"Holy crap..." Drake muttered, currently staring down a lethal crisis.
Akainu had transformed into a surging river of magma, merging with the ground itself. The sheer intensity of their battle forced both Marines and pirates to scatter frantically to avoid being caught in the crossfire, though Akainu hardly cared about the collateral damage.
He was single-mindedly focused on Drake. The brat who had started the fight with max-level arrogance was now being hunted like a stray dog.
Drake was out of options. With Whitebeard's tremors currently shattering the atmosphere, any attempt at Spatial Shackling was futile—the "walls" of space dissolved into fragments the moment they were manifested. The Tremor-Tremor Fruit truly was the natural predator of spatial power.
Worse still, Akainu had adapted to Drake's patterns. He was anticipating the teleportation jumps, and Drake's offensive output was failing to deal any substantial damage to the Admiral's Logia body.
His Haki was scraping the bottom of the barrel.
At this point, Drake could only rely on short-range teleportation to flee, while Akainu, thoroughly incensed, stayed glued to his heels.
Drake took a sliver of comfort in the fact that Jinbe had successfully carried Luffy away. Or so he thought.
The next second, Drake's eyes nearly popped out of his skull. A high-speed pillar of water shot toward the plaza, and riding the crest of that wave was none other than Luffy.
"Ace! Sabo! I'm coming!!"
Luffy's roar, loud enough to tear his vocal cords, echoed across the entire battlefield.
Drake froze in shock. That split second of distraction was all Akainu needed. A flying fist of molten rock slammed directly into Drake's chest.
BAM!
"Gah...!"
Caught completely off guard, Drake was sent hurtling backward like a cannonball. The impact left him with a severe burn across his torso; for a moment, the air was filled with the faint, sickening scent of charred meat.
Vanish! Drake teleported mid-air to arrest his momentum. The moment he landed, he spat out a massive glob of blood.
He was horrified, yet strangely impressed. The ancients didn't lie to me! You really do cough up blood when you're hurt this bad. He didn't have time to dwell on his newfound martial arts movie experience; Akainu was already closing in again. Sensing the lethal intent, the hair on the back of Drake's neck stood up. He didn't hesitate, chaining multiple teleports in rapid succession.
He knew a single jump wouldn't shake an Admiral, and he was right—even after four consecutive blinks, Akainu was still right behind him.
Drake's heart pounded with anxiety. He cursed Akainu for having zero professional ethics. You're an Admiral! Why are you chasing a "nobody" like me instead of going toe-to-toe with Whitebeard?
What Drake didn't realize was that his earlier taunts and mockery had pushed Akainu past the point of rational military strategy. For Akainu, the best way to handle a problem was to calculate a victory; if that failed, he would simply punch the problem until it ceased to exist.
Might makes right—that was the only logic Akainu respected.
Even more concerning was the data Drake's Detector was pulling. Akainu was hovering at the absolute threshold of Sword Saint cultivation. He was a hair's breadth away from a breakthrough.
Drake couldn't believe his luck. No wonder the man was so terrifying—he was at the precipice of a new tier of power.
Naturally, Drake had no idea how one actually "leveled up" their cultivation in this world. He knew the four pillars of power: Haki, Devil Fruits, Swordsmanship, and Taijutsu. But what exactly was "Cultivation"?
That's a question for the System later... assuming I survive this!
Drip... drip... The sound of magma hitting the ice was the only rhythm in Drake's world. His nerves were frayed, his breathing ragged.
Huff... huff...
Drake was hitting his limit. Rapid-fire, continuous teleportation was taxing even for someone of his caliber. While the ability didn't have a cooldown, it drained his physical stamina at an alarming rate. He was running on fumes.
Meanwhile, on the plaza, the pillar of water subsided as Luffy landed heavily on the stone.
He hadn't come back for glory; he had come to stand with Ace and Sabo. His three brothers were all fighting for their lives—how could he just watch from the sidelines? Even if the man fighting Whitebeard was his own grandfather, Garp, the situation was clear.
Luffy's goal was simple: fend off the Marines and minimize the damage to the remaining ships so they could all escape Marineford together.
"It's Straw Hat!" The Marines spotted him immediately and surged forward.
"He's the son of Dragon, the world's most heinous criminal! Don't let him leave alive!" "Straw Hat, your head is mine!"
Luffy grinned. He hadn't felt this lighthearted in a long time. Ever since Kuma had scattered his crew, his heart had been a cold, dark place. The news of Ace's execution had been a crushing blow.
He had survived the lethal terrors of Impel Down only to miss his brother by minutes. Such a sequence of events would have broken a lesser man.
But now, it felt as though the heavens were finally rewarding his persistence. Ace was free, and both Sabo and Drake were here. Everything he had suffered through had led to this perfect moment.
"Gomu Gomu no..." Luffy's limbs stretched and snapped like whips, mashing the advancing Marines. "Gatling!!"
In a small corner of the battlefield, two junior officers in Marine uniforms were paralyzed with fear.
To them, titans like Whitebeard and the Admirals were gods. Even a pirate captain or a Marine Rear Admiral was a level of power they couldn't hope to reach. These were Koby and Helmeppo.
"Koby, what's wrong?" Helmeppo asked, noticing his friend's strange behavior.
Koby stood with his head bowed, his body trembling. He was gritting his teeth so hard they might shatter, clearly fighting an internal war.
Finally, just as Helmeppo was about to ask if he was sick, Koby spoke.
"I have to go!"
"What?" Helmeppo gasped. "Are you crazy? Look at what's happening out there! You'll be killed instantly!"
"That's exactly why... I have to go!" Koby lifted his head, his eyes burning with a fierce, solemn resolve.
Koby—the boy Luffy had met when he first set sail. The boy whose dream was to become a Marine Admiral.
Influenced by Luffy's unwavering drive, Koby had reclaimed his dream. To Koby, Luffy was the North Star of his ambition. It was ironic for a pirate to inspire a Marine, but in this world, such things made perfect sense.
He had to go out there and prove to Luffy—and to himself—that he possessed the courage to stand on this stage. If he stayed hidden now, he would never be able to forgive the man he would become.
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