"Hmm?" His Justice coat fluttering, Kizaru frowned deeply.
The blade in his hand felt off. The sensation feedback wasn't the characteristic feeling of resistance unique to piercing a human body.
"Could it be..."
"You really are dangerous!" Beneath the flowing lightning, the pierced head of the giant rapidly repaired itself.
A massive hand, full of thunder, rose and slammed down. Raging lightning bombarded every inch of space, piercing Kizaru's body like thousands of sharp swords.
Kizaru's body in mid-air exploded into particles, transforming into flickering light particles that shuttled through the gaps in the lightning.
In a short while, he had escaped the range of the thunder sea.
Kizaru, having created distance, closed his eyes and used Observation Haki to search for Enel's true body.
His Observation Haki penetrated the thunder giant's body. Following Enel's electrical signals projection, he glimpsed Enel hidden on the sky island above, his entire body merged with the island clouds.
"Hiding up in the sky? How terrifying~"
This was troublesome. If he continued a one-on-one duel with Enel, a powerhouse specializing in Devil Fruit abilities like Kizaru would find it very difficult to defeat his opponent in an environment suited to the other's Logia abilities. It would inevitably lead to a prolonged war of attrition.
But if he really used a Logia awakening technique to destroy the other's sky island, then the two sides would truly be at odds to the death. Afterwards, he would have to face the vicious gang attack of the pirates.
As the saying goes, single-minded...
And Kizaru hadn't forgotten that on this island, there was a ship that countered his abilities, one that hadn't even made a move yet!
Not to mention the ancient giants with their powerful spirits in the Underworld, their leader Thormud, and Fisher Tiger, who still retained the strength to fight.
From the moment they entered the island, every battle seemed carefully orchestrated.
'That woman, Haruno Sakura, she was too steady!'
'In just a few short years, she had already managed her territory to such a watertight degree.'
The desolate scene of her being weak and pursued by the Marines everywhere just a few years ago seemed like yesterday. But now, Sakura and her Higanbana Pirates were already ranking among the top in the monster house of the New World.
From pirates to Marines, and then to the World Government, all the forces that originally wanted to cause trouble in their territory while their roots were unstable were now numbed to the point of being unable to stop.
"It's so hard on me~, but my mission is almost complete. I might as well conveniently take care of the remaining one!"
Kizaru sighed lightly. His Observation Haki spread, locating his target. His entire body turned into a beam of light, rushing towards the edge of the Upperworld, preparing to enter the Underworld from the island's periphery.
This sudden change caught Enel, who was raising his weapon for another three hundred rounds of battle with Kizaru, off guard.
His Observation Haki, covering the island, sensed Kizaru's direction of attack. He flew into a rage. "Damn coward! Don't run!"
To catch up to Kizaru, who was moving as a flash of light, Enel had to return the massive amount of gathered lightning to nature. Lightly equipped, he also turned into a bolt of lightning and chased after him, engaging in a tangled battle mid-air.
In the Underworld, Ginny, carrying Bonney, was running, searching for Kuma's whereabouts.
Unable to participate in any battle, she understood that the fastest way to escape the battlefield was the only way she and her daughter wouldn't become anyone's burden.
Unfortunately, one of the causes of this conflict was Bonney, who carried the blood of the Buccaneer race in her arms.
Before them, a man in a white suit leaned against the broken wall of the ruins, leisurely adjusting his tie.
Seeing the clothes he wore, Ginny was stunned. "Cipher Pol!!!"
"Yes, beautiful lady!"
Razu stepped forward and performed a gentlemanly bow to Ginny. "By order of the Five Elders, I've come to take your daughter's life!"
"Over my dead body!"
Ginny drew the pistol at her waist and fired several shots at the man before her.
"Kami-e: Afterimage!"
Razu dragged several shadows, pierced by the pistol bullets.
At the same time, he rapidly advanced to Ginny. His raised finger wrapped in pitch-black Armament Haki, thrusting towards Bonney.
Unable to escape, Ginny could only shield her daughter with her body, taking the blow directly.
Then, she and Bonney were sent flying, falling to the ground, blood spilling.
"Mom... Mom!"
Bonney, crawling up from the ground, saw her mother's blood spreading in the snow. Helplessly, she pressed her hands against the wound.
"Don't worry. I'll release you both now!"
Razu took out a handkerchief, elegantly wiping the blood from his fingertips, and slowly walked towards Bonney.
Under the combined weight of grief and cold, death steadily approached the young girl. Finally, she couldn't help but wail, unconsciously calling out to the person she most wanted to rely on. "Father!"
"Haha! Calling for anyone now is useless!"
Razu's smile was ferocious. He raised his finger gun stance and viciously thrust forward.
Thump!
The crisp sound of an air bullet hitting the ground and bursting echoed. A hand with paw pads crossed a long distance, blocking Bonney's path.
"Hmm? Tyrant, Bartholomew Kuma!"
Razu was stunned, his finger gun numbed by the paw-padded repulsion.
Then, a massive hand with Armament Haki grabbed his neck.
"Haaah!!!!"
The other hand with paw pads slammed towards Razu. The surrounding atmosphere rapidly compressed, gathering into a bear-paw-shaped air mass blazing with fierce light.
"N-no... wait, I...!"
Boom!!!
An earth-shattering explosion sounded. Razu's bones shattered. Covered in blood, he was dropped to the ground.
In the huge crater, only a silent man remained, lifting his wife and daughter, running to find a doctor.
On the outer edge of the Underworld island, atop the shattered glacier.
A figure wrapped in clouds rushed out from the seawater, landing lightly on the floating ice.
The thunderous iron clouds dispersed, revealing the tall figure of the pink-haired girl.
"Don't run, you little brat!"
The glacier beneath her feet was shattered by a fist wrapped in crimson thunder. The demon-like old man also broke through the ice, rushing into the sky.
"Still want to fight, old man? We've already won!"
Sakura condensed Kumotsuna into a giant sword, wrapped it in Conqueror's Haki, and swung it at Garp.
Fist and sword clashed from a distance in mid-air. The erupting shockwave tore the sky apart, pushing the tide to collide floating ice everywhere, stirring up a sky full of ice mist.
The force dissipated. The two brushed past each other, each landing on the floating ice behind the other.
"What nonsense are you talking? This old man is still standing here just fine, isn't he?"
Garp gritted his teeth, gathering more Haki into his fist.
"I mean 'we' have already won!" Sakura revealed a confident smile.
The so-called pursuit of the Buccaneer bloodline didn't require such a grandiose attack on her territory.
Once the Kuma family left Medical Island, there would be plenty of opportunities.
Specially assembling three Admiral-level combatants, along with a Marine Chief of Staff and several Vice Admirals… such a combat composition was aimed at Sakura's power from the start.
But as the battle developed, Tsuru and Zephyr were defeated, Kizaru was bogged down in a war of attrition, and the other Marines were cleared out by the giants, leaving no usable combat power.
Only Garp remained, a single log cannot prop up a falling building. Once surrounded by Sakura and her companions, he even risked being killed in battle.
"Hahaha. How about that?"
Sakura proudly spread her arms towards Garp. "The power I single-handedly created already has the strength to stand on its own, even apart from my embrace!"
"So, you've already lost, Marines!"
Garp was silent for a long time. His fighting spirit condensed again. His entire body shot in a straight line towards Sakura.
"Then, let this old man lose completely!"