This was a man who stood at the absolute pinnacle of the seas!
Swoosh! Swoosh!
A gust of wind swept past, accompanied by two faint sounds.
The energy gathering into magma projectiles in front of the two Pacifistas completely vanished.
At some point, Roy had already appeared behind them. Without even looking back, he continued walking forward at a relaxed pace.
"That speed... How can he be so fast?!"
Kid and the others had been staring at the battlefield without blinking, yet none of them had seen when Roy changed positions.
The next moment, the two cyborgs that had given them so much trouble abruptly shut down.
Their entire bodies rapidly warped, as though several different forces were crushing them simultaneously. Amid a shower of sparks, they were completely reduced to piles of scrap metal!
"Is this... the power that belongs to the strongest man in the world?!"
At the sight of this, both Apoo and Kid wore expressions of utter shock.
Their breathing nearly stopped, and their backs were drenched in cold sweat!
Even Urouge wiped the sweat from his forehead. His enormous body immediately shrank, returning to its original size.
They could only stare at Roy's departing figure, too stunned to speak.
From their perspective, Roy had merely taken one small step forward, yet it was as though space itself had folded beneath his feet, allowing him to cross dozens of meters in an instant.
Within seconds, Roy disappeared from their sight.
From beginning to end, aside from making a few remarks about the Pacifistas, Roy had not spared them a single glance.
"He ignored us?"
After Roy left, Kid finally relaxed and sat cross-legged on the ground.
However, when he recalled what had just happened, complicated emotions surged through him.
"Damn it! Are we still too weak? Are we not even worthy of a single glance from him?"
Kid gritted his teeth, his voice filled with unwillingness.
"There's nothing we can do about that. He's an emperor of the sea. Compared to small-timers like us, we're far beneath him in both status and strength."
For once, Apoo did not try to provoke trouble. Instead, he nodded in complete agreement with Kid.
"Exactly. We fought those two machine-like things for so long without defeating them, yet the Thunder Emperor disposed of them effortlessly. More importantly, we still don't know what method he used."
Urouge strongly agreed with Apoo's words.
"Damn it!"
Kid clenched his fist and slammed it into the ground, creating a large crater.
Leaving the frustrated Kid behind, Roy continued strolling leisurely through the area.
Of the three Supernovas he had just encountered, only Urouge possessed a Devil Fruit ability.
That was right. Both Apoo's Tone-Tone Fruit and Kid's Magnet-Magnet Fruit from the original timeline had been collected by Roy's clones several years ago.
In addition to those two fruits, he had also obtained the Gangster Capone Bege's Castle-Castle Fruit, Glutton Jewelry Bonney's Age-Age Fruit, and Magician Basil Hawkins's Straw-Straw Fruit.
All these Devil Fruits, which had originally belonged to the Supernovas, had fallen into Roy's hands. As a result, the current Supernova roster had changed considerably.
Capone Bege was still making trouble in North Blue, while Jewelry Bonney had joined the Revolutionary Army for reasons unknown.
As for X Drake, he had followed Roy across the New World long ago and had already become a division commander.
In other words, there were currently only eight Supernovas.
However, Roy did not care whether there were eight Supernovas or any other number.
He was now walking toward one of the Yarukiman Mangroves.
"It's you again, Aokiji! So an Admiral really did come!"
Luffy's expression changed dramatically when he saw the approaching man. He immediately placed a finger inside his mouth.
"Honestly, you people never behave yourselves. You do nothing but cause trouble for me."
Aokiji addressed the wary group before him in a deeply troubled tone.
As he spoke, he raised one hand, and frost instantly condensed around it.
"The World Government told me that if I fail to bring all of you back, my time as an Admiral will be over. Besides..."
An Ice Saber gradually formed in his hand.
His gaze slowly became dangerous, and an icy expression appeared across his face.
"At Long Ring Long Land and Water 7, I let you go because of Alabasta and your grandfather. That settled everything between us."
"Therefore..."
He raised the Ice Saber with one hand while his other arm instantly transformed into ice!
"Your journey ends here!"
"Ice Saber! Ice Time Capsule!"
The temperature throughout the surrounding area instantly plunged to the freezing point, and a thin layer of frost spread across the grass.
"Damn it! Are you the Marines' only Admiral?! Why do we always run into you?!"
Usopp clutched his head and shouted in near despair.
"You should consider yourselves fortunate that you encountered me. Had you met the other guy, you would have been killed before you ever left the first half of the Grand Line."
"Damn it! We won't let you have your way!"
"Gear Third! Gum-Gum Gigant Rifle!"
"Diable Jambe: Flambage Shot!"
"Demon Aura Nine-Sword Style! Asura: Demon Nine Flashes!"
The Straw Hat Pirates' three main fighters—Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro—attacked together.
Each of them unleashed the strongest attack they could currently perform against Aokiji!
Although they had experienced countless battles over the past year and achieved astonishing growth, the opponent before them was Admiral Aokiji!
He had joined the Marines before Roger even became the Pirate King.
He had accumulated decades of training, life-or-death struggles, and battles against powerful pirates.
Luffy and the others were still far too inexperienced.
"Oh? Aside from Straw Hat, the other two have also learned Haki?"
Aokiji was slightly surprised as he effortlessly transformed into ice and allowed their attacks to pass through him.
"It's still rather crude, but reaching this level already demonstrates your astonishing talent."
Nevertheless, the Ice Saber in his hand slashed downward without mercy.
"But you're still far too weak!"
"And possessing that much talent gives me even more reason not to let you escape!"
(End of Chapter)
[200 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter]
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