"And you?"
Yas's calm question, tinged with mockery, echoed clearly through the Den Den Mushi across the deathly silent Black Gold Island. Sakazuki's face, which had relaxed slightly after their victory, instantly darkened like a storm cloud.
He abruptly turned his head, sweeping his gaze across the island, left ravaged by magma and beams of light.
Although the vast majority of the pirates had been reduced to ash by their combined attacks, a few stragglers had inevitably survived by hiding in concealed cellars or relying on special abilities.
By a rough estimate, at least a hundred remained.
The "Absolute Justice" Sakazuki pursued targeted the chief culprits. He could not be bothered to count every last small fry.
But Yas was different.
What Yas wanted was "Extinction Justice"-"eradicate them root and branch, leave no one alive"!
Judging by the wager's rule-"whoever brings back more heads"-he had undoubtedly lost.
Lost utterly and completely.
"Oh dear~ This really is a headache~" Looking at Sakazuki's utterly grim expression and the Divine Punishment squad opposite them, whose murderous auras surged like fiends from hell, Borsalino helplessly raised both hands.
"I admit it. We lost. Whether in efficiency or 'cleanliness,' Vice Admiral Yas's philosophy came out ahead."
Borsalino's ready admission of defeat turned Sakazuki's face even more livid.
"Borsalino! You!"
"Don't get so worked up, Sakazuki." Borsalino leaned close to his ear and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Haven't you realized it yet? The moment that man proposed the wager, we had no chance of winning. He wasn't 'gambling' with us at all. He was showing us his 'path' in a way we couldn't refuse."
"A path... more effective, and more terrifying, than our 'justice.'"
Borsalino's gaze fell on the mound of severed heads reeking of blood. An unprecedented trace