Vivi told them what she knew about Baroque Works. It wasn't much, but it was everything she'd learned during her years undercover.
The most important piece of information was that the boss, Mr. 0, was someone no one had ever seen.
His real identity was Crocodile, one of the current Shichibukai.
He ran the Rain Dinners Casino while crushing pirates who came after him to maintain his image as a hero. Behind the scenes, though, he was the mastermind of a criminal organization.
"Why? Why am I so unlucky?"
Nami slumped to the ground, on the verge of tears. "I'm such an idiot. I knew there was a lot of money in taking the job..."
With her pale, shapely legs sprawled out, Nami looked so pitiful that Vivi ended up constantly comforting her instead.
"I don't care! I want more money! You have to pay me more!"
Lina's face was covered in imaginary black lines as he watched Nami bare her teeth and shout.
He looked off to one side. Luffy had already chased Mr. 3 into the forest. With Luffy's strength, beating the third guy would be as easy as play.
Lina put away Blue Ogre and Red Ogre and headed toward the other side of the forest. "Giant uncles, please look after them for me."
"Gahaha! Don't worry, Lina!"
"We'd never let our guests get hurt right in front of us."
"Thanks, uncle. I'll bring you two more barrels of booze later." Lina waved with a smile, then turned and headed into the forest.
"Nose Fantasy!"
"Three Thousand Kilo Press!"
"Damn freaks! You think you can take me?!"
Mr. 5 spoke scornfully, but there was a trace of wariness in his eyes as he watched the tall fish-man before him.
He'd underestimated the fish-man at first and taken a punch from him. Even now, it still hurt.
This fish-man was taller than the others. Large, blade-like fins ran along both his arms as he took up a karate stance and faced Mr. 5.
Lina had sculpted him using Kuroobi. He could use Fish-Man Karate and Fish-Man Jiu-Jitsu.
"Why are there so many fish-men here?!"
Miss Valentine's Day used her ability to float into the sky and dodge a fish-man's water shot. She frowned and muttered under her breath.
Mr. 5 picked his nose and flicked out a bomb, blasting away three fish-men charging at him.
"These fish-men are weird. They're all practically mute, and even when they get blown apart, they don't make a sound."
They hadn't noticed Lina standing on a thick branch in a nearby tree, watching the fight below.
"These two are pretty weak." Lina lit a cigarette. A group of fish-man undead had managed to keep the two of them occupied. No wonder Luffy and Zoro could each take out a scrub with one punch.
Aside from the two below, there was also a little girl, Mr. 3's partner. She'd gone to help when Luffy and the other guy started fighting.
Seeing no one else around, Lina raised a hand. One after another, void rifts appeared in the air behind him, lined up in a row. Dozens, then hundreds of blades, spears, swords, and halberds emerged from them.
"So I've got my own Gate of Babylon now." Lina chuckled and waved at the fighters below with a thought.
In an instant, all the weapons shot down at Mr. 5 and his partner as if they'd been hurled.
Blades and spears poured down like a torrential rain, filling the forest with flashing steel.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Miss Valentine's Day was floating just above the ground, completely focused on the fight in front of her. Caught off guard, a long sword stabbed into her thigh.
"Ah!"
She let out a shriek and whipped around, only to see a dense rain of blades and spears already upon her. Before she could react, a spear punched through her frail body.
Her ability was forcibly canceled, and she crashed to the ground. A moment later, several flashes of steel pierced her body and pinned her there.
"Valentine's Day!!"
Mr. 5 heard the cry and turned around, just in time to see his partner brought down by the sudden attack.
He sucked in a breath, then blew it out with all his might, triggering an explosion that sent every weapon flying away from him.
"Can't even defend against a move like that?" Lina said flatly.
The woman in the fitted skirt lay silent on the ground. Even though her body was tougher than an ordinary person's, she was no match for bladed weapons.
He'd developed this move years ago to look cool. It didn't have much power; it was only good for clearing out fodder.
As for how it worked...
He couldn't say. It would ruin the mystique.
"Bastard!! Sneaking up on me?!"
A furious roar rang out from beneath the tree. Mr. 5 had spotted him and began picking his nose in anger.
"What the hell is this?"
Lina's face darkened. He controlled Kuroobi's undead to close in and unleashed a full-force Fish-Man Karate: One Thousand Brick Fist at his opponent.
But Mr. 5 didn't stop what he was doing. He raised one hand to take the hit and was sent flying into a tree trunk.
"You despicable bastard! Die!!"
Mr. 5's blocking arm was completely twisted. He coughed up blood, then stretched out his other hand and aimed it at Lina, his face twisted in fury.
Was he dead set on avenging his partner? Lina focused, and a void rift appeared out of nowhere. A sinister spear emerged from it.
"It's just a move for clearing out fodder, but with Blue Ogre and Red Ogre, it's a different story."
Whoosh—!
Lina focused, and the spear shot out with terrifying force, like a meteor streaking across the sky. It reached its target in a flash.
"Nose Fantasy..."
"BOOM!!!"
The spear pierced the hand Mr. 5 had extended to fire a bomb, then plunged into his body and carried him backward, smashing him into a tree.
The spear's momentum didn't let up. It punched straight through the tree and kept going, leaving gaping holes in more than a dozen trees behind it before finally lodging in a trunk.
"That's like using a cannon to kill a mosquito." Lina jumped down from the tree.
Lina wasn't surprised by how absurdly powerful a spear thrown by Red Ogre was.
If he'd used the Elbaf Spear that pierced Island Eater Goldfish, his opponent would probably be nothing but ash by now.
Using Red Ogre against an enemy like this was giving him way too much credit.
"...Cough...cough, cough."
A gaping hole had been torn through Mr. 5's body. He was half buried in the tree trunk, looking miserable, his face twisted in pain.
"You're still alive."
Lina walked slowly up to him and pulled a pack of cigarettes from the breast pocket of his deep-blue shirt.
"You... bastard, you actually..."
"You actually... killed Valentine's Day."
Mr. 5 raised a limp hand and slowly threw a punch. His fist struggled weakly through the air before landing against Lina's chest.
Tap...
"When you're about to die, you should beg for mercy."
Lina took a cigarette from the pack and put it between his lips, then glanced back at the fitted-skirt girl lying motionless on the ground.
"Was she your lover?" Lina asked calmly, drawing the Bone Chain Sword.
"Heh..." Mr. 5 let out a weak sound. His eyes slowly closed, and his head drooped.
Squish!
Lina withdrew the bloodied Bone Chain Sword, lit his cigarette, collected Mr. 5's template, and turned to leave.
At the center of Little Garden Island, in an open grassy area.
"Nami, are we really not going to help?" Vivi asked worriedly. Their opponents were among the highest-ranking combatants in Baroque Works, after all.
Nami confidently patted Vivi on the shoulder and smiled. "Don't worry. Luffy's so strong, he's practically inhuman."
"That's right. Lina's strong, too. Don't underestimate the monsters on our ship," Usopp said proudly.
Lina might disguise himself when he fought, but they knew how strong his undead were. None of them truly considered him part of the Weak Trio.
Just as he finished speaking, a dinosaur emerged from deep in the forest. Seated on it was a blond figure wearing a sea-blue shirt and beige trousers.
Usopp immediately got excited. "Whoa! It's a Tyrannosaurus rex! Hey, Lina!"
"I took care of it, everyone."
Lina jumped down from the Tyrannosaurus and walked over with a smile. "Some guy with an afro actually tried to attack me with boogers. What a load of crap."
"Boogers?"
Usopp doubled over laughing. "Hahaha! You didn't get any on you, did you?"
"Ew! Stay away from me!" Nami said with a disgusted look.
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