Water 7, Iceberg's Mansion ruins.
Lucci was barely surviving under Tsuru's pursuit, only able to drag Tsuru around the battlefield, not daring to engage in a direct fight.
Lucci's struggle showed a significant flaw in Konan's personnel arrangement. If Lucci and Nero had assisted Oden against Sengoku, and Golden Lion had fought Tsuru, the battle would certainly not have fallen into such a passive state.
However, Konan's arrangement this time was not intentional; she subconsciously classified Tsuru as the weakest among the four opponents, believing Lucci and Kaku could at least hold her off even if they couldn't defeat her.
Konan thought Oden and Golden Lion combined would quickly end the battle, and then the scales of victory would tip towards the Akatsuki Organization.
But Konan still underestimated the opponents' strength this time.
Golden Lion in the air had already chosen not to attack Sengoku. Although Sengoku's Great Buddha Form was powerful, Sengoku dared not maintain it indefinitely, or his stamina would surely not keep up with the consumption.
The current situation was that Oden and Sengoku were both engaged in a close-quarters brawl, and the contest had entirely become one of stamina.
Seeing that he couldn't inflict much damage on Sengoku here, Golden Lion decided to reinforce Hancock. Just then, Lucci had led Tsuru to the battleground where Oden and Sengoku were fighting, seemingly having been chased to the point of actively seeking help.
However, his method of seeking help was different; Lucci chose to lead Tsuru wildly across several other battlefields.
Tsuru understood Lucci's intention, but she couldn't possibly abandon Lucci and let him go cause destruction elsewhere. Yet, Tsuru's intentions were not limited to that.
Just as Tsuru was chasing Lucci past Hancock and the others' battlefield, Tsuru, pretending to pursue Lucci, suddenly changed her target and ambushed Kaku.
Kaku was caught off guard, and the others were fully occupied dealing with Garp's attack. Thus, Tsuru's successful sneak attack instantly turned Kaku into shimmering clothes that floated to the side.
After succeeding, Tsuru didn't stop, directly attacking Hancock next.
Tsuru chose Hancock, whose abilities were known, rather than a stranger with unknown abilities, which showed how calculating she was.
Hancock was not like Kaku; facing Tsuru's sneak attack, Hancock had already predicted the attack trajectory through Intermediate Observation Haki. Therefore, Tsuru's sneak attack might not succeed.
However, Tsuru was unaware of Kawasaki Hikaru's existence and overlooked Kawasaki Hikaru's attention to Hancock. Although Kawasaki Hikaru was dealing with Garp's attack, most of his attention was focused on Hancock.
Seeing someone ambushing Hancock, Kawasaki Hikaru quickly used a Shunshin to break away from Garp's attack and appeared beside Hancock.
Kawasaki Hikaru looked directly into Tsuru's eyes, while softly exclaiming, "Heart Demon Shadow!" Kawasaki Hikaru's pupils instantly turned dark red, and three tomoe rapidly spun in his eye sockets, releasing immense pupil power.
Tsuru was completely unaware of Kawasaki Hikaru's existence, so she didn't pay attention when Kawasaki Hikaru appeared to protect Hancock.
Tsuru instinctively regarded Kawasaki Hikaru as Hancock's bodyguard and cast a probing gaze at Kawasaki Hikaru while rapidly moving.
It was in this instant that Tsuru felt her body fall into a blood-red abyss. All the people and scenery around her had vanished.
And inexplicably, she felt two stings on her body, which instantly sobered Tsuru.
The moment Tsuru regained consciousness, she quickly used "Soru" to reach Garp's side, panting heavily with lingering fear.
Tsuru checked herself and discovered that in that brief moment, she had been stabbed twice in the abdomen and back, and it had happened without her knowledge.
Garp was originally dealing with Konan's attack. Seeing Tsuru injured and fleeing to his side, he quickly stepped forward to meet her, standing in front of Tsuru.
"Tsuru..."
"Are you alright?..."
"What happened?..."
"How did you get these injuries?..."
Tsuru's back and abdomen were bleeding, but she still stood firm.
"I don't know either..."
"The enemy's attack is somewhat strange..."
"It's that girl with the sword standing next to Hancock..."
"Garp..."
"Don't look into her eyes..."
Tsuru was also very surprised, not understanding why she fell into a strange environment and was directly injured just by looking at the opponent.
Tsuru didn't understand how she got injured, but Hancock, who was familiar with Kawasaki Hikaru's abilities, understood.
Kawasaki Hikaru's Heart Demon Shadow can quickly drag people into an illusion. In the illusion, Kawasaki Hikaru is the Dominator; wherever his will goes, Sword Qi runs rampant.
Fortunately, Tsuru's Mental Energy was above average, and she broke free from the illusion and returned to reality the moment she was stabbed once by the Sword of Will.
If it were someone with weaker Mental Energy, this move could potentially dismember the opponent in the illusion, and what would be seen in reality would be the enemy being dismembered on the spot.
Although Tsuru only suffered one hit from the Sword of Will, it manifested twice in reality, thus creating two identical wounds of the same size on her back and abdomen.
Tsuru's injury temporarily bought Hancock and Lucci some breathing room, but it also ignited Garp's fury.
"Akatsuki Organization members..."
"I'll give you one last chance to resolve this peacefully."
"If you surrender now, I won't harm you..."
Kaku said these words with a grim face due to Tsuru's injury.
"Garp..."
"You Marines should put away your false righteousness..."
"We and everyone here are not falling for that."
"If you want to fight, then come!"
Hancock haughtily replied to Garp's surrender offer, raising a hand to brush her hair back, looking coldly at Garp.
"Is that so?..."
"Then I apologize..."
As Garp's words fell, the ground beneath his feet inexplicably trembled, and Garp's entire Aura rapidly soared.
Garp's skin had turned light purple, and powerful air currents erupted from his body, shooting straight into the sky. His cloak of justice was also swept upwards by these air currents.
"Everyone, be careful..."
"Garp's attack is very strong..."
While Garp was charging up, Nero directly appeared in front of everyone and opened a ten-cubic-meter spatial barrier, allowing everyone to enter it.
"King's Wrath · Sky-Piercing Iron Fist!"
Garp's figure instantly vanished, replaced by a giant iron fist descending from the sky, just like Luffy's enlarged Haki-infused fist. With both fists joined, a hammer blow fiercely struck Nero's spatial barrier.
"Ah...!"
Inside the spatial barrier, Nero roared loudly, seemingly struggling to keep the spatial barrier from breaking.
The ground beneath the spatial barrier completely cracked, and the spatial barrier continuously sank. Nero only managed to hold on for about three seconds before the spatial barrier vanished.
Nero also collapsed to the ground, bleeding from all seven orifices, his eyes rolling back.
The attack did not disappear with the spatial barrier; after the barrier vanished, the attack was about to fall upon everyone.
Just as everyone was about to be flattened by this move, Kawasaki Hikaru sacrificed an eye at the crucial moment to save everyone.
Kawasaki Hikaru unhesitatingly opened a ten-meter-tall Domain. This was the ultimate ability of Kawasaki Hikaru's Genjutsu Eye Fruit, "Illusion Domain · King Overlord."
Kawasaki Hikaru's left eye directly burst, spraying Hancock, who was beside him, with blood. Garp was also pulled into an exceptionally powerful illusion by this move, and his attack in reality stagnated.
In the illusion, Garp was cut three times by Kawasaki Hikaru's Sword of Will before breaking free from the Illusion Domain, and the awakened Garp rapidly retreated to Tsuru's side.
Garp's attack also vanished.
At this moment, Garp stood beside Tsuru, covered in blood and panting heavily. Garp had fifteen sword wounds on his body, but none were fatal.
Garp's panting was due to the extremely stamina-consuming ultimate move he had just used, but in Tsuru's eyes, it felt as if Garp was severely wounded.
"Garp!..."
"Hikaru!..."
"Are you alright?..."
Tsuru and Hancock simultaneously spoke, caring for the people beside them.
Hancock looked at Kawasaki Hikaru, who was covered in blood and had fallen unconscious, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably.
Konan quickly stepped forward to check Kawasaki Hikaru's breathing, and finding that Kawasaki Hikaru was only unconscious from exhaustion and excessive blood loss, but not in life-threatening danger, she let out a sigh of relief.
"Hancock..."
"Hikaru is not in immediate danger..."
"We need to treat him quickly."
After checking Kawasaki Hikaru, Konan quickly checked Nero, and seeing that Nero's condition was more serious than Kawasaki Hikaru's, her face was also filled with worry.
Lucci also rushed to Nero's side to check him, and seeing Nero's condition, he felt very anxious.
Konan desperately thought of a countermeasure, realizing that this battle could no longer continue. The Akatsuki Organization's current strength was simply insufficient to defeat the four opponents; continuing the fight would only lead to more sacrifices from the Akatsuki Organization's side.
Konan made a decisive decision, wrapping Nero, Kawasaki Hikaru, and Kaku (who had turned into clothes) in paper and flying directly towards the headquarters... To be continued...
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