Chapter 574: Ambush and Ambush
"So those are Pluton and Uranus."
At the shore of the ruined Navy base, Mihawk had ultimately destroyed the attacking wave with a strike worthy of the world's greatest swordsman. Now Katakuri stood beside him, studying the two colossal presences on the sea and in the sky with something close to genuine amazement.
The mightiest warship in history — Pluton, capable of destroying an island in a single shot.
And Uranus, soaring overhead, sovereign of the open sky.
Neither had been seen before, not with his own eyes.
Katakuri couldn't help but stare.
The most powerful forces in the entire world were gathered in this one place.
It was hard not to feel curious about what would come next.
The cannon blast that had gone almost straight up into space gradually dissipated.
But well before it did, a figure trailing heavy wisps of heat had already separated from it and shot back into the sky.
Brett looked at Imu — slightly singed around the edges and nothing more — and felt a quiet sense of resignation.
Haki at their level still couldn't fully withstand an ancient weapon's attack, but in a short burst they could absolutely minimize the damage and escape the range before it became critical. That was all that was needed.
And combined with Imu's agility, which only barely fell short of Brett's own — Brett sighed. When it came down to it, finishing this really would have to be done personally.
"Oh, all of them have appeared now?"
Imu glanced up at Hades circling overhead, then down at Pluton riding the swells below, then at Uranus hovering nearby.
"Uranus and two Plutons. A lineup no one could have imagined possible."
To say nothing of Brett himself — a fighter barely short of an ancient weapon in his own right.
Even in the final battle eight hundred years ago when the world's fate hung in the balance, Joy Boy had brought only one Pluton to the field. Compared to what Brett had assembled here, the difference was incomprehensible.
Even Imu, proud as he was, could not claim with any honesty that he held absolute confidence facing this.
But —
"How it all ends — let the fighting decide." Imu smiled.
"Of course." Brett nodded, smiling back.
Nothing said now had any weight. The only voice that would ring true was the one left standing when it was over.
"Then — continuing!"
Brett surged forward again and closed the distance in an instant.
Crack crack crack crack crack!!
The exchange erupted. In the sky, fist met fist and kick met kick over and over.
One moment they were in one part of the sky. The next, a burst of black lightning marked a completely different stretch of the horizon.
Successive shockwaves rolled across the sky. The sea below answered with wave after wave.
"It's no use." Down below, inside the great warship, Pluton shook his head with quiet frustration. "They're moving too fast. There's no way to aim properly."
"That's fine." Dragon shook his head from inside the command room. "What matters right now is finding out where Imu's weapon is hidden."
"Once that thing is destroyed, Imu is a bird in a cage."
Imu was formidable, yes — but formidable at roughly Brett's own level. Without his ultimate weapon, what leverage did he have against Brett, who commanded multiple ancient weapons?
"Jinbei." Dragon turned to the Fish-Man leader also present in the command room. "Could we ask Princess Shirahoshi to have the Sea Kings search the surrounding deep water?"
The clouds above had been completely scattered by the exchange between Brett and Imu. The sky was perfectly clear.
But there was nothing in it.
Imu could not have come alone. The ultimate weapon was hidden somewhere. If not in the sky, then perhaps in the deep sea?
The ship had never shown any ability to submerge, but who could say for certain that it couldn't? A seastone coating could solve the problem, even if the surface that needed coating was very, very large.
At a moment like this, shouldn't every possibility be checked?
"Understood." Jinbei nodded. "I'll contact the Noah right away."
New Fish-Man Island was empty now. Even Brett had no way to predict the war's exact progression, and if something went wrong and the island's location was exposed, it would be a serious problem. The residents had boarded the Noah again and were sheltering in the deep sea nearby, towed by Sea Kings. Shirahoshi was there as well. One call was all it would take for her to direct the Sea Kings into a search from a distance.
While that request was being sent, the battle in the sky continued.
Brett and Imu kept moving — flashing across the sky, colliding, separating, colliding again.
And then, in the middle of all of it —
Imu took another of Brett's punches and was knocked back. He finally exhaled. "As I thought — concealing my presence no longer works on you. Does it, Brett?"
"I worked toward that for a long time." Brett smiled lightly.
"Did you." Imu shook his head with weary acceptance. "A pity. I haven't felt myself improving in many years."
Understandable enough. Without a sufficiently powerful opponent, even training in isolation — and reaching this level purely through that — was already something beyond all expectation.
"So as I expected —" Imu said, "winning this war through direct combat alone isn't going to be enough."
"Hm?"
Brett blinked.
And in the next instant, his expression changed completely.
"Watch out — in the deep water — something is coming up!!"
He shouted.
The specialized communication device on his body carried his voice instantly to Hades above and Pluton below.
One second before Brett's shout — Jinbei had just finished his call.
He said, "The Princess has already —"
Brett's voice cut him off.
A brief, stunned silence. Then every face in the command room shifted at once.
And at that exact instant, from the deep water far below — much farther down, much deeper — a beam of light vaporized the sea and came screaming upward.
BOOM!!
A colossal shaft of light surged up from beneath the surface into the sky.
It was enormous. Larger than Pluton itself.
The line of sight between Brett and Pluton was completely blocked by it — as though Pluton had been swallowed whole inside the light.
"If you can be bait, then why can't I?"
Imu's voice drifted across, unhurried. "I simply wanted to gamble on whether you would try to use your ancient weapons to finish me the moment I appeared."
Brett turned to look.