Chapter 255: Cornered Beast
【Where does my anger come from?】
【Why……why can you ask such a thing?】
【Is it fun to toy with others’ emotions?】
【Clearly a pirate who kills without blinking.】
【My most respected senior lost his closest kin because of you!】
【My best friend perished without a trace because of you!】
【Pirate, and now you ask me why I’m angry?!】
【Can’t I be angry?】
【Am I not allowed to be angry?!】
【Shouldn’t I be angry?】
“Pirate!!!”
Clang—!
Silver light flashed, a sharp hiss accompanying Mien’s roar as the blade unsheathed.
The slender blade was like a suddenly released bolt of cobalt blue lightning, tearing through the stifling air, splitting the stagnant light, carrying its master’s fury straight forward, slashing toward Miss La’s delicate neck.
In this moment, time seemed severed by the sharp steel edge, falling into a brief stagnation.
The blade split the air—no, rather, the air out of fear of the blade’s speed and sharpness proactively split into two ripples, fleeing hastily to both sides.
The swinging motion was completely invisible; this slash was faster than any he had ever made before.
In this moment, he single-handedly elevated the Swift Swordsmanship school to a brand-new height, and Mien undoubtedly crossed that threshold with this slash, stepping into the realm of Great Swordmaster.
Zing!
Lightning-fast, stars flying in electric haste!
The blade swift enough to easily slice through lightning unsheathed, its cold light reaching in an instant……but ultimately halted half a foot from Miss La’s neck, unable to advance an inch further.
The soaring flames of anger were abruptly doused by bone-chilling ice spring.
“You, you……you, how is that possible?!”
The trembling voice of the Great Swordmaster rang in his ears, as if witnessing something absolutely unacceptable, his words carrying not just panic but even a hint of fearful sob.
……
Two slender fingers bypassed the blade edge, pinching the blade spine from the opposite side, stopping this slash that cleaved time.
Buzz!!!
The slender blade still trembled faintly, like a cat gripped by the scruff of its neck struggling endlessly, yet unable to move forward even a millimeter.
With excellent dynamic vision, Miss La took in the full process of the opponent’s facial expression changing dramatically, yet could no longer hide her disappointment.
Golden flames spread from her fingertip, traveling upward; wherever they passed, the chilling blade seemed to vanish into thin air, vaporizing directly without even molten iron flowing.
“Like this, the anger disappears……right?”
“Along with the courage.”
Miss La spoke softly, still in her unchanged gentle tone.
“No, I…”
Hearing the other’s words, Mien instinctively refuted and wanted to say more, but paused for a moment.
As if seeing through that the other was just subconsciously making excuses without real words, Miss La continued:
“Anger may grant you momentary courage and power, but it is always false and fleeting.”
“Once the emotions serving as fuel burn out, they can no longer support you to continue, and may even scorch those walking alongside you in the process.”
“True courage should be like the sun, with one’s own belief as the core, persistently and steadily illuminating the path ahead.”
The flames flowed to the guard and stopped, then extinguished into thin air, leaving only an empty hilt in Mien’s hand.
“Do you know?”
“Even if two gems share the same origin, type, and size, if one has even a trace of impurity, their quality will differ vastly.”
“I once met a Navy man much like you, with the same hue.”
“But he was even ‘purer’ than you, thus more ‘precious’ and more ‘brilliant’.”
With that, Miss La no longer glanced at the despondent Mien beside her, shifting her gaze to Sengoku in front.
After all, he was still an enemy requiring some time to deal with.
Buzz~
Her five fingers exerted slight force, causing the already suppressed Buddha Shockwave to contract further, with a trace of Miss La’s gold gradually infiltrating it.
“This is—!”
Realizing something, Sengoku wanted to retreat immediately, but it was too late.
Bang!!!
With a gentle push of the palm, the golden shockwave instantly erupted back toward Sengoku, blasting him away forcefully.
Crack!
His back, cloaked in the Justice Coat, solidly smashed into the warship’s fence, shattering the thick iron-reinforced barrier.
Several soldiers and officers behind Sengoku were directly sent skyward by the shockwave’s aftermath, then powerlessly fell into the sea.
Sengoku himself, facing the shock head-on, continued unimpeded like a cannonball skimming the sea surface until crashing into another warship a hundred meters away, barely halting.
Whoosh—splat!
“Ad, Admiral Sengoku!”
The warship rocked violently from the impact; the captain, barely steadying himself, immediately leaned over the fence, and upon seeing Sengoku embedded below the port side, tried to organize a rescue.
But……
“Ignore me, jump into the sea now!”
“Ah……huh?”
Sengoku’s order was too urgent and strange; the commodore captain didn’t react for a moment.
Buzz—boom!!!
Miss La gave no more time; the next second, an invisible shock arrived instantly, blasting that warship into fragments.
The ammunition depot naturally detonated in chain reaction, countless wood chips and iron shards flying chaotically in the air along with Navy soldiers, like an unbeautiful fireworks display.
“Damn it!”
Seeing this, fury rose in Sengoku’s heart, but blasted into the air, he had no time to worry about others.
After several Moonwalks to adjust his posture, he immediately looked toward his flagship—Miss La’s previous position.
But he didn’t see that golden figure.
“？!”
“Where?”
“Here.”
The voice sounded from behind Sengoku, instantly making the battle-hardened Navy Admiral’s hairs stand on end.
Invisible, completely invisible!
Whether by naked eye or Observation Haki capable of Future Sight, no method allowed Sengoku to see Miss La’s movements.
He could only guess Miss La’s possible attack direction and trajectory from the destruction seconds later.
Thud!
Before Sengoku could turn, a slender arm mercilessly swung down, sending the admiral’s sturdy frame flying again.
Sizzle—sizzle sizzle!
Just like Aoxi’s entrance scene, Sengoku ‘flying’ close to the sea surface similarly stirred up dozens of meters high waves on both sides of his body.
……
『Damn it, this won’t do!』
Slap!
Golden light flashed in his palm; Sengoku, already flung hundreds of meters and about to hit the sea, fiercely slapped a shockwave downward, sea water exploding outward in all directions……
Using this counter-thrust, Sengoku awkwardly adjusted his angle, sending himself back to a safe height away from the sea surface.
“Huff~ huff—!”
The heavy breathing abruptly stopped, as if his throat were gripped.
Not even time for another breath, the chilling sense of crisis assaulted again; Sengoku’s body instinctively shifted right.
Swoosh—!
The next instant, a slash-like fluctuation narrowly grazed his Justice Coat sleeve, the fierce wind making his heart skip half a beat.
Splash~
“Hm?”
Familiar splashing water sound came from below……
The sound of seawater pouring back reached Sengoku’s ears again; he couldn’t help looking down.
“!”
Indescribable—a narrow rift appeared on the sea surface under Sengoku’s feet, extending to the horizon……
The sea beneath him was directly split in two!
……
“Gulp~” *n
Swallowing sounds echoed successively in the air, from fear, shock, or……excitement.
In any case, everyone who saw that scene instinctively wanted to swallow something to add a fleeting sense of security.
“Miss La, Miss La she……”
Taolong stammered for a long time, ultimately unable to say a complete sentence, but his hands from excitement gripped so hard they embedded deeply into the fence.
Powerful.
Power beyond imagination.
Unparalleled power.
Overwhelming power.
From the initial sun falling to now personally entering the fray, the strength Miss La displayed had far surpassed Taolong’s imaginable limits.
So……one can be this powerful?
“Terrifying.”
“Sengoku has almost no room to fight back, constantly suppressed.”
Burufaruto hugged his shoulders, commenting on the battlefield below:
“But the opponent is an admiral after all; even in such disadvantage, he hasn’t lost his will to fight.”
“Truly not to be underestimated~”
“Hmph! Just a cornered beast’s futile struggle.”
Ember watched Sengoku recover from shock and charge at Miss La again, saying coldly.
“Cornered beast, huh……”
……
Bang!!!
Sengoku’s body was struck flying once more; this time without adjusting posture, he smashed into another warship, directly creating a massive pit in its deck.
Step~
Almost simultaneously, Miss La landed on that warship’s fence, quietly watching the dark hole.
No matter how worried for their admiral’s safety, the warship’s officers and soldiers dared not move an inch, even forcing their breathing lighter and slower.
No one wanted to draw the attention of the elegant girl before them.
The suffocating atmosphere that could drive one mad lasted several breaths, then……
“Hm?”
Buzz~~~
Golden Buddha Light pierced the darkness, shooting from the deck pit straight to the sky.
“Want to continue fighting?”
“You should know clearly you’re not my opponent.”
Sensing Sengoku’s surging momentum below deck, Miss La felt somewhat disinterested.
She had little interest in battle; this boring game of dumping one’s violence and energy onto another seemed less meaningful to her than transplanting rice in her backyard paddy.
She preferred spending the time sitting in a chair knitting while awaiting the next whim.
Slap!
A golden hand grabbed the pit’s edge, followed by Sengoku leaping out from below.
His body ablaze with golden glow completed the transformation mid-air; blinding Buddha Light instantly enveloped the entire battlefield, the several-dozen-feet-tall Buddha form standing in the sky, majestic and solemn.
Human-Human Fruit Mythical Zoan—Buddha Form revealed once more before everyone.
“Admiral Sengoku!”
“The admiral is getting serious! We still have hope!”
“Everyone, prepare to support Admiral Sengoku at any time!”
Morale is truly strange; clearly teetering on surrender and rout the previous second, yet instantly pulled back by a mere Zoan transformation.
“The situation hasn’t changed at all.”
Looking up at Sengoku staring back, Miss La murmured lowly.
“Everyone, get clear!”
“Buddha Shockwave!”
Without giving Miss La a chance to counter, as Sengoku descended from the sky, he extended his right palm, golden shockwave pressing down directly.
Buzz—!
Chanting faded, Buddha Light glowed.
Everyone on the warship had fled to the stern or even into the sea before Sengoku’s ‘get clear’ order; now unhindered, Sengoku unleashed full power without hesitation, the nearly solid golden shockwave instantly enveloping Miss La.
『Success!』
Buzz buzz buzz~
Intense vibrations assaulted Miss La from all directions, and with Sengoku’s further pressure, the spherical shock domain showed signs of inward explosion.
“Buddha Light World Salvation!!!”
Dense golden light instantly filled the spherical shock of Buddha Shockwave, then abruptly shrank to several meters diameter, followed by the inner gold light erupting fiercely.
Sengoku’s subordinates seemed to press a sun; the blinding Buddha Light made the entire battlefield lose color.
Boom!!!
……
“S, success?”
“Admiral Sengoku defeated that terrifying golden brat?!”
“Finally, we can go back alive……woo woo~”
The warship’s front half bearing the Buddha’s strike had completely vanished, but the rear half remained intact.
Sengoku had consciously concentrated all power around Miss La, making the warship look like half erased along an arc by an eraser.
And Miss La’s figure disappeared along with it.
Seeing this, Navy soldiers and even officers felt a survivor’s relief; many broke into unrestrained sobs.
They were truly afraid of vanishing from this world without a scream, like those pirates.
If so, their parents, wives and children, family……
The shockwave’s aftermath gradually subsided; those Navy who jumped into the sea early finally got a chance to breathe.
“Officer, after going back this time, I……want to apply for retirement.”
A soldier in the sea said to the nearby commodore.
“Hm? Retirement? Weren’t you aiming for Vice Admiral, working hard to revive your family?”
The commodore’s words carried clear intent to retain.
“……”
“True, but now I understand; I want to spend more time with them while my parents are alive, while I’m alive.”
“Is that so……that’s a real pity. You have good talent; in ten or twenty years, you might really make Vice Admiral.”
The commodore said regretfully.
“Officer, officer! What about me?”
A clearly more frivolous soldier, hearing the talk, dog paddled over.
“You~ probably a grunt for life.”
“Eh~ why~”
“Why?”
“Because you nearly yanked off my pants with that wave earlier, damn it!”
“Eh?! P, pants? Officer, I didn’t mean to!”
“Officer? Officer?”
The frivolous Navy called twice, but the officer suddenly went deaf, no response.
“What’s wrong? Officer?”
“Hey~ you know……”
“That golden guy is clearly eliminated, so why is the Beasts Pirates fleet still floating in the sky?”
“Shouldn’t it fall?”
“Hey~ simple, it means the opponent basi…cally didn’t…”
The frivolous Navy’s voice grew smaller, face paler, eyes fixed dead on the commodore officer’s back.
“What’s with that expression?”
“I was joking earlier; with your merits this time, you could promote to sergeant back home.”
“Then you can ditch that uniform you always complain is ugly, wear what you like.”
Per Navy internal rules, after reaching sergeant rank, uniforms are no longer mandatory, free to mix, but Justice Coat requires officer level.
“Didn’t you always want my deer leather jacket? It’ll be your promotion gift when we return.”
“Officer.”
“Hm?”
“Though you might not get to give it to me, and I might not get to wear it, thanks anyway.”
“Thanks for taking care of me all these years.”
“Thank you.”
As if seizing time, the frivolous Navy dropped his usual flippant tone, rapidly voicing several thanks, puzzling the opposite commodore.
“What’s up, you cheeky monkey suddenly so serious?”
……
“Because when facing death head-on, people often show their truest inner self.”
An explanatory voice came from behind him.
