Eneru threw the half-eaten apple in his hand into the sea, raised his staff, and pointed it at Kuzan from a distance:
"Stop with the nonsense! Let me see just how powerful an Admiral truly is!"
Lafitte was helpless.
Their objective for this trip was merely to delay.
From the very beginning, Lafitte had never dreamt of defeating an Admiral.
If they could avoid fighting and simply hold these two in conversation, that would naturally be for the best.
However, his perfect plan was ruined by Eneru.
But since things had come to this, Lafitte could only sigh:
"What a reckless fellow~"
"It seems I'll have to witness the strength of an Admiral after all~"
The sea beneath Kuzan's feet froze into ice, and Eneru had already closed in, his advance speed faster than expected.
The Blake staff, imbued with Armament Haki, struck the same spot on Kuzan's chest three times in quick succession.
Kuzan, however, neither dodged nor flinched, instead forming a block of ice armor on his chest, which parried the lightning-fast strike.
Seeing that his first strike had no effect, Eneru launched a relentless barrage of attacks.
Kuzan, however, showed no intention of retaliating, only defending passively.
As he retreated, he even deliberately exposed a weakness on his right shoulder, and as expected, the tip of the advancing staff tore a piece of his cloak.
But the scattered ice crystals thickened the ice layer beneath his feet, which began to drift with the waves.
Bang!
With a gunshot, the beam of light condensed in Borsalino's hand collided with the sneak-attack bullet, and the lead bullet melted into liquid in mid-air.
It dripped onto the ice, making sizzling sounds.
"How scary~"
"Young people these days are really impatient~"
"But it can't be helped~"
Lafitte held his cane in one hand and a pistol in the other:
"After all, he's the notorious monster Vice Admiral of the Marine~"
"I wouldn't dare to be careless in the slightest~"
As he spoke, the pistol fired continuously, lead bullets imbued with Armament Haki incessantly shooting towards Borsalino's brow.
Borsalino transformed into a beam of light and moved rapidly; the ice surface where he had stood reflected seven bullet trajectories, precisely blocking Eneru's path to pursue Kuzan.
Standing on a nearby piece of broken ice, Borsalino raised both hands in a gesture of surrender:
"Coincidence~ What a coincidence~"
A strange battle was ongoing.
The current situation was already within everyone's expectations.
Whether it was Eneru and Lafitte on the scene, or Blake and Dragon far away in Mary Geoise, they had all made accurate judgments about Kuzan and Borsalino.
When it came to supporting Mary Geoise, it was impossible for the two of them to give their full effort.
As long as they were given a plausible reason, they would be stopped.
However, Dragon's idea was that after Kuzan arrived at Mary Geoise, he would first appeal to his emotions and reason, and then send a less powerful cadre to tie him down.
Blake, on the other hand, never intended for them to reach Mary Geoise, to avoid unnecessary complications... Near the third plaza of Mary Geoise, the battle between the Revolutionary Army and CP0 had already begun.
The leading agent was the first to activate his ability, and several hexagonal force fields instantly divided the battlefield.
Mori, seeing the unfavorable situation, tried to move the ground with his Push-Push Fruit, but found that the ground within the force field seemed to be completely fixed.
"Let me!" Crow transformed into a coal ash tornado, but was blocked by a seven-colored light curtain.
Light refracted repeatedly between the prisms, igniting the coal ash into fiery meteors.
"It's the Hive-Hive Fruit and the Prism-Prism Fruit, be careful."
Dragon reminded them, then a powerful Conqueror's Haki erupted from his body.
CP0's movements began to slow with this astonishing Haoshoku.
"Death Wink!"
Ivankov's shockwave was refracted, but he deliberately aimed it at the ground; the exploding shrapnel precisely shattered three prisms.
"Finger Pistol!"
Before anyone knew it, a short agent had already advanced in front of Ivankov, his finger aimed directly at the latter's throat.
Ivankov raised a hand to block, then charged forward:
"Newkama Kenpo: Swan Lake!"
On the other side, a white coffin suddenly rose from the ground, attempting to trap Crow inside.
Although Crow didn't know what this ability was, being trapped inside was definitely not an option.
The originally pristine white coffin instantly turned pitch Blake, completely filled with coal ash.
"Too slow." Crow materialized behind the enemy lines, his Armament Haki-hardened fist sending the attacking agent crashing into the wall.
Mori had already found the weakness of the Hive-Hive Fruit; each time the opponent reorganized the force field, there would be a brief pause.
Just as the Hive-Hive Fruit user activated his ability again, Mori grinned:
"Push-Push: Earth Flip!"
The street was lifted like a carpet, and the force field structure instantly collapsed.
"Dragon Claw Fist!"
Accompanied by a loud bang, the earth trembled, and the buildings engulfed in flames could no longer withstand it, collapsing one after another.
Dragon fiercely sent a CP0 flying, and the remaining Prism-Prism Fruit user, unable to stand alone, was quickly defeated.
Dragon's gaze turned to the area with the most intense sounds nearby, his steps somewhat hesitant.
Clearly, the most intense fighting was in the battlefield of Christopher and Garling.
Dragon was considering whether to lead the Revolutionary Army to join their battle.
From the current situation, there indeed existed irreconcilable contradictions between the two.
But Dragon still couldn't determine Christopher's attitude towards them.
What if, while desiring to abolish slavery, the other party still firmly upheld the rule of the Celestial Dragons? Then it was very possible that he would turn his guns and, together with Garling, besiege the Revolutionary Army.
Aside from entering the battlefield, they could also directly attack the Room of Authority.
If they could take this opportunity to eliminate the Gorosei, there would be great hope of ending the Celestial Dragons' corrupt rule.
However, in that case, once Christopher's side was defeated, the Revolutionary Army would very likely face a pincer attack.
Both choices had their pros and cons; Dragon stood in place, pondering for a moment, and finally decided to support Christopher.
Compared to the risk of a pincer attack, even if Christopher turned hostile, at least their retreat would not be blocked, and he was confident he could lead most of the people away.
Soon, the Revolutionary Army entered the battlefield.
The situation here was already a mess, with no intact buildings to be found anywhere in the area.
Even the raging fires everywhere had been cleared out by the aftermath of the battle, forming a containment zone.
Boom!
Garling and Christopher's longswords clashed fiercely.
On the other side, the private army composed of Slaves was locked in a fierce battle with the God's Knights.
As Dragon's Conqueror's Haki swept across the battlefield, everyone stopped their actions and looked in the direction from which the aura came.
Maffy was the first to react, covering her mouth with a light chuckle:
"Isn't that the brat from back then?"
"You were lucky to escape with your life and still aren't satisfied? You've run to the Holy Land to court death again?"
Air currents swirled around Dragon, and in an instant, strong winds rose:
"No! I came here to shatter this corrupt world!"
Garling, furious, laughed instead:
"Good, good, good!"
"All the traitors are here; today, I shall bury all of you right here!"
...