The shattered edge of the Baratie creaked beneath Dez's boot as he stared down Krieg and Gin, who were now struggling to rise from the wreckage of their landing.
Behind him, Luffy stepped forward, hands behind his head, wearing that familiar wide, easy grin.
"Hey, Dez!"
Dez didn't look back, still spinning his revolver's chamber idly.
"Handle Krieg for me."
Dez raised an eyebrow, finally glancing over his shoulder with a slight grin.
"I was gonna do that anyway. But…" He lowered the gun and turned fully toward Luffy. "I want the bounty. All of it. No interference."
Luffy nodded instantly. "Sure. I'm not in it for the money."
"Didn't think so."
Luffy's smile widened. "Still think you should join my crew."
Dez scoffed, turning back toward the chaos outside.
"Pass. I'm not sold on your little dream, 'Straw Hat.'"
Behind him, Zoro let out a dry chuckle, cleaning his swords. "He says that now."
Dez smirked, flicking Dawn's hammer with a finger. The chamber spun once more, locking with a soft click.
"Well, maybe if you live long enough for it to matter."
Suddenly, Gin growled and pushed up from the broken wood. "You bounty-hunting bastard!"
"Still breathing?" Dez muttered. "That's my mistake."
BANG—BANG—BANG-BANG-BANG!
With fluid precision, Dez unleashed a flurry of ricochet rounds—bullets arcing in impossible curves off railings, beams, and Zoro's sword mid-polish. They whirled around the battlefield like spirits, one slamming into Gin's side, the others knocking aside Krieg grunts trying to regroup.
Dez holstered Dawn and let out a slow breath. "Next one won't bounce."
Then his eyes narrowed as the sound of rowboats scraping wood echoed in the distance.
More pirates were arriving from the decaying husk of Krieg's ruined main vessel—Pearl among them, his iron-clad form gleaming in the sun, accompanied by a handful of Krieg's surviving elite.
"Well, well…" Dez muttered. "Guess the party's just getting started."
Sanji lit a cigarette as he stepped beside Luffy, gaze following the approaching reinforcements.
"That's Pearl, right? The walking furnace?"
Zoro grunted. "This might get messy."
Luffy grinned. "I like messy."
Dez's fingers twitched over Dusk's grip.
"Let me clean it up for you."
He stepped down from the ledge, his duster flaring in the sea breeze as he walked calmly toward Krieg, Gin, and the reinforcements.
BOOM!
The second wave of Krieg's men hit the dock hard, the impact shaking the Baratie's hull. The surviving crew from the main vessel roared, weapons raised, led by the hulking form of Pearl, his chestplates already glowing orange with heat.
Inside, Zoro cracked his neck and stepped toward the chaos. "I'll take the flaming idiot."
Sanji rolled his shoulders and flicked away the ashes of his cigarette. "You better not burn the kitchen."
"Try not to let your hair catch fire," Zoro jabbed.
As the two launched themselves into the fray—Zoro meeting Pearl blade-to-shield, Sanji spinning into the enemy lines with brutal elegance—Luffy grabbed the nearest mast and catapulted himself into the fray, taking out three pirates in a blur of limbs.
But Dez had only one focus.
He was still outside, stepping through the scattered wreckage, Dawn and Dusk drawn, walking directly into Gin's path as the battle spread around them.
Gin snarled, blood streaking down his chin from earlier shots. "You bounty hunters always talk big—"
Dez fired.
CRACK—!
Gin barely dodged as the bullet grazed his cheek and lodged in the splintered mast behind him.
"I don't talk," Dez said, slipping into Gunfu stance, revolvers angled low. "I shoot."
The two clashed.
Gin struck out with his chained tonfa, forcing Dez to weave, duck, and twist—his movements sharp, fluid, almost dance-like. Each dodge led into a counter: a rising shot, a rebounding round off a nearby anchor, a trickshot that ricocheted off a broken window pane to knock Gin back.
Dez's boots slid across the dock, twin barrels flaring—fire and lead sculpted into art.
Gin charged in again—only to be met with a sudden heel to the chin. Dez had dropped low and kicked up, using the moment to spin, aim, and fire a round directly into Gin's leg.
CRACK!
Gin collapsed with a curse.
"Enough!" Krieg roared, raising a launcher from his back and unleashing a volley of explosive darts.
Dez holstered Dawn and slapped a dial-like switch on Dusk. The gun shimmered faintly—a Devil Fruit effect activating.
He pulled the trigger and fired.
The bullet glowed mid-flight, disrupting the volley in the air—each explosive rupturing prematurely in a mid-air chain reaction.
Smoke and fire danced around Dez's silhouette.
Krieg stumbled, disoriented. "What—what the hell?!"
"Last time," Dez said, stepping forward and placing his gun against Krieg's chest, "drop the armor."
Krieg bared his teeth.
Dez pulled the trigger.
BOOM.
The shot didn't kill him, but it shattered Krieg's reinforced chestplate and sent him flying back into the wooden pillars of the Baratie's wrecked deck, out cold.
Dez exhaled slowly and holstered both weapons.
---
Inside, Pearl's heat burned hotter—Zoro dodged around his flailing fists, dragging a long scrape across one of his shoulder plates.
"Just die already!" Pearl screamed.
"I'd rather not," Zoro said, before pivoting and driving his blade deep into the man's side.
Pearl screamed.
Meanwhile, Luffy sent the last of the Krieg grunts sailing into the sea with a thunderous Gomu Gomu no Pistol, while Sanji flipped two unconscious bodies off the kitchen counter and casually relit his smoke.
---
Back on the dock, Dez dragged the unconscious Krieg and Gin, tying them both with a coil of steel wire. He hauled them toward his sleek, low-draft cutter ship anchored just offshore.
"Alright," he muttered, "25 million and 12 million… Gonna be a good payday."
But just as he dropped them at the edge of the gangplank—
SPLIT—CRASH!
The main Krieg vessel cleaved clean in two.
Everyone on the Baratie turned to the sea.
A solitary black boat drifted closer through the fog, barely disturbing the water. Upon it stood a tall, lean swordsman in a dark coat and wide-brimmed hat, a massive crucifix sword strapped to his back.
Dracule Mihawk.
Zoro's eye narrowed.
Dez glanced at the man, brow raised.
"That's new."