A large fleet of eight ships and hundreds of Baroque Works bounty hunters were all wiped out with a single punch.
This punch not only obliterated the wooden fleets but also violently churned the sea itself. During the impact, even the Millions and Billions who survived the initial blast were thrown into the churning vortex of the Sandora River. If they weren't exceptionally strong swimmers, they would have a very hard time surviving the undertow.
"That's really impressive," Robin murmured from the deck of the Little Fish, unable to hide the awe in her voice as she watched the devastation.
Robin was now somewhat relieved that Darian, despite acting like a lecherous, easily distracted fool around women, had not been betrayed by her. Had she actually tipped Crocodile off to his location earlier, the consequences of facing Darian's wrath would have been utterly unpredictable.
With such terrifying strength, an undeniably handsome appearance, and a strangely protective personality toward his crew... why is he so unbelievably lecherous and utterly incapable of controlling his lower half? Nami thought. She leaned against the railing, looking at Darian hovering over the churning river with a very complicated, conflicted expression.
While Robin and Nami harbored mixed feelings about their Captain, Carmen, Mikita, and Alvida were filled with an undeniable sense of safety and excitement. In this brutal, dog-eat-dog world of the Grand Line, becoming the woman of such an overwhelmingly powerful man was undoubtedly the smartest choice for survival.
After venting his frustration on the fleet, Darian felt much better. He had been harboring a lot of pent-up resentment all morning because of the crushing, awkward atmosphere at breakfast and Nami's icy glares.
After glancing at the remaining agents struggling in the river, Darian looked toward the distant shoreline, where two figures stood watching the destruction. One was a tall, dark-skinned man dressed as a martial monk; the other was a woman with a shockingly voluptuous figure.
With a powerful flap of his black Iron Sand Wings, Darian flew toward the shore.
"He's coming toward us," said Mr. 1, the man dressed as an ascetic monk, his voice deep and entirely devoid of panic.
"Are you confident you can handle him?" Paula (Miss Doublefinger) asked, a distinct note of concern creeping into her voice as she watched the winged demon approach.
As his partner who often went on assassination missions with him, Paula was intimately aware of Mr. 1, Daz Bones's, lethal abilities.
Mr. 1 was a blade man who had eaten the Dice-Dice Fruit. Any part of his body could transform into a razor-sharp steel blade, and his skin, muscles, and internal organs were as hard as actual forged steel. His physical strength and defense were undoubtedly top-tier within the syndicate.
But even Mr. 1 would have had to put in a significant amount of effort and time to deal with an eight-ship fleet of Billions. Darian had resolved the issue in three seconds with just one punch. This horrific display of power made Paula genuinely worry.
As a professional assassin, so-called "companionship" was nothing but bullshit. Paula wasn't worried about Mr. 1 surviving; she was only worried about her own life!
In response to Paula's question, Mr. 1 simply looked up at the descending Darian with a deadly serious expression and replied, "I don't know."
I don't know? He's not sure?! As Darian rapidly approached the shoreline, Paula tensed up entirely, dropping her casual pose with her hands on her hips.
In the time it took to exchange those few words, Darian had already crossed the distance and was hovering in the air right in front of them, looking down from above. As the Iron Sand Wings hummed and vibrated loudly behind Darian, an immense, suffocating sense of oppression washed over the two Officer Agents.
"Those guys were sent by you to slow me down, weren't they?" Darian asked, his voice echoing from behind his white mask.
Faced with Darian's piercing gaze, Paula hesitated to speak. She didn't know how Darian would treat them, so she could only cast a nervous glance at Mr. 1.
Despite feeling the considerable, crushing pressure radiating from the White Emperor, Mr. 1 stepped forward without an ounce of fear and crossed his arms. "Yes."
The answer was concise. Darian already knew it was them, so there was no need for further, pointless exposition.
Ignoring the steel man entirely, Darian locked his gaze on Paula and asked directly, "Want to get on my boat and become my woman?"
Paula was completely taken aback by Darian's overly direct, blunt proposition. Even Mr. 1, whose face was usually carved from stone, looked over at Paula with a flicker of genuine surprise.
Paula possessed long, wavy blue hair, a tall, commanding figure, and an impossibly slender waist that made her bust and hips look particularly prominent. Combined with her sexy, revealing outfits, Paula was undeniably alluring, giving off the mature vibe of a high-end bar owner.
Specifically, looking at Paula's ridiculously thin waist, Darian's hyper-aroused mind immediately wanted to experience what it felt like to hold onto such a delicate waist while bending her over his bed.
Faced with a monstrously strong enemy proposing to her, Paula broke out in a cold sweat. She could only force a strained smile and reply, "You must be joking. I'm an Officer Agent of Baroque Works."
Paula was naturally tempted to submit to the overwhelming pressure radiating from Darian to save her own life, but she also understood the fatal consequences of betraying the syndicate; there was a man standing right beside her who could slice her into ribbons the moment she showed disloyalty.
Seeing the nervous, trapped look in Paula's eyes, Darian said flatly, "Soon, Baroque Works will cease to exist entirely."
This arrogant remark undoubtedly provoked Mr. 1.
SHING!
With a sharp, metallic clang, Darian heard the unmistakable sound of steel grinding against steel.
Mr. 1 decisively activated his Devil Fruit power, transforming his forearms into shining steel blades, adopting a combat stance as if warning Paula not to accept the offer.
Paula was a mature, sophisticated older sister type—undoubtedly a perfect addition to Darian's growing collection. Mr. 1's blatant threat to Paula made Darian frown beneath his mask.
"You dark-skinned ascetic," Darian scoffed at Mr. 1, "All you know how to do is train and kill people all day. Why are you interrupting my conversation with a lady?"
Daz Bones was an extremely loyal, stubborn man. He had worked hard as an assassin for the syndicate, and his loyalty to Crocodile was absolute.
Looking at Paula out of the corner of his eye, Mr. 1 asked seriously, "Do you intend to betray the organization, Doublefinger?"
One side was inviting her to join his crew and his bed, while the other was threatening to execute her for treason. Neither of them were men she could hope to defeat in combat. The intense pressure suddenly fell entirely onto Paula's shoulders.
Seeing Paula's dilemma, Darian smiled coldly. "Alright then, Blademan. Whether she betrays Baroque Works or not depends entirely on whether you can survive the next ten seconds."
As he spoke, Darian manipulated the magnetic field around him. He separated a stream of black iron sand from his wings, drawing it into his right hand to form a long, jagged sword of iron sand that began to buzz with a high-pitched, terrifying frequency.
"Gear Second."
BOOM!
With a powerful flap of his Iron Sand Wings, the air was pounded backward with a deafening roar. In an instant, Darian vanished from the sky, reappearing directly in front of Daz Bones with a blinding thrust!
What?!
Daz Bones was caught completely off guard by Darian's incredible, explosive speed.
"Die!" Mr. 1 roared, crossing his bladed arms in front of his chest.
With the power of the Dice-Dice Fruit, his entire body was already impervious to standard blades and gunfire, but when he actively braced himself to block, his bodily hardness increased even further, rivaling thick armor plating.
Faced with Darian's incoming attack, Mr. 1 instinctively chose to defend his core. As a martial artist whose very body was a weapon, Mr. 1 didn't think for a second that Darian could break through his steel defense, especially given how awkwardly and unprofessionally Darian swung the sword. He had no proper swordsmanship form.
But ignorance is always the most terrifying weakness.
Although Darian's swordsmanship and physical martial arts technique were indeed amateurish, the sheer, raw power of his Devil Fruit applications was simply too much to block.
The two men passed each other in a blur of motion.
Darian stood steadily a few paces away, lowering his buzzing black sword.
Behind him, Mr. 1 stood frozen. His impenetrable steel body had been torn open in a flash. Darian had cleaved a massive, deep gash diagonally across his chest and abdomen.
The cut was not smooth like a traditional sword strike. It looked as if it had been made by an industrial chainsaw. His steel flesh was mangled, and his internal organs were clearly visible inside the horrific wound.
Before Daz Bones's mind could even process the agony of what had just happened, his body collapsed limply to the sandy ground.
Mr. 1's defensive capabilities were truly impressive; in another life, he would push Roronoa Zoro to the absolute brink of death before the swordsman learned to cut steel.
Why...?
Even as he fell into the dirt, bleeding profusely, Mr. 1 still couldn't understand why his steel body could be carved open by a rookie who couldn't even hold a sword with proper form.
Under the intense binding force of electromagnetism, the iron sand sword tore through matter like a motorized chainsaw. After Darian incorporated the secondary power of the Asura Path (Vibration) into the blade, it had effectively become an indestructible, high-frequency cutting tool that bypassed traditional hardness entirely. Furthermore, with his tenfold physical strength amplification from "Gear Second," slicing through Mr. 1 was as easy as cutting warm butter.
Even if an attack like this ripped someone's chest open, for monsters in the Grand Line, it was often just a critical injury, not an immediate death sentence.
Turning around, Darian gave Mr. 1 no chance to recover or launch a desperate counterattack. He coldly swung his sword down, intending to execute the assassin on the spot.
"Wait! I surrender!"
Paula screamed, dropping to her knees. Seeing Mr. 1 defeated in a single, brutal exchange right in front of her shattered Paula's will to resist. She threw her hands up, her face pale with terror.
Darian stopped his blade inches from Mr. 1's neck. He let the sword dissolve back into the wings.
Walking over, Darian wrapped his arm firmly around Paula's waist and pulled her up against him. He realized just how impossibly slender her waist truly was. He was briefly afraid that she might snap in half while walking.
"Smart girl," Darian chuckled.
Darian got a little carried away with his victory. When he flew back to the boat and landed on the deck, the crew saw that he had brought back yet another beautiful woman as a hostage—and she was dressed in a highly provocative, spider-web patterned top.
Nami's face, which had already been dark, turned completely pitch black. She ignored Darian's triumphant grin entirely, turned on her heel, and marched straight down into the cabin, slamming the door.
Robin looked at Paula, assessing her former colleague, and then looked at Darian. This time, instead of whispering it for lip-reading, she directly and loudly mocked him.
"Captain, your sex drive is truly astonishing," Robin said dryly, crossing her arms. "You don't miss a single woman you come across, do you? Calling you a scumbag doesn't even begin to cover it."
Darian accepted Robin's blatant sarcasm with a thick-skinned smile. He was a man determined to build an empire, after all. "You flatter me, Robin! You flatter me."
Even Alvida, Mikita, and Carmen didn't look thrilled. After all, they had just gained another gorgeous competitor for his attention and status on the ship.
Marianne (Miss Goldenweek) gave Darian a thoroughly disgusted look, as if he were a piece of trash, and then hurried away. Princess Vivi smiled awkwardly, bowed her head politely to Paula, and followed her.
Well, Darian thought, rubbing the back of his neck. All that impressive, explosive performance I showed earlier fighting the fleet was for absolutely nothing.
Seeing the incredibly hostile reaction from every single woman on the ship regarding her arrival, Paula crossed her arms, speaking with a mix of sarcasm and irony. "It seems like your crew isn't very welcoming of me, Captain."
"Don't worry about them!" Darian said with a lecherous smile, pulling her closer by her incredibly thin waist. "I'm more than happy to welcome you!"
Everyone on board knew Darian's true, base intentions, and even Paula was left momentarily speechless by his utterly shameless, lecherous state just moments after displaying such terrifying combat power.
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