The Marines had never underestimated the White Wolf Pirates.
If the Marines truly underestimated the White Wolf Pirates, they would not have sent one Marine Admiral and one Admiral candidate, a full two Admiral-level fighters.
By all logic, two Admiral-level fighters should be enough to suppress any enemy in this world. In a two-on-one situation, no one could gain any advantage against two Admiral-level fighters.
Not to mention Silas, who had only fought to a draw with fellow Admiral-level Crimson Snake Rona.
But the Marines had not expected that in just three months, Silas's physical condition had improved further compared to when he fought Rona, completely recovering to his peak period and even surpassing his peak state.
At the same time, Silas's Conqueror's Haki had been enhanced through battles with Rona and Harald, then further strengthened with the system's help.
Combat comparison was momentum comparison.
Even without using Conqueror's Haki coating, as long as he could overwhelm opponents in momentum, he could unleash 120% combat effectiveness!
Combined with three seconds of future sight, now Silas could say he had truly established himself in the Admiral-level realm. Those enemies who had just reached Admiral level simply could not be his opponents.
The prerequisite was one-on-one.
"Haha, Silas, is this all you have got?"
Seeing Silas sent flying hundreds of meters under his and Kong's combined assault, Sebastes laughed heartily. So what if Silas had reached the same level as him? Facing two Admiral-level powerhouses simultaneously, even he at his peak could not possibly win!
Silas's current state appeared somewhat disheveled. In one-on-one situations, he could suppress either Sebastes or Kong individually, but in a one-on-two fight, the situation completely reversed.
This was still because he had seized the initiative earlier and worn down Sebastes. If two fighters at full strength had teamed up, Silas's condition would be even worse.
"Cough cough."
Silas wiped blood from the corner of his mouth. After climbing back up from the ground, his face still wore a rebellious smile.
"Two Admirals teaming up? Nothing more than this."
In a one-on-two situation, Silas had almost no ability to fight back and could only barely parry. But the fact that Silas still had no serious injuries showed that Silas might lose, but Kong and Sebastes would not find it easy to take him down.
"Sebastes, with this level of combat, I could fight you for an entire day. What about you? Can you persist in fighting me for a whole day?"
Silas's words made Sebastes's smile freeze, then turn grim.
"Hahahaha! Looks like I hit the mark. You old geezer cannot last a day, can you? No, you probably cannot even last half a day."
Silas, whose clothes had long been torn to shreds, revealed his muscular upper body. Those sculpted, well-defined muscles were smooth and elastic, covered with scars large and small.
In comparison, the half-beast-transformed Sebastes still had some muscle, but compared to himself from over ten years ago, his muscle mass was pitifully small.
This was why Silas said Sebastes had long been drained by women.
Because he no longer trained, even the best foundation would be squandered.
"Admiral Crimson Horse..."
"Kong, we cannot drag this out anymore. We need to take him down quickly, or this operation's losses will be too great."
Sebastes interrupted Kong's words, barely concealing his own predicament.
In the past, which Marine Admiral was not a monster capable of continuous combat for days? Powerful sustained combat ability was one of the hallmarks of Admiral level. Facing opponents of the same tier, battles lasting days and nights were necessary to determine victory.
But advancing age and declining stamina made Sebastes's condition inevitably deteriorate. Not to mention that in preparing for retirement, he had indeed neglected training.
"Regardless, the two of us together are enough to take him down!"
As long as they could severely injure Silas before his condition declined, even Kong alone could easily defeat Silas afterward.
With this thought, Sebastes's attacks immediately became more aggressive.
But just then, a bullet shot toward Sebastes at an extremely tricky angle. The Haki-covered strike made Sebastes's lower body turn cold.
A pleasant female voice carried through the air.
"Dead horse-face, how can you not take down our captain even two-on-one? Have you been living like a dog all these years?"
Shouldering a long rifle and wearing a cowboy hat, the blonde, blue-eyed mature woman bit a cigarette and sat on nearby rubble, showing Silas a confident smile.
"Captain, how is that? I am not late, am I?"
"Haha, how could you be? It is just an Admiral candidate and an aging old fool. Even if it were just me alone, it would only take some effort."
Never mind anything else. As long as Sebastes and Kong did not kill him within half a day, he could withstand Kong's attacks and beat Sebastes to death.
This was the confidence his Zoan fruit gave him!
Before stamina was exhausted, the Zoan fruit's power lay in damage resistance and recovery ability. This was why Zoan fruits rarely met their match when facing same-level opponents.
"Yo ho, after a year apart, Captain, you have gotten so cocky?"
"That is right."
Silas's face showed a satisfied smile.
"My luck has been good. Heaven seems unwilling to let this old geezer retire easily, so it gave me another lease on life."
Among all the rewards the system had given, what Silas valued most was not the Observation Haki enhancement nor the Conqueror's Haki talent reward, but the seemingly ordinary cellular activity improvement.
Could you imagine an old geezer already preparing to die suddenly discovering one day that his body was slowly recovering the sensations of youth day by day?
Cellular activity improvement meant his cells could metabolize faster, had stronger differentiation and recovery abilities, and had longer lifespans.
This not only gradually restored Silas's youth but directly enhanced his talent, allowing him to break through the qualification limits that even Devil Fruit abilities could not change.
This was also why Silas remained fearless even facing Kong and Sebastes, two Admiral-level fighters.
Zoan fruits' recovery ability was already strong enough.
Combined with the powerful vitality brought by cellular activity enhancement, even two Admirals could not easily kill him!
Compared to Silas, Kong and Sebastes's expressions were much more serious and ugly.
"Edwards Lily, 160 million bounty, White Wolf Pirates' sniper!"
If it were just the mature blonde woman alone, that would not warrant such serious treatment from Kong and Sebastes. But clearly, the White Wolf Pirates members who had come were not just Edwards Lily alone.
"Captain, after this ends, remember to buy me drinks!"
The old pirate who had appeared in town earlier laughed heartily, carrying a staff in one hand and a wine bottle in the other as he appeared before everyone.
"Fighting two Marine Admirals, this is truly unprecedented!"
Cunning Roya, 190 million bounty, White Wolf Silas's right-hand man!
Seeing two veteran White Wolf Pirates members appear, Kong now considered any news about the White Wolf Pirates disbanding to be complete nonsense.
The White Wolf Pirates' Big Three were all here. The other members were definitely on the island too.
"Admiral Crimson Horse!"
Kong now had thoughts of retreat. This battle had far exceeded headquarters' assessment of the White Wolf Pirates' strength. In headquarters' calculations, their two Admiral-level fighters working together would suppress the entire White Wolf Pirates.
But now, they could not even take down just White Wolf Silas after half a day.
"Kong, they are just two small fry. Do you want to retreat without fighting?"
Sebastes's voice rose an octave.
He stared intently at Silas, unwilling to believe that two Admirals working together could not take down Silas.
Sebastes could even imagine once their two Admirals were repelled working together, Silas's reputation among pirates would immediately reach its peak.
Then Silas would become the undisputed overlord of the seas!
And he would become Silas's stepping stone to power.
A lifetime of reputation destroyed in one moment.
So Sebastes could not retreat. He absolutely would not use his reputation to achieve Silas's success. That would be more painful than death.
Most importantly, he did not believe Silas could truly withstand pressure from two Admirals.
Cunning Roya and Edwards Lily were just pirates with bounties over 100 million. For Marine Admirals, bounties needed to start at least at 200 million to qualify for fighting them.
If one Admiral had come, that would be one thing.
With both him and Kong here, why should they flee in panic because two wastes had arrived?
Large-sized waste was still waste!
But Silas's next words made Sebastes feel incredibly grating.
"Lily, Roya, I will focus on attacking Kong later. You help me restrain Sebastes slightly. This old waste does not have enough stamina. As long as you work together, this old waste cannot handle you."
Either Roya or Lily individually might not last three moves against Sebastes one-on-one. The gap between Admiral-level and ordinary great pirates was still too large.
But Silas's current strength was sufficient to restrain part of Sebastes's energy while fighting Kong. Sebastes, unable to attack Roya and Lily with full force, would not find it easy to take them down.
And if Kong and Sebastes ignored everything to attack Silas at full power, that suited Silas even better, because they could not completely ignore Roya and Lily's attacks and would definitely be distracted.
Regardless, the arrival of two original White Wolf Pirates crew members could increase Silas's victory chances by several points.
"Kong, you restrain Silas. I will go kill those two pirates who do not know their place first!"
"Got it!"
Kong was very clear that Sebastes's current strength would only result in one-sided beatings against Silas, while his youthful vigor was enough to avoid falling behind in the short term.
But even if Sebastes killed those two White Wolf Pirates crew members, the situation would only return to the beginning. They would still face a monster who did not seem like a seventy-year-old man.
"Haha, do you think the initiative is still in your hands?"
The moment Kong and Sebastes finished their conversation, Silas burst forward. With a powerful swing of his long blade, a crescent-shaped arc of blade light engulfed both Kong and Sebastes.
"Silas, do not be too arrogant!!!"
Sebastes roared, simultaneously throwing punches with Kong to shatter Silas's blade light. Kong charged toward Silas first, while Sebastes turned and rushed toward Roya and Lily.
"Frost Fall!"
Silas snorted coldly. Frosty mist emanated from his body, directly changing the surrounding environment. In the low-temperature environment, both Kong and Sebastes were somewhat affected.
The ice mist Silas now released was colder and more aggressive than what he had used against Rona, a technique he had specifically developed to counter Sebastes's flame abilities.
Sebastes could certainly use his abilities to forcibly melt Silas's power, but flame power did not distinguish between friend and foe. Even Kong would be attacked by him.
And so what if he countered it?
Silas was not afraid of Sebastes competing in Devil Fruit abilities. He feared Sebastes not competing with him.
Comparing consumption?
Who feared whom!
Having long grown accustomed to fighting alongside Silas, old pirate Roya and the mature blonde woman had worn thick coats from the beginning.
What they were competing in now was not who was stronger or weaker, but who would first exhaust their stamina in this battle.
March in Sphinx began snowing.
This was not natural weather, but when Silas's ice mist covered a certain range, it caused water droplets in the clouds to freeze into snow.
Logia Devil Fruit users, after developing their fruit abilities to a certain degree, could even permanently change a region's climate.
As a Zoan fruit user, Silas naturally could not achieve this.
But even so, the battle between three Admiral-level powerhouses almost shattered half of Sphinx. The terrifying battle scene made not just pirates but even Marines swallow nervously.
"That White Wolf Silas can actually fight Admiral Crimson Horse and Vice Admiral Kong to this extent..."
"We will win, right?"
"Definitely! Vice Admiral Kong is an Admiral candidate who will become an Admiral soon. On these seas, who could defeat two Admirals working together?"
The Marines all trusted their Admirals, because the Admirals had never disappointed them.
However, before the Admirals determined victory, the situation in the port town was gradually turning unfavorable for the Marines.
Under the horrified gazes of surrounding Marine soldiers, the man called Blue Flame Ed brought the Marine Vice Admiral before him to his knees.
"One down!"
Blue Flame Ed, 130 million bounty, White Wolf Pirates' swordsman.
Throughout the Marines, Vice Admirals capable of fighting great pirates were in the minority, and the only one was fighting Black Merchant Duke Gate.
So Blue Flame Ed now replicated the Marine Vice Admirals' earlier behavior.
Among the Marines, he was like a wolf among sheep.
"Too bad my strength is still too weak to participate in that battle."
The somewhat handsome older man smiled self-deprecatingly, looking into the distance.
"Those must be the crew members the captain newly recruited. Having such strength at such a young age, much stronger than I was back then."
Rocks vs Vice Admiral Hornitz.
Ripley vs Vice Admiral Peak.
Both had pushed their abilities to the limit.
Suddenly, Blue Flame Ed saw a free Marine Vice Admiral running toward Rocks and Ripley's direction, his expression immediately turning cold.
"This is our White Wolf Pirates' future!"
Ed gripped the long sword at his waist and went to meet him.
"Do not casually interfere in their battles!"
(TL NOTE: Unfortunately, my LOTR: Playing Minecraft in Middle-earth book was mistakenly flagged as spam on Webnovel and removed. I'll re-upload it under a different title by tomorrow at the latest. Thank you for your patience!)