The situation on the field had reached a critical crisis.
Shizuku's life was like a candle in the wind, flickering and liable to go out at any moment.
Machi, the only doctor in the Troupe, was being held hostage by the enemy.
Chrollo made a judgment almost instantly.
They could fight the Blackbeard Pirates anytime; there would be plenty of opportunities in the future. But if Shizuku and Nami didn't receive treatment soon, they probably wouldn't make it.
The biggest difference between the Troupe and the Blackbeard Pirates was that the Troupe valued the weight of their companions more, while the Blackbeard Pirates were all ambitious individuals with no camaraderie to speak of.
"Deal. Return my people to me, and I can let you leave alive—" Chrollo said coldly.
Seeing Chrollo nod, Teach warily led his crew members to retreat slowly, leaving Van Augur, the Warp-Warp Fruit user, to control the two hostages.
Teach and the others cautiously fled to the Saber of Xebec on the shore, and the sailing ship slowly moved away.
Seeing that his boss had retreated safely, Van Augur looked at Chrollo and said:
"Same ability user, huh? See you next time—"
Then he slowly released his hands, his figure vanishing from the spot.
The Troupe members hurriedly helped up the fallen Nami and untied Machi and Kortopi.
Burgess's corpse lay there coldly.
Machi's figure flashed, appearing beside the two wounded. [Nen Stitches] activated instantly. Countless Nen threads wrapped around her hands, threaded through a silver needle, treating their bodies at dazzling speed.
But as the treatment progressed, Machi's face became increasingly ugly, gradually turning pale, and her hands began to tremble.
Chrollo walked to her side and patted her shoulder.
"Stop, Machi—"
"Boss..." Machi looked up, her eyes full of helplessness.
"Shizuku's injuries are too severe. I've stitched up all her external wounds and stopped the bleeding.
"However, there is a lot of internal bleeding caused by blunt force trauma. If not treated in time, I'm afraid she won't last long..."
"And Nami's condition is even more bizarre. Her body has no external injuries, yet she is suffering unimaginable pain. I don't know how long she can hold on..."
"I'm so useless..." Machi's eyes were full of self-blame.
"I'm too useless!"
"As a medic, I can do nothing about their current situation..."
"It's not your fault... Machi," Chrollo comforted softly.
[Nen Stitches] could stitch wounds and even perfectly reattach severed limbs, which was already an extremely rare ability.
You couldn't ask it to be omnipotent!
Chrollo raised his head and looked at the highest snow-covered mountain on Drum Island behind him—Drum Mountain.
A castle was faintly visible on the peak.
"If we were anywhere else, we might be out of options."
"Fortunately, this is Drum Island. I know someone who can save them!"
"There's still time—"
---
The sea breeze, carrying the scent of blood, swept across the deck as the Saber of Xebec slowly sailed away from these dangerous waters.
The moment Van Augur's figure appeared on the bow, everyone truly breathed a sigh of relief.
"That was pathetic..." Teach wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
"Almost bit the dust there."
A heavy atmosphere of surviving a disaster pervaded the deck.
Everyone's face was written with lingering fear—
Since that man could kill Burgess in one blow,
It meant that besides Teach himself, anyone on the ship could have been the next victim.
"High-Level Armament Haki..." Teach licked his cracked lips, greed surging in his eyes. "Truly a power to yearn for."
But immediately after, he revealed a confused expression.
"I don't get it..."
"How could such a powerful pirate crew suddenly pop up out of nowhere? Never heard of them before..."
Having stayed with the Whitebeard Pirates, he was considered knowledgeable. He knew almost all the famous strong individuals on this sea.
Yet he had never heard the name of Chrollo and the Phantom Pirates before...
A guy with High-Level Armament Haki could definitely not be a nobody!
"Could you tell the origin of the opponent's ability?" Teach asked Van Augur, who had a similar ability.
Van Augur pushed up his glasses, his gaze sharp as a hawk behind the lenses:
"It seems to be exactly the same as my Warp-Warp Fruit ability."
"And that is exactly what I don't understand..."
"It is absolutely impossible for two identical fruit abilities to appear on this sea."
"So no clues, huh..."
"Doc Q, what about you?" Teach turned to the sickly man slumped on the horse.
Doc Q, slumped on his sick horse, recalled the scene just now, his expression becoming grave as he spoke slowly:
"Besides that teleportation ability, I discovered one more thing."
"The opponent seems to possess some ability to release invisible aura, blocking my poison miasma outside."
"I'm not sure if this is an application of Haki?"
Teach thought for a while and shook his head. "Among the three types of Haki I know, none can do this."
"That's another place that I find strange..." He showed an incredibly confused expression.
"That power... feels like a completely new power system—"
Laffitte's face was very ugly, seemingly still shaken.
"Not just teleportation, the opponent's team also has an ability user who can make objects fly."
When Chrollo and the others first appeared, they were flying in the sky on icicles.
"About that ability..." Teach stroked his chin.
"I don't know why, but it gives me a faint sense of familiarity..."
Laffitte continued:
"While retreating, I also observed the others."
"The burly savage with thick sideburns is obviously a type similar to Burgess."
"The guy in samurai clothes had two famous swords at his waist, clearly a swordsman."
"Wait!" Blackbeard suddenly showed a shocked expression.
After the mention of famous swords, Blackbeard finally understood where that faint familiarity came from...
"Those two swords are... Oto and Kogarashi! They are Shiki the Golden Lion's swords!"
"Does that mean even the Golden Lion was defeated by them?!!"
Teach revealed a look of astonishment.
The opponent was... a pirate crew capable of hunting the Golden Lion!
"There really are a lot of monsters on this sea—"
"Could that levitation ability be the Float-Float Fruit?!!"
Teach was indeed a formidable figure who could endure for over a decade for a single fruit. His mind was meticulous, analyzing most of it correctly!
"Information about this group is still severely lacking! Looks like we need to pay more attention!"
"Could it be that among them, there is also an existence capable of extracting Devil Fruits?"
"But as far as I know, the only ability in the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia capable of extracting fruits is the Dark-Dark Fruit?"
Teach looked puzzled.
Thinking of this, Teach narrowed his eyes, slowly shifting his gaze to Hisoka, his eyes burning:
"You seem to know them? What is your relationship with them?"
Hisoka nodded very frankly, but he definitely wouldn't give Teach information about the Troupe,
Because that would also expose his own background.
"Mmh-hmm~ I do know them." He played with a playing card that had appeared between his fingers at some point.
"However, the word 'know' might not be accurate... More precisely, it is..."
"The relationship between 'prey' and 'hunter'~"
Hisoka pressed the playing card to his lips, his eyes gradually turning perverse:
"That man named Chrollo... is the best prey~"
...