Marijoa, the Holy Land.
By the time the report came in, it was already the next morning.
The tall and thin of the Five Elders frowned deeply:
"This can no longer be described as a coincidence, can it?"
"Anyone associated with that name."
"Eventually turns into trouble."
The curly-haired of the Five Elders narrowed his eyes:
"Hunt him down."
"After all, he came from CP."
"He's done many dirty deeds."
"For the sake of the government's reputation, he must be killed."
The tall and thin of the Five Elders sighed with some helplessness:
"There is nothing else we can do."
Then, a secret kill order was issued...
-----
Amazon Lily, outer waters.
Thick black smoke billowed into the sky, making the entire sea appear engulfed in darkness from a great distance.
Seeing this, Shakky's pace quickened.
After hours of rushing, she was still too late...
As she approached the island, a sense of mortal danger exploded in her nerves.
"Meigou."
A lava dog head surged out from the shore, extending infinitely.
Exhausted from hours of travel, she sensed it and narrowly dodged, but still lost an ear.
Before she could retreat,
Sakazuki on the shore suddenly turned into molten lava and disappeared.
The lava that had just grazed Shakky's head and was heading behind her suddenly expanded and condensed.
Sakazuki's figure appeared.
Sensing Sakazuki's presence, terror flashed across Shakky's face.
Without looking back, she tried to dash forward.
The moment she took a step, Sakazuki, who had appeared behind her, grabbed her shoulder.
*Crack—*
His hand, imbued with dark Armament Haki, crushed her shoulder.
Holding her tightly, he spoke indifferently:
"Dai Funka."
*Boom—!!!!*
A lava mushroom cloud nearly a thousand meters wide appeared on the sea outside the island.
Although Shakky used Haki to resist, the intense impact at close range directly knocked her unconscious, shattering most of her bones.
Sakazuki's half-lava figure appeared in the air, re-forming his lava arm and grabbing her neck.
*Sizzle—*
A sound like a hot iron branding flesh echoed.
As Sakazuki tightened his grip, Shakky, awakened by the suffocation, struggled and looked at him.
Sakazuki calmly looked at her:
"What an unexpected surprise."
"A great pirate who disappeared years ago, somehow connected to Amazon Lily."
Sakazuki recognized this woman.
In his memory, Garp had pursued her for some time years ago.
However, like Roger, he had chased her across half the world and failed to capture her.
Shakky's leg, imbued with Haki, kicked towards Sakazuki, but her severely injured body, though able to channel Haki,
was like a tickle to Sakazuki.
Shakky's hands clawed at Sakazuki's large hand, struggling to speak:
"What have you done to..."
"Amazon... Lily..."
"What!!!"
Sakazuki glanced at her indifferently:
"Don't worry."
"Not one of them is left. They all died peacefully."
"Without pain."
"You can rest assured."
Shakky's eyes widened in fury:
"You!!!"
*Crack—*
The immense force from Sakazuki's palm struck.
Her neck snapped, her head flying from her body.
Shakky plunged into darkness upon hearing the devastating news...
Her body fell into the sea below. Sakazuki caught Shakky's falling head.
With a flash, he flew towards Amazon Lily.
Elder Nyon, bandaged, awaited on the shore. Last night, the island's inhabitants had gradually woken up.
In the absence of leadership, she, as the former emperor, had managed to stabilize the situation. After calming everyone down,
she had anxiously waited on the shore, hoping to warn Shakky.
But it was useless; the disparity in strength was instantaneous. Sakazuki was not one for excessive talk.
*Tap, tap—*
Sakazuki landed and casually tossed the head in front of Elder Nyon:
"What is this woman's connection to Amazon Lily?"
Elder Nyon closed her eyes with a pained expression:
"Alas..."
"She was the Amazon Empress after me."
"That is, the empress before me."
Sakazuki's brow twitched. His lava arm retracted from the smoking lava on the island, pausing for a moment.
Another Amazon Lily empress, how many was that... He shook his head.
Fate, it seemed...
After retracting the black, smoky lava from the island's periphery:
"Any more reinforcements?"
Elder Nyon said with a wry smile:
"No more. Amazon Lily is isolated from the world."
"Our connections are very limited."
"There are already..."
Sakazuki said indifferently:
"In that case, this assignment ends here."
"I'll give you three years to re-establish the Kuja Pirates."
"Choose a sensible captain."
"In three years, preferably on the edge of the Calm Belt, establish a defensive line."
"Show results in eliminating pirates."
"Otherwise..."
Then, he flicked his finger at the ground. A magma hand appeared beneath Shakky's head, grasping it and handing it over.
Sakazuki took the head from the magma hand and weighed it.
Elder Nyon bowed respectfully:
"Yes."
Sakazuki scoffed and turned to leave.
Only after Sakazuki's warship slowly disappeared did Elder Nyon dare to look up and breathe a sigh of relief...
-----
On the warship.
Sakazuki casually threw Shakky's head to a soldier:
"Freeze it."
Carrot said:
"Shall we send this one to Punk Hazard too?"
Sakazuki stretched his neck:
"Why send her? It's of no use."
"Freezing it is just to prevent decomposition. We'll put it in the newspaper later."
Carrot smiled:
"I see."
Then, looking at the stone statues on the ship, he looked somewhat troubled:
"What about these?"
"Is the mission only half-complete?"
Sakazuki said:
"After I turn that guy into a weapon, we'll restore them."
"Send these stone statues back to G-8 Branch for safekeeping, and then head to Punk Hazard."
"Oh, and call Enel."
"He should have reached the Grand Line by now."
"Tell him to go to Punk Hazard."
"We'll meet there."
Carrot nodded:
"Understood."
-----
Grand Line, first half.
On a giant warship sailing the sea, Enel replied to the Den Den Mushi a few times.
He hung up the Den Den Mushi, stretched, and saw the brat hiding behind Rosinante.
He grinned maliciously, suddenly appearing behind him, covering Law's mouth and pulling him towards the ship's cabin.
Law, unable to make any sound, thrashed wildly.
He watched helplessly as he was dragged away from Rosinante by this devil, feeling despair. That absent-minded idiot! Hurry up and save me!
But he was still being dragged away from Rosinante and towards the cabin...
As Enel dragged him to the cabin door,
Rosinante seemed to finally hear Law's thoughts. After turning a page of his newspaper,
he noticed Law was missing and looked around. He saw the malevolent Enel and Law, who was desperately clinging to the edge of the cabin door.
Rosinante walked over with a helpless expression, took Law, and said:
"Brother Enel, stop scaring him."
Enel smiled playfully.
He bent down and tugged at Law's cheek, who was hiding behind Rosinante:
"Did you hear that, brat?"
"Your Mr. Rosinante still calls me 'Brother'."
"What do you mean by calling me a devil?"
"Hmm?"