Tina looked at Laurentina's firm expression and sighed softly.
"Fine… Just don't force yourself. I've already called for reinforcements."
"Don't worry."
Laurentina gave her a comforting smile before turning back to face Franz.
"Switching opponents? It doesn't matter. A true knight never bows to violence. Repent before this lance."
Franz sneered arrogantly. His gilded lance flashed coldly beneath silver lightning as he urged his warhorse forward. The air twisted around him, golden arcs flickering in the compressed wind.
"Holy Cross!"
He swung the lance, carving a cross-shaped arc that slashed straight toward Laurentina's face.
Swoosh—
Dark, bat-like wings unfurled from the girl's back. She lifted off effortlessly, dodging the strike as the golden current whipped her long hair and black nun-dress into a brilliant sweep.
Here, with Tina, she didn't have to wear the unflattering standard recruit uniform.
"This counts as a challenge?"
Laurentina's eyes sharpened, a chilling killing intent blooming through the rain. It seeped into the slanting wind, thickened over the trembling sea, and froze the air itself.
Too strong.
Tina bit her lip lightly, purple sunglasses hiding the astonishment in her eyes.
The Marines gulped collectively, unable to move.
Franz's voice cracked; his confident smile stiffened.
"A true knight is the beacon that illuminates the entire sea. Blasphemer — perish."
Laurentina gripped her long-handled circular saw. With a sharp metallic whir, the intricate blade spun on its own, bursting with orange sparks.
Eyes closed, she hovered in midair, sensing the rhythm of the downpour. Then she swept her blade, sending a deep-blue slash woven directly into the cadence of the falling rain.
"Deep Sea Concerto: Song of Rain!"
"Hmph! Pretentious tricks!"
Franz raised an air-shield — only to freeze.
The rain-like slashes pierced straight through it.
Raindrops tapped his face one by one.
If you listened closely, the droplets carried a quick, lively rhythm, like a festive cadenza.
The deep-blue slashes accelerated.
Faster.
Faster.
Faster—until they became an overwhelming torrent.
They peppered Franz's head like countless bayonet thrusts —
soft as rain, deadly as gunfire.
Fast—slow—fast.
The rhythm broke through his body, then continued past him, punching into the sea in a hundred glimmering bursts.
Rain trickled down Laurentina's black wings. Thunder rolled overhead.
Everyone on deck saw it:
Franz's final expression — pure terror — as the deep-blue storm drilled through him like delicate holes punched into tofu.
Silence.
A suffocating, corpse-like stillness.
Franz died where he stood, shredded by the rain-song's blades.
Tina blinked, chewing through Pocky after Pocky.
Her little sister had grown this strong in half a year?
Or… was this the power of an Atlantean?
As an older sister… this was embarrassing.
The Marines erupted into cheers, applause rising like a wave.
Laurentina descended gently, smiling amid the crowd.
Her fractured mind was slowly healing — and with it, more of her sealed strength returned.
Her singing — the technique that fused melody and slashes — was proving unexpectedly powerful.
"Yurika, tally the spoils," Tina said, patting Laurentina's head proudly.
"Yes, ma'am!" Ponytail Yurika saluted and took a team to sweep the pirate ship.
Minutes later she ran back, trembling with excitement, holding a small treasure chest.
"Captain, we found this!" She opened it with shaking hands. "A Devil Fruit!"
Tina and Laurentina leaned in.
A yellow fruit covered in cross-shaped markings, like a church emblem.
Laurentina flipped open the Devil Fruit Guide she'd been collecting for six months, scanning by color and pattern. She found it almost instantly.
"The Guardian Fruit?"
"A support-type ability," Tina sighed. "Not very useful in battle. Anyone want it?"
The Marines shook their heads. With a ship medic onboard, a healing-type fruit wasn't especially beneficial.
Healing, huh?
Laurentina bit into a Pocky, and a certain accident-prone blonde doctor flashed across her mind — a girl with a hundred-percent chance of getting flustered whenever she touched her.
"Tina-sister, give it to me," she said, smiling slyly. "I know someone who needs this fruit. Badly."
"Tsk… that Alice girl, right?" Tina chuckled. "Poor thing. Fine — give it to her…"
Before Tina could finish, her expression shifted abruptly.
She whipped her head toward the side of the ship.
A coffin-shaped boat drifted in the waves.
Upon it sat a man wearing a white-furred hat, rowing diligently.
Laurentina stared.
Wait.
Was that man… rowing with his sword?
Sensing eyes on him, the man immediately stopped rowing, sat upright in his coffin-boat, and casually flicked a dark green slash behind him — propelling the little vessel forward like a torpedo.
Laurentina pressed her lips together to stop a laugh; her eyes watered.
Mihawk — your flying slash may look intimidating, but your desperate rowing was… beautiful in a different way.
But Tina stood frozen like she was facing a monster.
"Tina-sister, are you really that tense?" Laurentina whispered.
"I must take this seriously."
Tina's face hardened. She placed a protective hand on Laurentina's head. "That's Dracule Mihawk — the Marine Hunter. I'll protect you with my life."
Huh?
Marine Hunter?
Laurentina paled.
He was that Mihawk?
"You're the one who unleashed that rain of slashes, right?"
Mihawk stepped off the coffin boat and approached the armed Marines, his hawk-eyes razor-sharp.
"Navy Empress — Laurentina."
…Huh?
Navy Empress?
Tina stepped in front of Laurentina.
"What is your purpose here?" she demanded.
The air snapped taut, tension thick and deadly.
"No need to be so tense, Marine," Mihawk said. He produced a gold-embossed envelope and flicked it lightly. "The messenger bats didn't come this way, so I brought this myself."
Tina took the envelope — and her eyes widened.
"You're accepting the World Government's invitation to become a Shichibukai?"
"Correct."
Mihawk nodded… but his gaze drifted back to Laurentina.
"Interesting weapon. A circular saw… used to deliver sword slashes."
The moment he spoke, an invisible wave pulsed from him.
A suffocating force crawled across everyone's skin.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Marines and bound pirates alike collapsed one by one.
"Conqueror's Haki?"
Tina clenched her jaw, barely staying conscious.
"So… the Shichibukai title… is nothing more than a joke to you?"
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