Puchi… puchi… sharp blades pierced into Tengetsu Ares's body. After more than ten hours of relentless combat, battered, bloodied, and utterly exhausted, he could no longer fully parry the strikes of these elite Marines, each wielding weapons coated in Armament Haki.
This was the New World.
And every Marine sent here was among the Navy's finest.
Now, Ares could only resort to a desperate strategy trading injury for injury, fighting as if his life no longer mattered. Using the last vestiges of his brute strength, he sent one elite Marine after another crashing to the ground.
"…So tired…"
His eyelids felt like they hadn't closed in days. The crushing fatigue outweighed even the pain. Every swing of his arm came only through sheer force of will.
The power in his arms was barely one percent of his peak strength, leaving him feeling frighteningly weak.
I can't fall here… I possess one of the rarest Mythical Zoan Devil Fruits… I can definitely train my body to surpass even the mightiest Supreme Grade Blades.
Before my dream is fulfilled, I cannot fall. I will not fall.
Ares's bloodshot eyes began to lose focus. Blood was energy, and right now, nearly all of it had drained from his body.
All around him, over a hundred elite Marines formed a layered encirclement, hemming him in like a pack of wolves surrounding a wounded tiger.
Yet even these wolves were frozen in place, daunted by the killing intent radiating from this dying tiger.
"This monster shouldn't last much longer… He's worth 220 million berries! If we capture him, our ranks will shoot up!"
The gleam of ambition shone in the eyes of one Marine as he looked at the blood-soaked giant before them. That temptation proved too much for some more than a dozen surged forward, their glinting blades hacking toward Ares's four-meter-tall frame.
One of them bared his teeth and roared, "Fall already!"
Through his blurred vision, Ares heard the snarl. Instinct took over he swung his arm in the direction of the voice, sending both blade and man flying in one motion.
Fresh gashes opened across his arm in exchange.
His massive frame wavered unsteadily, as if it could topple at any moment. Even Ares didn't know how much longer he could hold on.
That one punch made the surrounding Marines stiffen. To be wounded like this and still remain standing he was a monster indeed.
"Fire!!"
A Marine officer in a Justice cloak gritted his teeth and gave the order.
Bang! Bang!
One after another, black lead bullets slammed into Ares's body. He could only raise his arms to shield his head as fresh blood spurted from his wounds.
His consciousness began to blur, his sense of his own body fading away.
The next moment.
His body collapsed, but before he hit the ground, a pair of large hands caught him.
"Ares-ani!"
It was Kaido.
The younger man's hands were instantly drenched in blood all of it Ares's.
Kaido's clothes were torn to rags, his body marred with multiple wounds. Clearly, he'd taken his share of hits. But compared to Ares, he was far better off; after all, Kaido hadn't endured a ten-hour battle against someone as powerful as Silvers Rayleigh. His injuries weren't life-threatening.
Looking at the unconscious Ares, Kaido's face tightened in worry. "Ares-ani is this badly hurt… I have to get him out of here and get treatment fast. If he doesn't get help soon, he could die."
He glanced around at the surrounding Marines, then hoisted Ares onto his back and bolted at full speed.
"Shoot at will! These pirates deserve to die!" barked the commander.
Dozens of muskets rose in unison, their cold barrels trained on Kaido's broad back and the barely-breathing Ares slumped over it.
Lead bullets whistled through the air. Though not especially hard, their impact caused them to deform or shatter, creating wounds many times larger than the bullet's own diameter. Shards lodged inside the body would be almost impossible to remove and could even cause lead poisoning.
For someone already at death's door like Ares, such wounds would be fatal.
The sound of that dense gunfire made Kaido's muscles tighten, every hair standing on end like a cat sensing mortal danger.
Then, a voice rang in his ear.
"You take Ares and go. I'll hold them off!"
A metallic clang-clang-clang echoed as Kaido turned his head. There stood Silver Axe, his armor battered and dented, a gleaming silver shield braced in his hands.
Gratitude welled up in Kaido's chest. "Thanks!"
Without hesitation, he took off again with Ares, Silver Axe blocking the Marines' pursuit.
With the way clear, Kaido outran the Navy with ease.
Once they had shaken their pursuers, Kaido came to a halt at the edge of the sea. His face darkened. "The Marines destroyed our ship the moment the battle began… Now what?"
He could feel the warmth of Ares's blood soaking through his clothes. His elder brother figure was still bleeding heavily.
Kaido looked at Ares's limp, unconscious head resting on his shoulder and gritted his teeth. "I'll have to gamble."
With a heavy splash, he dove into the sea.
Almost immediately, the clear blue water turned crimson as blood spread in a wide halo around them.
Kaido paddled forward, praying silently. Any ship will do… any island with people will do…
Ares-ani, you have to hang on.
He swam on, placing all his hopes in the hands of fate.
Elsewhere.
"Damn it, that bastard Shiki still got away!" Zefa cursed, glaring at the sight of the Golden Lion vanishing into the sky with half a massive tree and several people atop it.
The man's Float-Float Fruit ability made escape nearly impossible to prevent. It was like a cheat code.
Zefa turned his gaze back to Garp, who was snoring with a translucent snot bubble inflating and deflating from his nose. The exasperation in his eyes was clear.
This man's hotheadedness had triggered a massive tsunami, giving the Roger Pirates the chance they needed to flee.
What should have been a decisive victory had ended in failure.
"This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance…" Regret twisted in Zefa's chest. I'm still not strong enough. Even after fighting the Golden Lion for over ten hours, I couldn't suppress that damn man.
Zefa had always been confident in his strength, but this battle made him realize he still had far to go.
And when he thought of growing stronger, another face surfaced in his mind.
Bloodhand Ares is also unaccounted for… He didn't leave with Shiki, but someone carried him off. We need to find him before Shiki or the others do. His threat level is no less than veterans like Shiki or Whitebeard.
Knowing the urgency, Zefa immediately ordered his men to contact Headquarters and request reinforcements to hunt down Ares.
Marineford, Marine Headquarters.
In a spacious, well-lit office at the heart of the fortress, Fleet Admiral Kong sat with a report in his massive, fan-like hands a report written after the battle.
Kong's eyes sharpened. "This is written by Zefa himself… He must take this very seriously."
Normally, even as the operation's commander, Zefa would have left the actual paperwork to dedicated staff. But this report was penned entirely in his own hand.
Its importance was obvious.
Kong began reading carefully, his thick brows furrowing deeper with each line.
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