The three duels—Yami VS Garp, Nami VS Kizaru, and Hancock & Carina VS Aokiji—had only just begun.
But the battle between the Yami Pirates VS the Buster Call was already decided.
Ten warships, thousands of Marine soldiers. After being cleared out first by Yami and then by Carina, the only ones who remained conscious were just over two hundred people.
These two-hundred-plus Marines were all officers from Headquarters, each possessing their own skills.
With the addition of four Headquarters Vice Admirals and the leadership of several Rear Admirals, their comprehensive combat power still surpassed the Kuja Pirates, who were only skilled in Haki and archery.
If it came to close combat, even if the entire Kuja crew mastered two types of Haki, they wouldn't necessarily be a match for the well-trained Buster Call, which employs various tactics in battle.
Therefore, they only needed to overcome the enemy's suppressing fire, break through that mobile fortress, and they could turn from passive to active, with a high probability of defeating the Kuja Pirates.
Unfortunately, their opponent this time was not just the Kuja Pirates, but also the Yami Pirates.
Within the crew, Yami had two people who needed to be treated with caution.
Those two were Hancock and Perona.
Because before his Haki was perfected, if Yami was hit by Hancock's Mero Mero Mellow, he would also be ruthlessly petrified.
If he was passed through by a Negative Hollow, Yami would also utter socially-damning, negative words.
So, besides Hancock, Perona was the most special existence in Yami's crew, with a status similar to Sugar in the Donquixote Family.
Without the weakness of her main body, Perona is invincible unless she meets her specific counter.
Even a battle-hardened powerhouse, as long as they have no way to resist the Negative Hollows, will instantly lose their ability to fight and be socially "killed" if touched by one.
The dignified, hawk-faction Vice Admiral Doberman was the best example.
Fortunately, he wasn't the only one to be "socially killed."
The Marine elites behind him, along with his colleagues Vice Admiral Momonga and the others, soon knelt on the ground, also uttering various negative phrases.
Boom boom boom boom boom...
When the main force blocking the arrow rain fell, hundreds of arrows rained down on the ice plain, setting off a series of huge explosions.
The explosions of Haki from hundreds of arrows not only riddled the ice plain with craters but also kicked up a terrifying shockwave, sending the two hundred-plus kneeling Marines flying, spitting up blood.
Some Marines who were hit by the wooden arrows, at best, were not penetrated due to their strong physique, but had their bones broken by the Haki explosion, suffering injuries of varying severity.
At worst, their physiques weren't good enough, and they were directly dismembered by the exploding wooden arrows, either dead or maimed.
Fortunately, because everyone was already down, the Kuja Pirates on the mobile castle did not fire another wave of arrows to finish them off.
Otherwise, these elites of the Marine elites would have been shot into beehives by the Kuja warriors.
And just like that, this lineup, which even a Four Emperor crew wouldn't dare to underestimate, was instantly taken out by Perona and the Kuja Pirates.
This scene was perceived by the three Admirals, with their astonishing perception.
"How scary. To think they even have a user of the Paramecia-type Horo Horo no Mi over there."
Kizaru, who was currently fighting Nami, couldn't help but utter his catchphrase.
"Uncle, just stay here."
As if seeing through Kizaru's next intended move, Nami, who couldn't be beaten even with the use of natural lightning, couldn't help but smile and say, "My companions won't mistreat captives. After this battle is over, I'll let you go."
"This sea needs order to be maintained. If you don't want something to happen to them, you'll obediently stay here and fight me."
"What a scary threat."
Hearing this, Kizaru also gave up on the idea of immediately going to support them.
With his ability, even with Nami stopping him, he could still easily crush the super-large target, Nojiko.
If he really went all out, the only one in the entire Yami pirate crew who could be his opponent was Yami. Nami only counted as half.
That's why Yami made that "benevolent" move earlier.
It was to make Kizaru willingly be stalled by Nami, allowing him to focus on stealing Conqueror's Haki Infusion.
If he wanted Kizaru to slack off, Yami couldn't just massacre the Buster Call!
Yami also held no ill will towards the Marines of the Grand Line.
Because compared to the corrupt Marines of the Four Seas, although there might be some corrupt individuals here, the majority were a true army of justice.
Yami wasn't sure if he would clash with the World Government in the future.
If he did clash with the World Government, Yami would inevitably overthrow them and become the new ruler of the seas.
At that time, the Marines would be the sharpest blade in his hand.
Therefore, Yami wouldn't massacre the Marines.
This sea needs these "tool people"!
With the defeat of the Buster Call, the pinnacle duels in the other three battlefields fell into a stalemate.
On Kizaru and Nami's side, Kizaru was deliberately throwing the fight, openly slacking off.
On Aokiji, Hancock, and Carina's side, it was a true stalemate.
After mastering Advanced Armament Haki, Hancock, aside from lacking a Logia's ridiculously large-scale attacks, was in no way weaker than a Marine Admiral in terms of combat power for a short period.
Aokiji's Ice-Ice Fruit could freeze anything it touched.
Hancock's Mero Mero no Mi, with her every move, could also petrify and shatter all things, whether rock or ice.
Advanced Armament Haki... flowing Haki.
This kind of flowing Haki was precisely the method that elementalization and pre-emptive elementalization feared the most.
Facing such a Haki expert, the usually invincible elementalization of a Logia user becomes almost useless.
On top of that, Hancock's attacks carry an instant-death effect. Aokiji didn't dare to gamble that his elementalization could 100% dodge her attacks.
She could attack countless times, but if he made one mistake and his real body was hit, it might be petrified and shattered, leaving him dead or maimed.
Therefore, Aokiji had to use Haki to resist Hancock's attacks.
If it were just one-on-one, Aokiji was confident he could use his terrain advantage to deplete Hancock's Haki, slowly gain the upper hand from their stalemate, and finally defeat her.
But Hancock was not fighting alone.
Behind her, she had Carina, who mastered wind, fire, thunder, clouds, and sound waves, as support.
What was even more disgusting was that Carina could fly.
When Aokiji tried to take her out first, Carina would turn into a fire fox, using flames and Armament Haki to temporarily block the freezing attacks, or use the power of wind and clouds to rapidly ascend, at a speed multiple times faster than Moon Walk.
When he was distracted, Hancock would increase her offense, forcing Aokiji to abandon that idea.
If Aokiji focused on fighting Hancock, Carina would use sound waves from a distance to interfere, weakening Aokiji's perception, forcing him to waste unnecessary Haki each time, disgusting him to no end.
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