"Th–This… this can't be possible!"
Ray's eyes widened in disbelief. His heart trembled with shock.
That same attack — he had once used it to crush a Marine Vice Admiral who dared compete with him for a mission target, beating the man until he spat blood and was forced to retreat in humiliation.
But now, against another Vice Admiral of supposedly equal rank, he couldn't even shake the lightning cage the man had casually thrown out?
The commotion was growing louder. People in the square were already craning their necks to look this way. Humiliation burned in Ray's chest; his face twisted in rage as he roared and unleashed his strongest technique.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Countless green thorns burst out from his back, the earlier vines in the ground withdrawing and coiling tightly around his body.
In the blink of an eye, Ray's figure swelled several times larger, transforming into a hulking giant over six meters tall. His body was wrapped in layers of green muscle that looked like they were forged from steel, glinting under the moonlight with a cold, bluish-green sheen.
"Break!"
With a beast-like roar, the Green Vine Giant slammed his massive fist into the front of the lightning cage.
BOOM!
The thunderous impact shook the entire barrier. A deep dent formed where the punch landed, and the brilliant blue arcs of lightning flickered, their glow visibly dimming.
It worked!
A flash of joy passed through the Green Vine Giant's eyes. Snarling, he drew back his arm for another strike. Three or four more punches, he was sure — that's all it would take to tear apart this damned cage!
But just as his next punch was about to fall, Nao — calm and unflinching — quietly raised his right hand and flicked his finger.
BZZZT!
The air around his fingertip trembled. A torrent of dazzling azure lightning erupted forth like a roaring dragon, shooting clean through the cage and engulfing the Green Vine Giant in an instant.
"AAAAAHHHHHH!!!"
A piercing scream, like that of a slaughtered pig, instantly echoed through the entire street and alley. Wilson, Shumi, and the others, who were close by, felt their scalps go numb and instinctively took a few steps back.
Then, they watched helplessly as their highest-ranking officer — the green muscles attached to his body — were instantly annihilated under the power of the lightning, turning into charcoal.
The exposed Ray inside was left with tattered clothes, scorch marks all over his body, his handsome features twisted to the extreme, and his neatly combed, flowing blond hair turned into an afro, standing upright towards the sky.
THUD!
The last of the blue light flickered away as Ray's body toppled backward. He lay on the ground, twitching, barely able to move. His eyes were wide open, his lips trembling in disbelief and fury — but he was still conscious.
Instant defeat!
It was a complete and utter instant defeat!
They're simply not on the same level... Wilson and Shumi exchanged stunned looks, throats dry as they swallowed hard.
They had always known of Nao's feats — holding his own against Kaido, defeating Big Mom — no one ever doubted he stood at the very summit of the world's power.
But seeing it with their own eyes — watching the CP division's third highest-ranking official obliterated in seconds, rendered helpless like a dead dog — that was another thing entirely. The shock hit them like a tidal wave.
The lightning cage faded.
Yet none of the CP-0 agents moved to help Ray. Not even one.
They merely stood there, eyes shifting, and for some reason, each of them felt a strange, guilty sense of satisfaction.
The CP agents still had to keep their expressions restrained — but the Marines had no such need.
"Beautifully done, Vice Admiral!"
Cheers broke out among the Marines. Some whistled, others clapped, and Onigumo, chest swelling with pride, threw his head back and laughed uproariously.
"Ha! Wearing that white suit with a stupid rose in his chest pocket, acting all high and mighty — turns out he's just trash after all! And he thought he could show attitude in front of our Vice Admiral? What a joke!"
After saying that,
Onigumo spat on the ground with a loud "ptoo!", then turned his right hand thumb-down and made a mocking "pathetic" gesture toward Ray.
It was like a dagger driven straight into his heart.
Though his whole body was still twitching and paralyzed from the electric shock, Ray's face — pressed against the dirt — trembled violently with rage. His expression contorted, flushed red, and the look he gave Onigumo was pure murderous hatred.
"Seems like you hit a bit hard, Vice Admiral,"
Momonga remarked, trying — and failing — to suppress a grin when he saw Ray's reaction.
"True,"
Nao nodded calmly. "Didn't think this guy would be so fragile… But since he's still conscious, that means he can still kneel."
Kneel? Like this?
Momonga instinctively glanced at Ray — in his current condition, he was basically a vegetable. Forget kneeling; he could barely move a finger. He'd need days in a hospital bed before he could even stand again.
Just as Momonga was wondering what Nao meant, the Vice Admiral raised his index finger. In an instant, several faint blue threads of lightning shot out, almost invisible to the naked eye, wrapping neatly around Ray's limbs and head.
With a small motion of Nao's hand, Ray's body jerked upright like a puppet on strings, stiff and mechanical, and began to stagger step by step toward the plaza platform in the distance.
"Got the inspiration for this trick from Doffy,"
As if sensing his two adjutants' astonished gazes, Nao smiled and casually explained.
On the other side.
Although Ray couldn't move his body, his consciousness was becoming clearer and clearer. He watched helplessly as he uncontrollably passed through the crowd and ascended the steps. Realizing what was about to happen, his eyes instantly filled with bloodshot veins.
No. No!
He was the Deputy Chief of CP-0, a man of noble blood and lofty status — a figure of power and prestige even in the Holy Land Mary Geoise.
How could someone like him kneel… before a crowd of commoners who should have been wiped out long ago?
How dare that bastard White Dragon do this!!!
Ray mustered every ounce of strength left in his body to resist — but it was useless. His body didn't respond. He could only watch in helpless horror as he reached the center of the platform, surrounded by countless curious, bewildered gazes…
And then—
THUD!
He dropped heavily to his knees.
"Eh? Who's that guy?"
"Not sure. Looked like Mr. White Dragon gave him a good beating earlier. Damn, he got wrecked."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd below.
Under the pale moonlight, Ray stared in disbelief at his own kneeling posture, his face turning the color of pig's liver from the sheer humiliation.
But clearly, this humiliation was only the beginning.
Before long, as the Marines began to explain to the people who this man was — his name, his title, and his role in the plague that had ravaged their city — every last person in the square came to understand.
At that moment, Ray could feel the eyes on him change.
Gone was curiosity. Gone was confusion.
What filled those stares now was hatred, fury, and righteous anger barely restrained.
"That man… he's a high official of the World Government!"
"So he's the one behind all those things... Damned beast, smash him!"
"Smash him!"
…
In an instant, the crowd erupted. Countless furious townspeople in the front rows began hurling whatever they could grab toward Ray.
Cups, bricks, bottles, stones — even an injured soldier from the night's battle tore off the plaster cast from his broken arm and flung it at the platform with trembling hands…
The Marine soldiers standing along the edge of the plaza maintained a loose line, but none of them intervened. They simply let the people vent their rage.
It went on for two or three full minutes before the uproar finally began to die down.
And then—
At the mouth of the nearby alley, Nao raised his index finger toward the distant platform… and gently pressed it downward.
THUD!
Ray suddenly felt as though a giant invisible hand had grabbed his head and slammed it hard against the ground. The impact was so forceful that the stone floor beneath him cracked apart, scattering fragments everywhere.
Bastard! Bastard! Bastard!
Pain exploded in his head, his vision swam — but the pain wasn't what truly crushed him. What truly made his blood boil and his mind go mad was the unbearable humiliation of being forced to kowtow before tens of thousands of commoners while utterly powerless to resist.
White Dragon! White Dragon!
Ray's whole body trembled violently, his eyes bloodshot, his teeth grinding so hard they almost shattered.
Fine, you bastard, he screamed inwardly. I'll remember every second of this humiliation — and one day, I'll make you pay it all back, tenfold!
A few seconds later, the invisible force lifted his head again. Blood ran down his forehead, blurring his vision.
But even through the haze, he could still feel the eyes staring at him from below — eyes once filled with hatred, now showing something different: grim satisfaction.
Go on, be smug, he thought bitterly.
Be as smug as you want.
You have White Dragon protecting you now, but once the storm passes… once he's no longer here to shield you… you wretched commoners will all—
His thought cut off.
A sudden, familiar force slammed down on the back of his head again, so fast and so heavy that he only had time to hear the rush of air before his face hit the shattered tiles with another crunching blow.
…
"One, two, three, four…"
At the corner of the street, Momonga found himself unconsciously counting, watching as Ray was forced to bow again and again — his face covered in blood, his eyes glassy and dazed. Finally, Momonga couldn't help but speak up:
"Vice Admiral, are you really going to make him kowtow all ten times?"
"Definitely."
Onigumo, watching with his arms crossed and thoroughly enjoying it, chuckled upon hearing this, "The Vice Admiral always keeps his word. He said he'd make him kowtow ten times, so he'll definitely make sure he does ten before stopping."
"You remembered wrong."
"Huh?" Onigumo turned, puzzled.
"I said he'll keep kowtowing until the people below forgive him,"
Nao said calmly, still pressing his finger down every few seconds.
"Right now, since he can't speak and apologize properly, his sincerity's already cut in half… So multiplying the number by a few times doesn't seem excessive, does it?"
"…Wait, that's how it works?"
Onigumo stared, dumbfounded, at the platform.
Ray's body kept repeating the motion of kowtowing again and again — faster and faster — the thud, thud, thud of his head striking the ground like a human pile driver.
In the blink of an eye, he'd gone past fifty bows, then barreled toward a hundred.
The bricks beneath him had already been pounded into dust, and his forehead was a solid sheet of crimson.
Onigumo couldn't help but shiver. Yeah… when it comes to being ruthless, no one beats the Vice Admiral. Next to him, I might as well be a kind, gentle soul.
"Hmm?"
Beside him, Momonga suddenly noticed something.
"Vice Admiral — that guy seems to have passed out."
"Oh?"
Nao raised an eyebrow, pausing the motion of his finger. He leaned slightly forward, observing Ray's face from afar.
Sure enough —
Eyes shut tight. Limbs limp. Barely breathing. He looked like a dead dog lying there. Hard to tell whether he'd blacked out from pain or from sheer rage and humiliation.
"Only ninety-five, huh?"
Nao sighed, a hint of regret on his face.
"Well… might as well make it a round number."
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Five more solid, heavy strikes echoed out before he finally stopped, looking satisfied. Then he gave a few quick instructions, and several Marines hurried up to the platform, carrying Ray's unconscious body back into the alley.
The plaza erupted in thunderous cheers.
Nao crouched down, checked over Ray's condition briefly, then looked up at Wilson — who was still staring in stunned disbelief — and said with a relaxed smile:
"Take him back. He'll probably be out cold for at least half a month. By then, you lot should already be back at the Holy Land."
"If your superiors ask about it, there's no need to cover for me. Just tell them the truth. If they're unhappy about it, they can come find me themselves."
"Y-Yes, Mr. White Dragon," Wilson stammered.
He quickly ordered two agents to support Ray's limp body. Looking down at his completely unrecognizable superior, his expression twisted — a mix of hesitation, relief, and vindictive joy — before he finally worked up the nerve to slap Ray twice across the face.
Ah… much better.
Instantly, his mood lifted considerably. He exchanged a glance with Shumi, then saluted Nao with a solemn expression before silently leading the agents under his command and disappearing into the depths of the alley.
"Vice Admiral, is it really okay to just let him go like this?"
Onigumo muttered as he watched them leave.
"After being humiliated like this, with that guy's personality, he won't take it lying down. Even if he can't take revenge on you, what if he secretly retaliates against Flevance later?"
"What else would you have me do?"
Nao's gaze followed the retreating figures.
"He's a high-ranking World Government official — CP-0's Deputy Chief, no less. Technically, his position's even higher than mine. I can't just slit his throat in front of a whole crowd, can I?"
"True… that would have consequences we couldn't even imagine."
Momonga nodded, turning to reassure Onigumo.
"But don't worry. The Vice Admiral clearly planned this. Making sure that guy won't wake up for half a month — by the time he's conscious again, they'll be long back in the Holy Land. If he tries anything in the North Blue after that, we'll have plenty of time to respond."
"But still…"
Onigumo tried to protest, but the man ahead raised a hand to stop him.
"I know what you're thinking."
Nao finally turned around, blinked, and gave a kind smile: "But this matter can only go so far. A lesson is enough, right? It's bad to always resort to killing people. Do you really see me as someone who likes to pull out the roots?"