"Cough."
Miria, whose heart was pierced, frowned in pain, coughing up two mouthfuls of blood.
"Never thought... I'd be outsmarted by a dead man."
Blood loss caused oxygen deprivation in her organs, making her lungs heave with greater effort.
She struggled to lift her head, her golden pupils reflecting Sakura's figure.
"What about you, sweetheart? Do you really not want to become a Celestial Dragon?"
"I have no interest in becoming trash!"
Sakura crossed her arms, her face full of disgust and rejection.
"Cough, cough... This isn't up to you. You've been... targeted by the big boss... can't escape!"
Miria's breathing grew heavier, her voice becoming weak and hoarse.
In her final moments, whether out of twisted humor or a sliver of conscience, she turned her gaze to the glass container nearby.
"One last thing... that woman is... the Five Elders' test subject... you can't... save her..."
The light in the blue-haired girl's eyes faded. Her lungs stopped moving, and her head lolled weakly to the side.
"Commander Ginny! Commander Ginny!"
In the distance, Revolutionary Army's soldiers rescuing their comrade from the glass tank cried out anxiously.
"Sakura-san, come quick!"
Joe even ran to Sakura's side, pulling her toward the distant scene.
Arriving before Ginny, who was now wrapped in a coat, Sakura performed a preliminary examination.
"There are too many signs of surgical modification on her body, and she seems to have been artificially implanted with some kind of disease?"
Sakura attempted to infuse the other's body with Yang Attribute Chakra, but stopped when she found it caused jade-like scales to sprout on the patient's skin.
"No... this can't be... How could Commander Ginny..."
Joe's pupils trembled. He took two steps back, but then remembered who had abducted Ginny.
He turned his gaze toward the two Celestial Dragon corpses, fury blazing in his eyes, regretting only that he hadn't been the one to kill them.
"Sakura-sama, Commander Ginny has contributed greatly to the Revolutionary Army, liberating countless oppressed people. We beg you, please save her!"
Gilteo bowed low to the ground, lowering his head to Sakura.
"I want to, but with the conditions we have now, I'm afraid I can't save her."
"I'll stabilize her life first. As for the rest, let's talk after we escape this island!"
A rainbow glow of Observation Haki flashed in Sakura's emerald-green eyes. Her perception, reaching dozens of kilometers, had already detected twenty hundred-meter-long Marine Battleships heading toward the island.
"What do you mean?" The two men's eyes showed clear stupi... confusion.
Sakura used Sealing Technique to stabilize Ginny's condition while stuffing her into Leviathan's belly: "A Buster Call is coming!"
"Bu... Buster Call!!!"
The screams of Gilteo and Joe echoed across the entire island.
On a battleship offshore, a man in a yellow striped suit leisurely picked up a cup of hot tea and took a sip.
"Mmm~ still a bit hot~"
Placing the exquisite teacup back on the saucer, he sighed.
"Admiral Borsalino, we've reached Sunlight Island!"
"Vice Admirals Doberman, Bastille, Pomsky, Yamakiji, and Strawberry are all in position, awaiting your orders."
A soldier pushed open the cabin door, saluting and reporting to Borsalino.
"Have them stand by. I'll just take a trip to the island myself. The tea should be cool by the time I get back~"
Dragging out his words in a long, lazy tone, by the time the saluting soldier looked up, the man in the room had already vanished.
Dazzling light made Sunlight Island, perpetually bathed in sunshine, momentarily dim. Droplets of light fell from the sky, permeating the air.
Sakura raised a hand to block the blinding light. The next instant, light capable of piercing glass and skin coalesced before her into a human form.
"Mmm~ Just as Headquarters said, Celestial Dragons are indeed dead. This is troublesome now~"
The man floating mid-air glanced over the two blood-soaked corpses, his Justice Coat fluttering in the wind.
"So, young lady, could you please surrender quietly? My colleagues said you're quite troublesome to deal with."
"No way. Catch me if you can!"
Sakura had already stuffed the three Revolutionary Army's members into Leviathan. She patted the night sparrow on her shoulder, signaling it to take off first.
Then, she pulled out a Flying Thunder God Kunai and hurled it at Kizaru. The kunai whistled sharply, piercing through his heart.
Particles of light dispersed into the air. The kunai, devoid of even Armament Haki, flew high into the sky and vanished.
"How scary~ I was hoping to have a nice chat with you, miss!"
Yet in the very next instant, before his words had even finished fading, light coalesced in front of Sakura.
"Miss... have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"
Sakura, who had been tracking him with Observation Haki the entire time, remained completely calm facing Borsalino's attack.
She lowered her body slightly, a smile appearing on her face.
"No, and I don't plan to be!"
Whoosh!
The phantom light of Space-Time flickered, and Sakura's body vanished instantly, causing Borsalino's gleaming leg to kick through empty air.
The dazzling light shot out violently, exploding within the distant palace ruins and rising into a ball of flame.
'Speed? No, space manipulation?'
Kizaru pushed down his brown sunglasses, his lazy gaze turning toward the girl flying in the sky.
"This is really quite humiliating~"
Extending his hands in a ball-holding gesture, a beam of light extended from between Borsalino's palms, refracting several times before reaching Sakura in the sky.
"Yata no Kagami!"
His body turned into light, moving at light speed along the trajectory.
The next instant, photons converged before Sakura, and a finger shining with laser light thrust forward violently.
"You're such a pain in the ass, Kizaru!"
With Haki wrapped around her fist, she fiercely counterattacked with the Fish-man Karate: Five Thousand Tile True Punch.
Boom!
A violent explosion erupted. Kizaru turned his entire body into particles of light to evade.
As a master of Observation Haki, even during the Summit War, he was fast enough to dodge Whitebeard's sneak attacks.
Sakura was also blown toward the ground by the explosive shockwave. However, with the Flying Thunder God Kunai in hand, she threw it into the distance.
"Oh~, your spatial ability relies on that strange weapon? Doesn't seem as convenient as mine."
Photons flashed. Kizaru, in pursuit, coalesced beside Sakura, clasped his hands together, and pulled out a long sword made of light.
The tip of the sword extended dozens of meters in an instant, slicing Sakura's Flying Thunder God Kunai to pieces. The tall man then showed a hint of pride.
"That was close~ Almost let you get away."
"Is that so?"
The glow of Chakra and Kizaru's thrusting light sword lit up simultaneously, causing his blade to slice through empty air once again.
Twice!
Known as the fastest in the Marines, he had actually had his attacks dodged twice today.
"This won't do. If I really let you leave, Fleet Admiral Sengoku will dock my pay~"
The glow of Observation Haki flashed in Kizaru's eyes. His spreading Haki locked onto Sakura moving through the forest on the southern side of the island.
Crossing his arms calmly, a giant cross of light bloomed in the sky.
Countless light bullets streaked across the heavens, falling toward the southern forest like burning meteors.
[Yasakani no Magatama!]
The shining orbs of light unfolded into tiny crosses of light before hitting the ground. Then, clones of Kizaru, each holding an Ama no Murakumo sword, flanked Sakura.
"Awakened Logia? But..."
Sakura's gaze strained into the distance, confirming that Leviathan had flown out of her Observation Haki's range.
She stopped running, no longer needing to stall for time.
"Hey, Kizaru!"
The approaching Kizaru didn't hesitate. Dozens of light swords thrust toward the girl's body.
"Anyway, I'm making my escape. And the title of fastest on the seas... I'll be taking it!"
Giving the Kizaru before her a big smile, Sakura formed hand seals.
"Don't joke arou-"
Whoosh!
Light flashed for the third time.
This time, Sakura's figure vanished completely from the island.
Kizaru's movements slowed. The clones around him turned into photons and converged back onto his body. A troubled expression appeared beneath his sunglasses.
"This is bad... Was I outplayed...?"