RUMBLE!
Just as Sengoku and the others were talking in the command room, a sudden loud explosion came from outside.
"Hm?"
Sengoku jerked his head up, his Observation Haki instantly spreading out.
Within his perception, a glacier appeared in front of the fleet, and in the middle of that glacier a flying slash was nearly ripping it apart.
The glacier naturally came from Kuzan's defense.
And because Kuzan was outside, Sengoku and the others hadn't spread their Observation.
"A great swordsman's attack…", Even without seeing the figure of the attacker yet, Sengoku had already judged gravely.
"It's Gion!", Tsuru said in a low, firm voice. Her combat power wasn't as great as Sengoku's, but her Observation was even stronger.
"Tch! Chased down by the World Government already? Zephyr came too. I'll go meet them."
Garp frowned slightly, stepping forward toward the outside.
In his Observation, quite a few people had arrived.
Rosse himself wasn't here, but Gion, Zephyr, Borsalino, and Vanessa had come.
Just that lineup alone was enough to match them.
"Let's go together."
Sengoku said in a deep voice, rising first and rushing out of the command room at incredible speed.
Right now it was only Gion and Kuzan fighting on the sea, but if they didn't appear soon, what came next was unpredictable.
"SENGOKU!"
The moment Sengoku appeared, a fist the size of a sandbag came crashing toward his face.
BANG!
With a backhand block, Sengoku intercepted the strike, but the deck beneath his feet exploded apart.
"Zephyr!"
Sengoku looked at the attacker, his expression slightly complicated.
Old friends of decades, today, they were finally clashing blades.
And he knew very well, Zephyr wouldn't hold back at all.
The incident with the Marine families in the Fishman Kingdom had already crossed Zephyr's bottom line.
Zephyr's family had been killed by pirates.
Even if they had been framed this time, Dragon had already taken responsibility. No matter how much they argued, it was pointless.
"Tch! What's with that face? You think you're innocent?", Zephyr's fists coated in Armament, he suddenly swung hard at Sengoku.
His punches were heavy, clearly filled with rage.
What had happened in the Fishman Kingdom, he truly couldn't accept it.
"At the time, I don't believe you didn't see it. The Fishman Kingdom side was already preparing to let you go, why add that unnecessary step?"
BANG!
This time Sengoku didn't block. He let Zephyr's fist smash into his face, his body flying dozens of meters away.
But Zephyr's assault wasn't finished. His forward speed was even faster than Sengoku's flight. Before Sengoku hit the ground, Zephyr was already beside him, punching him up into the sky.
Sengoku didn't put up much of a fight, only making a few token blocks, letting Zephyr's fists pound into him.
On this matter, he truly bore responsibility.
He hadn't spotted Rosse's trap in advance, even though it had been laid out so obviously.
In the end, they had been too hasty.
Too eager to seize the chance to leave the Marine, too eager to draw the line with the World Government.
And so, in the details, they'd been led around by Rosse.
As that battle erupted, on the other side Vanessa replaced Gion, engaging Kuzan.
At the same time, Borsalino faced off against Garp.
"Yo, Vice Admiral Garp, what a scary face you're making!"
Hands in his pockets, Borsalino gazed at Garp's dark, brooding face, his tone still dripping with carelessness.
Since this time wasn't about keeping the entire NEO Marine, Borsalino naturally felt relaxed all over.
Just stalling Garp, that was far too easy.
"Heh, Light-speed brat, I've never fought you before, have I."
Garp clenched his fists, cracking noises snapping out.
The instant his words fell, his figure already appeared in front of Borsalino, his fist smashing out.
BOOM!
A giant hole opened in Borsalino's chest, his body breaking into scattered light.
"So scary, really~"
Even with only his head left, Borsalino still quipped in a carefree tone.
Golden light flickered, and his figure reformed dozens of meters away.
Garp's speed was fast, but not enough to catch him off guard.
If the goal was only to drag things out, then at least for five days, the fight wouldn't see a result.
"Heh! Sometimes your face is even more punchable than Akainu's."
Garp scowled, launching skyward, clashing with Borsalino.
Since the enemy had blocked the way, there was only one path, battle.
———
On another side, the NEO Marine's flagship, Sengoku's admiral-class warship.
"Chief of Staff Tsuru."
Gion's toes tapped lightly, her figure light as a swallow as she landed gracefully on the deck. From a short distance, she gave Tsuru a standard swordsman's salute.
Even though they now walked different roads, one couldn't deny that back in the Marine's elite training camp, Gion had always looked to Tsuru as the target to catch up to.
If not for the changes Rosse had brought, perhaps she would already have boarded Tsuru's warship, calling her sister.
Maybe, in the group that left the Marine this time, her figure would have been there as well.
"Gion… when you were about to graduate, Zephyr even recommended you to me. I didn't expect Saint Rosse to snatch you up first. But looking at you now, the growth you've gained with him… far greater than what you'd have had with me."
Gazing at Gion, who radiated the aura of a great swordsman, sharpness overflowing, Tsuru couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
In Tsuru's eyes, Gion didn't have monster-level talent. Even reaching Tsuru's own level should have been her limit.
But to think that in less than two years after leaving the Marine, Gion had already reached a point comparable to Kuzan, even gaining the title of the world's greatest swordsman.
Though the title held some exaggeration, as long as she stayed by that man's side, sooner or later she would earn it for real.
"Chief of Staff Tsuru, I can't understand it. You must know that founding the NEO Marine is a dead-end road," Gion said softly.
Her purpose here was mainly to fulfill her promise to Rosse, eliminating Juste.
But since she had crossed paths with Tsuru, a few words didn't hurt.
"Staying in the Marine, is that really a living road?", Tsuru replied meaningfully.
After the Fishman Kingdom trap, she had thought deeply, reviewed and analyzed much, and discovered details she had never noticed before.
Some things were too shocking, and she hadn't decided whether to tell Sengoku and the others yet.
But since she'd met Gion here, perhaps she could use this chance to test her guess.
"If you do nothing, Saint Rosse won't do anything to you," Gion answered calmly.
As Rosse's woman, she understood his thinking better than anyone.
The NEO Marine existed only because Rosse wanted to make the sea more exciting.
If Sengoku and the others hadn't made that choice, Rosse wouldn't have forced them.
But since they had chosen this path, they had to be ready to be played as chess pieces by Rosse.
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