Huff... Huff... Huff...
Cold wind lashed the ruined battlefield, carrying with it sheets of heavy rain.
And yet, standing tall in its midst, one proud figure alone made every single Marine freeze in place, unable to act.
The ground had sunk a full hundred meters from a single charged blow. Sakazuki lay defeated among the rubble. Black and red Haki—an ominous fusion of Armament and Conqueror's Haki Infusion—surged and wrapped around Orin.
Though invisible, that overwhelming presence weighed heavily on every Marine's chest. Even Kuzan and Borsalino were no exception.
Kuzan stared, dazed, at the man he had longed to capture day and night.
This man could easily use his monstrous Observation Haki and Devil Fruit powers to play them all like puppets. And yet… now, he was giving them a fair shot in a head-on fight.
Still, not one among them had any confidence in victory. No one dared claim that they could emerge unscathed when facing those black and red iron fists.
Even Sakazuki, the strongest in offense, had failed.
And as for sneak attacks…
In front of those eyes—capable of seeing into the future—such ideas were pure fantasy.
...
A moment later—
"Cough... cough..."
A bloody cough rang out.
From within the massive crater, a figure in a red suit slowly staggered to his feet, blood still trickling from the corners of his mouth.
Say what you will about him—his durability was nothing short of ridiculous.
But the pain etched into his face, and the blood on his lips, made it clear: that punch had done significant damage. He was still wounded.
However, the moment Sakazuki rose to his feet, the oppressive atmosphere among the Marines shifted instantly.
"Hey!! What the hell are you all hesitating for!?"
"No matter how powerful the enemy, we are Marines! We exist to protect these seas—and we must fight with everything we've got!!!"
"Even if it means dying in battle!!!"
Seeing the despair in his comrades' faces, Sakazuki roared, fury etched into every line of his face.
And his words hit home.
Many Marines, who had just moments ago lost their fighting spirit, now grit their teeth and raised their blades once more.
At the same time, a sharp chill and blinding light erupted on the battlefield—Kuzan and Borsalino were going all out.
Watching the future top Marine officers charge in like characters from a movie, blazing with battle intent, Orin couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
For a split second, he really thought he'd just overwhelmed them all.
But it clearly wasn't going to be that easy.
In a world of heroes as plentiful as carp crossing a river, Orin might stand out in brilliance—but he couldn't dim the light of others.
There are no cowards in Marine Headquarters—
Not a single one!
Looking at the warriors clad in Marine cloaks, Orin showed his respect for battle with a gleaming smile, red light flickering in his eyes.
He slowly took off his coat, revealing explosive muscles beneath—his body honed through battle, bearing a few scars... but only a few.
After all, thanks to his monstrous Observation Haki since childhood, he had rarely been hurt.
The twin energies of Armament and Conqueror's Haki wrapped around his blade.
One fist clenched, one hand gripping the sword.
These Marines—deserved his full power.
Then—
He slowly raised his left thumb into the air from afar, like he was giving a thumbs-up.
But he was scanning them.
Finally, he locked onto that curly-haired guy he always targeted.
"Here it comes."
"Nani?"
Kuzan, already condensing ice within his body, froze up at that move.
As it turns out—when someone points a thumb at you...
They might not be complimenting you.
They might be aiming at you.
From Kuzan's perspective, those red eyes had been staring at him from a hundred meters away—and in the blink of an eye, they were suddenly right in front of him, still locked on.
Only now, the movement had changed.
The long sword crackling with black and red lightning came slashing down with impossible speed.
"That speed!!!"
"You've got to be kidding me!?"
The moment Orin's blade fell, terrifying sword aura surged forth, infused with Conqueror's Haki Infusion, and slashed directly into Kuzan's partially frozen body. It was too fast—too sudden!
Even though Kuzan triggered his elemental transformation instantly, a deep red gash still appeared on his chest before ice rapidly sealed the wound.
Orin was ready to swing again—
But his Observation Haki warned him: a laser beam was hurtling toward the back of his head.
He didn't force it.
Instead, he sidestepped swiftly,
Then spun around and slashed, cleaving through a magma strike.
This was no longer the wide-area clash from earlier with Sakazuki.
The Marines were now coordinating with uncanny precision, ganging up on him in unison.
If not for his glimpses of the future appearing before his eyes, Orin would've been swallowed up by their unrelenting attacks long ago.
But with the power to foresee the future and the Warp-Warp Fruit in his arsenal...
Invincibility was inevitable.
He dodged the expanding glacier beneath his feet with a warp.
Despite the encirclement of countless Marine officers, Orin showed no sign of panic.
With brute force and Haki, anyone who got too close was sent flying with a single kick or punch.
He bulldozed his way through the battlefield, turned mid-charge, and slashed back at a suddenly appearing sword out of light.
Warped away from Sakazuki's attack,
Then drove his fist straight into Sakazuki's chest again.
Though he occasionally received shallow cuts from momentary mismatches between his body and future visions—
The pain only fueled his obsession.
This feeling of growing stronger mid-battle, of landing every punch, had him completely hooked!
His crimson eyes swept across the battlefield.
"You guys want to dance too?"
Despite the rising number of wounds—burns, punctures, frostbite—on Orin's body, the number of Marines visibly dwindled.
Not everyone was a tank.
Most of the younger commanders, once they took a hit, were down for the count—just like Rinari earlier.
Gradually, only four figures were left still fighting.
Orin warped continuously, eyes flashing crimson. He tracked the trajectory of every single light bullet in his mind and dodged perfectly.
But as he warped into one narrow gap—he felt the ground beneath his feet turn smooth. A cold aura wrapped around his leg.
"So you used the gaps in the light barrage to force me to warp into a specific position—then froze me? Not bad tactics."
Orin calmly stared at his frozen right foot, the red light in his eyes pulsing.
Clearly, he'd already seen this outcome in the future.
But that's the downside of large-scale attacks: either take the ice, or take the light.
Looking around at the wounded Marines caught in the barrage, Orin could tell—they were getting desperate.
And the moment his foot was bound by frost,
A massive magma fist came charging straight for his face—
But that wasn't all.
There was also a blinding laser beam, and a giant ice bird radiating bitter cold.
Three killer techniques at once.
Yet Orin didn't panic.
Instead, the smirk on his face deepened.
"Interesting... I guess I'll get serious too then—"
Conqueror's Haki Infusion began shrinking around his blade, then surged to envelop the entire sword.
"This one's gonna hit hard—better catch it!"
"Divine Departure!!!"
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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