Silver Axe's legs were buried deep in the ground. Relying on the terrifying strength granted by the Riki Riki no Mi, he actually managed to hold his ground against Ortoren in his Sulong form.
The next instant, Ochoku appeared above Ortoren. As his long blade thrust downward, he shouted angrily,
"Silver Axe, are you out of your mind? Why are you grabbing his horns!?"
Before the blade could fall, a pillar of lightning erupted from Ortoren's body and shot straight into the sky. Lacking any special constitution, Ochoku dared not trade damage with Ortoren. He immediately changed his move and vanished once again.
Silver Axe had acted on hot blood. After being shouted at, he finally seemed to come to his senses.
What the hell was I thinking, grabbing his horns!?
In that split second, Ortoren's overwhelming presence had shaken him so badly that he really treated him like a raging bull.
But Ortoren wasn't actually in a beast form at all!
Right now, Silver Axe was clutching Ortoren's horns, but Ortoren's hands were completely free.
There was no way to dodge now. His legs were pinned to the ground, and the distance was far too close.
By the time Silver Axe realized his mistake, Ortoren's heavy fist, packed with terrifying power, had already smashed into his face. With a single blow, his nasal bone collapsed, his entire face caving in and twisting out of shape. The force ripped his legs free from the ground, and his body was sent flying dozens of meters away, crashing hard into a pile of rubble. He lay there, completely motionless.
Under normal circumstances, after landing such a devastating hit, Ortoren would have pressed the attack.
But at this moment, he had no interest in Silver Axe at all. His mind was filled with only one thought.
Kill Shanks.
After blasting Silver Axe away with a single punch, Ortoren's blood-red gaze immediately locked onto Shanks, who had just climbed back to his feet in the distance.
With another wild roar, lightning crackled across Ortoren's body. In the blink of an eye, he was already in front of Shanks, swinging a punch straight at his face.
Shanks didn't have time to pull away. Forget about style. As Ortoren's fist came in, he dropped his body low, the shockwave of the punch sweeping over his head as Ortoren's follow-up attacks poured out without pause.
The moment Shanks crouched, Ortoren drove his knee upward. Cold sweat broke out on Shanks' back. He threw himself flat to the ground and rolled away in a desperate scramble, barely dodging the blow.
Meanwhile, over at the harbor docks, Beckman watched the battlefield, where the nearly frenzied Ortoren was overwhelmingly suppressing Shanks. He swallowed hard and said,
"I used to hear Shanks talk about how unmatched that guy was. Now I really see it. This is bad. Even though Shanks tried to overestimate his strength as much as possible, it's clear he still misjudged it. The Marines' real heavy hitters haven't even entered yet, and the first surprise attack didn't seriously injure Ortoren or take him out of the fight. If this keeps up, things are going to get ugly. Yasopp, take Lucky Roux and the others and prepare the ship. I'm going to support Shanks!"
Yasopp's expression was grim. Failing to deal with Ortoren here meant they had truly made an enemy of him. Their prospects in the New World were looking bleak now.
Absolutely miserable.
When they came to Hachinosu, hadn't the plan been to rise up by stepping on Ochoku and Silver Axe?
How the hell did things turn into this mess?
On the other side, Shanks narrowly avoided several of Ortoren's heavy punches, but he still couldn't create any distance. He was trapped in an extremely dangerous situation, especially since Ortoren had knocked his sword out of his hand during their first exchange.
Now he was in an awkward spot.
Counterattack?
Barehanded, he couldn't break through Ortoren's defenses at all.
Just as Ortoren's next punch was about to land, a gunshot rang out. From dozens of meters away, Beckman fired a round that struck Ortoren squarely in the shoulder.
The bullet, coated in Beckman's Haki, carried tremendous power. Although it failed to pierce Ortoren's defense, it was enough to knock his movement slightly off balance, giving Shanks the opening he needed to dodge the punch once again.
At the same time, Ochoku appeared right beside Shanks, grabbed his arm, and vanished in a flash.
He reappeared next to Shanks, pulling Gryphon along with him. Shanks immediately snatched his sword back into his hand and said,
"Thanks..."
Ochoku's expression, however, was grim.
"That guy... He seems to have lost some of his sanity, but he's become even more terrifying."
Shanks let out a breath and said with a sigh,
"His physical abilities were already frightening to begin with. Add the Mink Tribe's Sulong on top of that, which further boosts physical strength, and in this state, even Whitebeard might not be able to suppress him. Luckily, he's lost his mind, so his use of the Goro Goro no Mi is extremely crude. If he could actually control himself in this state, he'd probably be the true strongest in the world."
Hearing that, Ochoku cursed irritably.
"Damn it. What the hell is wrong with Linlin? A monster like that actually ended up in the Marines' hands..."
After their brief exchange, Shanks visibly steadied himself. The slight tremor in his arm finally stopped.
Meanwhile, Ortoren's wild offensive was pushing Beckman to the brink, leaving him barely able to breathe. It truly felt like a graze would injure him, and a solid hit would kill him outright. If Ortoren's attacks had been even slightly more structured, or if Beckman weren't agile enough, the fight would have ended in a single blow.
Amid the ruins, Silver Axe finally shook off his dizzy haze. Clutching his nose, blood pouring between his fingers, he staggered back to his feet.
You had to admit it. This guy was an absolute physical monster. After taking several heavy blows from Ortoren head-on, he could still stand. That alone said enough.
Before Silver Axe could fully steady himself, Ochoku and Shanks flashed in beside him. Ochoku spoke immediately,
"Right now, you're the only one who can face him head-on. Hold out a bit longer. We'll find a way to seriously injure Ortoren!"
"Damn it!" Silver Axe spat, then added, "I can't hold him off for long. You two better pull your weight!"
"Beckman!" Shanks called out.
Beckman didn't even turn his head. His feet slid out from under him as he performed a lazy roll, just like Shanks earlier, narrowly avoiding Ortoren's attack. In the next instant, Shanks' slash had already flown in.
Ortoren remained ferocious. With a casual swing of his arm, wrapped in Haki, he shattered the incoming slash right in front of him. In the following moment, Silver Axe had already rushed up and drove a punch straight into Ortoren's chest.
The power behind it was anything but lacking. The blow forced Ortoren to stumble back two steps.
At the same time, Ochoku flashed to Ortoren's side once more. This time, he had learned his lesson. His long blade came down at a vicious angle, aimed directly at the wound on Ortoren's arm, clearly intending to sever the arm bone.
Having just taken Silver Axe's heavy punch, Ortoren hadn't yet dispersed the force in his body. Combined with his lack of rationality, it genuinely seemed like he wouldn't be able to dodge this strike.
But at that very moment, an invisible gravitational force suddenly enveloped everyone.
Even Ortoren staggered, nearly losing his footing.
Caught completely off guard, Ochoku couldn't withstand the pressure at all. His body was slammed toward the ground. Just as he was about to be crushed into it, his ability activated, and he vanished from the battlefield in the blink of an eye.
As Ochoku disappeared, the gravitational force dissipated just as suddenly.
At the same instant, a figure shot out from behind Ortoren with astonishing speed, appearing right in front of Silver Axe.
It was Gion.
Konpira was already drawn in her hand, its blade flashing with a sharp, icy gleam as she slashed upward in a diagonal arc.
The strike was about to take Silver Axe's head clean off before he could react.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out. Beckman's bullet struck Gion's blade with pinpoint accuracy.
That single moment was enough. Silver Axe's massive body stepped back, narrowly slipping past the edge of her blade.
But in the next instant, blood burst from his chest as a deep gash appeared across his torso.
"Wind pressure!?" Silver Axe didn't have time to dwell on it. He quickly retreated two more steps, forcing open the distance again.
Gion, however, didn't pursue. After forcing Silver Axe back with a single exchange, she stepped back twice and moved to Ortoren's side. At some point, a thick syringe had appeared in her hand.
She plunged the needle straight into the wound on Ortoren's arm and, without hesitation, injected the entire dose into his body.
Ortoren seemed to instinctively recognize Gion. He didn't resist or dodge, allowing her to administer the injection without struggle.
At the same time, Issho descended from above, landing on Ortoren's other side.
"Good thing we had Dr. Vegapunk's medicine," he said calmly. "If he'd been allowed to keep rampaging like that, Hachinosu probably wouldn't have held out."
They had indeed come to wipe out Ochoku's group, but sinking Hachinosu itself had never been part of the plan. This place was meant to be left to Moria and used as a future trade hub. Destroying it outright would have caused no end of trouble.
And sure enough, it lived up to Dr. Vegapunk's name. After that single injection, the savage aura around Ortoren rapidly receded. His long silver-white hair began to draw back, and the crimson light in his eyes faded, as if his sanity had finally returned.
"That hurt, Gion..." Ortoren said quietly.
Hearing his voice, Gion smiled, knowing he was back to himself.
"I'm not a medical professional," she replied. "So a rough hand is understandable."
At this moment, Shanks, Beckman, Silver Axe, and Ochoku stood facing Ortoren, Issho, and Gion, separated by dozens of meters.
Compared to the relaxed demeanor of Ortoren and the other two, Ochoku's side wore extremely grim expressions.
After all, even a single Ortoren had already pushed them to the limit.
Now, the Marines' top-tier fighters had entered the battle as well.
The pressure was overwhelming.
...
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