[Notification: Achieved achievement… [The Hero's Twilight], obtained 1000 Achievement Points.]
[Current Achievement Points: 1190]
"Haa! Cough, cough, cough!"
Using Chakra to stand on the seawater, Sakura coughed forcefully a few times.
She didn't pull Kumotsuna out of Garp. Given the old man's condition, if she withdrew the blade now, he would most likely bleed to death.
She casually waved her hand over his body. The low temperature rose, gradually freezing Garp solid.
"Hey hey~, arresting a high-ranking Marine official like this, aren't you disregarding me a bit too much?" A lazy voice sounded behind Sakura.
At some point, the Admiral, arms crossed over his chest, was already standing behind her.
"Want to snatch prey from my hands, Kizaru?" Although her injuries were hard to heal, Sakura's boiling fighting spirit had not dissipated.
Her cold and sharp gaze swept over, fixedly staring at Kizaru.
"Don't put it so harshly~ Besides, in your condition, can you still fight?" Kizaru symbolically raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Light particles scattered around him.
"Hmph, how cunning~ But..."
Sakura imitated Kizaru's drawl. Her hanging right hand formed a hand seal.
Whoosh!
Chakra locked onto the anchors placed on Leviathan and Garp. The light chime of space-time shattering echoed. The positions of Garp, Sakura, and Leviathan swapped.
In that brief instant, Kizaru, sensing the movement, condensed Ama no Murakumo at extremely high speed and stabbed forward.
But what met him was Leviathan's dark spear, synchronized with Sakura's will!
Clang!
Tip to tip.
Darkness and light conflicted. Bursting laser particles scattered, exploding around them. The impact churned the waves. Flames raised mist.
"I've been waiting for you~, Kizaru!" Leviathan's voice drew out long, but the excitement in her eyes was hard to hide.
Her Devil Fruit ability began to reverse erode Kizaru's light, mixing with suppressing the will of the Devil Fruit hidden within the other's ability.
[Seal: Revelation!]
"This move again?" Kizaru's eyebrow twitched.
The scene of being sealed by her on the Foolshout Island a few years ago was still vivid. That peculiar darkness could truly be considered one of his few weaknesses.
And in this current environment, once caught, god knew what shape he would be toyed into.
He could even foresee Morgans using a headline like [Shocking! Two Marine Combat Powers Lose Themselves in the Emperor's Domain] in the News Coo to boost sales.
So Kizaru made a prompt decision. Before Leviathan's darkness spread to his arm, he elementalized his Logia main body. With his other hand, he condensed Ama no Murakumo to sever the elementalized arm.
Then, using the reflection off the sea's surface, he decisively created distance from Leviathan through a channel of light.
"So, Admiral Kizaru, can you still fight?" Sakura, leading a group of Higanbana Pirates' members, focused their ferocious gazes on Kizaru.
"How terrifying~, Emperor!" Kizaru's tone was still that lazy drawl, but one could detect a few minutes of seriousness in it.
Sakura with space-time abilities, Leviathan who countered him, plus several executives of the Higanbana Pirates....
This battle could not be fought. The military could not bear the consequences of losing him as well.
"No choice~, Garp-san will be stored with you for now. I'll reclaim him another day!" Kizaru sighed.
A reflective channel extended behind him. His entire body was swallowed by the channel, disappearing before them.
"That damn bastard! Next time we meet, I will definitely defeat him!" Enel landed angrily, the wounds on his body erupting as he fell to the ground covered in blood.
"Tsk, hard-mouthed guy." Leviathan emerged from the shadows, casually breaking off a thorn branch and squatting beside Enel, poking him.
"Sakura, Kuina is..." Tiger, carrying the unconscious girl on his back, walked up to Sakura.
"I'll treat her later." Sakura took a deep breath and shouted to all the crew members below, "The war is over! We won! Now, clean the battlefield and treat the wounded!"
"Ooh!" xn
Deafening cheers instantly drowned out the silent Underworld.
"Leviathan, notify the giants to guard the breaches... dispatch doctors from the Upperworld down... to organize treatment... The rest is up to you..."
Sakura's vision blurred. She forced herself to walk to a place unseen by the crowd and fell straight towards Leviathan.
Then, she felt a warm embrace catch her. The ship spirit's youthful but gentle voice sounded, "Mm, leave it to me!"
…
Three days later, in the palace of the Upperworld.
Birds outside landed on the bedroom windowsill. Their lively chirping woke the pink-haired girl lying on the large bed.
"Mmm."
Dazed, Sakura sat up from the bed. The delicate velvet blanket slipped from her smooth shoulders.
Revealing, beneath the covers, a body with no clothing...
but wrapped in bandages!
"Hiss, these remnants of the past era really all have their own special skills!"
Sakura moved her body. Intense pain emanated from everywhere.
With Chakra repair ineffective, she could only rely on the most primitive method to recover: waiting for her body to heal itself.
Click!
The room door opened. Ginny entered, carrying a basin of hot water.
Seeing Sakura sitting up in bed, she was stunned for a moment, then revealed a delighted expression.
"You've finally woken up. It's been three days." Ginny walked over to her, dipped the towel in the hot water, and then prepared to wipe Sakura's body.
"Whoa, no need, no need! I'm awake now. I can handle this myself!" Seeing Ginny about to flip open her blanket, Sakura repeatedly refused.
She knew that under the blanket, she was completely naked. If that got flipped open, what would happen!
"Don't be shy~ I've been cleaning you up all these days. One more time won't hurt." Ginny waved her hand carelessly and grabbed the blanket, flinging it aside.
"Wait, no! Stop!"
Sakura's desperate and helpless voice rang out in the bedroom, startling the flock of birds on the windowsill.
Tens of minutes later, the girl, now dressed in a shirt and jeans, sat on the sofa in the bedroom, staring at Ginny with a resentful look.
"Completely seen through... by a married woman..."
"Hey, that's going too far!" Ginny rolled up a newspaper and tapped Sakura on the head, then put it down and started cleaning up elsewhere.
"Newspaper?" Sakura unrolled the rolled newspaper and began to read.
"The events of a few days ago have spread across the sea. Dragon even called specially to ask about your condition."
Ginny stopped cleaning and turned to bow deeply to Sakura. "We are truly, truly grateful for this matter. Our family really doesn't know how to repay your kindness. Also, regarding the bounty, we are truly sorry!"
"Don't worry about it. We're friends~" Sakura waved her hand repeatedly. "Wait, bounty?"
Realizing this, the girl quickly spread out the newspaper. The leading line of dense zeros blurred her vision.
—Higanbana Sovereignty, Haruno Sakura, Bounty: 4.5 Billion Berry!