The white divine beast cut through the sky, its chilling mist tracing a conspicuous trail across the dim port.
Its majestic and sacred presence instantly silenced all the pirates' shouts below.
Captain Bart's cigar dropped soundlessly onto the deck.
Tilting his head back, his single eye reflected the rapidly descending white figure as his mind went completely blank.
"ROAR—"
A soul-shaking roar exploded over the port.
The next moment, black and red Conqueror's Haki formed lightning that fractured the sky like a spiderweb, spreading irresistibly as visible ripples distorted the air, instantly engulfing the entire port.
"Thud!"
The pirate who had just sounded the alarm in the watchtower collapsed stiffly, his eyes rolling back.
On the decks, the pirate officers who had been hoarsely shouting commands to the gunners fell silent mid-sentence, their bodies going limp as they slumped to the ground.
Gunners who had just loaded heavy cannonballs into their artillery found themselves collapsing unconscious before they could even light the fuses.
Wave after wave of pirates fell like harvested wheat, collapsing in droves.
Rocky Port, which had been roaring with ferocious energy just a moment before, fell into complete silence in an instant.
Thousands of pirates lay peacefully asleep at their battle stations.
Boom!
Yamato's agile figure landed heavily on the deck of the largest three-masted ship in the harbor, the immense impact causing the entire vessel to sink slightly.
She slowly straightened up, her ice-blue eyes sweeping over the scattered "corpses" around her before settling on the eighty or ninety people still standing—the only ones left in the port.
These were all pirate captains with bounties exceeding a hundred million berries, far stronger than the pirates who had been knocked unconscious.
Naturally, they hadn't succumbed to the Conqueror's Haki shockwave she had unleashed.
Although unaffected by the Conqueror's Haki, the captains' pupils contracted sharply, their faces filled with terror as they stared at the imposing figure before them.
For a moment, it was as if Kaido himself, the ruler of the New World, had descended upon them.
"Damn it!" Bart was the first to snap out of the brief silence, gritting his teeth as he growled, "It's Yamato, Kaido's son! Lately, he's been following Hawkeye in search of the Road Poneglyphs!"
"What the hell is going on?" another one-armed captain exclaimed in disbelief. "As Kaido's son, not only has he not sought revenge for Kaido, but he's actually submitted to the Marines!"
"Lord Kaido, you must be turning in your grave!"
"What are you even talking about at a time like this?" a burly captain wielding a giant axe roared.
"Pull yourselves together! Today, it's either them or us!"
His furious shout snapped all the stunned captains back to reality.
He was right—this was no time for lamentations!
"Kill!"
Exchanging a glance with another captain who wielded dual blades, Bart roared, and the two charged at Yamato from the left and right.
"Boring."
A flicker of disdain flashed in Yamato's ice-blue eyes.
As the two closed in, she casually raised her kanabo, wreathed in black lightning.
"Thunder Bagua!"
Thud!
With a dull impact, Bart and the dual-blade captain, who had reached her first, were struck by an irresistible force before they could even register her movements.
They flew backward like cannonballs, smashing through the masts of several pirate ships before plunging into the sea, their fates unknown.
One move.
With just one move, she had instantly defeated two pirate captains with bounties nearing two hundred million berries.
The remaining pirate captains in the harbor gulped nervously, their fighting spirit instantly halved.
Without a moment's pause after dealing with the two, Yamato leaped into the air, her battle spirit blazing as she charged toward the other captains.
Meanwhile.
With Yamato having cleared the harbor of the weaker pirates, the warship carrying Mihawk sailed smoothly and unimpeded into the port at top speed.
Before the ship had even fully docked, several figures eagerly leaped down from the deck.
Denjiro's movements were graceful, the twin swords at his waist tracing two brilliant arcs through the air as he precisely intercepted two pirate captains preparing to gang up on Yamato.
His blade work was sharp and relentless, immediately suppressing the two.
"Horo horo horo~ You all look so useless! Let this princess give you a little motivation to live!"
Perona, holding her small red umbrella, drifted lightly down in front of a group of pirate captains, a mischievous smile playing on her face.
"Hey! Little girl, this is no place for you!" A captain with a brutish face sneered, swinging a massive iron anchor toward her.
"Giant Negative Hollows!"
With a wave of Perona's small hand, an enormous translucent ghost instantly passed through the Iron Anchor Captain's body.
Thud!
The sneer on the Iron Anchor Captain's face froze instantly as his knees buckled and he collapsed to the ground, muttering with utter despair.
"I... why did I become a Pirate... fighting and killing every day, not even able to eat a decent piece of roasted meat... my life is such a failure..."
Not just him—several other Pirate captains who failed to dodge in time were also engulfed by the giant Negative Hollows.
Amid a series of kneeling sounds, various pessimistic murmurs rose one after another.
"My very existence pollutes the air, I'm more foul than a dead salted fish, please, step on me!"
"A bug! I'm just a bug! I beg you, let me die in peace!"
Centered around the Iron Anchor Captain, four or five Pirate captains instantly lost all will to fight, kneeling on the ground and radiating thick negative energy.
Just then.
"Six Flower Blossom!"
Robin, who had quickly moved to Perona's side, didn't hesitate in the slightest.
Crossing her arms over her chest, her beautiful eyes turned icy cold.
Crack! Crack!
Pairs of pale arms sprouted without warning from the shoulders of the kneeling captains begging for death, then mercilessly twisted backward.
With the crisp sound of breaking bones, the captains who wished for death finally got their wish.
Elsewhere, Nekomamushi and Inuarashi had each found their own opponents.
Claws and blades flew, lightning and slashes intertwined as they fought with great enthusiasm.
At the warship's bow.
Mihawk slowly placed his hand on the Black Blade Yoru behind his back.
With a soft ring, the world's strongest black blade, Yoru, slid from its sheath.
Gripping the sword with both hands, its tip angled toward the sea, his hawk-like eyes gleamed with a chilling cold light.
The oppressive aura of the world's greatest swordsman spread out, freezing the very air throughout the harbor.
Everyone engaged in the fierce battle, whether Yamato or the Pirate captains, instinctively halted their movements and looked in that direction.
Mihawk slowly raised Yoru.
There was no earth-shattering momentum, no dazzling display of light and shadow.
Just an ordinary swing, aimed at the hundreds of disorderly docked Pirate ships ahead, cutting through the air.
A slender green slash wave separated from the blade, skimming the sea surface as it shot straight forward.
At first, this slash wave seemed entirely unremarkable.
But in the very next second, it abruptly expanded into a terrifying sword wave that blotted out the sky, sweeping through the entire harbor with overwhelming force!
There were no violent explosions, only the grating sound of tearing.
One ship, two ships, ten ships, thirty ships...
Every Pirate ship docked in the harbor, whether massive three-masted schooners or small assault boats, was cleanly sliced in half before the green slash wave as if they were made of paper.
One half was sent flying into the sky while the other trembled violently.
In the next instant, the Pirates on board who had been knocked unconscious, along with the few still struggling crew members, fell like dumplings into the icy sea with a great splash.
The might of a single strike drained all color from the world.
The pirate captains at the harbor who had narrowly avoided being caught in the chaos stared wide-eyed and dumbfounded at the divine punishment-like scene before them, their livers and gallbladders trembling with fear.
Was this the power of the world's greatest swordsman?
"Run! Run now!"
Someone let out a desperate scream.
Twenty or thirty pirate captains immediately abandoned the fight, turning around and fleeing like madmen toward the largest castle at the center of Hachinosu Island.
Watching the fleeing figures, Mihawk narrowed his hawk-like eyes.
"Where do you think you can escape to?"
As his words fell, he raised his black blade once more.
Hum—
A brilliant sword gleam, dazzling as a fleeting rainbow, shot out with lightning speed, catching up to the fleeing captains in an instant.
"AHHHH—"
Several captains at the rear, unable to dodge in time, were swept up by the sword gleam and sent flying into the air with agonized screams.