"Weevil, don't waste time with this old man, go kill the people on his ship!"
Stussy suddenly shouted at Weevil.
Upon hearing Stussy's words, Weevil, who was in the middle of fighting, immediately ceased his attack without a second thought and shot forward, racing towards the position of the training ship.
If there was one thing Weevil excelled at above all else, it was obeying his mother.
In past battles, his mother had helped him secure victory many times, so upon hearing Stussy's words, he didn't hesitate for a moment and immediately did as she said.
"Not good!!"
Zephyr's pupils abruptly constricted.
His body also shot forward, chasing at top speed after Weevil.
Weevil's strength was such that even he found it somewhat daunting to deal with; if he were to confront his students...
Zephyr's brow furrowed even tighter, and with a sudden burst of power from his legs, his speed increased a little more.
Meanwhile, Stussy's gaze wasn't on Weevil, but was fixed on Zephyr.
Watching the distance between Zephyr and Weevil grow shorter and shorter, her eyes narrowed to slits, almost becoming mere lines. The wrinkles on her face bunched together, making her look even older!
Suddenly, at a certain moment, Stussy shouted loudly:
"Weevil, turn around and strike horizontally!!"
Hearing this, Weevil didn't hesitate at all and immediately spun around to deliver a horizontal slash.
!!!
This sudden attack caused the pupils of Zephyr, who was in hot pursuit from behind, to constrict violently.
He hadn't expected Weevil to suddenly turn and strike back. He had been sprinting at full speed to catch up to Weevil.
Now, facing this unexpected situation, his momentum made it impossible to stop his body. Moreover, because the distance between them was so short and the event was so sudden, he couldn't even mount an effective defense.
He could only hastily coat both arms in Armament Haki, attempting to block Weevil's blade.
Clang!!
The sound of metal striking metal rang out as Weevil's naginata clashed with Zephyr's arms, unleashing a powerful shockwave.
"Hah!!"
Weevil roared. The immense force transmitted through his naginata blasted Zephyr's arms aside and struck him directly in the chest.
Rip!
A line of blood burst open, and Zephyr's body flew backward like a cannonball.
"Zephyr teacher!!"
On the training ship in the distance, countless trainee Marines watched the scene, their eyes wide with fury.
"Let's go fight that big brute! We can't let Zephyr teacher fight alone anymore!!"
One Marine shouted, and his words resonated with many others.
"That's right, let's fight him to the death! Even if it costs us our lives!"
"As his students, we absolutely cannot let Zephyr teacher die before us!"
...
Everyone spoke one after another, preparing to launch a collective attack on Weevil.
But at that moment, a loud shout rang out.
"Everyone, stop right there!!"
Instantly, the ship fell into complete silence, all eyes turning towards a beautiful young girl.
Her gaze swept across everyone's faces, and she spoke expressionlessly:
"Go help Zephyr teacher? Not let Zephyr teacher fight alone? With your strength?"
"Can't you see reality? Even Zephyr teacher doesn't have an easy time dealing with that pirate; what do you think you can accomplish by going over there?"
"You'll only be a burden to Zephyr teacher; you can't help with anything else!"
"Were you all blind just now? Couldn't you see the situation? That pirate deliberately came for us to make Zephyr teacher expose an opening for him to attack. Our mere presence here is a hindrance, let alone going to the battlefield!"
"The correct thing for us to do now is to sail the warship to a safe place, somewhere that pirate's attacks can't reach. Only that can be considered helping Zephyr teacher!"
"We absolutely cannot let Zephyr teacher be distracted because of us again!"
"If Zephyr teacher wins, then we'll all be happy. But if the teacher loses..."
Her eyes flickered slightly, and she spoke each word deliberately:
"We'll come back and fight those pirates to the death!!"
"Now, immediately sail the ship away from the shore. Let's stop being a burden to Zephyr teacher!"
As soon as these words were spoken, many Marines fell silent. But not long after, a young male Marine stared intently at the woman and spoke:
"Ain, I don't entirely agree with what you said!"
"It's true, if we intervened in the battle between Zephyr teacher and that pirate, we would just be a burden!"
"But—"
"It's not necessarily true that we have to fight that pirate to help Zephyr teacher!"
As he spoke, the young man's gaze shifted towards Stussy's position on the island. His eyes darkened as he muttered quietly:
"Since that old hag used us just now to make Zephyr teacher expose an opening!"
"Then conversely, we can also use that old hag to make the pirate expose an opening!"
"We can't beat that pirate, but can't all of us here deal with that old woman?"
Upon hearing this, many Marines' eyes lit up, and they all turned their gaze towards Stussy.
That's right!!
They couldn't beat that pirate, but couldn't they beat that old woman?!
What the male Marine said clearly convinced more Marines than Ain's words. Soon, a decision was made, and one by one they jumped off the ship, swarming towards Stussy.
Watching the Marines jump off the ship, Ain was silent for a moment. After a while, she too jumped off the ship and charged towards Stussy.
Yeah! She also felt what the man said was more reasonable; her earlier thought had been too narrow.
On the other side, Stussy was still unaware that a group of Marines were sharpening their blades and charging towards her. Although she had been on the Rocks Pirates ship in her youth, her personal strength wasn't particularly high.
Now that she was old, it went without saying. She hadn't used Observation Haki in eight hundred years.
At that moment, all her attention was on Zephyr, who was not far away, struggling to get up with a bloody wound on his chest. The corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl into a smile.
"Zephyr, today is the anniversary of your death!!"
Her goal from beginning to end wasn't those trainee Marines, but Zephyr. But a normal fight would make it hard for Weevil to take down Zephyr, so she had to use other means.
Now, it seemed her method was very effective!
In Zephyr's current state, Weevil definitely wouldn't need to spend much effort to take him down.
With this in mind, Stussy shouted again:
"Weevil, now that Zephyr, that old devil, is weakened, press the advantage and take him down!!"
"Okay!"
Weevil replied and was about to raise his blade and charge at Zephyr again. But he had only run halfway when he suddenly heard his dear mother shout once more.
"You... what are you doing? Don't... don't come any closer!!"
Instantly, Weevil's figure came to an abrupt halt, and he turned his head to look towards Stussy's location.
He saw a group of Marines charging at Stussy, each one yelling things like, 'Old hag, you're finished!'
"Mom!!"
Weevil's pupils constricted sharply. Then, without a second thought, he raised his naginata high, changed direction to aim at the Marines, and roared:
"I won't allow you to lay a hand on my mother!!"
With that, Weevil's naginata slashed down violently. A huge blade beam shot out from the naginata, racing towards the group of Marines...
***
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