124 5th Emperor?

With a flap of his wings, Roman shot in Vernon's direction.

when he saw the fiendish halberd wielding black Draconian flying in his direction, Vernon instantly realised how serious his current predicament was. He no longer cared about the bounty on the Heavenly Demon or taking Shaya's life to prevent any future trouble for the League. He just wanted to escape as quickly as possible.

Just when he was about to escape he felt a stabbing pain coming from his 2 shoulders and thighs that seemed to prevent him from moving. He turned around and saw that his shadow had multiple throwing knives pinned to it.

"That bitch!"

He understood that this was the handywork of Malia. He had been so preoccupied with the Roman closing in he hadn't noticed Malia's attack until it was too late.

He slashed backwards at his shadow with his short sword and got rid of the throwing knives holding him in place. He was about to make another attempt at escaping when he felt his blood boil and his body restricted.

"Kneel!"

When he heard the cold voice of the flying archer he knew that this was her ability to control blood at work.

The knees of the assassin started wobbling as if they were just about to give way. He had sensed her using her blood abilities before and knew that although she had awakened her devil fruit she shouldn't be at a level where she was capable of affecting someone at his level.

[That arrow…

When she pierced my shoulder with her blood arrow before, the arrow disappeared. At first I didn't think anything of it, but thinking back now…

With her blood in my system, being able to affect my body's movement wouldn't be too difficult especially in my weakened state…]

Suddenly he felt the light from the sun disappear and the nearing of a dangerous aura.

"Nooo…

Fuck off!"

As he roared his aura suddenly violently increased allowing him to break free of Shaya's control. He turned to face Roman and thrust his sword out as his arm seemed to multiply. One was aimed at the head and the other at the heart of the towering scaled figure.

Roman didn't panic seeing Vernon's attack.

"Pure Yang Eruption!

Halberd of the Setting Sun!"

A burning golden skin tight aura enveloped Roman's body as he chopped down at the assassin. Roman saw that Vernon's arms seemed to multiply by 2 as he stabbed out, but he was a firm believer that as long as you make it count, one powerful attack was more effective than 10 fast attacks.

As the 2 attacks collided, both Roman and Vernon were forced back 5 steps before they were able to stop. Vernon frowned as he looked at Roman's body.

[I was forced to use Overdrive and I could still only fight him to a draw…

I can't afford to stay here anymore, fighting the 3 of them as I am now, even after using Overdrive I have absolutely no assurances of winning…]

Roman, Shaya and Malia all attacked the assassin hoping to kill him as quickly as possible. When the attacks landed on Vernon's body, the body disappeared as if it were never there in the first place.

"After image?"

Roman looked to Shaya with a slight frown. Shaya shook her head lightly in response understanding what that look meant.

"He's gone, and with his ability to conceal himself I wouldn't be able to find him."

Roman released his transformation as he shrugged not seeming to care about the escape of the assassin. Malia and Shaya landed beside him releasing their own transformations. The trio walked over to Sabo and Silk who were still protecting Benji.

After making sure that everyone was still in one piece, he looked over at the other Super Rookie; Enel the Thunder God who was in the middle of an intense battle with Vice-Admiral Kurogane.

Feeling his gaze Kurogane looked cautiously at the Heavenly Demon's first mate. He witnessed the death of the Yonko Executive; Daifuku. Even though he was confident in his ability to defeat Roman in a one on one, if he had to fight the other Heavenly Demons as well, he knew that forgetting him, even an admiral would be hard pressed to come out on top.

He jumped back putting some distance between himself and the crazy Super Rookie. He gave the 2 Super Rookies and their crews one final look before turning to Smoker.

"Let's go."

Even though it was only 2 words, everyone present could hear the dejection from his tone. It was understandable though, they came with a powerful group that numbered in the dozens for the coveted Chaos Fruit. Now they were forced to leave with only 2, and the shame of knowing that despite unofficially working with a group of pirates and a powerful member of the league, 2 rookie crews forced them to retreat.

Before leaving, Smoker gave the Heavenly Demon's and Raijin Pirates who had repeatedly defied the odds and created what could only be described as a miracle one final look.

It wasn't just Smoker looking at the 2 Super Rookies and their crews. Everyone was looking at them in complete disbelief.

"They killed a powerful Yonko Executive and forced not only the marines, but also a powerful member of the League of Killers to retreat…"

"Is this really the strength of a bunch of Rookies?"

"Regardless, you can bet that this won't be the end of that."

"Especially where Big Mom is concerned!"

"A crew full of rookies killed 3 of her children and a ship full of her men. If she just let it go after being slapped round the face like that, the title of Yonko would be lost on her…"

"This could be the start of a war between the Heavenly Demon's and Big Mom."

"A war implies a battle between 2 equal sides…

Even if they're strong, they're far from being the genuine match of a Yonko!"

"Exactly. It'll more than likely end up a massacre!"

"Still, if they manage to survive this calamity…

This could be the start of the story of the 5th Emperor of the sea!"

One of the Red Hair Pirates stood near Yasopp said.

"Since when does a rookie crew have a Captain and First Mate who are at the Admiral level?"

Yasopp who was still watching Ori's fight shook his head as he replied.

"Individually their strongest 2 fighters are barely at the level of a Mid-level Yonko Executive, but once they work together their more than capable of fighting and potentially even killing someone the Admiral level.

Their ability to work so well as a team is their most fearful ability. Benjiro's musical abilities, Shaya's sharpshooting skills, the raw power of Roman and the diversity and adaptability of their Captain, whose raw power isn't any weaker than Roman's. They have all aspects of a perfect team covered. Even their new member Malia adds a new dimension to their team.

The only ones who don't add much to the overall strength of the crew are that monkey brat and the half mink, half fishman, but even then it's clear that their potential is no weaker than the others. If nothing happens, in the future they'll be no weaker than any Yonko Executive…

Maybe stronger."

Jozu who was watching the fight from beside Yasopp was shocked by the words of the infamous sniper. To be a truly great sniper you need to be good at reading people. It was no secret that the Red Hair's sniper had mastered the art to a truly fearful level. Hearing his words Jozu knew better than to brush it off. He eventually got over his shock and softly said.

"Although it's far too soon to be referring to them as the 5th Emperor, this truly may turn out to be the start of a powerful new crew."

Yasopp didn't reply he just watched the fight between Ori and Katakuri. What was going through his mind, only he knew!

Seeing the Vice-Admiral taking his leave, Enel didn't try to stop him. He understood that even with the help of Benjiro's music defeating Kurogane was a near enough impossible task as they were pretty much on par and he could see that the Vice-Marine wasn't going all out.

[In the future I'll beat you with my own strength!]

The Thunder God turned around to make his way back to his crew ignoring the stares of the crowd. He didn't forget to give the Heavenly Demon's crew one final look on his way.

Seeing his look, Roman nodded his head in thanks for coming to their aid. Even though he was somewhat confident in their ability to weather the storm without his help, he would be a fool to deny that it made their lives a lot easier.

Enel saw the First Mate's nod but didn't make any gesture in reply. He simply snorted and turned his head away and carried on walking.

Roman shook his head helplessly at the action of the Super Rookie, not seeming to mind his arrogance.