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"Boom!"
The world was swallowed whole. Everything in their sight dissolved into a terrifying, churning river of sand. The sheer, incalculable mass of sand that Crocodile had painstakingly gathered and condensed for this moment finally detonated, a cataclysm unleashed.
The weight of it was immeasurable, enough to crush mountains, and as it slammed down, its destructive power reached an absolute, terrifying peak.
"Hnnh…"
A deep, shaky exhale escaped Crocodile's lips. Sweat poured from his brow, his face a ghostly pale mask. Controlling a mass of sand this heavy had already pushed him far past his breaking point; what he had just done was pure, reckless overdrive.
Massive torrents of sand surged toward the spot where Zephyr had been, rumbling and crashing. Under Crocodile's desperate control, the sand's density continued to rise at a chilling speed.
"That move… not bad at all," Rojen said, swiftly gathering with Jason and Trens beside a trembling Crocodile.
To compress sand with such impossible weight and density, this kind of crushing force was easily enough to annihilate any living being. But whether it could actually take down an Admiral… that remained the terrifying question.
"I'm finished…"
Crocodile's hands, which had been locked in position to command the sand, finally dropped. His entire body shook uncontrollably; even standing upright was a monumental effort.
"Did that old man… actually die?" Jason muttered, staring uncertainly at the swirling sand before them.
He had witnessed the sheer, cataclysmic force of Crocodile's move before, enough power to erase most life from the world. But Zephyr, Zephyr was different. Who knew what kind of unknown, monstrous trick the Admiral might have to save his skin?
Rojen's gaze was glued forward. Trens, a bead of sweat tracing down his temple, raised his gun, keeping the barrel trained on the sandstorm, ready to fire on instinct.
The atmosphere grew thick and heavy again. Against an Admiral, none of the four dared to let their guard down for even a second.
"Rumble…"
Suddenly, the sandstorm, which had just fallen into a deceptive silence, began to shake violently.
Three agonizing seconds later, a huge, hulking figure burst through the sand, stepping out from the swirling vortex.
His presence was fierce, utterly menacing. His entire body was shrouded in dark, hardened Armament Haki. His clothes were ripped to shreds, his skin stained with fresh blood, and his body was clearly marked with deep, severe wounds.
Yet, his aura, ferocious, towering, and absolutely undiminished, made the four allies tremble in shock once more.
"You four… have truly opened my eyes!"
His low, growling voice was filled with a thunderous fury and cold, merciless killing intent. He was a mighty dragon, wounded by mere sheep, a humiliation he would not, could not, forgive.
"Captain! This will be my last strike!" Crocodile grit his teeth, forcing his exhausted arm up once more.
Just as Rojen blinked in surprise, Zephyr, who had already taken a step forward, suddenly froze.
At his feet, two thick sand ropes burst up from the ground, coiling tightly around him and binding his movement completely.
"Sand Bind!"
"Now!"
The eyes of the other three flashed with an immediate understanding, and they moved as one. Jason shot forward like a bullet, covering thirty meters in a single breath. In an instant, he appeared directly before the bound Zephyr.
"Arhat Fist!"
A flurry of unbelievably heavy blows rained down on Zephyr's body, each one sounding like a drumbeat of thunder.
Meanwhile, Rojen rocketed straight up into the sky, three hundred meters high, before plunging back down like a scorching comet.
Seeing him descend, Jason instantly leapt clear. He had already unleashed his full strength; even a mountain would have been pulverized by that barrage of punches!
"Tathagata Divine Palm!"
A colossal golden palm, spanning well over a hundred meters, descended. Sanskrit chants seemed to echo in the air as an immense, divine pressure fell upon the battlefield.
"Boom!!!"
The palm strike slammed down with the force of a thousand tons, carving a colossal handprint hundreds of meters wide into the ground.
Zephyr spat a torrent of blood, his already wounded body finally buckling and bending from the unbearable impact, he was severely injured.
"Cough! Cough! Cough!"
Though his legs were still held fast by the sand ropes, his eyes were now those of a desperate, cornered beast, fierce, utterly bloodthirsty, and ready to devour them whole. His fury burned so intensely it seemed it could ignite the very heavens.
Yet, he still wasn't dead!
Even after enduring the crushing impact of Jason's terrifying barrage and the divine, mountain-toppling force of Rojen's strike… Zephyr still stood alive!
His endurance, his sheer, monstrous resilience, was beyond anything they could have ever imagined.
"ROAR!!"
Zephyr let out a low, guttural roar. Blood laced his mouth, making him look terrifying, savage, and utterly full of menace.
"I can't hold it anymore!" Crocodile shouted, his eyes wide with shock. The raw power Zephyr was suddenly releasing was exponentially greater than before, so immense it was actively tearing apart the Sand Bind holding him.
Crack!
The thick sand ropes around Zephyr's waist shattered instantly. He threw his head back and bellowed at the sky, his rage completely unchained, his eyes burning with pure murderous intent.
This group had utterly, unforgivably enraged him.
If this had been a fair one-on-one fight, he was confident that even that ridiculously strong kid could have been dealt with in seconds. As for the man with the Sand-Sand Fruit, he could have crushed him within a few breaths.
But together… these four had managed to wound him, badly.
His skin was scraped in several places, and his internal organs were trembling, partially ruptured. This was, without question, one of the most serious injuries he had ever sustained since joining the Marines.
In fact, this wound might even affect him for the rest of his life!
Bang!
At that moment, Trens fired without a second of hesitation.
Zephyr's heart jolted. His Observation Haki flared up instinctively, and his body twisted sideways on reflex.
Blood sprayed through the air as the bullet slammed into his shoulder blade, immediately rendering half of his arm numb and useless.
"Huff!"
Trens's face hardened. Even though Zephyr had been momentarily restrained and was clearly wounded, he still hadn't managed to hit his intended mark. The man's reaction speed was completely unbelievable.
He steadied his aim again, lining up a shot right between Zephyr's eyes, and prepared to fire, "Move!!" Rojen suddenly yelled, his face changing dramatically.
In the distance, the sand ropes binding Zephyr's legs finally shattered completely, he had regained his freedom.
"I'll kill you all!" The Admiral's furious growl rolled through the air like thunder.
The four men froze for a moment in shock, but Trens reflexively pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The shot missed. Zephyr dodged the bullet effortlessly, and the near-miss only made his rage burn hotter.
Seeing this, the four men no longer hesitated, they instantly turned and bolted at full, reckless speed.
The old man's power was overwhelming. At this moment, they had no way left to defeat him. If they continued to fight, at least one of them would certainly die.
Four against one, and they had still managed to severely wound a Marine Admiral. That was already an achievement worth pride, a feat that would send shockwaves through the entire world.
"Trying to run?!" Zephyr roared furiously, taking a single step forward to chase them down.
But after just one movement, his face twisted in pain, he bent over and vomited a mouthful of deep crimson blood.
His internal organs could no longer bear the strain of his movements; they were breaking down even further.
For a brief, agonizing moment, Zephyr's vision swam. But his physical endurance was monstrous; within seconds, his vision forcibly cleared again.
Rojen and the others saw their chance and immediately pushed their speed to the absolute limit, vanishing from Zephyr's sight in the blink of an eye.
"Damn it!"
Zephyr clenched his fists in helpless fury, committing the faces of those four pirates to memory.
A few minutes later, a large group of Marines finally arrived.
When they saw the scene before them, every single one of them was stunned, unable to believe their own eyes.
For hundreds of meters around, the landscape had been violently transformed into a miniature desert, and at its center stood Admiral Zephyr, his mouth, his body, and the very ground around him splattered with blood.
It was a sight beyond imagination.
Admiral Zephyr… was injured!
(End Of This Chapter)