"I'm the same age as him. We're both still in our teens… yet he's already a notorious great pirate, standing shoulder to shoulder with the Marines' strongest combat power…"
Gion replayed her own path in her head. At a young age, she had already become a Marine captain. Within the Marines, she had long been labeled a genius, admired and pursued by countless comrades.
But after today's battle…
Only now did she realize she'd been nothing more than a frog at the bottom of a well.
At that moment, Vice Admiral Tsuru seemed to sense something. With a slight sideways glance, she caught the dazed look in Gion's beautiful eyes. It was obvious. Gion had been shaken by Tengetsu Ares' terrifying display.
Tsuru spoke in a low, steady tone, offering comfort.
"Gion, don't let what you're seeing crush you. The strong have the strong's responsibility, and the weak have the weak's duty. Sengoku, Garp… they handle the monsters."
"And the smaller pirates… that's what we handle."
"Today, they're protecting us. But tomorrow… it can be you protecting them."
Hearing Tsuru's words, light returned to Gion's eyes. The haze faded, replaced by resolve.
"Big Sister is right. One day in the future, I'll step onto the battlefield too. I'll use the sword in my hand to protect the weak."
"This is my justice."
She understood at once. Tsuru nodded with satisfaction.
"Younger sister, your talent surpasses mine by far. In the future… you may very well become an admiral."
To serve in the same era as Garp, Sengoku, and Zephyr was Tsuru's fortune.
But it also made her see clearly the gap between herself and those three.
Even Zephyr, after years of building his foundation, had now caught up to Sengoku and Garp becoming a formidable Marine leader capable of holding a front on his own.
Tsuru understood her own talent, and she understood her place.
Boom!
A thunderous explosion, like a bolt from a clear sky, snapped everyone out of their thoughts. A mushroom-cloud blast swallowed a swath of land outside the fortress.
The shockwave spread outward in a perfect circle.
In the dust and smoke
Tengetsu Ares' savage eyes blazed. Through the thick haze, he locked onto Sengoku's figure. Like an enormous beast, primitive and brutal, he pounced forward, raising clawed hands that flashed coldly as they tore through the air.
His fingertips ripped through the smoke, dragging five streaks behind them
And revealing Sengoku's dazzling golden Buddha body.
"Black… Dragon… Claw!"
A sharp, piercing screech rang beside Sengoku's ears.
Sengoku's expression remained solemn and calm, neither sorrowful nor joyful. A pale white glint flashed across his glasses. He stepped lightly, and like a leaf carried by a violent gust, he drifted two or three meters away in an instant vanishing behind the smoke.
Tengetsu Ares' strike hit nothing again.
Impatience flickered in his eyes.
"Garp specializes in Armament Haki… and Sengoku's even better at Observation Haki."
"…Or is it his Devil Fruit boosting him?"
One of the Marines' strongest combat powers people like them had almost no weaknesses.
But at the same time, everyone had their own specialty.
It depended on the person.
After his attacks were dodged again and again, Tengetsu Ares' irritation began to boil. He lowered his stance, shifting his center of gravity down. His thick thigh muscles tightened like cables.
Then his legs drove.
His huge body vanished from where it stood.
It was like teleportation.
In the next instant, he was already in front of Sengoku. His raised fist carried terrifying force, sucking the air from the area around it in a heartbeat. A crushing wind pressure slammed forward, so intense it made breathing difficult, as it smashed toward Sengoku.
"What terrifying speed!" Sengoku's expression tightened.
In that brief flash, he saw the hunger for battle on Tengetsu Ares' face like a man born to chase the pleasure of combat.
This punch couldn't be dodged.
Sengoku raised his fist. Golden light gathered, forming a glowing sphere that wrapped around his knuckles.
He fired a "Buddha Fist" and met Tengetsu Ares head-on.
Once again, Sengoku felt that monstrous strength within Tengetsu Ares' body.
Both of them wielded Mythical Zoan powers, but the abilities they granted were different. The Human-Human Fruit, Model: Daibutsu massively enhanced Sengoku's physical body.
Yet compared to Tengetsu Ares…
It was still nowhere close.
Their fists collided.
The air around them roared like a raging sea, violent and surging.
Sengoku was forced back more than ten meters. As he slid away, his face darkened.
"Tengetsu Ares is using his physique advantage and combining it with the Rokushiki. He's using explosive power to boost his speed."
"When speed reaches the extreme… even if Observation Haki can catch it, the body still has to react."
He had been confident he could stall Tengetsu Ares.
But after Tengetsu Ares erupted into this extreme speed, a flicker of worry rose in Sengoku's heart
And Sengoku crushed it instantly.
"Now isn't the time for that."
"What matters is how to answer his speed."
Rokushiki wasn't exclusive to the Marines. Even among pirates, there were those who mastered it. World Destroyer Douglas Bullet, for example though most only knew one or two techniques.
Sengoku's thoughts moved like lightning. His mind raced.
And as his eyes opened and shut
Tengetsu Ares was already closing in again.
Seeing the black-red lightning flickering on Tengetsu Ares' fist, Sengoku frowned.
"Haki infusion…"
This punch was clearly stronger than the last.
Tengetsu Ares was pressing the advantage, trying to overwhelm him in one breath.
Hummm
A sound like a sacred chant washed through the air, cleansing and heavy.
Brilliant golden light erupted from Sengoku. Streams of gold gathered in front of him, forming a shield of pure gold.
Clang!
Tengetsu Ares' fist slammed into the golden shield, and a long, clear bell-like chime rang out across the battlefield.
Cracks spread across the shield.
"Still not enough?!" Sengoku's eyes widened slightly.
He retreated hard and the golden barrier shattered, like a mirror smashed by a hammer.
After he pulled back dozens of meters, he realized something.
Tengetsu Ares didn't chase.
Sengoku's expression tightened. Confusion flickered
And then he saw it.
Tengetsu Ares was standing still.
"What…?" Sengoku stared, body taut.
"Is he charging a technique?"
Tengetsu Ares' lack of movement didn't calm Sengoku.
It made him more wary.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
Tengetsu Ares still didn't move.
And the overwhelming aura that had been covering him… was quietly withdrawing back into his body.
Sengoku narrowed his eyes, light flickering within them.
"Tengetsu Ares isn't moving?"
"Is he trying to trick me?"
For an instant, Sengoku suspected it some kind of bait to lure him in.
But then another thought followed.
Tengetsu Ares wasn't that kind of man. He didn't seem scheming or sly. Someone with his temperament shouldn't be pulling cheap tricks mid-fight.
Still
Better safe than sorry.
Sengoku lifted his palm. Golden Buddha light surged, compressing into a brilliant sphere that hovered in front of his hand.
It was like a swollen hot-air balloon of light
Enormous, almost the size of Sengoku's own massive transformed body.
"Buddha Shockwave!!!"
Sengoku thrust his golden palm forward.
The colossal sphere shot out instantly.
Where it passed, the ground split open with a roar, heaving up on both sides under the crushing pressure. The true terror of this technique wasn't just the push
It was the moment the shockwave sphere detonated.
The sphere appeared right in front of Tengetsu Ares
And Tengetsu Ares still didn't react.
Sengoku's eyes widened.
"He's really not dodging?!"
The next instant
The sphere touched Tengetsu Ares' body.
His smooth, gleaming muscles were squeezed violently. That steel-like flesh distorted, like rubber being pressed down under immense weight.
If it were anyone else, they'd have already been crushed into dust.
"What is he doing?!" Sengoku stared, disbelief flooding his face.
"Even if his physique is absurd… he can't take this shockwave without damage!"
Yet Tengetsu Ares… didn't move.
Then the golden sphere completely engulfed him
And detonated.
The shockwave ravaged every inch of Tengetsu Ares' body without mercy.
Blue scales rang with sharp metallic clinks.
In the places not covered by scales, his muscles acted like an elastic balloon, denting under the shockwave
Snapping back
Then denting again.
Again and again, whipped repeatedly.
His tough skin finally began to split. Thin streaks of crimson seeped out
Only to be erased instantly by the violent shockwave.
In only a short moment
A horrifying pool of black-red blood had formed beneath Tengetsu Ares' massive body.
At that very moment, Tengetsu Ares' mind was in chaos.
A vast flood of memories erupted inside his head, slamming into him with unprecedented force.
On the outside, he looked dazed.
But inside, it felt like his skull was splitting apart.
As if someone had pried open his brain with a hammer and was forcibly stuffing things into it
Pain so fierce he could barely endure it.
It was like memories were being forcibly implanted.
This wasn't the first time it had happened to Tengetsu Ares.
But never like this.
This time was stronger ten times stronger than the last.
He couldn't care about anything happening outside.
He couldn't even react.
Right now
Tengetsu Ares was in agony, roaring in his mind with hysterical fury.
"Get out… get out of my head!"
"Get out ahhh!"
"Get out!!!"
The shockwave damage was completely ignored.
Sengoku's expression shifted between suspicion and uncertainty.
"Something is happening to him something I don't understand."
"He took my shockwave head-on and is still standing."
"And it doesn't even look like his injuries are that serious…"
"What a terrifying body."
"But no matter what…"
"This opportunity is too good to waste!"
Sengoku raised his palm again.
Another gigantic golden sphere formed.
He launched it at Tengetsu Ares once more.
He didn't move in close. For Sengoku, using shockwaves at range was safer and the shockwaves were devastating.
He refused to believe Tengetsu Ares could keep enduring that destructive force forever.
As long as you were human…
You could be killed.
Inside the G-1 fortress, blocked by the high walls, Shiki and Kaido had no idea what was happening outside. Shiki was already tied down by Vice Admiral Garp and couldn't spare a thought.
Kaido, meanwhile, continued leading the pirates, facing the combined assault of several Marine vice admirals in the sea of bodies.
"Wororororo !"
Kaido's face twisted with ferocity. The massive kanabo in his hands became a slaughter tool. Even against multiple vice admirals, he looked relaxed like a living demon walking the world.
"Remember this!"
"My name is Kaido!!!"
He roared it proudly, because spreading your name was a pirate's obsession.
Kaido was no exception.
He wanted his name to echo in every corner of the sea.
And the fastest way to become famous…
Was through the Marines the organization that spanned the entire world.
"This guy's strength is a monster too!" A vice admiral sweated coldly. He had personally watched a Giant vice admiral get smashed flying by a single blow from Kaido's club.
Giants were known for their strength
And yet in a contest of power, they were nothing in front of Kaido.
Beside him, another vice admiral's face was dark as he gritted his teeth.
"Tengetsu Ares is already a monster… and now this bastard's physique barely takes damage from normal attacks…"
"What are you Marines muttering about over there?!" Kaido raised his huge kanabo high, then brought it down in a brutal overhead smash.
The club howled through the air.
The two vice admirals were forced to dodge left and right in disgraceful panic.
Boom!
Stone exploded upward. The impact was enormous.
Kaido charged like a tiger into a flock of sheep.
His path had long since been altered by Tengetsu Ares' existence. Seeing Tengetsu Ares had shown him a terrifying road one that tempered the body into something inhuman.
For years, training under Tengetsu Ares' devilish methods, Kaido's physique had risen at a speed ordinary people couldn't even imagine.
And don't forget
Kaido had always been a "monster" to begin with.
His talent, even in the world of pirates, sat at the very top of the pyramid.
With a Mythical Zoan on top of that, his body had become even more horrifying.
He still wasn't at Emperor level
But he was already far stronger than ordinary Marine vice admirals.
In the pirate world, the hierarchy of power was brutally clear. Even a Warlord would be instantly crushed in front of a true Emperor-tier monster.
Back to the point
Watching Kaido wreak havoc, "Black Arm" Zephyr's brows furrowed deeply. Seeing Marine after Marine fall, pain rose in his chest. He couldn't help but speak.
"Fleet Admiral Kong… are we really not going to stop that bastard?!"
If Kong weren't here, Zephyr would've already jumped down and taught Kaido a lesson with his fists.
Kong folded his arms across his chest, thick muscle lines standing out along his forearms.
"I've found it strange this entire time."
"The battle has gone on this long… so why hasn't Rocks' main force shown up?"
"I have a bad feeling."
That intuition only grew stronger, filling Kong with unease.
His expression remained steady and heavy
But worry churned beneath it.
After a moment of thought, he spoke.
"Zephyr. Move."
"We can't let Kaido keep rampaging."
Whoosh!
The moment the order was given, Zephyr who had already been itching to act shot out like a wild horse set loose from its reins.
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