being stubborn just means you get hit twice."
"One-Sword Style—Ice Tiger!"
A giant white tiger made of pure sword energy roared out of Lancelot's body.
He pushed off his legs and charged right at Gin.
CLANG—
The sword and the cane-thing smashed together.
The wind was howling, flapping their clothes.
But Gin was already hurt, and Lancelot was just stronger.
After, like, eight seconds of pushing, Lancelot's sword shattered Gin's weapon and sliced right into his body.
Gin was sent flying backward.
This time, he didn't get back up.
Lancelot turned to the marines still on the warship.
"Go tie him up. Lock him in the brig. I'm gonna go help Smoker and Tashigi."
"Y-Yes, sir...!" The way those marines looked at Lancelot was completely different from before.
No more dirty looks.
Now they were staring like he was some kind of god.
Lancelot quickly caught up with Tashigi, who flashed him a look of total disbelief.
"That... that was Gin...?"
Lancelot just shrugged. "Yep. He's locked in the brig now."
Tashigi gasped.
'He beat Gin?! The 12-million-Beri guy?!'
Her mind flashed back to Lancelot saving her.
The way she looked at him now... had something new in it.
But she quickly snapped out of it.
They were in the town now, and someone was screaming.
They looked up... and saw a pirate grab a young woman from her dad.
Then, with one backhand swing, the pirate cut the dad's head off.
The woman wailed, "DAADD...!"
At that moment, a young guy ran out of a house with a kitchen knife, charging recklessly at the pirate.
But his hands were shaking so bad, you could see the fear in his eyes.
When he reached the pirate, he just... froze.
This earned him a mean laugh from the pirate. "Tsk tsk... what a loser!"
"Ahhh—!"
The young man let out a crazy scream.
"I'll fight you to the death...!"
Then, he swung his kitchen knife.
The captured woman struggled, screaming, "Brother... no...!" Her dad was already dead.
Her brother was all she had left.
The pirate just lifted his leg and kicked the young man away.
Then, he burst into laughter.
"Hahaha...!"
"Huh?"
But the next moment, the world was spinning.
His vision was... falling? The last thing he saw was his own body collapsing to the ground.
Yes—his own body.
'How... is this possible?' The pirate thought, totally confused.
Then, he saw a blade appear in front of his eyes, a drop of blood sliding off it.
He instinctively looked up... and saw the super-tall guy in the "Justice" coat.
Only then did he realize: the marines were here... and this marine had just lopped his head off.