Twenty warships, a total of twenty, capable of carrying over a thousand people, could be called colossal warships armed with sturdy guns, able to destroy two fleets of Enies Lobby warships... were suddenly encompassed by a shockwave blooming in the sky like a canopy.
Boom!
The wooden masts, ships' rails made from iron and hardwood, shattered and broke into several pieces at this moment.
The gigantic canvas tore apart, the cannon barrels collapsed, and even the entire hulls, under this shockwave, suffered varying degrees of fracture and sinking.
"Stop him!"
Flying Squirrel infused his blade with Haki and slashed forward. Simultaneously, the other four elite vice admirals launched attacks, unleashing all their Haki, determined to stop Sage's offensive!
They couldn't let this continue!
They were well aware of how powerful this move was!
If he struck it for real, their second wave of reinforcements would be utterly finished!
"Hahaha! How long can you hold out?!"
Sage laughed wildly in the air, Supreme King Haki surged forth, radiating black and red currents, once again enveloping below.
Conqueror's Haki?
He didn't know it.
But using Supreme King Haki in battle to give some already overwhelmed riffraff a sense of intimidation—he could still manage that!
Yet, for vice admirals, it didn't mean much. Supreme King Haki was just Supreme King Haki. As long as they resisted the mental oppression, it was unrelated to Sage's attack; they would fight as they ought to.
The five vice admirals on the bridge and the vice admirals arriving on the new Buster Call warships were all using Haki, exerting every effort to halt Sage's attack, stopping the breakdown that was supposed to intensify at this moment.
Ten vice admirals, of course, were not weak, and joining forces to block Sage's attack was all too normal.
The impact canopy formed by Haki vanished at this moment. The tumultuous sea, churned by assault moments ago, also came to a standstill.
Flying Squirrel's hand still trembled on the hilt; the slash earlier had almost emptied all his Haki, leaving just enough to not exhaust himself.
Although Haki wasn't physical energy, being a force of will, it couldn't be depleted either, or else it would still be a kind of fatigue.
The weariness of will sometimes exceeded the exhaustion of body.
But if they could endure this, then that guy in the sky...
"Sage! Your excessive arrogance is the cause of your failure!"
Flying Squirrel shouted up, "I don't know why you've mastered Vice Admiral Garp's techniques, but that move isn't easy to unleash, and your Haki must be nearly depleted! You have no advantage left!"
This guy was formidable, powerful in both Body Techniques and Haki, surpassing even these navy vice admirals.
Not to mention the Haki strength, though he didn't want to admit, it certainly was superior to theirs.
But most crucially, it was his degree of control over Haki...
Haki could be shaped, certainly, hardening matter, incidentally reshaping soft materials, transforming soft feathers into swords, turning fragile bamboo into steel—these were applications of Haki.
As vice admirals, everyone knew this trick, which was not only an application of Haki but could also refine Haki further.
But the issue lay here...
If freely manipulating Haki was like molding clay, then the catastrophe before them was a master sculptor of clay!
The nearly flame-like aura of his externalized Haki was proof, and during combat, it was confirmed he mastered "Internal Destruction".
His Haki strength couldn't possibly match Vice Admiral Garp, but merely with such Haki strength, he actually pulled off a move they were extremely familiar with!
Fortunately... it was over.
The exertion of that punch was no joke.
Sage's Haki strength likely became apparent in battle, plus that punch—that should have been his entire strength. Once thrown, he would not have much Haki left.
The evidence was his flame-like Haki dispersing.
Even if navy soldiers were intimidated by Supreme King Haki and couldn't fight, the ten vice admirals present could win against this guy. In matters of Swordsmanship and Body Techniques combat, they had no fear of Sage.
Vice admiral... was by no means a small fry.
"Already formidable enough!"
Even as an adversary, Flying Squirrel couldn't help but marvel at how young this guy was.
Twenty-two, just a brat.
Since debuting from the East Sea, it certainly hadn't exceeded three months, yet now he compelled them to mobilize ten vice admirals just to capture him.
His combat experience, Body Techniques, and Haki were all top-notch. If he gained another ability, no one would probably be able to stop him!
Even if an enemy, that strength was one to be treated cautiously!
A brat causing such a commotion—even if evil, it was a worthy evil.
Underestimating such a foe was estmention a misunderstanding of oneself, a slight to justice!
"Oh..."
The convinced vice admirals below felt confident, thinking the situation was under control, as Sage leaped twice in the air, pulled back his fist, and the smile on his face didn't cease looking down at those seemingly relieved navies.
"Blocked the first punch, huh..."
"Come down, Sage, don't struggle senselessly, we..."
Flying Squirrel was about to persuade surrender when suddenly he felt something wrong, as the Sage in the air once more raised his fist high.
Zzzt!
Flowing like fire, the Haki, after a brief breath, wrapped around his hand again, emitting several black thunderbolts, leaving the vice admirals stiff and looking on in disbelief at the scene.
Galaxy Impact, even stronger than his 'Sky Majestic Blast'. The latter merely releases Haki outwardly, transforming a Haki Bullet into a Haki Wave, but Galaxy Impact concentrates and condenses Haki, then in an instant, explodes with the force of a punch.
Moves like these, even for Sage, brought a brief pause.
Simply put, the rejuvenation had just one or two seconds of delay.
But that was only one or two seconds...
"Well then, how about the second punch!!"
The impact canopy of Haki reappeared with Sage's fist plummeting down, enveloping the warships and bridge.
Boom!!
This time, no one could resist!
The warships suffered another wave of impact, more severely undone. The iron-forged cannon barrels utterly shattered, accompanied in their ruin by the massive warships on the sea, torn apart like dismantled by force, into several sections, with half sinking into the sea, half drifting on the surface.
Meanwhile, the bridge separated by human intervention, where five vice admirals stood, its front half completely collapsed and fragmented, with flying stone debris.
The immense force in turn halted the five, blood streaming from their bodies, each spitting more blood uncontrollably, tumbling onto the fractured bridge surface, and from the collapsing bridge, plunging into the sea below.
Sage maintained his punching stance, laughing heartily at the mess below: "No good! Call for more reinforcements, this time I hope they're from Water Seven!"