Akainu's face was extremely grim, yet he remained silent, his fists clenched tightly. From the force, magma seeped through his fingers, dripping onto the beach with a sizzling sound.
At that moment.
In the distance, to the north, a shrill scream echoed from the direction of the forest, followed by gunshots, and then the screaming abruptly ceased.
"Wait, there are survivors!"
Akainu suddenly looked up, spreading his Observation, and a sharp light flashed in his eyes. "Quick! Follow me! Head to the northern forest!"
Without a second thought, his entire body transformed into a jet of magma, leaving a scorched trail on the beach.
The Navy Officers behind him suppressed their nausea, all performing Moonwalk to quickly follow him.
As they passed through the dense forest, the farther north they went, the stronger the smell of blood hung in the air.
When the group finally passed through the last patch of woods and arrived in front of a valley, the sight at the bottom of the hill made all the navy members turn pale.
They saw the last few dozen Heavenly Celestial Dragons, in a pitiful state, fleeing through the valley like frightened livestock.
The ones chasing and hunting them were the younger cadres of the Endgame who hadn't appeared on the front lines.
"Get away! Don't come near!"
"Damn peasants! Navy! Where's the Navy? Quickly, come protect me, wuaaaah..."
A beautiful female Celestial Dragon, with delicate makeup, fell to the ground, breaking down into sobs:
"I'm only nineteen, just nineteen! My wonderful life is just beginning, how can it end like this? How can it be like this?!"
"Why can't it be like this?"
A mocking voice came from the side, "Weren't you, woman, boasting the moment you got off the ship about how last time you killed an entire village, sparing no one, regardless of age or gender? Before that, did you ever think about why their lives should be ended by you?"
The female Celestial Dragon's cries were abruptly silenced, and she looked up in terror.
The next moment.
A flash of a blade, her head flew high, only to be stomped forcefully down, half of her face pressed into the mud.
"Not a single innocent among them, all scum."
Zoro spat on the ground, suddenly sensing something, he looked up towards the top of the hill.
"Oh, finally here, huh."
Zoro grinned, "Hey, you guys sure took your time! Seems like there aren't many left, did you come just to pick up the corpses?"
"Na...Navy?"
The remaining Celestial Dragons only noticed Akainu and the others now, clinging to them like a lifeline, crying and crawling towards them:
"Thank goodness! Finally!"
"Quick! Get us out of here! These maniacs! They're crazy! Absolutely unreasonable!"
But after a few crawls, a faint voice came from behind:
"What nonsense are you spouting, Green Algae Head, what do you mean 'there are a few left'?"
Shh! A flaming Black Leg suddenly kicked out, and in just an instant, the crawling Celestial Dragons turned into a pile of charred remains.
"There isn't a single one left, right?"
Sanji, holding a cigarette, strode out of the woods, stepping on the neck of the last breathing Celestial Dragon, snapping it.
Then, standing shoulder to shoulder with Zoro, he lazily blew out a puff of smoke, turning to look at the silent, shocked Navy members above:
"Besides, I think your timing's perfect. Leaving this trash here would be bad for the forest's environment, you guys should take it all back for the World Government to deal with, right?"
"It's not that troublesome."
Zoro gave him a sideways glance, smiling slyly, "They're all non-recyclable garbage anyway, just pile them together, no need for waste separation."
Boom!
Akainu took a fierce step forward, under his somber gaze, the volcanic fury accumulating to the extreme, finally erupted in full force!
"You beasts...beasts!!! None of you will leave alive today!"
——————
PS: October's approaching, there'll be a bonus chapter for monthly tickets soon, I'm working on it, trying to release tonight. A reminder, you need to vote on the specified page to unlock it, that's how Qidian's rules work, can't help it.
The content involves Kuina, Nami, and Nojiko crossing over into a timeline without Shano.
Also, promoting a new work by my friend Siyang, a multi-world fanfic, there's an early Pirates arc, you might be interested, link is below.