– Nero –

In hindsight, it was Lafitte's arrival and Catarina Devon's return had been the straw that broke the camel's back. Already hampered by the combination of Doc Q's disease and their thus rapidly dwindling haki reserves, the various commanders and captains had been stretched way too thin trying to protect the men under their command. With the chances of victory looking ever slimmer by the minute and with their escape route no longer secure, the current situation had become increasingly untenable. In this situation, Marco had been forced to split up his precious commanders even further to prevent Doc Q & Lafitte from starting a massacre.

"Curiel! Noooo!"

"Haah…one…haah…down…urgh."

"Get your head back in the game Rakuyo!"

As a result, where before the commander pairs had been dominating the titanic captains, for the most part the opposite was now the case. Nowhere was this more obvious than where Curiel and Rakuyo had been fighting the very island of Hachinosu itself. The key word being had. Too focused on maintaining his destructive output, Curiel failed to notice the danger sneaking up on him before it was too late. Consequently, in exchange for sending a few extra bazooka rounds up Avalo Pizarro's nostrils, he'd left his buddy without a partner and himself without a head. Doc Q's scythe likely would have claimed its second victim not long after that, if it hadn't been for Vista coming to Rakuyo's aid.

"What the…gurgle?"

"You're quite weak for a commander aren't you, Mr. Water Buffalo? Certainly, a far cry from the likes of Vista."

"Shit, Atmos!"

"Drucken Spitfire!"

"Oh no, you don't!"

"Haruta, thank goodness you're here!"

Unfortunately, while no doubt warranted in the moment, Vista's decision had consequences. Whereas all of Whitebeard's medical staff was busy finding a cure for the Shrinking Disease, Blackbeard's doctors were free to ply their craft. As such, Catarina Devon returned to the battlefield in good condition, minus the eye she'd lost to Speed Jiru's lance. Distracted as he was by Vasco's alcoholic inferno, Atmos only noticed Devon's presence when she plunged her sword through his back and into his heart. Blenheim's panicked cry for help was answered by Haruta, who had until now been driving Weevil back alongside Islewan and Squard.

"Full speed ahead!"

"Fire on my signal!"

Those two were reinforced in turn by the newly arrived Sleepy and Decalvan Sr. Meanwhile, others such as Epoida and Whitey Bay went off to fight Sanjuan Wolf…. Opening the confrontation by ramming Whitey Bay's Icebreaker into the giant's knee. While the maneuver didn't hurt the Titanic Battleship in any meaningful way, it did force him to his knees and brought his head into range of the fleet's cannons.

"I do love ambushes. It's so much more elegant than brute fisticuffs, wouldn't you agree, Commander Jozu?"

As for Lafitte, Aisa had found him in the process of slicing through Kingdew's hand at the wrist. Followed soon after by his two carotid arteries, just before the commander would have squashed Burgess' head like a grape. Again, a two on one situation was only avoided by Fossa's timely arrival, but the loss of three commanders in quick succession broke the Whitebeards' morale to a point, where not even Law's newfound cure could reverse it.

The situation thus being what it was, there was nothing Maco could have done to stop the general flight for the remaining ships. Especially not when he found himself in the fight of his life against Blackbeard. If anything, credit should be given where credit was due, because Marco's orders, issued at the top of his lungs, turned what could have been a disastrous rout into an orderly retreat.

Though, that still left the rather large problem of Sanjuan Wolf making maritime travel in and out of port difficult. And loathe as he was to admit it, the giant presented an issue that was a little too big for Nero to handle. Not that it would stop him from trying, because hell if he didn't want some revenge on the hypnotizing prick. And as he couldn't reach Lafitte, his crew mate would have to do. That said, the question as always was the how. The dozen broadsides seemed to be doing little in the way of actually causing damage and the allied captains were struggling to make it through Sanjuan Wolf's thick skin.

Clearly, conventional methods were not going to work though the same could be said for Nero's Rokuogan. While Nero had successfully recreated the damage output, the range was still limited, so that he couldn't be certain the attack would make it through the layers of fat and blubber protecting the colossus. But… what if it was applied closer to home? Like really close? Intimately close?

"Captain, I'll be back in a bit."

"Nero…I know that look. Not sure I like it, but I sure as hell know it. What dumb shit are you planning this time?"

"Probably something brainless and brilliant in equal measure. Or at the very least, barmier than a demented fruitcake."

"That's a colorful description. Anything I can do to help?"

"Can you keep the big guy's arms still for a moment? I need to get to his head."

"I can probably get you a few minutes." Bellamy replied, cracking his knuckles and taking to the air with geppou.

"That should be more than enough. See you on the other side, captain." Nero smirked, before catching Rivers' attention with a wave. "Hey Birdbrains, I need a ride."

"Sure. Where to?" Rivers asked, though he blanched when he registered exactly where Nero's finger was pointing at. "You cannot be serious."

"I can't believe I'm saying this either, but I actually am. Dead serious in fact."

"Weren't you always telling us off for being insane? What the heck, Nero?"

"What can I say? Insanity is apparently infectious."

"Can't you use geppou or something? We're still bruised from the beating Aisa gave us earlier." Rivers whined, even as he clambered onto his partner's back. "Getting stuffed into a solid lightning net is hell on Fuza's back."

"One, Fuza is significantly faster than my geppou and two, let's go before I start second guessing myself."

"Fine, fine. If you are determined to become an afternoon snack, who am I to say no?"

The initial approach was accomplished without any issue, neither Nero nor Rivers representing a noteworthy threat to Sanjuan Wolf. In fact, judging by the utter lack of attention paid to them, the giant's observation haki likely hadn't even deemed them worth issuing a warning for. Meaning, that when Whitey Bay mercilessly targeted the most vulnerable part of a man's anatomy and Sanjuan's opened reflexively let out a pained scream, Nero was in a prime position to dive into the wide-open cavern below.

It was loud. It was moist. And it was slimy in ways that Nero shuddered to even think about. The floor kept trying to squash him against the walls or the pearly white gates. However, Nero had trained in harsh environments before and had overcome them. This time would prove no different. Geppou, Soru, Kami-e, Tekkai. Pushing his rokushiki skills to their limit, Nero rapidly made his way across the roiling terrain until he reached the vertical chutes at the back. With no hesitation at all, Nero ripped open the lid and jumped down.

Admittedly, things weren't looking all that bright at the moment. Rather dark, actually.

That would change.

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– Bellamy –

Just because Nero had launched his harebrained scheme, didn't mean the rest of us were going to sit on our collective derrieres and do nothing. And by that I meant that we couldn't, because that would be tantamount to letting the big guy have his way with us. Yeah, there was no way I was letting him get his grubby hands upon the Black Pearl. Thankfully, I had a reliable crew.

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"Eddy, you've got command of the vessel! Keep her safe!"

"Aye aye, Captain. Hard to port guys! Pull!"

"We're pulling, alright! We're pulling! The sail is refusing to budge!" Hewitt complained, heaving with all his might but with limited success.

"I'm on it. Why the fuck is there a bloody knot in the rigging? Oi shitheads, stop pulling for a bloody second so I can untie it, will you?"

"We don't have time. Cut the rope!"

"Mani, are those jet dials ready yet? I think he noticed us."

"Giant hands incoming!"

"Mani, I needed those dials activated YESTERDAY!"

Very reliable as long as I could get them a little breathing room to do their thing, which meant obstructing Sanjuan Wolf's attempts to fish my ship out of the water. Throwing out a pair of springs, I slipped the enlarged coils over the giant's wrists like a pair of metal bracers. Shrinking them afterwards to make them fit – very snugly I might add – was child's play in comparison. And with that, I had him.

"Teehee? This is odd."

My springs moved not because of some force that propelled them onwards but because I willed it so. Admittedly, there were limits, and it was possible to resist if one possessed one of two things. Those two being either sufficient devil fruit mastery to match my own or high enough physical parameters to overcome the conceptual powers of a devil fruit. Garp being a prime example of the latter. In essence, it was a similar principle to what I had experienced in my battle against Mad Treasure.

Sanjuan Wolf had both. With the Huge Huge Fruit to could call upon as well as the sheer muscle power to match his colossal size, I wasn't able to fully halt his approaching hands. What I did manage to do was slow them down to a crawl. Whitey Bay and co weren't ones to miss such an opening.

Ice bloomed out of every cut and every gash, the blood freezing whenever it came into contact with the Ice Witch's blade. While most of these flowers shattered shortly after, their passage through the surrounding tissue always ripped open a larger wound. Meanwhile, Sarquiss and Epoida were buzzing around Sanjuan's head, attacking him with impunity. Having quickly realized that he wouldn't be piercing the thick skin any time soon, my first mate even crawled into one ear to break through the significantly more fragile ear drum. For her part, Lily was doing her best to rust his spine shut, though her power was taking its sweet time working its way past all the fat protecting her target.

They were all distractions. Painful to be sure, but distractions all the same.

While we kept the titan occupied, Captain Karma had been busy wrapping our anchor chain around one giant leg. What followed was a move reminiscent of the Battle of Hoth from Star Wars, the Black Pearl revealing what she was truly capable of for the first time. Jet dials roared to life and the chain went taut as she heaved with all her might, assisted by every captain and every spare hand we had available. Combined with Lily's Rust Rust Fruit finally taking effect, it was enough to disturb his balance and topple Sanjuan Wolf, sending him crashing unto his back in the shallow waters around Hachinosu.

The impact loosened the chain and sent Lily flying into the water, though she was fished back out by Captain Karma. The splash and the waves that followed swept all of our ships out of position as well. All of them, with the sole exception of the Black Pearl. Eddy had steered her well, not even a dozen meters separating us from Sanjuan's head.

"Laki! Rivers! Fire at will!"

"Aye aye, Captain! Firing at will!"

I think I'd mentioned multiple times in the past that both Laki and Rivers were toting around rifles, whose firepower rivaled that of an artillery piece. They were examples of scientific ingenuity, human creativity and the fruit of our joint adventures. Dial engineering from Skypiea, Grand Line gunsmithing technology and the alchemical prowess of Myskina Alcier… all of it had flowed into the task of boosting their guns far beyond what a mere rifle should be capable of. So then, that begged the question.

If applying those principles to a rifle had made it as powerful as a cannon, what would happen if you applied the same principles to an actual cannon? Just because we hardly made use of them, didn't mean the Black Pearl wasn't equipped with heavy ordnance of her own. And today, those heavy guns roared to life, launching a dial-coordinated broadside into the side Sanjuan Wolf's head. The resultant explosion would have leveled a mountain. Was it enough to put our enemy down for good? No.

"Ow. That hurt. That really hurt!"

"Seriously? He's still alive?"

Skin and muscle had been burned away, revealing teeth and bones. Some of the latter had shattered, leading to half his face losing its support and sagging in a mockery of what it should have looked like. Blood flowed freely and black scorch marks littered the bald head, the hair having been burned to ashes. But Sanjuan's eyes were intact, and they were glaring death in our direction.

"I'm going to hurt you back!"

With an enraged roar, the titan grew even more, shattering the springs encasing his wrists. That his skin got ripped to shreds in the process seemed to concern him little, when compared to the freedom to squish those who'd hurt him into fine, red paste. Could I try to slow him down again with the same trick as before? Maybe. But despite his immature personality and childlike demeanor, Sanjuan Wolf was a prisoner of Impel Down's infamous level six and one of the world's most dangerous criminals. No, the likelihood of him letting him catch him off guard again were slim.

"Aisa! It's time!"

"Twenty million volt infusion!"

No, I needed a different method to stop that hand, one that could deliver enough force to counteract its momentum. I needed something that packed enough of a punch, something that could deliver a high amount of kinetic energy in a linear manner. In short, I needed a railgun. My arms provided the rails, Aisa provided the current and a compressed spring became the bullet. Millions of volts propelled the projectile onwards, slamming into the open palm at near ten times the speed of sound. Then another. And another. And another in a continuous stream, slowly forcing his hands back and away from my ship.

Unfortunately, as powerful as this ability was or perhaps because of it, I wasn't able to maintain the assault for long. Creating expendable springs in such numbers was exhausting as was the strain of resisting the kickback force to maintain a steady aim. Thankfully, I didn't need to keep it up for very long. Midway through our exchange, Sanjuan Wolf suddenly let out a pained groan and clutched both hands over his heart.

As such, his hands were preoccupied when a new variable interfered.

"How dare a beast of a man block my way! You shall pay for this impudence!"

"Urgh…a pretty doll?"

"How vile. Even in the midst of agony, your thoughts wallow in disgusting filth. Be grateful that my beauty will be the last thing you ever witness. Mero Mero Beam!"

Nobody dared to move for a long minute, as we stared transfixed at what moments before had been a living, breathing organism trying to kill us. Now, only a petrified corpse stood there with hearts for eyes and his hands still covering his heart. And bouncing in the air was none other than the Pirate Empress herself.

"You, Luffy's friend. Where is Luffy's brother?" she asked, turning her cold eyes upon me. I just pointed my thumb in the vague direction of the island.

"Uhm, back over yonder. He's fighting this big, black-haired dude. You can't miss him."

Boa Hancock didn't wait for me to elaborate any further, choosing to speed to Ace's aid instead. We watched her go before the sound of cracking stone pulled our attention back to her artwork, where Nero was digging his way out of a newly created hole.

"Hey, guys. Everything turned to stone all of a sudden. What I miss?"

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