The Straw Hat Crew had just been facing the formidable enemy Imu when they suddenly sensed something was wrong. In the blink of an eye, not only had Imu vanished, but the entire Holy Land Mary Geoise had disappeared without a trace.
The Straw Hat Crew exchanged glances. Before they could say anything, Oceanus transformed into a towering tidal wave, sweeping up the ship and everyone else as he flowed away along the Red Line.
Of everyone present, only Joker seemed to have been prepared. Even Imu's Armament Haki attack, which had directly shaken his internal organs, had been largely dissipated by his Chop-Chop Fruit.
He had merely been lying on the ground, pretending to be severely injured. Seeing the tidal wave formed by Oceanus sweep toward him, he leaped into the air and dodged it.
Oceanus transformed into a massive river. Not only could the Thousand Sunny sail upon it, but he also extended water-formed arms from the river and directly tossed the other members of the Straw Hat Crew onto the ship.
Then half of his water-formed body emerged. He glanced back at Joker, who had avoided the wave, but paid him no further attention. Pushing the Thousand Sunny along, he flowed toward the other end of the Red Line.
A strange smile appeared at the corner of Joker's lips, though thin streams of blood also trickled out. Imu's Armament Haki had not been easy to withstand. Even though he had used the Chop-Chop Fruit to deflect much of its force, his injuries were still serious. That burst of high-speed movement had aggravated them.
But no matter how severe his injuries were, Joker had to watch this grand spectacle to the very end.
The Straw Hat Crew did not understand what had just happened, but Joker knew perfectly