"Bah hah hah hah!"
"I've stolen her youth… with my Vampire powers—her strength in her prime has returned to me!"
"Despair, brats!"
"The power once stolen from me by time… I've taken it back!"
"Look well! You men who have fallen to age—this is the true form of me, restored to youth!"
"With this power, I need no one's help! I alone can become the Pirate King!"
"Don't get ahead of yourself…"
Kuzan exhaled a cloud of icy mist. The old man before them—Patrick Redfield—was once on par with Whitebeard. And now that he had regained his youth, even his one weakness had vanished...
If Whitebeard had possessed this ability back at the War of the Best, the battle would've been far bloodier.
"Hm~ good thing~ the Fleet Admiral~ sent the two of us~ to deal with the old man together~"
Even Borsalino's usually languid tone was tinged with tension—no one could stand against two Admirals united in force, but bringing down Red the Aloof... would come at a price.
"We'll find out~ after we clash~"
Fwoosh—
Crack…
Lasers, ice spikes, darkness, blood—two Admirals facing off against a legendary figure at his peak. Smoker, after making sure the unconscious girl and the tanuki Pato were safe, could only gnash his teeth in regret.
"Damn it… I didn't bring a Den Den Mushi for recording…"
A battlefield like this—worthy of the "Top-tier War Correspondent" title—should've been covered by Smoker himself!
"Roger, Whitebeard… It was because of people like them… that I gave up my ambitions, planning to live out my days in Impel Down…"
Redfield moved like a phantom—so fast that even Borsalino, the fastest man alive, struggled under the overwhelming force of his Haki.
His swordsmanship was unparalleled, slicing through both Admirals' attacks with impossible speed. Even Kuzan's full-scale deceleration zones barely slowed him down.
"But Roger was executed… Whitebeard became a shell of his former self. Even if his health was restored, he couldn't resist the slow decay of age!"
"That's why I'll inherit their dreams—with this body that shall never grow old!"
"I will become… the true King of Pirates!"
"Red the Aloof… From what I've seen, Whitebeard was leagues beyond you."
With a sweeping gesture, Kuzan unleashed Ice Age, freezing the entire battlefield. Redfield's expression darkened slightly.
"You brats really think… that old man you all ganged up on at Marineford—that was his peak?"
"With my newfound immortality, even Whitebeard in his prime wouldn't stand a chance!"
"Not just Newgate—even Sengoku and Garp were forced to retire due to age. Who knows that better than you Admirals?!"
Redfield's voice rang out, angry and impassioned.
"I witnessed Newgate's final battle! That was the true clash of eras… Especially your new Fleet Admiral…"
"He's what, barely in his thirties? And you lot—forties, fifties? Still in your prime!"
"You who've never felt the grip of aging—what could you possibly understand of the despair that comes with being ruled by time?!"
"Hm~ I'm already~ 59, you know~"
Borsalino stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"Now that I think about it~ Whitebeard was only a dozen years older than me~"
"Old age~ really creeps up on you~ quite scary~ when you think about it~"
"…"
Redfield was momentarily stunned into silence, then growled in irritation:
"At your age, Newgate was already a legend! Ten years ago, even on the battlefield of Marineford, he could've sunk the entire island!"
"Ara ara… now you've got me curious. I'd love to see what the 'legend at his peak' really looked like…"
Beside Kuzan, a barrage of gleaming ice spears took shape, all aimed squarely at Redfield.
"But old man… you need to understand—Whitebeard wasn't called the strongest man in the world just because of his strength."
With a sharp wave of his arms, the ice spears launched forward in a full-screen assault. At the same moment, Borsalino's ultimate attack, Yasakani no Magatama, lit up the sky.
"His way of life—that's what made him truly great."
BOOOOOM—
Shiiing—
A massive blood-red slash tore through everything—ice, photons, and all. The umbrella Redfield had held all this time—revealed itself to be a blade!
"His way of life? Family? That kind of foolish sentiment is what got him killed!"
Bloodlight swirled fiercely around him as Redfield roared skyward:
"If not for his entangling familial love, would you Marines have ever been able to lure Newgate into such a trap?!"
"Could you have driven him to fight to the death—surrounded and slain?!"
"I've cast all that away. I won't make the same mistake!!"
"Hm~ Don't tell me~ we'll 'meet again next time'~"
Borsalino's taunting grin—pure "you gonna run, huh?" energy—pushed Redfield over the edge, drawing a ferocious slash from the enraged vampire:
"Spare me the jokes! I'll show you what a true peak looks like!!"
...
"Wright! Admiral Kuzan and Admiral Borsalino are currently fighting Redfield head-on!"
Smoker, though without a video Den Den Mushi, still had his standard communicator.
"And Redfield… he's eaten the Bat-Bat Fruit, Mythical Zoan Model: Vampire! He absorbed the youth of a young civilian woman and has fully regained his prime!"
Smoker's voice grew more anxious:
"It's bad. He even ditched his pet tanuki. At this point, if he wants to run—not even two Admirals can stop him!"
"And he's still in possession of a clone of Nico Robin… This old bastard's as cruel as they come. If he gets away now, there's no telling what kind of chaos he'll unleash!"
"At this point… he's on a Four Emperors threat level…"
Wright sighed softly.
Though Redfield hadn't displayed overt hostility before, Wright knew he was searching for something. Without a clear target, they couldn't justify assigning an Admiral just to chase him across the world.
Now that he'd found the Mythical Zoan Bat-Bat Fruit, they'd finally cornered him on this island—this was their only chance to put him down for good.
And now that he had the Vampire Fruit…
Even deploying two Admirals wasn't enough to stop him from seizing it. But that just meant they couldn't let him escape.
If he had abandoned humanity entirely…
Then he'd return to Impel Down, where all monsters belong.
"Get ready, Smoker."
"Yeah… I understand."
Smoker drew a deep breath, then suddenly shouted:
"Wait! Get me a visual Den Den Mushi! Right now!"
"..."
Wright, who had just stood up, sat right back down and massaged his temple.
"You're seriously addicted to this, aren't you?!"
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