Phew
Suddenly.
A sharp sound of blades piercing flesh suddenly rang out, and Selra Vayne, who had been rushing towards Rosen like an arrow, abruptly stopped in front of Rosen the instant the sound was heard.
at this time.
A black blade, gleaming coldly in the sunlight, emerged from the location of his heart.
This blade didn't pierce through the chest to the back, but rather it entered through the back and exited through the chest.
In other words...
The sword that pierced through Selra Vayne's heart was not a Zanpakutō.
The person wielding the knife was not Rosen.
"Why?"
"Ochoku!"
Selra Vayne stood frozen in place, turning his head with difficulty to look at Ochoku, who was standing behind him, holding a black blade and piercing his heart.
He was stunned by his captain's slash, his face showing disbelief.
He had clearly refused the chance to escape given to him by Rosen, so he didn't understand why Ochoku would stab him in the back.
"Who knows whether you'll wield your knife to strike Rosen, or charge into the Garganta?"
Seeing Selra Vayne's astonished and disbelieving expression, Ochoku felt a pang of regret, but it quickly vanished.
He dared not gamble on whether his deputy would flee or attack.
"You, you can use Observation Haki, can't you?"
"As long as you can foresee the future."
"You'll find out soon enough!"
Upon hearing this, Selra Vayne's astonishment deepened.
In response to this.
Ochoku remained silent and did not give any answer.
"It's very simple."
"Because for that brief moment, he couldn't use Observation Haki at all."
"Even if I didn't use the Predict Attack and Future Vision technique, Ochoku still wouldn't be able to see the future."
Just as Selra Vayne was on the verge of death, Rosen's voice reached his ears.
"What?"
Selra Vayne looked puzzled after hearing this.
"Did you think that the Observation Haki you just used only affected you?"
"No."
"Like you, Ochoku also harbored a seed of suspicion in his heart. In fact, due to his personality, his suspicion of you was far greater than your suspicion of him."
Rosen's words sent a chill down Selra Vayne's spine, as if he had fallen into an ice cave:
"To use Observation Haki, one needs to remain calm. If one is emotionally agitated or loses their rationality, they cannot use it."
"Ochoku's mind was in turmoil just now."
"From the moment he saw you charging at me with a knife, he was unable to remain calm, wavering between suspicion and belief."
"While he wouldn't lose his mind, intense emotional fluctuations were inevitable. So it wasn't that he didn't want to use Observation Haki to see the future, but rather that his turbulent emotions made it impossible for him to foresee the future."
"Do you understand? In just a moment when the future is unpredictable, he has already chosen the latter between trust and doubt, and then killed you without hesitation."
"Is this the benevolence and justice of the pirate world? It's truly an eye-opener for me!"
After learning everything, Selra Vayne's knees buckled, and he knelt on the ground.
The stab Ochoku delivered to his back was not only aimed at his heart, but also at a black blade wrapped in Conqueror's Haki, intended to kill him instantly.
"If you don't trust me, you shouldn't have saved me in the first place!"
Selra Vayne knelt on both knees, looked up with bloodshot eyes, and growled at Ochoku through gritted teeth.
He would rather have died by Rosen's Kamishini no Yari just now, at least then he would have died a quick and painless death.
To live one's life with the spirit of a hero.
Instead of being stabbed in the back by his own captain, as he is doing now.
Especially after choosing to die alongside Ochoku, he was stabbed in the back.
The thought that he had just boasted that he would teach Rosen a lesson and make him understand that even in the cruel world of pirates, there is still a need for righteousness and justice filled Selra Vayne with despair and utter shame.
He chose benevolence and righteousness, but what he got in return was a knife from Ochoku.
Such a way of dying.
This is far too humiliating.
"If you have someone to blame, blame Rosen."
"We've ended up like this because of him."
"He influenced me with his Observation Haki."
Ochoku's eyes flickered, somewhat afraid to meet Selra Vayne's gaze, and he could only blame everything on Rosen.
"Hahahahahahaha."
Upon hearing Ochoku's words, Selra Vayne didn't say anything more, but smiled.
A wave of mournful, mocking, and disdainful laughter echoed across Hachinosu.
After a while, as Selra Vayne died on the spot, the laughter that Ochoku found extremely grating, like a thousand piercings through his heart, came to an abrupt end.
"You talk about benevolence and righteousness with the Four Emperors, and the Four Emperors talk about knives with you."
Hehehehe.
"The lesson you and your deputy taught me was truly remarkable!"
Rosen witnessed the scene of the Four Emperors and their second-in-command turning against each other, and he shook his head.
In the cruel world of pirates, it may be true that you should talk about morality and righteousness, but you should never talk about it with pirates.
Even someone as righteous as Whitebeard was still struck by the Filial Son Sword from the Great Vortex Spider after a few words from Sengoku and Sakazuki.
This is the consequence of trying to be righteous with pirates.
"Rosen!"
Ochoku turned his head and glared at Rosen, his scarlet eyes gleaming with a chillingly vicious light.
He died.
The last member of the three leaders, Selra Vayne, who was once the only one he trusted, died by his own hand.
He didn't think he had done anything wrong; he just hated Rosen for pushing him to this point.
"Nice eyes."
"It showed me what the Four Emperors are and what pirates are."
Rosen met Ochoku's gaze, admiring the ferocity, cruelty, and coldness in the other's eyes.
These are the Four Emperors.
This is what pirates are all about.
"asshole!"
Ochoku's expression grew increasingly ferocious and sinister, and the black blade in his hand unleashed a violent, Haki black lightning.
"Hate me?"
"If you hate me, come at me!"
"I will treat you with special favor and fight you with my sword."
Rosen looked down at Ochoku from his high vantage point:
"Let's use this strongest ice-type Zanpakutō."
"Hyōrinmaru"
"To put an end to your life as one of the Four Emperors."
He raised the Hyōrinmaru in his hand and pointed it at Ochoku from afar.
hiss
Ochoku remained silent, his eyes filled with increasingly chilling killing intent. The Haki emanating from his body seemed to tear the ground apart, creating a pillar of light that shot straight into the sky.
With Selra Vayne killed by his own hands, he had nothing left.
The Four Emperors Pirates.
Three leaders.
The Six Vajras.
All were killed or wounded.
Even he himself was hit by the Kamishini no Yari, and the countdown to his death began.
You could say that.
All that remained of him was the empty title of one of the Four Emperors.
Thinking about this...
Ochoku's killing intent surged to unprecedented heights. He abruptly raised his left hand, which was not holding a knife, and his mind raced. A towering iceberg on Hachinosu vanished into thin air and was instantly teleported to Rosen's head. Then, it fell down like a meteorite, striking Rosen's head directly.
Clang
Feeling the pressure and strong wind descending from the sky, Rosen didn't even raise his head. He raised the Hyōrinmaru in his hand, and his Conqueror's Haki transformed into streaks of violent black lightning, which coiled around the blade like black dragons. Then he gently swung it.
Boom
Before the blade even touched the ice wheel above, with a distance of more than a meter between them, a thunderous roar shook the heavens. The Conqueror's Haki wrapped around the blade spread out, like a black and red net, instantly covering and enveloping the entire iceberg.
Click
With a tearing sound, a massive iceberg, hundreds of meters high, was shattered by Rosen's single slash from a distance.
call out
Just as Rosen shattered the iceberg with Hyōrinmaru, which was shrouded in Conqueror's Haki, Ochoku teleported away from his original spot and instantly appeared behind him, his black blade, also shrouded in Conqueror's Haki, heading straight for Rosen's heart.
This distance is too close.
Even if Rosen turned around, drew his sword, and used the Kamishini no Yari to block, there was neither time nor space.
Obviously.
He intended to use the incredible speed of the Warp-Warp Fruit to force Rosen to be unable to use the Kamishini no Yari against his enemy.
...
If you enjoyed this chapter, drop a review, comment, or powerstone!
For free chapters up to 300, head to P@treon/Ren_Saga.