"Huh? Those idiot Marines don't plan on slowing down?"
Standing at the stern of the ship, the pirate captain watched as the approaching Marine warship closed in.
This seasoned pirate, who had sailed from the Four Seas and braved the first half of the Grand Line, wasn't the least bit afraid that the Marines would charge in like this. According to the unwritten rules passed down among veteran pirates, the Marines who arrived at Fish-Man Island wouldn't launch an attack on the pirates immediately.
Instead, they would wait until the pirates had finished capturing slaves and detaining their targets before stepping in to reap the benefits like fishermen.
As for the mermaids who were rescued, they would be taken away from the Marines by those men dressed in black, never to be seen again.
By convention, the Marines should have been stopped and questioned by the Neptune Army of Fish-Man Island. However, when several members of the Neptune Army attempted to approach the Marine ship, they realized that the other side had no intention of stopping at all.
"Hey, hey, hey!? No way, right?"
The pirate captain's face twisted in shock as he saw the Marine warship being pushed forward at accelerated speed by sea beasts. He furiously shouted at his crewmates standing on the forecastle deck.
"Enemy attack!"
A violent tremor shook the ships as they crashed into each other at the bow and stern, their bubble coatings colliding and pressing tightly together.
Sakazuki took the lead, charging straight ahead and throwing a punch toward the pirate who had been shouting orders at the stern.
But a pirate captain who could make it from the Sabaody Archipelago to Fish-Man Island wasn't just some ordinary riffraff.
The moment he saw the Marine's magma-coated, glowing red fist, the veteran pirate immediately knew that he couldn't take that hit head-on.
He rolled sideways in desperation. Though his posture was awkward and he looked utterly disheveled, he at least managed to preserve his life.
However, before he could get back on his feet, a low voice rang beside him:
"Soru!"
Accompanied by the deep sound, a tall Marine delivered a downward elbow strike.
Sakazuki's muscular right arm tensed, and his elbow—coated with Armament Haki at the upper end of the ulna, the hardest part of the human body—was further enhanced by the kinetic and thermal energy of his Magma Fruit as it came crashing down toward the pirate's skull.
Through his precise control over the Devil Fruit, the lower-temperature outer layer of magma contained the much higher-temperature molten core within, creating an extreme pressure differential inside Sakazuki's body.
As the internal pressure rapidly increased, once it greatly exceeded the external pressure, the resulting explosive kinetic force became deadly.
Having no way to dodge, the pirate captain reluctantly pulled a short rod from his coat pocket, attempting to block the attack temporarily before using the deck to push himself backward.
However, he had completely miscalculated—
The razor-sharp edge of the Marine's fiery red elbow effortlessly sliced through the short rod used for defense.
With no resistance at all, the attack continued at high speed, heading straight for the pirate's neck.
"How could…!"
A large, severed head was sent flying. The wound, charred by extreme heat, emitted steaming vapor, yet not a single drop of blood dripped down.
"Purgatory Heat Blade."
Watching the pirate's head land with wide, unseeing eyes, Sakazuki finally spoke the name of his technique.
The Magma Fruit's destructive power was among the very pinnacle of Logia-type Devil Fruits. Even with Armament Haki-enhanced defenses, an enemy might still fail to withstand the terrifying heat and massive impact force released in an instant.
To maximize the near-invincible close-combat abilities of the Magma Fruit, Sakazuki had deliberately chosen a battlefield with almost no room to maneuver.
With both sides losing the advantage of mobility, the battle became a direct clash with no room for evasion.
When combined with Armament Haki, this style of combat often led to instant kills—and this time was no exception.
Behind Sakazuki, the air filled with sharp, slicing sounds as Marine officers used Moonwalk and Soru to efficiently cut into the battlefield.
Many pirates on the forward deck were dead before they could even react.
On the other side, Onigumo and Lindman—the two advocates of "group bullying"—shamelessly executed their philosophy of fighting to the fullest.
Both were powerful Marine officers who could defeat opponents within three moves in single combat. Yet, they preferred teaming up to overwhelm their targets in an instant before moving on to the next victim.
From a duelist's perspective, their approach was utterly disgraceful—
But from a slaughtering standpoint, it was highly efficient.
Sakazuki appreciated this kind of pragmatism. He lifted his gaze toward the group of pirates gathered along the portside passage, who had clustered together in response to their captain's earlier call.
If he weren't concerned about breaking the bubble coating, he would have already launched a single, devastating magma fist to turn them all into ashes.
Instead, he simply charged straight into the crowd.
Keeping his stance low, he maintained an elementalized form while delivering a scorching, full-body shoulder slam to the nearest pirate.
Using the opening created by the impact, Sakazuki stepped forward with deliberate ease.
Yet his hands moved with fluid precision—grabbing pirates by the head and repeatedly slamming them onto the deck with brutal over-the-shoulder throws.
The extreme heat instantly seared flesh, while the sheer impact shattered their necks.
Sakazuki's left hand used brute force to press down on a pirate's drawn katana, while his right foot stepped forward to close the distance.
His magma-coated right palm climbed up the pirate's face—
Like a tiger scaling a mountain, he violently tore downward.
The seared, charred flesh was ripped away from the forehead, peeling off the entire face along with still-wet blood. The grotesque, dangling remains hung loosely from the pirate's chin.
At this moment, the pirate's mutilated face looked even more ghastly and pitiful than a demon from hell.
Slightly gathering his strength, the vice admiral grabbed the last pirate still standing before him—who had already been scared out of his wits.
With sonic booms from Moonwalk reverberating through the air, Sakazuki ascended rapidly, as if tearing apart the space within the bubble.
Gripping the pirate's jaw, he soared to the height of the lookout post.
"Soru!"
A blurred silhouette flashed downward—
Boom!
A violent crash rocked the deck as it suddenly split apart from the center, sending broken planks flying in all directions.
The unfortunate pirate, whom Sakazuki had been holding by the head, was hurled directly into the gaping hole.
His body had long since been flung out of sight by the immense force—
Only a scorched skull remained, attached to a blood-drenched, bone-white spinal column that stretched down from the neck.
The Neptune Army soldiers, who had just arrived inside the bubble in a desperate attempt to stop the Marine slaughter, were so horrified that their livers and gallbladders nearly burst.
Several Fish-Man guards immediately threw down their weapons and collapsed on the deck, retching uncontrollably at the hellish carnage before them.
Sakazuki pointed toward the pirate captain's severed head lying at the stern.
Lindman, understanding immediately, jogged over in short strides to pick it up.
He ran back excitedly, presenting the pirate's head to Sakazuki like a treasured offering.
The vice admiral didn't even glance at the head he had personally severed.
Instead, he simply tossed it in front of the only Fish-Man officer who had managed to hold back his nausea.
The Fish-Man captain stared blankly at the decapitated pirate's vacant eyes—just a minute ago, they had been speaking.
Now, he was dead.
Before his very eyes, the Marines had slaughtered an entire pirate crew with ease.
Yet, the demon-like Marine commander seemed completely unfazed by his own actions.
Behind his burly frame, a vicious, eight-armed officer casually wiped the blood off his swords, cigarette still hanging from his lips.
To the Fish-Man captain's side, another Marine—grinning as if nothing had happened—sat leisurely on the railing, admiring the distant scenery of Fish-Man Island.
"Have it smoked as an offering."
Sakazuki tilted his chin upward.
"This is the Marine's gift to Sea Lord Neptune."
At that moment, the Fish-Man captain, tasked with guarding Fish-Man Island's front gate, finally collapsed onto the deck in terror.
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since some of you guys couldn't find my patreon page i tried to update the username toiamsuzu
the easiest way to find is to copy and paste THE LINK IN THE SYNOPSIS
www.patreon.com/c/iamsuzu
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btw Akainu is facing Whitebeard head-on… things are about to get crazy! Don't miss it! join on Patreon now!