The Gap

The Spade Pirates were itching for a fight as they watched Ace, waiting only for his command to clash with this new Shichibukai.

They did not know that among the Amazon warrior women standing on the ship, one figure was staring intensely.

His logic had been proven. The Spade Pirates and Ace had appeared; this world really did have traces to follow, and the future could be predicted.

He seemed to hear some voices faintly, but quickly pulled himself out of that sensation.

The expression on his face grew even more excited. That was Observation Haki—he had already touched its threshold. But what pleased him even more was Ace's appearance.

Ace was an extremely crucial person. Setting aside his personality and abilities, his background and connections alone were enough to make anyone take him seriously.

For instance, his grandfather was Garp. An old soldier like Garp would not care in the slightest about other people's words or ideologies, because he had devoted most of his life to one belief and conviction: the Marines.

But when it came to Ace and Luffy's opinions and ideas, the old man would calm down and carefully consider how to refute them. Only when he could not refute them—such as when they insisted on becoming pirates no matter what—would he educate them with fists of love.

Second, his father was Pirate King Roger.

How much influence did Pirate King Roger have? If Dark King Rayleigh, Demon Steward Jabba, Devil's Successor Bartley, and Red-Haired Shanks all heard that Ace had been captured, they would probably risk their lives to save him.

That was precisely why the Marines had not dared reveal Ace's identity before his execution. They only announced it at the very moment of execution.

And Whitebeard... Leo believed Whitebeard truly did not care about Ace's identity. If any one of his sons were captured by the Marines, he would go save them. That was the bearing of Whitebeard, one of the Four Emperors.

"Don't kill anyone," Leo instructed the Kuja Pirates warriors beside him.

His voice was not loud, but the Kuja Pirates warriors all nodded lightly. After seeing the way Leo had trained the Cutlass Pirates, they had begun to show him a little more respect.

Strength was not the only thing that could earn their admiration. Talent could as well.

Before Leo had even finished speaking, he saw a figure shorter than himself shoot up from below and instantly leap above everyone's heads.

He shook his head. How many times had he said it? Do not jump. Do not jump. Do not jump. Yet so many people still lacked even the most basic combat awareness. This person's physical abilities were certainly strong, but in the face of the enemy's bows and arrows, was he not simply a target?

The Amazon archers, who had been ready for action, saw such a target suddenly leap up. How could they possibly hold back? They released their bowstrings one after another, and arrows shot toward the airborne figure.

"Hehe, useless! We fish-men have skin naturally tougher than humans. Your arrows can't even pierce my skin... Waaah! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!" Before Scorpionfish Man Wores could finish speaking, several blooms of blood erupted across his body. The skin that was supposed to defend against muskets was almost completely unable to block the ordinary shots of the Amazon warrior women.

These shots did not contain Haki. Their own strength and the power of the Snake Bows alone were enough to kill Wores, who was considered relatively strong even among fish-men, on the spot.

The only reason he had not died was because of Leo's words: "Don't kill anyone."

"Wores!" The Spade Pirates were shocked. "Teacher" Michael hesitated no longer. As the crew's sniper, no one even saw him draw the musket from his back before he fired. Without looking at the result, he immediately began reloading. An Amazon warrior woman fell in response.

They could hear the bullet, then use Haki to defend against it.

But there was still a delay involved. Hancock and her sisters could easily block bullets, but the other Amazon warrior women might only react when the attack was already upon them.

The Amazon warrior woman who had been knocked down sprang back to her feet the next second. Though blood still ran down her forehead, she was completely unharmed—and furious.

"Damn it! That bastard actually dared attack me!"

With their usual arrogance, they flew into a rage.

All the Amazon pirate women erupted in anger. Another volley of arrows blanketed the enemy deck, but aside from a few useless crewmen scrambling about in every direction, the other Spade Pirates members instantly climbed the masts and then used their height to charge over.

"What a pity." Although Leo did not possess great combat strength, after spending so long among the Amazon warrior women, he understood the basics of Observation Haki. The enemy's tactic was correct, but in truth, everything was within the grasp of Observation Haki. Whether they climbed the masts or jumped from the deck, there was nothing surprising about it to the Amazon warrior women.

The next volley came even faster than expected.

Those arrows should have ended the battle with Haki, but because of Leo's words, the women instinctively held back.

Otherwise, not a single one of those airborne Spade Pirates members would have survived.

Even so, the Snake Bows, relying solely on arm strength, were enough to severely wound every Spade Pirates member.

Arrows pierced them all, pinning them instantly to their own masts.

"The outcome has been decided." Leo shook his head lightly. Then, all of a sudden, an overwhelming sense of danger surrounded him. His sixth sense made his hair stand on end, and he saw it, heard it, smelled it—a bullet flying toward him...

He instinctively tilted his head, trying to dodge the bullet that would blow his head apart, but someone was faster than him.

Green hair instantly formed a metallic wall. The long green hair, coated in Armament Haki, was like an iron rampart. The bullet spun against it before finally losing its momentum and dropping onto the deck.

"How dare you!" Hancock flew into a rage. If they had fought her head-on, then win or lose, the Kuja Pirates would have had nothing to say. But they had launched a sneak attack against defenseless Leo—against the Leo she loved.

It was simply unforgivable.

A chill ran down Leo's back as an invisible force spread outward. Before he could properly savor the sensation, the Spade Pirates crewmen pinned to the masts and struggling in pain suddenly went blank-eyed and lost consciousness.

"What..." Ace, the only one who had not been pinned to a mast and had reached the deck, turned back in astonishment to look at his friends. When he turned around again, an ever-growing foot was already before his eyes, knocking him unconscious with a single kick...

"So this is... Conqueror's Haki?" Leo asked slowly in surprise as he looked at Hancock, who had her foot on Ace and turned to ask him, "Are you all right, Leo?"

PS: I found a high-definition version of Stampede. Pretty awesome.

PS1: Seriously, you can't look too closely at One Piece's plot. As long as the fights are satisfying, that's enough.

PS2: It was 10 o'clock before I knew it. What the hell had I even been doing?