"Sigh… was it really necessary to come to this?"
Issho's sigh echoed from afar, steadily drawing closer.
Before the man himself arrived, an invisible force surged ahead of him, simultaneously acting upon the falling Jonathan and the equally exhausted Rorschach.
"Gravity! Rising Dragon."
With a wave of Issho's arm, the unconscious Jonathan, his twin blades flung into the distance, Rorschach, and his weapon—the Heavenly Dragon Halberd—all floated into the air.
Lifted by a powerful and unseen force, they began gliding with Issho toward the port of Queen of Spring City.
The port was ablaze with lights.
Not only were the buildings aglow with candlelight, but rows upon rows of soldiers stood at the shoreline holding torches, alongside hundreds of bounty hunters armed with swords and blades.
At the front, Sera and Lucci stood with furrowed brows, unease in their eyes as they stared out at the dark sea and sky.
"What's going on over there? Who's fighting? Grandpa's still in the capital, and Commodore Rorschach suddenly disappeared too."
Sera paced restlessly. Gritting her teeth, she was about to board a ship when Lucci reached out to stop her.
Lucci's expression was equally grave.
But he had no intention of going to sea.
Sera brushed aside his outstretched hand. "What are you doing?"
"Don't go. You'll die. Whoever it is—this level of battle is not something we can interfere with," Lucci said coolly.
The commotion from Rorschach and Jonathan's battle had been overwhelming.
Even though the two had deliberately moved far from Queen of Spring City…
The fierce winds, tsunamis, thunderous explosions, and shockwaves had already spread across tens of miles of ocean and islands.
The entire city had been gripped by panic—residents on edge, as the roar of waves and howling gales rolled in wave after wave.
Within the royal capital, the aristocracy immediately contacted the Bounty Hunter Guild, demanding answers from Sera.
But Sera herself had no idea what was happening.
All they could do was gather every available soldier in the city, station them at the port, and nervously await the end of the conflict.
They waited for over two hours.
Every moment of that wait felt like an eternity.
Thankfully, the terrifying rumbles from the darkness had finally ceased.
The aftershocks of battle were also gradually calming.
It seemed the earth-shaking clash had come to an end.
"Huh? Someone's flying this way!"
At that moment, sharp-eyed Sera's eyes lit up. In the dim sky, several human-shaped silhouettes were rapidly approaching.
Instinctively, she unleashed her Observation Haki—and her expression instantly changed. A cry escaped her lips.
"Grandpa!"
Lucci also frowned, spotting the aura of a severely injured Rorschach, covered in wounds.
He hadn't expected that the combatants just now were Sera's grandfather and Rorschach.
Which meant—Rorschach had disappeared to fight the president of the Bounty Hunter Guild.
But why?
Weren't they here to request help from the Guild?
As Lucci pondered, he moved his foot to step into the air using Moonwalk, intending to catch Rorschach.
But just then, from the crowd behind them, a figure dashed forward—much faster than Lucci.
"Who's that?!"
Lucci and Sera shouted in unison, startling the thousand people stationed at the port.
That figure was astonishingly fast, leaving a trail of afterimages as they darted through the air, hurtling toward the incoming trio.
Within seconds, they reached the unconscious Jonathan and swung a brilliant arc of cold blade light toward his withered body.
"Grandpa!" Sera screamed.
In midair, Issho suddenly opened his scarred, fearsome eyes. With a flick, his cane-sword flashed from its sheath. Reaching forward, he slashed toward the attacker from ten meters away.
"Gravity Blade: Fierce Tiger!"
Invisible gravitational force swept out, warping the air across dozens of meters, crushing the figure approaching Jonathan.
"What?! What is this?"
The attacker grunted. The long blade aimed at Jonathan, along with the arm wielding it, were forcibly twisted aside by an overwhelming force.
Then, as if crushed under immense pressure, he felt his body grow dozens of times heavier, forcibly flung sideways by the irresistible power.
"Assailant," Issho said, his clouded white eyes locking onto the figure he had struck.
Through his Observation Haki, he could tell the attacker had not suffered serious injury.
This was no weakling.
On the contrary, the intruder was very strong.
Issho pressed his left hand down in the air before him.
Jonathan, Rorschach, and their weapons sped up in midair, accelerating toward the port.
"Grandpa!" Seeing this, Sera finally let out a long sigh of relief. She leapt up from the port and sprang into the air.
Lucci also followed using Moonwalk.
A few seconds later, Lucci landed back at the port with a grim expression, holding the unconscious, shriveled old Jonathan in his arms.
Beside him, a woman with a faint blush on her face was cradling the exhausted Rorschach in her arms.
"Is this woman insane? She's ditching her own grandfather for a man!"
Up in the sky, Issho gripped his cane-sword and dove down, chasing after the figure that had been knocked back.
"Damn it, why is there another powerhouse here?! That bastard Gulliver said only Jonathan—an old man on the verge of death—was here!"
Above the sea, several dozen meters high, Wagner hovered in midair, his body cloaked in pitch-black Armament Haki. Holding a long sword etched with cloud patterns, he grimly eyed the rapidly approaching Issho.
Originally, he had infiltrated Queen of Spring City to probe the strength of the Bounty Hunter Guild and see if Jonathan, the Guild Master, was truly as frail as the rumors claimed.
If Jonathan's strength had truly waned, he would've made his move—slaying the famed "Hunter King" and seizing the guild's treasure hoarded over decades before Gulliver arrived.
But Wagner had barely landed on the island when he witnessed the titanic battle between Jonathan and Rorschach.
The sheer destruction that stirred the sea like a natural disaster left Wagner utterly shaken.
The rumors were clearly unreliable.
That eighty-something-year-old Jonathan, even while riddled with illness, still had the power to crush him effortlessly.
What shocked him even more was that Jonathan lost.
And the silver-haired man who defeated him—Rorschach—was even stronger.
While Wagner felt fortunate not to have acted rashly, he also saw a golden opportunity.
An effortless chance to finish off Jonathan.
So, when Issho began returning both Jonathan and Rorschach, Wagner didn't hesitate—he struck, aiming to assassinate them.
But once again, Wagner was caught off guard.
There was still another powerhouse next to Jonathan!
And not just any powerhouse—when the man made his move, Wagner instinctively felt a chilling sense of death.
"If I don't flee, I'll die! I can't take this guy on—I need to get out of here now!"
His thoughts racing, Wagner's cloaked figure began to fade, both his robes and body shifting colors to perfectly blend into the sky and sea around him.
"Camouflage! Environmental Assimilation!"
He licked his lips with a long tongue as he vanished from the sight of Sera, Lucci, and the others, then swiftly turned to escape into the distance.
Wagner was a Zoan-type user of the Chameleon Form of the Dragon-Dragon Fruit.
His environmental blending ability was honed to near perfection.
Once activated, even advanced Observation Haki couldn't easily detect him.
This was one reason why Wang Zhi sent him to places like the Paradise region, investing in Gulliver's assassin guild and assigning him a vice-president position.
With this ability, Wagner excelled at stealth and ambush.
He also mastered dual-color Haki and practiced an extremely fast Iaido sword technique.
However, before he could even flee a hundred meters, a low voice rang out behind him.
"Gravity Blade: Infernal Brigade!"
A ring of violet light expanded instantly, covering a radius of over a hundred meters—and ensnaring Wagner, even in his camouflaged state.
"What?!"
Crushing pressure descended like a mountain. Wagner coughed blood as he plummeted toward the sea like a meteor.
"No! I can't fall into the sea—I'm a Devil Fruit user!"
Seeing the surface rushing closer, Wagner was gripped with panic. He activated Armament Haki over his entire body to try and resist the immense gravitational force.
But—it was useless!
In desperation, he gritted his teeth and slashed at the sea below.
"One-Sword Style Iaido: Shadow Slash!"
Shing!
A brilliant blade of light shot forth, cleaving a ten-meter-long, one-meter-wide gap in the sea below, briefly relieving the pressure.
But just as Wagner began to feel hope, the ocean beneath surged upward like it had been gripped by an invisible hand, rising high into the sky and crashing down on him.
With a deafening splash, he was engulfed by seawater, trapped inside a massive, seven- or eight-meter-wide sphere of water.
As a Devil Fruit user, Wagner immediately felt his strength fade. His body weakened, going limp.
His camouflage dissolved.
His figure, once hidden beneath his black cloak, was now completely visible.
From above, Issho descended slowly, releasing his right hand and lifting his palm slightly toward Wagner's direction.
The water sphere holding Wagner was drawn in and pulled alongside him as he floated toward the port.
Issho was a Paramecia-type Gravity Fruit user.
He could manipulate gravity in all directions and apply it to any object.
Meteors. People. Boulders. The very earth itself—
And yes, seawater too.
Author's Note:I've written 350,000 words this month. Honestly, I can't believe it myself. Sometimes you don't know how much effort you can put in until you push yourself. Even though the writing may not be great, I'm really grateful some of you enjoy it.
Next month's goal is to hit 1,000,000 words. I probably won't force myself to write over 10,000 every single day—some days more, some less—depending on how many drafts I have saved. Especially now that the badge rewards are gone.
In any case, I won't break the update streak—losing momentum kills my creative drive.
Lastly, the new school term is starting soon. To all my readers who are still in school—I wish you academic success, happiness every day, and a life free from depression.
Thanks for all your support!
(End of Chapter)
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