"Yasopp!"
For the first time, the always laid-back Lucky Roux panicked.
He immediately drew his gun and fired at Kizaru.
No matter how skilled a sniper was, close combat was always their greatest weakness.
And their opponent was none other than Kizaru, one of the Marines' "monsters."
No one knew Yasopp's condition after the attack.
"Yasakani no Magatama."
Kizaru wasn't about to let Lucky Roux get the first shot.
One of the former Marine "monsters" of legend, Kizaru was an expert at relentless attacks that crushed his enemies before they could react.
The Red-Haired Pirates may not have been high enough in rank to warrant his full power, but they were at least enough to let him vent some frustration.
Blinding flashes of light erupted across the battlefield.
Lucky Roux suddenly turned back to his crewmates and gave them one last smile.
Zshh! Zshh! Zshh!
Countless beams of light tore through Lucky Roux's body.
Even as one of the top five fighters of the Red-Haired Pirates, he stood no chance against a serious Kizaru.
His body, riddled with holes, collapsed onto the battlefield, blood gushing from his wounds.
He didn't even have the chance to leave any last words.
The Red-Haired Pirates watched in horror as their crewmate fell, their eyes instantly turning bloodshot with rage.
Each and every one of them had been personally invited aboard by Shanks.
They had fought together for years.
And none had been around longer than Lucky Roux.
As one of the original members of the Red-Haired Pirates since its founding, his easygoing nature made him one of the most well-liked members of the crew.
In some ways, he was even more popular than Ben Beckman, the vice-captain.
Watching Lucky Roux die at Kizaru's hands, the Red-Haired Pirates momentarily abandoned their mission to hold off the Marines.
With furious roars, they charged straight at Kizaru.
The fastest among them was Limejuice, his yellow hair flowing beneath a skull-patterned hat.
He stepped through the air with a technique similar to Moonwalk from the Marine's Six Powers, raising his staff blade crackling with electricity.
With a furious swing, he brought it down toward Kizaru.
"Lightning Whip!"
Limejuice struck with full fury!
The sheer power of his attack was enough to shatter stone and crack boulders. Even a Marine Vice Admiral proficient in Armament Haki wouldn't dare take it head-on.
"Too slow..."
Kizaru's right hand turned pitch black as he effortlessly caught Limejuice's staff blade mid-swing.
The crackling electricity surrounding the blade might as well have been nonexistent to him. With a sudden yank, he ripped Limejuice out of the air and slammed him into the ground.
The impact left Limejuice unconscious on the spot, his head bloodied and broken.
The second to charge in was the Red-Haired Pirates' navigator, Bennedict Snake—a man with a red dragon tattoo on his right neck and signature dark sunglasses.
He launched a lightning-fast kick at Kizaru's head.
Kizaru tilted his head slightly, dodging it with ease.
But Snake twisted his body in midair like an acrobat, flipping 180 degrees before drawing his twin swords and crossing them in a vicious slash aimed at Kizaru's chest.
"Swallowtail Slash!"
Originally, this technique was meant to target an opponent's neck, but with Kizaru standing at a towering three meters, Snake had no choice but to adjust his aim.
Clang!
The sound of metal ringing against metal echoed across the battlefield.
Snake's eyes widened in disbelief.
His attack, which should have been a sure hit, had struck Kizaru's body and produced nothing but a metallic clink.
His hands trembled from the force of the rebound.
Though he was still far from the level of a true swordmaster, Snake was a ranked fighter among the Red-Haired Pirates.
He had already mastered the art of "cutting steel."
Even if his Haki-infused blades couldn't slice through Kizaru, they shouldn't have failed to even cut his clothes.
"If you ruin my outfit, you'll have to pay for it, you know?"
Kizaru casually flicked his finger at Snake's forehead.
The navigator was sent hurtling backward like a cannonball, flying even faster than when he had rushed in.
"Roaring Slash!"
A beastly roar tore through the air as Howling Gab charged on all fours, his wild, dark-red mane billowing like a lion's.
His sharp fangs gleamed as he unleashed a devastating sound wave attack, powerful enough to tear through even a Sea King.
The shockwave barreled toward Kizaru.
"So noisy..."
Kizaru merely lifted a finger and fired a piercing beam of light.
The golden ray shot straight through Gab's skull before he could even react.
He collapsed on the battlefield, his roar cut short.
"Kill him!"
"Avenge them!"
"Die, you bastard!"
The remaining Red-Haired Pirates, seeing their comrades fall one after another, flew into a blind rage.
Their mission to hold back the Marines was momentarily forgotten.
All they could think about was swarming Kizaru and tearing him apart.
Under normal circumstances, Kizaru might not have handled them so effortlessly.
If these fighters had faced anyone else—even Whitebeard himself in his prime—they wouldn't have been taken down so easily.
"Ganging up on me? How mean~"
Kizaru chuckled as an almost visible surge of chakra erupted from his body.
Before the pirates could even get close, massive amounts of chakra were converted into electricity.
A storm of lightning burst outward from Kizaru, crackling wildly in all directions.
Zzzzzzt!
In an instant, a massive sphere of lightning, over a hundred meters in diameter, formed in the middle of Marineford's battlefield.
The sheer voltage made the hair on everyone's bodies stand on end, even from dozens of meters away.
The overwhelming chakra-fueled lightning was too powerful for even the elite officers of the Red-Haired Pirates to withstand.
Blinding light consumed the battlefield, swallowing dozens of pirates in a flash.
The remaining crew members stared in shock and fury, but none dared to take a step forward.
---
[Orochimaru]: Impossible... Such an immense amount of chakra... Even a Tailed Beast wouldn't compare! To think that my incomplete Lightning Release technique could unleash such devastating power…
[Random Viewer Wanting to Befriend Luo Feng]: Holy shit?! Since when did Kizaru eat the Rumble-Rumble Fruit?!
[Random Viewer Wanting to Befriend Luo Feng]: Wait a minute—was that a Lightning Release technique?!
[Ai Haibara]: So this is ninjutsu? The power is terrifying… I might need to reconsider prioritizing chakra refinement in my studies.
[Tony Stark]: Oh, crap! My new Iron Man suit blueprints… Looks like I'll need to make some adjustments.
[Kobayashi]: Maa~ Kizaru-san really never fails to surprise. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure I want to learn magic anymore. Orochimaru's ninjutsu seems way more powerful~
[Fubuki]: That level of electric discharge… Just this one move alone is enough to take down a Dragon-level monster!
[Xiao Mei]: So strong… Is this what they call an Earth-rank or even Heaven-rank battle technique?!
---
The live-stream chat, which had just started calming down, instantly exploded again.
Aside from top-tier powerhouses like Orochimaru and Esdeath, most members of the group had never truly grasped how terrifying Kizaru's strength was—until now.
Even Whitebeard himself could only put up a fight against Kizaru to some extent.
To the members of the chat group, Kizaru was simply beating up a bunch of children.
Only when he unleashed overwhelming and visually spectacular attacks could they start to grasp just how terrifyingly strong he really was.
And it wasn't just the spectators in the live stream.
Both Marines and pirates alike, locked in battle, found their attention drawn to Kizaru's sudden explosion of power.
For Shanks, the sight of his comrades—men who had been drinking and feasting with him just the night before—being slaughtered one after another was too much.
The Red-Haired Emperor, known as one of the most easygoing of the great pirates, erupted in fury.
"Divine Departure! Get lost!"
With a single slash, he forced Akainu back.
He was just about to charge toward Kizaru when Akainu came right back at him, blocking his path once more.
"Dream on! Just stand there and watch as your crew gets crushed under the iron fist of justice! Red-Hair! Hellhound Red Lotus!"
Akainu grinned viciously as he unleashed a massive magma hound to counter Shanks.
Ever since the war began, every time he had set his sights on a target, some bastard had interfered.
Now, he finally had the chance to get his payback.
Shanks had stopped him from finishing off Whitebeard earlier—now it was his turn to keep Shanks from saving his crew.
At this moment, Akainu suddenly felt that maybe letting Kizaru take the position of Fleet Admiral wasn't such a bad idea after all.
After all, in terms of seniority, strength, and achievements, Kizaru was clearly above him.
If not for their vastly different philosophies, Akainu wouldn't have minded Kizaru taking the top spot.
But watching Kizaru mercilessly slaughter the Red-Haired Pirates, Akainu was reminded of the "Marine Monster" he had once admired.
For the first time, his desire to compete for the position of Fleet Admiral wavered.
---
"Scary… It looks like Kizaru-senpai is getting serious."
Elsewhere, locked in battle with Dragon, Aokiji suddenly muttered to himself.
Back when he had served under Garp, he had envied Dragon for having the chance to follow Kizaru.
Even at the height of Garp's reputation, Kizaru—who had become a Vice Admiral at a young age—had been seen as the ideal Marine by countless officers.
But after his clash with the Celestial Dragons, Kizaru had been subtly suppressed by the World Government.
Over time, his brilliance faded, and his once-righteous attitude shifted into lazy indifference.
Sometimes, Kuzan wasn't even sure whether his own laid-back demeanor was influenced by his Ice-Ice Fruit… or if he had unconsciously been mimicking Kizaru-senpai all these years.
"Yeah… That's really bad news."
Dragon frowned slightly.
From Kizaru's perspective, Dragon's years of careful scheming had indeed been impressive.
Nuclear weapons, pure gold, ancient Lunarian technology, his hidden forces in Impel Down, and even the connections he had spent years building with Dark King Rayleigh—
He had played every card he had.
With the combined forces of the Whitebeard Pirates and the unexpected intervention of the Red-Haired Pirates, he should have been able to deal a devastating blow to the Navy.
And yet, even after laying all his cards on the table, they still hadn't managed to cause any meaningful damage to the Marines.
Even with Dragon's unshakable resolve, he couldn't help but feel a sense of regret.
And now, Kizaru seemed to be on the fast track to becoming the next Fleet Admiral.
Even worse…
Kizaru was slowly but surely returning to the "Marine Monster" he had once been.
Kizaru's ruthless assault on the Red-Haired Pirates was even more brutal than Sakazuki's methods.
"That bastard Borsalino… He didn't disappoint me after all."
Fleet Admiral Sengoku let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Truth be told, when he had decided to appoint Kizaru as the next Fleet Admiral, he had felt a bit uneasy.
He had feared that, once in power, Kizaru would turn Marine Headquarters into an extension of the Pleasure District.
Fortunately, Kizaru had first taken down Whitebeard, proving his strength.
Then, he had shown no mercy to the Red-Haired Pirates, proving his resolve.
With both the power and determination necessary to lead the Navy, Kizaru had fully earned the position.
Now, Sengoku could finally step back without worry.
Even his previous hostility toward Rayleigh had faded somewhat—he no longer felt the overwhelming urge to crush the Dark King.
After all, so what if the Great Pirate Era had returned?
Back then, Sengoku had led the Marines to suppress the so-called "Great Pirates" once before.
And now, with Kizaru at the helm, the Navy would undoubtedly wipe out the pirate scourge once and for all.
---
"This couldn't be worse… That guy is back, huh?"
Rayleigh chuckled bitterly.
When Roger had first tricked him into going out to sea, Kizaru had already made a name for himself as a rising Marine star.
During Roger's journey to becoming the Pirate King, aside from being endlessly pursued by Garp, the Roger Pirates had dreaded nothing more than crossing paths with that "Marine Monster"—Borsalino.
He had single-handedly crushed the remnants of the Rocks Pirates.
He had wiped out over a dozen infamous pirates.
Aside from Whitebeard, who had been the strongest of them all, and Shanks, who had emerged later, every single one of the Great Pirates still alive today…
Had all suffered at the hands of Borsalino.
°°°
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