One Piece: SSS-Rank Haki at Age Seventeen

"Scary indeed… The Straw Hat Pirates' officers are all monsters."

Admiral Kizaru kept both hands tucked casually inside his pockets, his lazy drawl stretching every syllable.

Tilting his head slightly, his gaze passed through the drifting smoke and settled on Sanji, whose entire body was taut with tension. Behind those golden-tinted sunglasses, a teasing smile slowly curled at the corners of his lips.

"But…"

He deliberately dragged out the word, as though discussing something utterly trivial.

"If word gets out that I was stopped by a mere officer of a Yonko crew… I'd never hear the end of it."

The instant his voice fell—

Buzz!

Blinding golden light exploded outward, swallowing the surrounding space whole.

The air shrieked with scorching heat, as if countless blades of light were slicing through the atmosphere itself.

"You ever…"

Kizaru vanished from where he stood, leaving behind only a fading afterimage.

In the next instant, he appeared above Sanji like a phantom, his right leg raised high.

From his calf to the tip of his foot, his limb transformed into a condensed torrent of pure light so brilliant it was impossible to look at directly.

"…been kicked at the speed of light?"

The words were almost whispered, yet they carried the chill of death itself.

A devastating light-speed kick tore downward toward Sanji's temple!

BOOM—!!!

A violent explosion erupted as two monstrous forces collided head-on.

At the critical moment, Sanji's right leg shot upward in a counter-kick. Armament Haki coated it like black steel armor.

Crackling blue lightning wrapped wildly around his leg, exploding in all directions as he forcibly blocked the kick of light powerful enough to pierce a steel fortress.

The air between them twisted violently under the pressure of their clash, bursting into expanding white shockwaves.

Sanji didn't budge an inch.

Slowly, he raised his head. His blond hair whipped wildly in the storm of force, sparks scattering from the cigarette clenched between his teeth.

The playful look that usually lingered in his eyes was gone.

What remained was pure battle intent, boiling like magma.

"You…"

he growled through gritted teeth, suddenly forcing Kizaru's kick upward.

"…are seriously underestimating me!!!"

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!!!

Before the echoes of their exchange had even faded, both figures disappeared completely from ordinary sight.

In the sky above, only a dazzling streak of gold and a thunderous blue silhouette could be seen colliding, rebounding, and crashing together again at speeds beyond the eye's ability to follow.

Every impact exploded like thunder.

Fragments of light and arcs of lightning painted the battlefield like an apocalyptic storm.

The golden light was swift and razor-sharp, carrying Kizaru's effortless superiority.

The blue figure was fierce and violent, every kick carrying enough force to shatter mountains.

Yet amid the chaotic storm of afterimages, Kizaru still looked completely at ease.

His hands never even left his pockets.

Using nothing but light-speed kicks and precise flashes of movement, he effortlessly neutralized Sanji's relentless assault.

The contrast between Kizaru's casual composure and Sanji's full-powered struggle was almost cruel.

…

"Tch… Just as I thought."

Luffy lay sprawled lazily across the grass, a blade of grass hanging from his mouth as he watched the high-speed battle overhead without the slightest surprise.

As Sanji's primary sparring partner over the past several months, Luffy probably understood Sanji's limits even better than Sanji himself.

He knew very well that there was still a considerable gap between Sanji and true veterans who had stood at the summit of the seas for decades.

Devil Fruit awakening.

Haki refined through countless life-and-death battles.

Those weren't things talent alone could overcome in a short time.

Blue and gold lights reflected within Luffy's eyes as he calmly assessed the battle.

"Sanji's already… infinitely close to Admiral level."

Especially with that genetically enhanced body of his.

Its monstrous durability and recovery speed meant that even against an Admiral head-on, he wouldn't lose quickly.

Luffy's gaze settled on Kizaru's golden figure.

The Admiral's relaxed demeanor felt completely out of place for a battle of this intensity.

A thought suddenly crossed Luffy's mind, making him click his tongue.

"Don't tell me Kizaru's really just here to go through the motions…"

After all, Akainu wasn't an idiot.

Sending a single Admiral to challenge a complete Yonko crew?

…

"Luffy! I wanna fight too!!"

Yamato's voice rang out with uncontrollable excitement.

At some point, she had already changed into a fitted dark-indigo kimono suited for combat.

Her massive kanabo, Takeru, rested casually across her shoulder.

As she stared at the sky battle overhead, blazing fighting spirit burned within her crimson eyes.

"Denied."

Without even turning around, Luffy instantly rejected her request.

Still lying on the grass, he casually dug at his ear with his pinky, looking utterly unimpressed.

"You can't even fly. What are you gonna do up there?"

His eyes never left the battle overhead.

An aerial battle against Kizaru wasn't something brute force alone could handle.

Speed.

Air mobility.

Three-dimensional combat control.

Even a Yonko wouldn't dare claim guaranteed victory against Kizaru in the skies.

As for Yamato, while her strength had already firmly reached Admiral-tier, in a battle fought at that altitude and speed, one mistake would turn her into a stationary target against overwhelming speed.

"Oh…"

Yamato instantly deflated like a punctured balloon.

Her shoulders slumped as she puffed out her cheeks unhappily.

The kanabo in her hand slammed against the ground with a dull thud, scattering bits of grass.

…

At the exact moment the Straw Hats' attention was focused on the battle in the sky—

Out at sea nearby, the massive Marine warship flying the flag of justice had already completed its final artillery calibration.

On deck, a stern-faced vice commander raised his saber high.

Sunlight glinted coldly off the blade as he swung it downward.

"Target the Straw Hat Pirates' flagship—"

"The Thousand Sunny!"

"All batteries—FIRE!!!"

The command pierced through the air like an icicle.

The next second—

BOOM! BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!

Dozens of heavy cannons along the warship's sides roared simultaneously.

Blazing fire erupted from the barrels as thick smoke instantly swallowed half the ship.

Countless black shells tore through the air with shrill, death-like whistles.

A dense rain of cannon fire formed a net of destruction, blotting out the sky as it descended upon the Sunny docked near the shore.

…

"You idiots are asking for death—!!"

A cold voice cut through the roar of cannon fire.

Zoro shot forward like a dark-green arrow, his feet skimming across the sea and blasting apart two straight trails of white spray.

Shusui and Sandai Kitetsu gleamed in his hands.

His eyes sharpened like a predator locking onto prey.

"Shah! Shah-shah—!!"

Both blades slashed forward simultaneously.

Two overlapping arcs of purple-black sword energy erupted violently into the sky against the incoming barrage!

BOOM! BOOM BOOM BOOM—!!!

The sword slashes collided directly with the storm of cannon fire.

Like a hot knife cutting through butter, the crescent-shaped slashes split the shells apart instantly before triggering a chain of deafening explosions.

Flames bloomed endlessly across the sky.

Heat waves and shrapnel scattered wildly—

Yet not a single shell managed to break through the deadly barrier formed by Zoro's swordsmanship and reach the Sunny.

Before the Marines could recover from the shock—

A figure burst through the flames and smoke like a demon and landed heavily atop the warship's main mast.

His green coat billowed violently in the wind.

Dense purple demonic aura swirled around him so intensely that even the surrounding air seemed to distort and freeze.

The cold gleam of his twin swords reflected across the deck.

His gaze was colder than the blades themselves.

—SHING!

A sharp unsheathing sound rang out.

Kizaru's vice commander, a Marine Vice Admiral wearing a Justice coat, raised his sword before himself.

His knuckles had turned pale from gripping the hilt too tightly.

Cold sweat trickled down his temple as his eyes locked onto the figure standing atop the mast.

Then, word by word, he spoke the name that shook the New World.

"Combatant of the Straw Hat Pirates… 'Pirate Hunter' Roronoa Zoro!"

Behind him, the surrounding Marines instinctively tightened their grip on their weapons.

The sound of nervous swallowing echoed clearly across the suddenly silent deck.

The Vice Admiral's expression darkened further as he spoke the number representing the threat before them.

"Bounty… 400 million berries."

At that moment—

The air itself froze solid.

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