Steel Skin

On this great sea where sailing warships serve as the main fleet, long-distance voyages are an exceedingly difficult endeavor.

Without islands along the way for resupply and repairs, it is nearly impossible to sustain a large fleet's long voyage. This is why Venkura ordered the landing operation—if Whale Tail Island is not taken, merely annihilating its fleet would certainly prevent any rear-guard sabotage.

But the cost of doing so would be stretching the supply lines several times over.

The immense logistical burden would cripple the entire fleet.

Thus, whether willing or not, the landing operation was a necessity.

Under Trick Sword Venkura's command, waves of Amento Kingdom soldiers and pirates from all corners set foot on land, like a dark swarm of insects, densely surging toward the lone tower standing amidst the ruins outside the port.

Over fifty warships, though not all of uniform size.

The largest flagship carried nearly a thousand sailors and soldiers; the next tier could hold over seven hundred; and the most numerous third-tier vessels each bore a full five hundred men. Excluding those who had to stay behind to man the ships, the combined number of landing soldiers and pirates was still a staggering figure.

A full twenty thousand men set foot on Whale Tail Island.

As the saying goes, when men reach ten thousand, they stretch beyond the horizon.

Standing atop the tower, looking down at the ant-like tide of humanity below was a rather amusing sensation—especially when that tide consisted entirely of enemies coming to take your life, which made it all the more thrilling.

"That's quite a lot of people!"

Aleus stood on the balcony, gazing down at the bobbing heads below, watching the shouting pirates hack at the tower's gate with their swords and blades, while disciplined soldiers raised their flintlocks and pulled the triggers at Aleus on the balcony.

"Bang bang bang!!!"

Bullets flew into the sky.

But, they had no effect whatsoever.

Aleus waved his hand and casually deflected all the incoming bullets with his bare palm. As a user of the [Zoan Fruit Zoan Winged Great Demon Form], with the Hogyoku's aid, he had perfectly inherited the various abilities of the Black Winged Great Demon—such as the most basic [Steel Skin].

Steel Skin is an armor-like hide that even swords cannot pierce, said to possess high Spirit Pressure hardness, rendering ordinary attacks powerless against it.

Deflecting bullets with bare hands was nothing to marvel at.

Even standing still and taking a cannonball head-on with his body was no issue. He had tested this in the Royal Palace—without using Armament Haki, ordinary pure physical attacks simply could not breach the defense of [Steel Skin].

Only Great Grade blades, or even Supreme Grade blades—rare weapons in this world—could break through Steel Skin's defense without Armament Haki.

The Ekmondo Kingdom had one such Great Grade blade in its collection.

"Boom!"

The gate below the tower was breached.

But not from the outside in—rather, from the inside out.

Annoyed by the clattering noise at the door, the maid lady kicked apart the thick ironwood gate wrapped in iron plating. The flying splinters sent the gathered pirates at the entrance wailing in agony, but that wasn't the end of it. An enraged Fran was not someone easily dismissed.

"You're too noisy."

She said so.

And with that, she threw a punch. A storm-like blast of wind swept through, and the unfortunate pirates and soldiers caught within its range were blown back into the sea, carving a wide, clear path through the dense crowd.

"Fran, those are my prey."

From the balcony, Aleus shouted angrily.

"Don't you dare—" Before the word "interfere" could leave his mouth, a dark shadow appeared behind Fran. A tall, thin man like a bamboo pole swung a three-meter-long serrated blade at Fran's neck, striking down fiercely.

"Clang!"

Fran blocked the descending serrated blade with her arm.

A layer of illusory, golden-red gauze wrapped around the maid's arm—something so intangible it seemed unreal, yet it firmly caught the serrated blade reinforced with Armament Haki.

"Bounty one hundred and three million berry pirate, Skull Hunter, Gazette."

Fran recited the name of the bamboo-pole-like man.

A smile appeared on her pretty face.

She looked up at Aleus on the balcony and called out, "Your Highness, this time I didn't strike first—this was a passive defense."

With that, her left hand shot out in a swift straight punch.

With lightning speed, it slammed heavily into Gazette's stomach. The Skull Hunter, startled by Fran's strength, suffered greatly from the unexpected blow—the heavy, cannon-like fist nearly killed him outright, had he not used Armament Haki in time.

But this sneak-attack-like strike thoroughly enraged the notorious pirate, infamous for his obsession with collecting enemy skulls.

"I'll cut off your head and peel off your scalp!"

Gazette roared furiously, swinging his gleaming serrated blade with rage.

"Skull Hunter? What a fool!"

Aleus glanced at Fool, who was raging impotently below the tower, then withdrew his gaze and turned around. Leaning his elbow on the crenellation, he looked up at the man who had appeared at the top of the tower. "Trick Sword Venkura, since you've sneaked your way up here, why not strike now?"

"Crown Prince of the Ekmondo Kingdom, Sokachio Aleus... The intelligence I received said you were skilled in political maneuvering but unremarkable in personal combat. It seems our information agents made a grave mistake."

Venkura gripped the slender Flower Sword in his hand.

He didn't rush to thrust at Aleus, and even stopped the soldiers below the tower from opening fire on him.

"Prince Your Highness, surrender! If you can persuade your father to offer this kingdom to Lord Umit, I can represent Lord Umit and grant your family a path to survival."

"...Are you trying to persuade me to surrender?"

Aleus blinked, nearly popping his eyes out. What kind of game was this?

"What? Do you think I'm too arrogant? Or do you believe that with the Beautiful Sword and the Fighting Dog, you can stop Lord Umit's will? I can tell you, that's absolutely impossible. Even if you hoist Whitebeard's banner, it won't block Lord Umit's path forward."

"If you don't want to be ground to dust, if you don't want your family to vanish from history, then—"

"You're so annoying!"

Aleus was growing tired of listening.

Truly... unoriginal nonsense!

"...It seems you can't make a wise enough judgment without seeing the true face of this world, Prince Your Highness."

Venkura leaped down from the top of the tower.

A pale, grim sword light traced an impossible arc through the air, stabbing viciously toward Aleus's kidney from a bizarre angle.