Zoro, whom Black Death Face previously mocked as a mere mortal of flesh and blood who would get injured, was now fighting with a demon-like physique. Yet, Black Death Face himself couldn't achieve this.
Zoro could withstand the explosion and approach Black Death Face, but Black Death Face couldn't help but take a step back.
"Roronoa... Zoro, truly a disciple of that Battōsai."
Black Death Face quickly retreated dozens of meters again. A look of seriousness appeared in his six eyes. At this moment, he finally got serious.
"Looks like you've finally woken up too," Zoro said, feeling the change in Black Death Face's aura, which only made him more excited.
"Because..." Black Death Face said indifferently, "the fight on the Master's side has ended. Before the Master inspects, I will kill you."
!
Zoro's pupils contracted. The next moment, he saw the house in the distance violently shatter, creating a large hole as Luffy was pushed out by a giant tentacle!
Luffy's eyes were rolling back, and he looked like he was on the verge of death.
"That guy..." Zoro couldn't help but want to charge over, but Black Death Face swung his sword.
He could only watch as the tentacle swallowed the seemingly unconscious Luffy into its fleshy mass.
However...
Just as Luffy was about to be dissolved, a red lightning bolt rapidly approached.
*Screech!*
!
The red lightning bolt, which looked like flames, slashed like a blade at the tip of the tentacle, rescuing Luffy before he could be consumed.
Finally, the red flames dissipated, revealing a woman.
"Bellemere?!"
Zoro was somewhat surprised to see Bellemere suddenly appear. He hadn't expected Bellemere to show up at this time.
At this moment, the "cousin Yue Yan" from before also walked out. However, he now looked much taller than before, and...
...he had become extremely terrifying!
That tentacle had extended from his arm. Now that its tip had been cut off by Bellemere, he retracted it.
Upon seeing Bellemere, his voice became extremely cold.
"...It seems I gave you too much freedom."
"Freedom? Freedom to only exist under the night?" Bellemere gently placed Luffy on the ground. She looked at her former master with an equally cold tone. "I should thank you for your cowardice. If you hadn't seen that swordsman's weapon and removed the curse you placed on me, I would probably still be under your control."
Before Muzan could speak, a man's voice suddenly came from afar. He looked middle-aged, with a cigar in his mouth. His most striking feature was the Marine uniform he wore.
Even in the dark night, the word "Justice" on the back of his coat was clearly visible.
He looked at the two demons before him and said calmly, "Alright, the conversation between demons should come to an end here."
"I really didn't expect that there were demons like you lurking in the shadows of the East Blue. The efficiency of The Black Order is truly not commendable. But now this matter has been handed over to us Marines, and you should stop here."
Marines, Pandora Island, and The Black Order were nominally the three major organizations of the World Government, but there were many internal disputes.
Especially when Pandora Island had previously considered breaking away from the World Government. Although it didn't succeed in the end, it made the three major organizations more independent.
Excluding Pandora Island, which focused on research, both Marine Headquarters and The Black Order frequently undertook missions at sea. Their areas of responsibility were often blurred, leading to frequent "job-stealing."
For example, if an incident involved both pirates and demons, or if a pirate gained demonic power and became a demon, these were matters that should be handled by both the Marines and The Black Order.
Therefore, they often had disputes over such matters. As a Marine, Smoker naturally had a poor impression of The Black Order.
Especially since the leader of The Black Order's East Blue branch was a completely irresponsible fellow. They hadn't even informed him about the existence of demons in the East Blue.
However...
There was indeed no need.
Smoker was responsible for Loguetown, the gateway from the East Blue to the Grand Line. And since the demons didn't leave the East Blue, there was no need to inform Smoker.
However, The Black Order had some information about the demons. When Smoker contacted them, he found they had just found a lead on the Demon King. Smoker thought about it and decided to take over this matter from The Black Order.
This was because he noticed that their collected intelligence involved a newly formed pirate group, which reminded him of what Uta had mentioned before.
After some negotiation, Smoker and The Black Order reached an agreement: the Marines would act as the vanguard. If the Marines succeeded, the pirates would be dealt with by them, and all the demons would be handed over to The Black Order.
And if they failed, The Black Order would not concern themselves with their lives and would launch a second wave of attack.
Smoker was confident in his strength, not to mention that the Marine squad he led was an elite one.
As he spoke, he had already given the order to attack.
The next moment, the sounds of "dadada" and explosions rang out. The locations of the two demons were enveloped in dust.
Although the Marines were equipped with second-hand gear from headquarters, it was more than enough to deal with minor criminals in the East Blue.
200mm self-propelled howitzers and 900mm mortars spewed out a large number of shells, roaring thunderously in the dark world, with continuous explosions.
Even just this small team led by Smoker, catching them off guard, could subdue many pirates. After all, the pirates in the East Blue were not that overpowered, and they were more than enough to deal with them.
But...
*Boom!*
A giant whip swept out directly from the smoke!
The numerous shells and bullets struck the whip-like appendage but caused no explosion, nor did they even slow its sweeping speed!
Smoker immediately turned into smoke. At the same time, a large amount of smoke was propelled by his telekinesis, forming a sharp sword that slashed directly at the sweeping whip.
"Logia type?"
Kibutsuji Muzan, who emerged from the smoke, was slightly surprised. But he still sneered, "So it's White Hunter Smoker. But do you think you can be invincible in remote areas just because you have a Logia-type Devil Fruit? How naive."
*Boom!*
Blood Demon Art: Black Blood Thorns!
A large number of thorns spread from Muzan's body. The moment they appeared, they wildly lashed out at Smoker. And the tentacle that had already swept out instantly bound Smoker's smoke sword and himself.
Although Smoker's strength was enough to contend with the tentacle, the thorns behind him were about to arrive!
At this moment, Bellemere, who had also been hit by the shells, moved. When she saw the shells coming, she used her body to shield Luffy. Although she wasn't as unscathed as Muzan, with the demon's strong regenerative ability, she quickly recovered.
So she activated her Blood Demon Art again. She was already strong enough to be an Upper Moon, and in Cocoyasi Village, she had been injected with a large amount of blood by Muzan, further strengthening her. She had now reached the level of an Upper Three demon.
Her Blood Demon Art was the manipulation of a blood-colored flame with extremely strong corrosive properties. Seeing Muzan attack Smoker, she seized the opportunity and charged towards Muzan.
However, Muzan's entire body was a weapon. Although he had produced a large number of thorns from his body, he now extended eight whip-like appendages from his legs!
These eight whip-like appendages were faster and more powerful!
Bellemere was directly hit by these eight whip-like appendages, but she continued to advance, recovering with her demonic immortality. She even grabbed two of the whips that had pierced her with her bare hands, and the red flames spread from her hands towards Muzan's whip-like appendages!
"Everything about you came from me. Do you think you can harm me with the power I bestowed upon you?"
Muzan's eyes blazed fiercely. The eight whip-like appendages that had emerged from his legs had pierced into Bellemere's body. At this moment, the eight appendages exerted force in different directions, and Bellemere's body was directly lifted up, looking as if she was about to be torn apart!
Bellemere desperately activated her Blood Demon Art, but the red flames, which could melt steel in an instant, couldn't harm Muzan's whip-like appendages at this moment. Although there was a sizzling sound, the whips remained intact, showing no signs of corrosion.
Bellemere let out a pained cry. Her entire body was torn apart by the eight whip-like appendages, and blood rain splattered from her body. Her body was split into several pieces.
But Bellemere did not die, because these were fatal injuries to a human, but not to a demon.
Demons had only two weaknesses: one was the sun, and the other was decapitation.
Although Muzan had almost dismembered Bellemere, Bellemere had taken care to protect her head. Even though her body was scattered, as long as her main body was intact, she could regenerate!
She had narrowly avoided Muzan's manipulation, but her body was still demonic, possessing the weakness of not being able to survive in sunlight, but also the advantage of demonic immortality!
Meanwhile, Smoker, with Kibutsuji Muzan's attention diverted by Bellemere, also broke free from the giant tentacle. Facing the barrage of thorns about to stab him, he let out a low shout, "White! Snake!"
In the East Blue, his natural Logia elementalization, which had been an undisputed success, was ineffective against the demon. But Smoker had not neglected combat training at the East Blue branch. His Logia elementalization was merely a skill for overpowering weaker opponents. If this move was useless now, he would use other techniques!
...
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