Outside the Slave Auction in the First District, amidst a pile of Marine soldiers sprawled haphazardly on the ground, a few soldiers pushed aside the unconscious bodies of their comrades and crawled out from beneath the heap, clutching their bloodied, throbbing heads in a daze.
The one who had struck them down... right, it was that woman, Jolyne Cujoh!
The Marines jolted upright. Just then, a deafening boom erupted from the Slave Auction building ahead, the ground trembling violently enough to nearly fling the soldiers into the air. The already roofless structure completely disintegrated; its moss-covered walls shattered under the immense internal force, collapsing with a deafening crash. Amidst the ruins, only three figures remained standing.
"It's Admiral Zephyr!" the conscious Marines cried out in alarm. "And Giorno Giovanna..."
At the center of the rubble, the auction stage remained relatively intact. Giorno and Admiral Zephyrblack's fists clashed, an astonishing aura erupting between their knuckles.
"That's Admiral Zephyr, the 'Black Arm' himself!"
The Marines were utterly stunned.
"Giorno Giovanna's Busoshoku Haki (Armament Haki)..."
Crack! The ground beneath Zephyr's feet shattered, his massive right arm turning pitch-black.
"He can actually clash head-on with the 'Black Arm'?!"
Bang! Liam's stomp shattered the stage beneath his feet as well.
Black lightning crackled wildly, sending nearby Marines outside the ruins into a frenzy of exclamations.
"No wonder you defeated Laut Haiyna. Your Haki... is quite impressive!"
After exchanging blows, they briefly separated. Zephyr narrowed his eyes, studying the spirited young pirate across from him.
"To earn such praise from 'Black Arm' Zephyr himself... should I feel honored?"
Liam retorted with a hearty laugh, both instantly re-entwining their dense Busoshoku Haki (Armament Haki) as they clashed again.
Bang! Bang! Bang!...
Black fist shadows clashed like thunderbolts, as dense as flowing fire!
It was nearly unimaginable that a pirate who hadn't even entered the Grand Line could directly contend with a Marine Headquarters Admiral!
Each punch unleashed staggering shockwaves. While the Marine soldiers watched with bated breath, the Auctioneer, cowering at the edge of the stage, was terrified to the point of collapse.
'This is too terrifying! Giorno Giovanna's power is far greater than I ever imagined! Not only can he casually remove Slave Collars, but even the Headquarters Admiral, the legendary "Black Arm" Zephyr, who strikes fear into the hearts of countless pirates, can't subdue him immediately?!'
And let's not forget, Giorno isn't fighting alone!
This fact was well understood by the shivering Auctioneer, by the Marine soldiers who, even uninjured, wouldn't dare intervene in this clash, and most acutely by Zephyr himself...
From the moment Zephyr exchanged his first blow with Giorno Giovanna, he knew capturing this young pirate would be a daunting task.
Admiral "Black Arm" Naturally was confident he could defeat this formidable but ultimately still young pirate... However, Giorno's elusive female Captain, whose whereabouts remained unknown, weighed heavily on Zephyr's mind. Even more threatening was the silver-haired old man who had been laughing and chatting with Giorno moments earlier, the legendary "Dark King" Rayleigh, who had remained hidden for decades.
Though Rayleigh merely observed their duel with a smile, Zephyr couldn't afford to ignore his presence, inevitably dividing his attention.
"Just going to stand there and watch, Rayleigh?!"
Zephyr's fists, pitch-black with Armament Haki, crashed into the ground with a thunderous roar, uprooting the entire surface in a massive wave that surged toward Rayleigh like an earth dragon rising.
"I'm just an old man who happens to be here..."
As Rayleigh spoke, he coated his hairy leg in Armament Haki and kicked out, shattering the rising ground and stage that Zephyr had conjured. Zephyr himself followed closely behind the surging earth.
The moment Rayleigh's kick pierced through, Zephyr's massive black fist swung down heavily at Rayleigh.
Rayleigh's eyes sharpened. He spun on one foot, his hairy leg becoming even darker with Armament Haki, and unleashed a more powerful burst of energy, clashing violently with Zephyr's Black Arm.
Bang! Bang!
The clash of black fist against black leg unleashed arm-thick black lightning bolts that danced wildly. The ground beneath them fractured, spiraling downward in concentric circles as it caved in.
A gale-force wind swept through the ruins, and the Marines stared in stunned disbelief. "This old man..."
"Did I mishear Admiral Zephyr's words just now? Could that old man really be 'Dark King' Rayleigh?!"
"Silvers Rayleigh, the right-hand man of Pirate King Roger?!"
The name echoed like thunder. Even those who weren't pirates or Marines, ordinary civilians, would have heard of Rayleigh during the era of the Pirate King Roger.
But years ago, when the Pirate King was executed, the Roger Pirates vanished...
The public assumed the legendary pirate crew had been annihilated by the Marines along with their captain. The Marines, however, knew they had never captured those legendary figures. Instead, with Pirate King Roger's fall, they had simply faded from public view.
No one in the Marine ranks could have imagined that the Dark King Rayleigh was right under their noses, on the Sabaody Archipelago, practically within spitting distance of Marine Headquarters!
Giorno Giovanna actually knows Dark King Rayleigh?!
Nearby, Robin watched Rayleigh and Zephyr clash. After their initial exchange, Liam pushed aside a stone slab from the rubble, brushed off the debris, and rose to his feet. He raised his palm, aiming it at Zephyr and Rayleigh.
'That ability again?' Zephyr thought, and his jet-black Armament Haki instantly spread upward from his arms, quickly enveloping his torso and head. But at the same moment, he saw Giorno point behind him.
'Huh?'
The instant Zephyr turned his head, a fist wreathed in fiery patterns slammed into his face...
BOOM!
A towering plume of dust and debris erupted from the rubble.
Zephyr soared upward through the smoke.
"What was that? An invisible man? Jolyne Cujoh?"
Zephyr stared down, opting for a more conservative strategy of opposition... His upward momentum slowed until he stopped completely. Zephyr clenched his fist.
"This doesn't look good..." Rayleigh observed, gazing upward from his sandals.
"It seems..." Liam murmured, watching the figure plummeting through the sky.
'He's pissed me off…' the Black Battle Armor stated beside its host.
A fist like a blot of ink descended from the heavens, a figure falling like an Aerolite hurtling toward the ground!
Bang!!!
Centered on the ruins of the Slave Auction, Zephyr's punch shattered the ground completely. This time, instead of smoke and dust, a geyser of seawater erupted skyward...
On the other side, the trio of former slaves, who had beaten the Celestial Dragons' family into a bloody, black-and-blue mess, stared in horror at the towering white wave erupting skyward from the Slave Auction site. 'Is this the Admiral's power? They wondered, He shattered the Sabaody Archipelago with a single punch?!'
'Giorno and the others seem to be Ability users. Their chances look grim now…'
"Damn... slaves..." Rozwald spat through his swollen, bloodied mouth.
Seizing the moment while the Admiral was distracted, the trio quickly landed two more punches on the Celestial Dragons, then dumped the unconscious family of three on the ground and stealthily slipped away.
......
Whoosh... Whoosh...
White waves churned in the massive crater, forming a whirlpool that surged and foamed, its surface heaving restlessly.
The surrounding Slave Auction buildings had long since been reduced to rubble in the earlier battle. It was almost unimaginable that such a brief clash could have caused such astonishing destruction.
The marines stumbled over, supporting each other. Admiral Zephyr stood alone at the edge of the ruins, gazing at the massive whirlpool in the center, breathing heavily.
"Admiral Zephyr, Giorno..."
"He got away," Zephyr said.
'He actually escaped after taking a punch with that kind of destructive force? The Marines exchanged silent glances. And Giorno's an Ability user, right? How could we fail to capture him even with that advantage...?'
One marine couldn't help but ask, "Admiral Zephyr, that old man who was with Giorno... was that really... 'Dark King' Rayleigh?"
The others shot him a wordless look. 'Besides that legendary pirate, what other old man in slippers could possibly possess the strength to clash head-on with Admiral Zephyr?'
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the massive whirlpool, amidst the ruins of the auction house, a Den Den Mushi, perfectly camouflaged against the rubble, opened its eyes.
Inside its left eye sat Liam.
Inside its right eye sat Rayleigh, who chuckled, "A Den Den Mushi that ate the Castle-Castle Fruit? That's quite the rarity!"
He tilted his head back, took a swig of wine he'd swiped from the Den Den Mushi City fortress, and declared with a grin, "Not bad!"
Vane, still "puru puru" ing, transformed its underside into tank-like treads. Guided by Liam's Dictate from the left eye, it surged forward several hundred meters before spotting Robin, wearing tea-colored sunglasses, waving at it from the roadside ahead...
The other onlookers, distracted by the commotion of the earlier battle in Grove 1, remained completely oblivious to the tall woman who had just vanished into thin air.
......
"Let's head to Island 13. There's a place there called Shakky's Rip-off Bar."
Inside Den Den Mushi City, Rayleigh patted the wall beside him. Whether or not one was an Ability user, it was common knowledge that Den Den Mushi could understand human speech.
Liam also patted the wall, and soon, the green Den Den Mushi swiveled around and began speeding toward Island 13.
"So, this is your hideout," Rayleigh remarked, walking through Den Den Mushi City and surveying his surroundings. "Shakky is a master of information gathering, yet there's hardly any trace of your peculiar pirate crew... I suspect this Den Den Mushi is the reason for that, isn't it?"
Liam glanced at Rayleigh and chuckled, "I presume you gave this Den Den Mushi the Shiro Shiro no Mi (Castle-Castle Fruit)?"
"Even if you're right," Liam shrugged, "you still owe me a coated ship you lost fair and square."
"But we'll be staying in Sabaody for a while, so there's no rush about the ship." Liam quickly smiled and pulled two slips of paper from his pocket. "If I don't use these soon, they'll be worn out from being in my pocket."
Rayleigh took the slips, glanced at them, then surveyed the Den Den Mushi City fortress. "The arena's all set up, I see... Though with your level of Haki, you hardly need guidance from an old man like me. Clashing head-on with 'Black Arm' Zephyr using Armament Haki is something few can achieve!"
"I could only fight him head-on," Liam said. "After all, I still couldn't beat him."
Naturally, if he layered Armament Haki over his full-powered Iron Body Technique while armored, whether he could defeat Zephyr's "Black Arm" would be uncertain.
"Speaking of Zephyr, I was expecting Admiral Sengoku to show up! I heard the Great Buddha Fruit also has shockwave techniques, so I was wondering..." Liam stroked his chin. "Which would be tougher? His Great Buddha Shockwave or my Impact Fruit's higher refinement?"
......
"Zephyr! You've gone too far!"
Marineford, Marine Headquarters: Admiral Sengoku stood beside Admiral Zephyr, both bowing their heads before Fleet Admiral Kong, their superior officer, enduring a stern reprimand.
Zephyr, however, remained completely unfazed. He replied indifferently, "It's just half an island, isn't it? The Sabaody Archipelago has seventy-nine islands; this is nothing."
"Is that what I'm talking about?!"
Fleet Admiral Kong, still seething from a scathing reprimand he'd received over the phone from the Gorōsei (Five Elder Stars), slammed his fist on the table and roared, "I'm talking about the Celestial Dragons!!"
Upon hearing the words "Celestial Dragons," Sengoku, standing beside Zephyr, looked like his head was about to explode.
Three Celestial Dragons had been beaten black and blue, their faces nearly unrecognizable... They weren't even discovered by anyone else; instead, they woke up one by one in pools of blood and shakily helped each other find Zephyr and the Marines who were still stationed at Sabaody at the time.
As for why...?
The Marines had naturally spotted the Celestial Dragons long ago!
But precisely because of this, not a single Marine dared to approach them. Lying in pools of blood, beaten so badly they were unrecognizable, who would dare to offer help?
If they woke the Celestial Dragons, those enraged nobles might very well kill the first person they saw!
As Marine Admiral, Zephyr remained indifferent, offering only a perfunctory concern to the Celestial Dragons, the bruised Rozwald family of three, and asking who had injured them.
"It was..." The Rozwald father and children, their initial fury dissipating, suddenly realized they didn't even know the names of the three slaves!
Of course not. They were mere beasts in their eyes, who would bother remembering the names of such creatures?
It was likely their names weren't even registered in the Rozwald family's mansion in the Holy Land of Mary Geoise!
Who would waste time registering pets destined to be toyed to death any day? A simple serial number would suffice...
Zephyr said, "No one witnessed the assailants who harmed the Celestial Dragons, and the Celestial Dragons themselves don't remember the attackers' names. What else can I do but send them back to the Holy Land?"
Fleet Admiral Kong roared, "You didn't just send them back, you threw them back! In any case, the Gorōsei (Five Elder Stars) are absolutely furious about this and demand a full accounting from the Marines!"
"Fine by me," Zephyr replied, ever the blunt and straightforward man. "I'll take full responsibility! Just strip me of my Admiral title."
'Just as I suspected!' Sengoku thought silently, watching from the sidelines. As soon as this old colleague heard about Giorno, he rushed to the Sabaody Archipelago, clearly harboring this intention all along.
"You wish, Zephyr!" Fleet Admiral Kong snapped irritably. "Even if we were to punish you, it would be to force you to remain an Admiral! Don't even think about retiring before the change of command."
Zephyr rolled his eyes dramatically. He was getting on in years, but there was no need to feign solemnity before his old superior.
"In any case, this incident involving the Celestial Dragons..." Fleet Admiral Kong rubbed his temples, glancing at Sengoku across the desk. "Let's pin the whole thing on Giorno Giovanna."
"What?" Sengoku exclaimed, stunned.
"Absolutely not!" Zephyr protested, displeased. "Didn't I make it clear in my report? Giorno's attack was directed at me, not the Celestial Dragons! Fleet Admiral, if you're dissatisfied with my report, then relieve me of my duties!"
This time, Fleet Admiral Kong rolled his eyes dramatically.
'What's it like having a subordinate Admiral who schemes daily to retire early?'
"Dream on!" Fleet Admiral Kong roared. "Don't even think about retiring early during my tenure! Once Sengoku becomes Fleet Admiral, you can go pester him instead!"
"Huh?" Sengoku began to roll his eyes inwardly. 'What is this nonsense?'
......
"Are you saying Zephyr might not pin the Celestial Dragons' incident on me?"
Outside Shakky's Rip-off Bar on Island 13, three figures materialized out of thin air. Liam turned to Rayleigh, asking, "What's this all about?"
(End Of This Chapter)
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