Let the Marines Suffer

With reinforcements joining the battle, the situation looked excellent.

But for some reason, Rosinante refused to run at a time like this. Instead, he looked eager to fight.

Did he not know his own limits?

Van showed no mercy as he mocked him. "Don't go making things worse. You'll only get in the way."

"Everything's arranged on the surveillance ship. Just go over there yourself. I trust you'll take good care of Law."

Rosinante remained unmoved, seemingly determined to fight side by side with his so-called comrades.

"I can't run anymore. You have to carry me back, or no one will be able to save Law."

That was a killing blow. Faced with that threatening request, Rosinante could only compromise.

Perhaps feeling guilty, he did not dare look at the reinforcements again. He hoisted Van onto his back and ran.

After turning several corners in quick succession, the Marine surveillance ship finally came into view, but they could not smile.

Because Vergo had already broken through the encirclement and was charging after them with murderous momentum.

Even more absurdly, he had snatched a Marine uniform and put it on, no longer looking as disheveled as before.

"It's Mr. Rosinante! Vergo the spy is there too..."

Marine personnel remained behind on the surveillance ship, and more than a dozen soldiers immediately raised their guns.

Bang...

Vergo showed no fear at all. He flew straight through the bullets, barely slowing down.

Facing the critical situation, Rosinante grabbed Van with his backhand and hurled him onto the surveillance ship.

"I'll cover the rear this time!"

ROOM!

Van landed on the deck and immediately activated his power, trying to bring the shore within his range.

But the surgical space expanded a fraction too slowly. It had only just covered the surveillance ship when Vergo reached Rosinante.

A heavy knee strike slammed into his chest and abdomen, sending Rosinante flying on the spot.

"If I let you die, wouldn't I have come here for nothing?"

Van no longer held back, pushing the Op-Op Fruit's power to its limit as his stamina drained wildly.

Under his control, Rosinante, who should have crashed into the mountainside, vanished in an instant and appeared beside a Marine soldier.

Vergo used Geppo to pursue the ship, but the power of space blocked him, making it difficult for him to get close.

The air was unlike the ground; there was nowhere to gain leverage. Even though he used Armament Haki to offset most of the pressure, he was still forced backward.

"Set sail immediately! Everyone who isn't needed, prepare the cannons! Don't let Vergo get close!"

Before awakening the Op-Op Fruit's power, Van had to remain inside the surgical space if he wanted to control it.

Moreover, the space could not move. If he wanted to leave with the ship, he could only dismiss it temporarily and cast it again.

Only by alternating like that could he keep relocating and ensure the safety of both himself and the ship.

But there was an extremely brief gap in the process, one Vergo could easily exploit to rush straight onto the ship.

So after dismissing the surgical space, they needed something to stop Vergo from approaching.

There were no truly capable fighters aboard. Manpower was unreliable, so they could only add another layer of insurance with cannon fire.

"Quick! Do as he says!"

Under Rosinante's orders, the Marines aboard the ship immediately sprang into action.

They contacted reinforcements, weighed anchor and raised the sails, moved cannonballs, and turned the gun barrels, creating utter chaos.

Drake stayed at Van's side without taking a single step away, afraid Van would collapse from exhaustion.

"Why is this guy so difficult to deal with? Is this really the Op-Op Fruit best suited for doctors?"

Vergo landed and steadied himself, but his expression was extremely grim.

He had tried moving forward, but every step was difficult. The moment he relaxed even slightly, he would be forced back.

At this pace, the surveillance ship would be gone before he even reached the shore.

Worse still, his Den Den Mushi was gone. He could not even notify Doflamingo.

"Are you ready?"

Van moved himself and Drake to the stern and shouted, "We can't delay any longer!"

"Ready! Depart immediately!"

The highest-ranking officer stationed on the surveillance ship was a Headquarters major. At his command, the ship slowly began to move.

The other Marines stood ready, all stationed beside the cannon emplacements and prepared to fire.

Five meters... ten meters... twenty meters...

The instant before the stern left the surgical space, and Van himself was about to be carried out of it, he dismissed his power.

The power of space vanished abruptly. Vergo, on the shore, stumbled forward and nearly fell to the ground.

Van roared, "Take me to the bow as fast as you can!"

Without a second thought, Drake picked him up and ran.

"Fire!"

At the Headquarters major's furious roar, the surveillance ship's cannons thundered as more than a dozen shells shrieked through the air toward Vergo.

Boom...

The shore was blasted apart, and the rocks and smoke thrown up by the explosions obscured Vergo's figure.

"Did we succeed?"

The others were tense and hopeful, but Van did not dare let his guard down. The moment he reached the bow, he activated his power.

The surgical space appeared once more, expanding rapidly outward with Van at its center.

"You will never escape!"

A pitch-black figure burst from the smoke, running through the air toward the ship. It was Vergo.

The surveillance ship had only just left the shore and had not yet picked up speed, while he faced no obstruction and quickly closed the distance.

However, he did not attack in haste. Instead, he constantly shifted positions outside the surgical space, preventing the ship's cannons from locking onto him again.

Clearly, he had already guessed Van's weakness and was waiting for that fleeting opening.

The moment the surveillance ship left the surgical space again, he would definitely rush in to kill them.

"This won't work!" Rosinante looked toward the Headquarters major in the lookout tower. "When will Vice Admiral Tsuru arrive?"

"There's no sign of a warship yet, but someone is flying over from the island."

The major's answer made everyone's hearts sink, because the only people who could come from the island now were the Donquixote Family.

"They're always late for the good part!"

Van cursed under his breath, then activated his power and forcibly transferred Drake, Rosinante, and Law away.

When he left himself, the surgical space vanished with him, leaving the Marines on the deck completely dumbfounded.

He had just been issuing orders with such confidence, yet he ran away without even saying a word?

"Impossible! How did they all disappear?"

Vergo's expression changed drastically. His first thought was that Van and the other three had used some unknown power to escape.

Not only were they invisible to the naked eye, but even Observation Haki could not sense their life auras.

But when he recalled the entire encounter, something felt wrong.

If they truly had such a means of escape, they would not have gone to such lengths to stop him earlier.

So the most likely possibility was that they were hiding on the ship, or had fled back to the island. Either way, they could not be far away.

"If Vergo comes looking, can you stop him from entering?"

"No! Even within the space, I can only barely trap him. I can't stop him from entering from outside."

"Then what do we do now?"

"Nothing! We'll drag this out for as long as we can. Once we're discovered, we'll fight with everything we have..."

Inside a large wooden crate in the corner of the lower hold, Van and the other three huddled together, nervously awaiting rescue.

Rosinante had isolated this area from sound and presence, so they did not need to worry about anyone overhearing them.

Only the Marines outside had it rough. No one knew how many of them would survive.