Seeing the direction of their attack—where Yuuki had been moments ago—now completely empty, Dorry and Brogy finally relaxed slightly.
"He didn't even dodge?" Brogy muttered in disbelief.
Yet excitement shone in his eyes.
They had won.
Dorry grinned.
"That human brat underestimated the power of Hakoku."
A moment ago, they had thought today might be the day they fell to that mysterious human. But the man had been too confident—he hadn't even tried to avoid the attack.
However, their relief lasted only a moment.
"What incredible power."
A soft voice drifted down from the sky.
In the empty air before them, Yuuki's figure slowly reappeared.
"How is that possible?!"
Dorry and Brogy's expressions changed instantly. Seeing Yuuki standing there completely unharmed, disbelief filled their eyes.
Yuuki smiled faintly.
Originally, he had intended to take the attack head-on. But just before impact, he had suddenly remembered the use of Permeation Magic.
In the Black Clover world, Permeation Magic was an extremely powerful ability capable of nullifying magical attacks.
But outside that world, if it only worked on magic, then its usefulness would be severely limited.
So when Hakoku—an energy-based attack—came at him, Yuuki decided to test something.
The result?
While in a permeated state, Hakoku had passed straight through him without causing any harm.
Which meant that Permeation Magic could nullify not only magic—but also pure energy-based attacks.
An unexpected discovery.
Though, in the world of pirates, its usefulness still had limits. Most fighters relied heavily on physical combat, and those with powerful Observation Haki could still sense his presence even if he became intangible.
Crack.
Crack.
Suddenly, the sounds of metal breaking echoed.
Dorry's massive sword and Brogy's enormous axe—already worn down from a hundred years of battle—finally gave way and shattered.
"It seems this battle is over," Yuuki said calmly.
The two giants looked at each other and smiled.
The moment Hakoku failed to injure Yuuki, they had already understood the outcome.
But even so—
"RAAAAH!"
"RAAAAH!"
They roared and charged forward with clenched fists.
Yuuki raised a hand.
"Earth Magic — Earthen Spear."
BANG! BANG!
Two massive earthen spikes erupted from the ground, piercing straight through the giants' chests.
Blood sprayed high into the air.
Dorry and Brogy struggled briefly—
Then their eyes dimmed, their bodies going still.
Through his heightened perception of ki, Yuuki had carefully observed every change in their muscles and breathing when they unleashed Hakoku.
He could now roughly replicate the physical state required to perform the technique.
In a sense, he had already reverse-engineered it.
Now it only needed verification.
Killing the two giants—characters who were fairly popular in the original story—didn't stir any emotion in Yuuki.
There were no saints among pirates.
Not even the protagonists.
Marines represented justice?
Pirates represented evil?
Those ideas only existed in the minds of the powerless.
On the seas, the true theme was chaos.
Pirates who shouted about freedom merely pushed that chaos to even greater heights.
Yuuki had no intention of claiming justice for himself.
However—
In this ocean where order was collapsing…
Where people waited for a mythical savior called Joy Boy…
Rebuilding the world's order himself might be an interesting experiment.
Perhaps even entertaining.
Yuuki descended to the ground and approached the two gigantic corpses.
With a flick of his wrist, he pulled a pair of test tubes from a spatial portal and collected samples of their blood.
"Giant blood is quite different from human blood," he murmured.
"Sally would probably find this interesting."
After storing the samples away, Yuuki activated Corpse Spirit Magic.
A faint ghostly glow flickered across the giants' bodies.
Moments later—
The corpses trembled… and stood up again.
"With bodies this large, they're perfect for testing my previous magical concept."
So far, Yuuki had only controlled a few corpses with this magic.
Aside from Conrad, the only worthwhile additions were these two giants.
The reason was simple.
Most bodies weren't worth controlling.
With his strength, Yuuki rarely needed corpse soldiers—unless they possessed either great power like Conrad… or unique value like the giants.
As for their souls—
Yuuki hadn't even bothered collecting them.
Reviving them would only waste mana.
"Demonstrate Hakoku again," Yuuki commanded.
He casually forged two large weapons from ore magic and tossed them to the giants.
Even under corpse control, their bodies retained some of the techniques they possessed in life.
The two giants raised their weapons and struck them together.
BOOM!
But—
Aside from the sound of the collision, nothing happened.
No energy beam appeared.
Yuuki showed no surprise.
"As expected."
"The power behind Hakoku is actually the manipulation and release of living energy."
"Now that they're dead, that energy no longer exists."
With a wave of his hand, a massive black spatial gate opened before the giants.
The two corpses stepped into it and vanished.
At the same moment—
Yuuki disappeared as well.
When he reappeared on the pirate ship…
Mr. 3, Miss Valentine, Mr. 5, and Miss Goldenweek were tied up and sitting on the deck, pale and trembling.
Buggy stood in front of them with his hands on his hips.
"Still feeling cocky now?" he sneered.
"You were pretty arrogant earlier!"
He kicked Mr. 3 hard in the ribs while laughing loudly, his red-painted lips stretching wide.
But the real reason for their fear wasn't simply their defeat.
It was something else.
Their Devil Fruit abilities had stopped working.
Buggy remembered very well the terror he had felt when Conrad had sealed his own ability earlier.
Just as Buggy was about to continue mocking them—
The deck suddenly went quiet.
He turned around.
Yuuki was standing behind him.
"C–Captain Yuuki!"
Buggy's arrogant grin instantly transformed into a flattering smile.
Yuuki expressionlessly slapped him aside.
Buggy screamed as his body flew apart like scattered parts, crashing across the deck.
Yuuki then walked toward the captured agents.
Mr. 3 and the others swallowed nervously.
They hadn't expected the captain of the Magic Eye Pirates to be so young.
"Four Devil Fruit users… more than I expected," Yuuki said with a bright smile.
"It seems Baroque Works is quite determined to eliminate me."
"Still, I should thank your boss for delivering such excellent test subjects."
Test subjects?
The four of them turned even paler.
"What are you planning to do? Our Baroque Works—"
Yuuki raised a hand and cut Mr. 3 off.
"You've already been captured. There's no point saying things like that."
At that moment, Conrad appeared beside Yuuki like a ghost and handed him a Den Den Mushi.
Yuuki studied the strange creature with interest before picking it up.
It had been taken from Mr. 3.
Yuuki had come to Little Garden partly to study Hakoku—
But also, because he expected Baroque Works to send assassins after him once their Whiskey Peak base was destroyed and Vivi had been taken.
Since he needed Devil Fruit users for comparison experiments with Buggy, he simply let them come.
After all, Baroque Works didn't know that Igaram possessed a Log Pose permanently pointing to Alabasta.
"So," Yuuki said pleasantly.
"What's your boss's number? I should thank him personally."
The agents stared at him in shock.
Behind them, Vivi hurried forward.
"You're going to call Crocodile?"
Yuuki glanced at her calmly.
"If I'm going to pay him a visit, it's only polite to notify him in advance."
"Four Devil Fruit officers have been captured. With Crocodile's cautious personality, he might decide to hide."
"And Alabasta is a big country. I'd rather not play hide-and-seek."
Vivi bit her lip.
Even though she no longer feared Baroque Works as before…
Just hearing Crocodile's name—the man responsible for plunging Alabasta into chaos—filled her with anger and tension.
Mr. 3 and the others looked stunned.
They had just heard something incredible.
"You don't want to talk?" Yuuki said lightly.
He gestured to Conrad.
Conrad stepped forward.
The agents shuddered.
"Wait!" Mr. 3 shouted quickly.
"We don't know the boss's number! He's always the one who contacts us!"
Then his expression suddenly turned excited.
"So, it's true—our boss really is Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea!"
"No wonder…"
"No wonder the chaos in Alabasta is happening—"
He suddenly realized he had said too much and shut his mouth.
But his eyes gleamed as he looked at Vivi.
Now he finally understood why a princess would infiltrate Baroque Works.
BAM!
A foot slammed into his face.
Buggy stood over him.
"How dare you get cocky in front of our captain!"
Yuuki raised an eyebrow.
"So even senior agents like you don't know your boss's identity. Crocodile hides his secrets well."
Vivi had only learned the truth because Nico Robin had deliberately leaked the information.
Yuuki glanced at Buggy.
He was about to speak again—
When his expression suddenly shifted.
Amusement flickered in his eyes.
"So Baroque Works really was founded by Crocodile?"
A calm voice suddenly echoed from the front of the deck.
"What exactly is Crocodile planning?"
A massive figure now stood behind the bound agents.
Nearly seven meters tall.
He wore a white bear-eared hat, a black coat, and white spotted pants.
His enormous shadow covered half the deck.
An invisible pressure filled the air.
Buggy's body stiffened.
He staggered backward behind Yuuki.
"W–Warlord…!"
"Bartholomew Kuma — the Tyrant!"
The tension aboard the ship exploded instantly.
Everyone stared at the giant man in shock.
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