"Pfft!! Boss, I didn't hear wrong, did I?!"
Lucky Roux spat out a mouthful of watermelon juice, his small sunglasses nearly slipping off as his eyes widened in disbelief.
"Borsalino is asking Shirogai for help?"
After a brief silence, confirming he had heard correctly, Lucky Roux burst into laughter, rolling on the ground and clutching his stomach.
"Ah hahaha! A former Admiral actually asking a pirate for help, and not just any pirate, but the one with the highest bounty in history, right in front of all those Marines? No way! This is too ridiculous!"
The members of the Red Hair Pirates exchanged strange looks, their gazes subtly drifting toward Shirogai.
Just what had he done while they were apart to earn this kind of trust from a former Admiral?
Nearby, Nami, Usopp, and Sanji were also watching him closely, their curiosity impossible to hide.
Something about this felt off.
Was Shirogai really that close to Kizaru?
"Heh, what are you all staring at?" Shirogai said with a faint smile, completely unfazed as he met their probing gazes.
"I didn't expect Borsalino to ask me for help in front of so many Marines either. At this point, whatever reputation he had left in the Marines is probably gone."
The surrounding pirates were stunned.
But the Marines watching from afar were even more shaken.
An Admiral, even a former one, asking a pirate for help was something no one could have imagined.
To them, Borsalino had once embodied justice, power, and prestige. He had been a symbol of the Marines themselves.
And now, that symbol was collapsing.
This single plea shattered what remained of their pride.
"Why… why?! Former Admiral Borsalino is actually a spy for the Revolutionary Army?!"
The Marines who had retreated still watched from a distance, their faces flushed with humiliation.
"And he even begged a pirate for help while being cornered by other Admirals…"
Their expressions were filled with anger, disbelief, regret, and disgust as they stared at the glowing figure in the sky.
A former Admiral.
A symbol of absolute strength.
Reduced to this.
Crack!
A Vice Admiral crushed the ship's railing in his grip, veins bulging across his forehead as he glared upward.
"It seems the Admirals were right. Borsalino is a traitor planted by those Revolutionary rats. Otherwise, how could he beg a pirate for help in front of everyone? This is disgraceful!"
Clang!
Strawberry drew his twin swords, his face twisted with fury as he prepared to charge toward the battlefield.
"Strawberry, stop!"
Several Vice Admirals rushed to restrain him.
"Think! Even if you get there, what can you do? You're not a match for him!"
"I don't care!" Strawberry roared, his composure completely gone.
"The Marines' dignity cannot be trampled! That's what we were taught! And now he begs a pirate for help? This is a disgrace! I'll kill him if I have to!"
His voice cracked under the strain of his emotions.
The surrounding Marines could only hold him back, unable to offer any real comfort. The collapse of someone they once admired was too much to bear.
"Strawberry… I'm sorry."
A voice echoed from the sky.
Borsalino himself.
Dodging attacks midair, he glanced toward them, his expression unusually complicated.
"But that so called dignity… the Marines never truly had it."
Before he could finish, a massive surge of magma erupted upward.
"Hell Hound!"
Akainu launched his attack with devastating force.
Kizaru instantly turned into light, narrowly escaping.
However, his energy was being steadily drained by Aramaki, forcing him back into human form sooner than expected.
"Bastard!"
Akainu's voice thundered from behind him.
"To say the Marines have no dignity, you've got some nerve!"
The air distorted with heat as Akainu appeared behind him, already mid attack.
Kizaru's instincts screamed danger.
Just as he prepared to escape again, a soft voice interrupted.
"Sleep…"
Verglas had appeared silently in front of him.
She lounged casually, her Marine coat draped over her shoulders, but her eyes were wide open, glowing with strange, hypnotic patterns.
"Rest now, Borsalino."
Her Haki coated hand reached for his throat.
Despite its delicate appearance, it carried terrifying force.
Kizaru felt his consciousness begin to slip, his thoughts growing sluggish.
"My mind is starting to shut down…"
Even so, his reaction was immediate.
Coating himself in Armament Haki, he endured the pain of Akainu's magma strike and forcibly shook off part of the hypnosis.
"Light Vanish!"
He turned into light again, barely slipping past both attacks.
But just as he thought he had escaped—
His body suddenly dropped.
"You're not going anywhere."
Fujitora floated nearby, his sword already drawn.
The power of the Gravity-Gravity Fruit pressed down on Kizaru, locking him in place.
At the same time, Aramaki continued draining him from below.
In an instant, three Admirals and the Fleet Admiral had fully surrounded him.
Their intent was clear.
Eliminate Borsalino.
And the reason for their urgency was simple.
His earlier words still echoed in their minds.
"Shirogai, save me."
That single sentence had made even the Admirals feel pressure.
A man like Kizaru would never say such a thing lightly.
Which meant only one thing.
Shirogai was a threat they could not ignore.
===
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