30 Jigoku

( 3rd POV )

In the cold expanse of a snowy mountain, three figures could be discerned engaged in a heated dispute. Among them, a man adorned with clown makeup bore evident signs of distress, his body adorned with numerous injuries. Meanwhile, a second man, donned in black sunglasses, relentlessly pummeled him, interrogating him with intensity.

"I can't believe we harbored a rat like you in our family!" spat the man in black sunglasses, delivering a harsh kick to the already injured clown.

"Argh!"

The clown guy vomited blood after receiving the kick. The man in black sunglasses threw away his navy uniform and started coating his entire body with Busoshoku Haki.

"When you were eight, you went missing one day, and you came back to us again 14 years later! It's enough to be skeptical about you, Rosinante!"

He kept punching the clown guy called Rosinante with his black fist. After he was done letting out his rage on Rosinante, he lifted him up and started choking him.

"But merely because you're his brother, Doffy didn't distrust you! You should know what is coming, shouldn't you, Rosinante?" He said with an enraged tone to the poor clown guy before punching him again in his gut.

He kept punching him before throwing him to the ground just to kick him again. The man seemed blinded by his hatred towards Rosinante.

Not far away from them, a kid wearing a weird hat dragged his weak body towards them. He seemed desperate to save the injured Rosinante.

"Please stop, Cora-san! He's gonna die!" He tried to beg the man with black sunglasses to stop, but he just ignored his plea.

Watching his benefactor dying being punched like a sandbag, the kid couldn't hold his tears. "Stop it, Vergo!"

The man named Vergo finally stopped beating Rosinante and started to get up while heading towards the little kid who just shouted at him with a grim expression.

He stopped in front of the kid, staring at him menacingly. He pulled his hand back, preparing to strike him. The kid could only watch with a hint of trepidation in his eyes before the fist got to him, something happened that caused Vergo to stop.

"Oi... Oi... It is not good to bully a kid as a marine soldier, is it? It's called a child abuse, you know."

Suddenly, there is a voice of someone commenting on his actions beside them. Vergo and the kid turned their heads to the right side and found two people standing there.

One of them is a tall man with massive black wings on his back, while the other is a white-haired man with purple eyes watching them curiously. It seems both of them have already been here for a while, watching them.

"A marine trying to bully a kid and beating an injured man shouldn't be called a marine, right, Azel?" The white-haired man said to the winged guy beside him named Azel.

"You are right, Vanze-san. A low-ranking marine soldier will not have the courage to do that, so he shouldn't be a part of the marine, I guess," Azel answered. He seemed to be playing along with the white-haired man named Vanze to tease Vergo.

Vergo, watching both of them, also stops his action and stares at them warily. He didn't sense them coming to him at all; it's the first time his Kenbunshoku Haki failed him.

"Who are you...?" he asks both of them.

"We're just a humble travelers passing through this island, o'great sir, please don't mind us." Vanze replied to Vergo with a teasing smile.

The little kid who saw this happen finally gathers his courage once more to ask them something. "Please, help me! He's a pirate undercover as a marine. Please help me save Cora-san over there; he's dying!" He pleads to Vanze and Azel.

Vanze, hearing the kid's request, gestures for Azel to take a look at the man lying down in the snow that has been dyed red by blood.

"Relax, kid. My partner will take a look at him first, and you look sick, you should..."

While Vanze is talking to the kid, Vergo suddenly dashes towards Azel, trying to stop him from helping Rosinante. But suddenly, a heavy pressure comes out of nowhere and stuns him in his place.

"Oi, who says that you can move freely as we interrogate you now? Oh, such a disrespect..."

Vergo turns back his head and sees Vanze staring at him dangerously; the snow around them gets blasted out from the pressure he lets out, but strangely, it only affects him.

'Haoshoku Haki!? How does he have the same presence as Doffy!? No, his Haoshoku is much heavier than Doffy's. I need to run.' Vergo formulates his next plan after realizing that the man in front of him is dangerous.

"Woah..." the kid murmurs after seeing Vergo silenced by Vanze.

Meanwhile, Azel is inspecting Rosinante now and finds out that he is indeed dying. Multiple wounds from being shot, a lot of bruising, and even his internal organs are damaged.

Weirdly, he's still breathing and holding out his consciousness. Rosinante is fully aware that there are new people despite his injured body being unable to move.

"Vanze-san, he is indeed dying, but he is still alive. It would be too late to rescue him if we don't carry him to our ship," Azel says, informing Vanze about Rosinante's critical condition.

"Ah! Sir, brothers, boss, please help him! I don't want Cora-san to die because of me. I'll do anything you want, just please save him! I, Trafalgar Law, will owe you," the kid says to Vanze and Azel, tempted to get up and walk to them, but his weak body just won't allow it.

Vanze, seeing the pathetic attempt of Law, comes near him and gestures for him to take it easy. "Are you sure, Law? You don't even know us, yet you're asking something from a stranger."

"Yes, I don't know you, but someone who can at least see what that bastard Vergo did to us and stopping him, in my opinion, is a decent enough person."

"And it's not like I have a lot of choice and time anyway..." Law said, stating his reason.

He realizes that someone suddenly appearing next to them without being sensed even by Vergo is at least a powerful guy. If they wanted him and Rosinante to die, they would have done it already, but Vanze didn't. So, Law is betting his last hope on them, putting his trust in humanity once again.

"Cough... Cough... Law... You don't h-have to..." Rosinante, who is still conscious, tries to speak to Law.

"Cora-san...!" Law calls to him after hearing his words.

Rosinante tilts his head towards Azel, who is near his sight now, and asks him and Vanze something. "P-please just save him, take him out from this island." he says, trying to squeeze his remaining strength to talk to Vanze and Azel.

Vanze, watching all of this happen, is dumbfounded by all the drama. So, he decides to act quickly this time around.

"Oh god... The drama is killing me. Fine! I'll help you both. In fact, I intend to do it even if you don't ask me," Vanze says out loud to both of them, surprising them with his words.

Vergo, observing the unfolding events, could no longer tolerate being ignored. "You dare! By aiding a criminal, you become a target for the Marines! You obstructed my pursuit of justice!" he roared, paying no heed to the Haoshoku Haki pressure.

Vanze and Azel just watch Vergo spouting nonsense like he is an idiot while shaking their heads. Vanze starts walking toward Vergo slowly while staring at him with pity in his eyes.

"Sigh, you keep blabbering nonsense. Vergo, the first generation of Corazon and an undercover agent from the Donquixote pirates, please stop your idiotic nonsense about justice. It sounds like a joke," Vanze says seriously right in front of Vergo. The other three beside Azel seem surprised as he says that.

"How...?" Vergo murmured in disbelief.

Information about him being an undercover agent was supposed to be known only to family members. It makes sense if Rosinante and Law know about him, but this...

Vanze paid no mind to Vergo's bewildered expression, continuing his examination. He shook his head once more, observing the flaws in Vergo's Haki technique.

"Let me tell you something about Busoshoku Haki. It's indeed impressive seeing you can coat your whole body with it. But doing so will only expose a flaw in your techniques.

You see, while it indeed improves your whole body defenses and attack, it also makes your body fragile in a specific part if it's being attacked by an enemy that has stronger Haki than you, and it consumes a lot of stamina. It's like you have a bunch of wooden planks to be used to make a thick wall, but you scatter them around and only cover a part of your body with one of them, so it will be fragile as a piece of paper if it's being broken."

After the impromptu villain lecture, Vanze ceased talking and, with incredible speed, readied both fists imbued with Busoshoku Haki and devil fruit power.

"So, you don't need to know about my answer. For now, just get your permanent beauty sleep, okay?"

Vergo, being stunned by Haoshoku, can't react as Vanze strikes Vergo's gut with his fist and delivers a bunch of punches to his body. His hands move so fast that they create afterimages in their trail.

"Continuous ordinary black punch..." Vanze murmurs his attack while still beating the crap out of Vergo.

He attempts to yell an ora ora thing, but he's afraid he is being engrossed too much in his play and wasting a lot of time, so he refrains from doing it.

"Gahk...!"

Vergo, being beaten by Vanze, can't do anything as every punch makes him slower and unaware of it until Vanze delivers his final punch, and he gets thrown to the snow fields not far from them.

Law and the barely conscious Rosinante see the display of Vanze's power and are shocked to the core; Their open mouths spoke volumes of their disbelief.

"No way..."

"Just like... That? Cough... Cough..."

Azel, seeing his leader finally done playing, approaches him and asks about their next plan. "You seem to be having fun, Vanze-san. What is our next plan?"

"Let's go back to the ship; you bring Rosinante with you, and I will bring Law with me after checking that trash is dead," Vanze instructs Azel about their next plan; he seems too eager to get out from the island now.

Vanze heads towards Vergo's body, which has a lot of fist bump prints on it, and he seems unconscious after receiving that attack.

Vanze starts searching his belongings and finds a letter and a piece of white paper that seems to be alive and pointing somewhere.

He takes everything with him before readying his whole palm with Busoshoku Haki and stabs Vergo in his heart using Shugan.

After checking that he is no longer breathing, he comes back to the group and finds that Azel is apparently carrying two individuals now.

"Who is that other guy with the white coat?" He asks feeling puzzled.

"I don't know; I found him passed out and almost being buried by the thick snow if I didn't check our surrounding area for the last time," Azel explains. Vanze carefully looks at the unconscious guy who has brown hair; he seems familiar to him.

"You... Did you just kill Vergo?" Law suddenly asked Vanze after witnessing what happened to his adversary.

"Hmm? Of course, I did. What? Do you want him to be alive and report you to the Marines and Doflamingo?" Vanze confirmed Law's assumption while playfully teasing him about his predicament.

"No, I just wanted to say t-thank you..." Law whispered, feeling embarrassed by his gratitude.

"T-thank you for helping us, but w-we need to leave now, cough..." Rosinante said.

"Cora-san! Hey, let's go. Please help him; we don't have much time." Law abruptly changed his tone, realizing Rosinante was still injured.

"Law..." Rosinante, dumbfounded by the kid's shifting attitude, feared that Vanze and Azel would be angered.

"Hehe, what a tsundere kid and an impatient one at that," Vanze remarked while patting his unusual hat.

"I'm 13 years old, not a kid, damn it..." Vanze disregarded Law's rambling, tightly grabbing the back of his collar before signaling Azel.

"Let's go!"

He suddenly jumps from the ground so high and starts kicking the air, gaining altitude, followed by Azel, who is also grabbing two different dudes.

Law being dragged too suddenly is shocked and shouting because of that. "Ahhhh!!! Aumphph!!!!" But thankfully, Vanze manages to shut him up by blocking his mouth with Law's own coat before he can cause commotion.

While they are evacuating from the island towards their ship in the sky that is being covered by the clouds around, Vanze notices that something is about to happen on the ruin that is still caught on fire below them.

Not long after, they arrive at their ship and find that the rest of the crew is also observing the island with their Kenbunshoku Haki. Vanze and Azel drop down the people they brought on the deck.

"Welcome back, Oni-chan!"

"Ara~ it looks like you succeeded, Vanze."

"Look, it's about to begin."

"You have a flying ship...!?" Law exclaimed, realizing his current location.

However, Vanze ignored him, joining the crew on the ship's rail to watch the events below.

"Look, the madman is putting up a show down there." He says particularly to Rosinante, who is being helped by Azel to see.

Rosinante and Law also peek their heads to see what he is talking about. On the island below them, there is pandemonium breaking out at the center of the ruined base.

A giant white cage made of numerous strings enveloped the entire ruin, trapping many people. Vanze and the others can even sense there is a thin string controlling people to kill each other. The screaming and shouting can even be heard when they are still high up in the sky.

Watching this scene, Rosinante realized that he and Law had narrowly escaped from his monstrous brother. His brother didn't even hesitate to massacre a lot of people just to get what he wants even though there is marine ship on the shoreline.

Vanze observed all of this with an indifferent look in his eyes before murmuring something slowly.

"That is hell right down there..."

.....

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(Note: This will be the last chapter I will upload for now, I'm feeling unmotivated. I'm too busy with my University and too lazy to edit the rest of the chapter draft. I'll upload again if I'm free, but I'm gonna give you a spoiler:

North B -> A little bit of Grandline -> Sky-> South B -> East B -> The next world???

Enjoy guessing and it's time for my exit, Ciao.)