Facing the powerful Shichibukai Gecko Moria, Drake had given it everything he had. Even driving his Parasitic Seeds without regard for the toll on himself had only delayed his defeat a little.
The gap in strength was plain to see. Drake had yet to reach his full potential, and despair filled his heart.
Yet part of him felt relieved. Perhaps he should have died the moment he deserted the Marines. The fact that he had survived this long was more than he could have hoped for.
It was just a shame about his dear subordinates.
As their leader, he had failed to get them out alive. He had wanted to live for their sake as well as his own, but now he was about to die too.
And there was Mole, serving his sentence at Marine Headquarters. Drake wondered how he was doing.
With countless thoughts swirling through his mind, Drake slowly closed his eyes and waited for the end.
One second.
Two—wait. Who had given him an extra second?
Death did not come. Drake opened his eyes in confusion. The Doppelman that had been about to kill him was gone, and from Moria's direction came what sounded like a stifled cry of pain.
Drake turned toward Moria in a daze. Two Doppelmen stood in front of him, forming a triangle with a third held in someone's hand. And the man who had put Moria on guard...
That tuft of purple hair looked so familiar!
And that cape... Was he a Marine?
Had the Marines saved me? Drake thought. Perhaps that was not such a bad thing.
Dying after a Marine trial seemed easier to accept than being killed by Moria as if his life meant nothing. With that thought, Drake's head lolled to one side, and blood loss dragged