[40 Minutes Later]
"Hahahahaha! Rayleigh, you lost! I finally got one step ahead of you," Gaban let out a bold and hearty laugh, his voice carrying the final remnants of life, as if he were not bidding farewell, but welcoming a kind of victory.
The twin axes in his hands were already nearly shattered, the blades broken and incomplete, silently falling to the ground along with his exhaustion.
His body was covered in gaping wounds, blood dyed the entire battlefield red, his muscles trembling from overexertion, but that brilliant smile still hung on his bloodstained face.
In the end, Gaban's heavily wounded body collapsed like a crumbling mountain, crashing heavily onto the ground, raising clouds of dust.
His laughter gradually faded, along with the last breath he had left.
The battlefield fell into a brief silence.
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[S-Class Kill Completed!]
[Power +5,000,000]
[Special Reward: Armament Haki (S-Class)]
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"Scopper Gaban...", Rosse softly murmured Gaban's full name. With a flick of the Sea God Trident that had pierced Gaban's body, the corpse flew up and landed in the hands of another CP0 agent.
Although they didn't know why Rosse was collecting corpses, the two CP0 agents didn't dare ask anything, only obediently held the body.
They were counting on Rosse to survive, after all.
With the Holy Land in ruins, the Marine and God's Knights might be fine, but they were definitely going to take the fall.
"Gaban...", Rayleigh was also drenched in blood, panting heavily like an ox, and barely able to stand with his longsword propped against the ground.
His eyes carried a trace of sorrow.
Those former companions, in the end, were all passing away one by one.
Roger was dead. Gaban was dead. Now only he remained.
He could only hope that the other old comrades in hiding would escape this round of reckoning.
"Saint Rosse, we may die this time, but we haven't lost. In the future, someone will come to the Holy Land and, like today, drag you into hell, even if you become one of the Five Elders," Rayleigh laughed up at the sky, a voice filled with either grief or heroism, it was hard to tell.
"We could've run after killing. Now we trade three lives. Was it worth it?"
Rosse merely shook his head slightly. His white suit was already tattered, soaked in blood, the white fabric stained an eye-catching red.
Yet his expression remained calm, his breath steady, as if nothing had happened at all.
Beneath the bloodstained surface, faint scars could be seen on his skin, wounds inflicted by Rayleigh and Gaban's joint assault.
At this moment, however, those wounds had already healed. Fresh skin covered them, not even a trace of disarray remained.
As long as he had enough stamina, he could heal himself with his ability.
It's just that in a waterless environment, the stamina consumption was much greater.
"Freedom and wildness, that's what pirates are. You can kill us, but you can never bind our hearts that long for freedom," Rayleigh's lips curled into a smile. He calmly raised his longsword again and charged at Rosse for one final assault.
He was also a swordsman. At the end of his life, of course he wanted to die on the battlefield.
"Silvers Rayleigh. Farewell on your journey," Rosse didn't argue with Rayleigh. Whether twenty years from now he would win, or the child of destiny would win, or whether he would fall before Imu, that was all his future.
At the very least, Rayleigh's pirate life was indeed glorious, from beginning to end.
Rosse had always believed, a man's romance is never about dying old and weak on a sickbed, recounting his youthful passion; the moment the blood cools, the man is already dead.
Shhh!
The sound of flesh being pierced was particularly sharp on the battlefield. In an instant, time seemed to freeze.
Rayleigh's sword had pierced Rosse's body, the blade deeply embedded in his flesh, blood trailing down the blade and dripping onto the ground.
However, Rosse didn't even frown. His expression was as calm as still water, as if the sword inside him was not a threat but an irrelevant detail.
At the same time, Rayleigh's movement also froze.
He looked down at his own chest, there was a large hole there. The Sea God Trident had completely pierced through his chest cavity, leaving only a blood-soaked shaft.
In the final moments of life, scenes flashed through Rayleigh's mind.
Memories of meeting Roger, traveling together along the way.
Then, Roger's death on the execution platform, and the declaration of the Great Pirate Era.
The final image, him killing a Five Elder today, and then being killed by Rosse.
Unconsciously, Rayleigh's lips twitched stiffly.
'Roger, the sights I've seen in this life, in the end, were a bit more than yours.'
Rayleigh seemed to have let go of all burdens. His sword-wielding hand fell powerlessly, and his entire body, like a statue that had lost its support, slowly collapsed to the ground.
The Pirate King's right-hand man, Rayleigh, DEAD.
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[S-Class Kill Completed!]
[Power +5,000,000]
[Special Reward: Swordsmanship (S-Class)]
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Handing Rayleigh's body over to CP0 as well, Rosse closed his eyes slightly, sensing the combat skills of Rayleigh emerging constantly in his mind.
On the path of swordsmanship, Rayleigh had already walked nearly to the end.
It was only because his physique was not as monstrous as others that his strength was slightly less.
At this moment, all of Rayleigh's skills, experience, even his thoughts in battle, transformed into Rosse's harvest, becoming nourishment for reaching an even higher peak.
"It's finally over," Saint Sommers showed a trace of melancholy on his face. This scene made him want to light a cigar and ease his tense nerves.
This was a brutal victory, for the World Government, it was absolutely an unacceptable sudden incident.
The Holy Land was nearly annihilated, over 80% of the World Nobles were dead or injured.
At the same time, among the Five Elders, the symbols of supreme power for 800 years since the founding of the World Government, the first ever death in battle had occurred.
And the attackers of the Holy Land weren't all captured, at least half escaped.
Among them was the most troublesome, Golden Lion.
Once those people spread the news, the blow to the World Government would be completely foreseeable.
"In the future, we'll be busy too," Saint Sommers whistled.
After all, this had nothing to do with him.
He wasn't a Five Elder, so he didn't care what happened to the World Government.
Even if the situation worsened, it wouldn't reduce his enjoyment.
BOOM!
Just as the group was about to head to Mary Geoise to wrap things up, the ground beside them suddenly cracked open. A giant sandworm burst out of the earth.
But soon, the sandworm began to change, dozens of Celestial Dragons were spat out, and the sandworm turned into Saint Peter's form.
However, his current state couldn't be called good. Covered in dirt and looking completely battered, he was also panting heavily.
"Saint Rosse! Why didn't you come earlier!"
Upon seeing Rosse, Saint Peter immediately shouted accusingly, his eyes filled with hysteria.
He never imagined things would blow up like this today.
Mary Geoise being destroyed was bad enough, but even that lord had been disturbed.
Right now, his heart was filled with fear.
If someone had to take responsibility for today's events, it could only be him.
No one else could bear today's responsibility, and that lord wouldn't punish anyone except the Five Elders.
So, upon seeing Rosse, Saint Peter couldn't help but break down a little.
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