"Yes, Captain!"
At Blackbeard's order, Jesus Burgess immediately broke into a vicious grin, clenched his fists, and strode toward Zoro.
"Hmph... cough, cough..."
Just then, on the beach nearby, Shiryu struggled into a half-seated position and coughed up blood, his face deathly pale and his eyes venomous!
Some kind of mycelium had stopped the heavy bleeding from the four bone-deep slashes across his chest and arms, but the flesh still gaped open.
This was not merely the shame of defeat.
He had been utterly crushed in a head-on fight.
Worse still, he had suffered the supreme humiliation of being dragged out of invisibility and beaten like some clown!
As the former Chief Warden of Impel Down, he had tortured countless prisoners and jailers, savoring their dying wails and despair.
As an officer of the Blackbeard Pirates, he had slaughtered people without a second thought, treating their lives as worthless.
But this was the first time he had ever lost so decisively, so disgracefully, to a "junior" Swordsman!
"Burgess... don't kill him..."
"I want him..."
"Unable. To live. Or die!"
"I want to crush every bone in his body, inch by inch!
Snap the fingers he holds his swords with, one by one!!!
Make him... wail and beg for mercy like the maggots on Impel Down's lowest level!!"
Shiryu's voice was quiet, but so full of venom that even Van Augur beside him cast him a sidelong glance.
"Don't worry, Shiryu!" Burgess looked back at him with a broad grin.
"I promise I'll leave him breathing so you can take your time playing with him!"
With that, he hesitated no longer and charged up to the rock wall in a few strides.
"Hey, Moss Head! Playing dead won't help! Get your ass out here!!"
Burgess cackled as he prepared to make