Lafitte broke into a cold sweat. A third person in the room?
He never considered himself a master of Observation Haki, but when someone was standing this close, there was no way he should have been able to overlook them.
Swallowing hard, Lafitte slowly turned his head. When he saw the man's face, goosebumps erupted across his skin.
"You're..."
BOOOM!!!
Below, in the midst of the chaotic three-way skirmish between the Whitebeard remnants, the Blackbeard Pirates, and the Straw Hat Pirates, a massive explosion suddenly thundered from high above.
Many instinctively looked up. Due to the distance, they could only vaguely make out the shattering of the penthouse glass and a silhouette crashing through it, plummeting toward the ground.
As the figure descended and became clearer, Burgess of the Blackbeard Pirates immediately recognized him. "Lafitte!"
The Blackbeard crew was stunned. The way Lafitte was falling didn't look like a deliberate jump; it looked like he had been swatted out of the sky.
Less than ten meters from the ground, Lafitte managed to unfurl his wings. With a desperate flap at the very last second, he ascended into the air, narrowly avoiding being flattened into a bloody pulp.
However, the moment he took flight, he felt the dazzling neon lights of the street above him suddenly smothered by darkness.
Looking up, he saw a massive shadow in the shape of a bat blanketing the entire street. Simultaneously, countless smaller bats swarmed out from the darkness, emitting piercing, high-pitched screeches.
"B-Bats?"
Izo of the Whitebeard Pirates gasped. The sight immediately brought back memories of the man they had encountered during the Paramount War.
Terrified, Lafitte didn't dare fly any higher and instead performed a rapid dive to the ground.
"It's... high... noon..."
Following Alucard's playful drawl, the bat shadow contracted, shifting back into his human form as a flurry of small bats dissipated around him.
The three warring factions froze, staring at him with deep wariness.
Knowing that many members of the Immortal Pirates were gathered here, it wasn't exactly surprising that Alucard was present. But seeing him in the flesh was an entirely different matter.
"Yo, gentlemen. Having fun? Mind if one more joins in?" Alucard asked with effortless nonchalance, smiling at the grim faces surrounding him.
"Retreat, yoi!"
Marco's shout snapped the Whitebeard Pirates out of their daze. They immediately turned and sprinted toward the opposite side of the street.
The onlookers gathered nearby couldn't believe their eyes. That was Marco, the First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. Even if it was Alucard, was he really worth running from on sight?
"Aaah!"
Alucard lunged into the crowd of pirates. Without checking their tattoos, it was impossible to tell if they were Whitebeard or Blackbeard men, especially since the Blackbeard rank-and-file hadn't swapped into formal suits like the Titanic Captains.
Even Alucard himself didn't know, or care which side he was killing.
Splatter!
Flesh flew and limbs were severed. A feast of blood unfolded before the distant spectators. While they were deeply terrified, a dark part of their souls seemed to awaken, feeling an urge to cheer and applaud the spectacle.
…
"Oh? He made a move? Tsk, why is Carina with them? I don't recall giving that order."
Tesoro frowned as he saw his star singer, Carina, mixed in with the Straw Hat crew. But given the current situation, a single singer was nothing. He quickly put her out of his mind. A diva was just a plaything, after all.
Tesoro returned to the control room where the Master Den Den Mushi was located and told his subordinates, "Don't turn it back on. Keep the feed cut for now."
The repairs were finished, and the staff had been about to ask if they should restore the broadcast. They hadn't expected Tesoro to refuse.
"This scene is a bit too 'stimulating' for the rest of the audience to see..." Tesoro muttered to himself. Using the power of his awakened Gold-Gold Fruit, he returned to the Death Match arena.
At that moment, the third block reached its conclusion amidst the deafening roars of the crowd.
"The results are in! The winner… Warlord of the Sea, Weevil! Give him a hand!!"
Diamante's announcing pushed the atmosphere to a new peak. Tesoro looked toward the center of the Golden Colosseum. Weevil stood there clutching a naginata, shouting with a mix of idiocy and overwhelming pressure, "Of course it's mine! That's Pops' legacy! It belongs to me!!"
"And finally, the fourth block..."
Tesoro grinned as he watched the Block D contestants walk out from the stairs. Not just Tesoro, but the eyes of Ace and the others were fixed on one man.
Blackbeard, Marshall D. Teach.
"Zehahaha... Pity. Did Lafitte and the others fail? Guess I'll just have to take the Tremor-Tremor Fruit the 'proper' way."
Teach dragged his bloated body onto the arena like a crab. Even after witnessing the terrifying strength of Queen, Ace, and Weevil, he remained confident that the Tremor-Tremor Fruit was destined for him.
"Hmph. Confidence is a good thing."
Tesoro sat back on his throne and sneered. "But it looks like your crew has run into some trouble, Teach."
…
"Ha!"
Alucard sank his teeth into a pirate's neck. Blood sprayed like a fountain. Like a wild dog, he clamped onto the man and dragged him toward the other pirates. Everyone could see the twitching body of the victim dangling from Alucard's mouth.
"M-Monster!!"
The surrounding pirates scrambled to fire their firearms, shredding Alucard's body. But the torn flesh simply regenerated instantly. After several cycles of this, despair began to set in.
"Well said."
Alucard spat the corpse out of his mouth and stepped forward with a wicked grin. "Then what does that make you, fighting against a monster? Are you humans? Dogs? Or monsters yourselves?"
"GYAAAH!!!"
The pirates, pushed to the brink of collapse, began to flee. Alucard smiled coldly. Just as the three factions were about to clear the crossroads, the Blackbeard side was blocked by a massive, pale-green transparent barrier. Keith Fallon and Bartolomeo stepped out. "Yo, you pieces of trash!"
Meanwhile, Luffy and Marco's path was blocked by Ivalis, Beckman, and Cavendish.
"Long time no see, Luffy."