"Beasts Pirates, one of the Three Disasters, Jack," Izou's voice was a low murmur, a dangerous smirk curling at the corner of his lips.
"I've been wanting to meet you for a long time."
As he spoke, his body dissolved into a crackling bolt of lightning, reappearing in a brilliant flash on the street below.
At the same time, Jack's colossal mammoth form ground to a halt, his dark, furious expression fixed on the man who had just killed Orochi.
His eyes burned with a hostile fire, a clear promise of the violence to come.
"Kid," Jack roared, his voice filled with a boundless, guttural rage.
"Look at the mess you've made. You'll pay for all of this with your life!"
Faced with the threat from one of the world's most wanted men, Izou showed not the slightest trace of fear.
Instead, a spark of genuine excitement glinted in his eyes, as if he couldn't wait to test his power against the infamous "Drought."
With a furious bellow, Jack's muscles tensed, his ancient Zoan form radiating pure, enraged power.
He swung his massive elephant trunk, the thick, heavy limb cutting through the air with a sound like a splitting whip, afterimages trailing in its wake.
A sinister, pitch-black layer of Armament Haki instantly coated it, exuding a suffocating, malevolent aura as it lashed out at Izou with blinding speed.
"With that sluggish speed, you think you can kill me?" Izou sneered, his voice dripping with disdain.
"Pathetic."
Before the trunk could connect, his body flickered with lightning, vanishing from the spot like dissipating smoke.
A cold voice then rang out from high above Jack's head.
"Divine Punishment! Three hundred million Volts!"
A thick, blindingly white bolt of lightning descended from the sky with devastating force, moving so fast that Jack had no time to even register it.
His massive frame, which made him so formidable, now made him an unmissable target.
He was instantly engulfed by the lightning, his entire body wrapped in a searing electric light.
The sheer power of the strike was enough to obliterate a small mountain, and despite his legendary durability, Jack was utterly overwhelmed.
His body convulsed violently, his howls of agony drowned out by the crackling thunder.
The area of effect mercilessly enveloped the lackeys who had followed him, their bodies collapsing to the ground before they could even scream.
The air filled with the acrid, sickening scent of burnt ozone and roasted meat.
Izou reappeared like a ghost on a nearby rooftop, his cold gaze fixed on the spectacle.
Though his power was immense, each use drained his stamina—and he still had a crucial mission left: to plunder Orochi's hidden treasures.
After unleashing one final, shrieking Thunderbird attack on Jack's writhing form, Izou didn't linger, melting back into the chaos of the city.
****
In a dimly lit corner, obscured by shadows, Denjiro carefully placed the unconscious Komurasaki in a relatively safe spot before melting back into the darkness.
His eyes were locked on the unfolding events, his mind a tempest of conflicting emotions.
He saw the face of his long-lost brother, Izou—a brother who thought him dead.
Every instinct screamed for him to step out, to reunite.
But the face of Oden, the solemn promise he had made twenty years ago, held him back.
The weight of his deep-cover mission, the fate of Wano, the still-missing Momonosuke—it all pressed down on him, trapping him in an agony of indecision.
"Forget it," he finally murmured to himself, the words tasting like ash.
"I can't reveal myself yet. I must find Ashura and the others first."
After everyone had left, the smoldering ruins of the Pleasure House fell into an eerie silence.
Then, on the cold floor, a finger on Orochi's "lifeless" body twitched unnaturally.
Slowly, the head began to turn.
The previously dull and lifeless eyes snapped open, now gleaming with a cold, serpentine cunning.
The corners of his lips curled into a sinister, triumphant smile.
"Oden, you fool," he hissed, the words slithering from his lips.
"I never thought your retainers would remain so loyal after twenty long years. But what expression will you wear in the afterlife, when this one, too, dies a miserable, pointless death right before my eyes? Hahahaha..." His chilling laughter echoed through the desolate space.
*****
Meanwhile, the Prison in Udon was in a state of complete collapse.
Queen, the All-Star, was anything but calm.
His massive frame was drenched in sweat as alarms blared and prisoners rioted.
A barrage of laser cannons had blasted open every single cell door.
For a terrifying moment, he thought Admiral Kizaru himself had arrived to arrest him.
But when he got a clear look at the intruders—streaks of golden light bearing the Jolly Roger of the Whitebeard Pirates—his terror was instantly replaced by pure, unadulterated fury.
"Boys!" Queen roared to his panicked guards.
"Round up every last one of these prisoners and lock them back up! If even one is missing, I'll unleash my ultimate plague on all of you!"
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