Giovanni's boot struck the cracked flagstones with explosive force, driving him forward through the settling dust. Ace swept upward in his left hand, the blade dark with Armament Haki as he launched a heavy, diagonal slash toward Sengoku's chest.
Sengoku didn't retreat. Even in his human form, the Fleet Admiral's balance was absolute. He pivoted inward, his left forearm blackening with dense Armament Haki as he parried Ace's edge. The steel met hardened flesh with a sharp, metallic CLANG, sending sparks flying across the ruined hall.
Shanks surged in from the right, Gryphon whistling through the air in a fluid, low-line thrust aimed at Sengoku's flank.
Sengoku reacted instantly. Recognizing the dark stain of blood soaking the right sleeve of Shanks's coat, the Fleet Admiral shifted his weight toward the injured arm. He brought his right elbow down violently, driving his armored joint against the flat of Gryphon's blade to deaden the sword's momentum, then snapped a sharp, Haki-coated palm strike directly at Shanks's wounded shoulder.
Shanks gritted his teeth, pivoting hard to absorb the impact on his chest, but the sheer force of the blow tore open his upper-arm gash, sending fresh blood spattering onto the white stone.
"Gio! Shift left!" Shanks called out, his voice tight but steady as he circled back into guard.
Without waiting, Sengoku altered his focus. Instead of pursuing the wounded captain, he thrust his open palm toward the arched gateway leading to the secondary maintenance stairwell. The crew's planned route toward Level 3. A visible distortion of compressed kinetic energy began gathering in his hand.
Giovanni's eyes narrowed. "He's going for the stairs," he gritted out. "He wants the lower route sealed!"
He threw himself into the line of fire, driving Ace into the floor and flooding the blade with Advanced Armament, bracing himself between the shockwave and the stairwell.
Sengoku snapped his palm toward them. A point-blank shockwave exploded outward.
BOOM!
The shockwave detonated against Giovanni's guard. The floor beneath him disintegrated into fine grit, and the concussive pressure slammed through his defense. His breath tore from his lungs as he was thrown backward, skidding ten yards across the stone beside Shanks.
"Switch with me," Shanks said calmly, stepping in front of Giovanni as Giovanni forced himself back to his feet. "I pull him high, you cut underneath."
Sengoku advanced through the smoke, his boots crushing the shattered flagstones. "You are fighting for a ghost," the Fleet Admiral said, his voice echoing with cold authority. "Even if you pass me, this prison will become your tomb."
"We'll take our chances," Shanks replied.
Shanks lunged forward, intentionally exposing his left side to draw Sengoku's attention. As the Fleet Admiral raised his right arm to strike, Shanks suddenly dropped his weight and thrust Gryphon straight upward toward Sengoku's chin. The aggressive, high-line attack forced Sengoku to raise both arms in a tight, cross-block to catch the blade.
"Now!" Shanks barked.
Giovanni darted beneath the raised guard, Ace trailing a dark, razor-thin edge of Haki. With a fierce single-handed sweep, he carved the blade across Sengoku's right shoulder, slicing through the gold-braided Marine coat and cutting deep into the Fleet Admiral's hardened muscle.
Sengoku grunted as blood burst from his shoulder, but he didn't freeze. His palm snapped outward.
The point-blank shockwave exploded through both swordsmen. Shanks was hurled sideways. Giovanni took the center of the blast across his torso. Two ribs cracked with a sickening snap before he smashed into the fallen stone pillar beside Shanks. Blood touched the corner of his mouth as he dropped to one knee.
Across the shattered hall, Sengoku stood breathing heavily, blood dripping from his shoulder and a fresh streak of crimson trailing down his chin. Opposite him, Shanks leaned against the ruined pillar, his right arm slick with blood, while Giovanni knelt beside him, his left hand leaning heavily on Ace as he fought to draw breath through his injured ribs.
Neither side had won, but the attrition was mounting fast.
A sharp CRACK echoed through the hall.
A single Haki-coated round ripped through the air past Sengoku's head and buried itself in the wall behind him with explosive force. The precise placement forced the Fleet Admiral to check his forward momentum, stepping back half a pace to avoid the fatal line of fire.
At the edge of the shattered entrance, Benn Beckman stood with his rifle raised, a thin trail of smoke rising from the barrel.
"That's enough, Captain," Beckman said, his voice calm, flat, and detached. "Every minute here gives Headquarters more time to box us in. Leave him to us."
Beside him, Lucky Roux stepped into the light. He chewed on a piece of dried meat. His eyes were sharp, devoid of his usual cheerful grin.
"We take him from here," Roux said, stepping directly into close range while Beckman reloaded behind him.
Sengoku's eyes narrowed as the two senior officers moved into formation. "Benn Beckman... Lucky Roux..."
Beckman fired again. Simultaneously, Roux closed the distance with terrifying velocity for a man his size, swinging a heavy fist in a wide, crushing arc toward Sengoku's uninjured left side.
Sengoku parried Roux's fist with his Haki-coated forearm, but the combined pressure of Beckman's precision fire and Roux's overwhelming physical strength forced the Fleet Admiral onto the defensive.
For several brief, chaotic seconds, all four pirates fought as one overlapping unit. Beckman's shots controlled Sengoku's movement lanes, Roux locked his guard at close range, while Shanks and Giovanni delivered two final, synchronized strikes that forced Sengoku back another five yards.
"Go, Gio," Shanks said quietly, catching the young swordsman's eye as they disengaged from the clash. "Roux and Beckman will hold this floor. Our job is downstairs."
Giovanni looked at Beckman, then at Roux, who gave him a brief, firm nod without breaking his focus on Sengoku. Giovanni realized that staying to fight Fleet Admiral Sengoku out of pride was a mistake. Freeing his father required trusting the crew.
"Don't die up here," Giovanni muttered, sheathing Ace one-handed into the scabbard at his waist.
"Focus on Renji," Beckman said, firing past Roux's shoulder to pin Sengoku's guard. "We'll keep the door open."
Shanks whistled sharply, raising two fingers. "Strike team! Down the maintenance shaft!"
Limejuice, Hongo, and Robin immediately moved toward the exposed stairwell, with Bonk Punch and Monster guarding their rear. Giovanni turned and sprinted toward the descent, each downward step pulling sharply through his cracked ribs, with Shanks right beside him.
Sengoku saw the movement, and his eyes flared with anger. "You will not pass!"
The Fleet Admiral lunged forward, his body swelling with golden light as the Daibutsu transformation began.
Before Sengoku could cross the threshold, Roux exploded into his path and drove a Haki-coated shoulder into the Fleet Admiral's midsection to check his step. At the exact same instant, Beckman raised his rifle, aiming directly past Roux's right side, and pulled the trigger. The Haki-infused round detonated against Sengoku's golden guard, buying the descending pirates another crucial heartbeat.
With Beckman and Roux holding Sengoku behind them, Shanks and Giovanni plunged down the dark, stone stairwell, descending deep into the depths of Impel Down toward Level 3.
---
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