Ayr's subordinates dropped to their knees before him, faces filled with shame.
"Lord Ayr, we've failed you! We weren't strong enough… we betrayed your trust!"
But Ayr said nothing.
Instead, his blade—Zhan Shen, a Supreme Grade sword—was already wrapped in swirling Armament Haki and layered with his overwhelming Conqueror's Haki. Its presence alone made the air hum like thunder.
Across from him, Aramaki—wild-eyed and driven—clenched his fists.
"As long as I can become a Marine Admiral," he declared, voice trembling with conviction, "I'll be one step closer to the most noble race in the world… the Celestial Dragons!"
He didn't even flinch when Ayr's Conqueror's Haki flared up again. He couldn't. Not now.
He expected rage or condemnation.
But instead… Ayr laughed.
A cold, deep chuckle that carried more weight than a punch to the gut.
The blade in Ayr's hand shimmered—fast. So fast that even Aramaki couldn't see when it moved.
The moment the swing passed, the vines and plants around Aramaki quivered.
Then—slash!
A single arc of white light sliced the battlefield.
The side of the clearing where Aramaki stood instantly transformed into a dense forest, his Forest-Forest Fruit blooming wildly.
Aramaki's face twisted. "You mock my ideals?"
Angered by Ayr's laughter, he roared, unleashing the full power of his Devil Fruit.
Countless plants erupted from the ground—flowering vines, spiked thorns, ancient trees—all crashing toward Ayr like a tsunami of green life.
"You laugh, but I will show you I'm right!" he yelled.
In response, Ayr's eyes narrowed. "Naive. So… naive."
He stepped forward, blade raised. Then—
SHUNK.
Another clean swing.
A white flash, like lightning—so fast it split the air.
Everything halted.
The world fell quiet.
The storm had landed.
Every plant, every tree—sliced in half.
Even Aramaki himself… was cleaved cleanly down the middle, split from shoulder to hip.
Boom.
The ground cracked where he stood. His transformed body—a giant plant hybrid with limbs and a face—shattered like dried wood.
Ayr lowered his sword slowly. "You want to challenge me?" he said calmly.
His subordinates, still kneeling, began to rise—silently awed.
But Ayr simply waved them off. "Leave. This was my fight."
Before the final strike, he had asked with rare curiosity:
"Why do you want to become a Marine Admiral?"
Aramaki's answer echoed in his mind.
"To rise in status," he had said. "To stand beside the Celestial Dragons."
His eyes had burned with ambition.
"Can you understand what I'm thinking?" he'd asked.
Ayr remembered every word.
"The world works because the superior oppresses the inferior. That's what keeps it in balance!"
"This is my way of life!"
"Without discrimination," Aramaki had declared, "there is no order!"
And in that moment, he had unleashed everything—turning the battlefield into a towering jungle, trying to overwhelm Ayr with sheer force.
Ayr had only shaken his head. His expression unreadable.
"I asked why you wanted to be Admiral," he had said. "Not to hear your fairy tale."
The final strike came right after.
No drawing motion. No flourish.
Just a flash.
Ayr looked down at Aramaki's broken body.
He spoke softly: "Your ideas are weak… and so are you."
Still smiling faintly, he added, "But if fools like you want to join the Marines… then maybe you are perfect for it."
He turned his back on the battlefield.
"Let the world know… this is what happens when you challenge an Emperor."
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