The Melee

There were three factions remaining at Lardo Manor.

The Marines, the pirates, and the Vinsmoke family.

Gray already felt the scent of danger. Reasonably speaking, the Marines should have left after the auction concluded.

Yet until now, Onigumo had not even made a move to set out, which made Gray start to grow alert.

Could the Marine side also be eyeing this Lunarian Tribe boy?

He suddenly thought of something!

Vegapunk?!

That was it; only he had experience researching this area.

After all, Kaido's right-hand man, King, used to be one of their test subjects as well.

On the other side, Swain had also arrived at the vortex of this storm.

"The Marines seem to be gradually surrounding Gray." Swain saw clearly from the outer perimeter that Onigumo was deploying troops and surrounding the place where Gray was located.

"It looks like the Marines are determined to have this Lunarian Tribe boy as well." Swain analyzed the situation.

Since he had decided to intervene, he naturally had to get a slice of the pie, and at the very worst, he could not let this boy fall into the hands of any single faction!

Otherwise, if the World Government researched even more terrifying weapons, the world would probably remain in darkness forever.

Sure enough, before long, the Marines launched an attack.

Swain hid to the side to watch the show.

"Damn it! Onigumo! How dare you attack? Are you trying to start a war with Germa 66?!" Gray flew into a rage.

He had not expected the attack to come so quickly, not even giving him time to prepare to escape.

Upon hearing this, Onigumo let out a sneer, the ash on his cigarette shaking off along with his laugh.

"So what if we start a war? You are all nothing more than a bunch of shady, stinking rats!"

"Besides, you don't represent the entirety of Germa!"

One of Onigumo's adjutants took the initiative to strike first.

"Die!" That adjutant coated the broadsword in his hand with Armament Haki and slashed toward Gray.

At this moment, a short young man wearing a raid suit and holding a long scythe also appeared by Gray's side.

As soon as the two exchanged blows, Onigumo's adjutant fell into a disadvantage.

"Rankyaku!"

"Shigan!" The adjutant continuously changed his moves, wanting to disrupt the rhythm of the enemy before him.

Yet his opponent still received the blows with ease, completely unaffected.

Instead, the Germa youth caught an opening and defeated the enemy in a single move.

The adjutant tumbled miserably for several meters before being rescued by his comrades.

"They're death squad members of Germa 66." Naturally, someone recognized who this person wearing the raid suit was.

"Death squad? No wonder even core technological raid suits are involved."

Swain said from the shadows.

"But Onigumo isn't someone so easily dealt with!"

As one of the strongest vice admirals certified by Marine Headquarters, Onigumo naturally had his extraordinary aspects.

Finally, Onigumo could no longer hold back and made his move.

He used the Marine Six Powers technique Soru!, arriving by his opponent's side in a single breath.

"Shigan!" Under his execution of the same technique, a mere few exchanges beat the opponent into consecutive retreats.

Seeing that he was difficult to deal with, the young man also changed tactics, taking the hit of Onigumo's technique head-on.

His defense was very strong after all, so he wouldn't be defeated by the Marine vice admiral before him in a single blow. After taking a punch straight to the abdomen with his torso, he indeed bought a moment of time, holding his scythe in his left hand and slashing fiercely.

Just as it was about to cut Onigumo's neck, an extra hand suddenly appeared, likewise holding a blade and blocking the strike.

"Very clever!" Onigumo smiled contemptuously. "But this is far from enough!"

Instantly, several more arms appeared behind him, likewise holding blades and simultaneously hacking toward the enemy before them.

The Germa death squad member was also somewhat unable to parry, hastily utilizing a grappling hook to pull himself out of the combat range with Onigumo.

"Chief Steward! Hurry up and leave! The Marine before us isn't someone I can handle; I can only buy time for you to escape!" The Germa death squad member said.

"Good!" In a critical moment, Gray was also decisive.

These death squad members were originally meant for killing and body-guarding anyway.

"People in the rear, take that slave and hurry away!" Gray ordered.

Then, Germa members immediately stepped forward to take the handcuffed Lunarian slave and flee.

Seeing that they were about to run, Onigumo promptly commanded, "Soldiers of the third company, hurry up and pursue those who are escaping!"

He had wanted to go personally, but was intercepted by the death squad member before him.

Although the death squad member could not beat Onigumo, fortunately, he had a raid suit, and his defense was truly astonishing.

The few times Onigumo slashed into his body resulted in nothing more than simple superficial wounds. After all, he was cultivated by Germa at great expense, and wasn't so easily killed.

He could be called an unkillable cockroach!

Meanwhile, the pirates over there were also fighting amongst themselves; both sides coveted the treasures in each other's hands and simply had no time to spare for the battle here.

The scene was chaotic for a time, with sounds of shouting and killing everywhere.

Throughout the entire battlefield, only Swain remained aloof.

Yet at this moment, he also had to participate in the battle, because he saw that the Lunarian boy had appeared.

Taking advantage of the chaos, his figure moved like a ghost, swiftly pursuing the front of the Germa party.

As they were fleeing, they saw a youth stopped ahead.

"Get lost right now!"

One of them fired several shots straight at Swain's head.

Yet the scene of him falling to the ground as he expected did not happen. Although the bullets easily passed through the youth's head as if hitting the surface of water, they recovered in an instant.

This sight filled him with extreme terror! A Logia devil fruit user!

"Not good! It's an enemy!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Swain killed him with a single finger!

"Shock Gun!"

Pointing with his hand three or four more times, the people who were shot collapsed one after another.

This made the others draw a sharp breath!

"Where did this powerhouse come from?!"

Gray also noticed the commotion over here, broke away from his opponent before him, and looked toward Swain.

The others who were engaged in combat also turned their heads one after another to look at Swain.

Seeing that gazes were all gathered on Swain, it actually made him feel a bit embarrassed.

After all, he still had a touch of social anxiety.

"Who sent Your Excellency?" Gray asked, suppressing his anger.

He had not expected such a huge upheaval to emerge from this auction. Now that they were on the verge of escaping, they were interrupted once again by this Swain before him—how could he not be furious.

"Don't bother asking. I'm a pirate with no factions behind me," Swain said fearlessly.

If he wanted to be a pirate, naturally he could not fear any faction.

If he had even a shred of fear, he wouldn't have gone to be a pirate!

"Then please retreat to the side, Your Excellency, and don't bring too much trouble upon yourself!" Hearing that Swain was a pirate, Gray issued a warning.

"Of course I can!"

Swain readily agreed.

"It's just that I want one person." He pointed his finger at the Lunarian boy.

When the boy was pointed at by Swain, he was first startled, then appeared flustered and uneasy, the wings behind him flapping back and forth.

Seeing him so panicked, Swain clearly felt that the boy was pitiful—pitying how such powerful talent had actually fallen to this kind of state!

Was this the heavens envying a talent?

When Gray saw that Swain was pointing at that Lunarian boy,

he immediately refused, "Impossible!"

The refusal sounded at the same time as Onigumo's voice.

Clearly, it was impossible for the three factions to reach a reconciliation.

"Then let's speak with strength!"

Swain would not back down just because the other party had powerful backing!

He took the initiative to strike, his figure appearing behind Onigumo like a ghost, his leg coated in Armament Haki.

Naturally, Onigumo had not expected Swain to suddenly attack him.

Yet his reaction was fast enough. He shouted, "Tekkai!" and coated his back with Armament Haki for defense.

Even so, he was still swept flying by Swain.

The six hands on Onigumo's back hastily grabbed the surrounding structures, and only then did he stop flying backward.

"Vice Admiral, you mustn't let down your guard." Swain said to Onigumo, who was covered by rubble.

With a bang, the rubble covering Onigumo flew sideways.

"Naturally!" He said somewhat angrily.

The cigarette dangling from his mouth was already gone, and he pulled out another one from his pocket to light it.

Taking advantage of Swain's engagement with Onigumo, Gray had already run several hundred meters away.

"I think you should worry more about the people over there, otherwise neither of us will get what we want." Onigumo said.

Clearly, he also didn't want the Lunarian boy to run away and cause the mission to fail.

Swain had long since noticed Gray taking advantage of the chaos to escape, but everything was well within his grasp.

His mind stirred slightly, and a wave circle one meter in diameter appeared beneath his soles, spreading outward in all directions.

Following closely was a continuous stream of seawater, rapidly spreading from beneath his feet toward the direction where Gray was fleeing.

"Sea Bind!"

The speed at which the seawater spread caught up to Gray in merely half a minute.

"What's going on? Where did the seawater come from?!" The fleeing crowd exclaimed in dismay. The seawater gradually increased, already reaching above their knees.

Suddenly, several black chains emerged from the seawater, binding the hands and feet of the surrounding fleeing crowd so they couldn't move at all.

This turn of events filled them with dismay and alarm.

"Where did these chains come from?!"

Then, driven by Swain, the seawater began to reverse, bringing them back into the battlefield.