The chaos across the Sabaody Archipelago was reaching a fever pitch. The Demon Mask Pirates had launched a full-scale assault against the Navy, and the fighting was only growing more brutal. More and more pirate ships flying the Demon Mask banner were reaching the shore, using Grove 53 as a beachhead. A massive force of pirates was now landing en masse.
Grove 53 had become a slaughterhouse.
Hundreds of Navy soldiers lay dead across the sand, their blood soaking the beach and washing into the sea. Severed limbs, shattered weapons, and mangled artillery lay scattered everywhere. The beachhead had fallen, now serving as the primary landing point for wave after wave of Demon Mask Pirates.
A black, jagged claw tore through the chest of a young Navy soldier, ripping out his still-beating heart. Blood hissed into the air like steam. Without a second thought, Puda flung the corpse from his arm.
The soldier's limp body flew over ten meters before crashing to the ground like a discarded rag doll.
"Puda-dono!" A brown-haired pirate with a longsword came running over, pointing toward the treeline. "The Navy here has been wiped out, but more troops are pouring in from the perimeter! What are your orders?"
Puda glanced at the distant silhouettes, then turned back with a growl.
"Take a squad and round up every ship that's already been coated at the shipyard. Gather them all here."
Without waiting for a response, Puda vanished into the distance as a blur of darkness. He was heading off to intercept the incoming reinforcements, buying time for his crew.
Grove 55 – Navy Forward Command Post.
"R–Rear Admiral Branly!" A communications officer burst in, gasping for breath. "The coastal defenses at Grove 53... have been breached! The main force of the Demon Mask Pirates is flooding in!"
"What? Already?!" The command post erupted into chaos. Navy officers and strategists stared in disbelief.
It had barely been minutes since the battle began, and now the front line had collapsed?
Rear Admiral Branly slammed his fist on the table, face grim. "Damn it! We didn't have enough time to prepare. The line's spread too thin!"
"What now?! The beach is gone!"
"They'll get their hands on the coated ships!"
"We should bombard the shipyard, sink those ships before they escape!"
"Rear Admiral Branly, we need to send reinforcements, now!"
The officers argued furiously. Some were paralyzed with panic; others pushed for full artillery strikes. Some demanded boots on the ground.
"Quit panicking!" Branly barked, his voice like a steel blade. "We're not dead yet. Reinforcements are coming. Hold your ground!"
He grabbed the orange Den Den Mushi perched on an ammunition crate.
"This is a direct order. Mobilize all available forces to Grove 53. Stop the Demon Mask Pirates, no matter the cost!"
"Order half the main battery to target the shipyard and every coated vessel. I want that place leveled!"
"The rest of the batteries, target their incoming ships! Blast them out of the sea!"
Thud-thud-thud-thud... THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!
Naval squads surged out of the base toward Grove 53. Some moved in perfect formation, well-structured and nearly untouched. Others were ragged, missing officers, their lines broken by earlier fighting.
RUMBLE—RUMBLE—RUMBLE!
Artillery lit up the island once more, deafening roars echoing as flames and smoke rolled across the terrain. The very earth trembled beneath the assault.
In the skies above the sea—
A clash of titans unfolded.
Borsalino, the man known as Kizaru, was deep in battle. The Admiral shimmered across the sky in bursts of light, holding back both Gutte, the skyborne Demon Mask swordsman, and Obes, the pirate archer known as Black Bow.
"You bastard!!" Gutte roared, slashing downward.
A massive grey-white shockwave ripped through the sea. The slash cleaved a trench into the ocean, five or six meters wide, dozens deep, stretching hundreds of meters long. A colossal Sea King hiding beneath the surface was torn in half, blood dying the waters crimson.
But Kizaru had already flashed into the skies, becoming a searing, star-shaped beacon of gold.
Light bullets rained down like a storm. Hundreds, no, thousands, of shimmering projectiles flooded the sky, hammering the ocean below. Waves surged, the sea churned.
Yasakani no Magatama!!!
"Aaaaah! Captain! Help!!"
"We're gonna die... we're gonna die!"
"This guy's a monster!!"
Obes and his crew reeled as the sky itself turned against them.
Obes grabbed two quivers, loosing arrows in rapid succession. Three at a time, over and over, his fingers moved so fast they blurred. In mere seconds, dozens of Haki-infused arrows were in the air, detonating the incoming light bullets aimed at his vessel.
Though he couldn't stop them all, Obes was skilled enough to intercept most that threatened his ship, a testament to the 250 million bounty on his head.
"Death Blade: Demon Severing Slash!"
Gutte gritted his teeth and raised his sword high, both hands trembling as blood vessels burst in his eyes. His aura condensed violently, then exploded outward as he swung.
Even the clouds above seemed to freeze.
A massive grey-white slash tore into existence from thin air, slicing through every light projectile in its path. It cleaved through the sky, even bisecting the glowing star that was Kizaru's light-form.
The skies were split open.
"The clouds—no, the sky itself... it's been split open!"
Staring into the distance where the thick banks of cloud now appeared torn as if by a giant blade, Aeridar's pupils constricted sharply. His mind flashed back to that iconic scene in the original story—the moment Whitebeard and Red-Haired Shanks clashed swords, sundering the skies with a single strike.
But Aeridar wasn't the only one to witness this awe-inspiring spectacle.
All across the Sabaody Archipelago, people turned their eyes skyward, stunned into silence by the overwhelming force that had just made itself known.
"Was that... Demon Mask Gutte's swordsmanship?!"
Oliver, hand pressed against the twin blades at his waist, spoke in a low, tense voice, eyes fixed on the sky.
"That pressure... Was that the aura of a swordsman?"
Smythe Betilla found himself gripping the hilt of her slender silver rapier tighter without even realizing it, her instincts screaming in response to the lingering force in the air.
"So this is what a great swordsman from the New World is capable of?"
From atop one of the towering red trees, Mondos Bank stared skyward, eyes gleaming with manic fervor.
"Is this what Sensei meant? A swordsman who can split the sky and the sea..."
Down on the street below, Roldy Limmings stared up at the monumental scar in the sky, clutching the hilt of his cruciform sword with white-knuckled intensity, his heart roiling with frustration and awe.
"What in the world... is going on?"
Just stepping out of the tavern, Kohl Goff stood frozen, staring at the sky with his jaw slack, disbelief etched across his face.
"No way... Don't mess with me, am I dreaming right now?"
Urtes stood dumbfounded in the middle of the street, cold sweat trailing down his temple, his voice trembling as reality struggled to catch up with what he had just witnessed.
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to my ——— (.)com/JuanFiction [remove the parentheses ( )]
There are over 100 advance Chapters available for you!