The Thrill of Battle

The restaurant was too cramped, with walls on three sides and windows on the fourth. Taking on two Devil Fruit users and a Zoan head-on in an enclosed space wasn't brave. It was stupid. Jack needed open ground, room to move, and a place where Colin could support him from the air.

He pushed off the wooden floor and shot toward the door like an arrow. It was carved wood with a brass handle. His fist smashed through it, sending splinters flying like shrapnel. They struck the corridor walls and left scratches behind.

He burst through the doorway, his military boots thudding rapidly against the corridor floor. Stairs waited at the far end. Below them was the dining hall, beyond that the courtyard, and beyond that open ground. His goal was clear: reach the clearing at the center of the island. No obstacles, no ambushes. Just fists against fists.

Iron Mask climbed out the window. His armor was shattered and his left arm was still bleeding, but he hadn't slowed down. He vaulted onto the second-floor balcony, then jumped into the courtyard. Two paving stones cracked beneath his feet, spraying fragments and kicking up dust.

Capone Bege didn't give chase. He stood still for a second, then walked out through the doorway. His pace was unhurried, the hem of his coat swaying behind him. His skin, turned to castle brick, gleamed gray-white under the lights. He reached the stairs but didn't take them. He smashed straight through the floor.

Jack was already in the courtyard.

It was spacious, paved with stone and surrounded by low walls, with a hillside beyond them. Jack hadn't run for the trees. He had stopped in the exact center of the courtyard.

Colin dove from the sky. At the last moment, his wings snapped open, blasting air through the courtyard and scattering dust everywhere. He landed on the low wall behind Jack, folded his wings, and narrowed his pupils to pinpoints.

"Boss, twenty gunmen to the east, fifteen to the west, and thirty by the front gate." Colin spoke quickly, but every word was clear. "There are at least another hundred armed men on the island heading this way."

Jack didn't look back. "Get airborne. Tell the others to surround Iron Fist Island. Don't let a single one escape."

Colin's lips moved. He wanted to say something, but swallowed it. His wings snapped open, and he launched himself from the wall into the air.

The low wall at the courtyard's southeast corner burst apart. Stones broke loose, dust billowed, and a massive figure emerged from the haze.

Yak.

He had recovered from the blow. Blood still clung to his bull's head, and a fist-shaped dent marked the swollen, bruised spot between his brows. His eyes were still red, blood vessels webbing across them, Jack's figure reflected in his pupils. Two streams of white vapor blasted from his nostrils and spread through the air, carrying the smell of blood.

His hoof came down on the rubble, cracking the paving stones. Fragments squeezed out from beneath it and flew to either side. He lowered his head again and aimed his horns at Jack. The crack in one horn was still there, with blood seeping through it and running down to the tip.

Iron Mask emerged from the other side of the courtyard. His left arm hung at his side, blood dripping from his fingertips and leaving a trail of dark red spots on the stone. Most of his armor had shattered. The dent in his chest was deep enough to reveal muscle and bone beneath it. But his right hand was intact, its fist clenched and still stained with Jack's blood.

Capone Bege stepped into the courtyard.

Three of them. Yak stood ahead and to the left, horns aimed at Jack, white vapor streaming from his nostrils. Iron Mask stood ahead and to the right, his right fist clenched and his bleeding left arm hanging loose. Bege stood in the middle, his coat hanging to his knees, his brickwork skin gleaming coldly under the lights.

Three men, three directions. They had Jack surrounded in the center of the courtyard.

Jack stood at its center. The wind lifted his hair and set his clothes flapping.

His stance didn't change. Feet apart, knees slightly bent, weight low, hands at his sides, fists half-closed. He took no defensive stance and made no move to attack. He simply stood there like a boxer waiting for his opponents to come at him.

But something felt missing.

Jack thought for a moment, then realized he needed a cigar. No wonder Smoker always had one in his mouth. It really did make him look cool. After the fight, he'd have Colin collect some from the Mafia.

Capone Bege watched him, eyes narrowing.

"Why did you run?" Bege's voice came from his brickwork throat, muffled as though he were speaking from behind a castle wall. "You were putting up quite a fight in the restaurant."

Jack didn't answer.

Iron Mask charged from the right. He raised his right fist, a metallic sheen spreading across its surface. His armored punch arced through the air toward Jack's left cheek. Jack caught his arm, used his momentum, and threw him away.

Yak charged.

Each strike of his hooves punched a broken crater into the paving stones. Fragments sprayed out, striking Jack's legs, the low wall, and the tree trunks.

Jack didn't dodge. He raised his right fist, the charge bar for Colossal Consumption flashing at the edge of his vision. He aimed for Yak's head again. His fist struck between the bull's brows.

Yak's head snapped downward. He lost his balance, his hooves skidding across the stone, and crashed flat onto the ground. Paving stones shattered beneath him, and dust surged upward.

Jack didn't look at Yak. He turned toward Capone Bege.

Bege stood in the courtyard and activated Castle Demolition, unleashing a barrage from the troops inside him. Jack grabbed Yak's body and held him in front as a shield. Yak was a Zoan, all right. His body could take a beating.

Bege immediately ordered his men to stop firing. His Castle-Castle Fruit was looking rather useless now. He couldn't use his firepower, and since he hadn't swallowed Jack, he couldn't activate Castle Swamp.

That left Bege with only one option: a trump card he had yet to fully master.

Castle Big Boss.

Bege's body began to grow until he stood twenty meters tall.

Bege brought a foot down on Jack.

His foot rose into the air.

At twenty meters tall, calling it a "foot" hardly did it justice. It was a boulder falling from the sky. His brickwork skin gleamed gray-white in the sunlight, and the pattern on his sole was clearly visible, like a castle brick magnified a hundred times. His foot blotted out the sky overhead, casting the entire courtyard into shadow.

Jack darted a few steps to the left.

Bege's foot struck where Jack had stood. The paving stones shattered, fragments sprayed in every direction, and dust rose three meters high. A shock wave spread from the impact, cracking the courtyard's low walls and sending loose stones tumbling from their tops. The ground shook, the tremor traveling through Jack's feet, up his knees and spine, and into his skull.