"Oh, so it's you pathetic little worms! CP0's sneaky rats!"
The sudden voice from above made Rock's entire body shudder with recognition and dread.
"Alert!" he barked in a harsh whisper, his head snapping upward toward the source of the voice.
When he caught sight of the figure sitting casually on the tree branch above them, his face displayed unmistakable disbelief, and even his typically steady voice began to tremble.
"White Wolf Silas!?"
Rock could hardly believe that his paranoid premonition had actually come true. The White Wolf Pirates were really living in Elbaf!
"Retreat!" The moment he laid eyes on Silas, Rock issued the order without the slightest hesitation.
If Silas was here, then where were the other crew members of the White Wolf Pirates? The crew might not individually match Silas's monstrous strength, but they were all formidable opponents in their own right. As long as Silas managed to pin them down in combat, escape would become impossible.
Simultaneously, Rock's mind raced with urgent questions. Why was Silas here? Had he just recently arrived in Elbaf like their own team, or had he been residing here all along since the White Wolf Pirates had mysteriously disappeared from the world stage?
Rock immediately ruled out the former possibility. It was currently Elbaf's sacred Winter Solstice Festival. During this traditionally sensitive period, unless visitors were explicitly trusted by the giants, all outsiders entering Elbaf would automatically be considered hostile enemies.
Therefore, the only logical conclusion was disturbing. Had the White Wolf Pirates somehow managed to forge an alliance with Elbaf's giants?
With this troubling realization dawning on him, Rock instinctively reached for his Den Den Mushi communication device. But before he could utter a single word into it, a blazing blade of compressed air sliced through the darkness and cleanly severed his Den Den Mushi in half.
"What..."
"Hey hey, trying to send out a distress message right in front of me? You're really not taking me seriously at all, you CP0 spies," Silas taunted with obvious amusement.
He rose smoothly from his perch on the tree branch, his long sword already gleaming in his hand. The moment he had spotted these CP0 agents skulking through the shadows, he had never intended to allow even one of them to escape alive.
After all, the system had finally presented him with a long-awaited combat mission.
Sea Calendar 1480, December 7th. Having resided in the Giant Kingdom for half a year, you have gradually mastered advanced applications of Haki. However, good fortune never lasts forever. You have accidentally discovered several CP organization members who have infiltrated Elbaf, and upon closer inspection, they are revealed to be CP0 operatives who serve as the Celestial Dragons' personal shield.
As the world's strongest intelligence agency, every CP0 member possesses sufficient strength to face a thousand ordinary enemies and can easily defeat even an adult giant in single combat.
Having only recently mastered Haki, you theoretically have absolutely no chance of victory.
Mission: Alert the giants and assist them in repelling the CP organization members.
Mission Reward: Unknown (reward varies significantly based on your contribution level during the assisted battle)
He deliberately chose to ignore the system's suggestion of immediately requesting support from the giants. They would definitely become aware of the situation once serious fighting erupted anyway. He simply needed to eliminate these CP0 agents before that became necessary.
"Damn it all!" Seeing Silas preparing to attack, Rock immediately understood that escape was no longer a viable option.
"Sean, Ellie, you stay with me and engage," Rock commanded, looking at the tall and short figures flanking him. Then he turned to address the fourth member of their team. "Milo, you absolutely must break through and get our message out to headquarters!"
"Understood!" came the synchronized response from all three subordinates.
The three CP agents immediately moved to fulfill their assigned roles. The one ordered to escape turned and fled without the slightest hesitation, demonstrating the cold professionalism of their organization.
This tactical maneuver naturally fell well within the scope of Silas's keen observation.
"Hmph, trying to run away from me?" he growled with predatory intent.
Allowing parts of his body to undergo partial beast transformation, Silas had never developed the foolish habit of holding back against dangerous enemies. The moment he decided to act, he committed to using his full power without reservation.
"Stop him!" Seeing Silas vanish from the tree branch like a phantom, Rock shouted desperately and charged directly at the pirate.
Although Silas possessed incredible speed, Rock was no ordinary operative. As the leader of this high-priority CP0 mission, his personal combat strength was easily comparable to great pirates sporting bounties well over 100 million Belly.
With himself and two highly trained companions working in perfect coordination, even the legendary White Wolf should not be able to eliminate them easily.
But in this harsh world, only those who possessed overwhelming strength had the luxury of making choices on their own terms.
Just as Rock and his two companions were about to intercept Silas in a coordinated pincer attack, the airborne pirate executed an impossible maneuver. He actually stepped directly on empty air, tracing a sharp "Z" pattern in mid-air with supernatural agility.
Rock's pupils contracted in shock as his carefully aimed strike found nothing but empty space.
"Milo!" he screamed in warning.
But his warning came far too late. Everything had transpired within mere seconds. Milo, specifically chosen as their messenger due to his exceptional speed, was definitely the fastest member of their four-person team in terms of pure velocity.
However, no matter how supernaturally fast he was, he could not hope to outrun the inexorable path of Silas's blade.
"Frost Fall!"
In the already bitter cold forest, it seemed as if another heavy blizzard had suddenly descended from the heavens. The power flowing from his Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit allowed Silas to automatically generate devastating waves of freezing air within his own body. After four decades of continuous development and refinement, the fruit's mystical power had become as natural and controllable as his own limbs.
Observers could actually see distinct rings of supercooled air swirling ominously around Silas's transformed body.
This was an unmistakable sign of Zoan Devil Fruit awakening.
Half a year ago, severely limited by the constraints of his advanced age, Silas would never have dared to casually employ his fruit's awakened state. The stamina consumption had simply been too overwhelming for his deteriorated body to sustain.
But now, everything was fundamentally different.
Silas's current strength was infinitely close to what he had achieved during his legendary peak period. In fact, his so-called historical peak might not even be able to defeat his current incarnation in a fair fight.
After all, his Devil Fruit awakening had originally occurred when he was approaching sixty years of age. Although his fighting techniques and Haki mastery had been honed to absolute perfection over the decades, his most fundamental physical condition had already begun its inevitable decline.
Therefore, Silas had never truly experienced a perfect peak period where all his abilities converged at their maximum potential.
But the system's miraculous intervention had effectively reversed the flow of time itself. Not only had it made Silas appear a full decade younger, but his physical condition had recovered to what it had been when he was fifty-five years old.
His true physical peak had occurred at age forty-five.
Since he had been training consistently throughout this recent period, the gap between his current and peak conditions had become almost negligible.
Perhaps he might even be able to enter the world's most elite tier of fighters even before mastering the advanced technique of Conqueror's Haki infusion.
"Milo!" Rock's anguished cry was something the fleeing agent was destined never to hear, because Silas's blade moved faster than sound itself.
The cold gleam of steel pursued the running figure relentlessly, easily overwhelming this desperate young man who had attempted to make his final stand using the Six Powers defensive technique known as Iron Body.
The devastating blade light tore through Milo's body like tissue paper, while waves of supernatural cold air completely froze his entire form in place.
The entire deadly sequence required only a single second.
Milo was transformed into a perfectly lifelike ice sculpture, forever frozen in his final moment of desperate flight.
"What a pity," Silas remarked with almost casual regret.
Only then did he turn around with deliberate slowness to face the three remaining CP0 agents, including their trembling leader, Rock. His slightly aged but undeniably powerful voice spoke with quiet menace.
"He should have remained here with the rest of you. If all four of you had coordinated your assault together, you might have actually caused me some meaningful trouble."
The terrifying spiritual pressure that accompanied his unleashed Conqueror's Haki made all three surviving CP0 agents struggle to draw breath normally. While Silas's Conqueror's Haki was not yet at its theoretical maximum strength, his demonstration of casually freezing a CP agent solid with a single devastating strike had cast an ominous shadow of despair over the remaining trio's hearts.
Rock was now filled with crushing regret. Why had he been overthinking the tactical situation so much? Now they were all in mortal danger!
Silas had no intention whatsoever of granting these CP agents any opportunity to mount a meaningful counterattack. If this infiltration team possessed additional backup plans or reinforcements, the mere thought of dealing with such complications would be genuinely troublesome.
However, as if the universe itself sought to confirm Silas's most ominous premonitions, a cold, crystal-clear female voice suddenly rang out through the frigid night air.
"Oh, then what about adding me to this little party?"
The voice's owner had been completely absent from Silas's normally impeccable sensory perception, moving like a cold, venomous serpent. The moment you finally detected its presence was precisely when it struck with lethal intent.
Clang!
Steel blade met steel blade in a shower of brilliant sparks.
Along with the harsh sound of clashing metal came Rock's voice, now filled with sudden, overwhelming relief and renewed hope.
"Admiral Crimson Snake!"
One of the three legendary Marine Admirals had arrived on the battlefield.
Crimson Snake was making her grand entrance!
[Chapter Complete]
***
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