Chapter 71: An Admiral with a Pirate's Dream
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Chapter 71: An Admiral with a Pirate's Dream
Title: An Admiral with a Pirate Dream...
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Negan was outmatched, anyone could see that especially since Zed was hit by Ain's power and his physical power had returned to the same it was twenty-four years ago.
Even though the old Admiral's arm hadn't regenerated, the power the man displayed, the speed, and instincts had all returned. Someone like Negan who had just gotten his Devil Fruit and couldn't use Armament Haki wasn't the kind of person who would pose a challenge to an Admiral-level powerhouse.
That was all realized by Negan as Zed's fist sunk into his stomach and felt his body slam into the ground hard.
BOOOOM!!
*COUGH!*
Negan coughed out a fist full of blood, looking at the sky with a wince on his face. "Hey, that's cheating, old man… Well, you ain't so old now."
"It's a battle brat, not some picnic where things play out fairly," Zed snorted. This made the lighting-man chuckle a little, usually, he was on the delivering side of the pain, so taking it wasn't his forte. Well, he was sure about one thing now at least, getting hit by an Admiral sucked.
'Damn, this guy's punches just got harder than the boss-man's hits.' Contemplated Negan, he was unable to move anymore and he could feel blood fill his lungs.
That last hit had been unexpectedly powerful, and the Haki entered his body and like a scalpel, it only destroyed the critical points.
"Oy, oy, oy," a new voice interrupted the mood, and once Zed looked towards the new person he saw Max standing there with his marine coat, a black suit, and a giant axe on his shoulder. "If anyone gets to beat Negan, it's going to be me."
"You could have said that in a better way Boss-man," Negan winced in pain, having trouble even talking.
Yet he couldn't keep his mouth shut, it just wasn't his style. "At least you could make it seem like there was a little worry in your heart for my well-being."
"Since when did you become a poet?" Asked Max, amused by his friend's works.
"I have always been a poet who just knew how to hit things hard," Negan reasoned without missing a beat. "You know, I have a couple of poems that-"
"I don't care," Max interrupted him. "Every bad poetry or music song has to go through Raynare first. After she gives her approval, then I will check it."
"You done?" Asked Zed, cracking his fingers as a malicious smirk overtook his face. "The time for talking is over now!"
The ex-Admiral didn't know exactly how Max got here or why he was here. But it didn't matter now, he just had to beat him now and ask questions later.
***
A powerful roar churned through the old Admiral's throat, causing the air around to shake. With that, Zed charged like a bull, but unlike Negan, hand-to-hand combat was Max's specialty and he could see the purple-haired man's movements.
Fwish!
A giant mechanical arm swung towards Max and he leaned backward, dodging the attack in an acrobatic manner.
"You are nimble," commented Zed, moving at speeds that he had moved when he used to be an Admiral. There was no longer a sign of weakness in him. "But that won't be enough."
[Soru]
Kicking off the ground over thirty times, a powerful shockwave pushed Zed forward in a straight line.
Max smirked and imbued his arm with Haki. "Dodging isn't the only thing I am competent in."
BAAAAM!!
A big mechanical arm and a normal humanoid bear fist clashed, the shockwave that was released from these hits pushed an immobile Negan and other people away.
Ain tried to intervene, but Zed stopped and looked her in the eyes.
"Don't do it!" He yelled out loud, stopping Ain in her tracks.
This wasn't a battle she could interfere with, and Max would use her as a hostage if it came down to it. The old Admiral knew just how some marines operated and acts like these weren't above their jurisdiction.
Baam! Baam! Baam!...
Still, as Zed and Max clashed other battles started happening on the island. Raynare had entered the fray and immediately went after Ain, her road was obscured by Shuzo too who attempted to attack her. His one usable muscular arm used <Shigan> and she was almost hit by it, but she used her wings for a mid-air maneuver and was able to dodge and also imbue her wings with Armament Haki.
Fwish!
A large gash appeared alongside Shuzo's torso and he winced in pain, as Raynare used her wings as a blade to make over a dozen slashes in less than a second.
"Don't get in my way," she muttered and flew towards Ain at incredible speeds
Raynare knew that the young woman was the true threat here. Max had told her about the Return-Return Fruit and how it could be extremely dangerous, especially against young people like them.
*
Binz, a lanky man with a squarish body threw some seeds on the ground that grew quickly and moved to restrain the flying marine woman. But it wasn't able to go too far as a dark shadow moved and cut them all down. It was Isuka, and her rapier sword was covered in shadow that extended out like a whip.
"Don't worry, I will take care of things here," Isuka reassured Raynare, as a doppelganger came out of the former's shadow. The creature had the same form as her, except that it was made out of darkness.
Binz narrowed his eyes at the fruit and was able to recognize it as the one who used to belong to Gecko Moria, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. "That's quite the powerful Devil Fruit you got there. How did someone like you get their hands on it?"
It was a genuine question of curiosity as plans grew all around him, to form a circle of defense against Isuka's and her shadow doppelganger attacks.
"It's kinda obvious isn't it?" She answered with a haughty tone, trying to unnerve her enemy. "There is only one way to get a Devil Fruit from someone, and that's to kill them."
"Biahahahahaha~" Unexpectedly, instead of making Binz mad, this only seemed to get him in a good mood. "So your captain killed a Warlord of the Sea? That's wild, he is crazy!"
Usually, the plant-growing man didn't talk this much, but today was special. Hearing that a Warlord of the Sea was killed by a marine brought him joy. After all, in his eyes, Pirates and Marines didn't mix and the Seven Warlord System was a flawed thing.
Even amongst pirates, he hated the Seven Warlords especially, because one of them had cut off Zephyr's arm. That someone who had done that also replaced Gecko Moria as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea recently.
Isuka could feel the admiration that Binz got as soon as she mentioned the implication that Max had killed Gecko Moria. Still, she didn't keep her mind on that for too long as plans grew fast and in huge numbers trying to restrain her. She couldn't allow that to happen and knew that if she had mastered her fruit something like this would be easy, but she just got this a couple of hours ago.
**
At the same time, Raynare and Ain were in an intense battle. The latter had two daggers in a reverse grip and shot out a couple of pink beams that would turn her opponent younger, but the crow-woman dodged them easily. Her giant wings allowed her to fly at such speeds that even bullets would seem slow in comparison.
Clang! Clang! Clang!...
The hits between Haki-infused wings and steel rang out, and Ain was on the losing end as some injuries had started appearing on her body. Raynare used ruthless attacks and didn't go easy on her.
Pow!...
A gunshot rang out, and Ain looked down at her midsection, seeing a bullet hole, and her opponent smirked. Raynare had a gun in her hand which she sneakily used. "Sorry, but all is fair in love and war."
**
While Raynare did that, on the other side of the battlefield. The fight between Zed and Max was at its climax.
Both of them were monsters and the ex-Admiral moved like someone in his prime, and the man's attacks hurt the bear man.
There was no shame in admitting that, and Max would be the first one to do so. He was especially happy since this battle would be able to push him to his limit. Already his Armament Haki had started becoming better, his internal destruction due to it went from working most of the time to being used constantly.
"Brats these days are quite monstrous," Zed complimented him. "I would have liked to train someone like you, undoubtedly another monster would have been created."
Max only smiled at the old man, he too would have liked to be trained by an ex-Admiral. 'It is quite a shame if only I had been reborn a little earlier.'
"Hey, wanna see something cool?" Asked Zed, a smirk adorning his face. "Don't blink or you will miss it."
Now, this just made Max even more curious.
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A/N: Zed and Max don't necessarily hate each other, from their interactions they could have even ended up as friends if the situation had been a little different.