Chapter 256
Snack felt the last of his confidence collapse beneath the pressure coming from Zaraki.
It was not some mysterious power that stopped the wind or froze the sea around them.
The effect was simpler and, to Snack, far worse.
Every instinct he possessed was telling him that the man standing across the water had already decided how this confrontation would end, and none of the status Snack had once taken pride in—his name, his bounty, or the flag of Charlotte Linlin above his ship—seemed to matter in the slightest.
For the first time since the Oni Slayer appeared, the thought in his head was not about recovering his reputation after his defeat by Urouge or proving himself worthy of the Charlotte name.
It was simply, 'Run.'
Zaraki gave him no opportunity.
Sealed Nozarashi came free in one smooth motion, and the swing that followed was almost insultingly plain.
He neither released the blade nor used an elaborate sword technique; he simply put enough force into the cut to send a compressed flying slash across the water.
The attack widened as it traveled, its edge thin enough to look almost weightless despite the pressure carving a long trench through the surface beneath it.
Snack reacted on instinct.
A greasy sheen spread over his arms as he thrust both hands forward and finally revealed the Paramecia ability he had been holding in reserve.
"Oil-Oil Fruit: Deep-Fry Impact!"
A thick mass of oil erupted from him and compressed into a rotating drill.
Friction and heat darkened the outer layers until the entire attack gave off a nauseating burnt stench, and Snack threw everything he had into forcing it against the incoming slash.
He only needed to weaken Zaraki's attack.
It accomplished nothing.
The slash cut through the rotating oil almost without slowing and struck Snack across the torso hard enough to rip him from the bow.
He smashed through the biscuit ship's mainmast and disappeared into a shower of splintered timber as the remaining force traveled on through the upper hull.
A straight cut opened from the bow toward the stern.
For a moment the ship merely groaned.
Then the damaged structure gave way and the vessel began splitting along the line, both halves sagging toward the sea while pirates scrambled for rigging, floating biscuit sections, and anything else that would keep them above the water.
Snack dragged himself out of the broken mast with blood running from his mouth.
Several ribs had clearly given way, and one arm hung badly, but the wound had not completely destroyed his chest. His humiliation hurt almost as much as the injury.
The challenge had been simple: one attack each.
Snack had thrown his weapon first.
Zaraki's answer had already settled the argument.
Snack refused to accept it.
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
Whatever judgment remained vanished beneath rage.
He spread both arms and forced his Devil Fruit ability outward without attempting to shape it into another precise attack.
"OIL SEA HELL!"
Oil poured across the wreckage and spread over the water in a broad, unstable wave, rolling toward the Oni Slayer as Snack tried to turn the space between them into a field of fuel.
The senior captain on Zaraki's ship immediately shouted for the deck crews to pull back from the rail and ready fire suppression equipment, but Zaraki was already moving.
He raised Nozarashi again and swept the sealed blade horizontally.
The resulting pressure cut through the center of the advancing oil and drove the two halves away from the Oni Slayer, dispersing the wave across empty water on either side of the ship rather than allowing it to wash over the hull.
The attack did not erase the oil or swallow it into some impossible void, it simply split Snack's desperate last move apart with more force than the pirate could hold together.
Snack stared at the broken wave in disbelief.
That hesitation was enough.
Zaraki bent his knees and launched himself from the Oni Slayer's bow in a single physical burst.
He crossed the short distance over the wreckage rather than flying, landed on a floating section of biscuit near Snack, and passed him before the pirate's injured body could properly turn.
Nozarashi flashed once.
Zaraki stopped several paces behind him and slid the sealed blade back into its sheath.
Click.
Snack remained upright for a heartbeat, eyes wide and mouth half open, before a thin line appeared across his throat.
His head slipped from his shoulders and dropped into the sea, followed a moment later by the rest of his body.
Charlotte Snack was dead!
Whatever remained of his crew lost the will to fight.
Weapons splashed into the water as pirates clung to floating wreckage and shouted that they surrendered.
The senior captain did not order them slaughtered.
Instead, Marine launches moved out to secure prisoners, seize every Den Den Mushi they could find, and recover charts, Eternal Poses, and anything else connected to the interception.
Their route had already been compromised; pretending that killing witnesses would somehow make the mission secret again would accomplish nothing.
Zaraki returned to the Oni Slayer aboard one of the launches with Konpira's sheath still secured at his belt.
Before the senior captain could ask what came next, another Marine launch approached rapidly from the direction of Kalles's northern shelf.
Six battered Marines were aboard.
Every man on the Oni Slayer recognized them.
They were the reconnaissance team that had left with Gion.
The senior captain rushed forward. "Where is Vice Admiral Gion?"
The ranking Marine from the launch had a bandage wrapped around his forehead and dried blood along one side of his face. He forced himself upright before answering.
"Our steering was destroyed before we reached the shelf. It wasn't cannon fire from the sea—the shot came from the Kalles side, from high ground. Before we could recover, three pirate patrol ships closed in from the north."
The senior captain's expression changed.
"The Big Mom Pirates?"
"Yes, sir. Vice Admiral Gion realized they were trying to isolate her, so she ordered us onto the emergency float and stayed behind to keep them from following. We saw another attacker firing from the island while the pirate ships boxed her in."
One of Dapus's long-range Aegis operatives.
Zaraki did not need anyone to say it aloud.
The Marine swallowed.
"We tried to turn back, but she ordered us away. By the time we reached the shallows, her launch was gone."
The senior captain looked at Konpira's sheath at Zaraki's waist and understood.
The kidnapping had not been Snack taking advantage of an accident.
The reconnaissance launch had been disabled from Kalles, then Big Mom's forces had been waiting in exactly the right place to separate Gion from her men.
Dapus had changed the trap.
Zaraki looked toward the captured charts now spread across a nearby crate.
Among them was an Eternal Pose marked for Whole Cake Island.
The senior captain followed his gaze.
"Zaraki... are we really going after her?"
The answer came without hesitation.
"Yes."
The captain drew a slow breath. "We just killed one of Charlotte Linlin's sons. Going directly into the heart of her territory after this could turn a rescue operation into a war."
"That was probably the idea."
Zaraki rested one hand against Konpira's sheath.
"They failed to get the Oni Slayer into the Kalles harbor, so they moved to the next layer. Dapus disables Gion's launch, Linlin's people take her, Snack waits nearby with proof, and I'm given a reason to leave Kalles exactly when they want me to."
The senior captain frowned. "Then going after her is doing what they expect."
"Yeah."
"And you're still going."
Zaraki looked at him as though the answer should have been obvious.
"Gion's one of ours."
His gaze shifted toward the Eternal Pose pointing deeper into the New World.
"The trap can wait its turn."