Water 7

Inside the second pillar of the Bridge of Hesitation, blood and steam intertwined.

"Gum-Gum Jet Gatling!"

Accompanied by Luffy's mad roar, as if he were about to tear his vocal cords apart, a skyful of afterimages poured down upon Rob Lucci like a violent storm. Every punch carried the terrifying force to break the sound barrier, hammering CP9's strongest cold-blooded assassin in eight hundred years firmly against the icy brick wall.

The brick wall collapsed, and blood sprayed everywhere. Lucci's prized Iron Body utterly crumbled before the limit-breaking Gear Second. His towering leopard-man body crashed heavily into the ruins, never making another sound.

"He won... Luffy won!!"

At the other end of the bridge, the Straw Hat Pirates, who had successfully regrouped, erupted in cheers of relief.

At that moment, ten top-tier Marine Headquarters warships, like steel mountain ranges, had only just appeared on the distant horizon. Their pitch-black cannon muzzles slowly adjusted their angles.

Because Rain had secretly interfered in the underground passage, Spandam pressed the Golden Den Den Mushi later than he had in the original course of events. This perfect gap in timing spared the Straw Hat Pirates from the desperate ordeal of struggling against the Marine fleet amid a rain of bullets and shells. They had welcomed their captain's victory almost completely unscathed.

"Quick! Jump down! The Going Merry is here to pick us up!"

With the Golden Merry miraculously appearing on the sea, the Straw Hat Pirates carried the utterly exhausted Luffy and leaped into the azure ocean without hesitation. Before the first Buster Call shell fell, they rode the wind and waves out of the encirclement.

Meanwhile, atop the Tower of Justice not far from them.

Rain's upper body slowly emerged from the stone slabs of the Courthouse's highest rooftop, as though rising from a swamp. Spandam, limp as a dead dog, still hung from his hand.

This was the highest point on all of Enies Lobby, and also the most conspicuous live target.

Rain tossed the unconscious Spandam into the middle of the rooftop. Raising his right hand, grayish-white stone skin rapidly spread across the surface. With a deep rumble, four thick granite pillars erupted from the ground like enormous shackles, firmly securing Spandam's limbs in midair and pinning him at the rooftop's edge in the shape of a cross.

After finishing all this, Rain raised his hand and slapped Spandam across the face, leather mask and all.

"Argh!"

Spandam screamed and jolted awake from his unconsciousness. His swollen red eyes opened, and he instantly realized that he was locked tightly to the stone pillars, unable to move. When he saw the ten massive warships on the distant sea, wild delight immediately surged into his eyes.

"The Buster Call! It's the Buster Call! Hahaha! The Marines are here to save me!" Spandam twisted his body madly and screamed at Rain, "You damned monster! Whoever you are, you're dead! An Admiral will blast you into scraps any moment now!"

Rain looked at the fool, still barking wildly with death at his doorstep. His pitch-black eyes held not the slightest ripple of emotion, only the indifference one gave a corpse.

"Do you have some misunderstanding about the 'Buster Call'?" Rain put both hands into the pockets of his dark gray coat, his voice hoarse and calm. "Would a terrifying attack that indiscriminately annihilates its target grow eyes just to avoid a fat pig like you?"

Spandam's laughter came to an abrupt stop.

As though he had realized something, he abruptly turned his head toward the distant fleet.

On those ten top-tier warships, hundreds upon thousands of heavy cannons had already risen in unison. Their point of aim was the Tower of Justice, the symbol of the World Government's authority—and precisely where he stood.

"W-Wait! I'm Spandam, chief of CP9! I'm still on the island! Don't fire!"

Spandam finally broke down. He let out the most shrill and despairing scream of his life, tears and snot pouring out uncontrollably. Yet amid the deafening sea wind, his voice could not even carry ten meters.

"Enjoy the 'justice' you summoned."

Rain gave him one last glance, then leaned backward and completely sank into the rock beneath his feet.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom—!"

The next second, ten thousand cannons fired at once. Shells filled the sky and crashed toward Enies Lobby like a meteor shower. The first concentrated barrage instantly engulfed the upper levels of the Tower of Justice. Amid dazzling firelight and flying rubble, the CP9 chief who had fancied himself in control of everything, along with his vile ambitions, was instantly vaporized into drifting dust.

At the hidden harbor on the front island, aboard the Bedrock.

Rain emerged from the rock at the base of the mast. Listening to the dense explosions overhead and the thunderous collapse of the island, he knew that this eight-hundred-year-old fortress was completely finished.

"Time to withdraw."

Rain walked to the center of the deck and slammed both hands onto the hull.

He pushed the power of the [Rock-Rock Fruit] within him to its limit. The high-density marble and granite covering the outside of the ship began to writhe violently, growing madly upward along the sides like living vines before closing together.

In just a few seconds, an incomparably sturdy, heavy stone dome completely sealed the deck. The Bedrock transformed from a sailing ship into a fully sealed stone submarine.

To ensure oxygen and visibility, Rain manipulated the rock to extend an extremely thin, long hollow stone pipe from the top of the dome all the way to the sea surface. At the same time, using the principles of physical refraction, he embedded several high-purity glass lenses he had seized within the stone pipe, creating a simple yet practical periscope.

"Submersible mode."

Rain continued generating rock inside the cabin. The already immensely heavy Bedrock immediately sank toward the dark seabed.

"Splash—"

Icy seawater rose over the stone dome, completely shutting out the thunder of cannon fire outside. The cabin fell into dimness, lit only by the faint glow of several Fluorite stones Rain had deliberately left behind.

Rain walked over to the periscope and pressed his eye to the lens.

Through the slender stone tube, he clearly saw the spectacle above. Enies Lobby burned fiercely beneath the Buster Call's bombardment, while the battered Golden Merry carried the Straw Hat Pirates miraculously through gaps in the Marine fleet, sailing farther and farther away.

Rain went to the helm, sensed the undersea currents through the stone shell, and guided the stone submarine through the deep sea's cover. Like a silent giant whale, it quietly followed the Going Merry's trail.

Above the sea lay earth-shattering war and clamor; beneath it lay a hunter returning laden with spoils, and absolute silence.

A few days later.

As the currents calmed, a gigantic fountain city on the sea appeared in Rain's view through the periscope.

They had arrived at Water 7.