Divine Punishment! The Destruction of the Fleet!

Countless cannonballs were fired from the cannons, aimed at Sanders' position. Every movement of the Marine fleet had long been under Sanders' observation. Before the cannonballs could reach him, Sanders vanished from his spot. The next moment, he appeared above the Marine fleet.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The power of the cannonballs obliterated the gate of Impel Down.

"Onigumo?" Sanders raised an eyebrow as he spotted the Vice Admiral standing on the deck of the lead warship. He knew Onigumo fairly well. Technically, when Sanders was still in the Marines, he was part of the hawkish faction. He showed no mercy when dealing with pirates, often sinking both the pirate crew and their ships into the sea.

In the first half of the Grand Line, Sanders had wiped out countless pirate crews. The number of pirates who perished at his hands was so vast that even he couldn't recall the total. He never took prisoners, and while his ruthless methods displeased many, they greatly satisfied others—especially those in the hawkish faction led by Akainu.

Of course, unlike Akainu or Onigumo, Sanders didn't sacrifice the lives of his subordinates just to kill pirates.

"Sanders, you can't escape!" Onigumo showed no sign of wanting to reminisce with Sanders. "Everyone, continue the attack!"

Cannons were readjusted, and the Marines aboard the warships raised their guns. Bullets and cannonballs were once again fired toward Sanders, who remained in midair.

"Tsk," Sanders clicked his tongue. While effortlessly dodging the bullets and cannonballs, he laughed and said, "After all these years, is this how you greet an old friend?"

With his Observation Haki fully active, none of the projectiles came close to harming him. Onigumo watched Sanders continue to flicker in and out of view in the air, his expression growing darker.

"There's nothing to say to a criminal!" Onigumo pulled out several more swords, his hair extending like tendrils to grip the blades. He now looked like a spider, with eight "legs."

"True. There's really nothing to discuss," Sanders nodded, his expression turning cold. Sparks of lightning danced in his eyes. In the sky, the lightning within the dark clouds grew even more violent, snakes of electricity writhing and seemingly ready to unleash divine punishment at any moment.

Sanders' eyes suddenly widened. His Conqueror's Haki surged. A vast, overwhelming presence erupted from his body and spread outward, gradually enveloping the entire Marine fleet. The mighty force shook the sails of the warships like a storm.

Onboard the ships, the Marines aiming their guns at Sanders suddenly felt a chilling sensation, as if they had been marked by an unstoppable beast. In the next moment, the majority of the Marines rolled their eyes and collapsed, their weapons slipping from their hands.

"Wh-what's happening? Why are they all falling?"

"What's going on?!"

The remaining conscious Marines, trembling in fear, looked at their fallen comrades in horror.

"Conqueror's Haki?!" Onigumo squeezed out the words as he struggled to resist the overwhelming pressure emanating from Sanders. Compared to the other Marines, the pressure on him was far greater!

"How… when did he?"

Onigumo looked up at the figure floating in midair. He couldn't understand how Sanders suddenly possessed Conqueror's Haki. There had been no sign of it when he was in the Marines.

Moreover, the sheer intensity of this Conqueror's Haki was something Onigumo had only felt from the strongest individuals in the world. The surging pressure seemed ready to crush him, a Marine Vice Admiral.

Boom!

Thunder roared, and a flash of lightning illuminated Sanders' figure. With dark clouds and bolts of electricity as his backdrop, Sanders looked like a god of destruction.

"Onigumo, there's still a lot you don't know," Sanders remarked coldly, surrounded by a storm of silver lightning. He glanced at the surrounding warships, then raised his hands.

The clouds in the sky seemed to respond to his movements.

Crack!

A bolt of lightning fell from the dark clouds, striking one of the warships. The main mast was shattered, crashing down onto the deck, sending the Marines on board scrambling for cover.

"The mast is down!" they cried in panic.

The second bolt of lightning struck, followed by a third. One after another, the warships were battered by lightning strikes. In the blink of an eye, the ships were teetering, ready to sink at any moment. A sense of destruction loomed over the fleet as more and more ships were enveloped by the relentless storm.

Divine punishment had descended!

Outside of Impel Down was Sanders' domain!

The Marines onboard the ships stared in horror at the spectacle before them.

"My god! Sanders is controlling the lightning to attack the fleet!"

Panic and fear spread rapidly among the Marines.

"Vice Admiral Onigumo, do something!"

"This is the Calm Belt! There are Sea Kings below us!"

Terrified cries rang out. Anywhere else, falling into the water might not have been so bad. Every Marine was a capable swimmer, and they could rely on the wreckage to stay afloat until reinforcements arrived.

But this was the Calm Belt. Anyone who fell into the water here would be a snack for the Sea Kings. Not everyone was capable of handling those terrifying sea monsters.

"Damn you, Sanders!" Onigumo's face twisted in anger as he watched the fleet fall to pieces under the assault of lightning. He didn't care about sacrificing subordinates to capture pirates, but this—this kind of death was utterly meaningless.

He gripped his swords tightly, bent his knees slightly, and leapt into the air, using Geppo, one of the Rokushiki techniques, to step on the air and propel himself toward Sanders.

With his skill in Geppo, along with his mastery of Life Return to wield multiple swords, Onigumo had honed his air mobility to perfection.

"Stop this, Sanders!" Onigumo yelled as he unleashed a flying slash.

Sanders easily dodged the attack, not stopping his actions.

"Onigumo, I'm a criminal, remember?" Sanders smirked. "What right do you have to order me to stop?"

"There's nothing to discuss between me and the Marines."

As more and more bolts of lightning struck the fleet, the warships were shattered one after another, leaving wreckage floating in the sea. Numerous Marines fell into the water. Fortunately, the Sea Kings had retreated to the depths of the Calm Belt for now, or else the fallen Marines would have been nothing more than appetizers.

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T/N:

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