Tactics No. 5

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The gigantic menacing rock has begun to move, and its target is King Riku. Rebecca shouts, "Grandfather!" while Robin and Kyros realize Pica is going after him. The citizens panic, saying, "This is bad!" and "We can't let him just go!!! ...But how the hell are we supposed to stop something like that?!" Pica's supporters cheer for Pica-sama and urge him to get Riku, while the enormous stone body advances through Dressrosa.

Robin notes that Pica is after King Riku, and Kyros says that is where Sogeking-senpai is. Elizabello II angrily tells the "rocks-for-brained beast" to stop, then says he is glad he held onto his King Punch. He tells King Riku that he will save him, calling Riku his friend. Riku realizes it is just as the "pirate hunter" said: unless they defeat Pica's main body, he will keep regenerating. Elizabello begins winding up, declaring himself the king of Prodence and the "Pirate Hunter," while Riku tells him to hold the title somewhere else.

Elizabello asks what they should do, and Zoro answers, "Just give me 2 minutes!!" Orlumbus, addressed as "Super-visor," objects that if Zoro is talking to him, it is "Admiral," and says Zoro was just throwing people like bullets. Cannons fire at Pica, and Elizabello asks whether Riku is even listening. Pica continues moving through the city while Zoro stays focused on the timing of his plan.

The citizens shout for everyone to run and get off the plateau, while Kyros, Tank, Viola, and Rebecca warn King Riku to hurry. Pica glares at the people, and someone calls, "Pica!! Here I am!!" Kyros says Pica is actually after him now and tells Riku to go, explaining that this is exactly why Riku should be running. Pica ignores the pleas to stop the carnage and keeps driving forward through the city.

Orlumbus worries that Zoro is out of time and asks whether he is sure, since throwing people safely is not exactly a skill meant for battle. Zoro tells him to do it already because they are running out of time. With the command "Ad... miral~!!" Orlumbus launches Zoro toward Pica. As Pica's giant palm, the width of a city, descends toward King Riku and the plateau, Pica declares, "You are no king of mine...!! Nothing about you is fit to be king!!!"

Pica unleashes "Killer Bowling," sending the massive city-sized hand down toward Riku and the people. Zoro flies through the air toward Pica, pulled into position by Orlumbus's throw. The attack is already in motion, and the people below scream as the stone hand threatens to crush them. The page focuses on speed and scale: Pica's arm rolls like a destructive boulder while Zoro closes the distance from the side.

Riku, watching Pica's attack bear down on them, says he did everything he could while still remaining a "human being." If survival meant becoming a murderer, he says he would rather choose death, because there is no future for a country built on massacre. Pica mocks him for gathering a thousand "little worlds" of moments and packing them into a cube, asking whether Riku thinks his popularity is finally recovering. He says a country is its military power and that a man who cannot destroy his enemies is hardly fit to be king. Riku admits he failed to protect his country and never intended to return to the throne, but the people still cry out that Riku is their only king. Pica says that because they are "good people," their names will never be found in history, and that they will all perish with Riku.

In midair, Zoro begins the decisive technique. He calls "Ichi Dai Sanzen" and then "Daisen Sekai," with a translation note explaining "the great thousand worlds and three thousand greater thousand worlds." Zoro's blade cuts into the gigantic stone body, splitting through Pica's massive form before the hand can finish crushing the plateau. The page is dominated by the scale of Zoro's slash against the colossal stone giant.

Zoro's cut carves Pica's giant stone body apart, separating massive chunks of the torso and arm. Pica's real body begins escaping to the upper half of the stone form, while Zoro tracks the movement. The citizens look on in shock as the enormous statue breaks apart, but Pica is not finished yet because the main body can still move within the stone. Zoro immediately watches for the next transfer instead of treating the slash as a complete victory.

Zoro orders Pica to come out and continues cutting through the moving stone. Pica, cornered, pops out and asks whether Zoro thinks he has won. Zoro realizes Pica has nowhere to run or hide in midair, but there is no way for him to know which falling stone contains the real body. He identifies the problem as a moving stone and a dead stone, concluding that Pica's main self is definitely inside one of them while the others continue falling around the city.

Zoro finally forces Pica's real body out and slashes toward him with "Sanzen Sekai." Pica counters that Zoro should not think he has beaten him just because he cut his stone, because now Pica has shielded himself with Haki. He says there is no way Zoro will be able to cut him now, and that after he pounds Zoro into the ground, Zoro will be the one who has lost. Zoro answers that as long as Pica's Haki is stronger than his, Pica is right, but says that over the nine mountains, across the eight seas, there is nothing he cannot cut.

Zoro cuts through Pica's Haki and warns, "Don't fuck with the 'good people'...!!" Pica screams as Zoro's slash lands. The huge stone body is still falling, and the people below panic that they are going to die. Zoro, still airborne and breathing hard, sees that even after cutting Pica, the falling remains of the stone giant are still dangerous. The victory over Pica does not solve the immediate physical threat to the plateau.

Elizabello II releases the "King Punch," shattering the falling stone chunks before they crush the old royal plateau. The people stare as foam and bubbles drift through the air, and Pica's broken stone pieces fall apart overhead. Elizabello complains about how dare Zoro use his King Punch for rubble clean-up, saying it is not something Zoro should forget any time soon. Zoro simply replies, "Well done." The chapter ends with the note "Tactic 5: Accomplished!!!" and the mark "ONE PIECE Ch. 778 END."

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