Even though the chance of a successful surprise attack seemed slim, Sengoku still wanted to gamble — he believed Garp could fight at full strength and take Kronos down in one fell swoop.
"Bold," Albedo spat. "Dare to target the captain? Do you really think I won't intervene?"
She looked ready to strike at Garp, but Kronos stopped her before she could move and forced her to back down.
"Leave this to me. You just watch." Kronos spoke calmly, as if he had expected this.
"What?" Albedo blinked, stunned. She hadn't expected her captain to refuse to let her fight and to choose instead to take on two Admiral-level powerhouses alone.
Although she disliked the old men Garp and Zephyr, she couldn't deny their strength. If the two of them joined forces against Kronos, the result could be catastrophic.
"You can rest easy and trust my strength," Kronos said lightly. "I'm more than enough to handle those two."
"Are you serious?" Albedo's mouth fell open; for a moment she wondered if she'd misheard such an absurd claim.
"Of course I'm serious. Do you doubt me?" Kronos rolled his eyes, exasperated.
"No—no!" Albedo stammered. She quickly retreated a hundred meters and watched from the sidelines. Even at that distance, she remained tense and ready — if Kronos faltered at all, she would jump in without hesitation. Kronos' life meant more to her than her own.
"You're arrogant, Kronos," Zephyr said, shaking his head. "You're asking for death by doing this. Clearly you could have used your crew to fight us together. I truly worry you'll die."
He shifted his tone. "Besides, the situation isn't in your favor. You're alone; we are two. How do you expect to stop us?"
Garp said nothing, but his mind ran fast, trying to read Kronos' intentions. Was Kronos truly that powerful — able to stand alone — or had Kronos set a trap, waiting for two of them to come and fall into it? Either possibility was dangerous; the stakes for this battle were enormous. The odds of success might be high, but so was the chance of catastrophic failure.
To get this far with a decapitation tactic, the Marines had clearly spent great effort and taken huge risks to sneak in without alerting the rest of the Kamui Pirates.
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