Barn exhaled a breath crackling with violent lightning and spoke in a low voice. As his words fell, the air throughout the battlefield became oppressively heavy.
The faint smile had vanished from the face of Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral Yamakaji, who held Baldhead's corpse in his arms. He stared at Barn, half his torso missing, as though he were looking at a demon. His lips pressed together, but he said nothing.
He was not the only one. Terror filled the faces of every Marine present as they stared at Barn, who had appeared without warning, taken out a Vice Admiral in an instant, and brought along the corpse of a major figure.
"Master Barn!"
"Master!"
Luffy, whom Barn had rescued, and Jig, who had just arrived, looked at him with delight and shouted.
Barn merely swept an expressionless gaze over them and spoke in a low voice.
"Keep moving forward. Ace is still waiting for you on the Execution Platform. This is between you brothers."
"Right!"
"Right!"
At Barn's words, Jig and Luffy both nodded and answered.
"Let's go, Luffy! Ace is still waiting for us!"
Jig patted Luffy's shoulder as he spoke.
"Yeah."
With that, Luffy and Jig rushed toward the Execution Platform.
"Barn... how did you get hurt so badly?"
Hancock, hidden among the Marines, looked anxiously at Barn, who had appeared so suddenly with even half his upper body cut away, and spoke in concern.
Whether Barn had heard Hancock or not was unclear, but his eyes lingered on her for a moment.
He smiled and, without making a sound, mouthed the words to Hancock.
"You came after all, Hancock."
Hancock's face flushed bright red, and she could not help covering her burning cheeks with her hands.
*Barn just smiled at me? Did he just say he