"Whoosh!"
The heavy Heavenly Dragon Halberd was thrown from Jean Ango's hand, instantly crossing more than ten meters and stabbing toward the giant Andre's forehead.
The expected scene of Andre's head being pierced by the sharp war halberd did not appear.
His head merely jerked backward sharply, and from the collision with the Heavenly Dragon Halberd, a metallic clang rang out from his forehead.
"Jean Ango! You, a mere four-star hunter, dare to strike at me? A guy without even Armament Haki—how could you possibly break through my defense? Huh?"
Andre, his lower half trapped and immobilized by the zipper space, roared angrily. His two thick arms became coated in pitch-black Haki, and with a ripping sound, he tore open the black fissure beneath him and climbed out of it.
On his forehead, only a thin cut had appeared, with dark red blood slowly seeping out.
"How is that possible! That's the Great Grade Blade Heavenly Dragon Halberd!"
Jean Ango's eyes widened as he blurted out.
But the moment the words left his mouth, he instantly regretted it and covered his mouth.
"Great Grade Blade?"
Andre's body trembled slightly. He raised a hand to touch his forehead, then reached out with a massive palm and grabbed the Heavenly Dragon Halberd at his feet.
"No wonder it could break through my unbreakable defense—it's a Great Grade Blade! Hahaha, this is perfect. Such a heavy weapon is just right for me. Who would've thought that a plunderer would one day offer me such a fine gift. Much obliged, Jean Ango."
Andre admired the halberd in his hand like a cherished treasure, making Jean Ango fume with rage.
"Bastard! That's my weapon! Give it back!"
Jean Ango yelled in fury, grabbing his own hair and flinging himself forward.
"Sonic Dash!"
"Whoosh!"
He flew at such high speed that even Andre's Observation Haki couldn't track him.
But Andre didn't need to.
He simply stood there with a cold smirk, firmly gripping the Heavenly Dragon Halberd.
"Clang!"
Jean Ango, speeding through the air, stabbed at Andre's face with a short sword.
"Clink!"
A crisp sound rang out as the short sword in his hand snapped.
The broken blade shot past Jean Ango's cheek with a whoosh, slicing open his face and scaring him half to death.
"Huff!"
A massive palm swiped down from above, grabbing Jean Ango—who had paused in midair after stabbing Andre—and slammed him hard into the ground.
"Boom!"
The deck shattered into a massive hole. Jean Ango's eyes rolled back as he coughed up blood from the impact.
"Light Finger Gun!"
A blinding light burst forth in front. Hanks, who had been knocked away earlier, returned with a glowing fingertip jabbing toward Andre's eye.
His finger glowed brightly with a dark tint and whistled through the air, leaving a sharp sound in its wake.
"Useless. I'm the man with the strongest defense in the entire Bounty Hunter Guild."
Andre grinned widely. Lines crisscrossed his face as his skin hardened, like thick armor plating covering him.
His body swelled, growing over two meters taller, reaching a height of eight meters.
The upper half of his clothes tore apart, and a massive tortoise shell grew on his back.
"Clang!"
A loud clang rang out as Hanks's glowing finger was blocked by Andre's raised massive hand.
Seeing Andre, now towering and turtle-like, Hanks's expression grew grim.
"Zoan-type Turtle-Turtle Fruit, Land Tortoise Form—reputedly the Zoan Fruit with the highest defense."
"Surrender, Hanks! Come back with me to see the old man. Maybe, just maybe, he'll spare you out of old friendship."
Andre gripped the Heavenly Dragon Halberd and swung it at the retreating Hanks.
Faced with Andre's overwhelming pressure, Hanks was clearly outmatched.
He couldn't break through his opponent's defense.
Nor could he withstand the enemy's attacks.
In just a few seconds, Hanks had taken three punches and two kicks from Andre, coughing up blood with several broken bones.
Here is the English translation of the passage, with your specific translation rules applied:
The massive two-masted sailboat had its rear cabin shattered by the aftermath of the battle, and two of its masts were snapped.
The other hunters aboard had already sensed the danger and jumped into the sea.
On the other side, Morisaki Ichiro was still locked in combat with Sera, with both sides sustaining injuries.
Ultimately, Sera, lacking a Devil Fruit ability and having yet to awaken Armament Haki, was at a disadvantage for the time being.
However, it didn't look like Morisaki Ichiro would be able to take her down anytime soon either.
But Hanks was already reaching his limit.
"Bang!"
A massive turtle-like fist struck Hanks in the abdomen before he could dodge. He was sent flying over twenty meters into the air by a single punch from Andre, blood flooding his mouth as he crashed back down.
"Morisaki! You bastard, didn't you say President Gulliver was coming? How long has it been already?! If he doesn't show up soon, we'll be corpses by the time he gets here!"
Hanks was full of grief and fury.
Had he known things would turn out like this, he wouldn't have defected in the first place.
"Don't panic! Hold on a bit longer. Once President Gulliver arrives, they're all dead."
Morisaki Ichiro ducked his head to dodge Sera's sweeping short blade, countered with a punch, his jet-black fist slamming into Sera's stomach, sending her flying backward coughing blood. She crashed into the ship's railing with such force that the wood exploded apart.
"Tch!"
"See? Jonathan's not just old himself. You, his beloved granddaughter, are also pathetically weak. Honestly, think about it—what future do we have sticking with you people?"
Morisaki took a deep breath and spat out a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva. He lunged forward again, clenching his fist to strike at Sera's face.
Faced with the oncoming blow, Sera said nothing. She gritted her teeth and thrust her short blade with all her strength.
But just as the blade reached midair, Morisaki swiped it out of her hand, a cold glint flashing in his eyes as he slashed the blade down toward her slender, pale neck.
"If you die, I bet that old man Jonathan will be heartbroken, huh?"
Just as the blade was about to strike Sera's neck, Morisaki suddenly felt a jolt of terror—an icy chill swept over him from behind.
Then came the intense sound of something slicing through the air—a massive, door-sized turtle shell spinning toward his back.
The turtle shell whistled through the air, and from several holes in its side, massive fists shot out and pounded into Morisaki's back, making him scream in agony. His bulky body flew sideways like a ragdoll.
Seeing he was about to crash through the ship's railing and fall into the sea, he endured the searing pain in his body, swiped a hand along the rail, and tore open a zipper space, letting it swell up and swallow him inside.
"Sera, are you alright?"
Andre landed and reached out a large hand to help up the pale-faced Sera.
"I'm okay. Andre, go deal with them first. If Gulliver really is coming, we probably need to get out of here as soon as possible."
"Got it."
Andre clenched his fist and looked toward Morisaki Ichiro at the stern of the ship.
There stood Morisaki Ichiro, blood at the corner of his mouth, beside the equally battered Hanks.
On the shattered deck in front of them, Jean Ango lay unconscious, eyes rolled back.
The three of them looked downright miserable at this point.
"We've got no choice. The president's still not here. We'll have to hide in my zipper space for now, buy ourselves some time."
Morisaki tore open a black slit in the deck below his feet.
Hanks's face immediately turned grim.
Morisaki's zipper space might seem safe, but it came with major drawbacks.
If there were no other inorganic objects within his ability's range…
Then the zipper space he could open would be limited to the size of the inorganic object he was currently in.
Worse yet, that space would shrink if the volume of the outer object shrank.
And the zipper entrance didn't disappear.
Most importantly, this flaw in his ability had been known to everyone since back when they all worked together.
That's why the approaching Andre was so confident he could catch them.
They wanted to escape.
But in the vast sea, apart from the ship beneath their feet, there was nothing else in sight.
In other words, they had nowhere to run.
Just as Andre was about to charge, suddenly, all four people on the ship changed expressions simultaneously. They instinctively looked up toward a certain direction over the sea.
In their Observation Haki perception, a massive aura was rapidly approaching, heading straight for them.
"This is bad!"
Andre and Sera exchanged glances, their faces turning grave.
"It's Gulliver, Andre!" Sera's voice was filled with tension.
She knew Gulliver's strength even better than Andre—she knew how terrifying he truly was.
Sweat was already forming on Sera's forehead.
But what shocked and confused her was that Morisaki Ichiro and William Hanks, who should have been overjoyed at Gulliver's arrival, looked even more panicked than she and Andre.
No—it wasn't panic.
It was fear. Utter, unhideable fear.
"What's going on?"
The question had just formed in Sera and Andre's minds when a flash of silver lightning streaked across the sky.
In the next second, a tall, slender figure descended out of nowhere and landed on the remaining edge of the ship's railing beside the four of them.
"Yo, why'd you all stop fighting?"
(End of Chapter)
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