"Marine Admiral Borsalino—'Kizaru', Vice Admiral Strawberry of Marine Headquarters, an unnamed high-ranking World Government agent... and one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Chris T. Aeridar the Golden Ring."
Gutte's sharp eyes swept across the Marine forces as he muttered under his breath, "Looks like all the major players are here. And with all the coated ships destroyed... our only option is to break through and seize ships from another zone."
"No Rear Admirals here, just Admirals and Vice Admirals. The Rear Admirals must be coordinating the wider encirclement." Jig, pale and visibly shaken, clenched his fists. "Both sides have their main forces here... the only path to survival is to break out of this trap and hijack another coated ship."
There was a reason Gutte had made Jig his first mate—both were already thinking along the same lines. The unspoken synchronicity between them was undeniable.
"Gutte the Demon Mask, is it? First time meeting. I hope we get along," Aeridar grinned, flashing sharp teeth as he sized up the battle-scarred pirate.
"'Get along'? Heh. You've got a strange idea of hospitality," Gutte sneered, eyes momentarily drifting toward Puda, who'd been captured by the Marines after sustaining serious injuries.
"Careful, kid. This guy's a freak, don't get capsized out there," Kizaru chuckled lazily, glancing at Aeridar with a mock-warning tone.
"Bring it on, then! Let's see who sinks who!" Aeridar licked his lips, excitement gleaming in his eyes. Fighting a pirate of Gutte's infamy had his blood boiling with anticipation.
"Well now... you're quite fired up," Kizaru noted with mild surprise.
Just then, Gutte stepped forward, raising his infamous blade, Black Demon, high above his head and shouting, "Brothers! This is it! Our final battle! Life or death! Death or freedom! Everything comes down to our strength now!"
"Stand with me! For our future—charge!!"
With a roar like thunder, Gutte led the charge. Blade raised, he charged headlong into the fray.
"Charge!! Slaughter them all!"
"Follow Captain Gutte!"
"Captain, we'll fight to the death at your side!"
"We'll carve the path forward, Captain!"
The Demon Mask Pirates surged behind him, weapons drawn, a thousand strong—a tidal wave of fury crashing forward.
Kizaru, still wearing that wry, amused smirk, muttered, "Looks like they're going all in."
Vice Admiral Strawberry drew his twin swords and raised them, barking, "For justice! Justice shall prevail! Marines—charge!"
"The Marines will triumph!"
"Destroy the Demon Mask Pirates!"
With their own thunderous cries, the Marines followed behind Vice Admiral Strawberry and charged straight into the pirate horde.
"Gutte! Let me test your strength for myself!" Aeridar grinned wildly, fists clenched and wrapped in Armament Haki. With a blur, he shot forward like a bullet.
"I must act in the name of justice too," Borsalino added in his typically lackadaisical tone, before transforming into a golden beam of light and streaking into battle.
As the two forces clashed, blades flashed and blood was spilled. The battlefield erupted in chaos, with cries of war and death shaking the air. Within mere moments, thousands lay strewn across the field, felled in the first brutal exchange.
Aeridar appeared before Gutte in a flash, his fist hurtling toward the pirate captain's head like a cannonball. Gutte saw only darkness, and a pitch-black fist descending.
With a roar, Gutte swung Black Demon in a sweeping arc.
Their clash rang out like iron meeting iron. A burst of raw force exploded outward. Waves of white shockwaves radiated from the impact, flattening dozens of Marines and pirates alike.
"What the hell was that?!"
"Fall back! Those two are monsters!"
"Gutte and Chris T. Aeridar... stay clear! Anyone caught between them is dead meat!"
The aftershock of a single blow had already thrown dozens into the air, sending both Marine and pirate scurrying in retreat.
Suddenly, a blinding flash split the air. A golden beam blasted into Gutte's chest at blinding speed.
With a guttural grunt, Gutte was sent flying. The impact hurled him more than twenty meters through the air before he crashed into the ground, carving a crater in the dirt, then tumbling through rubble until he finally slammed into the remnants of a ruined building. Bricks shattered, debris clouded the air.
Meanwhile, at the rear of the battlefield, Obes nocked an arrow. His black bow groaned as he drew back with deadly precision, Haki swirling around the shaft.
The arrow screamed through the air like a banshee, faster than sound—its shriek slicing the silence.
Sensing the imminent threat, Aeridar tilted his head just in time.
The Haki-infused arrow streaked past his ear, the compressed air burning against his skin. Behind him, seven or eight Marines weren't so lucky, the arrow skewered them like pins on a line. The last was struck through the chest and slammed violently into the ground, dead before he hit it.
"Supersonic arrows, huh? Not bad," Aeridar muttered, rubbing his reddened ear. His eyes zeroed in on Obes a hundred meters away, black bow still raised.
"Well, can't leave a gift unanswered."
With that, Aeridar pulled back his fist and punched the air with all his might.
The air warped under the pressure. Atmosphere compressed, creating a white corona of energy. The resulting shockwave exploded outward like a cannonblast from the sky, obliterating everything in its path.
"Shit, it's too wide to block!"
Obes dove to the side, the ground trembling beneath him.
Even with his unmatched accuracy and piercing power, he knew his arrow wouldn't be enough to completely counter an attack of this scale. If he stayed rooted and tried to shoot it down, the Impact Wave would smash him like a ragdoll.
The raging shockwave tore across the battlefield. Soil erupted, debris flew skyward. Everything in its path—men, weapons, even chunks of earth—was blown away like leaves in a storm. Over a hundred pirates were caught in the blast. Screams filled the air as they were flung like dolls, bones shattered, blood sprayed.
From within a pile of shattered stone and crumbled timber, Gutte burst forth, bloodied but burning with fury. His eyes locked onto the devastation, and then to its source.
With a roar, he raised his sword and shouted toward the enemy ahead.
A massive gray slash tore through the air, cleaving the battlefield with a screech. The ground split beneath it as the devastating arc surged toward Aeridar like a judgment from the underworld.
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