Sherwin outburst came far too suddenly, leaving Sakazuki with absolutely zero reaction time.
Even worse, in his haste to stop Lunastra, he hadn't bothered with any defense, focusing entirely on speed instead.
It was for this very reason that the strike Sherwin intended to use to cleave Akainu at the waist missed its mark, shifting significantly downward.
Squelch...
The maid Longsword that Baby-5 had transformed into sliced effortlessly through a leg made of magma. Sherwin felt no resistance at all, briefly suspecting that Akainu had used elementalization to evade the attack in time.
But as the magma-like leg rapidly reverted to a normal limb while falling, hitting the ground with a dull thud, the entirety of Mary Geoise fell silent for two or three seconds.
Even Kizaru, who had been charging toward Lunastra alongside him, came to a halt, his eyes behind his sunglasses filled with shock.
Mid-air, Sakazuki lowered his head, staring blankly at the severed leg on the ground, his mind a complete void.
Because Sherwin strike had been so fast, and because his legs had been maintained in an elemental state, he hadn't even felt the pain yet. But seeing his severed leg lying there gave Sakazuki a surreal sense of disbelief.
My leg... was cut off?
If he had been fighting another Admiral, or an enemy of equal standing like the Four Emperors, Sakazuki wouldn't have been so shaken by losing a limb he might even have continued fighting regardless.
But it was Sherwin—someone he had clearly suppressed until there was no resistance, someone he could have defeated shortly if not for the flaming dragon in the sky, someone Sakazuki hadn't even taken seriously—who had now made him a cripple...
To be honest, Sherwin himself felt a bit of disbelief, as he never expected Akainu to truly have no defenses up at all.
Seriously, buddy? So all those taunts and insults earlier were actually what you believed?
Does the Hunter really rank that low in the eyes of a Navy Admiral?
Sherwin still hadn't fully realized that his previous actions had been "playing weak," which led to Akainu contempt and allowed this "sneak attack" to succeed.
After a bit of dissatisfied and mocking commentary in his head, Sherwin glanced at the leg he had cut off...
Yeah, it was the left leg.
If he remembered correctly, in the manga, the leg Aokiji lost to Akainu was also the left one.
Losing the position of Fleet Admiral and now losing a left leg...
What is this? A life swap? Is Akainu going to defect from the Navy next and join the Blackbeard Pirates?
Well... Blackbeard is still playing the long game with Whitebeard his next destination hasn't appeared yet.
With these chaotic thoughts swirling in his head, Sherwin was amused by his own runaway imagination, and a faint smile couldn't help but appear on his face.
This was immediately caught by Sakazuki, who was still staring blankly at his severed leg.
"Go to hell!!! Great Eruption!!!"
The string of rationality in Akainu mind snapped instantly. He roared, controlling a massive amount of magma that transformed into a giant hound head to bite at Sherwin, while he himself charged forward.
He now wanted nothing more than to burn Sherwin—who had used "schemes" to cut off his left leg—into ashes. He had completely forgotten about the Lunastra above that could potentially level Pangea Castle or even Mary Geoise.
Facing the enraged Sakazuki, Sherwin did not back down. Instead, he raised his Longsword and met the attack head-on.
The Adept Style he had been longing for hadn't been activated yet an Akainu like this was perfect for putting more pressure on him.
It was only because there were too many things to consider during this trip to Mary Geoise otherwise, when he fought Akainu before, he would have downed a bottle of Mega Demondrug, which Haibara Meow jokingly called the "Reckless Man Potion."
While Sherwin and Akainu clashed once more, the others were not idling. After the initial shock, Kizaru and the CP0 continued toward their respective targets.
"I cannot let you disturb Miss Klee."
When the CP0 member Gismonda started moving again, he found Jinbe, whom he had just managed to shake off with great difficulty, standing in front of him once more.
Jinbe hadn't expected his opponent to choose to tank a hit just to rush toward Klee Meow, but the sudden situation with Akainu had caused everyone to freeze for a moment, allowing Jinbe to catch up.
Now that Jinbe was on guard, it would be difficult for Gismonda to pull the same trick again. Furthermore, his strength was already inferior to Jinbe, and having just tanked a Shark Tile True Punch to escape, Gismonda current condition was poor.
Let alone bypassing Jinbe to attack Klee Meow, even merely stalling Jinbe as he had before was now a pipe dream.
As for the CP0 named Maha, whose height was no less than Guismonda and who was facing Link Meow and Sanji Meow, the situation was even worse.
This was because the two Felynes were among the few who hadn't been stunned, and compared to Jimbei, the Felynes were not at all inferior to CP0 in terms of speed. Consequently, Maha couldn't even manage to temporarily escape the entanglement of the two Felynes by paying a certain price as Guismonda had.
Moreover, the weaker CP agents, Celestial Dragon slaves, and Holy Land guards had mostly been dealt with by the Sun Pirates and the people of the Ryugu Kingdom.
Even if they shook off their respective opponents, the two CP0 members could not reach Klee Meow...
Though, even if they did rush over, it wouldn't actually mean much.
Not to mention they simply couldn't defeat Klee Meow or Huamei Meow by her side, the Lunastra itself possessed its own "AI." Even without Klee Meow control, it could act on its own.
For instance, right now, the Lunastra completely ignored Kizaru attacks on it. While circling above Mary Geoise, it randomly breathed fire down below.
Well, because there were people they knew at Pangea Castle, this "random" direction was entirely aimed toward the Celestial Dragon residences opposite Pangea Castle—the so-called "Domain of the Gods."
One couldn't help but wonder if it was Klee Meow good luck that caused her to avoid the true big boss hidden within Pangea Castle.
However, Kizaru did not know that the truly important part of Mary Geoise was Pangea Castle, which could be used to receive "mortals." In his understanding, the "Domain of the Gods" was far more important than Pangea Castle.
Coupled with the worry that the Lunastra might explode at any moment, he could only trail closely behind it, frantically launching various attacks...
It wasn't that Kizaru hadn't thought about directly dealing with Klee Meow, the source of the trouble, but while attacking the Lunastra was fine, the moment he made a move toward Klee Meow, Shermie Meow lightning would immediately strike.
Weighing the pros and cons, Kizaru could only choose to eliminate the Lunastra as quickly as possible.
However, as an elemental summon, the Lunastra was not afraid of being attacked at all. Even if it was blown to fragments by the Yasakani no Magatama, it could quickly reform or simply split into several smaller Lunastras to continue setting fires everywhere.
By the time Kizaru had exhausted himself grinding down all these constantly splitting Lunastras, about one-third of the Celestial Dragon residential area had already been plunged into a sea of fire.
What made Borsalino feel even more stifled was that while he was busy rushing around to extinguish the fires, that fellow Sakazuki had been led by Sherwin all the way into the "Domain of the Gods." A significant portion of the sea of flames here could also be credited to Admiral Akainu.
Meanwhile, Sherwin, who was currently leading Akainu on a chase, was also feeling somewhat puzzled...
We've caused such a massive scene, and those Holy Knights still haven't appeared?
Could it be that they aren't usually stationed in Mary Geoise?
Regardless of whether the Holy Knights and the Five Elders were keeping their cool or if they were even present, Sherwin already intended to make his escape.
The Navy and the World Government weren't fools. Even if the Five Elders and the Holy Knights wouldn't make a move for various reasons, with things escalated to this point, they would surely send reinforcements.
Not to mention that the Navy Headquarters, Marineford, was not far from here Vice Admiral Garp and the others, who had been responsible for transporting the participants from various countries, were currently staying at the two Red Ports directly below.
Thinking of this, the Hunter heart suddenly skipped a beat, and he had a very bad premonition.
As mentioned more than once before, Sherwin indeed possessed a slight talent for "prophecy"...
"Galaxy Impact!"
"Shockwave of the Buddha!"