Seeing the tall man in the yellow striped suit before her, Mikita's expression turned grave.
She clenched her bruised fists tightly.
"Are you... Kizaru?"
Hearing Mikita's question, Kizaru turned around while simultaneously kicking away the dazed Hawkins beneath him like a soccer ball.
BAM.
He glanced at the bounty poster in his hand, squinting, and put on a "shocked" expression.
"Ooh~ Mikita, with a 150 Million Berry bounty... What a terrifying woman."
"Terrifying? Hah... how ridiculous." Mikita scoffed.
She had indeed managed to suppress three Supernovas single-handedly, even without fully understanding their abilities.
Such strength was genuinely fearsome in the eyes of ordinary pirates.
'But to you, a Marine Admiral, i'm "terrifying"? How fake.'
Mikita felt a wave of panic rising inside her chest.
Even at her peak, she wasn't confident she could escape from Kizaru, let alone in her current injured, battle-worn state.
'Zoro... you've really screwed me over this time.'
Kizaru grinned cheerfully at Mikita and began walking toward her at a leisurely pace.
"You've already mastered Haki before even entering the New World? It seems you should be my top priority to capture today."
Kizaru had observed Mikita's fight against Hawkins, Apoo, and Urouge from afar.
He thought her bounty was set far too low.
Haki mastery of this level shouldn't be something commonly found in the first half of the Grand Line.
This point was exceptionally evident when compared to the other Supernovas, who were struggling to even understand her attacks.
Naturally, Mikita wouldn't just wait passively for arrest.
Whether she could escape or not, she had to take action.
WHOOSH.
Activating her ability, she reduced her weight to 1kg and exerted explosive force with her legs.
In the blink of an eye, Mikita dashed backward about 500 meters, attempting to flee.
Just as she prepared to exert force again for another leap...
"Yata no Kagami."
ZING!
A beam of light flashed.
Kizaru materialized out of the light directly in Mikita's path at an imperceptible speed.
He turned sideways, raising his leg.
"Too slow~"
Seeing Kizaru appear before her so quickly, Mikita's expression shifted dramatically.
She preemptively coated both her arms with Armament Haki, crossing them in front of her chest to block.
BAM!
The moment she made contact with Kizaru's leg, Mikita felt an overwhelming force she couldn't resist.
Like being hit by a meteor, she was sent flying back toward the street she had just left.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
She only came to a stop after smashing through over a dozen buildings.
Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Mikita felt her end was near.
"Is this the power of an Admiral? The gap between us... is too vast."
After saying this, the weakened Mikita slid down from the ruined wall to the ground.
Her legs struggled to stand but were unable to muster any strength.
That single kick had left her severely injured.
Seeing that Mikita had temporarily lost the ability to move, Kizaru turned his attention back to Urouge and Apoo.
With a "so scary~" here and a light-speed kick there, he effortlessly took down the remaining Supernovas.
After dealing with Hawkins, Urouge, and Apoo, Kizaru turned his attention back to Mikita.
He noticed that Mikita had actually managed to stand up again, trembling.
"Ooh~ You're the only one still resisting... so I'll give you another kick."
With that, Kizaru began walking step by step toward Mikita.
He pulled out a Den Den Mushi to contact his subordinate, Sentomaru, who had arrived on the island earlier.
"Moshi moshi... Sentomaru? Can you hear me? This is Kizaru."
"Hello? Hello?"
Unfortunately, he was speaking into a black wrist-watch Den Den Mushi intended for eavesdropping, not communication.
No one answered no matter how many times he called.
Watching Kizaru draw closer, Mikita grew increasingly desperate.
There was no escape. Absolutely no escape.
Her only option was to fight back. Even if it meant death, she had to land at least one kick on Kizaru's head.
So, mustering all her remaining strength, Mikita activated her ability once more and charged at Kizaru.
"10,000 KILO GUILLOTINE!"
A sonic kick infused with Armament Haki aimed straight at Kizaru's head.
Kizaru merely sidestepped slightly and responded with his own speed.
"Light Speed Kick."
CRACK.
After just a moment of collision, Mikita felt the shin she had coated with Armament Haki fracture.
She was sent spinning in another direction, crashing into the ground.
Now, she could only stand on her left foot.
But could she just stop resisting? Once captured, she would be thrown into Impel Down.
She hadn't even seen her Ray-sama yet—she absolutely couldn't give up here!
Drawing on some unknown power within her, Mikita activated her Devil Fruit ability once more.
This time, only her left leg was capable of attacking.
In this life-or-death moment, her Devil Fruit ability seemed to push past its limits.
As she charged at Kizaru and launched her attack, she increased her weight to 50,000 kg, greatly enhancing the kinetic energy of her strike.
Kizaru responded with the same Light Speed Kick.
BOOM!
This time, however, Kizaru's expression wasn't as relaxed.
He was actually pinned down for half a second by Mikita's heavy downward strike and had to exert a bit more force to push back.
"Ooh~ How terrifying. If given a little more time, you would undoubtedly grow into a formidable enemy of the Marines."
"But this time... you have no ability to resist, right?"
BAM!
He kicked her away again.
Indeed, Mikita's legs were broken, leaving her completely defenseless on the rubble.
"It seems... this is the end for me, Ray-sama."
Watching Kizaru draw closer with a glowing foot raised, Mikita closed her eyes.
She was completely exhausted with no power left.
Just then.
SLASH!
A massive green flying slash suddenly sliced through the air before her eyes, creating a deep trench between her and Kizaru.
Kizaru stopped in his tracks and turned to look.
"Wow~ The Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro, with a 450 Million Berry bounty."
Mikita also opened her eyes, spotted Zoro, and couldn't help but mutter in resignation.
"You finally decided to come back...?"
Zoro had already tied his black bandana on, looking somewhat embarrassed.
"Sorry, Mikita. Leave this to me now—try to escape."
Yes, he had indeed gotten lost... again.
If not for Kizaru's overwhelming power being detected by his Observation Haki, he would never have found his way back to the right street.
Zoro assumed his Three Sword Style stance, placing Wado Ichimonji in his mouth and positioning himself before Kizaru.
"Another Marine Admiral like Aokiji... Last time I couldn't put up much resistance against him, but now I want to test myself."
Zoro knew perfectly well that even at his current level, he stood little chance of defeating a Marine Admiral alone.
But since Mikita's current predicament was his fault, he had to buy her enough time to escape.
"Come on then... Marine Headquarters' 'Ultimate Combat Power'."
Though Kizaru maintained his usual carefree demeanor, he had temporarily abandoned his pursuit of Mikita.
This indicated that even someone of his caliber couldn't afford to be careless when facing this swordsman.
"Ooh~ Since you're a swordsman... let's have a contest."
"Ama no Murakumo."
ZZZT!
Seeing the sword made of pure light materialize in the Admiral's hands, Zoro's fighting spirit surged.
"Phoenix... POUND HO!"
BOOM!
A massive rotating sword slash shot straight toward Kizaru.
....
In another location: Grove 1 Auction House.
Luffy and the others had already thrown the auction house into chaos.
"GOMU GOMU NO... PISTOL!"
BAM!
Luffy sent the Celestial Dragon Saint Roswald flying with a single punch for trying to order him around.
Given the force behind Luffy's current Haki-infused punch, the Celestial Dragon was most likely dead on impact.
Another female Celestial Dragon, Saint Shalria, was subsequently strangled to death by Robin using her Clutch ability before she could even fire her gun.
Having spent considerable time with Ray, the Straw Hat Pirates had developed much stronger killing intent compared to their original counterparts.
Or rather, they acted with greater decisiveness against true evil.
This was one reason their strength had improved so rapidly.
They followed their hearts.
Eliminating scum like the Celestial Dragons only brought benefits to the world, with no downsides.
This aligned perfectly with the Straw Hat Pirates' values and code of conduct.
At this auction venue, amidst the chaos, Luffy's group also spotted the two most noteworthy Supernovas that Shakky had previously introduced to them.
Eustass Kid and Trafalgar Law.
These two captains had been wanting to meet Luffy for some time.
However, unlike fools like Apoo, the moment they laid eyes on Luffy's group in action, they understood they shouldn't provoke the Straw Hat Pirates for now.
Even Kid, who most wanted to challenge Luffy, suppressed his restless impulses.
The Straw Hats were killing Celestial Dragons like they were swatting flies.
That was a level of madness even Kid respected.
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