"Swoosh!"
Marco flickered and blocked in front of Miss. Bakkin; Taro's Slash hit Marco directly, splitting a gap in his forehead.
Blue flames surged, and Marco recovered as if nothing had happened.
Taro felt even more irritable. "Marco, so you're saying you want to have a fight with me?"
Marco's brow furrowed as he stared at Taro. "Since I am here, I naturally won't allow you to attack her."
Taro sighed, forcibly suppressing the anger in his heart, and said as calmly as possible, "Weevil isn't Whitebeard's son. He is an artificial human created by Bakkin; he's a monster!"
"He's lying, Marco! Weevil is Whitebeard's son!" Miss. Bakkin screamed.
Marco didn't look back at Bakkin; he raised an eyebrow and watched Taro. "Do you have proof?"
Taro lifted Weevil's head and glanced at it. He really couldn't distinguish any traces of an artificial human, so he froze for a moment before eventually shaking his head.
"This is what Dr. Vegapunk told..."
Miss. Bakkin's heart shook when she heard Vegapunk's name, and she screamed in even greater terror.
"Vegapunk is also one of your Marine people! You've colluded to slander..."
"Shut up, you old hag!"
Taro roared to interrupt Bakkin's noise, then let out a heavy breath and looked at Marco.
"Explaining is really exhausting. I don't want to say anything more. I've achieved my purpose for this trip, so I'll take my leave!"
With that, he turned to leave.
Marco gazed at Taro's back and spoke slowly, "Leave Weevil's head behind!"
Taro paused, turned back, and shrugged indifferently.
"I can give you his head, but I have to take the body. I said he's an artificial human; if I leave the whole corpse, I'm not sure if that crazy old hag will modify it into another monster!"
"Between the body and the head, I must take at least one!"
Marco was stunned for a moment, his brows furrowed in thought.
Miss. Bakkin wanted to speak again, but Taro's Conqueror's Haki instantly activated, his sharp aura locking onto the old woman.
"If you dare say one more word, I'll hack you to death!"
Marco's clenched fist relaxed as he spoke softly, "Leave his head!"
Taro nodded and tossed Weevil's head over, then said:
"Marco, if you came today to stop Edward Weevil from attacking the Captains under the Whitebeard Pirates again, you failed!"
In the original story, White II had defeated 16 of the 43 Captains of the Whitebeard Pirates. If there was a plot where Marco sought out White II in the original story, then Marco had clearly failed.
As for the reason, it was hard to say—perhaps because of Miss. Bakkin?
However, Taro had no interest in what that old hag wanted to do and simply ignored her.
Marco froze for a moment and frowned. "What do your words mean..."
He stopped halfway through his sentence and turned his gaze toward the sea.
Taro also noticed the abnormality on the sea and said with a mocking tone,
"Tch, this island is really lively tonight!"
On the sea, a merchant ship was approaching, while in the air, three figures were already arriving using Moonwalk.
CP0!
Taro had already guessed the identity of the newcomers from the pigeon flying beside one of them.
Rob Lucci!
There was also a masked man whose nose was as long as Usopp's; the mask he wore was useless before Taro.
Kaku, that giraffe!
Taro didn't recognize the last and tallest person, but it didn't matter. He had never cared about lapdogs like CP0.
Having confirmed the identities of the newcomers, Taro didn't want to stay any longer. Tapping his feet, he leapt into the air, swung his blade horizontally to slice open the stone pillar, and pulled out Weevil's headless corpse.
"Vice Admiral Taro, with a pirate right before you, are you going to leave like this instead of exterminating him?"
The tallest of the three CP0 members spoke.
Taro held Weevil by one leg and let out a light chuckle upon hearing this.
"Are you teaching me how to do my job?"
He plunged thunderstorm into the ground in front of him, stroking the hilt as he muttered to himself,
"Lately, I keep running into people who like to tell me how to do things. Should I kill one or two to suppress this unhealthy trend?"
The man's breath hitched, and he hesitated to reply, but Lucci's pigeon spoke up.
"Taro, you should know our identity. We are now commanding you in the name of the World Government..."
Taro's gaze turned cold. "You should also know what I did back then! Are you serious about talking to me like this?"
Lucci and Kaku instantly fell silent, while the tall man tilted his head strangely to look at the two of them.
After a long while, the pigeon spoke again. "What I am talking about now is the fact that you, as a Marine, are not capturing pirates, and doing so in the name of the World Government..."
Hearing "World Government," Taro had already lifted thunderstorm. "Don't use the name of the World Government to threaten me. A command? Hmph, I am a Marine, but you aren't!"
With that, he curled his lips contemptuously, pointing his blade directly at the three of them. "I'll say it one more time: I really hate it when others tell me how to do things!"
The tall man's mask moved slightly as if he were about to speak.
Lucci reached out to stop him, shaking his head gently. "I will report today's events truthfully to the World Government!"
Taro sheathed his sword, his tone very relaxed. "Suit yourself."
After speaking, he took Weevil's corpse and soared into the sky, disappearing into the vast night.
As for whether Marco and the three CP0 members would fight, Taro didn't care.
Anyway, both sides made Taro very angry; it would be best if they fought to the death... Gagashiko Island.
The Image Pirates' small ship appeared out of thin air. Everyone still had lingering fears; the moment they discovered the CP0 people were chasing them, Wan Luo had activated his ability again to mark back to this place.
"We have to leave quickly; our ship has no other markers now!" Wan Luo urged.
Absalom was still immersed in the shock of that great battle, but his heart tightened upon hearing this, and he quickly lowered the mainsail.
The small boat soon sailed into the sea under the moonlight.
"Wan Luo, did you film the battle just now?" After the ship had sailed some distance, Absalom's mood relaxed a bit.
Wan Luo shook his head. "The markers were consumed while dodging on that island; without energy markers, it's impossible to transcode!"
"This... Sigh!" Absalom was suddenly disappointed. "What a pity. If we could report that battle..."
"Kishishishi, there's nothing to regret, Absa!" Moria sat down against the ship's rail, hands behind his head.
"The World Government came after Wan Luo for some reason. Now is not the time to be standing out!"
Wan Luo and Wan Shi looked at each other; seeing his girlfriend's worry, Wan Luo shook his head gently.
"We'll just be careful and leave more markers. If it really comes down to it, I'll use a marker to send you away; nothing will happen."
Wan Shi shook her head slightly and didn't speak, only taking Wan Luo's hand.
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