CLANG!!
Law was suspended two meters high in the air in front of Alucard. His sword, Kikoku, was just drawn, and he was about to slash downward when the black dog Baskerville suddenly burst out of the pool of blood beneath Alucard's feet. It clamped down on Law's blade and fiercely knocked him to the deck.
"I'm not finished!"
Law stubbornly scrambled up, the air sphere in his hand spinning as the spatial dome expanded. "ROOM!"
"Too slow."
Alucard said dismissively, drawing his gun and firing a bullet into Law's right thigh. Law collapsed again. Just as he was about to face-plant into the deck, Alucard, still seated on his throne, kicked off, launching his foot into Law's chest. Law flew five or six meters through the air before hitting the deck and sliding to a stop.
On the other ship, many people watched this scene, though some were already bored and went about their own business.
"What number is this?"
"Is it twenty? Or thirty? I didn't keep track."
"I'm more interested in how many bullets that kid has taken."
Just as everyone was discussing this, the Den Den Mushi on the small table next to Alucard's seat rang. Alucard picked up the receiver, and the voice of Stragus, who was guarding Arderay, came through. "Alucard-sama, the battle is over. Overall, the Red-Hair Pirates suffered the biggest losses. We captured the core executive, Yassop."
"Do what needs to be done, then let him go," Alucard replied with a single sentence after hearing Stragus's report, then hung up the Den Den Mushi.
Law, lying prone on the deck, said unwillingly, "He hasn't even stood up. Is the gap between us really this wide?"
For over two weeks, Law had used various methods to attack Alucard. Inevitably, every single attempt ended in miserable failure.
However, that wasn't the biggest blow to Law. The most devastating thing was that in dozens of fights, the man hadn't once stood up from his chair and consistently defeated Law within three moves.
"ROOM: Transfer."
Law created a spatial dome barely large enough to cover himself. He held a cup of water, then suddenly splashed the water. One drop vanished, and a bullet appeared in mid-air.
He exchanged the position of the water drop with the bullet in his leg. The Op-Op Fruit's ability for medical treatment could truly be described as "miraculous."
"Kid, that's enough,"
Suddenly, the door to Law's room flew open. Urdaha tossed a roll of bandages to him. "You're going to use up all the bandages on the ship."
Law silently took the bandage and, with practiced ease, wrapped it around his leg without a word.
Urdaha shook his head. "I'm not underestimating you, but with your current strength... don't even think about fighting the Captain without two or three decades of training."
"Your companions are decent. Much better than some of the weird pirates we've encountered before. Some are already willing to join us, but they're mindful of you, their Captain, and haven't openly declared it."
Urdaha turned and walked out, his back to Law. "Make up your mind already, won't you? Will you disembark now and start over, or embrace a new name? A true new path?"
With that, Urdaha slammed the door shut. "Captain, we'll be arriving at Enies Lobby soon."
Wolf surfaced beside the Dragon Ship. His enormous head, with hair matted together by seawater, reported to Alucard.
"Is that so?"
Alucard's eyes subtly shifted, looking at Dragon in the cage to his front-right. "I'll be sending you off soon. Try to look happy."
Dragon had anticipated being defeated by Alucard: being seriously injured, losing men, or even death.
But what he never expected was for Alucard to send him to the World Government.
"Why would you do this?"
Dragon always had an expression like someone owed him money, making it hard to tell if he was happy or angry. But at this moment, it was impossible for him to be happy.
"Why do you think I haven't killed you? Do you think I'm afraid of Garp?" Alucard found the idea amusing.
"Handing you over to the government and seeing what happens will be much more interesting than killing you, won't it? I originally thought it would be interesting to have one of my subordinates bring your head to the Marines to become a Warlord of the Sea and spy for me, but that didn't seem very practical. So, I settled for sending you to the government."
Alucard rarely offered such an explanation to Dragon. As the ships sailed on, they drew closer to Enies Lobby.
The outer perimeter of Enies Lobby was surrounded by specialized iron fences, with numerous government agents constantly watching from various locations. A direct assault was virtually impossible, but Alucard had no intention of attacking.
As the two large ships bearing the Immortal Pirates flag, along with the huge and conspicuous figure of Wolf nearby, approached, they were immediately spotted by the guards at the First Defense Line—the front gate of the island.
WEEEENG WEEEENG~
A loud alarm sounded, followed by a deafening broadcast. The utter misery in the voice suggested the announcer's frantic expression: "Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Front gate! Front gate! The enemy is the Immortal Pirates! One of the Yonko, the Immortal Pirates, is attacking from the front gate!"
The garrison guards at Enies Lobby had grown lax over the years due to the lack of any attacks. They did not have the strict training system of the Marines. After all, Enies Lobby was government territory, who would dare cause trouble here?
Now, hearing an alarm, and against a Yonko crew no less, they were instantly thrown into chaos before order was finally restored.
"What are they shouting about? We're not even attacking!"
"Is this what the defense force of Enies Lobby is like? I guess the World Government isn't that impressive."
Many pirates on the Immortal Pirates' ships looked on with contempt. As enemies, they were embarrassed for them and even felt some pity for the Marines who served such a useless bunch.