A/N: Chapters in advance in Patreòn
Pa treon.com/HolyJoker
(This is Finished on there)
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Chapter 127: Betrayal
***
Swinging his sword to the side, Kizaru made a wide arc of light and attacked Fujitora. The latter was shocked, but he was still barely able to bring up his sword and stop the attack.
Clang!
But a laser shoots out of Kizaru's finger and pierces straight through the stomach of the new Admiral while they were still clashing swords.
"Kizaru!!" Fujitora yelled out in panic, changing the gravity around them and pushing the Light Admiral away, and he landed next to me. Fujitora looked at us while clutching his midsection as blood spilled out.
"Sorry~" Kizaru apologized halfheartedly, it was clear that he didn't mean it. "But it's kinda dangerous fighting against monsters like him." He pointed at me.
Fujitora winced, as his bleeding wouldn't stop. Normally such an attack would never work against him, but he had been taken off-guard "So this is your decision? To abandon justice and join with a man like him!"
"What?~ You are making it seem like Max is some kind of criminal. No, no~ he is a genuine Admiral, even the World Government won't refute that." Kizaru explained, gathering a ball of light in his hand and shooting a barrage of light particles.
Each of the light particles was lethal and would go through most defenses and even I wouldn't be able to dodge every single one of them.
"You fool!!" Fujitora seemed nervous too, as he swung his sword, trying to use his gravity to curve light. Even he didn't believe that this would do anything. But I knew different, and as laser beams got closer, they all curved out of the way due to the gravity.
"What?!" Kizaru was surprised too. They were marines who were concerned more with fighting and didn't have a lot of physics knowledge on their Devil Fruits. Why would they bother learning such things? It wouldn't be useful in most of their fights and will just be a waste of their time. But I knew basic physics and understood that light could be bent by gravity. Essentially, the one person who could counter Kizaru's fruit was Fujitora, ironically.
That was just unlucky on Kizaru's part. Because while he could curb stomp most opponents and his Devil Fruit was one of the best Logia out there. He has now met his counter, this was like the Luffy and Enel fight.
Kizaru looked at me with an uncertain look, as if asking for help. He knew that he had met his match today.
I just shrugged. "Handle this yourself. If you can't, then you aren't worthy to join us… Kizaru."
The Admiral looked at me strangely and sighed. "But-"
"Also why are you still trying to refuse? I know you aren't dumb enough and know that if you killed Fujitora, you might be trusted." I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him.
"Might be?" Kizaru frowned, noticing by my working that no matter, even if he won against the other Admiral, there was still a chance I wouldn't let him join us.
"Of course, why would I trust you? Just because you said some words? Anyone can say things. But do they mean them?" I explained to him, and my Conqueror's Haki burst out. The sky crackled as stormy clouds gathered and the sea shook, creating strong waves and even tsunami in some cases.
"So, Kizaru, kill Fujitora and prove your loyalty. If you don't then I will kill you right here right now." I coldly told him.
He was within arm's reach for me. We both knew he would be dead and wouldn't be able to escape me at such a close distance. Even if he tried to with his light speed, I had Future Sight and could see into the future for a certain amount of time that they had no idea about how far I could see. I will crush him even before he makes his first move.
Honestly, I still didn't trust Kizaru at all. I couldn't tell what he was thinking most of the time. Even if he killed Fujitora to prove his ability, I will still get rid of him after the fight. Why would I keep such a strong person close to me whose loyalties were questionable? It would be foolish to take such a chance.
Kizaru had to die, no matter what he chose. His Devil Fruit will also be put to good use.
In the end, this could all be a ruse. It might have been all pre-planned just so Kizaru could gain my trust. My ability to sense emotions with Observation Haki was quite good, I doubt even Fujitora was at my level. But I still wasn't arrogant to think that I am unbeatable and that my Observation Haki was something no one could trick. That kind of thought got people killed.
That was how I killed a lot of my opponents two years ago, they were just too arrogant. I didn't want to suffer the same mistakes my dead enemies did. That would be very stupid of me.
.
It was at that moment when I noticed something strange. Some unknown substance had entered my body.
It was poison, and due to Life Return, I can easily sense anything foreign in my body and dispel almost all poisons. Of course, no one knew I had this kind of ability. Because people could probably figure out a way to get around my immunity to poison. Most of the time, I just needed to strengthen my blood vessels and dispel the poison in the form of body discharge like sweat, tears, etc.
Still, though, where did the poison come from? There was only one person close enough to poison me now.
I stared at Kizaru, he looked like he didn't want to fight Fujitora. But now his intentions had just become clearer. He wanted to waste time staying close to me so the poison took effect.
It was a good strategy because by the time I saw in the future that I was poisoned. I wouldn't be able to change it or go back to Reiju fast enough with two Admirals on my tails.
"Anyway, kill Fujitora, only that way you can earn my trust." I insisted to Kizaru once again and he reluctantly nodded.
"Yes," he whispered earnestly.
But I now knew he was lying and this was all an act for the Light Admiral. Not that I was going to let him live, even if he didn't do this, but now this had just become the final nail in Kizaru's coffin. He looked at me one last time and said, "After this, you will have to take me in, or else I will have to go and join Shanks. Unlike you, I am not strong enough to survive an onslaught by the World Government."
I love listening to lies when I know the truth.
Kizaru crossed his arms in front of him and used both hands to fire a torrent of deadly light particles.
{Yasakani no Magatama}
Fujitora on the other hand made a sphere of gravity around him and any light particles that came close would shift and hit towards the water, causing great explosions to occur in the ocean.
Kizaru then shifted above him and kicked down at light speed while his foot was infused with Armament Haki.
Clang!
His kick clashed with Fujitora's sword, which bent the gravity around them and tried to rip Kizaru apart. The latter tried to turn into light and escape there, but his light particles curved and changed directions, forming somewhere else where Fujitora shot out an air sword slash.
Kizaru was able to barely tilt his head and dodge the attack, but a cut still appeared on his cheek. Even though Fujitora was injured, the counter he possessed against the Light Fruit user was so big that there was quite a high chance of him winning.
Sadly for Kizaru, he couldn't fake attacks, because he knew that I would notice. It seemed like Fujitora wasn't even in the scheme, so to him this betrayal was real.
Confuse your allies to confuse the enemy. If Fujitora was in the scheme I would have noticed immediately in the way they fought and his emotions I could sense. But now, this had tuned in their heads.
Well, I wasn't going to stop my enemies from fighting and killing each other.
Their plan was truly good and didn't have any holes in it, on paper. But sadly for them, they didn't know what I was fully capable of, and mostly though I depended on my raw strength to fight.
Using Life Return, I fathered all of the poison on the tip of my finger and pushed it out through the sweat glands on it. A black, odorless liquid appeared. Even with the sense of smell of a bear, which was over 2000 times better than a human, I couldn't smell it at all. So it seemed like they had made a poison especially suited for me.
They seemed to have worked hard in this plan and probably had Vegapunk make such a strong poison, that I hadn't even noticed how it was injected into me. So it was very effective.
I kept looking at Kizaru and Fujitora fighting, hiding my sense of amusement behind an emotionless face.
***
A/N: The plan against Max was a genuinely good one. But it's quite hard to trick someone like him, and even when you fail you won’t know and end up like Kizaru, fighting your allies.
P.S: No, Max won’t stop them from fighting. Why would he? Let them injure each other a bit first. He won't let his emotions on Kizaru's betrayal stop the enemies from fighting themselves…