Chapter 154

"Oh, yes, Tokikake! What's the matter?" While effortlessly handling Jozu with his sword, which had an immense increase in its weight due to Issho's ability to maneuver gravity, Issho spoke into the dial connected to the Den Den Mushi.

"Heya, Issho! We've failed to prevent the other members of the Grimheart pirates from escaping! They should be coming in your way!"

"What?! That's a serious matter!" Issho, with a surprised expression, replied.

Jozu, whose diamond-turned arm was pushing against Issho's sword, gazed up and saw that from the distant sky, Prominence was rapidly flying toward the island. Along with the loud explosions from the island, he was getting more and more uneasy as time passed by.

"So... don't you think we're wasting time here?" From Den Den Mushi, Tokikake's casual voice was heard, "You wanna run?"

"Hm, what about Sakazuki's order?" Issho asked in inquiry, "I'm pretty new here, but isn't this an act of disobedience?"

"Nah~."

"Alright then!"

Subsequently,

"Jozu! Marco and Ace are out!" Toward the marine warships that Jozu and the other members of the Phoenix pirates who were busy fighting against the marines, the large ship belonging to the Phoenix pirates was rapidly approaching.

On top of its deck, Vista was standing with his swords unsheathed, "Boys! The fruit went into the Grimheart pirates' hands! It's time for us to get out of here!!"

"Hm?!!" Issho, upon hearing Vista's remark, turned his head with a surprise, for such a turn of event meant that they managed to win the competition against two Emperors of the sea.

"Brilliant... Punk!" Using Issho's casualty as his advantage, Jozu quickly overcame the weight behind Issho's sword and pushed the former away. Immediately after, Jozu shouted to the other members of the Phoenix pirates aboard the marine warships,

"Return to our ship!! Let's escape before things get more troublesome!!!"

"Kekeke, finally!! I was this close to fainting, commander Jozu!!" One regal voice belonging to a member of the Phoenix pirates was heard, before they began to jump back to their ship.

"FIRE!!!"

*BOOMBOOMBOOM*

Although the marines shot the cannonballs toward the ship within the proximity, Vista gracefully cut all of them skillfully, preventing any damage to their ship.

Jozu, who returned back to their ship, asked Vista, "What about Rowan and the others?!"

Vista simply grinned weakly, "We'd only be nuisances the longer we remain! Rowan... he's fighting against two Emperors by himself... a mad lad, I'd say!!"

In the back, Marco and Ace were seen to be lying as the medics of the crew began to give them the necessary treatments.

"You've finally gone out of our ships." Then, Issho, who suddenly turned serious,

*Swoosh*

slashed his sword horizontally.

*VROOOOOOOOM*

Then, the Phoenix pirates noticed—

—the literal meteor dropping down from the sky.

"F***, let's get out of here, fast!!"

The Phoenix pirates were facing a trouble of their own.

______________

Now, the Coconut Seal was nothing but the ruined island where the floating remnants existed as the only possible footings. The island could no longer be called an island, and it was a matter of time before those remains too sank into the sea.

Rowan, whose body was fully covered by the manifestation of the Conqueror's Haki, was seen to be battling against two Emperors, Kaidou and Linlin, at the same time.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Slamming a kick into Kaidou's face, Rowan bounced himself sideway to dodge the lightning blast from Linlin.

Not spending a second to rest, Rowan backflipped to dodge Kaidou's headbutt, before propelling himself to the distant Linlin and giving her a punch in the abdomen.

"Blast..."

At the same time, Rowan found himself huffing in fatigue as he felt his back heating up. It was due to the intense gathering of heat from Kaidou's opened mouth, who turned to his dragon-form,

"—Breath!!!!"

"*Huff*... Entropic Imbuement,"

From around Rowan's clenched hand, the air began to heat up to an incredible degree. Just before Kaidou's flame impacted upon Rowan, Rowan struck his fist forward,

"Nox Blast."

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

With a single blow, Kaidou's Blast Breath was instantly demolished, before Kaidou himself was knocked back.

"One after the other, *Huff*... there's no end, huh?"

Rowan, who he felt Linlin's shadow looming over him from the back, snarled before,

*BOOOOOOOOM*

he was sent flying by Linlin's blunt strike with Napoleon.

'10 minutes left.'

Gritting his teeth, Rowan swiped his left leg in mid air,

*BOOOOOOOOOOM*

countering yet another attack from Kaidou.

'Left.'

Rowan tilted his head to his right, dodging Linlin's Napoleon, whose blade extended to a frightening length. Clenching the blade with his Haki-covered hand, through the mix of the bounce force and the internal destruction methodology of the Armament Haki: Emission,

*BOOOOOOOOM*

Rowan destroyed Napoleon's long blade with a single blast.

"Ahhhh!!! Ma-mama!!!!!" Napoleon, whose hilt was held on by Linlin, cried in pain, "H-he cut me in half!!!"

"Napoleon... my hat!!!!" Linlin screamed in anger; her voice itself has become a lethal weapon that boomed forth in a form of a sound wave.

"*Huff*... *Huff*..." Rowan's breathing was becoming more and more rapid, the more he fought. Kaidou and Linlin had a fearsome degree of endurance, and facing the two of them with the very taxing techniques, wasn't an easy feat to manage.

But Rowan didn't have any time to take a breather.

*BOOM*

Bouncing himself downward this time, Rowan evaded another Blast Breath from Kaidou, which travelled further and struck upon the guardless Linlin.

"Kaidou!!!!!"

"It's your fault for not dodging, Linlin!!!" Kaidou simply snorted as he rapidly flew toward Rowan in his dragon form.

'9 minutes.' Rowan grimaced as Kaidou's mouth opened once again, but instead of a flame,

"Demolition Gust!!"

The sharp blades of wind were shot at an incredible speed.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Of course, with one punch from Rowan, the 'Demolition Gusts' have been demolished themselves.

However, as Rowan was occupied dealing with Kaidou, Linlin positioned herself above the two.

"God of Lightning—"

Zeus underneath Linlin has darkened up.

"—Tenjin!!!"

*PAZZZZZZZZZZZ*

In all directions, the wild streams of lightning were shot simultaneously from Zeus. If looked closely,

"Yeehaw!!!"

those bolts of lightning themselves had a will of their own, due to Linlin having given lives to them.

The bolts all began to change direction toward Rowan and swirl into one large lightning storm that descended onto the latter.

In response, Rowan raised his right hand up, as if grabbing onto something. Subsequently, within his hand, the golden emission of his Armament Haki expanded into the form of a spear, before it was encased within the concentrated manifestation of the Conqueror's Haki.

"Nox Spear."

Then, Rowan threw the domineering spear toward the lightning storm, and to Linlin's shock,

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

the spear penetrated through the gigantic storm of lightning in a single blow, before piercing through Zeus as well.

"AHHHH!!!!!" Zeus cried in terror, and afterward,

*Puff*

he was erased from existence.

"W-what?!!!" Linlin, whose eyes widened in disbelief, shouted as she began to fall toward the body of water.

"Mama!" Katakuri, who was fighting against Carina with utmost seriousness, saw the dire situation in which Linlin has fallen into, and used his ability to maximum by expanding the huge amount of mochi into a platform, to support Linlin's weight.

However, Carina wasn't someone to let go of such an opening.

As Linlin safely landed on the mochi platform that Katakuri provided,

*ZOOM*

Carina stabbed all her knives onto Katakuri's right arm in one go, severing it from the latter's body.

"Tch...!" Katakuri, whose eyes have become bloodshot from pain, endured the damage as he motioned the mochi platform, in order to bring Linlin to safety.

"Katakuri... my son!!" Linlin, with her eyes blazing in lividness, exclaimed upon noticing the critical damage that Katakuri received, "Napoleon, Zeus, and now, Katakuri!! Grimheart…!!!"

'He subconsciously placed Armament Haki around his brain and heart.' Carina, with sharpened eyes, noted as she flashed to some distance away from Katakuri. 'I made a good choice to go after his arm instead, it seems.'

At the same time,

*BOOOOM*

Queen found himself shocked by the fact that Alfred, who seemed quite weak before, was able to withstand his blow.

"Screw that fruit...!!!" As Queen shouted with a tickmark, Dan zapped right in front of Queen's face, ready to strike.

"Max 140 Million Volt," With his eyes crackling in blue lightning, Dan slammed his fist onto Queen's face,

"Rex Smash!!!"

*BOOOOOOM*

Queen felt his chin being knocked back as few teeth flew out of his mouth. With a hazy vision, Queen couldn't help but curse at Dan within his mind, for the viruses that granted him the title of 'Plague' was useless in front of Dan, who immediately burnt them away with his lightning.

*ZOOM*

Upon seeing the chance, Carina, who was previously nearby Katakuri, was now in front of Queen, whose guard was down due to the electricity within his body paralyzing him.

"Flash Style, *Huff*… Execution."

Carina slammed her knife downward to Queen's exposed abdomen. The resilient skin of the Ancient Zoan was of no matter in front of Carina, and without Armament Haki, the only way to withstand Carina's 'Dimension Blade,'

*ZOOM*

Queen's death was unavoidable.

*ZOOM*

Skins, muscles, blood vessels, heart, lungs, liver, stomach, all that the blade came in contact with were all being teleported to elsewhere, and in a span of a second, Queen was a piece of a hollow corpse.

Without even being able to showcase his full strength, Queen died due to having let his guard down.

"*Huff*... *Huff*... *Huff*..." With the purple glows dying down from her knives, Carina slumped in exhaustion.

"Mademoiselle Carina, monsieur Dan, there comes Prominence." Alfred, who too seemed tired to an extreme degree, spoke up while pointing at the sky, "Let us begin our escape. Only then, will captain Rowan be lifted up from his burden of needing to protect us."

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Then, Rowan suddenly appeared in front of the trio, protecting them from Linlin's outraged burst of flame.

"*Huff*...2 minutes..." Rowan muttered as he breathed heavily as the glow from his eyes weakened. The constant operation of his enhanced eyesight and sense began to stress him out as well.

"Rowan!" Carina said out of worry, having noticed that Rowan was bleeding from the side of his head. This injury was given by Kaidou when Rowan was previously distracted by Linlin attempting to kill his crew.

"Let's... *Huff*... get out of here..."

"QUEEN!!!!!" Just as Rowan said to his crew, the anguished scream was heard from Kaidou, who noticed the death of his subordinate.

Linlin was trembling with her fists clenched.

"Mama, I'm fine." Katakuri stated with fatigue as he prevented the blood loss by adding a mochi plug to his arm.

Rowan, Carina, Dan, and Alfred watched as Kaidou and Linlin glared at them murderously.

"Kaidou..." Linlin growled with her eyes flashing in a fearsome way, "What do you say of an alliance until we kill Grimheart?"

Kaidou, whose face was in a deep frown as he gazed at Queen, spoke up in a low tone, "Just this once, you old hag."

Rowan couldn't help but chuckle upon seeing the birth of the alliance between two Emperors.

'Alliance between two Emperors just for my death… bohaha!'

"Guys!"

Then, Prominence has finally reached the sky nearby the piece of island that Rowan, Carina, Dan, and Alfred were seen on top of. Cavendish, realizing that it wasn't the time for a joke, hurriedly flashed down to the group.

Simultaneously, Rowan noticed that Kaidou and Linlin were raising their weapons at the same time—the piece of Katakuri's mochi given life for Linlin's case, with her Napoleon having broke.

"Cavendish," Rowan, without turning back, spoke up to Cavendish, who were carrying all three members of the crew, "Get them out of here, right now."

"Got it, captain."

Just as Cavendish instantly made his way back to Prominence with three members carried by him, Kaidou and Linlin blasted their combined attack.

""Conquest of the...

Sea!!!""

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Rowan saw the whole world in front of him exploding in white. The gigantic and ferocious blast of pure strength was about to engulf him and his whole crew behind.

However, without a pint of fear, Rowan clenched his right fist. The manifestation of Conqueror's Haki began to crackle more vigorously, and his fist itself began to light up brilliantly, signalling the use of Entropic Imbuement.

Without holding anything back, Rowan slammed his punch forward, meeting Kaidou and Linlin with the will of his own.

"Terraforming!!!!"

Nothing could be heard.

The only phenomenon that was present in everyone's eyes, was naught but the succession of domineering explosions that engulfed the whole sea over and over, not even leaving one piece of rubble remaining.

Then,

'…Time over, it seems.'

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

In midst of such explosions, Rowan, whose right arm was seen to be broken due to the stress of punching against Kaidou and Linlin's technique, was sent propelling upward, powerlessly. The effects of Grimheart and Grimlock died down, and Rowan found himself unable to move even the tip of his finger.

"I got you, captain."

Cavendish quickly held onto Rowan after travelling by the speed of light, and safely brought the latter back onto the Prominence.

"Hu—*Cough*... hurry." Rowan, in a hoarse voice, stated while coughing out blood, "Get... out of here right... now."

Just as Rowan said so,

"Flame Dragon Torch!!!!!!"

Kaidou's enraged voice was heard within the explosions, before an incredibly huge flame dragon, greater than any other that Rowan has ever seen, rocketed out to the sky above.

Linlin, on the other hand, couldn't be seen; this was due to her decision to protect Katakuri instead of chasing after the Grimheart pirates.

"What the f***?!!" Carmen exclaimed with widened eyes.

"S***, get the wheel!" Cavendish hurriedly grabbed the ropes attached to the sails.

"He is a natural disaster." Robin exclaimed with a cold sweat while crossing her arms.

Many hands sprouted out all over the ship, aiding all the necessary processes.

"I got the wheel!!" Urouge, with a grin, remarked in a cold sweat as he grabbed onto the steering wheel tight.

Kaidou truly was incredible. Although his body was full of injuries, he still was able to pull off such a mighty technique.

And now,

"GRIMHEART!!!!!!!"

the flame dragon that encased Kaidou roared, ready to chase after the Grimheart pirates.

Rowan, who was lying down on the deck, then ordered his crew with a resolute tone,

"Head toward the storm between Foodvalten and Coconut Seal."

There was only one way to get rid of Kaidou.