"Ah—!"
Honey Queen let out a piercing scream as she was blasted away, crashing into the wall before sliding down.
Even though she quickly turned into liquid to mitigate the explosion's impact, her upper body was still scorched black.
Bear King and Pin Joker were also caught in the blast.
As was Nami, who was lying on the ground.
"Miss Nami, watch out!"
A figure suddenly threw himself in front of her.
It was Sanji.
"Thud!"
Three shuriken embedded themselves firmly into Sanji's back and shoulder.
"Sanji!"
Nami cried out in alarm.
Sanji grunted but managed a smile.
He reached back, pulled out the shallowly embedded shuriken, and casually tossed them aside. "It's nothing... just a scratch."
More importantly—
"The ropes are cut."
Sanji flexed his wrists. The shuriken that flew toward him during the explosion not only injured him but also severed the ropes binding his hands and feet.
He stood up, shielding Nami.
Though blood still flowed from his back, staining his shirt red, his posture was upright, his gaze sharp.
Across from them, Bear King slowly lowered the arms he had used to shield himself.
His expression had shifted from initial shock to one of furious rage.
"..."
Bear King's voice was dangerously low.
"Do you have any idea what you've done?"
Nami peeked out from behind Sanji, playfully sticking out her tongue.
"Oops, sorry! Seems I rembered the trap wrong~"
"Rembered wrong?!"
Bear King roared.
"Not only did you pretend to surrender while actually planning to ambush us, but you even dared to trigger an explosion in this room! Do you know what this place is?!"
As he spoke, Bear King pointed at the floor beneath them.
It wasn't ordinary flooring but transparent, thick crystal glass.
Through the glass, they could see a massive, slowly rotating chanical structure below.
Gears shed layer upon layer, and a giant clockwork spring turned steadily.
"This is the core spring of Clockwork Island."
Bear King pointed downward, his voice tinged with lingering fear.
"If this is destroyed, the entire chanical structure of Clockwork Island will collapse! Then Spiral Mountain will crumble, and everything on the island will be annihilated!"
Sanji, cigarette in mouth, calmly replied:
"Isn't that exactly what you've been using to threaten all the islanders? What's this? Looking at how worked up you are... seems you're pretty worried about the core spring being destroyed too, huh?"
Bear King's expression stiffened before he bellowed:
"Of course!"
"I've been holding the entire island hostage to use Clockwork Island's chanical technology to help complete a powerful weapon of destruction!"
"Now that it's almost finished, how can I let it all go to waste? Not to ntion..."
Sanji cut him off directly, his tone dripping with sarcasm:
"King Cannon!"
"Not to ntion... if the spring really is destroyed and the whole island collapses, we're all on it. You don't even know if you'd survive such a disaster, right?"
He paused, then uttered two words:
"Plain and simple, you're afraid to die."
The words "afraid to die" pierced Bear King's heart like needles.
As the leader of a pirate crew, being called a coward to his face was a trendous insult.
n of the sea should fear nothing.
If his underlings knew he was afraid of death, morale would crumble. How could he lead his crew then?
Bear King's face turned extrely grim.
Seeing this, a man's face suddenly flashed through Sanji's mind—Ralph.
If that guy were in this situation, what would he do?
The balance of offense and defense had reversed.
That guy might just...
Sanji raised his right leg, gauged the force, aid at the crack in the transparent floor beneath his feet, and stomped down hard!
Crack—!
The earlier explosion had only caused minor cracks in the floor, but with Sanji's stomp, the cracks spread like a spiderweb, instantly covering a three-ter radius centered on where he stood!
The transparent floor emitted a groaning creak, and the clockwork machinery below seed to tremble as well.
"Are you insane—?!"
Bear King, Honey Queen who had just gotten up, and Pin Joker who had pulled the shuriken from his body all cried out in shock simultaneously.
Sanji retracted his leg, flicked the ash from his cigarette, and said with a relaxed expression:
"The situation is different now. I'm the one threatening you. So..."
He looked at Bear King and grinned:
"You'd better watch your attitude."
Sanji had to admit that occasionally learning from Ralph and lowering his standards a bit really helped when dealing with bastards like Bear King!
The room fell into dead silence.
Bear King stared intently at the spreading cracks beneath his feet, then glanced at Sanji, veins bulging on his forehead.
He was weighing his options: continue being tough, or compromise for now?
Just then—
Crash—!!
The glass of a side window suddenly shattered!
A figure flew in through the window, flipped twice in the air, and landed steadily.
He held Yubashiri in his left hand, Sandai Kitetsu in his right, and Wado Ichimonji clenched between his teeth.
It was Zoro, the Three Sword Style user.
He had been out for a walk when he saw the explosion at the top of the tower and thought the fight had started!
Worried about missing the action, he took the shortest path—straight up—using his swords to climb the wall.
As soon as he landed, Zoro assud a combat stance, his three swords pointing in different directions.
He scanned the room and froze.
The chaotic battle scene he had expected was nowhere to be seen.
Nami and Sanji stood together, both looking a bit worse for wear but otherwise fine.
Across from them were three enemies: a hulking man, a charred woman, and a clown pierced with shuriken.
All of them were staring in horror at the floor beneath their feet.
And the floor... was covered in cracks.
"What's going on?"
Zoro lowered his stance, frowning.
"Where's Lufia? Where's Ralph? Where's Usopp? Why are there only two of you? And what's with the floor?"
Sanji blew a smoke ring.
"It's a long story. Anyway, we have the upper hand now—if I stomp one more ti, we're all done for."
Zoro looked down at the massive clockwork machinery beneath the transparent floor, then at the cracks, and understood.
"So you're threatening them?"
Zoro grinned.
"Interesting. But..."
He looked at Bear King, a glint of fighting spirit in his eyes:
"Is this guy Bear King? He looks pretty strong. Let cut him—"
And just then—
Ding.
On the other side of the room, the indicator light above the elevator door lit up.
The heavy tal doors slowly slid open to both sides.
A figure wearing a straw hat stepped out of the elevator.
The Straw Hat Girl stepped out of the elevator car, her feet crunching on the shattered glass floor with a creak.
Lufia raised her head, her eyes beneath the straw hat sweeping over everyone in the room before locking onto Bear King.
A rubber finger lifted, pointing at the three-ter-tall burly man.
"Are you the Bear King?"
Lufia grinned, revealing white teeth.
"I'm here to knock you flying."
Lufia appeared alone, so where was Ralph?
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