"I never expected you to be the one who killed every Den Den Mushi in the base. Afraid word would get out? Don't worry. You're not worth calling for backup."
Vice Admiral Guillotine stood before a group of Marine soldiers holding kerosene lamps, his long sword planted at an angle in the dirt beside his feet. He sized up Daz Bonez as he emerged from the prison gates, realization and contempt mingling on his face.
The Marines behind him held their kerosene lamps aloft. The flames flickered in the wind, making their shadows stretch and shrink, casting a crowded mass of ghostly silhouettes across the prison's gray-white outer wall.
"Confidence is a good thing. Overconfidence is stupidity. Standing in my way was the stupidest decision you've ever made."
As though he hadn't even noticed the Marines before him, Daz Bonez walked forward at an unhurried pace, carrying a sack in each hand.
"Don't think the Slash-Slash Fruit makes your defenses invincible! Mere steel? I've been able to cut through that for ages!"
Guillotine pulled his long sword from the ground. Armament Haki spread like thick black ink from its hilt to its tip, and he charged forward with Soru, kicking a shallow crater into the dirt beneath his feet.
As a Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral, he knew the intelligence on the wanted criminals in every major faction inside out.
Anyone who failed to get their basic intelligence straight was doomed to a short life, whether they were a pirate or a Marine.
An invisible ripple spread outward from Daz Bonez's feet. The sand and dirt on the ground began to writhe, every grain and clod seeming to come alive.
They rose upright from the ground and became blades, their surfaces stained black with Armament Haki. Their tips pointed skyward before