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"So you recruited a bunch of pirate brats to use as soldiers?"
"What a pity. A thief is still a thief. Put them in Marine uniforms and they're just monkeys in hats."
With that single remark, Evans and the others all changed color.
"Picking trash from a garbage heap. You've really mastered the act."
"I heard you yourself were picked up from the gutter by Vice Admiral Garp back then, Kyle."
Sakazuki turned his head again, staring straight at the man before him.
Kyle said nothing, meeting his gaze calmly, eyes steady and unreadable.
Behind him, Crocodile's sand began to stir. Grains rose into the air, gathering rapidly, shaping themselves into blades that pointed directly at Sakazuki.
"The Navy's justice," Sakazuki said coldly, "has already been completely forgotten by scum like you within its own ranks."
"Scum should be purged."
"Evil doesn't disappear just because you change clothes."
As his voice rang out, half of Sakazuki's body suddenly turned crimson, magma roiling beneath the surface.
Kyle's eyes grew colder, yet he still didn't look away.
At that moment, Crocodile's body jolted. The sand around him rippled violently as scenes flashed through his mind in rapid succession.
There were too many this time, so many that his thoughts nearly short-circuited.
In the end, the images froze on one scene that made his pupils contract sharply.
A silent street. Countless civilians kneeling on the ground. He was among them.
Not far away, a man wearing a bubble helmet walked forward at an unhurried pace.
Directly ahead was a narrow alley.
At some point, a figure had appeared inside it. A Marine's cloak draped over his shoulders, a fingertip-sized stone flipping up and down in his hand.
When the Celestial Dragon reached the spot right in front of him, time itself seemed to freeze.
Blood suddenly burst forth, splashing across Crocodile's shoulder.
The stone-throwing figure had vanished without a trace.
Crocodile stared blankly ahead. What stood there now was a headless corpse, blood pouring from its neck.
A Celestial Dragon.
Later, roughly three thousand meters behind him, he found a bloodstained stone.
And with it, he etched that Marine's silhouette deep into his memory.
The vision shattered.
Crocodile stared at the figure in front of him, the one with his back turned. His body began to tremble, the shock in his eyes impossible to hide.
"Him."
"He was that Marine back then?"
Fragments of memory surged up, especially the scene from two years ago.
Shock. Horror. Disbelief.
All of it flooded Crocodile's heart at once, so overwhelming he couldn't rein it in. It showed plainly on his face.
The stone-throwing Marine and the Kyle standing before him merged into a single person.
Not even in his wildest dreams had Crocodile imagined that his superior carried such a past.
"Gurgle…"
The temperature spiked sharply.
Ahead, Sakazuki no longer bothered to hide his killing intent.
Since the day he set sail on missions, he had never shown mercy to pirates. In his eyes, a pirate who became a Marine was still a pirate.
The surging heat made everyone present restless.
Sakazuki now looked like a volcano on the brink of eruption.
"If you want to stop me," he said coldly, "then try."
"As long as you can."
A faint sneer flickered in his eyes.
He knew very well about the three Devil Fruits chosen by Marine Headquarters. The man before him had been given first pick, yet chose to give them up.
That was why the fruits had ended up with himself, Kuzan, and Borsalino.
Two years had passed in the blink of an eye.
Whether it was him or the other two, their mastery of their fruits had advanced by leaps and bounds. Their strength went without saying.
As for this man, two years at the Marine Academy likely meant standing still at best.
So, in the next instant, Sakazuki moved.
Scalding magma burst forth like a volcanic eruption, swinging outward and transforming in midair into a vicious molten hound.
But at that very moment—
"Buzz!"
A violent, domineering aura swept across the area.
Sakazuki's body shuddered. On the warship behind him, every Marine except two collapsed limply, losing consciousness.
"You think I'm still who I used to be?"
"Kyle, you're too naive!"
"Out of the four of us, you're the only one who stayed where you were!"
Sakazuki snarled, the magma around his arm growing even more intense as he swung again.
"The naive one is you," Kyle replied coldly.
His right hand clenched into a fist. Power coiled around it as he threw a punch of his own.
Boom!
A dull impact echoed through the air.
The magma-laden strike froze in place, unable to advance even an inch.
"Armament Haki?!"
Sakazuki's pupils shrank in disbelief.
He stared at Kyle, stunned. He never expected him to have already mastered Armament Haki.
Then, in the very next instant, a fierce gust tore past him.
Kyle was gone from his sight.
"Behind me!"
Sakazuki spun around.
But in that split second, a large hand shot out, fast as lightning, clamping around his neck like an iron ring.
Instantly, Sakazuki's strength drained away. His Devil Fruit power receded at frightening speed.
"Don't overestimate yourself, Sakazuki," Kyle said calmly.
"And don't forget how you were once knocked out by just a wisp of my aura."
He lifted Sakazuki off the ground, his tone level but laced with unmistakable dominance.
Sakazuki was completely limp, unable to muster any strength at all. His eyes quickly locked onto the black glove on Kyle's hand.
"Damn it…"
"Seastone?!"
Rage and frustration churned in his chest.
Armament Haki, and Seastone gloves on top of that. This man had clearly been prepared for Devil Fruit users all along.
"Hand over the mission item," Kyle said, still holding Sakazuki aloft as he looked toward the two remaining Marines.
"Yes, sir! Commander Kyle!"
The two glanced at Sakazuki and answered at once.
They didn't dare get involved in a conflict between superiors.
A moment later, they returned carrying a locked wooden box. EIvans stepped forward and accepted it with both hands.
"Mission item transfer complete."
"Sakazuki, farewell."
Kyle released his grip.
Sakazuki collapsed to the deck, gasping for breath.
"You should be grateful that we're comrades," Kyle said coldly.
The words rang in Sakazuki's ears. He snapped his head up, but all he saw was Kyle's back and the warship already turning away.
"Damn it…"
He clenched his fists slowly, his expression dark and twisted.
He had thought he'd surpassed him.
Instead, he was still behind.
"Next time!"
"Next time, I'll be stronger!"
"Kyle!"
Sakazuki roared silently in his heart.
On the other side, Kyle took the wooden box from Evans and fell into thought.
He didn't care much about his clash with Sakazuki. What truly piqued his curiosity was what lay inside the box.
What kind of object would make Headquarters go to such lengths, insisting that he personally escort it?
After all, even though his rank was still Rear Admiral, in the eyes of the higher-ups his strength was anything but weak, far beyond that of the so-called young monster trio.
At the same time, he noticed something else.
Kyle lifted his head and looked at Crocodile, who had been acting strangely ever since earlier.
"Little Sand," he said softly.
"Remember something again?"
Crocodile's body jerked. He raised his head.
"Two years ago, at Sabaody Archipelago…"
"That person… was you?"
The abrupt question made Kyle freeze.
His pupils shrank sharply.
Nearby, Rosinante and the others suddenly felt as if the air on the ship had solidified.
"..."
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