Chapter 251: Trepidation
“Bang~”
The sound of Moonwalk echoed only once in the air, and then the major general who had been grinning on his face abruptly vanished from midair.
No commotion, no sign, no trace…
As if this person had never been born into the world—he disappeared completely clean.
Every strand of hair, every eyelash, every nail fragment turned into tiny specks of light, annihilated into the void in the next blink of an eye.
……
Splash~
A long string of handcuffs fell into the sea, the splashing sound drawing over the crowd on the ship who were still chatting and laughing with each other.
“Hm? Where’s Major General Pado?”
“How did he suddenly disappear?”
“And what was that ‘splash’ sound just now? What thing fell into the sea?”
They didn’t know what had just happened.
While those who had been paying attention to the commotion here had already fallen into a brief daze.
Their originally lively expressions—whether relaxed, serious, excited, or smug—were now frozen on their faces like wax figures.
They didn’t understand what had just happened.
A sea breeze blew by, and a masterless Justice Coat from the sky fluttered aimlessly up and down in the wind like a lost seagull, finally landing back on the warship…
“Gulp~”
“This, this is…”
Taking uneven steps due to his injury, Mien removed the white coat hanging on the cable and brought it close to his eyes…
The cool air had already carried away the last trace of warmth left by its original owner.
“…Pado, Pado?”
“Pado!”
“Everyone, get down!”
“Enemy attack!”
Sengoku rushed over and pressed Mien down, putting his body under the cover of the ship’s railing.
“Quick, notify all warships! The enemy may have a sniper at ultra-long range—have everyone find cover!”
“Quick!!!”
Sengoku commanded hoarsely.
Clatter—clatter—
Countless chaotic footsteps rang out on the deck.
For a moment, everyone except Sengoku hid their bodies as much as possible.
And those mid- and low-level officers and soldiers who had always followed Sengoku directly obeyed the order following their bodily instincts, but a touch of unease and surprise stained their hearts.
No other reason—Sengoku’s tone had carried undisguisable panic for the first time just now.
In the past, no matter the time or situation, even when surrounded by layers of enemies, this Wise General always gave people a sense of calm composure as if he had everything under control.
As if he always held an unplayed trump card that could decide the battle.
And it was precisely this unflappable steady demeanor that prevented his followers from showing cowardice or fleeing no matter what ferocious pirates they faced—they could always confront various enemies with a positive mindset.
But… from that command just now, they could no longer hear that reassuring sense of composure.
“Admiral, has another enemy appeared?”
“Where is the opponent?”
Sengoku’s deputy officer hunched over behind the ship’s railing, leaning close to him and asking softly.
“I don’t know.”
“Ah?”
“I don’t know.”
Sengoku’s current expression was extremely grim; he hadn’t seen even a trace of that strike just now—his Observation Haki seemed to have failed entirely.
A headquarters major general had been erased right in front of him!
Yet as an admiral, he couldn’t mount any counterattack… Panic, anger, anxiety, and a trace of… chills ran through him, emotions piling over his heart like layers of dark clouds.
And hearing Sengoku’s uncertain answer, his deputy officer’s face also flashed with a moment of panic before quickly tugging at the other’s trouser leg.
“Admiral, you should find cover and hide too. The enemy is in the dark, we’re in the light—this is too dangerous for you!”
“No.”
Ignoring the possibility of exposing himself to the enemy’s vision, Sengoku flatly refused and remained standing straight on the deck.
“If the opponent takes me as the next target, that’s perfect—I can use it to figure out the enemy’s method.”
“Otherwise, if they keep doing this eerie sniping, we won’t be able to move an inch.”
An attack that could one-shot a major general—probably no one present except Sengoku could withstand it, so he had no choice.
Beneath the Navy uniform, a faint golden light began to shine again, as Sengoku waited like a seasoned fisherman for the fish to bite.
……
“Hm?”
“What are you gesturing at, La?”
On the Beasts Pirates flagship several sea miles away, Burufaruto, who was tending to Kaido, saw La walk past him and make an ‘aiming’ gesture at the bow, so he asked curiously.
He had thought La was about to do something or use some attack move, but it seemed she had no such intention.
La merely raised her right hand to aim for a moment, then lowered it again, with no anomalies appearing throughout.
The sea breeze still filled the sails, the waves still lapped at the ship’s railing, the sunlight still shone on the deck…
“Nothing.”
Her crimson eyes looking at some point ahead, La answered somewhat absentmindedly.
Several sea miles away, although Aoxi’s woven clouds had been broken open with two large holes, they still hadn’t fully dispersed.
The sea surface presented a murky dirty blue, in stark contrast to the azure clear waters on their side under the direct sunlight.
“Aoxi and the others lost—we should hurry over.”
Walking back to Kaido’s side and seeing he still showed no sign of waking, La spoke again.
“Ah?”
“The brat lost?!”
“Miss Aoxi lost?”
Two voices sounded simultaneously, and Kaido lying on the ground seemed on the verge of being woken, his brows starting to twitch continuously.
“Miss La, what exactly happened?”
Taolong, who had been acting as Brother Burufaruto’s first mate on the flagship since his own number one ship was destroyed, was now full of shock at La’s words.
As the Number One Person among the Beasts Pirates striving toward the five core executives, Taolong had considerable knowledge of Aoxi.
Even against Kaido, Aoxi could stand undefeated with her speed.
But now defeated in just a short dozen minutes— was that Navy Admiral really that strong?
“Nothing strange about it—Aoxi didn’t choose to rely on her speed advantage for continued guerrilla tactics but teamed up with Obei for a direct frontal confrontation with that admiral.”
“So failure was inevitable, after all, the opponent surpasses Aoxi and the others in both experience and raw strength.”
La’s words were very casual, as if she didn’t care or worry about her sisters’ defeat.
“Even Obei got involved?”
“Mm.”
“So we need to speed up now and go pick them up.”
“Right, right! Hurry and accelerate, accelerate!”
“But Brother Burufaruto, this is already the maximum speed.”
“Then what do we do?! If the brat and the others get captured, then…”
Before Burufaruto finished speaking, the warship under their feet suddenly shook, as if an invisible colossal force was lifting this massive thing up from the sea surface.
