"Pero... heh heh..."
Perospero's face twitched as he forced out an extremely ugly smile that never reached his eyes.
"You... you're joking, aren't you, Heavenquake?" His voice trembled, and his long tongue instinctively drew back a little.
He couldn't help it. That answer was so horrifying that his first reaction was to refuse to believe it.
Gern didn't answer immediately. Instead, he picked up another piece of brittle candy and tossed it into his mouth.
As he chewed, he stared at Perospero with the pitying look one might give an idiot. Only after swallowing it all did he slowly speak.
"Wait, since when... did the Navy need a reason to arrest pirates? And why would I be joking?"
"!!!"
The instant those words fell, Perospero's pupils contracted sharply, and a chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head!
Without the slightest hesitation...
"Candy Maiden!"
Almost by instinct, Perospero's gaze darkened, and his power activated instantly!
The power of the Paramecia-type Lick-Lick Fruit acted on the ground beneath his feet, instantly animating and softening the street paved with hard candy.
It surged upward like living syrup, forming a spiked candy cage that tried to envelop Gern and imprison him inside!
However.
In no more than the blink of an eye!
Before Perospero's power could fully take effect, something even faster arrived...
A black-and-red afterimage tore past!
A cold touch was already pressed against the side of Perospero's neck, and blood slowly seeped along the blade.
Gern was still sitting in his chair, his posture barely changed, but the Black Blade: Eight Desolations at his waist had already been drawn just over an inch. Its tip, gleaming with a dark, cold light, rested against Perospero's neck with unerring precision.
The bandages that had wrapped the