Buggy’s jaw dropped so low it nearly hit the ground. He wanted nothing more than to slap himself twice over; if he hadn’t been so obsessed with saving face and blurted out that nonsense earlier, would he be in this mess now?

Facing a choking, speechless Buggy who didn’t know how to respond, Alucard didn’t press the issue.

Alucard knew exactly how much weight Buggy actually carried; the previous exchange was merely a bit of idle entertainment. Buggy’s strength was negligible, but he possessed a certain luck and an eye for reading the room. Furthermore, his relationship with Shanks wasn’t actually that close; there was no way he would seek revenge against Alucard for the sake of Red-Haired.

"However, it seems someone else really wants my head."

Alucard looked toward the front left. Buggy and the others followed his gaze, their bodies trembling. "Straw Hat Kid?"

Just from that straw hat alone, Buggy understood how much Shanks meant to Luffy; he had come to fully realize this point during their past encounters.

Dammit, if it’s that kid, it’s actually possible...

Buggy clicked his tongue inwardly, thinking: Even though this Great One owes him a favor from Impel Down, if he goes looking for death himself, it’s got nothing to do with me... Ignore him, just ignore him.

At that moment, Luffy stood about a hundred meters to Alucard’s front-left, his eyebrows twitching violently as he glared death at the man.

Sabo and Ace, having barely caught their breath from Kuzan’s assault, leaped to Luffy’s side. They cast wary glances at Alucard before looking back at Luffy. How could they not know what their youngest brother was thinking?

"Luffy, stop!"

"You’re no match for him right now!"

Ace and Sabo each grabbed one of Luffy’s shoulders, restraining him from doing something reckless.

Whoosh—!

A blast of icy breath surged out from the flames, reforming into a human shape ten meters in the air. Just as Kuzan began manifesting ice spears on either side of his right hand to fire at Ace, Alucard’s voice rang out coldly.

"Kuzan."

Kuzan’s expression stiffened. While it was impossible for a Marine to take orders from a pirate, he nonetheless halted his attack and descended from the air, curious to see what Alucard intended.

With that thought, Kuzan stood near the three brothers, remaining in a state where he could strike again at any moment.

"Are you going to attack?"

Alucard shifted his focus to Luffy, his words prodding the boy’s nerves. "I killed that useless father of yours. Don’t you want to avenge him?"

Sabo’s face darkened while Ace looked on in shock. From their experiences ten years ago, they had both vaguely guessed a bit about Luffy’s heritage. Sabo, in particular, had inherited his position as the second-in-command of the Revolutionary Army from Dragon. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Nearby, Kuzan, Buggy, and the others were stunned. Father?

When Luffy had crashed into the war earlier, it was revealed that the boy was the grandson of the Marine Hero Garp, something Kuzan had known for a long time, but was his father some major figure as well?

Seeing that the secret could no longer be kept, Sengoku, who had walked over, decided to add fuel to the fire. It might just yield an unexpected result.

Pulling out a Den Den Mushi, Sengoku’s voice echoed through the speakers across the plaza, reaching every corner of the battlefield: "The arch-criminal who overthrew several Government-affiliated nations years ago, Monkey D. Dragon, codename ’Dragon,’ has been killed by Alucard. However, his bloodline still remains in this world!"

The attention of everyone was snared. Sengoku pointed a finger at Luffy and roared: "Now, the bloodline of the world’s most heinous criminal has been carried on, just like the bloodline of the King of the Pirates!"

For a moment, a massive uproar broke out among both Marines and pirates.

"Monkey D.... You mean Dragon is Vice Admiral Garp’s son?"

"The son of Dragon and the son of Roger have become sworn brothers? Dammit, is evil blood just naturally drawn to each other?"

"So what? Dragon is already dead; he just happens to share the same blood!"

"Take down Straw Hat Luffy along with Fire Fist Ace!"

Immediately, more Marines began swarming toward Luffy’s position. Seeing this, Alucard’s gaze swept across the area.

Suddenly, a vast and peerless invisible pressure rippled out, causing everyone within a two-mile radius to roll their eyes back and collapse instantly. The ice beneath them groaned, developing several massive fissures.

"Conqueror’s Haki..."

Kuzan knit his brows, thinking to himself: An increasingly troublesome enemy.

Alucard, seeing that Luffy’s expression hadn’t changed much and that he showed no signs of breaking down, chuckled softly. "Right, I forgot. Dragon meant nothing to you, so that wouldn’t hit home, would it?"

"Then how about avenging Red-Haired?"

Alucard taunted, "If it weren’t for the sake of saving you, he wouldn’t have died."

Luffy, who had been barely maintaining his composure due to his brothers’ restraint, could no longer stay calm upon hearing that Shanks died because of him.

Breaking free from Ace and Sabo’s grip, he rushed forward several steps, closing the distance to Alucard. "Hey! What do you mean? Shanks... how exactly did Shanks die?!"

Watching the show had grown boring; testing this kid might actually be interesting. Alucard gave a slight shrug. "Who knows? Why don’t you use those boastful fists of yours to beat the answer out of me?"

Ace and Sabo recoiled, lunging toward Luffy to stop him.

"Stay calm! Luffy!"

"Don’t fall for his provocation!"

But Luffy was inherently prone to provocation, especially when the reason involved Shanks, whom he cherished most. It made him lose his judgment with ease.

"Then I’ll just blow you away!"

Luffy bit into his thumb and blew hard; his right arm instantly inflated to the size of a Giant’s limb.

"Gear 3!"

"Gomu Gomu no Gigant Pistol!"

As the impossibly massive fist hurtled toward Alucard, a single thought rose simultaneously in everyone’s mind: Straw Hat Luffy is a dead man!!