Lancelot's casual confirmation of his knowledge sent a ripple of surprise through the newcomer.
This was something he couldn't understand at all.
CP9 was a secret within the World Government, an organization whose very existence was a myth to all but the highest echelons.
Nero then let out his strange, scraping laugh.
"Sha sha sha... I never expected to see someone in the backwater East Blue who not only knows of CP9, but also knows Rokushiki."
His eyes, sharp and analytical, then shifted to Gin, who was standing at attention, his body still radiating a faint, residual tension from the Soru and Tekkai he had just used.
Nero frowned slightly.
"If I'm not mistaken, you," he pointed a gloved finger at Gin, "were originally a pirate, right? Gin the Man demon, of the Krieg Pirates."
Saying this, he turned his gaze back to Lancelot.
As part of the World Government's intelligence system, his information was, by necessity, quite extensive.
Especially since he was on a sensitive, long-term mission in the East Blue, he had been paying extra attention to recent, high-impact events in the area.
First, this Lancelot had cooperated with Smoker to capture the East Blue's strongest and largest pirate fleet, the Krieg Pirates.
Then, not even a month later, he had led his own small, newly-formed unit to destroy the East Blue's biggest pirate nest, Blackthorn Island.
These two actions, in less than two months, had reduced the East Blue's active pirate population—those with bounties over ten million—by at least half.
If he, a CP9 agent, didn't know about such seismic events, he would be unworthy of his title.
Yet, precisely because he knew this, he understood the shocking implication of what he was seeing.
He knew who Gin was, and he knew Gin had been captured less than two months ago.
Which meant the man before him, Captain Lancelot, had taught a captured pirate the secrets of Rokushiki in an extremely short, almost impossible, amount of time.
Even if it was just one technique—Soru—this was already shocking enough.
It made him envious.
Even jealous.
After all, he had only managed to master four of the six Rokushiki techniques, and each of those techniques had taken him at least a year of brutal, back-breaking training to learn.
This Marine Captain was either the greatest teacher in the world, or this pirate was a once-in-a-generation prodigy.
"Hah..." Nero took a deep, steadying breath to calm his racing, analytical mind.
This changed things.
He then addressed Lancelot, his tone no longer exploratory, but professional.
"I need to speak with him," he said, gesturing to the groaning, bloodied form of Axe-Hand Morgan.
"Privately. After my business with him is concluded, you can deal with him however you want."
"???"
Lancelot, in turn, grew even more puzzled.
He truly could not understand what possible connection there could be between a top-secret intelligence agency like CP9 and a corrupt, third-rate Marine Captain like Morgan.
He furrowed his brow, his mind sifting through his memories of the original story, searching for a link.
He found none.
Seeing that Lancelot didn't respond immediately, a flicker of impatience crossed Nero's face.
He reminded him, "Like you, Captain, I am with the World Government. If you have any doubts about my authority, you can contact your father, Vice Admiral Burns. He'll tell you who I am."
Lancelot, hearing his father's name used as a form of identification, finally understood.
This wasn't a CP9 field agent; this was someone with high-level clearance, someone who knew the real power structures.
He waved his hand dismissively.
"That won't be necessary... I'm well aware of what CP9 is."
"Sha... sha..." Nero looked surprised for a moment, then laughed, a genuine, if still unsettling, sound.
"Right, you were born and raised in the Holy Land, after all. It's normal for you to know things others don't."
Saying this, he gestured again to the fallen tyrant.
"Can I speak with this... trash... privately now?"
Lancelot nodded with a disarming smile, "Of course. Be my guest."
He immediately gave Gin a meaningful look.
Gin, understanding the silent "stand down" command, instantly flashed back to Lancelot's side with a single, rough Soru movement, his combat readiness fading.
"Bastard..." Morgan, still kneeling in a pool of his own blood and spit, was furious that both sides were now completely ignoring him, bartering over him as if he were a piece of meat.
"Sha... sha..." Nero let out his signature laugh at Morgan's pathetic show of defiance.
He then used Soru himself, vanishing from his original position.
When he reappeared, he was already behind Morgan.
Then, with a casual, almost bored motion, he delivered a sharp chop with his hand to the back of Morgan's already-injured neck.
Thwack.
Morgan was knocked out directly, his massive body slumping.
Nero, with a strength that belied his skinny frame, grabbed the unconscious Captain by the collar with one hand and began to drag him aside, into the very alley he had emerged from.
It was as if he were dragging a sack of garbage.
"Ah, this..."
The Marines of Branch 153 and the townspeople of Shells Town, who had been watching this entire exchange with a mixture of terror and awe, felt their long-held perceptions of the world being completely shattered.
That invincible, terrifying Marine Captain, this god-like villain who had ruled over them for three long years... was now being treated like an insect, knocked out and dragged away by two different groups of government agents.
Watching Nero drag Morgan away, Zoro, his hand still resting on his swords, couldn't help but ask.
"Lancelot, who is that guy? He's arrogant as hell."
Lancelot's gaze followed Nero until he disappeared into the shadows.
"He's from CP9."
"CP9?" Zoro was clearly intrigued.
He hadn't been able to follow the high-speed movements, but he could sense the power.
He could tell that the guy from earlier, despite his ridiculous laugh, possessed extraordinary strength.
Lancelot nodded, deciding this was the perfect moment for a lesson.
"CP9 is a top-secret intelligence agency, a part of the World Government, just like the Marines and my Inspectorate. From what I know, that guy is named Nero. He's a newly recruited member... and also the weakest among them."
"The weakest?" Zoro looked genuinely astonished.
He had clearly sensed that the man's strength was impressive, likely on par with his own, if not faster.
"Don't underestimate him because of that," Lancelot continued, his voice low and serious.
"The minimum requirement to join CP9 is mastering four of the six Rokushiki techniques. Since he's a member, that means he has mastered at least four of those six techniques you just saw Gin using."
"What?!" Gin himself exclaimed in shock, his face paling slightly.
Having just barely, painfully, mastered the most basic application of Soru, Gin deeply understood the god-like power of Rokushiki... and the agonizing difficulty of training in it.
It was hard to imagine how strong someone would be if they had mastered four of those techniques and had a base strength no weaker than his own.
Lancelot let that sink in before adding the real bombshell.
"Their leader, a man named Rob Lucci, has not only mastered all sixRokushiki techniques, but has also developed his own, more powerful, derivative moves. He's even reached the highest level of mastery where he can perform 'Life Return,' controlling his own body functions at will. To be honest... even if the three of us—you, me, and Lina—joined forces right now, we'd only get crushed by him."
He wasn't joking about this.
He looked at Zoro.
The strongest opponent Zoro had encountered so far was Lancelot himself.
The only ones who had fallen to his sword were just disorganized trash from Blackthorn Island.
He was far, far from reaching the strength he would one day possess when fighting CP9 in the original storyline.
"Even if the three of us... joined forces... we'd only get crushed?" Gin's eyes widened, as if he had just heard the most unbelievable thing in the world.
Because of Lancelot's presence, the Krieg Pirates had never successfully reached the Grand Line and had never encountered that man with the hawkeyes.
They truly had no idea how crazy, how vast, the outside world could be.
So how could they not be shocked?
Seeing their stunned faces, Lancelot smiled.
"Don't be shocked. The outside world is vast, far beyond your imagination. Not just us, even that Rob Lucci is just a small fry in the grand scheme of things. The true top-tier fighters in this world... the Yonko, the Admirals... they could destroy all of Shells Town with a single, casual move. Or even sink this entire island to the bottom of the sea."
At this point, Lancelot glanced meaningfully at Zoro.
"The man you want to beat... the world's strongest swordsman, Dracule 'Hawk-Eye' Mihawk... he can split the sea itself, cleaving a mountain of ice in two with a casual swing of his sword."
Hearing Lancelot's vivid, matter-of-fact description, both Gin and Zoro showed expressions of profound awe and shock.
This was a level of power they had never even conceived of.
Gin immediately clenched his fists, his eyes, which had been merely determined, now burning with an incredible, desperate fire.
He yearned for that world.
He had to reach it.
Zoro's hand, which had been resting on his sword hilt, now gripped it tightly.
A vague, powerful image formed in his mind: a man holding a black sword, swinging it toward the sea... and the sea splitting apart.
The mere thought of that scene filled him with an immense, terrifying excitement.
Immediately after, the image of a girl from his childhood, Kuina, surfaced in his mind.
His grip on the Wado Ichimonji unconsciously tightened until his knuckles were white.
'Our promise... I will become the world's greatest swordsman! I will never break my word!'
At this moment, both men had never felt such a strong, agonizing desire to grow stronger.
Lancelot couldn't help but curl his lips into a slight smile.
This was exactly what he wanted.
Wasn't he deliberately provoking them by saying all this? Both of them possessed extraordinary, world-class potential, especially Zoro.
He needed to ignite their competitive spirit, but he also needed to apply crushing, overwhelming pressure.
Only then would they have sufficient motivation to continuously, desperately, grow stronger.
After all, everyone needs a goal. And now, they had a real one.
...
However, Lancelot's gaze soon shifted back toward the alley where Nero had dragged Morgan away.
His smile faded, replaced by a look of intense, calculating curiosity.
He was extremely curious.
Curious about why a high-level CP9 agent, on a secret mission in the East Blue, would have any business at all with a corrupt, third-rate captain like Morgan.