At this moment, Basil Hawkins' expression was darker than ever.
The enemy clearly understood the weakness of his Straw-Straw Fruit. They were deliberately killing his subordinates first.
For Hawkins, those subordinates were not merely crew members. They were his lives.
Once every scapegoat was gone, his fate would be sealed.
"Strawman Curse Technique."
Hawkins' right arm rapidly expanded, forming a massive straw construct. With a sharp motion, he launched long straw nails infused with curses, the projectiles howling through the air as they shot toward the countless afterimages flickering around him.
It was meaningless.
The enemy appeared and vanished continuously, leaving Hawkins unable to lock onto a real target.
Crack.
The ground within ten meters shattered and buckled. Golden lightning erupted in an instant.
Hawkins' head snapped backward.
He never even saw the attack.
Yet he did not die.
Another tattered straw doll slipped from his body and fell apart.
Pfft.
Golden lightning spiraled across the battlefield. Hawkins' pupils shrank in terror as he was struck again and again, unable to resist at all. In just two or three breaths, more than ten straw dolls were destroyed.
That meant he had already died more than ten times in mere seconds.
Ruins were swept away in a straight line. Sand and stone exploded into the air, carving a deep gully through the area. At its end lay Hawkins, his face drenched in blood.
No more straw dolls emerged.
All of his subordinates were dead.
"Cough… cough…"
His chest had completely collapsed. Bones were shattered, tendons torn apart. Hawkins lay on the ground, unable to rise.
He looked at the figure that appeared before him as if teleporting, his expression calm despite the situation.
As he thought, the deaths of Red Flag X Drake, the Mad Monk Urouge, and the others had likely been caused by this man.
"Life."
Hawkins' pupils constricted sharply.
A wisp of white soul mist was torn from his body by Lucien. In the next instant, Hawkins' eyes lost all light, his breathing stopped, and his heart ceased beating.
A black thorn pierced straight through his chest. Within a few breaths, nothing remained in the ruins except a set of bloodstained clothes.
Of the eleven Supernovas, seven were dead, and one was under control.
Only one Supernova remained on the island.
The only woman among the Worst Generation.
Big Eater Jewelry Bonney.
---
In a restaurant in Mangrove Area 24, just seven or eight streets away from Hawkins' battlefield, the shockwaves of destruction had already drawn attention.
Bonney stood atop a nearby building, biting into a slice of pizza as she observed the distant ruins through binoculars. Her pupils shrank slightly.
Magician Basil Hawkins had been almost instantly killed.
"Hiss…"
Suddenly, a pair of amethyst-colored, diamond-patterned eyes shifted.
Through the binoculars, their gazes met across more than a thousand meters.
Bonney stiffened.
She lowered the binoculars and clearly saw that figure vanish.
She had been discovered.
From over a thousand meters away.
"Move, now."
Bonney threw the binoculars aside and immediately retreated.
Her subordinates were confused, but they followed without hesitation.
"Jewelry Bonney."
An indifferent voice sounded nearby.
Bonney froze.
She looked up and saw Lucien standing directly in front of her path, hands in his pockets.
"How is that possible?"
Her large eyes filled with horror.
In just a few breaths, the man had crossed a thousand meters and intercepted her.
Lucien's amethyst eyes calmly swept over her.
Long pink hair, denim overall shorts, a white short-sleeved shirt, brown knee-high heeled boots, and heart-shaped lipstick. She looked like a rebellious girl wandering the streets.
Her Devil Fruit ability was strange, allowing her to freely alter age, whether her own or others'. It was suspected to be related to time.
Pfft.
Bonney's vision blurred.
She did not even understand what had happened.
A devastating pain exploded from her waist. Her body bent into a C-shape as her spine snapped with a sharp crack. Her face turned deathly pale as she was launched like a beam of light, smashing through multiple buildings before crashing into ruins.
Blood poured from her mouth and nose.
She could not stand.
"Captain!"
Her crew screamed in shock.
A violent gust slammed them into the ground, terror etched across their faces.
Golden lightning raced along the ground.
Before Bonney could recover, a foot slammed down.
The earth within thirty meters collapsed and split apart. Bonney screamed as she was driven deep into the shattered ground.
A black thorn wrapped around her neck, lifting her helplessly into the air.
In just two strikes, she had been beaten to the brink of death.
The Supernovas of this era were truly far too weak.
Lucien's gaze lingered briefly, a fleeting thought passing through his mind about the peculiarity of her ability.
Then his expression returned to indifference.
"Life."
The soul incantation activated.
Lucien seized the white soul mist and pulled.
Bonney's head slumped.
All signs of life vanished.
The thorn pierced fully into her body, completely assimilating her. In the shattered pit, only the remnants of her denim overalls remained as a faint puff of ash drifted away with the wind.
Lucien had already disappeared without a trace.
The three battles had ended as swiftly as they began.
---
"Hey, hey, is this real?"
"Supernova Eustass Kid, 315 million Berries. Killer, 162 million Berries. Basil Hawkins, 249 million Berries. Jewelry Bonney, 140 million Berries. All dead."
"This is insane. Four Supernovas died just today."
"I saw it myself."
"The Surgeon of Death didn't die."
"Out of the eleven Supernovas, eight are gone. Only Straw Hat Luffy, Roronoa Zoro, and Trafalgar Law remain."
"Was it the Marines?"
"That's the Worst Generation, pirates who could have replaced the Four Emperors, and they just died like this."
"It has to be the Marines. An Admiral maybe? Kizaru, Akainu, Aokiji? Or even Silver Dragon?"
"I haven't heard of any Admiral being stationed on Sabaody."
"Could it be a pirate hunter?"
The entire Sabaody Archipelago erupted into chaos.
Fear spread rapidly.
If even the Supernovas could be wiped out so easily, ordinary pirates stood no chance.
The atmosphere on the island became suffocating.
At the same time, the news spread to every corner of the world.
News agencies wasted no time.
Seagulls carrying newspapers flew across the seas, delivering the shocking reports everywhere.
---
Marineford, Headquarters Building.
Inside the Fleet Admiral's office, Sengoku studied the intelligence report in his hands with a solemn expression.
The deaths of the Supernovas aligned with Marine interests, but compared to that, he was far more concerned with who had done it.
The investigation revealed something unsettling.
A child, a young girl, and an adult man were all reported as the killers.
Different appearances.
Different ages.
Different genders.
Yet the attack methods were strikingly similar.
Although the details remained unclear, Sengoku could already draw a conclusion.
All of the killings were likely carried out by the same person.
A Devil Fruit user capable of altering age and gender at will.
---
New World, Whitebeard's territory.
The Moby Dick.
A grand banquet was underway on the deck of the ship belonging to the world's strongest man.
The reason was simple.
Portgas D. Ace, Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, had returned.
Ace had become famous shortly after setting sail.
A Logia-type Flame-Flame Fruit user.
A master of all three forms of Haki.
The Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, widely regarded as the successor to the world's strongest man.
His current bounty stood at 550 million Berries.
That number placed him among the highest-ranked commanders under the Four Emperors.
___
🌙 Ramadan Special
Unlock advance chapters on my Patreon with 7 DAYS FREE TRIAL on all Tiers.
Use code: RAMADANPASS
Link: Patreon.com/Zphyr
Limited-time Ramadan offer, don't miss it.