At that moment, every member of the Silver Pirates felt an absolutely terrifying wave of heat surging in from behind.
"Oh, you Admirals sure make your entrance fast. We'd barely finished dealing with the Celestial Dragon and here you are. Don't tell me you were just waiting here for us to make a move."
Shirakawa said with a hint of amusement. Had this Admiral shown up even a moment earlier, that Celestial Dragon might not have ended up dead.
Then all the members turned around, and saw a very familiar face.
"Long time no see, Sakazuki." Kurokam was the first to greet him, because they'd long since agreed among themselves—Sakazuki was his opponent.
"We're doomed. A Marine Admiral really showed up."
Some of the weaker pirates panicked the moment they saw Sakazuki arrive. Going up against a Marine Admiral—wasn't that just asking to die?
"Shirakawa." Seeing the Celestial Dragon lying dead behind them, Sakazuki spoke in pure fury, magma welling up directly from his hand.
"Just you? If you're alone, then you'd better be ready to stay here for good."
Kurokam said to Akainu. Within the range of his Observation Haki, apart from some ordinary Marines, there was no one of Akainu's level.
"To deal with you lot, I alone am enough."
"Oh, cocky, aren't we." Kurokam sneered. Perfect—let the man feel for himself just how vast the gulf was between his strength now and what it had been five years ago.
Though he could also sense that Akainu's strength had grown considerably since then.
"Hellhound." With that, Akainu threw a direct punch.
Everyone in the Silver Pirates leaped away except Kurokam, leaving the battlefield entirely to him.
"Tsk, tsk. Why couldn't one more show up? I'm itching to throw down with the Navy right about now too."
At that moment, Jora said, his hands practically twitching. He badly wanted to take Kurokam's place and steal his prey out from under him.
To go head-to-head with Akainu, Kurokam had been through a lot over the past five years—all of it to make his body adapt to the temperature of magma.
In those five years, he'd spent nearly every waking moment in volcanic craters. Sometimes he could even soak in the lower-temperature magma like a hot bath.
So Akainu's magma, terrifying to anyone else, was little more than slightly warm water to Kurokam.
The only thing worth keeping an eye on was the magma's explosive force.
"Hm?" At that moment, Yuristine suddenly glanced toward the distant sky with a hint of puzzlement, a trace of battle intent flickering in his eyes.
"Looks like someone else is on their way."
With that, Kurokam drew his gun. "Leave this one to me. Nobody snatch him."
That's right—the newcomer was Kizaru. Thanks to the speed of Borsalino's Glint-Glint Fruit, even though he'd set sail much later than Akainu, he'd still reached the Sabaody Archipelago right behind him.
Truth be told, Yuristine would have a rough time against Kizaru. Unlike Kurokam against Akainu, there was no real shot at victory here.
Against Kizaru, Yuristine's odds of winning were effectively zero. He could only tie the man down and limit his movements.
"Damn it, missed out again."
Jora said regretfully. It wasn't his fault his Observation Haki didn't reach as far as Yuristine's.
Had he sensed Kizaru's arrival first, that opponent would have been his for the taking.
"How scary~."
Kizaru, having revealed himself in midair, found every Silver Pirate's gaze locked onto him—each pair of eyes brimming with battle intent.
That made Kizaru stroke his chin in spite of himself. Could it be that he'd just gotten a little too handsome?
"Kizaru, your opponent is me."
With that, Yuristine fired off a shot. The bullet flew at terrifying speed. Had Kizaru not transformed into light in time, that one shot would have blown his head clean off.
Seeing Kizaru arrive, some of the pressure on Akainu eased. He'd known full well that Marine Headquarters would never let him act on his own.
So to keep Kizaru from stopping him en route, Akainu had deliberately pushed his warship to maximum speed. By the time he reached the battlefield, Kizaru had no choice but to join the fight.
In truth, Akainu had hesitated for a long while before making this decision. He knew that alone he was absolutely no match for the Silver Pirates, but he couldn't swallow his rage.
So he'd come up with this scheme. He knew that the moment he made a move, Sengoku would either send people to back him up or send people to rein him in.
But either way, the Silver Pirates would end up facing two Admirals.
There was just one thing Akainu had miscalculated: how fast the Silver Pirates had grown.
Five years ago, his strength had edged out Kurokam's. But now, for some reason, the man no longer seemed to fear his magma.
At this moment, Kurokam still hadn't gone all out. He hadn't activated his Berserk yet. Once he did, his power would surge by another twenty to thirty percent.
Meanwhile, Kizaru's fight was hardly easy either. This time, facing Yuristine, he couldn't afford to be as casual as before. A single moment of carelessness and some part of his body would get a hole punched clean through it.
One could say this was the first time since Kizaru's debut that he'd had to concentrate this hard in a battle.
He just couldn't figure out how Yuristine's bullets could be so damn fast. Ordinary bullets coated in Armament Haki didn't scare him—with his reflexes, he could dodge them at will.
But Yuristine's were different. Not only were they coated in Haki, they were fast on top of that.
"Looks like your ability's giving Kizaru a real headache."
Jora said, patting Salar on the shoulder. By now, all of Yuristine's bullets had long since been enhanced by Salar's Devil Fruit ability.
One could say Kizaru wasn't facing a single opponent right now—he was facing two.
"Captain, you think we can keep both of them here for good?"
Jora asked Shirakawa, his tone brimming with eagerness.
"If all of us make a move, we could indeed keep the two of them here."
Jora and Kurokam against Akainu. Yuristine, Salar, and Wend against Kizaru. The rest pitching in where needed—keeping those two here wouldn't be a problem.
"But by then, we'd become the Navy's number one target. And I'd wager their reinforcements are already on the way."
If the Navy thought just these two would be enough to take them down, then they were imagining the Silver Pirates to be far too simple. Sengoku wouldn't make such a low-level mistake.
By now, even if all three Admirals showed up at once, Shirakawa wouldn't feel the slightest surprise.
"Tsk, tsk. I really want to see who the next one is. None of you lay a finger on him—the next one's already been claimed by me."
Jora said, utterly brazen. Though whether he could still act so brazen once he actually saw who it was, well—that remained to be seen.
/-\
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