Just as the pirates on the "Whitebeard Remnants" side were sinking into confusion and terror, unable to even correctly perceive themselves, someone suddenly raised their arm and shouted from within the crowd.
"What are you wavering for? It's just a change of gender! Something we can easily transcend! There's nothing worth fearing!"
Everyone turned toward the voice and saw a beautiful woman standing among them — twin pistols in hand, hair tied up, wearing a kimono.
"Izo… Captain Izo?!"
"Twin Pistols" Izo had always possessed an androgynous appearance, and personally enjoyed dressing like a woman — wearing loose kimonos, coloring the lips with bright red paint.
Because of Doc Q's "Sick-Sick Fruit" ability, he had now been completely transformed into a woman, becoming an even more striking beauty of a gunslinger.
Izo, however, felt no psychological burden regarding this change. In fact, he — or she — was rather pleased. But this was the battlefield. The enemy stood before them. For personal reasons, Izo would never let Doc Q go.
Her pistols pointed toward "Pegasus" Stronger, and she fired without hesitation. "Armament Haki," like flowing sakura, wrapped around the bullets — enough to pierce straight through the Pegasus, then Doc Q seated on its back.
Doc Q realized her intent and tugged on the reins. The Pegasus, which moments before looked half-dead and tongue-lolling, instantly spread its wings and kicked off the air, avoiding the incoming shots.
"This world really does have all kinds of people…" Doc Q muttered, pulling a few "apples" from his coat and tossing them downward. "These are already the fastest-acting 'diseases' I've created. The rest all have incubation periods. Still, to think someone could be immune… how troublesome."
The apples hit the ground and burst into clouds of purple poison gas.
Anyone nearby who accidentally inhaled it immediately collapsed — foaming at the mouth, eyes rolled back, dying in spasms of agony.
The division commanders quickly pulled anyone close to safety and retreated from the poison clouds, all the while cursing furiously as Doc Q and Stronger flew farther away.
Doc Q, looking as perpetually drowsy as ever, glanced down at them. His cracked purple lips stretched into a smile.
It was impossible for him to fight head-on — not in this life. His entire approach was to poison food and water until his enemies dropped dead. When the enemy was gone, he had already won.
Hearing the helpless curses below, he felt rather pleased with himself.
Just then, Stronger let out a shrill scream. Doc Q turned his head in confusion — and came face-to-face with a hovering human head.
Even with all the horrors he had seen while traveling with Blackbeard Teach, Doc Q was so startled he nearly lost his soul. His body fell backward, almost slipping off Stronger's back.
He wasn't able to fly. A fall from this height meant certain death.
Clutching the reins desperately, he yanked hard, ignoring Stronger's pained whinny until he managed to stabilize himself again.
Still shaken, he looked up — and got an even clearer view of what had frightened him.
A severed head and two hands were flying around him as though they had minds of their own.
But the red nose on that face made Doc Q instantly recognize who it was — and understand what was happening.
"It's 'Thousand-Fold Trickster' Buggy!"
Doc Q's eyes widened. He knew of this 695-million-berry officer of the Davy Jones Pirates.
I'm no match for him!
He pulled the reins, urging Stronger to flee.
But Stronger had barely flapped his wings twice when he suddenly shrieked — then plunged downward!
"Stronger?!"
Doc Q felt his stomach seize with the sensation of falling. He pressed himself against Stronger's back and wiped his hand along the horse's belly — only to feel something warm and sticky.
Blood.
He looked down and saw Stronger's abdomen riddled with sharp throwing knives.
Doc Q gnashed his teeth. He didn't need to guess who had done it — but it was too late now.
The Pegasus Zoan user Stronger closed his eyes. His wings vanished as he reverted to an ordinary horse, falling straight toward the ground.
No matter how Doc Q shook him, he did not awaken again.
While they were still plummeting, Buggy let out his eerie "hee-hee-hee" laugh and floated in front of him, stuffing two red balls into Doc Q's arms.
Doc Q glanced down, and suddenly understanding dawned on him. He looked up in horror — but Buggy was already motionless in midair, his two disembodied hands waving goodbye.
Boom! Boom! —
Before Doc Q and Stronger hit the ground, they were swallowed by a blazing explosion. Shredded flesh and splintered limbs flew in every direction.
One blood-splattered horseshoe spun through the air toward a black-robed figure just stepping onto the docks.
Davy Jones didn't even look at it. A mass of writhing tentacles burst from beneath his robe, caught the horseshoe, and tossed it aside.
"Six remain," Davy Jones murmured. His Observation Haki covered the entire island — refined to a terrifying degree.
He was about to continue forward when he saw Kuro approaching, bloody cat claws hanging at his sides.
"Captain Davy Jones," Kuro said. Blood dripped down the claws, staining his trousers and pooling in his leather shoes. "I've found Blackbeard Teach's trail. Please come with me."
"Oh?"
"They're right over there," Kuro said anxiously. "Please — otherwise they'll escape using Van Augur's ability."
But Davy Jones didn't move. He only stared at Kuro.
Then, without warning, tentacles burst from beneath the robe and wrapped around Kuro entirely before he could react.
"Captain?!"
"The Nine-Tailed Fox Zoan can indeed mimic appearances nearly perfectly," Davy Jones said coldly. "If only you didn't have so many flaws."
Under the crushing pressure of the tentacles, "Kuro" could no longer maintain the disguise — and reverted to her real form: Catarina Devon.
She struggled desperately, nine tails lifting, coated with Armament Haki, slashing toward Davy Jones like nine blades.
But the tentacles were faster — sharper.
With a single slash, all nine tails were severed.
Devon screamed silently as tentacles sealed her throat and filled her mouth, choking off any sound. She could only whimper as she neared suffocation.
Davy Jones continued, unhurried:
"First — the real Kuro wouldn't let blood drip from his claws onto his trousers and shoes."
"Second — he wouldn't act this flustered in front of me."
"And lastly — your disguise could never fool my Observation Haki."
Only now did Devon realize the entire plan had been hopeless from the start.
Egged on by Teach and Shiryu, she had actually tried to recreate the scheme of "Squard stabbing Whitebeard" — attempting to ambush and heavily injure Davy Jones.
A complete delusion.
"What an amusing, bold attempt," Davy Jones said.
The tentacles burrowed down Devon's throat and emerged from her nostrils. After a final struggle, her body went limp.
"Six remain."
He flung her corpse aside — just as the six signatures he had locked onto vanished from the island altogether.
It seemed Van Augur had teleported them away.
The Whitebeard Remnants, who had fully secured and begun clearing the battlefield, confirmed that Blackbeard and his men were no longer anywhere on the island.
The real Kuro, Buggy, Ace, Marco, and the others gathered around Davy Jones.
Those who had been transformed into women by Doc Q's ability had returned to normal.
The battle was won. Everyone felt a surge of exhilaration — but hid it well in front of Davy Jones.
"Captain Davy Jones," Ace said, habitually removing his hat when speaking to him. "What's next? Do we continue pursuing them?"
Davy Jones eyed him. "How many casualties?"
"Thirteen dead, thirty-one injured. That's the count so far," Marco answered, since he was the one overseeing the statistics.
"Treat the wounded first," Davy Jones said. "Rest here. Let Blackbeard's crew run for a few days."
He walked deeper into Autumn Island, feeding on the battlefield's lingering fear — enough to sate him fully, even to excess.
Ace, Marco, Jozu, Vista, and the others exchanged glances. They would never disobey the captain's orders, and they couldn't abandon their injured anyway. They began setting up camp on the spot.
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