In Alabasta, west of the capital city Alubarna, the massive commotion caused by Oden and Lucci awakened Aokiji from his sleep, three nautical miles away.
"Ah… that was quite an intense battle… It seems I can't just stand by any longer!"
Aokiji muttered to himself, then got up, pushed his eye mask to his forehead, and rode his bicycle towards the battleground where Pain and the others were fighting.
The battle fluctuations from Oden and the others were so immense that the residents of Alubarna and the kingdom were thrown into a panic.
Pain gazed at the distant enemies still standing, feeling that things wouldn't end this way; the Marine must have a contingency.
Just as he was about to step forward to finish off the only remaining standing Marine, a sense of danger suddenly surged, and Oden even swung his saber towards Pain's back.
After a loud bang caused by a Saber Qi slash, the sense of danger disappeared.
In the distance, Sea Weasel Nero appeared beside Lucci.
It was Nero who had just ambushed Pain.
Nero, in the spatial rift, could see what was happening outside.
Seeing Oden injured and Pain's Divided Soul, Nero seized the opportunity to slowly shift into the spatial rift behind Pain, intending to capture Pain and form a spatial cage to imprison him.
However, neither Oden's ability to hear all things nor his Observation Haki, nor Pain's keen sense of danger, allowed Nero to succeed in his ambush.
Thus, Nero ultimately returned empty-handed.
Seeing his ambush fail, Nero used the spatial rift to appear beside Lucci, ready for battle.
Nero's control over the Space Fruit's ability was not proficient; to trap an enemy in a spatial cage, he had to make physical contact, which led to his ambush's failure.
If the Space Fruit's ability had fallen into the hands of someone who had studied it for many years, Oden and Pain might have been thrown into a spatial cage before they could even react.
Nero arrived beside Lucci.
Lucci, though puzzled by Nero's sudden appearance out of thin air, knew it wasn't the time for questions.
Lucci put aside his doubts and analyzed the situation internally.
"The current situation is that CP0 only has two combat-ready members left… myself and Nero… The enemies are three… the injured Oden and Crocodile, and that guy with the strange eyes…"
"If Aokiji arrives in time… Nero and I can hold off Crocodile and the guy with the strange eyes… Aokiji taking down the injured Kozuki Oden shouldn't be a big problem… Then, we quickly deal with the enemies and support Aokiji… That should basically resolve all the combat…"
Lucci's thoughts raced, and in the blink of an eye, he had analyzed the current situation and formulated a counter-plan.
Pain, seeing that the enemies weren't making a move and seemed to be waiting for someone, knew that the real fierce battle was about to begin.
Pain decided not to let Oden participate in the upcoming battle; otherwise, further injury would surely worsen his internal wounds, risking the loss of Oden.
Pain dared not take the risk and immediately prepared to send a thought wave to contact Konan, while also telling Oden to prepare his defenses and not let anyone get close.
Using Illusion Body when there are enemies present is a very dangerous thing for Pain.
When using the Projecting Image Technique, if attacked by an enemy, there is no way to respond or counterattack.
Because all Mental Energy is poured into the thought wave, the Illusion Body caster at this time is like a Soul Emergence, in an undefended state.
However, outsiders could not discern Pain's state; in their eyes, Pain was still standing in the distance, watching them.
In Sky Island, Pain's Illusion Body suddenly appeared beside Konan.
As soon as the Illusion Body appeared, it wasted no time and spoke directly, "Oden is already injured… Have Reno take Oden back to the island for healing… You and Golden Lion quickly come to provide support…" Having said that, it disappeared before Konan could reply.
Just as Pain finished arranging the next deployment with his Illusion Body, a strange sight appeared in the distance.
In the boundless desolate desert, a person was slowly riding a bicycle, and the yellow sand in his wake was all frozen.
The newcomer slowly rode his bicycle to Lucci's side, greeting him politely.
"Yo… it's Lucci… Long time no see!"
Lucci turned to Aokiji and said in a cold tone, "You seem to be late… Kuzan…"
Lucci was actually very frustrated.
Regardless of whether this mission was completed or not, his CP0 was finished.
It was extremely difficult to reorganize a group of combat-ready individuals.
The members of CP0 were all transferred from CP9, all Advanced intelligence agents trained from a young age.
The overall quality of CP0 members was quite strong, but now they suffered huge losses due to this mission.
Whether Kaku and Jabra were alive was still unknown, which was why Lucci was so frustrated.
Lucci believed that if Aokiji had acted earlier, CP0 would not have faced such significant personnel losses.
Lucci thought this way, but Aokiji was proud.
Aokiji never disdained sneaky ambush tactics, nor did he like situations where many bullied few; he was always accustomed to acting alone.
His personality was also habitually lazy; if it weren't for understanding the importance of Kozuki Oden this time, Aokiji wouldn't have acted.
Aokiji, facing Lucci's cold questioning, did not get angry.
He put his hand to his forehead and said with an apologetic expression, "Sorry, sorry… I really overslept… I'm truly sorry…"
"However… let's focus on the mission, shall we… What do you plan to do next… Lucci?" Aokiji asked softly, tentatively.
Aokiji didn't like teaming up with people; he wanted to understand Lucci's plans.
"Kozuki Oden is injured, so he's yours… Nero and I will handle the other two…" Lucci replied coldly.
Just as Lucci finished his arrangements and was about to make a move, a sudden change occurred.
Reno flashed and appeared beside Oden, then flashed to Sky Island with Oden, disappearing.
Konan and Golden Lion simultaneously appeared beside Pain.
Reno had directly flashed Konan and Golden Lion to Pain's side, dropped them off, and then quickly flashed away with Oden.
Lucci and the others watched the sudden turn of events, veins bulging, completely unable to accept this outcome.
"What is this supposed to be!?"
CP0 had paid such a heavy price to capture or kill Kozuki Oden, and just when success seemed imminent, Kozuki Oden, the main target, disappeared, and an old acquaintance who hadn't appeared in over a decade, "Golden Lion" Shiki, reappeared.
Lucci didn't understand how these people suddenly got together and were all wearing the same clothes, but Lucci understood that Oden must have escaped to Golden Lion's Floating Island.
Now, to capture Kozuki Oden, they would have to kill Golden Lion to make the Floating Island fall, but Golden Lion had been famous for many years, and he wouldn't be so easy to kill.
Lucci was originally a very calm person, but now, thinking of these things, he was on the verge of an uncontrollable outburst of rage.
Aokiji, watching such a sudden change, also wore a helpless expression.
He wanted to stop them but it was too late; the people had already disappeared.
Looking at "Golden Lion" Shiki across from him, Aokiji greeted him like an old acquaintance.
"Yo… Golden Lion Shiki… How did you suddenly appear here and with this new force?"
Golden Lion heard Aokiji's words and laughed heartily, saying, "Aokiji… long time no see… Are you still working your butt off for these idiots in the World Government?"
"Kyahahahaha…"
"Oh… not really…"
"I was passing by and saw the big battle happening here, so I came over out of curiosity… I've drawn a clear line with the World Government now…" Aokiji replied lazily.
Aokiji understood that the personnel losses of CP0 today were for nothing.
Originally, with the main target present, Aokiji would have taken down the heavily injured Oden, and even if his connection with the Marine was exposed, it wouldn't matter.
But now the main target had disappeared and was clearly on Golden Lion's Sky Island.
Unless they could kill Golden Lion and make the Floating Island lose its ability to float, they wouldn't be able to capture Kozuki Oden, who was in the sky.
However, killing Golden Lion, given the state of Lucci and the others, was clearly impossible.
Aokiji weighed the pros and cons in his mind, while Lucci completely lost control and charged towards Pain and the others, with Nero reluctantly following closely behind.
The normally calm Lucci became impulsive and irritable.
Aokiji could understand Lucci's feelings, but understanding was one thing; Aokiji was in a difficult position.
If he fought, and couldn't keep everyone, his entanglement with the Marine would spread like wildfire, and then there would be no hope of infiltrating Blackbeard's ranks.
If he didn't fight, Lucci and Nero alone would surely face more bad than good, and it would be hard to report back.
Caught in a dilemma, Aokiji could only put his right hand to his forehead, complaining internally with a helpless expression.
"Rob Lucci… you really know how to cause trouble…"
To be continued…