A/N: Thank you so much @BuddySchlym for joining our Patreon gang! I'm so glad you enjoyed the story and thought it was good! I'll do even better now! Happy+!
Enjoy!
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"GAAAAH!"
Sengoku let out a booming, agonizing roar that shook the very clouds above Marineford.
The brilliant golden light violently flickered.
SPLURTTTT!
A massive spray of blood erupted from the Buddha's lips, raining down onto the wooden platform below like crimson rain.
But Sengoku was not a man to fall from a single strike.
"Damn youuu!"
He was the Fleet Admiral. Operating purely on decades of combat instinct and righteous fury, he retaliated through the blinding pain.
STRIKE!
Before Light could pull his saber free to launch a second, fatal strike, Sengoku brought his other massive palm down in a sweeping, backhand strike.
"Still too green, brat!"
BAM!
The blow was heavily coated in Supreme King's Haki and carried the full weight of the Buddha's shockwave.
'Tch.'
Light watched as the blow came closer and could do nothing about it.
The golden backhand slammed squarely into Light's ribcage.
SLAM! BOOM!
"Geuh-"
The impact was catastrophic. The golden shockwave violently cracked the full-body Armament Haki coating Light's flesh, shattering the invisible diamond armor.
Light's Level 20 Life Force screamed as his ribs fractured under the apocalyptic pressure.
The False Deity coughed up a mouthful of blood and flew from the impact.
SUUUUU!
The sheer kinetic force had sent him skidding backward through the air like a cannon.
"Very brave ne~"
Watching Light get blasted off by the Fleet Admiral, a certain yellow-clothed man saw an opportunity.
He aimed a laser beam from his finger when-
ZZZZ-SLASH!
Kizaru's hand separated from his body.
"Underestimating me, Borsalino?"
Rayleigh was intent on letting Ace live.
Anybody who could help, he welcomed. Even if the man had threatened to kill himself before, it didn't matter.
"How very old indeed, Rayleigh-san…"
Kizaru looked back at Rayleigh.
The cut hand dissolved into sparks of light and attached itself to the illuminating wrist, reconstructing itself.
The battle raged on.
Meanwhile.
SUUUUUUU!
Light carved a long, smoking trench into the atmosphere itself, desperately struggling to maintain his footing on his invisible Force platforms to avoid being blasted out of the plaza entirely.
"HA... HA..."
"Ok... harder than I thought... HA..."
He finally came to a halt some distance in the sky, breathing heavily.
He wiped the blood from his chin with the back of his hand.
His shirt was torn, his muscles throbbed with a dull, agonizing ache, and his internal organs felt bruised, but a smile remained firmly planted on his face.
'Conqueror's Haki in his attack huh... I see it now.'
Light thought, his dark eyes analyzing the wounded giant.
As expected of the man holding the world together.
"HAA....."
Watching Light slowly floating above the battlefield, Sengoku caught his breath.
The previous attack had really hit him. He almost knelt on one knee in the air, using Geppo to stay afloat, clutching his bleeding, golden chest.
"Damned brat..."
His breathing remained heavy, his eyes burning with an intense, unwavering hatred for the man in the black coat.
If this was some free person misjudged by the World Government, maybe Sengoku would have felt some pity for them. Maybe some self-reproach even, at letting things turn out like this, them becoming an enemy of the world.
But he absolutely despised this arrogant, conceited bastard who paraded around acting like some self-proclaimed judge.
'Deciding by himself who's a criminal...then eliminating them?'
'Cleaning the world?'
'Delivering judgement?'
...
'Light Yagami.'
This man was clearly evil!
People who destroy the world in order to 'fix' it, viewing themselves as the saviour...
They're clearly evil villains damn it!
'I call bullshit!'
Even Rocks wasn't this bad!
He had once personally donned the cape of Justice on the man's shoulders.
The very same man was now actively trying to kill him and destroy the world's order.
Does he not know what would mean if a Fleet Admiral were to be killed?
Come to think of it... something didn't click.
He knew of Light's ways from the time T-Bone had monitored him. This man wasn't only powerful, but was also an incredible genius, to the lament of his enemies- now, them.
'He couldn't really want to kill me, could he?'
The internal Haki detonation had severely damaged his organs, but Sengoku's Will remained absolute.
"Ha..."
"Quite strong, brat." Sengoku panted, the red lightning still sparking violently around his massive frame, though it was weaker now.
"But you cannot break the pillars of the world so easily!"
Light wasn't one to back down. He knew Sengoku had a good head on his shoulders. He couldn't let him get an edge.
"We will see about that, Fleet Admiral" replied smoothly, re-adjusting his grip on his dark saber, the black Armament Haki instantly re-coating his bruised flesh as he prepared for the second round.
Meanwhile.
Down on the wooden platform, ignoring the apocalyptic duel raging in the sky above him, Monkey D. Luffy finally dropped to his knees.
The steam of Gear Second and Gear Third faded, leaving him entirely drained.
"Zoro..."
"Leave it to me!" Zoro gripped his swords and came forward.
There was no other way.
"Only if we had the key…" Sanji quipped.
No choice.
They had to cut the platform's wood just for Ace to be able to move away from the platform, albeit still being in shackles.
They could think about how to get rid of them later when they got Ace away from this battlefield.
"You guys..."
Tears freely streamed down the Fire Fist's dirt-streaked face, completely blurring his vision.
Portgas D. Ace stared at his little brother.
The heavy Seastone shackles rattled as he trembled.
"Luffy..." Ace choked out, his voice completely raw, cracking under the weight of a thousand different emotions.
"You absolute idiot... why didn't you just stay away?"
Luffy looked up. Despite the blood, the exhaustion, and the fractured ribs, his trademark D-shaped smile stretched across his face, brighter than the golden light of the Buddha battling God above him.
"Shishishi!"
"Because I'm your brother!"
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A/N: There we go!