The Marine cadets were surrounded on all sides by powerful pirates. Outnumbered and outmatched, the pressure was suffocating.
Normally, the strongest enemies they fought carried bounties of fifty or sixty million. Anything higher, and Zephyr would be by their side—stepping in before any real danger struck. This was supposed to be training, not a slaughter. But now, Zephyr was locked in combat with Mostima, and the sky itself belonged to that feathered devil.
Countless white feathers floated ominously above, each one capable of turning into a blade of death at a whim.
Zephyr couldn't risk letting his guard down. He knew exactly what Mostima was doing, keeping him busy. The moment he turned his attention away, those feathers would rain down and tear his students apart.
It was a perfect trap. If he chased Mostima, his cadets would die. If he stayed, Mostima would retreat unscathed. Either way, the Marines would suffer heavy losses.
Zephyr gritted his teeth. All he could do now was hope his cadets could hold out long enough for reinforcements to arrive. Headquarters had to have seen this by now.
But the losses had already begun.
This wasn't a battle—it was a massacre.
"Hahaha! These are the future elites of the Marines?!" A pirate laughed madly, his bloodstained saber glinting in the light. "There is no future!"
He swung his blade, cutting down three cadets in one clean motion. His bounty: ninety million.
The cadets fought desperately, but most hadn't even mastered all Six Powers. Those who could use Soru moved fast but their raw battle instincts couldn't compare to veterans who had survived years at sea.
"You bastard!" one cadet roared, watching his comrade die. Rage blinded him.
He never saw the bounty hunter take aim.
A single gunshot echoed. Then two more. Bullets tore through the Marine's leg. The cadet crumpled, his sword clattering to the dirt.
"Kid… you've got guts, I'll give you that," the bounty hunter sneered. Then his blade came down.
One clean strike.
Blood sprayed. The cadet's body went limp.
The killer exhaled slowly. Mostima had promised that anyone who killed a Marine could leave. He planned to disappear and lay low, after all, killing Marines made him a wanted man now, but at least he'd live.
In only minutes, half of Zephyr's cadets were dead. The rest were falling fast. The strength gap and experience gap were too wide to bridge.
The pirates fought with abandon, desperate to finish a Marine and flee before the tide turned. Their greed and fear fueled them more than any courage.
Some were already running, slipping into the chaos once their "quota" was filled.
The air stank of blood and burning powder.
"Come on, you damn brats! Kill them all!" a bounty hunter shouted, swinging wildly.
Amid the carnage, a single blade gleamed—cutting through the haze of gunfire.
Gion.
Her swordsmanship was sharp, controlled. Dozens of pirates had already fallen to her blade. Yet she was barely holding on, blood streaking down her cheek.
Her opponent, Kaski the Jetman, bounty over one hundred million, grinned through cracked teeth. His face was smeared with blood and soot.
Gion's arm was burned and frostbitten from earlier hits, but she refused to retreat.
Still, she couldn't last forever.
Then, at last—reinforcements arrived.
Marines from the Sabaody Branch rushed onto the battlefield. They had been dealing with the Celestial Dragons' evacuation, but once the emergency call came, they dropped everything and ran straight into the chaos.
Leading them was Rear Admiral Lincoln. His eyes widened as he saw the scene—thousands of corpses littering the ground. The smell of iron and ash filled the air. Some of the younger soldiers vomited on the spot.
Kaski turned, annoyed. "Don't interrupt my fight."
Gunfire erupted toward him in reply.
"Then I'll clear you all out first," Kaski growled, his voice twisted with sadistic glee.
The wounds Mostima had given him earlier still oozed blood, streaking his face red. He looked like a demon.
"Jet… Rocket!"
Jet nozzles erupted from his feet, flames roaring to life. His body launched skyward.
"Jet… Crematorium!"
The words were a death sentence.
Rear Admiral Lincoln's eyes went wide. "Scatter! Move, now!" he shouted, diving aside.
Kaski's flames poured downward, engulfing the Marines. A roaring inferno swept across the clearing. The ground cracked and burned.
Screams echoed as Marines were swallowed by fire. The air shimmered from the heat.
Kaski laughed like a madman. "Burn! Burn and die!"
It truly was a crematorium.
Only a handful of officers managed to break through the flames alive, bodies seared and uniforms charred.
Lincoln gritted his teeth and launched himself into the air using Moonwalk. "You monster!"
He met Kaski head-on.
"Jet Power Punch!" Kaski roared.
His arms transformed—jet nozzles at the elbows flared backward, combining thrust with his forward momentum. His fists became cannons.
The impact was instant.
Lincoln's pupils contracted sharply as Kaski's burning fist drove into his abdomen. The force shattered his ribs. Flames burst through his uniform, searing flesh.
He plummeted like a meteor, crashing into the earth. A crater exploded outward from the impact.
When the smoke cleared, Lincoln's body lay at the center. Two gaping, charred holes in his abdomen. His eyes lifeless.
"Rear Admiral Lincoln!" a Lieutenant Commander screamed, sprinting forward.
But it was too late.
Kaski hovered above the carnage, flames licking from his jets, laughing in triumph.
From a distance, Teach watched silently, his eyes glinting. "Huh. Maybe I underestimated that fool. There's more potential in that fruit than I thought."
Kaski's Jet-Jet Fruit had real bite. If he ever reached the New World, Teach mused, his bounty could soar to five hundred million.
At Marine Headquarters, Sengoku slammed his fist on the table. "This is a disgrace! A Vice Admiral, a Rear Admiral, and over a thousand Marines—dead!"
The broadcast was live across the world. To the watching public, it looked like the Marines were nothing but prey.
"This will destroy our credibility," Sengoku muttered darkly. Then he turned to Kong. "Has Borsalino arrived yet?"
Kong shook his head.
Sengoku growled, "Call him. Now."
Far above the clouds, a Den Den Mushi rang.
"Buruburuburu…"
Borsalino answered lazily, his golden light flickering as he flew. "Yes, yes, what is it?"
"Hurry up! Don't dawdle!" Sengoku's voice barked through the receiver.
"Oh dear, such a bother," Borsalino sighed. "And no extra pay either… what a tragedy." He hung up, stretching lazily. "Well, can't be helped. Who told me to be so damn fast?"
In the next instant, he vanished in a blinding flash, accelerating to supersonic speed toward Sabaody.
Below, the battlefield was nearly empty.
Mostima and Zephyr's high-speed chase had long vanished into the distance. Seeing that, the surviving pirates and bounty hunters realized the window to escape was open—and bolted.
No one stayed behind.
The ground was littered with bodies. Of all Zephyr's cadets, only seven survived. Two were missing limbs. The rest were broken, bleeding, barely clinging to life.
The "future of the Marines" lay dying in the dirt.
Zephyr could sense it all with Observation Haki. Every fading heartbeat. Every last scream.
His fury boiled over. He wanted to rip Mostima apart.
He could feel Mostima's mocking presence in the air, staying just out of reach. If Zephyr tried to disengage, those feathers would descend like divine punishment. If he stayed, his students died anyway.
The helplessness twisted into rage.
For the first time in years, Zephyr felt the urge to kill.
He exhaled slowly, body trembling. Then—Life Return. His muscles tensed, his aura exploded. The air cracked around him.
Mostima, darting ahead, felt the pressure behind him shift. His instincts screamed. That killing intent—it was like being hunted by a primal beast.
He didn't hesitate. He fled at full speed.
His eyes caught sight of a familiar mark on the ground: a simple fist symbol.
Teach's signal.
Reinforcements were here.
And there was only one man fast enough to arrive this quickly.
The light of the Glint-Glint Fruit was already breaking across the horizon.
Borsalino had entered the battlefield.