"Long time no see, Luffy..."
Ivalis stepped forward, clutching the Supreme Grade blade, Oodenta Mitsuyo. His gaze, hidden behind sunglasses, swept across the core executives of the Whitebeard Pirates. "And you too, Roux... Hyde..."
Ivalis called out the names of those he knew, former comrades who had once served alongside him in the Red Hair Pirates. Now, however, that "comrade" title required the prefix "former."
"It's you! The bandana guy!"
Luffy's memory of the Red Hair Pirates was vivid. He remembered that back when he followed Shanks, there was a blond man who always wore a bandana.
"Heh, you remember? More than ten years have passed in the blink of an eye," Ivalis said with a light chuckle.
"Ivalis, your sword..."
Lucky Roux's eyes were locked onto the blade in Ivalis's hand. It wasn't the saber Shanks had exchanged with him before his death; it was a massive, imposing greatsword.
"Oh, this?"
A faint trace of satisfaction appeared on Ivalis's poker face. "The one Shanks gave me was destroyed during the great war with the Government. This is a trophy Alucard-sama obtained after the fall of the World Government."
"Supreme Grade blade... Oodenta Mitsuyo..."
Vista, a fellow swordsman, uttered the blade's name. Upon hearing those words, Zoro's eyes began to glow. He muttered under his breath, "A Supreme Grade blade? I wonder how it feels to clash with something like that."
"Golden Haired" Ivalis, rumored to be Alucard's right-hand man who suppressed internal unrest during Alucard's eighteen-month disappearance. His bounty exceeded one billion Berries. While his raw power might be considered secondary to the status of the Sea King Shirahoshi, in terms of authority and execution, he was undeniably Alucard's second-in-command.
"What do you want?" Lucky Roux asked, skipping the pleasantries. He knew Ivalis wasn't here to reminisce.
"You're right. Since we've met as opposing forces, it wouldn't feel right if we didn't have a match, would it?"
Ivalis slowly drew Oodenta Mitsuyo. The overwhelming presence of the greatsword exerted a heavy pressure on every swordsman present.
"Leave the Supreme Grade to me," Zoro said, unable to wait any longer.
"A newborn calf fears no tiger? You've got guts, kid, but you need a few more years of training." Ivalis didn't even spare Zoro a serious glance.
Nearby, Beckman cast a silent look at Ivalis, thinking to himself, "What exactly are you planning?"
…
On another street, staring at the giant barrier blocking their path, Shiryu's face was cold. "Barto Club... Black Thorn Pirates... You people..."
"Hehehahaha!!"
Bartolomeo crossed his index and middle fingers, laughing maniacally. "You pieces of sea-trash, all of you can rot in hell! Hehehahaha!"
"You're trash too. Focus on the barrier defense; don't let these guys escape," Fallon interjected coldly.
Vasco Shot, the "Heavy Drinker" of the Blackbeard Pirates, was just wondering why Bartolomeo was only deploying barriers without attacking. The next second, he understood, when he felt the barrel of a white pistol pressed against his bloated stomach.
What he didn't understand was how Alucard had moved in front of him in an instant.
BANG!
With a single gunshot, a hole was blown through Shot's belly. But what poured out wasn't blood or organs; it was liquor, an endless stream of white spirits.
"An ability user?"
Alucard smiled thinly. He rotated his hands, switching to the black pistol, Jackal. Created by the genius scientist Dr. Vegapunk, it was loaded with 13mm exploding Seastone bullets!
The intense aura of Seastone reached Vasco Shot's massive, sausage-like nose. He blurred instantly, reappearing over ten meters away.
If that thing hit him, it would be all over.
"Why are you so eager to start a war with us, Immortal?"
Shiryu of the Rain, currently the number two figure of the Blackbeard Pirates, asked with a dark expression.
As a former Head Jailer of Impel Down, he knew better than anyone the sheer terror of Alucard's strength, the man who had dismantled the World Government.
His original plan was to use their Devil Fruit hunting to turn the Blackbeard Pirates into an invincible army, challenging Alucard in about ten years. Encountering him here was a severe miscalculation.
"Start a war? What are you talking about?"
Alucard walked forward with a look of feigned curiosity. For a split second, Shiryu and the others felt a surge of hope that he might let them pass. Then, Alucard's tone shifted into a predatory snarl.
"I'm just hungry."
Alucard had been standing right in front of them, but suddenly, he vanished without a trace or a single warning sign.
BANG!
Another gunshot rang out, carrying an even more exaggerated impact and force than the previous one.
The Blackbeard Pirates looked toward the sound. Alucard was standing on top of Vasco Shot's body. Blood, real blood this time, was oozing from beneath his feet. The "body" had likely already become a "corpse."
"Impossible! How did he get over there?"
Whether it was Law's spatial displacement or Borsalino's light-speed movement, there were always cues for the eyes or Observation Haki to track. No matter how fast a person was, the disappearance of their presence from one spot usually left a trail.
But Alucard acted as if he simply hadn't existed here and had always existed there.
He was like a law of nature, a fundamental rule of existence.
Feeling Vasco Shot's soul flow into the River of Styx and his physical form dissolve into the River of Death, Alucard's eyes betrayed a hint of boredom. "No... fighting like this is actually dull. These guys are even more pathetic than the Gorosei."
"I don't intend to die here!"
Shiryu raised his hand with a sharp wave. "All together! Attack!"
Hundreds of Blackbeard crewmen suppressed their internal terror and surged forward, brandishing their weapons.
Alucard ignored the fodder. He stood atop Vasco Shot's corpse, waiting to see what the executives like Shiryu and Burgess would do. However, their next move left Fallon and Bartolomeo behind the barrier utterly speechless.
They turned around and ran.
Alucard's eye twitched. He bared his fangs, feeling genuinely insulted. Failing after fighting with everything you had could be forgiven. But this? This cowardice was unforgivable.
"You lot aren't even worth being dog food!"