Minion Island returned to silence after the earth-shattering battle.
The scorched earth was ravaged, with broken ice and unsolidified magma intertwining to form a doomsday scene.
Death stood on the coastline, his Blake robe unmoving in the sea breeze, but the burning smoke reflected his current irritation.
He looked at the several ships gradually moving away in the distance—those were the warships of Garp, Charlotte Linlin, and the NEO Marines—until they blurred into the sea fog.
The Yeti silently gazed at the sea, ice crystals slowly flaking off his body, and a muffled sound came from his mouth:
"We've become the laughingstock of those bugs."
At these words, silence fell.
The God's Knights didn't have many opportunities to prove themselves, and after finally getting a mission, they failed. They wondered how much they would be ridiculed upon returning; they had lost a lot of face this time.
"Sakazuki..."
Death slowly tightened his scythe, the soul fire in his eyes burning brighter:
"I will definitely make him pay for what he did today!"
He slightly turned his head, his gaze sweeping over his two companions:
"Next time we meet, I won't give him a chance to speak."
"I will execute him with the gravest punishment!"
It was evident that Death was from an old Celestial Dragons family, always threatening to execute people with the gravest punishment.
Given the methods of these guys, the so-called gravest punishment probably wouldn't be much different from the Ten Great Tortures.
Death truly hated Sakazuki, who had made them lose face.
That's right, just losing face.
As mentioned before, the World Government's demand for the Ope-Ope no Mi wasn't that urgent.
Their true goal was similar to Sakazuki's: to ensure that the power of eternal life would not be used by others.
After all, the true high-ranking officials of the World Government had already achieved eternal life and had no need for the Ope-Ope no Mi to add unnecessary complications.
The order to seize the Ope-Ope no Mi was actually to give them some room for error.
The Gorosei and Garling's general meaning was—it's best if they can get it, but destroying it is also acceptable.
Unlike Death, Number 46's focus was more on the World Government itself.
"Hmph! Those old geezers of the Gorosei!"
He let out a scoff:
"They can't even judge people properly when selecting an Admiral..."
"To let an Admiral become a mad dog of the sea! What a bunch of useless fools!"
Compared to Sakazuki himself, Number 46 actually detested the Gorosei, his incompetent teammates, more.
He truly didn't know how these old fellows had governed the seas for so many years; it felt like things were getting more chaotic.
It was not easy for a Marine Admiral to be promoted; it required not only the approval of Marineford but also the Gorosei's permission.
So Sakazuki becoming an Admiral must have been approved by the Gorosei, and after defecting, he still ran out to cause trouble.
Number 46 felt that the Gorosei should bear some responsibility for this failure.
"Enough!"
Death interrupted their complaints:
"Let's go back and report to Commander-in-Chief first!"
"This mission report will likely not satisfy him..."
The Yeti and Number 46 sighed but still nodded in agreement.
The three simultaneously raised their hands, and a complex magic circle lit up on the scorched earth. Countless runes revolved around them, and space began to distort.
Just then, a slightly teasing voice came from not far away without warning, clearly piercing through the spatial anomaly:
"Gentlemen, the main character has just appeared, don't be in such a hurry to leave."
The moment the voice rang out, an indescribably terrifying Conqueror's Haki, far surpassing the previous battles of many strong individuals on the island, erupted!
This Conqueror's Haki condensed into visible dark red lightning, soaring into the sky, tearing a hole several kilometers in diameter in the overcast clouds, and Moonlight spilled onto the dilapidated Minion Island.
The ground trembled violently under the impact, and dozens of bottomless ravines instantly tore open on the island's surface.
Under the impact of this Haki, the three people within the magic circle's light felt a buzzing in their minds, their consciousnesses shaking as if struck hard by a heavy hammer.
Fortunately, they were all carefully selected members of the God's Knights, strong individuals who ranked high even across the seas, which prevented them from losing consciousness in the face of this Conqueror's Haki.
However, the magic circle beneath their feet flashed with a dazzling light, and then its patterns fractured inch by inch, finally shattering with a roar and dispersing into countless specks of light.
Number 46, the weakest of the three, was the first to falter, his legs going weak, almost collapsing to the ground.
The Yeti wasn't much better; layers of ice peeled off his body, and he involuntarily reverted from his semi-beast form.
Death abruptly looked up, his pupils instantly contracting into needlepoints:
"What? How is this possible?!"
"This level of Haoshoku..."
An indescribable sense of disbelief filled his heart.
Aside from Imu-sama, Death had never heard of anyone possessing such a level of Conqueror's Haki, capable of suppressing the Yeti's Devil Fruit ability and even directly interrupting their teleportation state.
In fact, Blake's Conqueror's Haki was much stronger than Imu's, but for Death, it made no difference.
In his line of sight, at the center of the dark red Haki explosion, a slender figure had appeared on the broken wall at some unknown point.
The newcomer was tall and upright, wearing a deep purple long formal suit, with a dark green velvet slim-fit vest, and intricate dark patterns adorned the collar and cuffs, shimmering with a silky luster under the bright Moonlight.
He wore a mask covering the upper half of his face.
The mask was silver-gray, forged from some matte metal into flowing cloud patterns, with only a curved dark crystal inlaid over the left eye, secured at the back of the ear with a leather buckle, and no other adornments.
Blake's lips, exposed beneath the mask, curved into a smile:
"Don't make such an uncultured expression; it will ruin your tall image in my heart and make the God's Knights seem very low-tier!"
He leaped down from the broken wall, his toes touching the ground, and the already fragile rock instantly caved in, with spiderweb-like cracks rapidly spreading.
The setting of Observation Haki is very interesting.
Whether it's members of the God's Knights like Death and Number 46, or pirates like Katakuri, as long as they cover their faces, they won't be exposed even when facing strong individuals with Observation Haki.
Blake came here this time only to verify a conjecture in his mind—
Can permanent Conqueror's Haki truly kill members of the God's Knights?
Such a test carries certain risks.
If Blake's conjecture was wrong and these three God's Knights didn't die, he would need to think of other methods, or go find Laugh Tale to see if Joy Boy had left any clues there, so he naturally couldn't expose his true identity.
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