"We already guessed you would make a move," Pouf said with a smile as he looked at Borsalino. "But you don't have the ability to save these Marines."
Even though the pressure coming from Borsalino was immense, Pouf was very clear about the gap between them. After all, this man was a Marine Admiral candidate, someone who likely already possessed Admiral-level combat power.
Still, Pouf showed no fear.
They were executives of the Nightfall Pirates. From the moment this war began, they had been prepared for Marine Headquarters to intervene.
In a situation this bad, there was no way the Marines would calmly watch tens of thousands of soldiers be slaughtered. Losing that many elites would take years to recover from.
"Oh?" Borsalino replied lightly.
Despite his relaxed tone, his guard was fully raised. Facing five Nightfall Pirate executives at once put enormous pressure on him.
If these were five Marine Vice Admirals, it would be a different matter. But these were Nightfall Pirates. All Devil Fruit users. All veterans of hellish training. Their coordination alone made them dangerous.
The battlefield atmosphere shifted.
Borsalino officially joined the fight.
His strength was acknowledged across the seas, so everyone was watching closely. Without Teach and Redyat present, could the Nightfall Pirates really hold him back?
From a conventional standpoint, no one among them should have been his match.
Marine intervention was inevitable. If they had not stepped in, the Marines on this island would have been completely wiped out. That would have been sheer stupidity.
The Nightfall Pirates had anticipated this as well. The five executives moved at once, locking onto Borsalino. A clash like this immediately drew global attention.
On another battlefield, Redyat sensed the sudden surge of power and glanced toward the distance, where golden light flickered.
"So it's Borsalino," Redyat muttered, raising an eyebrow without surprise.
"Hahaha!" Atchison, who was fighting him, also noticed it and laughed loudly. "Since an Admiral candidate has joined the battle, your Nightfall Pirates are finished, Redyat."
"Heh," Redyat sneered. "Where does that confidence come from, Vice Admiral?"
His Observation Haki far surpassed Atchison's. Atchison could not even cover the entire battlefield, while Redyat sensed everything clearly.
"Have you ever thought about why Borsalino was sent out?" Redyat continued calmly. "Your Marines are completely helpless against our crew, aren't they?"
Atchison's expression darkened.
He knew Marine Headquarters well. If the situation had been balanced, they would never have deployed Borsalino so early. Even if he were sent, it would be at the very end of the war.
But the battle had barely begun.
And Borsalino was already here.
Given Borsalino's personality, he would not act without orders. That meant Marine Headquarters had judged the situation as disastrous.
Still, Atchison forced a smile. "So what? With Vice Admiral Borsalino there, that battlefield will be reversed. You pirates will eventually be erased by justice."
As he spoke, Atchison elementalized and surged forward, throwing a heavy punch coated in Armament Haki.
The forest was already saturated with dense miasma. Shadows wrapped around Redyat's body, isolating the poisonous air.
Atchison's signature miasma was useless against him.
Redyat calmly dodged the punch and countered with a sweeping kick to Atchison's abdomen.
Atchison's eyes widened as his body was sent flying.
In the next instant, a terrifying purple slash followed. Redyat swung his sword, releasing a massive flying slash worthy of a top-tier swordsman.
His swordsmanship had not yet reached the realm of a true Great Swordsman, the level where nothing could not be cut. But he was very close.
Just a few more battles, and that final step would be completed.
Even so, the slash alone was enough to make Atchison's face change drastically.
That sharpness carried lethal intent.
Without the support of the Miasma-Miasma Fruit, Atchison's combat power was only around the level of an elite Vice Admiral. Against Redyat, he stood no chance.
This was exactly why Redyat had chosen him.
Atchison's ability was troublesome and dangerous to the crew, but as an opponent, he posed little real threat to Redyat himself.
From the moment Nelson had transferred them here, the outcome had already been decided.
Atchison, who had once been confident, now felt overwhelming pressure. Redyat surpassed him in physique, martial skill, Haki, and Devil Fruit ability. There were no weaknesses to exploit.
What Atchison did not know was that Redyat could read his thoughts.
From the very beginning, he had already lost.
The poisonous miasma filled the forest, preventing the News Coo from approaching and severely limiting visibility. This tactic had wiped out countless pirate crews in the past.
But Redyat had no intention of letting the fight drag on.
His slash, dozens of meters tall, cleaved the miasma in half, scattering it to both sides.
The shock startled even the News Coo outside the poisonous zone.
Morgans immediately switched the feed, locking onto the scene.
Viewers who had been eagerly waiting for the clash with Borsalino were about to curse, but the next moment, they were stunned into silence.
A dazzling purple slash tore through the forest, split the earth, and carved a deep ravine into the ground as it advanced.
Atchison was caught head-on.
Even elementalization could not save him.
He instantly activated Tekkai, muscles tightening like steel, while Armament Haki coated his body in a second layer of defense.
This was his strongest defensive technique.
The slash pushed forward relentlessly.
The News Coo scrambled to reposition, barely withstanding the terrifying shockwaves.
Elite reporters across the world stared in disbelief.
Dracule Mihawk, wandering the seas in search of strong opponents, narrowed his eyes. He silently etched Redyat's name into his memory.
In the South Blue, Shanks laughed as he watched the scene, his hand tightening around the hilt of Gryphon.
"I really want to fight him."
"Not yet," Ben Beckman said seriously. "The Nightfall Pirates are growing too fast. Let them draw the Marines' attention while we get stronger."
Swordsmen across the world felt their hearts stir.
A young Great Swordsman was about to be born.
Before anyone could recover, Redyat moved again.
He vanished into a shadow, his speed surpassing even his own slash. His figure appeared behind Atchison in an instant.
A whip-like kick, infused with Armament Haki and shadow power, tore through the air.
Atchison tried to move, blood spraying from his mouth as he struggled against the impact of the slash in front of him.
Redyat saw through everything.
The kick landed squarely on Atchison's back.
The air twisted. The ground trembled. A violent explosion followed.
Atchison's defenses shattered completely.
Flowing Haki and monstrous physical strength crushed him. His spine snapped. Ribs broke. Blood poured from his mouth as his body convulsed in agony.
Redyat's kick sent him flying.
Even the slash Redyat had unleashed was kicked away along with him.
The giant slash was redirected toward the sea, splitting the ocean surface for over a thousand meters.
Atchison's body flew more than a thousand meters, tearing through trees, plowing into the earth, and finally crashing into a mountain.
With a thunderous impact, the mountainside collapsed into a massive crater.
The battlefield fell into stunned silence.
"What… just happened?"
Many could not even process what they had seen.
An Admiral-level Vice Admiral had been defeated in an instant.
Only the strongest present caught a glimpse of Redyat's shadow. For everyone else, their vision blurred and Atchison was already gone.
Morgans cleared his throat and raised the microphone. "Don't worry, everyone. We'll show the replay."
Slow motion. Ten times slower.
Redyat's movements were laid bare. Faster than his own slash. A perfect pincer attack. A single kick that sent both man and blade flying.
Even veteran swordsmen felt their eyes sting.
When the scene returned to real time, the dust slowly settled.
Atchison was revealed embedded in the rock, battered and broken, miasma swirling weakly around him. He was still alive, but barely.
Breathing heavily, his body no longer obeyed him.