This novel is finished, and I have posted all the advanced chapters on my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395
The Sea King Poseidon… wasn't Shirahoshi?
What did that mean?
While the Gorōsei (Five Elder Stars) and Tsuru hurried toward the hospital, far away, on an uncharted island, or rather, on the back of an enormous Sea King Poseidon, the truth was quickly understood by Akainu and the others.
"Impossible! The records clearly described Princess Shirahoshi as powerless. How could this be?!" The bald Zero gasped, retreating quickly as a colossal mermaid flicked her tailfin and sent Akainu flying.
Boom!!
A mountain-sized Sea King charged in, its forehead covered in a sheen of jet-black Armament Haki. Feeling its strike land, the Sea King's monstrous mouth curled in a smug grin, only for its expression to suddenly freeze, its eyes filling with fear.
"Haaah!!"
Under its stunned gaze, the titanic beast's body was forced upward, away from the ground. A figure, no larger than a speck of dust, ripped apart the darkness and stood tall between its head and the earth.
Muscles coiled like steel cables, Bald Zero's entire body gleamed golden, like the radiant body of an Arhat.
With both hands braced against the Sea King's forehead and his feet dug deep into the earth, he heaved the beast up. Then, twisting his torso, he unleashed a devastating punch.
DOOOOM!!!
The muffled impact thundered like a war drum. The shockwave blasted outward, hurling other Sea Kings, both great and small, through the air. The struck creature had no time to scream. The vibrations pierced its skull, shredded its brain, and the light instantly vanished from its eyes.
Boom… BOOM, rumble!!
When it crashed to the ground, life had already fled its body.
"As expected of the Government's ultimate trump card… You actually broke your way into my palace."
The Sea King Poseidon's expression remained calm, unshaken.
These four were terrifying world-class powers. The Sea King Poseidons' strength lay in numbers, not in individual quality. With such seasoned teamwork, the living tide of beasts was split apart, leaving a path to the palace.
Expecting a single Sea King to secure a kill? Just look at Aokiji, such a thing was nearly impossible. Having blasted one aside, Bald Zero silently retreated, rejoining the formation as the four stood shoulder-to-shoulder.
"Still got strength left, Akainu?" He asked without turning, always on guard for another strike.
"Cough, cough… not dead yet!" Akainu staggered upright, inhaling deeply.
"Be careful! Her power feels no weaker than Kaido's. Treating her as anything less than a monster would be a grave mistake!"
"You don't need to tell us that, Fleet Admiral!" Kizaru drawled in his usual mocking tone, "But wasn't the Sea King Poseidon's ability supposed to be just commanding other Sea King Poseidons? Since when did she have a body strong enough to fight?"
That tail strike had been so fast that even Kizaru couldn't react before it slammed into Akainu.
It wasn't just strength; she had speed, too!
What they thought would be an easy slaughter was turning into their own nightmare.
"This is bad! With this many surrounding us, our only chance is to kill the Sea King Poseidon herself and escape. But now…"
From behind his mask came Masked Zero's grim laugh, filled with murderous resolve that chilled the heart.
Ignored, the Sea King Poseidon's eyes turned cold.
"It seems you still don't understand your position. But I'll grant you one last chance… Akainu, you have one final chance to surrender."
"Submit… or be destroyed!"
It was the very same line Akainu himself had once declared, now thrown back at him with mocking scorn.
"Hmph. Who wins and who loses… that's still undecided, Sea King Poseidon!" Suppressing his fury, Akainu snorted coldly.
"Aokiji left us a coded warning before. His 'defeat' was full of inconsistencies… Did you really think what you saw was the whole truth?"
What?!
Bald Zero's eyes widened. Did the Marines have another card to play?
But that couldn't be right. The four of them were the strongest strike force the Government could field. Others were strong, yes, but none could match the four of them together.
Could there really be another reversal hidden here?
"Stubborn fools!"
"Very well, then die!"
The Sea King Poseidon sneered and raised her hand. At once, hundreds more Sea King Poseidons surged up from the ocean, charging like an endless tide.
Against such a horde, even these four couldn't possibly kill them all. With one grim look between them, the choice was made. Masked Zero turned to hold the line alone, while the other three unleashed their ultimate techniques, lunging toward the Sea King Poseidon herself.
"Futile!"
The Sea King Poseidon watched calmly as Akainu's magma rushed in, until suddenly, the palace behind her, studded with Dial-powered pearls, rose skyward.
From beneath it, a gigantic hermit-crab-like monster stood tall, its armored shell shielding her from the molten flood.
Pū chī…!
The scalding lava didn't instantly consume it. The air tasted of strange, singed smoke. The palace, unexpectedly itself a Sea King Poseidon, gave the three attackers a moment's pause. The Sea King Poseidon reappeared before them and raised a hand.
Boom!!
"This rhythm… It's a shockwave!"
Bald Zero sensed the energy coiling in that arm and shouted, turning to evade the strike.
Kizaru, not as keen-sensed as Bald Zero but faster, got his retreat in first and fled.
Only Akainu remained at the spot, his mouth twitching as he faced the oncoming blow.
Inu-Gaeshi Guren! (Dog-Biting Scarlet Lotus!)
Two beams of energy, one crimson, one translucent, erupted, staining the sky red. The lava-dog emitted a ferocious roar and tried to fight back, but the sheer force of the impact pushed it back.
Boom!
Suddenly, the lava-dog exploded outward; the terrifying shock sank into Akainu's body and rushed out from behind him.
"Hē, ah!"
Akainu spat a mouthful of blood, staring at the Sea King Poseidon in disbelief.
"She's… this strong?!"
The only time Akainu had been wrecked by a direct clash like this was decades ago, when Zephyr displayed the Military Wrist – Deep Gate. Since rising to Admiral, Akainu had at best fought to a draw, never beaten outright.
"Do not submit, and you die!"
The Sea King Poseidon dropped onto the shell of a hermit-crab-like giant, sprang up again and charged. Her pink-fleshed fist bore an incongruous orange-yellow blaze, the searing friction and light of air compressed to the extreme.
The air itself formed a visible ring around her wrist like a life preserver, then thinned away; before her fist even arrived, an oppressive pressure rolled over them.
"Aim for her tail, her tailfin hasn't split yet!"
Mermaids aren't Fish-Men: they're born with a single tail. Only when a female mermaid reaches a certain age do the tailfins split into legs. A mermaid in tailfin form is ungainly on land, Bald Zero barked a warning to Kizaru and dashed forward, launching a massive ki-blade: Zanpa, Slash Wave.
"Hmph. Naive."
The Sea King Poseidon didn't dodge. She let the ki-blade strike her, and to Bald Zero's shock, a streak of black light flashed and shattered the attack.
"This is… Armament Haki resonance?!"
It wasn't the usual tremor from activating Armament Haki; this was the active control of Haki, rippling like water, erupting micro-waves that penetrated surfaces and shattered them from the inside out. Bald Zero himself had only mastered this advanced use of Armament Haki in recent decades.
Not only had she done it, she timed it perfectly, fracturing the attack the instant it arrived. Her Haki skill was extraordinary.
"You dare call that perfect physical technique? Ridiculous!"
Suddenly the punch aimed at Akainu vanished; only afterimages streaked through the air and a fierce wind shredded faces, leaving gashes of blood.
"Careful! Her target is you!" Akainu shouted the warning, but it was already too late.
"You really think a tail will make me clumsy? Human." As the Sea King Poseidon loomed inches away, Bald Zero held his breath.
"So… so fast!"
Bang!
Her heavy fist slammed, and Bald Zero flew like a cannonball, smashing into the belly of another charging Sea King Poseidon and bouncing away. The Sea King Poseidon, unrelenting, appeared on the rebound and brought her fist down again.
Thud!!! Boom!!!
Bald Zero had no idea where he'd been struck this time; all he heard was the crackling blast in his ears. The Sea King Poseidon frowned slightly.
"No, this sound…"
She looked up. On the horizon, countless stars shimmered against the dawn, and the outline of an enormous, strange man-made ship rose from the sea surface.
At the sight of that uncanny construct, the Sea King Poseidon's pupils contracted.
"Pluton!!!"
"Finally… It's arrived!"
Relief eased across Akainu's face; he smiled, almost lax with it.
On the seventeen-thousand-meter-long iron colossus, battery forts bristled. Momousagi, resplendent in her battle uniform, stood on the foremost deck. She stared at the raised Sea-King carapaces cutting the surface ahead, pressed her hand to the hilt of the famed blade "Kinbira" at her waist, and swept her other hand outward.
"Feel the fury of Marine Justice, monster!"
"Fire on my command, open up!"
(End of Chapter)