From the Sky

The battle was raging.

Chaotic, disorderly, unpredictable...

"Roar!"

A deafening roar echoed across the Uninhabited Island.

The nearly tangible airflow warped space and swallowed Vergo, along with the earthen spikes behind him!

The roar lasted only a brief moment.

But even so, Cobra, Bepo, and Jaka, who were on the Uninhabited Island, all felt their hearts tremble.

They were the lucky ones.

Not far away, Jace had been too terrified to move, and hadn't even had time to cover his ears. His eardrums had been shattered, and he was lying unconscious on the ground.

Compared with the roar Lindsey had unleashed earlier along the Nanohana coast, this time he hadn't used Ancient Armament Haki, so it was considerably weaker. But in exchange, it had erupted incredibly fast.

With the earthen spikes working in tandem, Vergo's escape routes had been completely cut off, ensuring the attack would hit!

"D-did he... get him?"

Jaka looked astonished.

Having fought him personally, Jaka knew just how powerful the "Drum Kingdom adviser" was. But Aiven Lindsey gave him an even more terrifying feeling!

Could anyone really survive taking a roar that terrifying head-on?

The sea was vast.

So yes, someone could.

Sunlight fell, revealing a faint glimmer.

As the dust settled, a pure-black "statue" with a metallic sheen stood atop the broken earthen spikes.

His mask had already disappeared, and the checkered coat on his upper body had been completely torn apart. Only the bamboo staff in his hand remained.

Muscles bulged one after another, making his already powerfully built frame seem to radiate explosive strength!

Jaka's pupils contracted. "What is that?"

"Armament Haki," Bepo answered from beside him, then gave a self-deprecating smile. "You rarely see such frightening power in the first half of the Grand Line. We're still far too weak..."

In truth, Bepo's explanation wasn't entirely accurate.

What Vergo was using now was an ability that even masters of Armament Haki could barely manage—

Full-body Armament Haki coverage!

By coating his entire body in Armament Haki, he had greatly increased both his defense and offense.

The moment he was hit, Vergo had managed to cover his entire body in Armament Haki. He had barely managed to withstand Lindsey's instant roar...

...Or had he?

"Ptuh!"

After a second of silence, Vergo suddenly spat out a large mouthful of blood, his body trembling uncontrollably.

Pain, dizziness, nausea, swelling, loss of balance...

All these unpleasant sensations hit him at once.

If Vergo hadn't used Armament Haki to force his joints into place, he would probably have collapsed already!

He took several gasping breaths before finally recovering a little.

Had the [Demon] chosen not to press his advantage?

How arrogant!

Vergo was thinking just that when he suddenly noticed the light around him had grown much brighter.

"Hm?"

He looked up and couldn't help freezing in place.

Aiven Lindsey had actually ended his Zoan Transformation and returned to human form. Then he scooped up a large handful of dirt from the ground.

Under Vergo's astonished gaze, Lindsey straightened the dirt, shaping it into a bamboo staff identical to the one in Vergo's hand!

Holding the staff, Lindsey beckoned to Vergo.

"Come on!"

"..."

Vergo fell silent, several veins bulging on his face.

"So you really do look down on me!"

As a Devil Fruit User, Aiven Lindsey was undeniably terrifying.

But in terms of martial arts—especially when fighting with a "bamboo staff" as his weapon—Vergo was confident he wouldn't lose to anyone!

Whoosh!

Vergo immediately tightened his grip on the bamboo staff and charged.

Crack!

The two bamboo staffs crossed, and with a single strike, Vergo shattered the one in Aiven Lindsey's hand!

Lindsey tried to leap back and open some distance, but Vergo pursued relentlessly, giving him no chance to recover.

Vergo believed he still had a chance to win.

If he took advantage of Aiven Lindsey's arrogance while he was still out of his Zoan Transformation, he could kill him in one fell swoop!

After several exchanges of evasive moves, Vergo finally found a rare opening.

Now—

Whoosh!

A blackened bamboo staff came down, striking Aiven Lindsey squarely on the neck!

Against an ordinary person, that blow would have been enough to break his neck and kill him on the spot.

Lindsey's pupils contracted.

"So this is what a weapon coated in Armament Haki feels like?"

He opened his mouth and murmured a sentence.

It wasn't a curse of frustration, but something Vergo couldn't understand...

"Good. I've got it."

Vergo: "?"

His face showed confusion, but his hands never stopped moving.

He wasn't dead? Then Vergo would keep hitting him until he was!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh...

Several more bamboo strikes came down in succession, but none had any real effect.

Lindsey snapped his fingers, and the dirt beneath his feet once again solidified into a bamboo staff, which rose into his hand.

Lindsey gently ran a finger over it, pulling out a long strip of black material.

He wrapped the material around the bamboo staff, then tightened it.

He gave it a heft and found it felt quite good in his hand.

Then Lindsey slowly raised the bamboo staff, now wrapped in Ancient Armament Haki, and swung it at Vergo.

Clang!

The two kinds of Armament Haki clashed, but neither side suffered so much as a scratch!

Not enough power?

Vergo froze for a moment and looked up, only to see Lindsey raising his staff again.

This time, that strange "Armament Haki," which looked like bandages, had already spread to his upper arm!

Whoosh!

The second strike came down. Vergo raised his arm to block it, but felt the whole side of his body go numb from the impact.

It was stronger?!

Vergo stared at Lindsey in shock.

Meanwhile, the strange Armament Haki had spread to Lindsey's shoulder.

Like bandages, or perhaps some kind of ragged garment, it radiated an indescribable presence.

Vergo suddenly had a feeling:

He couldn't block this strike...

Thrum!

Before the thought had even settled, Lindsey swung down the blackened bamboo staff in his hand.

Vergo held his own staff across his body to block, but all he heard was a crisp clang as the blackened bamboo staff broke in two!

Splurt!

A bloody gash appeared from top to bottom on Vergo's blackened skin.

He wasn't dead, but he was gravely wounded.

But as he watched the strange Armament Haki continue to spread over Lindsey's body, he knew that the next strike would kill him.

He couldn't die yet.

So Vergo forced himself to focus, searching for a chance to escape.

And then—

Whoosh!

A sound tore through the air, rapidly approaching Vergo and Aiven Lindsey.

Boom!

A figure dropped from the sky and slammed down beside them, leaving a huge crater in the ground.

When the dust cleared, Crocodile lay on the ground, covered in blood and cursing under his breath.

"That flying bird bastard thinks he can do whatever he wants just because he has wings? Come back and fight me!"

"..."

Boom!

Before Vergo and Lindsey could react, an even larger shadow came crashing down from the sky.

Blazing flames burst out with it, setting everything nearby alight in an instant!

At the same time, an invisible pressure spread through the air, reaching across the entire Uninhabited Island...

Whoosh!

"Run!!!"

In the distance, despite his serious injuries, Bepo forcibly spread his wings and took Cobra and Jaka into the sky, fleeing the island below.

Cobra and Jaka were worried about Bepo, but they didn't try to stop him.

They didn't know who had arrived, but their instincts as living beings told them—

If they stayed here, they would surely die!

Why?

Crocodile knew the reason.

Vergo had more or less guessed.

And Aiven Lindsey?

Of course, he recognized "him" from his memories.

The fourth person to appear on the island, and the "fourth party" that had been hiding in the shadows all along, was the Beasts Pirates' Lead Performer, the chief of the "Three Calamities," and the Devil Fruit User of the Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Ancient Zoan, Ancient Pterodactyl Form—

[Flame Calamity] King!