Seeing the white figure materialize before him, Zoro was overjoyed, while Kizaru grew visibly solemn.
Ray turned and gave Zoro a look and calmly spoke, "Go support Luffy."
Zoro immediately understood, sheathed his swords, and turned to leave.
But before he could take two steps, Ray stopped him.
"Remember... go where the fighting is most intense.... do not trust your instinct!"
Hearing this, Zoro's face darkened, and he responded impatiently.
"I GOT IT!!"
With that, Zoro ran in the direction Ray's Light Whip pointed.
Kizaru quietly watched Zoro leave without attempting to stop him.
He knew better than to try any tricks in front of Ray.
"Sigh... I really don't want to fight you, Demon God Ray."
Three seconds passed after Kizaru spoke, but he received no response from Ray.
"Ahem. You're exactly as Kuzan described."
So Kizaru decided to employ a stalling tactic, his usual lazy drawl slower than ever.
"If I fight you, it would be equivalent to the Marines declaring war on a Yonko right now. That would be very... irrational."
Though Ray didn't respond, he was carefully analyzing Kizaru's words.
From this statement, it was clear the Marines didn't want to fight the Straw Hat Pirates.
But for the sake of the Celestial Dragons' pride, they had to put on a show.
And Kizaru obviously didn't want to follow the Celestial Dragons' orders to the death.
He was likely planning to slack off again.
"Ray... since there's no one around anyway, I can pretend I never saw you."
"Besides, I didn't go all out against that guy just now. You should know that if I really wanted to kill him, I could have done so before you arrived."
Ray naturally agreed with these two points.
Mikita had left before Zoro, the other three Supernovas were now unconscious under rubble, and the other residents had long since fled the area.
However.
"We killed four Celestial Dragons."
"And... I was already present when you made your move against Mikita."
Hearing this, Kizaru's pupils trembled behind his sunglasses.
These two pieces of news shocked him tremendously.
'Killing FOUR Celestial Dragons...?!'
The Straw Hat Pirates had truly turned the world upside down.
This act would cause massive upheaval within the World Government!
He was too late; there was no possibility of a peaceful resolution now.
'Would we really have to fight Ray, the Yonko Killer, right before dealing with the Whitebeard Pirates?'
An Admiral might die in such a battle.
And if a current Admiral were to die, the Marines would not only face greater difficulties in controlling pirates...
More importantly, they would be completely at the mercy of the World Government.
Currently, the Marines still had some say against the Celestial Dragons when it came to high-level combat power.
Virtually every Marine at the Admiral level harbors some rebellious thoughts toward the Celestial Dragons—they simply differ in their approaches (Lazy Justice, Burning Justice, Moral Justice).
Should the Marines suffer heavy losses against Ray, the entire upper echelon would inevitably be infiltrated by the forces of the Five Elders.
At that point, they would become nothing more than lapdogs of the World Government, with no room for covert disobedience.
As for the second statement... Ray had appeared so close to him unexpectedly.
Yet, Kizaru had only sensed Ray's arrival two minutes prior.
This precisely demonstrated how terrifying Ray was.
It further proved that the Marines should not engage in an all-out conflict with Ray right now.
'Damn it... we're caught between a rock and a hard place.'
Not fighting was not an option (due to the dead Celestial Dragons), but fighting would only make things worse (weakening the Marines before the war with Whitebeard).
'What should I do?'
Kizaru, the laid-back government employee who usually preferred to take it easy, found his mind in turmoil.
His brain, for the first time in a long while, began operating at high speed.
After a moment of silence, Kizaru spoke again.
"Ray... you should retreat. I've decided to report to my superiors that I never saw you."
But Ray showed him no courtesy.
"No... You injured my follower, now you must pay the price."
ZOOM!
With that, Ray moved before Kizaru could even react.
Activating his instant movement, Ray appeared before Kizaru at a speed invisible to the naked eye.
Such extreme speed made even Kizaru—a Marine Admiral renowned for his own light-speed—feel uneasy.
He fully unleashed his Observation Haki, throwing light-speed punches as he engaged Ray in combat.
BOOM! BOOM!
...
Meanwhile, on Luffy's side.
They had already begun their battle with Aokiji and the Pacifistas.
When his Gear 2 and Gear 3 attacks proved completely ineffective against Aokiji's logia defense, Luffy stop holding back.
"GEAR FOURTH: BOUNDMAN!"
BOING.
A muscular, balloon-like figure covered entirely in Haki-tribal tattoos emerged, bouncing on the spot.
Witnessing this, Aokiji couldn't help but marvel at Luffy's rapid progress.
"Arara... To wield Haki with such intensity... as expected of Vice Admiral Garp's grandson."
This time, Aokiji resolved to properly test the strength of the Straw Hat Pirates.
In an instant, frigid air ran rampant.
"GOMU GOMU NO... KONG GATLING!"
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Countless fists, like cannonballs, furiously assaulted Aokiji, each one coated with a substantial amount of advanced Armament Haki.
Aokiji's icy fists temporarily lost their freezing control effect against this Haki-clad version of Luffy, forcing him to trade blow for blow.
Just then, the Diable Jambe arrived.
Sanji appeared behind Aokiji at incredible speed via Sky Walk, delivering a swift kick.
"POÊLE À FRIRE: SPECTRE!"
The flames on his foot glowed with a faint blue light, radiating intense heat that successfully pierced through Aokiji's cold aura.
The two main combatants of the Straw Hat Pirates had instantly unleashed their full power.
Faced with such a kick, Aokiji had no choice but to use his elemental intangibility to predict the attack's trajectory and evade.
Simultaneously, he had to counter the onslaught of Luffy's fists from the front with his own icy punches.
SWISH.
After successfully dodging Sanji's kick by creating a hole in his torso, the lower half of his elemental body abruptly transformed into sharp ice spikes, thrusting toward Sanji.
Sanji, still caught in the turning motion from the momentum of his kick, couldn't evade in time.
WHOOSH!
At this critical moment, a fiery bird made of green energy materialized between Aokiji's lower body and Sanji, bursting into brilliant flames.
"Special Attack: GREEN STAR - PHOENIX FIRE!"
Usopp's current strongest long-range attack had arrived.
Though the Pop Green form was small, its heat was overwhelmingly intense.
It contained not only explosive power but was also infused with the Armament Haki Usopp had painstakingly cultivated.
CRACK!
With a resounding crash, the ice spikes shattered.
Sanji regained his stance and delivered another Diable Jambe kick in retaliation.
Aokiji raised his hand to block it, only to face an even more perilous situation.
"CIEN FLEUR: DRAGON CLAW!"
GRAB!
Robin activated her ability, forming black Haki-coated claw-like hands directly on Aokiji's arms, restricting his movement.
Aokiji immediately unleashed his freezing power, but only managed to freeze the surface layer of the hands.
"Arara... even Nico Robin learned some advanced Haki?"
Although he eventually froze these black arms and shattered them, Robin had indeed bought them precious time.
At that moment, Aokiji barely dodged Sanji's kick, only to have his defenses broken by Gear Fourth Luffy charging straight at him.
"GOMU GOMU NO... LION BAZOOKA!"
BOOM!
Two punches landed on Aokiji's chest, sending his three-meter-tall body flying a hundred meters through the forest before crashing into a massive mangrove tree.
Witnessing this, Luffy, Sanji, and Robin gasped for breath, utterly exhausted.
Going all out with Haki against an Admiral was incredibly draining.
Usopp, hiding in the distance with his slingshot, asked in confusion:
"Did we... take down Aokiji?"
But the other three shook their heads in unison, replying one after another.
"Impossible."
Sure enough.
CRACKLE.
The distant giant tree was instantly encased in ice.
Aokiji's icy form leaped back in front of the four of them, reforming from shattered ice.
"Yare yare... you've improved quite a bit. You've even managed to inflict 'serious injuries' on me."
Aokiji spat a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth, speaking with apparent gravity to Luffy and the others.
But this flattery earned only one remark in return from Luffy.
"Stop joking."
Luffy and the others knew full well that their earlier attacks were, at most, like a massage for Aokiji.
An opponent of Admiral or Yonko caliber wasn't so easily dealt with.
During their training, hadn't they been utterly overwhelmed every time by Ray?
And back then, Ray at full power had only managed to fight Aokiji to a standstill.
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