Hearing that familiar name again, the heavily wounded Garp's face paled. He wanted to get out of there immediately, regardless of the consequences, but it was already too late. Although Qiuxia wasn't particularly great at Naraka: Bladepoint, he understood the importance of combos. Even while speaking, he had already prepared his clones.
The clones appeared in perfect unison behind the wounded. Then, they unleashed a wave of One Thousand Years of Death. Under the assault of this technique, every man hit felt a sharp, agonizing pain surge through them. The pain sent them lunging forward, crashing into one another in a heap. Momousagi was the only exception.
"Finishing move: Infinite Rising Dragon Melee!"
Qiuxia stomped his foot onto the ground, and a pattern instantly manifested. Countless chains erupted, binding everyone tight. Seeing Qiuxia's next wave of attacks incoming, the groupunwilling to suffer furtherendured the pain and tried to protect themselves with Armament Haki or Elementalization. As for dodging, there simply wasn't enough time.
The chains wrapped their upper bodies like dumplings before a massive repulsion force surged from the ground, launching them into the sky. Qiuxia and a swarm of his clones flew up after them, each wielding a hammer. They began a relentless pummeling, striking every inch of the victims' bodies.
The Marines fared reasonably well, only coming away swollen and bruised. However, of the seven from the World Government, everyone except Kong was beaten into absolute dross. Kong himself was unrecognizable, his bones broken in countless places.
"Finishing move sequel: One Thousand Year Ultimate Death Strike!"
The handles and heads of the hammers swapped places. Conqueror's Haki flickered around the handles as he swung them toward the crowd.
Under this ultimate technique, everyone leftincluding the mangled Konglet out a blood-curdling scream. "Aaaaaargh!"
After finishing the combo, Qiuxia didn't continue. Instead, he strolled toward Momousagi. Having witnessed the full set of finishing moves, Momousagi retreated in fear. If Qiuxia had used normal attacks to beat them like this,
she wouldn't have been so terrified. But while he was powerful, he used incredibly despicable and low-class methods. She had already taken a hit herself and nearly been humiliated; how could she not be afraid?
Momousagi's retreat was no match for Qiuxia's speed. In a flash, he was in front of her, grabbing her head...
After inflicting on Momousagi the same fate as the poisoned Ouyang Feng from The Eagle Shooting Heroes, Qiuxia went to give the remaining heavily injured men a new look. What kind of look?
A mix of Jiraiya's wild style and the Teletubbies, leaving only a single strand of hair standing. Once he finished giving the Marines their new haircuts, Qiuxia walked to the shore, released his small boat, and sailed away.
"You bastard, just you wait! I won't let you get away with this!" Gion shouted with a face full of rage, staring in the direction Qiuxia had vanished.
Although Momousagi's injuries were the lightest in this battlebarely superficial, reallyshe felt completely taken advantage of. Still, considering Qiuxia's age, she hadn't exactly lost out.
She only snapped back to reality once Qiuxia's boat was out of sight. She looked at her unconscious colleagues and rushed over to check on them. Most had only surface wounds, but Kong was in bad shape;
it would take at least half a year to recover. The one in the best condition was Zephyr. When he had arrived, he had a mechanical arm, but now, Zephyr's hands were perfectly finehis missing limb had been fully restored.
"Teacher Zephyr's hand is back!" Seeing the regrown limb, Momousagi's eyes widened. "Did that guy treat him? But why would he heal the teacher? And..."
Looking over the survivors again, Momousagi's expression shifted. Only the Marines had survived. The six people under the Five Elders were all dead. What is he thinking? Why only kill the Five Elders' men? Is he trying to make the Five Elders resent the Marines?
She sensed a conspiracy, but now wasn't the time for discussion. The priority was getting these people back for secret treatment. They couldn't let word get out. If people knew that two Emperor-level and several Admiral-level powerhouses couldn't even take down one person, the scandal surrounding Gion would skyrocket.
She used a Transponder Snail to notify nearby Marine ships and then called Sengoku to report. When Sengoku heard the details and the outcome, his face turned grim. He immediately summoned Tsuru and filled her in.
"What is that guy up to? Why only target the World Government? Is he trying to cause friction between them and the Marines?"
Tsuru analyzed the situation. "We haven't seen him in person, so I can't give a detailed analysis. Based on the facts, this is very bad for the Marines. Two vice-commanders from Cipher Pol and four members of God's Knights are dead. Yet, according to Gion, none of our Marines except Fleet Admiral Kong took life-threatening hits. It's impossible to tell what he's planning."
"The real headache is how to tell the Five Elders," Sengoku groaned, rubbing his temples. "If they find out all their people are dead while ours are fine, what will those five old fossils think?"
Tsuru sighed. "The only option is to report the truth. Let them think what they want. Even if they target us later, they can't just purge every sector."
Sengoku nodded. "I suppose that's all we can do."
After making up his mind, Sengoku called the Five Elders via Transponder Snail and gave an honest report. As expected, the Five Elders were furious when they learned everyone but Kong was dead. But no matter how angry they were, they couldn't just purge everyone like Tsuru said. If they did, who would catch the pirates? The sea would turn into an unmanageable mess.
When the survivors woke up, everyone except Kong had smashed a hole into their hospital beds. The reason was simple: they had been hit by both the Lineage-Ending Strike and One Thousand Years of Death. They couldn't lie on their backs, and they couldn't lie on their stomachs.
Only by hollowing out a hole in the bed could they find some relief (even lying on their sides was painful). Aside from their injuries, the Marines weren't too bad offZephyr had even regrown a hand, which was a net gain. But Kong was miserable; he could only lie there.
Aside from the heavy trauma, their hair was also a major source of distress. They used to have plenty of hair, but now, only the very center of their scalps had any. This remaining patch was strange; no matter how they pulled, it wouldn't come out.
Trying to cut it with a knife just made their whole bodies hurt. They couldn't help but curse inwardly: If you're going to shave us bald, just do it properly! Why leave this tiny patch in the middle?!
Furthermore, there was no way to hide it with a hat. The hair was too stiff; the hat couldn't press it down. They thought about cutting a hole in their hats to let the hair through, but when they tried, the hair suddenly grew over a meter long, and the tip even morphed into the shape of a flower.
They were miserable with hats and miserable without them. They loathed Qiuxia with a burning passion, wishing they could eat his flesh and drink his blood. But despite their rage, none of them dared to face him again. His methods were simply too ruthless.
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