Alex calmly pulled a short, silver-gray rod from inside his coat—barely twenty centimeters long. But as he held it, both ends of the rod rapidly extended until it became a sleek three-meter-long silver staff.

"You think a stick like that's enough to beat me?"

Kuro's silhouette flickered around at blinding speed. Every few seconds, the claws on his gloves left new bloody cuts across Alex's body.

"And you call yourself a master of a hundred tricks?" Alex sneered. "Can't even recognize what's in my hand."

He pressed a button on the staff, and a long, thin wire shot from the tip. At the end of it gleamed a dark golden hook, glinting coldly in the sunlight.

Down on the slope, the other pirates—and Nami, still standing at the bow of the Black Cat Pirates' ship—stared wide-eyed. Alex ignored Kuro's attacks completely and gently swung the massive rod in slow arcs.

"Is that… a fishing rod?"

"Looks like one to me."

The pirates looked at one another, then burst out in mocking laughter.

"That kid must've gone dumb from fear of Captain Kuro."

"He seemed tough earlier, but now he pulls out a fishing rod? What's he gonna do—scare us into submission? Ha! I'm terrified!"

The jeers came hard and fast, the pirates shouting increasingly obscene taunts.

Alex frowned. "What exactly are you guys laughing at?"

He swung the rod sharply to the right. With a metallic clang, the golden hook embedded itself deep into a massive boulder—the same one Butchie had knocked down earlier when attacking Zoro.

With a flick of the rod, Alex yanked the boulder into the air and hurled it at the cluster of jeering pirates below.

"He just flung that giant rock with a fishing rod?!"

"Why didn't it break?!"

"Don't just stand there—MOVE!"

One second, the pirates had been mocking Alex. The next, they were screaming in panic, dragging their wounded bodies out of the rock's shadow.

Boom!

The boulder crashed down with a thunderous impact, sending tremors through the ground. The few pirates who managed to dodge it were left pale as ghosts. They didn't feel lucky—just terrified.

"This rod's really not bad," Alex muttered, satisfied. "Nice balance."

It wasn't a normal fishing rod. It was dead simple in design—just a pole, a line, and a hook—but the materials were anything but ordinary. Despite being retractable, it was tough as steel. He'd just lifted a boulder weighing at least a ton, and neither the rod nor the line had so much as twitched.

Must be made of some kind of ultra-dense alloy, Alex guessed. Even at full strength, he couldn't make it bend a millimeter.

"You idiot! This is no time to be fishing!" Nami shouted from the ship, clearly panicking. "What are you even doing?!"

"You know full well what I'm good at," Alex replied coolly. "And the worst thing you can do while fishing—is get impatient."

Nami blinked. He actually looked… confident.

"You must have a death wish," Kuro's voice echoed eerily across the battlefield. "You really think that pathetic toy of yours can stop me?"

Kuro was moving so fast that even he couldn't fully control his attacks. In the process of slashing Alex, he had already injured several of his own men.

Even Jango, who was creeping carefully across the slope, had taken a few cuts courtesy of his captain.

"Let's start by clearing the field," Alex muttered.

He ignored the wild slashes flying around and swiftly backed up a few paces. Calculating the distance, he flicked the rod toward Jango and hooked the hypnotist by his coat, yanking him off the slope and flinging him to the bottom.

"Now then…" Alex said, leaping further up the slope. "Time to reel in the big one."

He cast the hook again, letting it float midair about half a meter above the ground. The line swayed gently in the breeze.

Nami stared from the ship. His stance, the rod, the line—he really looked like he was fishing. One hand on the grip, unmoving, calm as a mountain. Even though he was still bleeding, he didn't flinch.

Is he seriously planning to take down Captain Kuro with a fishing rod?

It sounded insane—but looking at Alex, even Nami started to believe it.

Whoosh!

The moment the hook jerked sharply to the right, Alex darted backward, then vanished sideways using Silent Step. He yanked the rod leftward with force.

"Gotcha, you slippery bastard!" he roared.

Kuro, mid-charge, was caught. The hook latched onto him, halting his movement just long enough for Alex to reel him in—and slam a brutal punch into his chest.

Boom!

Kuro flew backward and crashed hard into the slope, smashing a crater into the ground.

"Captain Kuro got flattened after using Spoon!"

"He beat that technique… with a fishing rod?!"

"That move wiped out an entire Navy ship three years ago… How did this guy flip the script with one rod?!"

The pirates stared in stunned horror. Kuro, who had just been dominating Alex moments ago, was now coughing blood on the ground, barely able to move.

So that was it—Alex had read the air currents stirred by Kuro's extreme speed. The movement had caused the hook to sway, revealing Kuro's position. He'd turned his fishing rod into a sensor.

Nami, too, was stunned. She no longer cared where the rod came from. Instead, she let out a soft breath, relaxed a little, and began inspecting the treasure she'd pilfered from the Black Cat Pirates' ship.

"That wench had the nerve to sneak onto our ship and steal from us!" one pirate snarled.

"Forget it," another muttered. "You wanna die? She's clearly with that guy. If we mess with her and he gets mad, we're toast. Just pretend you didn't see anything."

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