"Ma… Marines!"
Outside the tavern, the faces of Burgess and the others were filled with shock and disbelief.
Just now, the terrifying aura that erupted from the other party caused their minds to go completely blank for a moment.
"That power… Conqueror's Haki!" Ace's pupils shrank. He vaguely understood why he had suddenly felt a sense of danger just now.
"It's… it's that Marine Rear Admiral!" Violet's face turned pale, her body trembling. "The Marine hero who appeared in the World News a few days ago—Rear Admiral Rorschach, who killed the great pirate Chinjao the Drill!"
Yuji was equally shaken to the core.
But unlike the others, he was shocked by Rorschach's appearance.
"You're that Marine brat! The one we ran into in the North Blue last time!"
Rorschach's tall and slender figure descended from the sky amidst massive pillars of lightning, landing in front of them with a loud thud.
Before he could speak, the burly man standing next to Violet—Machvise—stepped forward, frowning and shouting angrily at Rorschach, "Marine! What do you think you're doing? This is the young master's terri—"
Machvise couldn't finish his sentence, because a horrifying aura of death suddenly enveloped his large and imposing body. This high-ranking officer of the Donquixote Family, who was usually so arrogant, felt as though he'd been plunged into an ice-cold abyss.
Rorschach turned his cold eyes to him.
His blade-like, icy gaze swept over Machvise, Violet, Yuji, Burgess, and Ace one by one. Then, with a voice just as cold, he spoke:
"I'll give you a chance. Surrender and come with me to G2 to await the judgment of justice. If you're innocent, you'll be released after questioning. But you will not be allowed to sail again as pirates. You…"
His gaze landed on Ace's solemn face.
"…what do you think?"
Burgess wanted to say something tough, but when he looked up at the dazzling lightning bolts flashing from the dark clouds and heard the thunderous booms and screams echoing throughout Magic Valley Town, a trace of hesitation appeared in his eyes.
His instincts told him this Marine youth was extremely dangerous.
The sense of threat this Marine gave him was even stronger than that of Teach.
Machvise was so overwhelmed by Rorschach's killing intent that he didn't dare move.
Violet was pale and frozen in place.
Ace furrowed his brow but said nothing.
But the proud and hot-headed Yuji couldn't stand Rorschach's cold and disdainful gaze. Like a firecracker set alight, he exploded instantly.
The recoil device in his shoes activated, and his body—clad in a green battle suit—lunged toward Rorschach. With a sneer on his face, he clenched his right fist and struck at Rorschach's chest.
"Brat, it's been a year. I haven't forgotten the humiliation you gave us last time. Let's fight again! I'll show you the power of Germa 66's latest scientific battle suit!"
"Winch Strike!"
His right hand was clad in a black gauntlet, and his entire arm was wrapped in the green battle suit.
His forearm expanded and thickened.
As he threw his punch, it generated an explosive thrust, propelling his fist like a heavy cannonball toward Rorschach's chest.
Sensing the formidable force behind Yuji's punch, both Burgess and Ace stared at Rorschach, eager to see how he would respond.
But Rorschach simply stood there, unmoving—without even trying to dodge.
Boom!
With a muffled thud, Yuji's fist struck Rorschach's chest, clad in white military uniform.
"What? You—!"
Yuji's eyes widened in disbelief.
In front of him, Rorschach remained standing, completely unfazed.
A deep blue gleam quickly spread across Rorschach's white uniform, covering his entire body in an instant.
Rorschach took his right hand out of his pocket, formed a fist, and—moving at lightning speed—threw a punch at the stunned Yuji.
Boom!
His right arm blurred into a shadow, vanishing from view as it struck Yuji's abdomen.
The next moment—
Yuji's body, clad in the green battle suit, bent backward, feet lifted off the ground, and he was sent flying backward.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Shockwaves of white air burst through the air along the street.
Yuji flew back so fast that even Ace, who stood behind him, didn't have time to dodge and was shattered into a burst of flames upon impact.
As for Yuji himself, he spewed blood wildly as his body skidded across the street, dragged through the air, vanishing who knows where with a howling gust.
The resulting shockwave was so fierce that the remaining onlookers couldn't even keep their eyes open.
"Since you don't want to surrender, then all of you—hit the ground!"
Rorschach stopped wasting words. After sending Yuji flying, his right fist struck out again, aiming directly at the chest of the nearest target—Machvise.
Even before the punch landed, the mere wind pressure from the strike shattered the clothes on Machvise's body.
Fury flashed in Machvise's eyes as he shouted, "Marine! You're asking for death! Do you know what happens to those who openly defy the young master?"
"Ten-Thousand-Ton Vice of Hell!"
His towering, muscular body suddenly sank with force, as though it weighed ten thousand tons. The ground beneath his feet cracked as he raised an arm thicker than Rorschach's waist and swung a massive punch to meet Rorschach's oncoming fist.
A giant and a normal-sized fist collided mid-air.
In front of Rorschach, layers of compressed air pushed forward, forming what looked like a wall of iron. As his punch tore through it, it slammed directly into Machvise's body.
Boom!A deafening explosion roared through the long street, even louder than the thunder crashing down from the sky.
The next second, Violet's eyes widened in terror.
In her light brown pupils, she saw Machvise's enormous body, starting from his right fist, crack and burst apart piece by piece.
Under the explosive power of Rorschach's punch—comparable to a dynamite-rock blast—Machvise's ten-thousand-ton frame didn't even last a second. His bones and flesh tore apart as his blood-soaked body detonated, leaving behind only a towering four-meter skeleton scattered across the ground.
Whoosh!A fierce gust of wind whooshed past Violet, whipping up her dark brown hair.
She didn't move—her body frozen in place, as if turned to stone.
Fear had completely overtaken her senses.
"This guy… is way too dangerous! I'm not going to risk my life here for nothing. I've got to find Deuce and get out of this place!"
Ace's body twisted and spun, transforming into a pillar of blazing heat that shot into the sky and streaked toward the distance.
Burgess was thinking the same thing.
So, the moment Rorschach made his move on Yuji, Burgess didn't hesitate to retreat.
His physical strength was clearly immense, and his leaping ability impressive. As the muscles in his legs coiled and released like springs, he vaulted over a hundred meters in just a few bounds, charging toward the coast.
But as fast as they were, Rorschach was faster.
Violet saw only the tavern street shattering beneath Rorschach's feet, then a blur of white as he instantly crossed a hundred meters, appearing above Burgess's head. His right leg, wrapped in brilliant lightning, came crashing down.
Boom!Burgess, who had just leapt into the air, was kicked straight down like a cannonball. The impact smashed him into the ground, causing the earth to ripple and explode like a wave.
The resulting crater, dozens of meters in diameter, devastated the buildings of Magic Valley Town, collapsing everything nearby into rubble.
"Guh!"
Burgess lay flat on his back at the bottom of the pit. Blood oozed from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and his eyes were filled with shock and disbelief.
"This Marine… is stronger than Teach!"
He tried to get up, but dizziness overwhelmed him—he felt like Rorschach's light kick had flattened his skull.
Meanwhile, Ace, who had been speeding off in the opposite direction from Burgess, suddenly felt a chill crawl up his spine.
Behind him, a series of muffled explosions rolled through the air as a massive aura surged toward him with terrifying speed.
Annoyance flickered across Ace's face. The pillar of flame he had become paused in midair, reforming into his body as he turned to face Rorschach, who had just kicked Burgess and was now closing in rapidly.
"Marine! We've got no grudge between us. Do you really have to come after me?"
Rorschach didn't slow down. His right fist clenched, coated in deep blue Haki, turning it into a hammer-like weapon that struck at Ace.
"Fire Fist Ace, do you know your grandfather's been looking all over the world to bring you home?"
"What did you say?" Ace's body jolted, his pupils contracting, but he still threw a punch at the rapidly approaching Rorschach.
"Fire Fist!"
Flames surged from his fist, glowing orange and yellow.
As the punch shot forward, the small flames rapidly expanded into a roaring inferno, engulfing Rorschach entirely.
The intense flames licked at the sky, distorting the air within hundreds of meters.
But before Ace could relax, a dazzling deep blue flash burst through the sea of fire—a fist crashing into his face.
"Bone Fist: Meteor!"
Boom!Ace let out a muffled grunt as his head was driven down, crashing into Magic Valley Town below. A blast of fire exploded across the ground as he hit.
At the same time, the sound of cannon fire echoed from the coastline at the edge of Magic Valley Town.
It was Hibari and Luo, destroying the pirate ships docked outside the island—cutting off every pirate's route of escape.
(End of Chapter)
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