Chapter 242
A streak of light crossed the distance between the mangrove branches and the street in an instant.
Several meters in front of Nami, Vivi, and Robin, the light gathered into a brilliant cluster before taking the shape of a tall man dressed in a yellow-striped suit with a Marine coat draped over his shoulders.
A Den Den Mushi rested in one hand.
"Moshi moshi…"
Admiral Kizaru glanced at the unconscious Marines scattered throughout the grove.
His lips slowly curved into a frown as he lowered the Den Den Mushi.
"No one's answering…"
His gaze drifted across the devastated streets, the destroyed Pacifistas, and the pirates gathered among the wreckage—each of them looking like a monster in their own right.
Unlike the original course of events, Kizaru had not wandered around the archipelago, casually asking civilians for directions.
Three Celestial Dragons had been captured alive.
As much as Kizaru preferred taking things easy, this was not an incident he could afford to treat lightly.
His gaze eventually settled on Nami, Vivi, and Robin.
"Ooh…"
He tilted his head slightly.
"Three frightening young ladies standing beside a ruined government weapon…"
Luffy tilted his head in confusion. His cheeks were still bulging with food from who knows where as he pointed at the newly arrived man.
"Hey, who's that guy?"
Kizaru ignored Luffy and the other members of the Worst Generation.
He raised a single finger, and golden light gathered at its tip.
"I only came to ask one simple question…"
His lazy expression did not change.
"Where is your captain?"
The laser fired without warning.
Nami instantly transformed into lightning and wrapped one arm around Robin's waist.
The two women vanished in a streak of white-blue electricity.
At the same moment, Vivi crossed both arms in front of herself.
Massive tree trunks erupted from beneath the street, forming a towering wall before her.
The beam tore straight through them with terrifying force.
Boom!
The resulting explosion swallowed the entire area.
Vivi's body scattered into countless leaves and branches before the blast could consume her.
She reformed beside Nami and Robin as burning fragments of wood rained down around them.
Kizaru's eyebrows rose, genuine surprise and amusement flickering across his face.
"Ooh… Two Logias?"
"Damn it…"
Nami gritted her teeth, sweat gathering at her temple.
'Where did this guy come from? If he hadn't taken his time raising his finger, that attack would've hit me.'
Seeing Kizaru standing completely exposed, she immediately counterattacked.
Nami shot forward in a flash of lightning, her descending foot surrounded by a violent electrical current.
"Thunder Kick!"
Kizaru raised one leg.
His movement appeared slow and casual, yet his foot met Nami's kick before it could reach his head.
The collision unleashed a thunderous shock wave.
Electricity exploded across the street.
Nami's eyes widened at the point of impact.
Kizaru's leg was coated in Armament Haki.
His kick bypassed the protection of her Logia body and struck her directly.
Nami was sent flying backward.
Kizaru had clearly held back, but even then, the force behind his kick was far beyond anything she could withstand head-on.
"Nami!"
Vivi thrust both hands forward.
The entire street erupted.
Roots thicker than buildings surged toward Kizaru from every direction. Trees sprang up between the mangroves within seconds, their branches twisting together to form an enormous cage.
Vivi brought her hands together and clenched them tightly.
"Forest Prison!"
The roots collapsed inward, attempting to trap Kizaru and crush him completely.
Kizaru disappeared in a flash.
A beam of light slipped through the narrow gaps between the branches before reforming directly above Vivi.
"Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"
Vivi's pupils contracted.
She attempted to scatter into leaves, but Kizaru's foot was already descending.
To her eyes, everything seemed to move in slow motion.
Fortunately, Robin had anticipated that Kizaru would target Vivi next.
Dozens of arms had already bloomed across Vivi's back.
The moment Kizaru attacked, the arms pulled Vivi sharply downward.
His kick swept over her head, releasing a projectile of light that tore through the enormous trees behind them.
Bang!
More arms sprouted along the ground.
Robin used them to drag both herself and Vivi away from Kizaru.
The Admiral looked down at them.
"Ooh… Young pirates are so terrifying these days…"
"That was close."
Robin's expression remained composed, but a thin trail of sweat ran down her cheek.
The difference between them was overwhelming.
Vivi placed one hand against the ground and drew a deep breath.
"He can strike our real bodies…"
"He's using Haki," Robin explained. "And his speed is currently greater than Nami's lightning movement."
She looked seriously at Vivi.
"It was pure luck that I managed to pull you away in time. Be careful, Vivi. He is a Marine Admiral, after all."
"What? A Marine Admiral?!"
Only then did Vivi fully understand what kind of enemy stood before them.
An Admiral was one of the Marines' greatest military powers.
No wonder their attacks had failed to accomplish anything.
They were facing someone who stood at the very peak of the World Government's forces.
Before Vivi could say anything more, the air behind Kizaru suddenly roared.
A gigantic fist came hurtling across the street.
"Gum-Gum Giant Pistol!"
Luffy's enormous fist struck Kizaru squarely in the back—or rather, it passed straight through him.
Kizaru's body burst apart into golden light beneath the impact, scattering into countless glowing particles before calmly reforming several steps away.
Luffy's fist crashed into the ground instead.
The street shattered, sending broken stones flying in every direction.
Kizaru slowly turned his head.
"Ooh…"
His gaze settled on Luffy.
"So you're Straw Hat Luffy…"
Luffy pulled his arm back and stared at Kizaru's unharmed body in confusion.
"My punch went right through him!"
"He's a Logia too!" Vivi shouted. "Ordinary attacks won't work!"
She did not know why Luffy had suddenly stepped in to help them, but since he had joined the fight, she immediately warned him about the crucial detail.
Kizaru slipped both hands into his pockets.
"You could've escaped while I was occupied with those young ladies…"
His voice remained slow and almost bored.
"So why go out of your way to attack me, Straw Hat?"
Luffy clenched both fists.
"I don't care who you are! They fought those things with us, so I'm not gonna stand here and watch you attack them!"
Without the slightest hesitation, he charged again.
"And I'm not running away while they're still fighting!"
Kizaru stared at him for a moment, genuinely surprised.
Then he released a quiet sigh.
"For a pirate, you certainly know how to act noble, Straw Hat…"
Luffy swung another punch at his face.
Kizaru's head dissolved into light, allowing the fist to pass harmlessly through it.
His body reformed before Luffy could pull his arm back.
Golden light gathered around Kizaru's raised leg.
"Speed is weight…"
Luffy's eyes widened.
His mind understood what was happening, yet his body remained frozen in place.
"Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"
Kizaru's foot slammed into Luffy's side.
Bang!
Luffy's body folded around the impact before being launched across the grove like a cannonball.
He tore through the wall of a nearby building and disappeared beneath an avalanche of shattered stone.
"LUFFY!" Usopp screamed at the top of his lungs.
Zoro was already moving.
He vanished from his position and reappeared beside Kizaru with two swords drawn, both blades cutting toward the Admiral's torso.
"Two-Sword Style—"
Kizaru did not even turn around.
He simply raised one finger, and a tiny point of golden light appeared at its tip.
"Too slow…"
The laser struck Zoro in the chest before he could finish announcing his technique.
Boom!
The explosion hurled him backward.
Smoke poured from his body as he crashed across the street and rolled to a stop.
"Zoro!"
Sanji vanished from his position.
He descended from above, his leg cutting toward Kizaru's head.
"You bastard!"
Kizaru glanced upward, his expression barely changing.
"Oh?"
Sanji's kick passed through a body made entirely of light.
Kizaru reappeared behind him in the same instant, golden light surrounding his foot.
"Another one…"
His kick struck Sanji squarely in the back.
The blond cook was driven into the ground with enough force to form a crater beneath him.
Dust and debris erupted outward.
It had taken only a few seconds.
Luffy lay buried beneath the ruins of a building.
Zoro had been blasted across the grove.
Sanji remained motionless at the center of a shattered crater.
Kizaru lowered his leg and adjusted the cuffs of his yellow-striped suit as though nothing unusual had happened.
"Ooh…"
He looked toward the remaining pirates.
"The Straw Hat Pirates really are frightening…"
His lazy tone only made the sight before them even more terrifying.
Kid's face twisted in disbelief as he stared at the fallen Straw Hats.
"What the hell…? He took all three of them down in seconds!"
Even Law's usual composure cracked.
His eyes widened as a rare look of concern crossed his face.
"This is bad… An Admiral is on a completely different level."
Kid and Law had already begun considering how to retreat without becoming further involved.
At that moment, Nami pulled herself out of the broken mangrove root she had crashed into earlier.
Lightning flickered unsteadily around her body.
She glared at Kizaru, anger burning in her eyes.
"Don't get so full of yourself, you creepy, perverted-looking weirdo!"
Kizaru slowly turned toward her.
For the first time since arriving, his expression stiffened slightly.
That particular insult seemed to have struck somewhere unexpectedly personal.
Nami pointed directly at him and shouted at the top of her lungs.
"When our captain gets here, he'll kick your ass!"
For a moment, the entire grove fell completely silent.
Kizaru's mouth slowly curved into an amused, crooked smile, as though he had just heard something particularly interesting.
He opened his mouth, already preparing another lazy remark.
Then his expression abruptly changed.
A deadly presence appeared behind him.
Someone stood close enough for Kizaru to feel their breath against the back of his neck.
His instincts screamed at him.
Kizaru immediately attempted to transform his body into light.
However...
A hand closed around his shoulder.
Darkness covered it like black flames, swallowing the golden light before it could disperse.
A cold voice sounded from directly behind him.
"You were looking for me?"
Behind him, Shiki drew back his fist, darkness crawling over his arm like black flames. At the same time, red-black lightning erupted violently around his knuckles, cracking through the air.
Kizaru's lazy expression vanished.
"Ooh… this is bad—"
The fist smashed straight into his back.
Boom!
The impact did not simply strike Kizaru.
It blasted through him.
Black lightning tore across the street, and the mangrove roots beneath their feet split apart as if the entire grove had been struck by a cannon from the heavens.
Kizaru's tall body folded under the blow before he was sent flying like a broken beam of light.
He crashed through the street, slammed into a massive mangrove trunk, and in the next instant—
BOOM!
A tremendous explosion swallowed the area.
Golden light scattered wildly within the smoke.
Kizaru hit the ground on one knee, his Marine coat torn and hanging from his shoulders. One lens of his sunglasses had cracked, and blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.
Nami stared at Shiki's back with wide eyes, lightning still flickering weakly around her.
"SHIKI!"
Then, almost immediately, relief welled up into tears at the corners of her eyes.
"You took long enough, you baka! Do you have any idea how scary that guy is?!"
Vivi pressed one hand to her chest, her breathing still uneven.
"Shiki-san…"
Her eyes trembled with relief as she looked at the figure standing between them and the Admiral.
"Thank goodness… you came."
Robin slowly let the tension leave her body. A faint smile touched her lips, though sweat still traced her cheek.
"Ara… how reassuring, Captain."
"Though I would have preferred a slightly earlier entrance."
Shiki's attention, however, was fixed entirely on Kizaru.
His voice was calm.
"You kicked my crew around quite a bit."
Kizaru slowly straightened, wiping the blood from his mouth with his thumb.
He looked at the crimson stain on his glove, then at Shiki.
"Ooh…"
His usual lazy drawl returned, but this time, there was a trace of caution beneath it.
"So you're the captain."
Shiki's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"That's right."
The air around him sank beneath the might of his Haki.
"And you just made a very bad choice."
After saying those words, Shiki raised one hand and gave a gentle wave.
The next moment, three figures dropped heavily onto the ground.
Saint Charlos, Saint Shalria, and Saint Rosward appeared at Shiki's side, still bound from head to toe in tight leaves and thick roots. Their mouths were sealed shut. Only their eyes could move, rolling wildly in their sockets as their bodies writhed on the ground like helpless worms.
"Mmmph! Mmmph!"
No one could understand the muffled sounds coming from their throats.
But Kizaru understood enough.
Their terrified, furious eyes were screaming orders at him.
Save us.
Kill this vermin.
Make these insects kneel.
Kizaru's gaze lowered slightly in exhaustion, and a faint sigh escaped his lips.
"…Sengoku-san, things really took the worst possible turn."
The Celestial Dragons were in Shiki's hands.
This was getting out of hand.
What was Shiki going to do now? Strike some kind of deal?
In just this one encounter, Kizaru had already understood that the Marines had gravely underestimated the Golden Lion's so-called son and successor.
This was not a cub hiding behind an old legend.
This was already a grown lion, ready to bare his fangs against anyone.
Now, Kizaru could only hope Shiki would ask for something.
Because honestly, he did not want to fight this one out.
The war at Marineford was close. And Kizaru had a feeling that even if he won this battle, he would not come out of it unscathed.
His thoughts came to an abrupt stop when Shiki did something no one there expected.
Shing!
Splash!
Saint Charlos's head flew from his shoulders and dropped heavily onto the ground.
It rolled once before stopping in front of Saint Shalria and Saint Rosward.
Charlos's body collapsed a heartbeat later.
Nearby, Saint Shalria's eyes widened in horror.
Her brother…?
That filthy pirate had actually killed a Celestial Dragon?
Saint Rosward's body shook violently inside the roots.
His bloodshot eyes bulged with disbelief and rage, as if he still could not accept that a mere pirate had dared to cut down his son in front of him.
They were not the only ones shocked out of their wits.
Law's eyes widened beneath the brim of his hat.
"…He really did it."
Even he, who had seen countless bloody scenes, could not keep the shock from his voice.
"Is this guy seriously ready to make an enemy of the entire world?"
Kid's grin stiffened on his face.
"That crazy bastard…"
His metal arm creaked as his fingers clenched.
"He just cut down a Celestial Dragon in front of an Admiral."
For a moment, Kizaru's ears buzzed.
He almost wished he were hallucinating.
Because otherwise, how could anyone do something this insane?
A single drop of sweat slid down the side of his face.
When he spoke, his voice still carried that lazy drawl, but there was a slight tremor buried beneath it.
"Do you… understand what you just did?"
Shiki flicked the blood from his blade.
His expression did not change.
"What?"
He looked down at Saint Charlos's corpse, then back at Kizaru.
"You mean stepping on an insect?"
Kizaru's face went expressionless as well, his body dissolving into golden light.
A blazing leg appeared before Shiki's face almost instantly, carrying enough force to shatter an island.
"Ooh… then I really can't let you move around freely anymore."
Facing such a terrifying blow, Shiki only smiled.
The hand gripping his sword tightened as darkness crawled over the blade like ink, while red-black lightning flared around his body once more.
"Dark Style: Lightless Moon."
A black crescent tore through the air.
The slash swallowed the golden light head-on.
Kizaru's eyes narrowed behind his cracked sunglasses.
The next instant...
Slash!
The dark blade-force crashed across his body. Even with his powerful Armament Haki protecting him, it still broke through his defense.
A massive wound split open across Kizaru's chest, tearing through his yellow-striped suit and the Marine coat hanging from his shoulders.
His body was blasted backward, his feet carving two deep trenches through the shattered street before he finally stopped himself.
Kizaru lowered his head slightly and pressed one hand against his bleeding chest.
"Ooh…"
"That really hurts."
But an Admiral was still an Admiral.
A wound like that was not enough to stop him.
The next moment, Kizaru vanished again in a burst of light. But this time, he was no longer aiming only at Shiki, because his gaze had already shifted to the two remaining Celestial Dragons.
Saint Shalria and Saint Rosward.
If he could at least save them...
Shiki's eyes moved, and he casually swung his sword once more. But this time...
Shing!
Two arcs of darkness crossed the air.
Saint Shalria froze.
Saint Rosward froze as well.
A heartbeat later, their bodies collapsed within the tangled roots, blood spreading beneath them as their figures slowly turned to ash in black smoke.
Kizaru's golden figure came to a sudden stop. His mood had turned completely gloomy, and when he spoke, there was genuine anger in his voice.
"…You really went and did it."
Shiki flicked the blood from his blade again, as if even that small stain displeased him.
"Don't look so grim, Kizaru. I only kept them alive long enough for them to learn something. Even with the Marines' highest protection standing right in front of them… even with the whole world calling them gods…"
His smile turned cold and merciless.
"They can still be killed."
PS: Yoho ✋ everyone, I've got a new novel up called Naruto's Selfish Ninja Way.
This Naruto wants to get stronger and enjoy his life.
After the way Konoha treated him, he doesn't feel like he owes the village anything, especially after Hiruzen burned his ass with the Will of Fire.
There's action, romance, and plenty of him calling people out on their bullshit and getting back at the inherently evil villagers. You can find it on my profile or tagged below, give the first few chapters a try.
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