The figure who appeared before Silas was a striking red-haired woman wearing the pristine white cape that marked her as a Marine Admiral. She possessed an excellent figure and stood nearly as tall as Silas himself.
She attacked the moment she materialized from the shadows. Despite being a woman, her tremendous strength nearly overwhelmed even Silas in their initial clash.
Silas was already recognized as one of the top powerhouses sailing these treacherous seas. But if one were to discuss who currently surpassed him in raw combat ability, the answer would be the current Marine Admirals and the future Pirate Emperors who had yet to fully emerge.
The woman standing before him was one of those three legendary Marine Admirals.
"Crimson Snake" Rona Von Braun.
She was one of the precious few female Admirals in the entire recorded history of the Marines, and simultaneously one of the world's most elite master swordsmen. During their previous encounters, she had proven herself to be one of the rare individuals capable of giving Silas considerable trouble during Marine pursuit operations.
In Silas's memories of the future timeline, this formidable woman's figure was notably absent from the events that would unfold decades later. But upon reflection, this absence was not particularly strange or unexpected.
There were still over fifty years remaining before the main storyline he remembered would begin to unfold. Among all the Marines he might encounter in this era, he could only recognize one familiar face with certainty.
Steel Bone Kong.
The man destined to become the future Fleet Admiral of the Marines, and eventually the Commander-in-Chief of the entire World Government military structure.
But even such a historically significant and famous figure had not yet achieved the exalted rank of Marine Admiral at this point in time. Kong was still merely an Admiral candidate, working his way up through the ranks.
If Kong was still just an Admiral candidate, then who exactly were the current Marine Admirals commanding the seas?
The answer to that question stood directly before him.
Time had brought some inevitable weathering to her features. No matter how radiantly beautiful a woman might be in her youth, the relentless passage of years would inevitably leave its subtle marks upon her face and form.
But even accounting for the passage of time, the woman confronting him remained genuinely beautiful. She was like a fine wine that refused to lose its complex flavor despite the passage of countless seasons.
"Rona Von Braun, why are you here?" Silas asked, his tone growing grave with concern.
Looking at the woman before him, he realized he never would have imagined that the CP agents were merely expendable bait, while the real mortal danger had been lurking patiently in the shadows all along.
"Hehe, a woman's intuition," Rona Von Braun replied with obvious amusement.
Her scarlet lips curved into a devastatingly beautiful arc. Her predatory gaze looked Silas up and down with obvious appraisal, like a venomous serpent carefully studying its chosen prey before striking.
"Five years have passed since we last crossed paths. I fully expected you would have aged terribly by now, but surprisingly, you appear even more spirited and vital than you did five years ago."
Rona Von Braun's entry into the sovereign territory of Elbaf had been completely accidental. For non-World Government affiliated nations that possessed genuinely formidable military strength, like the Giant Kingdom, the Marines generally adopted a cautious policy of strategic neglect, treating such powers with careful diplomatic distance.
Without explicit orders from Marine Headquarters, even a Marine Admiral would not casually violate the territorial sovereignty of a non-affiliated nation.
In fact, if Silas had not appeared on the scene, Rona would never have revealed herself from beginning to end. She harbored no particular concern for the lives or welfare of a group of expendable CP agents.
After accidentally discovering the CP agents' ship during her patrol route, she had only been curious about the fact that the Marines seemed to maintain some form of unofficial dealings with "Mother" Carmel on Elbaf Island. Behind Carmel's operations, there had always seemed to be the faint shadow of Silas's influence.
Considering how the White Wolf Pirates had mysteriously vanished from all reports for the past half year, Rona had decided to gamble on her instincts and covertly follow these CP agents to the island.
Who would have anticipated that fate would grant her such an unexpected and delightful surprise?
"Silas, surrender yourself to Marine justice," Rona commanded with a dazzling smile.
"You could not defeat me five years ago when you were closer to your prime, and you certainly cannot hope to achieve victory against me now. If you surrender willingly, I will personally arrange a VIP cell for you in the great prison of Impel Down."
"Heh, I think I will pass on that generous offer," Silas replied with dry humor.
Having finally received his miraculous system, with his originally withered and declining body gaining vibrant new life, not even a Marine Admiral could compel Silas to surrender. Hell, not even the Fleet Admiral himself could accomplish that feat.
"In that case, I will simply have to defeat you personally and drag you to justice!" Rona declared with finality.
As her words concluded, her gaze sharpened into something genuinely lethal. Dense waves of Armament Haki flowed into her elegant long sword, and bone-chilling sharpness began to emanate from her blade like an aura of death itself.
"Cutting Blossom!"
A brilliant crimson crescent-shaped projectile of compressed air and Haki pressed against Silas as it shot skyward with devastating force. She committed to using her full power from the very beginning, completely disregarding the potential collateral damage to the three CP0 members positioned behind Silas.
"This is terrible!"
"Quick, everyone dodge!"
Silas, who stood directly in the path of Rona's attack, naturally bore the brunt of her devastating assault. But the residual shockwaves and energy spillover still sent all three CP0 agents flying through the air like broken dolls.
It could be accurately stated that if Silas had not absorbed and deflected most of the raw damage from Rona's strike, that single blow possessed sufficient power to seriously injure or potentially kill all three CP agents, including their leader, Rock.
Facing Rona's ruthless attack that showed absolutely no consideration for distinguishing between friend and foe, Rock did not dare voice even the slightest complaint or criticism.
Anyone who truly knew Rona's reputation understood a fundamental truth: this female Marine Admiral who had earned the codename "Crimson Snake," had always possessed a notoriously volatile and dangerous temper.
"Let us withdraw from this combat zone!" Rock shouted to his surviving companions.
Originally, he had been convinced that their mission would end in complete failure and that they might not even preserve their own lives in the process. Who could have predicted such a dramatic and favorable turnaround? A Marine Admiral had actually appeared to intervene on their behalf.
As for the specific reasons why "Crimson Snake" Rona happened to be present in this location, Rock possessed neither the courage to speculate about such matters nor the foolish audacity to ask direct questions.
"Quickly, everyone move! While Admiral Crimson Snake is successfully drawing the enemy's complete attention, we must seize this opportunity to carry out our primary mission!" Rock commanded in an urgent whisper.
Marine Admirals represented the absolute pinnacle of combat power in this world. Forget about White Wolf Silas alone. Even if someone added Elbaf's legendary Giant King Harald to the equation, if Rona truly decided she wanted to withdraw from this engagement, absolutely no one possessed the capability to prevent her escape.
The three surviving CP agents offered Rona a brief, respectful bow of acknowledgment before quickly sprinting toward the giants' village to complete their original objectives.
Observing this tactical maneuver, Silas's expression darkened with concern.
"What, feeling the urge to rush over there and play hero?" Rona taunted with obvious amusement.
Her tone remained deliberately flippant and dismissive. "Perhaps the version of you from ten years ago might have been able to compete with me in terms of pure speed, but do you honestly believe you can still match that pace now?"
Although Silas's overall physical condition appeared considerably more robust than it had five years ago, Rona refused to believe he had somehow recovered his legendary peak fighting strength.
Regardless of who they might be, after passing beyond that golden age of physical prime, every warrior's capabilities would only continue to decline steadily as the years accumulated.
She had never encountered anyone in her entire career who could somehow grow stronger with advancing age.
"Heh, want to find out?" Silas challenged with quiet confidence.
Releasing a slow, controlled breath, the moment Silas had spotted Rona's arrival, he understood that a desperate battle was now inevitable.
Strangely, his system had still not reacted to this development with any new mission or notification. This was a confrontation with a Marine Admiral, after all!
Silas could only speculate that in the system's recorded timeline, Rona had already become an elderly woman, either retired from active service or having lost her combat effectiveness entirely.
Rona's expression suddenly shifted to something genuinely cold and menacing.
As one of the world's absolute top-tier powerhouses, not a Devil Fruit user but a pure swordsman who had reached the pinnacle through skill alone, Rona's Observation Haki was undoubtedly at the highest possible level.
She genuinely disliked the confident expression that had just crossed Silas's weathered features!
"Moon Cutter!"
What appeared to be a simple flying slash possessed enough raw power that its cutting range could probably split the entire forest extending behind Silas for well over a thousand meters with a single devastating strike.
Silas's response was immediate and equally committed.
"Cold Strike!"
In the forest that was already dozens of degrees below freezing due to the harsh winter conditions, the ambient temperature plummeted even further into truly dangerous territory.
Winter had always been his ideal battlefield.
Thanks to the bone-chilling cold of the season and thanks to the previous night's heavy snowfall that had blanketed the landscape, he possessed a significant environmental advantage.
A massive wolf, its fur as white as fresh snow, suddenly launched itself toward Rona with predatory intent.
Beauty and the Beast.
This was not a charming fairy tale, but the beginning of a deadly battle that would determine life and death!
Meanwhile, in the giants' village, Charlotte Linlin groggily struggled to consciousness after seven grueling days of enforced fasting had left her dizzy and disoriented. Just as she was about to randomly grab some nearby snow to stuff into her mouth as if it were delicious cake, three ominous figures dressed in pristine white suits materialized before her.
"We are operating with insufficient manpower. Which target should we prioritize for capture?" one of them whispered urgently.
"The giant child, obviously. If we successfully capture a giant child, even that 'Mother' Carmel will be forced to negotiate with our terms," another replied with cold calculation.
Rock casually hoisted a sleeping giant child who was several times larger than himself onto his back, demonstrating the supernatural strength that all CP0 agents possessed. Then he approached Charlotte Linlin with predatory intent.
He leaped upward and delivered what should have been a perfectly executed knife-hand strike to a pressure point.
"Sleep!" he commanded, expecting immediate results.
Rock landed gracefully back on the ground, but the expected sensation of successfully knocking out his target never materialized. The child standing before him had not collapsed into unconsciousness as anticipated.
Instead, his striking hand was experiencing a dull, throbbing pain.
Rock looked up in confusion and saw that Charlotte Linlin, who had directly received his supposedly incapacitating knife-hand strike, was behaving as if absolutely nothing had happened. She simply stared at him with blank, innocent curiosity.
"What are you doing?" Charlotte Linlin asked with genuine puzzlement, absently biting her finger in a childish gesture of confusion.
[Chapter Complete]
***
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