Back then, facing Mandfeish, Strawberry's head was kicked askew by Mandfeish.
He was a rare member of the Long-headed Race, his head naturally longer than others. Though he received effective treatment after his head was kicked askew, and didn't suffer too serious aftereffects, it still had a certain impact.
Now, he has become a breakthrough point in front of King.
With Strawberry down, Yamakaji's eyes, which were always narrowed, involuntarily widened, and the cigar at the corner of his mouth slipped to the ground.
There are quite a few heavy smokers in the Navy; it's an extremely high-pressure profession. Apart from some heartless individuals, everyone else remains under significant stress, making tobacco and alcohol their means of stress relief.
Yamakaji is a seasoned smoker among them. Whether it's during battles or receiving intelligence, even when disasters strike before him, he never lets go of the cigar in his mouth.
Yet, Strawberry has been his comrade for years. Watching comrades and allies die before his eyes, the grief still swept over his heart.
Originally, this was just a simple escort mission; they never expected such a huge accident to occur in this operation.
"Strawberry...."
The pain is only temporary. Since the start of the Great Pirate Era, the Navy has been constantly facing casualties. He doesn't have time to grieve; he is still in battle now.
After dealing with Strawberry, all the pressure fell on Yamakaji.
Clang! Clang!
Without any extra moves, King simply swung powerfully, repeatedly heavy hits making his blade show signs of melting.
Yet Strawberry's death bought a certain amount of time. Picking up her weapon again, Momousagi rejoined the battle, alleviating a lot of pressure from Yamakaji.
"Vice Admiral Yamakaji, now is not the time for sadness."
"I know, Vice Admiral Momousagi. I'll do my best to attract his attention; leave the main strike to you..."
Among the three, Momousagi's command was beyond question; she was young, but stronger, or she wouldn't have an Admiral Candidate status, having a certain gap compared with Headquarter Admirals, but she was stronger than ordinary Vice Admirals.
Learning from past lessons, Momousagi was more cautious of King's weapon. If not for her weapon being knocked away by the Shark-toothed Blade, Strawberry might not have died so quickly.
However, anger doesn't necessarily translate into power. Though angry at their comrade's death, it doesn't allow them to directly bridge the gap in strength between them and King.
If rage alone could defeat all enemies, then training would lose its meaning.
"Dark Water!"
Extinguishing the flames on his body, Blackbeard stepped forward again, his fat body became very agile, dodging King's slash, grabbing his ankle, forcing King out of Aerodactyl form again.
He would like to see the Navy battling King, but reality doesn't support him doing so. Three Navy Vice Admirals are dead, and Yamakaji was also struck by King. If another dies, it's impossible to contain King.
If this madman gets free, the unlucky one will certainly be himself, prompting Blackbeard to take the risk to approach King.
The combination of blue flames and transformation boost is unbearable; Blackbeard couldn't understand why King applied so many layers of buffs on himself, but removing one layer is always better.
Also intervening in this battle was Laffitte; he was the only one left who could step in, only daring to sneak attack King opportunistically.
As for ordinary soldiers, the only end they face if they come close now is being marked on the list of the fallen.
Once facing overly powerful enemies on this Sea, the best choice for ordinary soldiers is to stay away from the battlefield, becoming part of the atmosphere, or notify their families to receive pensions.
"Don't you Navy have any other support? You really want to return such a monster to the Sea?"
Currently, Blackbeard acts more Navy-like than Navy itself, being understandable; when knowing a madman wants to kill you at any cost, one definitely hopes this person disappears forever.
Otherwise, even if escaping this time, he'd still worry about facing future chases.
He expresses disdain for this Hundred Beasts behavior of older confronting, hoping more help would come his way.
"Fire Dragon Emperor!"
The fire dragon forced Momousagi back; King didn't continue pursuing but raised conditions instead.
"You can try, or I can give you an opportunity; how about everyone calling for support now? Mr. Kaidou is quite idle recently; he won't mind coming out for a little activity."
King isn't unable to call for help; if he wanted to, he would've already. But this is Drake's matter; he didn't want others interfering, wishing to handle it himself, hence the delay till now.
As for his previous words, he was betting the Navy wouldn't do that.
King didn't study politics much, but he knew the Navy always controlled the extent of disputes, avoiding large-scale wars whenever possible, or they wouldn't sit idly by as these Sea Emperors rule the New World for so long.
Indeed, it was just as he guessed. Momousagi didn't know exactly what the higher-ups intended, but without orders, not to proactively initiate war with the Four Emperors, not to directly confront an Emperor personally, is the Navy's rule.
Only the sword unit doesn't need to follow this rule, but correspondingly, the Navy won't be responsible for sword's actions.
"I said earlier too, who you want to take away, I'm not interested. Leave this guy to me, we can act like nobody saw anyone."
Momousagi, Yamakaji, Blackbeard, Laffitte, four joined forces limited his actions somewhat. Should the Navy leave through such small negotiations, King wouldn't mind either.
Hundred Beasts don't mind conflict, but the main direction is development. According to Arceus, all set except the east wind; after decades, no need to hurry yet.
"Hey hey hey, I'm Seven Warlords of the Sea now, you are the Navy! You're not going to make such a deal with a Four Emperor's force, right!"
Watching Momousagi's gloomy face, Blackbeard panicked. If Momousagi agreed, he'd become the literal "Blackbeard," the burnt type.
Actually, Momousagi also felt slightly annoyed. If she'd known King could achieve this extent, an Admiral Candidate like her with the two Vice Admirals couldn't take him down; she shouldn't have intervened earlier.
Leading to a Headquarter Vice Admiral's demise for a Seven Warlords of the Sea, this time is indeed a big loss. But now, negotiations have become unlikely.
Accepting pirate negotiations with a comrade dead is something nobody would do—well, except maybe Coby.