The dust slowly settled.
A massive crater several meters deep had been carved into the ground like a meteor strike.
At the bottom of it, Miss Valentine sat there in a daze.
And beneath her wasn't a bloody pulp—
It was a man… still holding the same embracing pose.
Sanji was planted into the solid rock like a radish, half his body buried deep, only his chest and above visible.
His arms were wrapped tightly around Miss Valentine's waist—and those pale, smooth thighs—his face wearing a bizarre, blissful smile.
Even though his nosebleed had stained half his face, his eyes were shining far too brightly.
Not a single injury.
Yes—aside from his clothes being more torn and his hair a little messier, Sanji had taken a ten-thousand-kilogram, gravity-accelerated impact head-on… and he hadn't even scraped his skin.
That was the terrifying defensive power of the "Thirteen Guardians' Iron Body."
Inner energy shielding the body, skin like bronze and bones like iron—paired with the potential Sanji drew out under the power of "love," he had forcibly endured the blow.
"H-How is that possible?!"
Miss Valentine scrambled out of Sanji's arms and stumbled back several steps, staring at the man planted in the ground like he was a monster.
"That was ten thousand kilograms! Ten thousand! Even steel would be crushed flat! W-What the hell are you?!"
"Heave-ho."
Sanji braced both hands on the ground. With a crack of breaking stone, he pulled himself out like someone yanking a radish from the earth.
He dusted himself off and adjusted his tie with practiced elegance.
"A lady throwing herself into my arms—if I dodged that, it would be a grave violation of chivalry."
Sanji took a deep breath, his eyes going dreamy. "And besides… it was really soft."
"Pervert!!" Miss Valentine shrieked, on the verge of collapse.
At that moment, Ronan arrived at the edge of the crater, ebony staff in hand.
"So you made it too, Ronan," Sanji said, lighting a cigarette and finally regaining a serious expression—though he still hadn't wiped off the blood.
"Of course."
Ronan's tone was calm as his gaze swept over the stunned Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine.
"Hurry up and deal with these two. Nami promised she'd have a weapon made for me."
"One after another…" Mr. 5 snarled, finally exploding.
Veins bulged on his forehead. As a high-ranking Baroque Works agent, he had never been treated with such contempt.
"You think blocking Miss Valentine's attack means you've won?"
Mr. 5 shoved his finger into his nostril and dug hard, his face twisting into a grin that was both grotesque and vicious.
"Then I'll blow every last one of you away—until not even ash remains!"
Under Ronan and Sanji's utterly disgusted stares, Mr. 5 flicked his finger.
"Booger… cannon!!"
That tiny blob—imbued with explosive power—howled through the air straight toward Ronan's face.
"Disgusting."
Ronan's brow knit tightly.
His Observation Haki had already spread out. In his perception, the booger's trajectory was laughably slow.
He didn't need to make any dramatic dodge—he only tilted slightly to the side.
Whoosh—
The booger skimmed past his hair and slammed into a rock behind him.
BOOM!!
Firelight flared, illuminating Ronan's cold, sharp profile.
And in the instant that explosion bloomed, Ronan moved.
Like thunder.
Vivi only felt her vision blur—wind slashed across her cheek.
The next moment, Ronan had crossed dozens of meters, appearing before Mr. 5 like a phantom.
Mr. 5's cruel grin hadn't even faded. His finger was still held in the flicking pose—
But his pupils shrank to pinpoints.
Too fast.
So fast his nerves couldn't even deliver the signal of fear to his brain in time.
All he saw was that pitch-black ebony staff, cutting a simple, brutal arc beneath the moonlight.
"This strike is for my new gun."
Ronan murmured, power surging down both arms like a flooding river, gathering at the tip.
Xingyi—Crushing Force.
PAH!!
A sharp crack rang out. It wasn't metal on metal, and it wasn't the sound of wood striking bone.
It was something far worse—like a ripe watermelon being smashed apart by a hammer.
Red and white burst open under the moonlight.
Mr. 5 didn't even have time to scream.
In that instant, his skull was blown apart by the terrifying force.
His headless body swayed twice from inertia, then—thud—collapsed like rotten mud onto the ground.
Blood splattered across the dry sand and was swallowed immediately, leaving only a horrifying, dark red stain.
Silence fell—dead and absolute.
Only the sea wind still howled, scattering that nauseating smoky stench and replacing it with a thick reek of blood.
Vivi sat atop Karoo, both hands clamped over her mouth, her pupils trembling violently.
She stared at the headless corpse, then at Ronan standing beside it—without a single drop of blood on him.
"S-So strong…"
Vivi's voice shook. This wasn't just strength—this was crushing domination, power from an entirely different dimension.
"Mr. 5… that explosion man who terrified countless people… just like that… dead?"
On the other side, Miss Valentine completely broke.
"M-Mr… Mr. 5?"
She looked at her partner's mangled remains. Her legs began to tremble uncontrollably, her once-delicate makeup twisting under sheer terror.
The Devil Fruit power she took such pride in felt pitifully useless in the face of death.
"Monster… you're a monster!!"
Miss Valentine screamed. Survival instinct seized her in an instant.
"Light as air! One kilogram!"
Her body lost all weight at once. Caught by the sea wind, she shot upward like a panicked balloon, fleeing into the sky.
Ronan lifted his head and glanced at the figure disappearing into the clouds and night—he had no intention of chasing.
"Fast runner."
He flicked his ebony staff as if brushing off dust that wasn't even there, then turned to Vivi, who was staring blankly.
"Alright. One got away, but the biggest threat is gone."
Just then, rapid footsteps came from the jagged rocks to the side.
"Huff… huff… damn it, there's no way through here either?!"
Zoro burst out from the rocks with three swords in hand, murderous aura blazing—looking thoroughly disheveled.
He swept his eyes around, then froze when he saw the headless corpse and the crater.
"Huh? It's over already?"
Zoro blinked, staring at Ronan and Sanji in utter confusion.
Sanji walked over from the crater, spat out his cigarette butt, and looked down on Zoro with open contempt.
"Marimo… don't tell me you got lost again?"
"Bullshit!!"
Zoro instantly blew up, face turning red as he shouted,
"I-I was just… looking for the best timing to enter the fight!"
"And the roads here are ridiculously designed! This stupid island is nothing but identical rocks—how's anyone supposed to tell east from west?!"
"There's only one straight road," Ronan said mercilessly, twisting the knife. "Idiot."
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