Chapter 17 – Sakazuki

[Kaienreki Calendar 1506, January]

Boa Hancock and her sisters boarded a ship from the World Nobles along with the other slaves and it didn't take them long to set sail. They had used the massive elevator meant for supplies, to get down from the top of the Red Line. More than a dozen ships filled with slaves were trying to flee towards the open sea.

Sadly things weren't so simple, as they could see three warships from the Marines approaching them from the direction of the Sabaody Archipelago. Within a few short minutes they would be in firing range.

The former slaves knew that they had little to no chance in escaping from the Marines. They were all severely weakened and a lot of them even malnourished from their time as slaves. Some also had injuries with different degrees from the battle with the guards or the torture that was inflicted on them.

Just as despair and hopelessness were starting to set in, along with a strong resolve in most of them to rather die than be captured again, they heard a strange sound.

A moment later a figure surrounded by dark blue lightning struck the ocean surface right between the ships.

The most intriguing part was that this figure simply stood on the sea, as if it was hard ground.

It was the teen that had been stealing clothes and food for the past year on Amazon Lily. Boa Hancock still couldn't really believe that he had come to save them from that hell on his own.

The absolute brutality with which he had ripped their tormentors to pieces, while the calm look on his face never vanished, was something she would forever remember. Along with the blood and lightning that had covered his face and body.

At that moment he had looked like a god of war, descending to punish the World Nobles for their sins.

It was also that moment that Hancock knew that they were safe, as a god of war had come once again to save them. Folding her hands, she prayed for his victory alongside her sisters, and many others who saw them and decided to follow their example.

*Murmured Prayers*

Lupin could hear these prayers from his position on the sea with his exceptional hearing, but his focus was more on the three Vice Admirals he saw on the approaching warships.

The stronger presence he had noticed before was missing, leaving only these three. Lupin had the strong feeling that the other person he had sensed was Sakazuki, as his presence had felt like heat and destruction incarnate.

That the man was not here could only mean he was held up on the Archipelago by something big.

Lupin knew he had to take this chance, as he didn't want to be held up by four Vice Admirals. And even though he could defeat them all in a one on one, he did not know if they had any special devil fruit powers that would hinder him.

Sakazuki alone would probably be hard to deal with, as Lupin was sure the man would use attacks on the freed slaves behind him to distract him and force him to defend them. That rabid dog was just that kind of an asshole, and while Lupin did not personally care about most of the slaves, he wanted to keep the Boa Sisters out of harms way.

Increasing the Conqueror's Haki coursing through his body, he could feel it augmenting his already tremendous physical strength even further, while the lightning around his frame intensified.

A moment later he sped towards the three warships and unleashed the full strength of his will onto the marines, which made all three thousand men except a few dozen just faint on the spot.

Sensing the unknown Vice Admirals coming his was way using Geppo, he spun around in the air and used a new technique, he had developed some time ago.

'Lightning Spear Barrage'

It was a technique were he used Seimei Kikan to speed up the growth of his hair for a moment and produced several thousand spear-like strands of hair that he infused with a great amount of spiritual energy, before firing them at an enemy.

It was ridiculously fast and almost impossible to dodge, so it could only be blocked.

The next instant it looked like hundreds and thousands of lightning strikes rushed at the three warships. The Vice Admirals could do nothing but try to defend themselves and their ships, but it was futile.

The sheer number and strength of the hair spears was simply overwhelming. And even though they could defend themselves from the relentless barrage, they weren't able to protect their ships and subordinates.

One of the Vice Admirals, probably a Zoan devil fruit user going by his hybrid form – which looked like a mix of crocodile and human, didn't even try to protect his ship and simply brute-forced his way towards Lupin.

He had coated his already very durable body in Haki to defend against the attack. It still hurt like hell and occasionally pierced his skin, but he managed to close the distance between the two and open his giant croc maw to bite down on Lupin.

Sadly for him that was what Lupin had been waiting for.

He had predicted the action through his Observation Haki and knew that to end the fight fast, he would have to separate the Vice Admirals from one another. Which was the whole goal of his last attack.

Coating his whole body in Haki, his skin color changed to a deep abyss-like black with a streak of dark blue. Afterwards Lupin simply grabbed onto the upper and lower jaws of his opponent, who thought the fight was already over.

'What a fool, my jaws can even shred through diamonds when I use Haki!'

Fortunately that delusional Marine had no future sight, because he probably would have shat his pants, if he knew what would happen to him at the next moment.

*CRACK* *CRUNCH* *BURST*

The head of that unlucky Vice Admiral just exploded a moment later, which caused the two approaching Vice Admirals to stop dead in their tracks.

One of them wielding a sword, while the other seemed to favour weaponless combat.

What Lupin had done after gripping the transformed jaws of the man, was to kick into the opened maw with a Haki infused kick, while strengthening the kick further by using the principles of Rokuogan and Internal Destruction to simply obliterate the head entirely.

It certainly didn't help the Vice Admiral that Lupin had already infused himself with Haoshoku.

*SPLASH*

The rest of the corpse just fell into the sea.

Not giving the two other Vice Admirals time to recover, he appeared before them at blinding speed using Kamisoru.

Turning his hands into blades, he attacked the unarmed opponent, after he had used the same kicking technique to blast the swordsman back onto his already sinking ship with ease.

His Haki coated Hand Blades meanwhile clashed with the other Vice Admiral's own hands, which were also coated in Armament Haki. Though the man's Haki wasn't able to block his Hand Blades completely leaving deep wounds on his arms.

In the end it was a short fight, lasting only several seconds.

As Lupin's Advanced Observation Haki provided him several seconds of future sight, which he used to cut off the man's right arm decisively, before appearing behind him and piercing his hand through his chest and destroying all his organs using Internal Destruction.

The swordsman had meanwhile recovered and hurried to his comrade's rescue. He slashed at Lupin even though his hand had already pierced the unarmed Vice Admirals chest.

"NOW, DO IT MIYAZAKI!"

"DIE, YOU MONSTER!"

Suddenly, the already half-dead man, whose chest he had pierced, grabbed his hand and refused to let go, while the sword-wielding Vice Admiral focused all his strength and Haki into one devastating horizontal slash. Aiming to bisect both Lupin and the other Vice Admiral.

It seemed they had realised that a head-on fight was simply suicide, but either way Lupin wasn't worried, as he had already seen this outcome through his Haki.

He simply did two things at once.

With his free left hand he grabbed the Wado Ichimonji on his back and used it to block the attacking blade easily. Proving his Armament Haki once again better than his adversary's, by blocking a full-on strike with a casual swing of his sword.

With his right hand however, he simply channeled a prodigious amount of spiritual energy into it using Internal Destruction infused with Conqueror's Haki and blew up the whole body of the Vice Admiral, who tried to restrain him.

*SHING* CLANG* *BOOM*

The repelled Vice Admiral Miyazaki retreated a few steps with a forlorn look on his face and addressed Lupin: "You damn monster! You killed not only dozens of World Nobles and freed their slaves, but also murdered Vice Admiral Abe and Moriata! Who the hell are you that you dare to commit such atrocities?!"

Gripping his blade in a more comfortable two-handed grip, while readying his strike to end this battle.

Lupin's eyes burned in a bright blue flame and a truly tremendous pressure descended on the surrounding few kilometers.

Even the freed slaves weren't spared this time, all being forced to kneel. The nearby Marine's half-sunken warships cracking and breaking even further, while the few survivors felt like they were being suffocated.

Vice Admiral Miyazaki himself froze in fear and felt as if a giant predator stared at him from the abyss itself.

He watched with shuddering eyes at the long haired monster in front of him.

Absolute silence descended on the area, as even the sea itself seemed to be in fear of interrupting Lupin's answer.

"I am free."

"I am free."

"I am free."

"I AM FREE."

These words echoed through the silence on the sea, reaching every former slave and Marine listening. Even the Fishman slaves, that had stopped their descent towards their home heard his words.

His words were burned permanently into their souls at this moment, as he stood in the sky surrounded by lightning, his burning eyes and his coal-black hair was dancing in the air.

Vanishing and reappearing behind the frozen Vice Admiral, Lupin sheathed the katana again.

Looking behind him, he could see the beheaded corpse of the last Vice Admiral fall into the ocean.

Using Kamisoru Lupin grabbed the blade and sheath from the dead swordsman.

Surprising enough the man had wielded a longsword and probably a high-quality one considering his position as Vice Admiral.

Lupin was right, the moment he held the sword in his hand, he knew that the quality was similar to the Wado Ichimonji itself, before putting away the sword for later inspections.

Appearing directly in the air above the Boa sisters, he controlled his hair to grab onto the three, while addressing the rest of the freed slaves with a far reaching voice.

"You are on your own from now on, I won't protect you any further. I suggest you leave as fast as you can, as Marine reinforcements will be coming here soon."

He didn't say anything else. In the first place he only freed them because of his dislike for slavery. He wasn't compassionate enough to protect them all the way home, nor ensure that the Marines wouldn't recapture them.

Still, there was one last thing he would do for them.

Shielding the sisters the his spiritual energy he approached the Sabaody Archipelago with his fastest speed, reaching there in only a dozen or so seconds.

Even from the very edge of the island, he could feel the clash between who he assumed was Sakazuki and another strong presence.

Stopping atop one of the huge trees growing on the island, he placed his hand against the trunk and used a perfectly controlled Internal Destruction to carve out a small cavity, where he placed the sisters into using his hair, along with his swords and a small stuffed bag.

"Wait for me here. I have one last fight to finish before I will bring you to safety."(Lupin)

Not waiting for their answer, he directly left towards the battle he sensed.

Arriving a few short moments later he saw Sakazuki battling The Dark King, Silvers Rayleigh.

Sakazuki must have come across the pirate on his search for Lupin himself and after recognizing the man must've intended to arrest him, strictly following his ideology of never letting a chance to exterminate criminals go.

Sadly for him he grossly overestimated himself, as Lupin knew the man stood no chance against the old pirate.

What Lupin didn't understand was why Silvers Rayleigh hadn't just retreated from the fight, as he no doubt could have done so any time he wanted.

Still, not being one to waste time he approached the two combatants by himself, already having formed Hand Blades coated with Busoshoku Haki and infused himself once again with Conqueror's Haki.

Sakazuki looked rather worn down with several bruises and light injuries on his body, while Rayleigh looked perfectly fine.

"You finally showed up at last, you cowardly criminal! Don't think I won't fulfill my duty and kill you just because you have that old man to back you up!"

Ignoring the fuming magma-man, Lupin looked at Rayleigh in question.

"It seems you have finished your business with the World Nobles. So I won't bother to keep that brat busy. This is your fight now, boy."

And then Rayleigh just turned around and left the area, while Lupin faced Sakazuki, who at this point looked positively livid.

"I will turn you to ash, brat! You will pay for the crimes you have committed today! Justice is absolute!"

"We will see about that.", Lupin answered the mad dog.

Sakazuki attacked first, letting magma fists rain down on Lupin on a large scale, which made it nearly impossible to dodge.

Unfortunately for the Marine, Lupin's Advanced Observation Haki granted him more than five seconds of future vision, so he could easily filter through the dense rain of magma.

Dodging what could be dodged and simply deflecting the other projectiles with Haki-infused and lightning-coated Hand Blades.

Raising his movement speed several degrees by exerting the full power of his muscles and using Kamisoru, Lupin moved too fast for Sakazuki to follow him with his eyes, which made the barrage of large scale attacks useless.

He looked like a dark blue lightning coursing the battlefield.

Sending Haki-infused wind blades at the Vice Admiral in large quantities, Lupin tested the man's Observation Haki.

The wind blades looked like compressed lightning storms as they flew towards Sakazuki and while he managed to dodge or block the first few, after a few moments, he simply opted for blasting magma in all directions, blocking all the attacks.

The clash of the the lightning storm and magma razed the surrounding vegetation and any buildings there may have been.

These clashes of lightning and magma continued for some time, as due to Lupin's great speed it was impossible for Sakazuki to escape his passive position.

Still, the battle wouldn't end in a short time like that, as the endurance of the Marine was clearly great. The magma man could probably continue like this for hours.

Hours, Lupin didn't have, as he couldn't afford to be caught up by the reinforcements of the Marines.

Lupin finally understood why Akainu was considered so strong, even though he relied overly much on his devil fruit, like most Logia do.

His destructive powers made it pretty much impossible for long range attacks to hurt him. Even Haki infused attacks were simply destroyed by his magma powers. The only thing that would probably be effective was Advanced Armament Haki, Internal Destruction.

Deciding to change his strategy, Lupin knew that he could only beat Sakazuki fast through close-quarters-combat. Something that was extremely risky, considering the destructive powers of the man's devil fruit.

Still, Lupin knew that it was time to use the full power of his Haki.

Coming to a stop, he watched Sakazuki doing the same. Both staring at each other for a moment, as Lupin shook of this sandals and used a large amount of spiritual energy to coat his legs in Armament Haki, the same way he had his hands.

Neither of the two spoke, as they prepared themselves for the next round of clashes.

Focusing his mind to the maximum, Lupin decided he would have to use his Future Vision permanently for the next few minutes of this fight, if he wanted to gain the upper hand fast and land a lethal hit at his opponent.

This would tire him out very fast, as it created a significant burden on one's mind to use this type of Haki.

But he didn't plan to prolong this fight anyway and his Future Vision was one of his trump cards and major reasons he had been able to kill the other three Vice Admirals that easily.

Another one of his trump cards was his Conqueror's Haki.

Infusing the Haki of Kings into his body and attacks and combining it with his Armament Haki pushed his attacks' strength to a whole new level, making them incredibly lethal.

Infusing the full power of his Conqueror's Haki into his whole body to do exactly that, Lupin made the first move.

Appearing before Sakazuki instantly, he deflected a powerful Haki-infused magma punch Sakazuki had sent towards him with his Hand Blade. The strength of his own Armament was several times stronger than his opponent's, so it was a rather easy maneuver.

Simultaneously Lupin countered with a lightning fast strike towards his opponent's chest, that Sakazuki tried to defend against by using Hardening as it had been to fast for him to dodge or block.

A dark blue lightning blade clashed with hardened magma body and sadly for Sakazuki, there was a significant gap between their Haki mastery.

So his attempt at defense was bound to fail and so it happened that Lupin's Hand Blade ripped through his spiritual armor and gave him a deep chest wound.

Kicking the ground and air using Kamisoru, Lupin moved at lightning speed around Sakazuki and evaded the torrent of magma his opponent had sent towards his position a moment later.

Not even pausing in his movements, Lupin used his evasion to position himself and deal a powerful kick towards the Vice Admiral's back.

In a combination of Rokuogan and Emission Haki, he sent an incredibly strong shockwave into Sakazuki's body, something the man again tried to defend by moving his magma-turned body out of the way, while also coating himself in Armament.

And after another clash of lightning and magma, the outcome still hadn't changed. The simple truth was that Lupin had the absolute advantage in not only Haki, but also speed and as they fought now in close range, it became more obvious.

*BOOM*

Sakazuki was hit directly and sent flying through several trees, leaving behind a burning trail with magma flying everywhere.

Still, the man proved his tenaciousness and experience by altering his flight using his magma transformation, to stop his momentum and land on his feet. The next moment he even sent a huge wave of magma towards the already caught up Lupin.

Unfortunately for him, Lupin's Future Vision had alerted him of this move and he simply used his blackened Hand Blade that crackled with lightning, to cut himself a path through the wave.

Lupin wasn't going to give the future Red Dog a chance to recover and attacked Sakazuki immediately with a Hand Spear towards his chest.

Increasing his attacks speed by sending a strong shockwave from his elbow using Emission Haki.

He hadn't yet mastered Rokuogan enough to send shockwaves from any part of his body. And even though this may seem like a waste of his spiritual energy, lethal high-speed attacks were the only way to end this battle in a short amount of time.

Sakazuki tried to block his attack with his Haki-coated magma hands again, but all he managed to do was deflect the lightning blade so it pierced his shoulder.

At the same time he counter-attacked using magma projectiles he fired from his stomach midway through his failed attempt to block Lupin's attack.

Lupin defended against the projectiles using his Haki-infused hair easily enough thanks to his Future Vision, before retracting his hand.

The next instant Lupin twisted his body horizontally in mid-air, while using Kamisoru with all his limbs, to position himself directly above Sakazuki, leaving dark blue lightning in his wake.

He did this not only to avoid the wave of magma that once again erupted from his enemy's body as he had predicted with his Future Vision, but also to directly counter attack once more.

Using an combination of Haki shockwaves and Kamisoru with such power that allowed him to build up enormous momentum near instantly, he channeled his accumulated power into his right hand and pushed it down towards Sakazuki's head.

It looked like heavenly lightning was trying to smite the Vice Admiral.

Sakazuki had only managed to raised his uninjured arm to attempt another block, before the attack hit.

*Crack*

The power of that last strike was simply too great, it had directly broken the defending arm's bones in multiple places, which had luckily given Sakazuki enough time to shift his head back to evade the fatal hit.

*BOOOOOM*

Unlucky enough, it had still hit his chest, as even his magma-turned body couldn't avoid a strike that was over-saturated with the Advanced Armament Haki technique Emission, which had turned directly into Internal Destruction as Lupin's palm descended onto Sakazuki's chest.

Sakazuki directly crashed into the ground beneath him, which crumbled due to the force with which he had hit it.

A massive crater had been created with this attack of Lupin's.

Using the pressure of his Conqueror's Haki to dissipate the formed dust cloud, Lupin looked at the severely injured Sakazuki. His entire ribcage looked very much shattered from that strike. Blood poured in a steady stream out of all his orifices and chest wounds.

"Cough Cough, urrghh... dam-...Cough Cough... damn brat...ughh, let's die toget-" (Sakazuki)

Not having let down his guard, Lupin's Future Sight showed him the intentions of his defeated opponent, who planned to erupt with his whole potential to turn the whole island into a living volcano only to have Lupin die with him.

Even though Lupin was sure he could escape successfully with his mind-boggling speed, he didn't plan let the whole island become a living hell only because he wasn't able to finish his opponent.

Gritting his teeth in anticipation of the following pain, Lupin closed his eyes and strengthening his Armament to its absolute limit, focusing it especially around his head and torso.

At the same time he used Kamisoru, Rokuogan and Internal Destruction to push himself forward with unavoidable speed, using only his Observation Haki and other senses – excluding sight – to sense his surroundings.

The power he used to propel himself forward was so vast, that his Haki created massive black lightning-like cracks in the air while he moved.

While Sakazuki brought forth a prodigious amount of magma, not caring about the environment they currently battled in anymore.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

The ensuing explosion still covered several hundred meters, but luckily most people had already evacuated the place long before.

The whole Archipelago was shaking from the colliding forces with cracks forming in the ground, and all the inhabitants feared it would sink any moment.

Luckily a few moments later the shaking stopped.

Back at the place of collision the sight of a severely burned and injured Lupin with the corpse of Sakazuki before him could be seen.

In that moment, where Sakazuki had tried to turn himself into a super volcano, Lupin had ripped through the mass of magma with a truly monstrous speed and had pierced both hands through the man's chest.

The next moment the Vice Admiral's entire ribcage had just shattered into bloody mist due to Lupin having given up most of the protection of his hands and using the spiritual energy for a concentrated burst of the Emission technique, Internal Destruction.

Shortly afterwards, Lupin's spiritual energy created a shockwave that freed him of the surrounding lava, as the light faded from the eyes of the man, who would have become the Fleet Admiral in different time.

Sakazuki, the 'Rabid Dog' of the World Government died just like that.

Distancing himself from the still scalding heat of the magma that bathed the surroundings, a heavily injured Lupin used Kamisoru to appear on a tree quite a distance away to overlook the battlefield.

His short battle with Sakazuki had razed a significant part of the island to the ground.

Especially their last clash, where the magma and shockwave had destroyed a good part of the forest, while the attacks Lupin had used to generate enough speed, had created a deep ravine in the ground hundreds of meters long and over a dozen meters deep.

Looking down at this hands, Lupin saw that the parts he had buried in Sakazuki's chest had been burned severely, with all the skin gone and even his flesh thoroughly blackened. And even though the pain was almost unbearable, he gritted his teeth and kept his focus sharp.

He knew his hands would heal eventually, even now he could feel his powerful vitality trying to restore the damage, something that unfortunately only made the pain worse.

The rest of his body, also had severe burns and internal injuries, not only resulting from the clash, but more because the combination of techniques Lupin had used to accelerate had damaged his body severely.

He hadn't mastered this combination yet, so the timing and control hadn't been wholly correct, which had backlashed heavily on his physical body.

Still, it had been worth it. He had not only defeated, but killed Sakazuki, a.k.a Akainu. A tremendous accomplishment considering the man's strength.

Lupin's clothes had also burned off mostly, except his shorts and necklace, even though the edges of his shorts were still a little burned, whereas his necklace was perfectly fine, being made out of some incredibly durable material.

He knew it had been the right decision to leave his other belongings behind, as they would have surely been destroyed in their fight.

The next moment, Lupin's figure vanished from the site.