### North Blue, Minion Island
"...We don't know! We have no idea what happened!"
Along the snow-covered shoreline of the island, numerous Marines wearing winter cloaks and caps stared in shock at the scene before them while reporting via Den Den Mushi to their superior officer.
"A gigantic, cage-like structure suddenly appeared and surrounded the town! Most of our forces can't even get inside! And unbelievably, the pirates seem to have turned on each other, they're slaughtering one another inside the giant cage!"
Minion Island had originally been an abandoned, uninhabited wasteland. Recently, only one pirate crew had occupied it: the group that had obtained the Op-Op Fruit and planned to sell it in three days. But now, those same pirates were hacking each other apart inside the enormous cage as if they had gone completely mad.
---
### A Suburban Area Inside the Birdcage
"What... is that?"
Only thirteen years old and suffering from terminal Amber Lead Syndrome, Trafalgar Law lay battered and bruised on the ground after a vicious beating. He stared blankly at the gigantic, net-like structure stretching across the sky.
Rosinante, the undercover Marine agent within the Donquixote Family, had recently learned of Doflamingo's grand plan to seize the kingdom of Dressrosa in the New World. After stealing the Op-Op Fruit and getting gravely wounded in the process, Rosinante had handed Law a bundle of intelligence documents, asking him to deliver them to the Marines.
But fate had played a cruel joke. The Marine Law found happened to be Vergo, the very Donquixote Family executive Doflamingo had secretly embedded deep within the Marines.
Vergo immediately realized that Rosinante was the traitor. He captured Law, found Rosinante, and ruthlessly beat both of them with Armament Haki-coated fists. While Vergo was distracted communicating with Doflamingo, Rosinante used the power of his Calm-Calm Fruit to escape with Law and hide here.
Covered in wounds and blood, Rosinante breathed heavily as he looked up at the sky. "That should be Doffy's power... He definitely wants to kill me now, and he already knows I'm here. In other words... we have nowhere left to run."
The cage created by the String-String Fruit trapped everyone inside. If Doflamingo combined it with his ability to control people through Parasite Strings, this place would truly become hell.
A grave expression settled on Rosinante's face as he slowly made up his mind. He was beyond saving, but getting Law out alive... that should still be possible.
"Law, it's time to move." He picked up the heavily injured boy and gave him a bright smile. "Let's go."
---
### Elsewhere Inside the Birdcage
"Where did they run off to?!"
Vergo hurried through the snowstorm inside the Birdcage. He completely ignored the pirates around him who were slaughtering one another under Doflamingo's Parasite Strings, his face tight with irritation. His carelessness had allowed Rosinante to escape, which would undoubtedly disappoint Doffy.
Because of his undercover status, he couldn't openly reunite with the other Family executives and had to search for the two fugitives on his own.
"Still, inside Doffy's Birdcage... you have nowhere left to hide."
---
### Seagull Island Nearby – A Battleship Marked "Tsuru"
"It's Doflamingo's String-String Fruit..." Vice Admiral Tsuru, a contemporary of Sengoku and Garp, held a Den Den Mushi in her hand. Although she couldn't directly see what was happening on Minion Island, the reports from the shore allowed her to roughly grasp the situation.
"He may be a scoundrel, but he's undeniably powerful. Remain where you are. Do not approach that 'cage' without orders."
The Marine on the other end replied nervously, "Yes, Vice Admiral! Then..."
"Don't worry. I'm heading there immediately." Tsuru hung up the Den Den Mushi and turned around to shout, "You heard me! Set sail..."
"Hm?!"
Suddenly, a rapid series of explosive 'pop-pop-pop' sounds approached from above. Looking up, she saw a tall young man holding a beautiful woman around the waist, leaping through the sky. Each step created a sonic burst in midair, using the tremendous recoil to launch them forward.
By the time Tsuru raised her head, the two figures had already passed directly over the battleship and were speeding toward Minion Island. The Marines on deck stood stunned.
"What was that?!"
"Two people?!"
"No way, they were flying!"
"Too fast! I couldn't see them clearly!"
"They really came..." Tsuru murmured.
As the highest-ranking Marine officer responsible for pursuing the Donquixote Family in the North Blue, Sengoku had naturally informed her that the newly appointed Warlords of the Sea would be assisting them.
Soon, another battleship caught up. A burly Marine officer on its deck shouted over, "When we got close, Giorno apparently thought our battleship was too slow! He picked up Captain Jolyne Cujoh and jumped straight into the sky!"
"The JoJo Pirates?!"
"Weren't they just made Warlords a few days ago?"
"That happened?! I've been so focused on this mission that I haven't paid attention to the news at all!"
The Marines aboard both battleships watched the two distant figures disappear into the winter sky, their expressions complicated.
"They're obviously pirates... but knowing they're on our side somehow makes me feel completely relieved."
That was the madman who had recently clashed with Whitebeard in the New World. Rumors even claimed he had ties to the legendary "Dark King" Rayleigh and had once traded blows with Admiral Zephyr. A pirate of such terrifying strength was now coming to support the Marines. For soldiers who carried the banner of Justice, the feeling was undeniably strange.
On the other end of the line, the Marines stationed near Minion Island had clearly overheard the conversation. The Den Den Mushi's face twisted into shock and delight. "Really?! Someone that powerful is actually..."
The transmission abruptly cut off. The Den Den Mushi's excited expression instantly returned to a calm, blank stare.
'Purururu... Purururu...' It was the sound of a completely disconnected line.
---
"Let's go..." Tsuru frowned slightly and put away the Den Den Mushi. Crossing her arms, she calmly gave the order, "Move out. Don't let two pirates steal all the credit."
"YES, MA'AM!!" The Marines' spirits immediately rose as they drove the battleships straight ahead.
---
### Minion Island - Outside the Birdcage
High above the island, the two figures cut through the snowstorm at incredible speed, descending toward the top of the gigantic cage woven from countless threads.
'Thud...'
Liam's feet, coated in Armament Haki, landed on several of the threads. Yet the strings didn't budge at all. Instead, even with Haki reinforcement, the sharp fibers sliced slightly into the soles of his shoes.
"What tough threads..." Robin said in surprise, reaching out to touch one. Without Armament Haki protecting her hand, the string felt as though it could cut her skin at any moment. "And they're incredibly sharp too... So this is the power of the String-String Fruit."
She looked at the massive cage surrounding the island. "If Doflamingo were to start shrinking this thing toward the center... everything inside, every building, every living creature, would be sliced into countless pieces."
"Let's head down first." Liam jumped backward, bringing Robin with him as they landed on the snowy ground.
The black Stand armor emerged from his body and turned to look off to the side. A hooded boy was sprinting toward them in a panic. Not paying attention to where he was going, the boy ran straight through 'B.I.B.' and slammed into Liam's back.
'Bang!'
The boy felt as though he'd collided with an iron wall. He bounced backward and landed in the snow, clutching his head in pain. Looking up, he saw a man and a woman standing outside the Birdcage.
They were... the famous Grand Line pirates, Giorno Giovanna and Jolyne Cujoh?!
Although the tall woman wore sunglasses, Drake was certain he hadn't mistaken them. After all, Giorno's appearance was far too distinctive; anyone who had ever seen his face in a newspaper would never forget it.
"Watch where you're going, kid." The tall Giorno glanced down at him and pointed toward a distant area of the island. "If you're looking for the Marines, they're over there."
Drake's body stiffened. Without thinking, he obeyed. As he hurried away through the snow, he kept glancing back. The pair were walking straight toward the gigantic cage. What were they planning to do? Go inside that hell on earth ruled by Doflamingo?
As it turned out, they were. When Giorno and Jolyne approached the Birdcage, their bodies suddenly vanished, leaving only a tiny Den Den Mushi on the ground. The little snail calmly crawled through one of the gaps between the threads, gaps far too small for a human to pass through.
After it entered the cage...'Biu! Biu!'...Giorno and Jolyne suddenly reappeared out of thin air.
'You can do that?!' Drake stood outside the Birdcage, completely dumbfounded.
Meanwhile, 'B.I.B.' passed straight through the cage's threads like a ghost. It picked up the Den Den Mushi lying in the snow and glanced back toward the hooded boy running away, the future member of the Eleven Supernovas, X. Drake.
Since Drake possessed a Zoan Devil Fruit, Liam had absolutely no interest in him. He simply continued deeper into the Birdcage with Robin.
The young Zoan user paused briefly before leaving in confusion. Following the direction Giorno had pointed, he soon found a nearby group of Marines.
"Huh? Why did the communication suddenly cut off?" The officer leading them was shaking a Den Den Mushi. "Hello? Hello? Strange, why isn't it working anymore? Did the snail get sick?"
"Lieutenant, over there, someone's coming." The other Marines pointed. "Looks like a boy."
Only then did Drake suddenly realize something, and a chill ran down his spine. How did Giorno know he was looking for the Marines?
---
### Inside the Birdcage
Within the limited range enclosed by the Birdcage, Liam naturally detected Doflamingo's presence almost immediately. Doflamingo was inside a building atop the hill at the center of the cage, likely interrogating the pirates who had originally been scheduled to sell the Op-Op Fruit.
Unfortunately for him, Rosinante had probably already stolen the fruit and fed it to young Law. The cage was up, and Doflamingo wasn't going anywhere, so Liam wasn't in a hurry to deal with him.
The already-sparse population inside the Birdcage had been nearly wiped out by Doflamingo's Parasite Strings. The pirates had slaughtered one another until only a handful of living beings remained. Not long after entering, Liam detected a weak presence nearby.
Robin followed behind him. Suddenly, reflected in her sunglasses, she saw a tall figure hurrying toward them across the snowy field. The man appeared badly injured.
Rosinante had only just hidden Law away. After walking less than a hundred meters, he looked up and found himself face-to-face with a man and a woman. He froze on the spot.
Was fate really this cruel? Could today possibly get any worse? First, out of all the Marines in the world, he had run into Vergo. And now, for no apparent reason, he'd encountered two powerful pirates from the New World.
Breathing heavily, he stopped in the snow. Keeping a cautious distance, he carefully observed the two members of the JoJo Pirates. Why were they on this North Blue island?
The other side had clearly noticed him too, and they were walking right toward him.
'This is bad...' Rosinante's heart raced. Yet the overwhelming pressure radiating from the two pirates made him hesitant to act rashly. As a proud Marine officer, he wasn't afraid of pirates, that wasn't the issue. The little life he had left was dedicated to one purpose: ensuring Law escaped alive. He could not waste it meaninglessly.
Then, from the corner of his eye, he spotted another approaching figure.
Vergo.
Rosinante nearly fainted from despair. Ahead of him stood two fearsome Great Pirates. Behind him came the vicious wolf known as Vergo. The situation could not possibly be worse.
---
'(End of Chapter)'
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