Jozu let out a low, guttural roar, summoning every ounce of his strength.
The tremor-infused energy around his diamond fist crackled, distorting the very air.
The moment Kizaru committed to his reckless charge, Jozu's fist shot out like a meteor, slamming hard into the Admiral's abdomen.
BOOM!
The impact wasn't just a sound; it was a physical event that shook the entire training ground.
It was the sound of a mountain cracking in half.
Kizaru's body, for a split second, seemed to fold around Jozu's fist before he was launched backward as if struck head-on by a high-speed sea train.
His golden figure became a blur, tearing through the air, smashing clean through the walls of two separate training barracks, and finally disappearing into a massive cloud of dust and splintered wood nearly a kilometer away.
The surrounding recruits were stunned into absolute silence, their mouths agape, unable to believe what their eyes had just witnessed.
An Admiral of the Navy, one of the three strongest fighters in the entire marines, had just been sent flying with a single, brutal punch.
"Did I… did I just see that right? Am I hallucinating?" one of them muttered, his face a mask of pure shock.
"Who the hell is that guy? How can anyone be stronger than Admiral Kizaru?" another recruit asked, his voice trembling with fear.
"This is terrifying… The Admiral got one-shot. Are all pirates on the Grand Line this strong?"
"I recognize him!" a slightly more informed recruit exclaimed, his voice a mix of awe and terror.
"That's Diamond Jozu, the Third Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates! But… that attack just now… that was Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit power!"
"You idiot, haven't you seen the news from the front lines?" another cadet hissed.
"The rumors are true! Every single one of the Whitebeard Pirates' main crew is a Dual-Fruit user now!"
A wave of shocked gasps erupted among the recruits.
They had been stuck on this rear base for training, their knowledge of the rapidly changing outside world limited and often delayed.
They had heard whispers, but to see the proof firsthand was something else entirely.
Jozu stood still, calmly watching the plume of dust where Kizaru had landed.
He didn't believe for a second that his punch could actually kill an Admiral.
At most, it would leave him seriously rattled and make him cough up some blood.
Thinking this, Jozu's lips curled into a smug, satisfied grin.
'Heh, not bad,' he thought to himself, flexing his diamond fist.
'Even I, Jozu, can send an Admiral flying with one punch now.'
But the moment that proud thought crossed his mind, a bolt of realization struck him like lightning.
"Wait a minute!" Jozu suddenly slapped his own thigh, his expression instantly shifting from smug satisfaction to one of abject regret.
"What was I just thinking? 'At most, he'll cough up some blood'?" he muttered to himself, a flash of pure frustration in his eyes.
He stared at his fist as if it had betrayed him.
"Blood???"
The word jolted him awake, making him realize the true gravity of his mistake.
"WASTEFUL! SO WASTEFUL!" he shouted, his voice thick with a remorse that was completely lost on the terrified recruits.
"Kizaru must have coughed up a lot of blood just now! That's so many potential Glint-Glint Fruits down the drain!" He mumbled, his heart heavy with regret for the lost resources.
At this thought, Jozu felt a genuine pang of heartache.
Perhaps provoked by this bizarre, taunting display of priorities, a furious roar erupted from the distant rubble.
Amidst the dust, Kizaru, who had just struggled to his feet, was so enraged that he spat out another mouthful of bright red blood.
His face was twisted into a savage snarl, his eyes blazing with a fury that seemed to make the very light around him burn hotter.
"You damn brat," Kizaru roared, his voice brimming with wrath and resolve.
"I'll put you down today, and I'll let the World Government foot the medical bill!"
As his words fell, a flash of golden light streaked across the air.
Kizaru's figure materialized before Jozu in an instant, his body radiating an intense, scorching aura.
"Ever been kicked at the speed of light?" Kizaru sneered, his tone laced with pure, murderous intent.
Without waiting for a reply, he raised his right leg and delivered a vicious kick to Jozu's flank.
The attack carried tremendous force and blinding speed, landing on Jozu's diamond body almost instantaneously.
With a thunderous boom, Jozu was sent flying by the impact, tumbling head over heels through the air before barely regaining his balance and crashing to the ground.
He swiftly adjusted his stance, his eyes locked onto Kizaru.
Noticing the fresh blood trickling from the Admiral's lips, Jozu's gaze filled with pity.
"What a waste," he murmured with a sigh.
"I really don't understand why you Marines can't be more frugal with your resources."
As he spoke, he charged forward, not as a streak of light, but as a shimmering, unstoppable diamond comet.
Kizaru met him head-on, and the two clashed in a furious, high-speed battle.
Their figures darted and weaved, one a precise beam of deadly light, the other a nigh-indestructible force of nature.
Each collision erupted in dazzling bursts of golden radiance and glittering diamond dust.
The sky above the training grounds flickered incessantly, a spectacular and terrifying light show for the soldiers gaping from below.
...
Meanwhile, Jozu's 'Robbing' unit was having the time of their lives.
They darted through the chaos of the rear base, scooping up anything of value into their Castle Rings.
"Everyone, the naval granary is straight ahead! take all of their food!"
"You two head there! We'll take the north side! That building looks like a treasury!"
"Be careful! If anything seems off, retreat immediately! The loot isn't worth your life!"
"Got it!"
....
Outside the main Marine base, the battle had reached a fever pitch.
Nine colossal dragons, the transformed commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates, roared across the sky, their deafening bellows seeming to tear the heavens asunder.
They relentlessly spewed searing flames and blades of wind, each attack erupting with volcanic intensity, mercilessly assaulting everything below.
Wherever they spotted a dense formation of Marine personnel, they swooped down without hesitation, either swallowing them whole or blasting them away into oblivion.
Explosions and flames engulfed the entire battlefield.
The air was thick with smoke and the stench of burning flesh.
Sengoku's brow furrowed heavily as he surveyed the scene, his heart swelling with a frustrating fury.
The newly developed Pacifista units had been almost entirely destroyed, a devastating blow to them.
What troubled him more was the cunning of the nine dragons in the sky.
They were deliberately targeting densely populated areas, blowing apart Marine soldiers before they could even properly join the battle.
And down below, the Supernovas were adding to the chaos, fearless troublemakers stirring up trouble for their own amusement.
For Sengoku, however, the priority was clear.
He had to deal with the nine rampaging dragons wreaking havoc from above.
Otherwise, even with more reinforcements, they would never turn the tide.
With that thought in mind, Sengoku turned to a weary, injured Aokiji.
"Aokiji," he said, his voice grim. "You go and block those nine dragons. We can't let them cause any more trouble for the ground forces."
Only by controlling the aerial threat could they buy their soldiers precious time to counterattack.
Hearing this, Aokiji who was still trying to get the spots out of his vision from Jozu's earlier attack, froze.
His gaze lingered on the nine arrogantly domineering dragons soaring through the sky, and three big question marks involuntarily popped up above his head.
"Me?" he asked, his voice flat with disbelief.
-----------------------------
Read 45 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator