After undergoing harsh training, gladiators from these races could even confront great pirates with bounties exceeding a hundred million Berries head-on.
When several thousand such gladiators were gathered together, they could easily wipe out an entire kingdom, even slaughtering every last person within it.
Unfortunately for them, they ran into the core fighting forces of the Cosmic Dark Matter Pirates: eleven high-ranking combatants leading more than six hundred mid-level combatants, with over five hundred additional low-level combatants—whose strength was not much inferior to the mid-level ones—providing support from the flanks.
Each high-ranking combatant was comparable to a great pirate with a bounty close to one billion Berries, while even the mid- and low-level combatants possessed average strength not much weaker than pirates with bounties in the tens of millions.
The pirates had not expected the resistance at Mary Geoise to be so fierce. In fact, at the very start, one high-ranking combatant was surrounded and beaten to death by the near-frenzied slave gladiators.
However, most gladiators were far better suited to one-on-one duels and personal combat. In chaotic melees like this, the training they had received and the experience they had accumulated were difficult to put to effective use.
In addition, many of the pirates were Devil Fruit users. Among them was a particularly formidable elite combatant who had eaten the Zoan-type Ox-Ox Fruit, Model: Yak, and had already achieved Awakening. He charged straight into the encirclement of the slave gladiators, instantly entering a one-man rampage.
Under the leadership of these powerful elite fighters, the pirates quickly gained a firm foothold and began a ruthless slaughter of the slave gladiators.
Seeing that even the gladiators' suicidal charge could not halt the pirates' advance, the CP agents decisively released their most special batch of slaves.
"It's your turn! Go—kill all those pirates!"
The CP agents unlocked the seastone handcuffs worn by these slaves and drove them forward, forcing these once-famous powerhouses of the seas to launch their attack.
Although their numbers were not large, this group included several great pirates who had once carried bounties worth hundreds of millions of Beli.
The one leading them was even more extraordinary—none other than Bartholomew Kuma, who had once served as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea!
Yet the Kuma of the past, while taciturn, had never been like this—reduced to a walking corpse, driven out of a cage by CP agents with whips as if he were a wild beast.
"W–Whoa! That guy… could it be… Kuma?!"
Kuma's nearly inhumanly massive body was impossible to miss. Almost the moment he appeared, he drew the attention of countless pirates.
Even for pirates of the New World, the deterrence of a former Warlord was immense. Seeing such a terrifying figure appear on the enemy's side caused the pirates' momentum to falter.
Especially after those pirate slaves joined the battlefield, the slave gladiators—now reinforced by these fresh forces—were greatly boosted in morale, and the front line was pushed back to a position not far from the bubble gondolas.
"Damn it! Don't get cocky! What Seven Warlord—just a slave of the Celestial Dragons! Die!"
Seeing the situation turning unfavorable and knowing that reinforcements would still take some time to arrive, several elite pirate fighters quickly discussed their plan. The awakened Zoan user would hold off Kuma, while the others worked to stabilize the battle line.
Whether slave gladiators or enslaved powerhouses, all of them were utterly outmatched in front of a great pirate with a bounty as high as 900 million Beli.
Slaves who had endured years of abuse and torment were already fortunate just to be alive. No matter how strong they once were, after becoming slaves, their strength would inevitably decline over time.
"Horn Charge!"
The Ox-Ox Fruit, Model: Yak user transformed directly into a gigantic yak, charging straight through and knocking away all the slaves who tried to block its path, before finally ramming headlong into Kuma.
Despite his massive frame, Kuma was staggered backward by the impact from the powerful "yak," blood involuntarily spraying from his mouth.
But before the Ox-Ox Fruit user could even celebrate, Kuma had already raised the palm of his hand—one covered with distinctive paw pads.
Puff!
With a faint burst of compressed air, the yak-like powerhouse vanished from where he stood, instantly repelled by the Paw-Paw Fruit's ability and flung to some unknown location.
The CP agents who witnessed this were overjoyed and immediately tried to drive Kuma into wiping out the remaining pirates.
Unfortunately, the Kuma that followed seemed to have forgotten he was a Paw-Paw Fruit user altogether, doing nothing but wildly swinging his palms around at random.
The pirates quickly realized something was wrong with Kuma. They deliberately avoided the former Warlord and slaughtered all the CP agents who were trying to herd him.
With no one left to provoke him, Kuma soon fell quiet again, standing there blankly as he watched the pirates and slaves engage in a bloody massacre.
Before long, as a second and even a third wave of pirates arrived in Mary Geoise via bubble gondolas, the slave gladiators were completely wiped out.
Tap… tap…
Stepping across the blood-soaked ground, Esdeath—who had arrived later—came to a stop in front of Kuma, eyeing the towering figure with clear interest.
"This guy should be pretty strong, right? So how did he end up a slave?"
Esdeath asked curiously. She still remembered the elite combatant who had just been slapped away by this giant—someone fairly capable—yet he'd been instantly killed with a single blow.
If this big guy hadn't lost his sense of self, he would've made a decent opponent.
"I'm very sorry, Lady Esdeath. I don't know why Tyrant Kuma became a slave either. I only know that he used to be one of the Seven Warlords, and later the World Government stripped him of that title…"
The pirate Esdeath had summoned was tall, heavily built, and covered in blood—a textbook example of a vicious-looking brute.
Yet standing before Esdeath, who was barely half his height, this fearsome pirate behaved like a docile lapdog, speaking in a cautious, deferential tone.
"A Warlord, huh… interesting. Take him back. Find a doctor and treat him."
Only then did Esdeath recall that Kizaru had once mentioned something about the Seven Warlords to her, though she couldn't remember the details at the moment.
Still, picking up such a massive specimen put her in a noticeably better mood. Even if she couldn't restore his consciousness, that extraordinarily tough body alone would make for a top-tier human punching bag.
°°°
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