As Alex rushes forward, he instantly notices that Robin, despite doing her best, is falling behind.

“You are slow…” he can’t help but say as he stops and waits for her.

“I… I am doing my best,” Robin replies, huffing, clearly trying to keep up.

These damn lazy Devil Fruit users who just stumble onto their fruits, train a little to use it, but don’t do anything else… and that in a universe where anyone can literally become a superhuman in just months… at least if they are lucky.

Should I carry her? Wait… why am I even taking her with me?!

As Alex and Robin continue running towards the west, they stumble upon a standoff right in front of them. As the street they are on crosses into another one, they can’t continue without passing through whatever this situation in front of them is.

To Alex’s surprise, he doesn’t see Baroque Works members, rebels, or soldiers, but Marines—led by a couple of people he knows all too well.

At the very front is a small unit of tough-looking Marines, appearing somewhat out of place to Alex, especially because many of them have the Justice kanji on their backs, marking them as higher-ranked.

They don’t belong here... they do not belong to Smoker’s unit!

However, Alex’s attention drifts to the men behind them, the ones clearly holding authority over the whole group.

Three of them are wearing black suits, while one of them wears a lax vest, arrogantly standing behind the others. Another one—looking a little out of place—wears a casual shirt and a decorated hat with a red plume, standing at the very front, seemingly eager to attack.

Alex can’t help but stare at the three men in suits. All of them are genuine freaks of nature, easily recognizable even in a battlefield like this.

One of them is insanely tall, almost twice as tall as Alex, with long pink hair and a completely white face, similar to a Japanese kabuki actor.

Kumadori…

Another one is extremely fat, his mouth and face big enough to swallow a human. Most disturbingly, his face has a zipper strapped across it, making him appear like a failed experiment.

Fukurou…

The last one appears almost normal—only a couple of heads taller than an average man—but despite wearing a suit and tie, he didn’t even bother putting on a shirt, making him also appear extremely weird.

and even Jabra!

Finally, the man in charge has a leather mask covering half of his face, making him stand out as well.

Spandam… and the rest of CP9…! Even the rookie Nero is with them, though he looks a little out of place, to be honest.

Behind them is a large unit of Marines, led by a tall—yet compared to the CP9 members, except Nero and Spandam—almost small-looking man, smoking two cigars at the same time. Next to him stands a nervous-looking woman wearing glasses, holding onto her sheathed sword, hugging it tightly.

Smoker… and Tashigi.

Despite the war around them, the Marines appear to be reluctant to interfere, Smoker even looking angry and aggrieved. Their entire unit seems not to be involved in the fighting, and there is a clear distance between them and the Marines and Agents at the front.

Marines cooperating with CP9… how?! Also, the ones in the front are tough. CP9 shouldn’t even be here. What the fuck is happening?Anyway, who are they fighting? Should we just turn around and take a route around them? This looks like trouble.

“Who are they?” Robin asks, looking nervous—until her gaze lands on Spandam. “That man… I… he reminds me of someone I—”

“Let’s bail,” Alex says immediately, interrupting her. “Those are CP9 agents… a secret government organisation. I took down most of them in Water 7, but it’ll be annoying and tough dealing with them again, and we can’t afford that right now.

“They also have a really troublesome Marine with them,” he argues, already stepping back.

However, suddenly, Alex sees a bunch of Marines at the forefront get sent backwards, actually getting thrown into the air—crashing into buildings, or, for the unlucky ones, against them—finally allowing him to see who the Marines are fighting.

It turns out they are fighting only a small group of fighters.

Alex immediately recognizes them, of course. Benezia stands at the front, calm and steady, holding her already-bloody Asari sword, droplets of blood sliding down the sword and onto the ground. On one side of her is Zoro, glancing at her and her sword while holding two of his own blades in his hands. Sanji, looking injured, stands on her other side, his suit almost fully ripped apart, his expression serious, though he still can’t keep his eyes off Benezia for long, despite her lethality.

Fucking leech.

Behind them are Usopp, Nami, and Chopper—each of them roughed up, especially Usopp, whose body is covered in exaggerated bandages. However, his face tells Alex that he is still in decent condition.

Noticeably, Jewel and Tereza are missing.

“Indeed,” Robin suddenly says, responding to Alex’s earlier statement, “Let’s walk around them.”

“No,” Alex replies immediately, not even thinking, completely reversing his earlier order.

Benezia can keep up with them, but there are just too many enemies! Four CP9 agents, as well as Smoker… add to that the high-ranked Marines, and even Benezia can’t fight them all.Worst of all, the Straw Hats—aside from Zoro—are all somewhat injured.I can’t risk them, and more importantly, Benezia dying.She might have purchased insurance from the Realm, but I don’t want her to experience death and lose some of her potential and abilities.

“Why?” Robin asks nervously, her expression unable to comprehend Alex’s, until she finally notices Benezia and the Straw Hats as well.

“I need to help them,” Alex says, not leaving room for discussion. “Luffy can deal with Crocodile. I’ll help him soon, but this takes precedence.”

Screw the mission, screw the plot, and screw the rewards. I won’t look away from this. Also, Luffy canonically beats Crocodile... I need to trust him for now. Even so, I’d choose Benezia over all of the Straw Hats combined.

“Stay back and wait for me… I’ll take care of this,” Alex urges Robin. “If you can’t, move on to the Tomb of the Kings, just to the west of the city.”

“…I need to go there,” Robin says, looking towards the ground. A hint of guilt creeps onto her face, and then she turns around and sprints away, trying to run around the conflict.

Meanwhile, Alex uses Zetsu and climbs onto another building, grinning deviously as he once again takes out his [Magoroth’s Legacy R2].

As he waits for an opportune moment, he sees Spandam lose his cool as most of the special Marines get defeated by the Straw Hats and Benezia—Benezia in particular, not holding back, killing her opponents without hesitation.

“Do something!” Spandam yells, angrily stomping on the ground. “You, new guy, do your job!”

“Yes, sir!” Nero says, striding forward and revealing a cruel smile.

What a stupid rat. Maybe this fool can give me an opportunity to snipe one of them. I need the attention on him…

Alex conjures a Magorian’s Rage Arrow and lies down at the edge of the roof, patiently surveying the scene.

“Surrender now… or don’t… that will make it even more fun for me!” Nero says, licking his lips. “Let me show you how a real superhuman fights and why you ants can’t compare to me.”

He then performs Rankyaku, firing a sharp wave of energy forward, prompting Zoro to step forward and easily cut the wave of energy apart with his swords.

“You talk too much,” Zoro says in a cold voice, obviously not impressed.

Alex, thanks to his high SNS, hears him whisper.

“I’ll take him on… he is strong, and the ones behind him even more so.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Benezia says, smiling, stepping forward.

“You arrogant blue rat! Die!” Nero yells, enraged that he’s been disregarded. He flashes forward, using Soru to appear right next to them.

However, Benezia reacts instantly, using a Biotic ability that briefly flickers forward and locks onto him, enveloping his body in Biotic energy and making him scream in pain.

“AAAAAAHhhhhhhhhh!” Nero yells as his body spasms violently.

That’s Reave… his nervous system is getting fried… damn, that looks painful enough to kill an average man instantly. It will also stay active, he can’t even dodge, so if I’m correct, Benezia will follow up with...

Guessing correctly, Benezia follows it up with a variation of Pull, dragging Nero off the ground and pulling him into the air, yanking him slightly backwards—only to charge up a devastatingly strong Throw and throw it downwards at a curved angle, smashing downwards, Nero’s body in between the ability and the ground.

The moment the ability hits, Nero’s body literally explodes in a huge Biotic detonation, with both Reave and Pull acting as separate primers, his body already weakened by Reave.

To the horror of the Marines and the other agents, Nero turns into a bloody rain that showers them in a gory mess, his body disintegrating into hundreds of wet, red pieces, the Agents and Marines each getting covered in it.

“Help!”

“She is crazy… a demon, a demon!”

The Marines in the back yell, a couple of them immediately throwing up, vomiting onto the ground, while a few more desert outright, running backwards without even looking back.

Even Smoker and Tashigi look shocked, not even reacting in time to stop their own soldiers.

The agents—having known Nero and his formidable power—also turn serious.

Meanwhile, the Straw Hats look equally shocked. Nami and Usopp hug each other in panic while Chopper clings to Nami’s legs. Only Zoro and Sanji maintain their cool.

Holy shit… anyway, that will do for a distraction.Who should I aim for…? It’s best to aim for the strongest enemy.The third strongest of the entire CP9, with around the same strength as Kaku, would be…

Alex, having found his opportunity, activates Ren and imbues his arrow with Aura, using Shu, then uses Spiritual Arrow once again—aiming straight for Jabra.

As his consciousness transfers into the arrow, despite barely needing to aim, he adjusts the flight path midair, guiding it straight towards Jabra.

However, Jabra, angered by Nero’s fate and the bloody shower, transforms into his hybrid form, his body twisting and warping into a monstrous, large-looking wolf.

Because of the sudden transformation, his body shifts downwards, and Alex can’t adjust the flight path fast enough.

Fuck!

With Jabra out of the way, the arrow pierces into the person behind him—Alex only realizing, at the last moment, that he just drove it straight into Spandam’s head as his consciousness gets yanked back into his body.

You have dealt 106 x 3 = 318 damage to Spandam

You have killed Spandam