Ortoren's voice carried through the warships' broadcast system, spreading rapidly across the entirety of Hachinosu.
The pirates on the island instantly fell into chaos.
"What? Boss Ochoku kidnapped someone from G-5?"
"Wait, that sounded like an Admiral. Are we really about to go to war?"
"It's the Bull of Heaven! What do we do now?"
On the rooftop of the small two-story building, Shanks's expression twitched.
"Damn it… is Ochoku really that bold?" he muttered. "I seriously underestimated him. He actually dared to kidnap one of Ortoren's men?"
"What you should be thinking about now," Beckman said quickly, "is whether Ortoren really showed up, and whether we're going to get involved. If we leave right now, with the Redford's performance, we could probably break through if we take some risks. After all, we're not his main target."
Shanks hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.
"No. This might actually be a good opportunity today."
"A good opportunity?" Yasopp asked from the side.
"Ortoren doesn't know we're on the island," Shanks said, a glint of excitement flashing in his eyes. "Ochoku and Silver Axe have been holed up on Hachinosu for years. They look like they've lost their ambition, but their strength is nothing to scoff at. If we jump in during the chaos and help out at the right moment, we might actually make Ortoren stumble hard today."
With the Red Hair Pirates alone, Shanks knew a head-on fight against Ortoren wouldn't give them great odds. But if Ochoku and Silver Axe were added into the mix, then maybe, just maybe, there was a real chance.
An opportunity like this was rare, practically once in a lifetime.
...
On the other side, Ochoku's expression sank the moment he heard Ortoren's broadcast. The bastard's words made it painfully clear that he didn't take him seriously at all.
Lay down resistance. Open the port. Let the Marines come ashore and search.
Even if that Navy Lieutenant Commander really was in their hands, once it was discovered, conflict would be unavoidable.
And even if the Lieutenant Commander wasn't in their custody, if he obediently complied today, where would his pride go? How would he ever survive in the New World afterward?
Grinding his teeth, Ochoku roared back into the broadcast Den Den Mushi.
"You bastard! Who do you think I am? You say your man went missing here, so he just went missing? You tell me to give up resisting, and I'm supposed to obey? If I do what you say, where does my face go?"
On the flagship's deck, Ortoren heard the reply and curled his lips into a sneer. His voice was thick with disdain as he answered.
"Face? What are you, and what am I? You're nothing but a pirate, and you dare talk about face in front of me? You want face? Fine. I'll give it to you right now."
As his words fell, lightning crackled along Ortoren's hair, arcs snapping sharply through the air. His presence surged upward, radiant lightning condensing into dense plasma. Like a silver wyrm, it poured out from his body, coiling and swirling around him.
After circling several times, the thunderous power gathered rapidly along Ortoren's arm. Without the slightest pause, he raised one hand and pointed straight toward the sky.
Wild, violent lightning roared and howled, transforming into a blazing pillar of light that shot straight upward.
As mentioned before, the weather over Hachinosu today had been exceptionally pleasant. Sunlight bathed everything below, warm and gentle.
But the moment that lightning pierced the clouds above, the pristine white sky changed instantly. In the blink of an eye, the clouds were saturated with lightning, turning into rolling masses of dark thunderclouds. At a speed far beyond natural norms, they spread outward in just a few breaths, swallowing Hachinosu and the surrounding seas whole.
Dark clouds pressed down like a siege.
Lightning flashed. Thunder roared.
"This is…"
On the island, Shanks watched the scene unfold, sensing the terrifying power brewing within the clouds. His expression grew noticeably grim.
"Bull of Heaven!" Beckman recognized the move instantly. After all, this was Ortoren's signature technique.
Yasopp swallowed hard, his voice tense. "Logia abilities really do destroy heaven and earth at a whim… Today I've finally seen it for myself."
In an instant, the weather across the entire sea region was forcibly altered. That overwhelming presence alone was enough to make one's scalp go numb.
This time, the pirates on the island truly panicked. One by one, they fled in chaos, desperately squeezing into nearby buildings as if walls and roofs could somehow give them a sense of safety.
"If you want face, then take my Bull of Heaven first."
Ortoren let out a feral grin as lightning gathered in his hand, crackling violently. The pillar of light that had pierced the sky now transformed into a lightning chain, coiling around his arm and linking him directly to the heavens.
Then, as if yanking down a set of reins, Ortoren jerked his arm sharply downward, snapping the lightning chain apart.
The moment it broke, a colossal thunder bull began to take shape within the clouds, its size rivaling Hachinosu itself.
With every flash of lightning, its massive, imposing form became faintly visible within the thick black clouds. It scraped its hooves as if building power, then let out a furious roar.
At that instant, it felt as though everyone across the entire sea heard that roar echo in their ears.
Its momentum reached its peak. With a violent stomp, the thunder bull burst out of the clouds. From high above, like divine punishment descending from the heavens, it charged straight toward Hachinosu.
...
On another warship, Smoker and Hina stood side by side. Hina stared at the thunder bull crashing toward the island, disbelief written all over her face.
"So that's the Bull of Heaven… Even from this far away, you can feel the power to destroy everything," she said in awe. "Benn-sama's strength is terrifying."
Smoker watched intently, excitement and fervor flashing in his eyes. The Bull of Heaven, a legendary attack said to be capable of destroying an entire island in a single blow. This was the true might of a Logia.
But after the initial thrill, a sense of frustration crept in. Even among Logia users, there were clear differences. With a fruit as powerful as the Goro Goro no Mi, Benn-senpai could erase islands with one strike. Meanwhile, he himself, also a Logia user, couldn't even come close. The gap was simply too great.
Almost the moment the Bull of Heaven emerged from the clouds, Ochoku felt the crushing pressure bearing down on him.
Without hesitation, he shouted for support.
"Silver Axe, attack together! If we don't, our base won't survive this!"
As his words rang out, Ochoku smashed through the window and leapt into the air. At the same time, the sword at his waist surged with overwhelming Conqueror's Haki, transforming into a slashing arc that tore upward toward the descending bull.
Silver Axe didn't hesitate either. Unlike Ochoku, he blasted straight through the ceiling, landing atop the skull-shaped building. In that brief motion, his battle axe was already coated in Conqueror's Haki no weaker than Ochoku's.
"Secret Technique: Sky-Splitting Slash!"
A crimson glint flashed in Ochoku's eyes as his long blade cleaved through the air.
The strike seemed to split space itself. Wrapped in ferocious Conqueror's Haki, it slammed into the bull's head, causing the Bull of Heaven to flicker briefly. Its massive body even appeared to shrink slightly.
Even so, Ochoku's ultimate technique still couldn't completely stop it. In the next instant, his figure was swallowed by the overwhelming lightning.
By the time Ochoku vanished within the thunder, the Bull of Heaven had already reached the space above the skull. Silver Axe took a deep breath and swung his massive battle axe straight at its head.
Compared to Ochoku, Silver Axe's raw strength was almost absurd. Combined with his Conqueror's Haki, he met the Bull of Heaven head-on at close range, forcibly halting its descent. For a moment, it became a brutal contest of sheer power.
From a distant rooftop, Shanks watched the clash, a trace of amazement flashing in his eyes.
"Paramecia… the Riki Riki no Mi. That really is as simple and violent as it gets."
Indeed, Silver Axe's ability was brutally straightforward. Endless, overwhelming strength.
On the warship, Ortoren laughed as he watched the scene.
"Not bad."
Many people across the seas believed the Bull of Heaven was Ortoren's ultimate move, his strongest trump card. But those who had followed him for years, like Issho and the others, knew better. The reason it was mistaken for his finishing move was simple. It was spectacular, overwhelmingly imposing, and visually domineering. Back in Marineford, it had even, by coincidence, instantly overwhelmed Shiki in front of countless witnesses. Those lacking the necessary insight never realized that Shiki had, in that split second, taken attacks from Garp, Sengoku, and Ortoren all at once.
Aside from that, the technique itself wasn't particularly complex. It was nothing more than a massive release of Logia energy, no different in essence from Sakazuki's Meteor Volcano or Kuzan's Ice Age.
It could indeed destroy islands and shake the world, but against true powerhouses, it was far from unstoppable.
So Ochoku and Silver Axe managing to withstand it wasn't surprising at all. If they had been instantly obliterated by this alone, that would have been strange.
Anyone who had truly fought Ortoren knew that his most terrifying aspect was his close-range combat. If Whitebeard, the strongest man in the world, were to judge, he would say that the seemingly unremarkable Hell Stab: One-Punch Fist was ten, even a hundred times more brutal than the Bull of Heaven.
After laughing, Ortoren casually snapped his fingers.
In the next moment, the Bull of Heaven, still locked in its power struggle with Silver Axe, detonated.
An immense mass of lightning energy exploded in midair, instantly engulfing the unprepared Silver Axe. Immediately after, the massive skull-shaped building was reduced to dust, completely obliterated by the blast. From that epicenter, violent shockwaves and torrents of lightning surged outward in all directions. In mere moments, most of the structures on Hachinosu were flattened, and countless unlucky souls were wiped out in the devastating aftermath.
...
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