"Ayr…?"
Hearing Rocks speak, John, Silver Axe, Ochoku, Red Earl, and Byrnndi Wald stood frozen in disbelief.
Rocks D. Xebec—the tyrant of the seas, the man who once shook the world with his ambition and power—had just said he couldn't dominate the world.
Worse yet, he claimed that Ayr was the true overlord of the future.
The statement hit them like thunder. Their eyes widened in collective shock, their thoughts tangled.
"Captain Rocks… what are you saying? How could Ayr possibly surpass you?" John demanded.
"I've sworn allegiance to Ayr," Rocks replied, his voice calm yet absolute. "So I will not join forces with you against him."
The stunned silence that followed was deafening.
"Huh? What… what did he just say?"
"No way… am I hearing things?"
"Did Rocks—the captain of the Rocks Pirates, the man who once rivaled even Gol D. Roger—just say he bows to Ayr?"
"Back then, Ayr was just his subordinate… but now… he's become the one that Rocks follows?"
The gathered pirates erupted in chaos. Disbelief twisted their expressions.
To them, Rocks was a legend—his name etched into history, synonymous with power and fear. For him to admit inferiority, let alone loyalty, was unthinkable.
Even Red Earl, Byrnndi Wald, John, Ochoku, and Silver Axe—the top brass of the old generation—stood dumbfounded.
They had once served under Rocks, had witnessed his terrifying strength and unmatched ambition firsthand.
He was a man whose very existence symbolized world domination.
To hear him admit Ayr was beyond him… it broke their understanding of the world.
At that moment, their eyes turned toward Ayr.
Yes, they knew Ayr was strong—perhaps the strongest in today's world.
But now, they realized: Ayr's power might far exceed even what they imagined. It wasn't just strength.
It was something more.
Otherwise, why would Rocks—who once defied the world—now stand behind him?
Ayr stood on the bow of his ship, wind blowing through his coat, gaze cold and dispassionate.
"The talking's over," he said flatly. "Didn't you want revenge?"
He looked at his opponents.
"Rocks, John, Silver Axe, Ochoku… I'll leave them to you. I'll handle the other two."
"No problem," Rocks replied with a small, dangerous smile.
John and the others may have grown stronger since their days under him… but Rocks didn't view them as threats.
The moment the words left his mouth, both he and Ayr leapt down from the ship, landing on the shore with a thunderous crash.
Seeing the two of them advancing, Red Earl and the others involuntarily stepped back.
"Don't panic!" Byrnndi Wald barked at his side. "There's no reason to fear. If our morale breaks before the fight begins, then we're already doomed!"
His voice boomed across the crowd.
"If we defeat Ayr and Rocks here today, our names will go down in history! The world will remember this battle!"
He was trying to rally them—but his words had little effect.
Everyone could feel it.
Ayr's strength had surpassed even Rocks. That alone was enough to paralyze their will.
It was a power so immense… so far beyond comprehension… that even Rocks bowed before it.
"WAR!!!" roared Red Earl, stepping forward and drawing his blade.
There was no turning back now.
Cowardice would only bring death.
With Red Earl's cry, the thousands of pirates charged toward Ayr and Rocks, battle cries filling the air.
Ayr looked at the sea of enemies and spoke coldly:
"Let's deal with the cannon fodder first."
In the blink of an eye, a monstrous Conqueror's Haki exploded outward from him.
Rocks, too, unleashed his own Haki—black lightning crackling through the sky.
The two supreme conquerors unleashed their will simultaneously.
It was suffocating. Terrifying. World-shaking.
Their combined Haki surged like a tsunami, drowning everything in its path.
Dozens, then hundreds of pirates collapsed instantly, foam at their mouths and eyes rolled back.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
One after another, bodies hit the ground.
The battlefield echoed with the sound of unconscious pirates falling—entire battalions wiped out without a single strike.
By the time the Haki storm cleared, only around a thousand pirates remained standing.
The rest—several thousand strong—were all unconscious or incapacitated.
But those who stood weren't weak. After decades of building their crews, John, Ochoku, and the others had gathered only elite pirates.
The survivors now were men with bounties of at least 80 million Berries.
And yet even they trembled.
"Our… our comrades were wiped out just from their Haki…"
"If their willpower alone can do that… what level of monsters are we facing?"
"We—we can't win. There's no way we can beat two emperors! They're standing at the top of the world!"
"Damn it! Why did I follow Captain Ochoku into this madness?!"
Panic gripped them all.
The realization was dawning:
They weren't in the presence of pirates.
They were standing before gods of battle.
"Then… let the battle begin," Ayr said calmly.
CHING!
Ayr drew the blade at his waist with a crisp ring.
A razor-sharp aura burst from the blade as he looked toward Red Earl and Byrnndi Wald.
Then, almost mockingly, he sheathed it again.
"Sorry. Using this would be overkill."
He knelt and picked up a random blade from a fainted pirate at his feet.
It wasn't a Meito. Not a named blade. Just a common sword.
But in his hands—it was death itself.
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