Chapter 44: Checkmate! The Price of Absolute Justice!
High above the crumbling remains of the Saint Noros, the battle between the Guardian Overseer of Nazarick and the Marine Admiral had reached a critical, lethal stalemate. The air crackled with the tension of imminent death.
The distance between Albedo and Kizaru was less than a meter—a suicidal range for anyone facing a man made of light.
Albedo's hidden mechanism had triggered with a metallic click that was swallowed by the roar of the wind. Three sharp, obsidian spikes—forged from ores unknown to this world and coated in a neurotoxin potent enough to paralyze a Level 80 Dragon—shot from the hidden compartment in her left gauntlet.
They flew like the fangs of a striking viper, aimed with mathematical precision at Kizaru's exposed eyes.
For any ordinary master of the Grand Line—even a Vice Admiral trained in the Six Powers—dodging at this range was a physical impossibility. The human brain simply could not process the visual data and transmit the electrical signal to the muscles fast enough to react. It was a checkmate move, born of deceit and ruthlessness.
However, Borsalino—Admiral Kizaru—was not bound by the limitations of synapses, nerves, or biological lag. He was a man who had consumed the Glint-Glint Fruit (Pika Pika no Mi). He was no longer just flesh and blood; he was a fundamental force of the universe.
"Scary~"
Facing this vicious, point-blank sneak attack, Kizaru didn't retreat. He didn't flinch. Instead, he leaned forward, the corners of his mouth twitching in a slight, mocking smile that infuriated his opponent.
The amber lenses of his sunglasses flashed with a blinding, holy radiance.
"Laser Eyes!"
ZIIIIIING!
It wasn't a projectile. It was instantaneous energy release.
Two extremely concentrated, super-heated beams of light shot directly from his pupils. They moved at 299,792,458 meters per second, intercepting the incoming black spikes mere inches from his face.
BOOM!
A violent explosion erupted in the narrow space between them.
It wasn't just kinetic; it was thermal annihilation. The strange, otherworldly metal of the spikes, designed to pierce magical barriers, instantly sublimated. They turned from solid matter to ionized gas under the intense, focused heat of the lasers.
The resulting shockwave was catastrophic.
"Guh!"
Albedo was knocked backward by the blast force. Her black wings flared wide, catching the turbulent air to stabilize her heavy armor. The heat washed over her helmet, glowing red for a fraction of a second before the divine metal dispersed the energy.
Kizaru, on the other hand, drifted back effortlessly. He moved like a leaf caught in a gentle breeze, his white coat fluttering elegantly. He slid his hands back into his pockets, adjusting his sunglasses with a single finger as if he had merely sneezed, not fired death beams from his eyes.
As the smoke and ionized gas cleared, the two combatants hovered in the sky, separated by fifty meters of empty air. The ocean below churned from the pressure of their previous exchanges.
To an observer below, it looked like a draw. A stalemate of monsters.
But Albedo knew better.
Inside her helmet, her teeth were grinding together loud enough to crack enamel. Her breath came in short, angry bursts.
He's playing with me, Albedo realized, a cold, humiliating fury rising in her chest like bile.
This "equilibrium" stemmed entirely from Kizaru's allowance.
Although Albedo's stats in YGGDRASIL granted her immense agility and her armor provided absolute defense, she was still bound by the laws of mass, acceleration, and momentum. To change direction, she needed to exert force. To accelerate, she needed propulsion.
Kizaru was not bound by these laws. He was light. He had zero mass when he chose to.
If the Admiral hadn't been intentionally testing her—trying to decipher the material of her Divine Class armor, analyzing her attack patterns, and gauging the strange nature of her Haki—he would never have allowed her to get into melee range in the first place. He could have kited her from five kilometers away, raining down lasers until the island sank.
"Damn bug..." Albedo hissed, her voice dripping with venom. "Do not look down on me!"
A feeling of humiliation surged in her chest. She was the Overseer of the Great Tomb of Nazarick! She was the shield of the Supreme Beings! And yet, she was being outpaced by a slacking human in a tacky yellow suit who treated this deathmatch like a morning stroll.
His speed capability is infinite, Albedo analyzed coldly, suppressing her rage to formulate a strategy. But his attack potency is heavily reliant on charge time. He pauses before big attacks. I can tank the hits, but I cannot catch him. This is a stalemate I cannot win without a distraction.
Meanwhile, on the Frozen Sea.
The battlefield on the ice was a different kind of hell. If the sky was a dance of light, the ground was a collision of raw, brutal, earth-shaking power.
Aokiji slowly straightened up from the massive crater his body had smashed into the ice. The impact of Suzaku's flame sword had carved a trench thirty meters long.
He dusted off his shoulder, brushing away shards of frozen seawater and soot. His white suit was scuffed, and there was a burn mark on his lapel. The serious expression on his face had completely replaced his usual boredom.
"A rookie who hits like a giant..." Aokiji muttered, rolling his neck with a sickening crack. "Garp is going to laugh his head off if I lose this."
CRACK!
He bent his knees. The dense, magical ice beneath him spiderwebbed for twenty meters from the sheer pressure of his leg muscles coiling.
With an explosive burst of speed, he leaped out of the pit. He didn't glide; he charged like an avalanche.
Without any pause, his right fist clenched. The air around it froze instantly, moisture turning into a gauntlet of jagged ice. But underneath the cold, his knuckles turned a deep, shiny black.
Armament Haki: Hardening.
He charged straight toward Suzaku, bringing with him a biting cold that threatened to freeze the blood in Suzaku's veins even before impact.
"Hmph!"
Suzaku showed no fear. His eyes burned with the thrill of the fight—the adrenaline of a Saiyan, the pride of a King.
The blood of the Vermillion Bird pumped through his heart like a fusion engine. Golden flames roared to life around his right fist, swirling in a vortex of heat that mixed with his own high-level Armament Haki.
"Come on, Admiral!"
BANG—!
Two iron fists, wrapped in the pinnacle of Haki and opposing elemental powers, smashed simultaneously into each other's faces!
It was a cross-counter of absolute brutality. No blocking. No parrying. Just a test of who had the harder skull and the stronger will.
Time seemed to freeze for a millisecond upon impact. The heat met the cold. The black steel of Haki met the black steel of Haki.
Then, the laws of physics caught up.
KABOOM!
A terrifying shockwave erupted from the point of impact. It wasn't just wind; it was a concussive force that kicked up a wall of ice dust and shattered the frozen surface for a hundred meters in every direction.
Vice Admiral Ferguson, watching from the sidelines, had to dig his sword into the ice just to keep from being blown away. His coat whipped violently around him.
"Monsters..." Ferguson gasped, shielding his eyes from the debris. "They are just trading blows?! That kid... that rookie... is trading blows with an Admiral on equal footing?!"
The ice beneath the combatants feet collapsed completely, exposing the dark, churning seawater below.
THUD!
Suzaku was sent flying backward. The force of an Admiral's punch was like being hit by a train. He tumbled through the air, skipping across the ice like a stone across water, rolling several times before digging his heels in to stop.
He slid for another thirty meters, carving two deep trenches in the ice with his boots, steam rising from the friction.
Aokiji remained standing, though he slid back a significant distance. He raised a hand to his lip.
He pulled it away. It was red.
"Arara..." Aokiji wiped the trickle of blood away with his thumb, looking at the crimson stain with mild surprise. "He actually cut my lip. My Haki defense was breached?"
On the other side, Suzaku stood up. He spat out a mouthful of blood onto the white ice, staining it red. His cheek was swollen, purple and angry. His jaw felt dislocated.
But then, steam began to rise from his face.
Tsssst.
The swelling reduced. The bruise faded. The cut inside his mouth knit itself back together.
It's healing already.
The Vermillion Bird Bloodline was pumping through his veins, repairing the tissue damage at a visible rate. As long as he had stamina, his body would rebuild itself from the ashes of damage. He was a phoenix in human form.
"As expected of someone who trained with Garp the Fist," Suzaku grinned, wiping his chin and popping his jaw back into place. "That physical strength is monstrous! My head is still ringing."
Through this head-on confrontation, Suzaku analyzed the data calmly.
My Haki is High-Level. His is Peak-Level. My strength is S-Rank. His is SS-Rank.
There was a gap. It wasn't insurmountable, but it was there. Without mastering Advanced Conqueror's Coating (ACoC), defeating an Admiral in a fair 1v1 deathmatch would take days, and the outcome would be uncertain. Aokiji had stamina for ten days; Suzaku didn't know his own limit yet.
"However..."
Suzaku's gaze swept over the chaotic battlefield. He saw Albedo stalemating Kizaru in the sky. He saw the Vermillion Wing safe in the clouds.
"The goal isn't to kill an Admiral today. That's a task for the future. The goal today is to send a message. And that message requires a specific prop."
FOOSH!
Golden flames reignited around his entire body, burning brighter and hotter than before. His figure shimmered in the heat haze, distorting his silhouette.
"Going for round two?" Aokiji asked, raising his ice fists, preparing for another clash.
"Nope."
WHOOSH!
Suzaku vanished.
He utilized Soru boosted by jet propulsion flames from his back. The speed was blinding.
"Admiral! He's running!" Ferguson shouted, pointing frantically.
"No," Aokiji frowned. His Observation Haki tracked the intense heat signature streaking across the battlefield. It wasn't heading away from the fight. "He's not retreating... His target is..."
Aokiji's eyes widened in realization.
"The wreckage! The Celestial Dragon!"
At this moment, Suzaku landed steadily on the shattered remains of the Saint Noros.
The once-majestic ship of the World Noble was now just floating debris, a testament to the destructive power of the battle. However, the main mast—where Saint Jalmack had been tied by Rem—was miraculously intact.
It stood like a lone tree in a wasteland.
Kizaru, in his "laziness," had actually been calculating every stray shot, every laser beam, to avoid hitting this specific spot. It was the only safe zone on the ship.
Saint Jalmack was slumped against the ropes. His fine white suit was in tatters. He was covered in shallow cuts—the receipts of Kiyo's revenge—and was unconscious from shock and blood loss. But he was alive.
"Lucky pig," Suzaku sneered, looking down at the pathetic figure of the World Noble.
"Or maybe..." Suzaku glanced up at the sky where Kizaru hovered. "Maybe the Monkey isn't as blind as he looks."
He didn't waste time. He grabbed the thick ropes binding the Celestial Dragon.
SNAP.
He ripped the ropes from the mast with brute force.
BOOM!
With a burst of flame from his back wings, he soared into the air, dragging the limp, heavy body of the World Noble with him like a ragdoll.
He flew up, high above the battlefield, hovering in the center of the arena where everyone—the Admirals, the Marines, and the civilians in the sky—could see him.
"ALBEDO!" Suzaku roared, his voice amplified by Haki. "RETREAT! PHASE TWO!"
Hearing the command, Albedo immediately abandoned her struggle with Kizaru. She flapped her black wings, creating a sonic boom as she shot away from the Admiral. She arrived beside Suzaku in the blink of an eye, positioning herself to guard his flank, her axe ready to deflect any incoming light beams.
Down on the ice, Aokiji looked up. His face darkened, the temperature around him dropping to absolute zero. The ice beneath his feet turned black.
"What are you planning to do, Vermillion Bird?" Aokiji's voice was deep, carrying the weight of a glacier. "Using a hostage? That's low, even for a pirate."
FLASH!
Kizaru materialized next to Aokiji, floating in the air with his arms crossed.
"Oh my~" Kizaru drawled, though his sunglasses hid his eyes completely. "So even Kuzan couldn't take down this young man? How scary. And now he has the VIP."
Suzaku ignored their banter. He tightened his grip on Jalmack's throat.
The Celestial Dragon gasped, waking up choking. His eyes bulged as he realized he was dangling hundreds of meters above the frozen sea.
"Help... help me..." Jalmack squeaked, pissing himself in fear. "Admiral! Kill him! Save me!"
Suzaku sneered at the Admirals.
He lifted the unconscious Tenryuubito forward like a hunter displaying his prey, fully exposing his wretched state to the two strongest forces of the Marine.
"Innocent?"
Suzaku's voice was filled with undisguised mockery. He looked directly into Aokiji's eyes.
"You asked me why I attacked the 'innocent'. Tell me, Aokiji..."
He shook the pig-like man in his grip violently.
"Does a piece of trash who casually takes lives based only on his mood... who selects living people as if they were livestock and enslaves them at will... who shoots parents in front of their weeping children..."
Suzaku's voice rose to a shout.
"...Does a garbage pig like this deserve to be called 'innocent' just because his ancestors founded the government?!"
The silence that followed was deafening.
"Of course," Suzaku whispered, his voice dripping with disdain. "You surely won't believe my side of the story. To you, I'm just a criminal."
Suzaku curled the corner of his mouth into a meaningful, cruel arc.
He tilted his head back and spoke clearly toward the sky above the clouds.
"REM~~~"
Following his call, a faint humming sound came from above.
The clouds parted.
The massive Vermillion Wing slowly pushed aside the white mist, appearing from high altitude like a divine judgment. Its shadow fell over the Admirals.
At the ship's bow, Rem's petite figure stood quietly, her azure hair fluttering gently in the wind. She looked down with the cold gaze of an executioner.
Behind her, the rescued civilians stood at the edge of the deck. They cautiously peered out, fear still mingled on their faces, looking down at the scene that would change the world.
They saw the Admirals. They saw the pirate. And they saw the 'God' dangling like a worm.
"Now..." Suzaku smiled, his eyes gleaming with dangerous intent. "Let's see how much the World Government values its God."
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