One Piece: Legend of the Star Sea

"Our guns were destroyed by the weapon he threw!"

"Did you see that? That guy with the straw hat deflected the bullets—and stretched his leg like that… another freak has shown up!"

"No wonder one monster's companion is another monster. We couldn't handle the guy with the weird weapon, and now there's this straw hat kid. Captain, we're not their match at all!"

The marines began to panic as Alex and Luffy resolved the hostage situation in the blink of an eye.

This time, Captain Morgan didn't scold his subordinates. His swollen, pig-like face darkened as he stared at Luffy. "That brat… he's no ordinary person. He must've eaten one of the legendary Devil Fruits!"

Then he turned toward Alex. "And you, the reason you recovered from your injuries so quickly—it's also because of a Devil Fruit, isn't it?"

Alex didn't answer, only thinking to himself: For someone who looks that dumb, he's not completely clueless.

"The legendary treasure of the sea?"

"So deflecting the bullets was a power from the Devil Fruit."

"No wonder that injured guy is so hard to deal with—he's a Devil Fruit user too."

"There's no way we can handle two Devil Fruit users at once!"

The surrounding marines looked at Alex and Luffy with dread in their eyes.

"What are you panicking for? If bullets won't work, then cut them down with blades!" Morgan barked, waving his hand and ordering his troops to charge.

"You hold them off for me—I'll go get Zoro!" Luffy shouted at Alex while carrying Zoro's three swords and running toward the execution platform.

What the hell, I'm the one who's injured here. You should've handed Zoro's swords to me and gone to rescue him yourself…

Alex was speechless. Before he could even complain, he heard Nami's voice:

"Idiot! What are you standing there for? Hurry up and help me!"

Over where Nami was, the marines' guns had been wrecked by Alex's nunchucks—but they still had sabers.

A dozen marines armed with blades shouldn't have any trouble handling a defenseless woman. It would be laughable if they failed.

Seeing the angry, blade-wielding marines coming at her, Nami immediately called out to Alex for help.

Great. I can't clone myself, and I can't be in two places at once. What do you expect from me, divine intervention?

Alex knocked out a marine charging toward Luffy, then shouted at Nami, "Try to move toward me! Just hold on a bit longer!"

"You're seriously telling an unarmed woman, being chased by bloodthirsty men, to hold on by herself?"

Nami bared her teeth and yelled at him, "Are you even a man?!"

Oh, come on! You're like twenty meters away—can't you just run over here yourself? Why do I have to come to you?

What Alex didn't realize was that Nami had been traumatized moments earlier, believing he had died. The emotional shock had shaken her to the core. Now, seeing that he was still alive, all she wanted was for him to stay close. Only then could she believe he was really still part of her world.

Unfortunately, Alex wasn't a mind reader—plus he was busy getting ganged up on—so he had no time to guess a woman's feelings.

"Captain! The straw hat guy is untying Zoro's ropes!"

The marines noticed what Luffy was doing and quickly reported to Morgan.

"Stop him at once!" Morgan ordered in a panic. He knew how dangerous Zoro was. If Zoro were freed, even his ego couldn't convince him they could win against Luffy, Zoro, and Alex together.

But with Alex holding the line, Morgan couldn't push his men through to stop Luffy.

While blocking the marines, Alex kept an eye on Nami. He saw her drop something about seven meters away and, unbelievably, she turned her back to the marines to pick it up, completely unaware of the danger behind her.

"You idiot! What the hell are you doing?!"

Seeing the blades about to strike Nami, Alex's heart tightened. He dashed over like a bolt of lightning, pulled her into his arms, and with a spinning kick, knocked down the marines swinging at her.

"Are you out of your mind?!"

Alex was genuinely furious—Nami was acting totally unlike her usual clever self, and it scared him.

"Listen to me! If you're so desperate to die, then don't do it in front of me! Go die somewhere else!"

His anger erupted at how carelessly she had treated her own life, risking it all just to pick something off the ground.

While Alex was yelling at Nami, Zoro was shouting at Luffy from the wooden pillar:

"Hey! Hurry up already!"

"I'm trying, but man, this rope's tight!" Luffy grumbled as he struggled with the knots.

"Mmm… what happened? I fainted earlier..." Koby had just regained consciousness after fainting when he thought Luffy had been shot. But before he could finish his sentence, he saw a large group of marines charging with drawn blades.

"Mr. Luffy! Mr. Zoro! Look out!"

"Chill out, would you?" Luffy said casually, seemingly oblivious to the oncoming danger.

"You think we still have time to wait around?!" Zoro cried, exasperated.

"Don't worry. Alex is holding them off. We're safe," Luffy replied calmly, not realizing the marines were almost on top of them.

"Alex? That's his name?" Zoro asked. "Don't you know he's injured? And you're having him hold off the marines by himself? How the hell is he supposed to manage that?!"

Zoro couldn't see past the crowd, so he didn't realize Alex had stepped away to rescue Nami. He assumed Alex was about to collapse from his injuries.

"What?! He's injured?! Who hurt him?!" Luffy was stunned.

Then he said something that made Zoro nearly lose it: "I saw his back all red and thought he liked wearing red like me—that's why I figured his shirt was dyed that way."

"You idiot! That's blood! His shirt is soaked in blood! Now hurry up and untie me!"

Zoro finally lost it.

"Okay, okay! We need to help him ASAP. But which of these swords is yours?" Luffy finally got serious and sped up untying the ropes.

"All three of them are mine. I use Three Sword Style."

"You've decided to go against the Marines and the World Government with us, haven't you?" Luffy asked, flashing a grin. "If you won't join, I won't untie you. I've got to help Alex right now."

"Are you some kind of demon?" Zoro glared at him. "Fine! I'd rather gamble on becoming a pirate than die here!"

"Awesome! You're finally joining us!"

Luffy beamed. Zoro, on the other hand, looked like he was going to pop a vein.

"Then hurry up and untie me! The marines are almost on us!"

"You're just like Alex, always in a rush. See? I've already got one hand free."

As Luffy spoke, the marines were almost upon them. Zoro couldn't take his nonchalant attitude anymore. He stretched out his newly freed hand and shouted:

"You idiot! Give me my sword!"

Just as he did, a dozen marines raised their swords and swung them down.

"Anyone who disobeys me dies!" Captain Morgan declared, striding toward them.

He had no intention of going near Alex—who had just beaten him bloody—but was eager to crush Luffy and Zoro to rebuild his shattered ego. He thought they were "easy targets."

He couldn't have made a bigger mistake.

Zoro and Luffy weren't "soft." At this point, they were the deadliest people on the field.

Koby's mouth fell open in horror, unable to speak.

The marines swung their blades—

CLANG!

—only for Zoro to block every single strike.

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