"So they came after all!"
Seeing Ripley and the others, the three vice admirals guarding Giant King Harald remained calm and unhurried.
The strongest of them was more than capable of handling a pirate with a bounty over 100 million, and even the other two, while slightly weaker, could still trade blows with one.
Two former Giant Pirate crewmen, two rookie White Wolf crewmen, and one naive-looking kid.
Such a lineup, thinking they could rescue Harald from their hands?
The thought alone made them smirk.
"I'll handle the three from the White Wolf Pirates. Tavis, you deal with the two former Giant Pirates. Bohn, you keep guarding the king," ordered Catro Naz.
Even facing five enemies, he left one man guarding the king just in case.
In this world, a 100 million bounty was a dividing line.
Vice admirals capable of handling pirates of that caliber were called elite vice admirals — even potential future admiral candidates.
There weren't many even in the Navy.
This operation had brought seven such elites here.
But after the heavy losses fighting Harald, only one was left commanding the fight in Elbaf's Upper World.
Catro Naz himself guarded the king.
"Pathetic. Is the White Wolf Pirates nothing but old, weak, sick, and young now?"
Catro Naz stepped up to face Ripley and her group.
"If it were Cunning Roya or Rose-Flower Edwards Lily here, maybe they'd have a chance. But you lot? Not qualified!"
"Phantom Clone!"
Originally Rocks and Newgate had intended to help Ripley stop Catro Naz, but when he appeared before them, he split into three at once, blocking all three of them.
"I'm a Phantom Fruit user — a Phantom Human. I can split into up to five clones, each with half my strength."
"To deal with you…"
"I don't even need my main body!"
As he finished speaking, his numbers grew from three to six, and he launched an attack at all three at once.
Ripley in particular was singled out.
Catro Naz's main body punched Ripley's arm, sending her flying with heavy force.
Rocks and Newgate didn't fare much better.
Even clones with only half his strength were hard for them to handle.
"Damn it!"
Rocks clenched his teeth. Fine, he couldn't beat the real Catro Naz — but two clones?
Still, Rocks knew well this wasn't a game.
Unlike at Sphinx, where the pirates had the advantage and he could train his kenbunshoku haki, here they were on the losing side.
Their goal wasn't to win — but to rescue Harald!
"Even though I really didn't want to use this—"
Rocks slipped on a pair of gloves.
"But if the old man dies, that'll really bother me!"
"I want to surpass him while he's alive… not after he's dead!"
Rocks's fist clashed with one of Catro Naz's clones, and to his shock, frost began to creep over the point of contact.
"White Wolf Magnus's ability core?"
"Correct!"
Rocks roared, smashing the frozen clone with his fist clad in Magnus's enchanted gloves.
"Even if they have half his strength, their toughness is nowhere near the real thing."
"Now I know how to deal with you!"
After knocking back another clone, Rocks didn't pursue — instead he turned to Newgate.
"Newgate!""Got it!"
Newgate, long accustomed to fighting alongside Rocks, hardened his arm with busoshoku, tanked one clone's strike, and grabbed another.
"Seems like not just your strength, even your speed is halved."
After taking down two clones, both Rocks and Newgate wore wide grins.
"Damn it!"
Seeing his clones destroyed, Catro Naz's expression darkened — not because of Rocks and Newgate, but because of Magnus.
Those two kids were nothing.
But Magnus — even in the midst of his desperate fight against the Navy and CP0's powerhouses — just a little of his strength leaking out was enough to shift the battlefield.
Magnus could imbue his frost ability into objects for a short time. It weakened once separated from him, so he rarely used it.
But for Rocks and Newgate, it was perfect.
Their enemies weren't as strong — even diminished frost could overwhelm them.
Of course, without proper protection, using those enchanted tools would injure the user too.
But compared to their lives, what was a little damage?
Not just Rocks and Newgate — even the giants fighting the Marines in the Upper World were using similar items Magnus had given Ripley to distribute.
"So that's your confidence, huh?"
In eastern Elbaf, Magnus clashed with Rona and the others.
Seeing Rocks and Newgate's moves, Rona finally understood why, even with the giants' main force almost annihilated, Magnus still had confidence to rescue Harald.
Because he'd left himself this trump card.
"But this enchantment doesn't last long, does it? Which means you must've imbued those tools just a day or two ago. So after exhausting yourself to prepare all this…"
"How much strength do you really have left now?"
At this moment, Magnus looked truly battered — his body riddled with deep cuts, his chest caved in from one of Kong's punches.
Yet he didn't care in the slightest.
"Don't forget — I'm a zoan fruit user. This little bit of stamina? I can recover it just by eating. Rona, are you distracted? Worried?"
"Let me give your own words back to you."
"If you don't focus on me, and my adorable crew rescues Harald…"
"Then I'll make my escape, haha!"
(End of Chapter)
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