"You-"
Gar wanted to say more, but found that his voice had suddenly vanished from his throat.
No, it had not vanished.
It had been drowned out by another sound.
It was the shriek of air being ripped apart in an instant.
The moment Lorne's figure disappeared from the railing, Kuina, Ryan, and Bakel looked up simultaneously, their eyes tracking the human afterimage shooting forward.
"Soru."
At Lorne's speed, crossing the hundred meters between the two ships did not even take a single breath.
Gar's Observation Haki-if he had any-did not react at all.
By the time his pupils refocused, Lorne was already standing before him.
No, more precisely-directly above his scimitar.
Lorne grabbed the spine of the scimitar still raised in the air with one hand and tightened his fingers.
Crack.
The blade snapped in the middle, its fragments scattering like rain.
Gar's pupils contracted sharply, and adrenaline finally sent an alarm through his brain.
He instinctively raised his left fist and drove it toward Lorne's face, the wind whistling around his punch-
Lorne did not even look at it.
He merely raised his right hand, spread his fingers, and unhurriedly met Gar's full-force punch.
Thud.
The fist stopped.
Lorne had caught it in the palm of one hand.
Gar's entire arm trembled, veins bulging, yet he could not budge even one of Lorne's fingers.
"No... impossible..."
For the first time, Gar's voice trembled.
Lorne tightened his grip on Gar's fist slightly.
The sound of shattering bones carried far across the silent sea.
"Aaargh!"
Gar let out an agonized scream, his knees buckling uncontrollably.
Aboard the Fearless, Ryan glanced at his pocket watch.
"Three seconds."
Kuina lowered the hand resting on her sword hilt and turned toward the cabin.
"I'll go heat up the boss's food."
Bakel raised his