Facing this epic scene, Aus had to admit—he was so pumped his whole body was heating up.
After Golden Lion tied up Garp and Sengoku, Aus would be taking on all of Marine Headquarters' combat power below Admiral rank.
Don't let the lack of Admirals fool you—the remaining lineup was still absolutely insane.
Three natural-type Marine Rear/Vice Admirals, Gion, Dalmatian, Onigumo, countless elite Commodores, plus an army of Marine soldiers.
Rain poured down while wild winds howled, making Aus's windcoat and Shiki's great cloak snap loudly. Two pirates with ten-digit bounties had temporarily allied up.
What they faced? Pretty much all of Marine Headquarters' top firepower!
"Brat, if you drag my ass down later, I'll kill you myself!"
Golden Lion Shiki chomped on his cigar, flashing that trademark arrogant grin as he threatened Aus.
"Long as you can tie up Sengoku and Garp, we definitely won't lose."
Aus smiled back casually.
Against anyone not completely out of his league, Aus felt confident he could at least go fifty-fifty, even if he couldn't win outright.
These young Marine hotshots clearly weren't enough to steamroll him yet.
Despite facing massive pressure and way more same-level fighters than them, neither showed much stress. Instead, they chatted like they were discussing the weather.
Seeing this, the massive crowd of Marines on the ground had very different thoughts.
These two were complete psychos!
Plus, facing two great pirates with ten-digit bounties simultaneously made plenty of recruits' knees go weak.
Monsters like these could wipe out masses of them with just the aftershock of a casual attack.
Without Marine Admirals present, they might've already bailed. Now they could only chat nervously to calm their panic.
"Roger Pirates crew member, 'Black Gun' Doctor Aus. I've seen his bounty poster."
"And the legendary great pirate, Flying Admiral Golden Lion Shiki..."
"Two overlord-level pirate forces actually teamed up?"
"Against pirates like these... we're definitely gonna die..."
"..."
Marine officers at General rank and above stayed way calmer. After all, the Marines clearly held the advantage numbers-wise.
But given the Roger Pirates and Golden Lion Pirates' terrifying reputations, even they didn't dare slack off for a second.
Against enemies this caliber, one moment of carelessness could literally mean death!!!
Between their massive numbers and the officers' confidence, Marine morale stayed sky-high. At least nobody ran.
They shouted with everything they had, creating quite the imposing scene—almost like a preview of the Paramount War.
"Damn, they're loud. Don't know what they're getting hyped about—just a bunch of small fries..."
Aus looked at those fired-up soldiers. They couldn't hit him, couldn't shoot straight, posed zero threat to two guys who owned the skies. Hell if he knew what they were so excited about.
Maybe the One Piece world just had a really low hype threshold.
Time to clear the field first.
Aus hovered in the sky, looking down at the endless Marine army. His eyes showed neither sadness nor joy—just pure contempt for ants.
In an instant, an aura that dominated heaven and earth exploded outward from Aus, spreading in all directions.
Nearly half of Marineford got swallowed by that black-red pressure.
Clusters of black-red lightning erupted from Aus's body, raging and dancing like the end of the world.
That crushing presence swept over everything without discrimination.
Thud thud thud...
Their minds felt like they'd been sledgehammered. Against this heaven-piercing Conqueror's Haki, countless Marines couldn't last even one second—eyes rolling back as they dropped straight to the ground.
Even school-rank officers barely kept conscious under this insane pressure, half-kneeling and gasping for air.
In the sky, that figure crackling with black-red lightning looked down like a demon god—deep as the abyss, terrifying as hell!!!
"Jihahahahaha! No wonder Roger praised you so damn much. That kind of spirit at your age!
But our generation ain't over yet! The seas still ain't ready for brats to take center stage!!!"
The next second, golden-red Conqueror's Haki that made Aus's black-red aura look weak came roaring out of Shiki's body.
With both overlapping, almost nobody below General rank could stay conscious anymore.
Now the real expert showdown could begin.
"You bastards!!!"
"Marineford is absolutely NOT some playground for you to run wild!!!"
With a furious roar, a figure suddenly launched up in front of Aus and Golden Lion, his whole body blazing with holy golden light.
Buddha-Buddha Fruit user Admiral Sengoku struck in pure rage, a devastating shockwave blasting toward them.
"Buddha: Shockwave!!!"
Blinding golden light rushed forward, but neither airborne pirate panicked.
One wasn't scared at all. The other saw it coming.
In that dazzling golden glow, a flash of crimson cut through.
This obviously couldn't escape Aus's Observation Haki, so he just smiled calmly at the approaching shockwave.
"Lion: Thousand Slice Valley!!!"
Massive ultimate attacks collided. Terrifying aftershocks exploded across the sky. Palm and sword locked in continuous struggle.
Obviously, Sengoku alone couldn't overpower Golden Lion right now. Since Shiki had the balls to show up today, he basically wasn't afraid of dying!
Soon enough, Garp joined in swinging those legendary fists, turning this into a true high-level brawl.
Combat this intense couldn't possibly end until someone's stamina gave out completely.
Devastating air waves centered on the three fighters, continuously wrecking earth and sky.
In the plaza center, the remaining Marines—led by three natural-type monsters—watched this battle they couldn't even interfere with.
After all, they were still young guys in their twenties. The current Akainu, Aokiji, and Kizaru had only graduated Marine academy two years back, nowhere near their peak strength yet.
Just as they all stared up at the decisive sky battle, a tall figure with hands in his pockets slowly walked out from the plaza's far end.
"Pew—"
Without any warning, a laser beam shot from within the Marine crowd, lightning-fast and aimed straight for the man's head.
"Sneak attacks are a bad habit, Borsalino."
Aus smiled, not dodging or blocking, just letting that laser head straight for his forehead.
Then something happened that shocked every Marine present. Aus seemed to have no physical form whatsoever.
The instant it should've hit his skull, the light passed clean through his body.
Completely unharmed...
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
The story isn't over...
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