Watch Out, He's Behind You

"This build, this appearance—there's no mistake. That's one of the Beasts Pirates' Three Calamities, the Plague!"

Cole's eyes widened in shock.

Looking at the agile fat man in the sky, Roy's expression turned grave. "Kaido's right-hand man among the Yonko, the Plague, Queen.

Cole, watch the ship. I'm going in."

Under Cole's terrified gaze, Roy flashed and appeared in the air above the transport ship.

"Hey, kid, you were the one who sent out that Flying Slash just now, right? Since when did the World Government get such a young Great Swordsman?"

Queen stared at Roy with great interest, studying his youthful face. "Why not join the Beasts Pirates? Killing someone as young as you would be such a waste."

The sudden recruitment offer left Roy with a face full of question marks.

"Hey, hey, you're not joking, are you? I'm an official of the World Government. Why would I become some pirate with no security?"

"Oh!"

"So I was rejected? Well, I was only saying it anyway. Since you rejected me, then go die!"

"Plague Bomb!"

Pirates rarely had any sense of honor. One moment he was talking about recruitment, and the next, he launched a shameless sneak attack.

Clang!

A blade coated in Armament Haki swept aside the incoming plague bomb with a single slash.

"A sneak attack out of nowhere? Is this the bearing of a Yonko crew?"

Whoosh!

A slash flew directly toward Queen.

Bang!

A powerful arm coated in Armament Haki crushed the slash in its grip.

"You'll find out soon enough whether I've got bearing or not.

I'm a pirate, damn it. Isn't a sneak attack perfectly normal? Die, brat!"

"Spark Queen!"

He fired a continuous stream of explosive beams from his eyes.

The pinkish-purple light was about to strike.

"One Sword Style: Sonic Blade Slash."

Sound waves transformed into blades and were unleashed together with a Flying Slash.

This was a stronger move Roy had created by modifying Zebra's technique.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A chain of explosions danced wildly above the stormy sea.

"Oh, interesting swordsmanship. But how many times can you block it?"

"Wind Fist!"

His mechanical arms swung at high speed, countless fist shadows charging toward Roy's head.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The furious punches relentlessly rained down on Roy.

At the same time, the blade in his hand, coated in Armament Haki, kept blocking every attack as it came.

"Hehehe, brat, your Haki's pretty good."

Queen flashed forward. "But if that's all you've got, it won't be enough to keep you alive!"

If it had been an ordinary swordsman facing Queen's nearly top-tier Haki attacks, both his blade and his head would have long since shattered.

But Roy had not only successfully blocked his attacks, he had even left marks on Queen's mechanical hook claws.

"My Haki? Hehe, Queen, there are plenty more things that will shock you."

"One Sword Style: Wave Burst Cutter!"

He highly condensed the power of sound and Haki. Roy leaped high into the air, gripped the hilt with both hands, and brought the blade down in a heavy vertical chop at Queen.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The two men exchanged blow after blow in the sky.

Meanwhile, the Marines and pirates on their respective decks were dumbfounded.

That was one of the Three Calamities under a Yonko, yet Roy was actually fighting him on equal footing.

Were the Three Calamities all show, or was Lord Roy simply too strong?

Of course, that was merely a joking remark.

Everyone present was far from being rookies who had just entered the Grand Line.

As they looked up at the battle unfolding in the sky,

whether they were Marines, pirates, or members of the World Government, they all clearly understood just how much weight this battle carried.

As a famed pirate powerhouse on the seas, the lives that had died at Queen's hands were as numerous as hairs on an ox.

The reason the Three Calamities were called the Three Calamities

was because the lives lost at the hands of those three could nearly rival the casualties of any massive natural disaster.

So the scene before them did not mean Queen had grown weaker. It meant Roy was genuinely powerful.

Dodging Queen's incoming hook claw, Roy countered with a slash across his chest.

At the same time Roy swung his sword, he also hit Queen with a Sonic Laser.

Crack!

Roy's sudden assault achieved some results.

The headphones over Queen's ears were instantly shattered by the Sonic Laser.

"What was that? Are you a modified human like me?"

He removed the damaged, smoking headphones from his head.

Queen was clearly intrigued by how Roy had unleashed that killing move just now.

As a scientist, the desire to explore the unknown was an important quality.

From their earlier exchange, Queen had already noticed that Roy's slashes differed from those of ordinary swordsmen.

As for exactly what made them different, Queen was now filled with an overwhelming urge to find out.

"Are you treating me like a lab rat?"

Roy looked at Queen's eyes, filled with curiosity and greed.

"The energy should be accumulated enough by now. All right, fall!"

"Meteor Noise!"

The invisible sphere of energy in the sky compressed, then suddenly expanded.

As the sound waves expanded, they formed the destructive power of a meteor strike and fell directly toward Queen.

The sudden noise left everyone on the ships dizzy and disoriented.

Worse still, even as their heads spun, a deadly sense of danger forced every muscle in their bodies to tense.

"What the hell is this?"

The sudden sense of danger made Queen's entire body tense at once.

Armament Haki immediately covered his entire body.

His Observation Haki clearly sensed the power descending from the sky.

Boom!

Everything happened in an instant.

The Sound Lightning from the sky crashed fiercely toward Queen and the sea around him.

The towering waves were shattered into a fine drizzle, which fell onto the decks of both the World Government's ship and the pirate ship.

"Boss Queen!"

The pirates' terrified cries rang out continuously from the pirate ship.

Cole casually wiped away the seawater that had splashed onto his face.

He looked at the mist filling the air and the empty sea.

"Where did the Plague go? Did Lord Roy defeat Queen?"

Just as Cole scanned the surroundings and failed to spot any sign of Queen,

before he could cheer in celebration, the joy just beginning to rise in his eyes turned into terror the next instant.

"Lord Roy, watch out! He's behind you!"