End of battle

Chapter 10 - End of battle

Lunacia and other crew members of the Rocks Pirates were struggling against many marine generals.

Their individual abilities are equal or even overwhelm them, but the difference in number is simply too much.

However, it's no wonder that the number of forces the Marines have is a lot.

To protect the vast seas from pirates, the Marines are inevitably an unprecedented giant armed organization unlike anything in the world, and the number of their soldiers is massive.

As the number of troops increases, so does the number of officers to command them.

In order to consolidate and clarify the command system, there are only 3 Admirals and a Fleet Admiral above them, but there are so many generals which are Vice Admiral and there were at least a hundred below that.

And those who were gathered in God Valley were the elite generals who could compete with pirates of the New World.

Sengoku pulled out as many generals as he could pull in the name of protecting the World Nobles from the Rocks Pirates.

Regardless of what the Marines thought about protecting the World Nobles, it was organizationally prioritized above all, and no one could possibly argue about it openly.

There was a possibility that Rocks won't target God Valley, but he believed that there was no reason for Rocks not to target a group of World Nobles coming to God Valley.

God Valley is also much easier to reach geographically than Mary Geoise.

Sengoku took action under such circumstances, but something unexpected was happening.

The intervention of the Roger Pirates, well, could be left aside. The problem was that the Rocks Pirates were holding on for much longer than expected.

"Time should be in our favor...!"

Sengoku murmured while bleeding from his forehead.

He turned into a giant golden buddha and fought against Lunacia, the most troublesome among the Rocks Pirates, but he is currently at a distance whilst being treated.

The tag team of Zephyr and Rayleigh is currently fighting Lunacia.

For a while after the start of the battle, she was wielding the Supreme Grade Sword Black Blade Yoru, but now she is using an unfamiliar katana.

It was unknown whether it was made especially for her or she had just picked up an unknown Supreme Grade Sword. Its source doesn't matter, but her movements were better than when she was using Yoru.

By the way, Yoru was thrown onto their ship, so it is currently stabbed into it.

Sengoku thought that she was too much for handling a Supreme Grade Sword like that, but Lunacia probably thought that it was better than letting her enemy, the Marines, pick it up.

But Lunacia is not unscathed――

"Vice Admiral Sengoku! What in the world is that monster!?"

The medic who was taking care of Sengoku's shoulder while pointing at Lunacia.

For him, who has medical knowledge, it must have been unbelievable that there is a person who could move in that state.

A total of 6 Seastone spears are pierced to Lunacia's shoulder, chest, abdomen, and back.

They impede her ability to regenerate, making her continuously lose a voluminous amount of blood.

Leaving aside Rayleigh, Zephyr is wearing knuckle busters made out of Seastones.

Combined with his strength, an ordinary Devil Fruit User would've been minced instantly if they got hit by something like that.

Usually, no one would be able to move after receiving such a blow.

However, Lunacia continues to fight despite being seriously injured.

She is moving around in a dizzying manner, acting as if she wasn't injured at all.

"It's a monster. That's why we need to crush her here."

Sengoku renews his determination and regains his spirit.

Meanwhile, Lunacia was sandwiched between Rayleigh and Zephyr.

Sword and fists, they were swung from her blind spot――

Sengoku doubted his eyes.

Despite being a blind spot, she avoided it.

Lunacia jumps lightly and twists her body, and Rayleigh and Zephyr's attacks cut an empty space.

Something came to Sengoku's mind, and he gasped.

He wanted to praise himself for not saying it loud.

It is said that when Kenbunshoku Haki is trained to the extreme, one could reach the realm of predicting the future.

He remembers that she wasn't able to move this much right after the battle began.

There is only one answer, but it also makes sense.

There has never been such a fierce battle, and there will none in the future.

That is why it is rather strange not to grow up in such a battle.

Moreover, Lunacia is on the verge of death because her regenerative ability is sealed.

If you fall into such a state, overcoming the barrier called limits will be easier.

If he voices out the fact that although Lunacia's immortality was sealed, it made her grow instead, their morale will drop sharply.

'Crush her with numbers――!

Before she grows to the point we can't deal with her――!'

With that in mind, Sengoku returned to battle.

'Oh geez, cut me some slack――'

On the other hand, Lunacia thought.

Rayleigh seems to want to take her away. He wasn't attacking Sengoku or Zephyr, only targeting Lunacia.

Sengoku and Zephyr probably thought that it would be a bad idea to make an enemy of Rayleigh in this situation, so they also weren't attacking him.

She thought it was better than fighting Newgate, Shiki, and Kaido at the same time, but she did her best.

In addition, the three mentioned earlier, in addition to Linlin, were on an equal and even with a slight advantage fighting against the other Vice Admirals.

They have already defeated dozens of them, but the number of enemies does not decrease.

The other crew members were also as expected of those who survived in Rocks' ship. They were fighting equally against the enemy.

When she saw Kaido beating his enemies to death, Lunacia seriously considered using him as a meat shield.

However, Zephyr and Rayleigh were just too sticky and wouldn't let her get close to others.

For Lunacia, the most troublesome thing was the weapons made out of Seastone.

Compared to Wano Country, the processing ability of the Marines when it comes to Seastone seems to be a bit lacking, making it generally clunky and unsophisticated. But Zephyr could use the rather blunt spears to stab her.

After piercing her with spears, Zephyr would then hit the end of the spears until they passed through, then stab her with it again, repeating the process.

While he was doing that, Rayleigh and Sengoku would also attack her, which made the situation helpless.

She would be repeatedly skewered, get beaten up, and chopped up. She could only move around while suffering severe pain while swinging Yomi around.

Lunacia had an intuition that she would be killed the moment she stopped.

From the middle, she started to be able to read the movements of her enemy, like reading the future, but in Lunacia's honest opinion, she felt that it would be fucked up if she didn't level up to at least that extent after struggling so much.

But suddenly, Rayleigh stopped attacking and called out to her.

"This might be weird coming from me, but... isn't it enough?"

Lunacia will die if they keep fighting like this.

From Rayleigh's point of view, the more he knew about the Rocks Pirates, the more he found it strange that Lunacia was acting as their vice-captain.

He glances at Sengoku and Zephyr.

"Sengoku, Zephyr. Wouldn't it be a hassle for the Devil Fruit she ate to appear somewhere if we killed her?"

Sengoku and Zephyr also stopped moving after hearing Rayleigh's question.

He is right, and Sengoku and the others really want to capture Lunacia alive and throw her into Impel Down.

"So, let's split it in the middle and let me take her..."

"Hey, which middle part did you split it from?"

"What are you saying, taking advantage of the moment..."

Rayleigh smiled carelessly, hearing Sengoku and Zephyr's complaint.

Seeing their exchange, Lunacia made herself laugh.

Hearing her laughter, they turned their eyes to her.

"No betrayal. That's my belief."

With that said, Lunacia raised Yomi.

'I feel a little dizzy, but I can still fight.'

Rather than whining, she can inspire herself better by acting cool in such situations.

Therefore, she laughs fearlessly and provokes them while suffering from severe pain.

"Stop your chitchat. Come at me. I'll be your opponent."

After saying that, Lunacia showed them her middle finger.

Rayleigh smiled deeply, Sengoku showed a fierce expression, and Zephyr looked impressed as they got ready to resume the fight, but――

"Hey, this is bad! Rocks lost!"

Suddenly, Shiki shouted.

With the ability he got from Fuwa Fuwa no Mi, he was flying in the air while shooting out flying slashes while watching the battle in the center of the island, so he was the first to know.

"Cut the crap!"

"I'm not lying, damnit!"

Shiki replied to Lunacia's angry shout.

As if to support his claim, a messenger rushes to Sengoku.

"Report! Rocks have been defeated! In addition, the central part of the island is severely damaged!"

"But we have achieved our goal. What's left is to..."

Before Sengoku finished, another messenger came with a pale expression.

"Report! The World Nobles who are currently staying on the island have requested a Buster Call! They ordered 'wipe out all these dirty pirates'! In addition, there is currently no one who has the authority to activate it other than Vice Admiral Sengoku."

"...well, I wonder what happened."

Sengoku makes a calm judgment.

Although it is said to be a request, it was equivalent to a substantive order.

And, although there are the three Admirals who are given such authority by the Fleet Admiral other than Sengoku, they seem to be in no good condition that they can do so according to what he heard from the messenger's report.

It is said that the central part of the island is severely damaged, but there are no words about World Nobles having casualties.

'If so, they might be very angry that the ruins and things they were cherishing were destroyed by Rocks――'

With the number of battleships gathered around the island's surrounding sea, the Buster Call probably won't be limited to a fleet of 10 warships.

These ships are gathered in the guise of protecting the World Nobles, but actually used to destroy the Rocks Pirates and their affiliates.

Sengoku has yet to receive the report, but the fleet intercepted the pirates under the Rocks Pirates' control without even allowing them to approach the island.

If all of the marine fleets were gathered, it would be possible to release enough bombardment to erase the island called God Valley completely.

However, for Sengoku, it was annoying to be bossed around by the World Nobles.

From his position, he has to obey, but he still has many thoughts about it.

It's common to almost all Marines.

Many participants who aspire for justice would become mentally ill after knowing they need to protect World Nobles, even after witnessing their actions.

When asked which is evil, a pirate or a world noble, they could answer immediately as a marine soldier, but no one could do so as an individual.

"...Zephyr."

"Yeah."

Knowing each other very well, they could understand even without putting it into words.

If the World Nobles didn't make any troubles, they could've caught them all.

However, their command can't be ignored, and they cannot show disagreement.

It is inevitable that even if they immediately launch Buster Call with the intention of sacrificing injured allies, there is no doubt that there are enemies who could still escape.

There is a slight grace period from the time the order is given until the marine fleet begins firing.

That's enough for people strong enough to escape.

Sengoku shouts his order.

"Buster Call will be activated after 20 minutes! Evacuate all crew! Take everyone with you! Don't leave anyone behind!"

He shouted as if it wasn't just for the marine soldiers but also for the pirates.

Rayleigh laughed, and Lunacia asked while looking a bit confused.

"Is that okay?"

"I only had such a decision to prevent my allies get implicated. What you do has nothing to do with me."

Sengoku says as he walks away.

Lunacia says while showing a smile.

"Just like your epithet, you're really a Buddha."

"...I'll always be ready if you want to turn yourself in. Remember that."

Sengoku said so and left, and Zephyr also followed behind him.

After seeing them off, Rayleigh asks Lunacia.

"So, what are you going to do now?"

"Escape, for the time being."

"It's a truce then."

"Got that."

While spears stuck to her body, Lunacia walked back to the Rocks Pirates' ship that barely retained its shape.

It was already starting to float.

Shiki is probably using his ability already.

"...hey, shouldn't you pull out the spears first?"

Rayleigh inadvertently calls out, but she doesn't hear it.

But from here on, the Roger Pirates were also in a pickle.

When they came, they snuck in using a marine battleship, but on the way back, they had to break through the marines' encircling net and reach their ship.

Since Sengoku decided to turn a blind eye to them, it doesn't make sense to return while sinking the marines' battleships, so they need to do it cleverly.