A cold, calm voice rang out.
CRACKLE! CRACKLE!
In front of Luffy's ejection path, the ground, the air, even the floating dust—all were completely frozen in an instant!
A transparent, crystalline iceberg rises out of thin air, blocking all his forward routes.
THUD!
Unable to stop, or rather, unable to change direction at such high speed, Luffy slams hard into the indestructible iceberg like a cannonball, producing a loud, muffled sound.
Ice fragments flew everywhere. He was bounced back, stumbling to the ground. He looked up in shock.
"There's one more?"
Rayleigh's pupils suddenly shrank. His expression became extremely solemn.
At the end of his gaze, a lazy man in a white vest and dark blue shirt, wearing an eye mask on his forehead, riding a strangely shaped bicycle, with curly black hair, slowly stopped.
The biting cold emanating from his body covered everything around him in thick frost.
Marine Headquarters Admiral, Aokiji Kuzan!
At this most critical moment, he had finally arrived.
"I'm not late, am I? I ran here from the moment I received the order."
Kuzan, hands in his pockets, looked with a troubled expression at Luffy below the iceberg. "It's only been a short time, and you've already fought Garp-san to this extent? How terrifying, Straw Hat."
"Puhaha. He is this old man's grandson, after all."
Garp leaped out of the deep pit. Blood flowed down his head, staining half his face red.
"Hey, hey, don't you need treatment, Garp-san?" Kuzan rarely saw Garp in such a miserable state. He couldn't help but be somewhat surprised.
Garp grinned. "This old man isn't that fragile. But you need to go all out, Kuzan."
He warned meaningfully.
Had Kuzan arrived late, or had he arrived but not intervened?
There weren't many human touches in the Navy. Kuzan was one of them.
He had clearly wanted Garp to handle his own family affairs. If he and Garp had fought together, facing both a Marine Admiral and the Marine Hero at once, Luffy would never have been able to fight Garp to this extent.
When top-tier fighters joined forces, one plus one was not simply two.
Kuzan scratched his head. "Since Garp-san says so."
The two, connected by a teacher-student relationship, looked at Luffy with a sense of oppression.
This was too much.
Were all the top combatants joining forces?
Anyone would think they were fighting an Emperor.
"You all came." Luffy bared his teeth.
"Oh, well. This is right next to Marine Headquarters, Straw Hat. You've gone too far." Kuzan said.
"Blame those Celestial Dragon pests for being here." Garp pursed his lips. "If they had stayed quietly in Mary Geise, nothing would have happened."
"Garp-san, watch your language."
"Next time. Definitely next time."
Chatting casually, the two walked toward Luffy.
This was troublesome.
Luffy took a deep breath. He could already feel the hunger coming from his body. That meant his stamina was nearly at its limit.
"Nika, looks like we have to fight for our lives."
Luffy grinned. "We can't fall here."
Nika, who had long since retreated to the conscious space, pursed her lips. "I'll give you everything."
"I need that last permission. Give me all your power." Luffy said.
Nika recognition had been stuck at 95% for a long time, not moving.
That wasn't his problem.
Only when Nika recognition reached 100% would his Devil Fruit be fully awakened. Until now, he had been using an incomplete Gear Fifth.
"Fine, fine. I hope you keep killing Celestial Dragons like you did today."
Of course, Nika had held back.
But Luffy's killing of the Celestial Dragons just now had pleased her. She could barely stop herself from humming.
[Nika recognition: 100%]
THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP...
The sound of drums echoed.
"He still has this kind of power?"
Kuzan was surprised. "How terrifying."
While Luffy was engaged in a heated exchange, on another front, the battle between the Supernovas and Pacifista PX-1 had also entered its heat.
Law, Urouge, Hawkins, plus Kid and Killer, who had joined for the excitement.
Five Supernovas with bounties over 100 million were engaged in a tough siege around a single Pacifista.
"ROOM!"
Trafalgar Law first unfolded his Ope Osu no Mi domain. An invisible hemispherical space enveloped the Pacifista.
He again tried to use Tact to directly dismember it. But the cutting effect of his ability was greatly reduced on the Pacifista's body, made of special alloy and unknown technology. It could only leave deep slash marks, not completely cut through.
"Tch. Still not working? Its defense is beyond imagination. And it seems to have some resistance to Devil Fruit abilities."
Law calmly analyzed. His figure quickly flickered within the ROOM space, dodging the lasers fired from the Pacifista's palms.
"Hohoho. Then let me try with pure power!"
"Get ready, Urouge-san... ROOM!"
Just as a laser was about to hit Urouge, Law instantly teleported Urouge's body.
He reappeared right in front of the Pacifista.
"Great ability!"
Urouge laughed loudly. He hugged his giant prismatic pencil and charged at the Pacifista like a bull.
The heavy pencil, with a whistling wind, slammed hard into the Pacifista's knee joint!
"Shinjin Kisei: Kuzure!"
THUD!
A huge crash rang out. The Pacifis
Its massive body staggered. It fell to one knee. The hit joint sparked and smoked. Its movements visibly slowed for a moment.
"Good effect. Joints are relatively weak points."
Hawkins immediately picked up on this. He again swung his straw whip.
But this time, the target wasn't a direct attack. Instead, like a serpent, it coiled around the Pacifista's just-damaged leg, trying to restrict its movement.
"Wara Wara no Mi: Shibari!"
"Killer!"
Kid roared. A large amount of metal fragments he had drawn from the rubble floated around him, coalescing into a massive metal arm.
"Got it!"
Killer understood. His twin spinning scythes, Punisher, spun at high speed. His whole body charged like a cyclone, targeting the Pacifista's back, which was exposed due to being occupied by Urouge and Hawkins!
"Punisher: "Cyclone!"
SHRIIIIP!
The rapidly spinning scythe slashed through the Pacifista's hard carapace, leaving a trail of blinding sparks and deep grooves. Though not completely breaching its defenses, it clearly disrupted its internal structure. The Pacifista's balance system seemed compromised; it wobbled even more.
"Now!"
Law seized the moment. Within the ROOM space, he instantly moved to the Pacifista's front. His right index finger pointed at its slightly open mouth, caused by its body being off-balance.
"Injection Shot!"
An invisible bullet, condensed from the power of the ROOM space, shot with great speed and precision into the Pacifista's open mouth, penetrating straight to its internal core!
The Pacifista's massive body suddenly stiffened. The red light in its eyes flashed wildly. Muffled explosions and the sound of breaking parts came from inside.
Kid grinned. The giant magnetic arm slapped... down.
KABOOM!
The Pacifista's bulk collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Truly troublesome, these things."
Urouge panted heavily, looking at the fallen Pacifista.
"If fakes are this hard to handle, the real one would cost us even more."
Hawkins put away his straw whip, expressionlessly flicking off the dust that had stuck to it. "The Seven Warlords of the Sea are still strong."
Perhaps due to the news about Warlords being defeated, everyone had forgotten that each Warlord was a great pirate, the undisputed Supernova of their own era.
They were not comparable to pirates who had just entered the Grand Line like themselves.
If that was the comparison, then Straw Hat was truly terrifying.
Kid snorted and dispersed his metal arm. "So what if it's the real one? Not necessarily unbeatable."
He could say arrogant things, but the solemnity in his eyes had not diminished.
Even one unit had taken five Supernovas this much effort. The World Government's weapons were indeed troublesome.
Law put away his ROOM space and crouched beside the deactivated Pacifista, examining its wreckage. "Special alloy. Built-in energy core. Powerful laser weapon system. And a certain degree of resistance to Devil Fruit abilities. It costs as much as a warship. It seems that was not an empty claim."
The Supernovas looked at each other. They also knew that the situation on the Sabaody Archipelago was not good.
From earlier, various horrors had been washing over them.
Combined with the situation—
It was very likely that Straw Hat had already fought an Admiral.
They didn't want to get involved.
Since an Admiral had arrived, the Navy must have the Sabaody Archipelago surrounded. Coordinating to break out together was a good option.
But before they could even breathe a sigh of relief, a heavy, rhythmic sound of footsteps again came from the other end of the street.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
These footsteps were exactly the same as the Pacifista's.
Everyone's hearts sank. An ominous feeling enveloped them.
The dust slowly dispersed. Under everyone's constricted pupils, two tall figures, identical to the just-destroyed PX-1, appeared at the end of their vision, walking in perfect unison.
Their cold scanning lenses simultaneously lit up with red light, locking every Supernova present.
"You've got to be kidding. There are more?" Kid gritted his teeth.
Law gripped Kikoku tightly. "One was already troublesome enough."
Just then, a cold wind blew from the distance. Then, a huge iceberg appeared in their sight.
"Hey, hey, hey. What's going on over there? It's not just Kizaru?"
Urouge broke out in a cold sweat.
"Only Admiral Aokiji could produce that kind of power."
"So who was Straw Hat fighting? That clash of Haki wasn't from any ordinary person, either."
"The Navy's top combatants are all gathering on the Sabaody Archipelago. Jehahaha. Are they treating us like Emperors?"
The group fell silent for a moment.
It seemed that on the Sabaody Archipelago, there was indeed someone regarded as the Fifth Emperor.
***
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