Hammer had absolutely no idea that one casual sentence from him had completely sent Moria down a path of madness.
Of course, even if he knew, he wouldn't care.
The only thing he cared about was his military merit.
Seeing the timing was about right, Hammer stopped the hypnosis.
Moria's hollow eyes gradually returned to normal.
The moment he saw Hammer, he instantly jumped up and retreated.
"Damn you, Hammer!"
"I'm one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea now!"
"You're not allowed to attack me anymore!"
"Otherwise I'll report you to the World Government!"
Hammer: '…Damn it.'
'I shouldn't have told him all the Warlord privileges.'
Yes, even though Moria had been hypnotized earlier, his memories still remained intact.
Bounty removed. Legal plundering. Obey the World Government when summoned, but otherwise free to act without interference from either the Government or the Marines.
"Relax, Moria."
"Since you've become one of the Seven Warlords, you're now on the World Government's side."
"I won't attack you anymore."
"But there's still something I need to remind you of."
"You need to get stronger."
Moria snorted unhappily, only to immediately grimace in pain.
"Shirley, call the ship doctor over."
"Don't let him die halfway through."
"Otherwise I'll have a hard time explaining things to Sengoku and Old man Kong."
Shirley nodded and immediately went to find the ship's doctor.
After settling Moria's situation, Hammer shifted his attention back to the duel between Lance and Mihawk.
One was a Logia-type Rumble-Rumble Fruit user.
The other was a rapidly rising great swordsman.
The two were fighting evenly.
Both had awakened Armament Haki and Observation Haki.
Although Mihawk's mastery was clearly superior,
Lance relied on the mobility and flexibility of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, making him completely unafraid of Mihawk.
The occasional lightning strikes also gave Mihawk a serious headache.
"Hmph! 30 Million Volts, Thunder Descension!"
Sensing Hammer's gaze, Lance knew the Moria situation had already been resolved.
He immediately stopped holding back.
Terrifying lightning began gathering around his body.
Soon, a lion formed entirely from lightning appeared on the battlefield, staring directly at Mihawk.
"Hmph. Enlarging your body?"
"That trick might work against other pirates."
"But against me, it's a mistake."
Mihawk looked disdainfully at the lightning lion.
In his view, the larger the target, the easier it was to expose weaknesses.
Lance's move was a complete blunder.
But Lance thought differently.
The lightning had been compressed to an extreme density.
Although the size increased, its destructive power was absolutely explosive.
Before absolute destructive force, everything else was meaningless.
"Come on, Mihawk."
"Lion Charge!"
"Hmph! Two people tested each other for an entire night~"
Yoru once again began singing beautifully.
A dark-green slash appeared once more, but this slash was even more solid and destructive than before.
The lightning lion collided head-on with the slash.
Dust exploded across the battlefield while lightning scattered everywhere.
Watching the final clash, Hammer made no move whatsoever.
Only the corners of his mouth curled upward slightly.
"You lost, Marine!"
In the end, the slash barely gained the upper hand.
The lightning lion began collapsing beneath the terrifying sharpness of the slash.
Eventually, the lion dispersed, but the slash still remained just as Mihawk thought he had won.
"Hmph. What'd you say?"
Lightning suddenly appeared behind Mihawk, along with a teasing voice.
Electricity condensed instantly.
Lance appeared behind Mihawk holding a lightning spear, its tip resting directly against Mihawk's back.
Mihawk's eyes widened in shock.
"When?!"
"My Observation Haki didn't notice at all!"
"Your attention was completely focused on the lightning lion."
"You never paid attention to the scattered lightning, did you?"
Mihawk's expression darkened immediately.
"I'm a Logia Rumble-Rumble Fruit user."
"The lightning is me."
"And I am the lightning."
"I can leap through every strand of electricity."
"You lost, Mihawk."
Using the mobility of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit,
Lance had won.
Even though Mihawk was somewhat displeased, he had indeed lost.
And he was the kind of man who could accept victory and defeat alike.
Besides, he hadn't lost in swordsmanship itself.
So it didn't matter.
"Hmph."
"You won."
"Want to arrest me?"
"Do whatever you want."
As a Marine Hunter, he knew very well what happened when one fell into Marine hands.
Clap clap clap clap~
"Excellent duel."
"Mihawk, your slash power has improved quite a bit."
"Lance, your control over your Devil Fruit improved too."
"Now then…"
"Let's calm down and have a little chat."
Hammer applauded as he slowly walked toward Mihawk.
Seeing Hammer's smiling face made Mihawk want to slash him on the spot.
"Hmph."
"What do you want to talk about?"
"About my mission."
"The Seven Warlords project."
Mihawk's expression didn't change.
From Hammer's earlier conversation with Moria, he already understood the Warlord system somewhat.
But he hadn't expected Hammer to invite him too.
"I'm a Marine Hunter."
"Someone like me is within your selection range too?"
"Heh."
"Who exactly have you hunted?"
"You beat up Marines whenever you run into them?"
"But which one have you actually killed?"
"From what I heard, every time you run into Marines, you end up getting chased all over the sea."
Hammer had already heard all about Mihawk's "career" from Kong.
That entire string of Marine encounters had been deliberately arranged by Kong himself.
The poor fool had absolutely no idea he'd long since stepped onto a chessboard specially prepared by the Marines.
Mihawk fell silent.
He genuinely didn't understand why every Marine he encountered was so strong.
And nearly all of them used swords.
He had even run into several older Vice Admirals who were basically semi-retired.
It was ridiculously frustrating.
"So, Mihawk…"
"Why shouldn't someone like you appear on my list?"
"A great swordsman like you?"
"I think very highly of you."
Hammer smiled brightly at Mihawk.
"If you accept the invitation to become a Seven Warlord…"
"You won't be hunted by the Marines anymore."
"Whether you want to pursue the path of the sword…"
"Or simply live peacefully…"
"As long as you show up when needed, that's enough."
"So?"
"Think about it?"
Just as Hammer thought he had successfully recruited Mihawk,
Mihawk shook his head and glared viciously at him.
"I refuse."
"…Huh? Why?!"
Hammer instantly became unhappy again.
His urge to hammer someone returned.
"You turned my sword into THIS."
"And now you want me to obey you?"
"Hammer."
"You must be dreaming!"
Faced with Mihawk's fury, Hammer froze.
'Ah.
'Right.
'Forgot about that.'
This guy had basically been forced onto the path of vengeance by him.
"Ahem… Mihawk…"
"Isn't your sword pretty good now?"
"Look."
"You don't even need to recite poetry anymore."
"Yoru handles it automatically."
"And now you've got a pretty famous nickname too."
"One move, multiple benefits!"
Hammer carefully analyzed Mihawk's "advantages," completely failing to notice Mihawk's face getting darker and darker.