The scent of blood fueled the rage on both sides, letting their brutality bloom as their collective fury surged.
At this moment, life held little value. They fought with a maniacal fervor, bodies weaving as blades slashed and fists flew.
Rojen's hands were a blur. His right hand maintained control over Seven Stars, directing its deadly arcs, while his left unleashed a torrent of strikes: palms, fists, and precise finger attacks.
Every esoteric skill he had assimilated, every subtle mastery of body and motion, was activated in this desperate battle.
Relying on the heightened Perception he had just attained, he could clearly sense every minute tremor within five meters. Combined with the predictive capacity of his Sharingan and the foresight of his Devil Fruit ability,
He was, in this instant, a master of Kenbunshoku Haki, or perhaps something even more potent.
False images, the opponent's imminent attacks, flashed 0.2 seconds in Rojen's mind.
0.2 seconds later, his body effortlessly drifted aside, slipping through the ghost images. The Marines' attacks passed harmlessly through empty space, leaving them momentarily stunned.
In that flicker of confusion, Rojen's fist slammed home, and Seven Stars shot out, leaving severe injuries in its wake.
This was the power of foresight: knowing the enemy's next move before they even committed to it.
Heightened Perception, the Sharingan, the Devil Fruit, the three fused, granting Rojen an overwhelming, nigh-total ability to evade and predict all incoming attacks.
Another thirty seconds passed. Only a dozen figures remained on the field. These were all veteran Rear Admirals, mostly middle-aged, their eyes filled with cold shock and disbelief.
Impossible. Over a hundred of the Marine's best, and they still couldn't take down one man.
The figure before them was nothing less than a demon.
Just then, the ground began to tremble as more Marines surged forward like a tidal wave, the reinforcements had arrived.
Rojen gripped Seven Stars, his solemn expression tightening.
"So, it's a human-wave tactic after all."
He muttered softly, the three black tomoe in his eyes spinning faster and faster.
He looked left and right. Marines were everywhere. Even the walls behind him were lined with riflemen, weapons aimed directly at his back.
He was truly besieged. The chilling pressure of overwhelming force enveloped Rojen, crushing down like an immense weight.
The remaining Rear Admirals quietly retreated, melting back into the Marine formation.
They had only survived Rojen's previous, ferocious assault by the narrowest of margins, their numbers merely helping to scatter his lethal focus.
"Rojen! Surrender! You have no chance here!" Three Vice Admirals stepped forward, their voices ringing with cold authority.
A new wave of pressure washed over him, far heavier than the last. Rojen felt his entire body suddenly rigidify.
The sheer mass of combat power he now faced was greater than anything before.
He closed his eyes, preparing to unleash his Haoshoku Haki once more to break their wills. Trapped in a prolonged siege, defeat was inevitable.
But the moment his eyes shut, the three Vice Admirals, and the dozens of Rear Admiral-level fighters behind them, charged simultaneously.
"Attack! Don't give him a moment!"
The Marines launched their unified assault.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In an instant, countless bullets roared toward Rojen's closed form.
"Heed my words, let nothing in this world invade my body! BLOCK FOR ME!"
Rojen's eyes snapped open and he roared the command.
Wong!
An eerie, transparent force materialized around him, expanding outward into a spherical, invisible barrier.
Every bullet that entered the sphere slowed, as if sinking into tar, stopping dead, and finally dropping harmlessly to the ground.
The Marines were stunned. His methods defied belief.
"It's a Devil Fruit ability!" One of the Vice Admirals recognized it, his fists clashing with a metallic clang. Busoshoku Haki coated his arms in black steel as he vaulted forward.
With a single, explosive step, his figure shot out like a cannonball.
A sharp crack rang out.
The Vice Admiral threw a punch, the metal gauntlet on his fist cutting through the air with a savage gust.
Rojen raised his sword to block. The two figures collided in a blinding flash.
Unknown metal slammed against Seven Stars, spitting blazing sparks as an overwhelming kinetic force surged through the blade.
Rojen's expression shifted. His feet were actually lifted from the ground.
The raw power of this middle-aged Vice Admiral was tremendous; Rojen was outmatched in a pure contest of strength.
"Ugh!"
Rojen was blasted backward by the punch, flying several dozen meters before finally digging his feet into the earth to stop. He steadied his stance, the ground deeply gouged beneath him.
"I underestimated that man." His voice was solemn as he spoke quietly.
That single strike made the entire Marine formation erupt in a cheer.
Rojen's earlier dominance had shocked them into silence. Seeing him finally knocked back allowed them to release their pent-up fury and fear.
The Vice Admiral who delivered the blow roared again.
"Surrender now, Rojen! Otherwise, today you will die without question!"
"Die without question, will I?"
A subtle, dangerous curve lifted the corner of Rojen's mouth.
"If this were days ago, faced with a situation like this, I might have needed to rely on outside help."
"But now… my own power is enough."
Pulling his feet from the craters they had formed, Rojen flicked Seven Stars, pointing the blade diagonally toward the earth as he began to walk forward once more.
"Still stubborn? You intend to resist the full might of the Marines?"
All three Vice Admirals stepped out, ready to press their advantage. Their orders were clear: subdue the target immediately, or at least stall until the Admirals returned.
But seeing Rojen knocked back, they felt confident. The pirate was not the invincible monster the rumors made him out to be.
They believed their strength was sufficient.
Ahead of them, Rojen had closed his eyes. He searched for that fleeting, complex sensation he had experienced earlier,
That feeling of immense, bloody, explosive power.
After three breaths, behind his closed eyelids, a blood-red mental space appeared. At its center stood a cross-shaped frame, and behind it, an immense, singular pupil.
Within that pupil was the sensation of endless violence, and at its core, a windmill slowly turning.
"The Mangekyō Sharingan… so it's you." A whisper echoed in Rojen's mind.
The bloody space instantly rippled, shattered, and vanished.
In the outside world, Rojen, still walking forward, suddenly opened his eyes.
The originally slow-turning triple tomoe spun with impossible speed, then, in a dizzying moment of distortion, they reformed into two jet-black, stylized windmills.
In the intensity of the battle, the fiercely focused combat state, and the heightened Perception born from his mastery, Rojen had finally broken through to fully liberate the true power of those eyes.
At this moment, he obtained the final, terrifying power of the Sharingan.
"Mangekyō Sharingan, Awakened!"
His blood-red eyes locked onto the three Vice Admirals.
"From this moment on, anyone caught by these eyes…"
"Will not escape death."
(End Of This Chapter)
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