The Marines were filled with overwhelming tension. Even though the enemy was just one man, he exuded the terrifying pressure of a thousand troops.
They gulped nervously, none daring to take the first step forward.
"Aaaaah!"
Gradually, their faces twisted with fear and rage, turning manic. Under the immense pressure coming from Madara, the Marines' emotions began spiraling out of control. Their adrenaline surged.
"Kill him!!"
With a collective roar, the Marines charged forward.
"Good!"
Madara shouted in satisfaction, his feet surging forward to meet them.
In the blink of an eye, the two sides collided again.
With his ferocious speed and deadly precision, Madara took out five or six Marines in the very first clash.
Then, with quick movements, spins, and forward charges, he rammed into the next wave. Marine after Marine was effortlessly taken down.
Even though they had numbers on their side, to Madara, it was like walking through an empty field. In mere moments, enemies were knocked flying, vomiting blood.
Just a dozen breaths later, Madara's Mangekyō Sharingan spun rapidly in his eyes, and he sensed another wave of reinforcements coming.
He suddenly leapt up, stepping on the bodies of fallen Marines to gain altitude. His hands swiftly formed a seal.
His cheeks puffed up.
Facing the direction of the incoming reinforcements, he unleashed:
"Fire Style: Grand Fire Annihilation!!"
"BOOM!"
Blazing flames instantly swept across hundreds of meters, engulfing everything in front of him in a sea of fire. The fire surged like a tidal wave, howling, twisting, and roaring, it spread out nearly a full kilometer ahead.
Faced with this supernatural phenomenon, the Marines were powerless to resist. Screams echoed as they were overwhelmed.
Two heartbeats later, Madara landed lightly on the ground, coldly surveying the scene before him.
Within the sea of fire, Marines screamed in terror, their bodies engulfed in flame. They thrashed and tried to flee, but it was futile.
Ace and the others quickly caught up, now that the enemy had been wiped out.
"Master…"
Ace's eyes were filled with shock, stunned by the sheer power Madara had displayed.
"I saw there are more Tenryuubito in other areas," Madara said indifferently.
Then he turned around and began to walk off.
Ace was stunned. Killing the four Tenryuubito just now wasn't enough? Was his master really planning to wipe out the entire lineage?
A flood of emotions surged in Ace's chest, shock, excitement, righteous fury. His body trembled.
Why… why did he suddenly feel that following this master might be more exhilarating than being a pirate?
Four minutes after the five departed, a Marine Vice-Admiral rushed to the scene with a large force of soldiers.
"What is this?!"
When he saw the battlefield, the Vice-Admiral's pupils contracted. And when he saw Saren's body, his heart trembled with disbelief.
"A single stomp to the head, instantly dead!"
"That kind of clean, deadly strike… this man's strength is terrifying!"
The Vice-Admiral quickly analyzed the scene, his expression growing more and more grim.
"Tell me about the enemy."
After a thorough inspection, the Vice-Admiral walked over to a severely wounded Marine who was still conscious and asked in a deep voice.
"There were five of them… one of them was Fire Fist Ace. But only one man fought. He called himself, Uchiha Madara!"
"He was too strong. All of us, 1,005 Marines, never even touched him before we were completely wiped out!"
"They were headed toward District 26!"
After saying this, the Marine's eyes rolled back, and he passed out.
"District 26?! There are Tenryuubito there too!"
A nearby Marine gasped in horror.
In an instant, everyone's faces changed dramatically.
"These five… they're absolutely insane! What are they trying to do, targeting the Tenryuubito?"
"Do they want to make enemies of the entire world?!"
The Vice-Admiral stood there in stunned silence, then exhaled deeply and said in a heavy voice:
"This is madness."
District 26
At this moment, a certain street in District 26 was deathly quiet.
This road, which should have been bustling with life, was completely silent, not a single sound could be heard.
On both sides of the street, people were kneeling densely, their foreheads pressed tightly against the ground. If you looked closely, you could see that their entire bodies were trembling, as if they were terrified of something. They didn't even dare to breathe too loudly.
The entire street was filled with this scene, fear, submission, and dread. Everyone appeared to be terrified beyond belief.
Gradually, the sound of footsteps echoed from the center of the street.
A man wearing a transparent bubble helmet walked slowly forward. His gaze looked straight ahead, expression indifferent. He didn't so much as glance at the kneeling people on either side of him, clearly, this was a scene he was used to.
Behind him followed a squad of cold-faced men in black suits, their steps uniform and soundless.
In the silent street, the only audible sound was the footfalls of this man.
After about two minutes, the man with the bubble helmet reached the center of the street. Suddenly, something seemed to catch his interest. His brow rose slightly as he glanced sideways at someone among the kneeling people.
Following his gaze, one of the guards behind him saw a delicate-looking young woman with pink hair.
"My lord, have you taken a liking to this mortal?" The black-suited bodyguard asked obsequiously.
"Mm."
The Tenryuubito nodded with noble restraint, saying nothing more.
The bodyguard grinned lecherously, he already knew what he needed to do. He lifted his foot and was about to approach the woman.
But then,
"What's that sound?"
A sharp whooshing noise suddenly pierced the silence. A loud, resonating hum rang through the air, and both the Tenryuubito and his bodyguard froze involuntarily, then looked up.
When the Tenryuubito raised his head and saw what was coming, his pupils shrank instantly, and his expression was immediately overtaken by visible fear and despair.
"No!!"
The bodyguard began to tremble violently. He saw a spinning object, a chain-linked weapon, tearing through the sky at incredible speed, heading straight for them.
"SPLAT!"
Almost the moment they registered what it was, it had already arrived, just a blur before their eyes, followed by a sharp cry of alarm.
The bodyguard felt something wet splatter on his face. Shaking, he wiped his cheek, and when he saw the color on his fingers, he began trembling even harder.
"B-Blood!!"
He spun around in horror.
The Tenryuubito who had been standing arrogantly in front of him just moments ago was now missing his head.
Only the body from the neck down remained, spurting blood like a fountain.
"AAAHHHH!!"
The bodyguard screamed in terror.
The previously cold and expressionless black-suited guards were now in complete disarray. Faced with the decapitated corpse of a Tenryuubito, they had no idea what to do.
"Another one!"
A metallic clinking sound echoed out as the weapon that had taken the Tenryuubito's head was reeled back.
It was then that the guards finally saw what lay directly ahead.
A group of five was walking toward them, slowly and deliberately.
The one leading them had a cold, expressionless face, and was currently retrieving the weapon that had just struck.
Once the weapon was in his hand, the guards got a clear look:
It was a scythe, and attached to its other end was a war fan (gunbai).
"Using a sacred relic of the Uchiha clan to kill such filth… is an insult."
Madara said coldly.
The kneeling citizens on both sides had begun to sense something was wrong. Some people peeked upward, and when they saw what had happened, they were utterly stunned.
"Oh my god!!"
"This… this can't be real!"
"A Tenryuubito… was killed!!"
Gasps of disbelief and shock rippled through the street.
The impossible had happened.
(End of Chapter)
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