「Cover Story: The Three Admirals Part 2 — 'Huh? Where's my manga book? It was just here.'」
「With no pirates daring to cause trouble, the days guarding Dressrosa were utterly boring. Sometimes, when Kuzan returned from his morning cycling exercises, he would often see Nao flipping through a manga called "Bleach" in his leisure time」
「What a chuunibyou title. Youth truly is something, still able to enjoy stuff only kids like. He curled his lip disdainfully. After Nao went for breakfast, he casually picked up a volume and glanced at it, his eyes instantly locking on」
「Half an hour later, Nao returned from his meal, looking blankly at the empty desk, scratching his head in confusion...」
...
BOOM!
A deep explosion echoed through the night sky.
Under the moonlight, two figures clashed before splitting apart, each landing on opposite ends of the shattered cliff.
"Cough… cough, cough…"
Vista stood with tattered clothes, his body riddled with wounds. He panted raggedly, propped up on his twin rapiers, barely keeping himself from collapsing.
He looked up at Nao, who stood calmly across from him with his sword in hand. Vista's bloodshot eyes were filled with despair.
—How could this guy be this strong?
First, he utterly crushed Katakuri, and then, even while facing the three of them together, he still fought with ease, holding the upper hand completely!
Now, after several hours of battle—
This man didn't have a single real injury. His breathing was steady and calm, like his eyes, and not even his hairstyle looked ruffled.
By contrast—
Cracker had already collapsed over an hour ago, vomiting blood and falling unconscious. Vista himself was drained, his stamina nearly spent;
As for Marco…
Vista's gaze slid past Nao's shoulder, toward the other edge of the cliff.
There, Marco had just managed to fly back up after being knocked off. His phoenix form trembled faintly, its blue flames dim, his condition even worse than Vista's.
After all, as Whitebeard's right-hand man, Marco had taken the brunt of the fighting over these long hours.
Even with the phoenix's regeneration, the accumulated injuries had grown severe.
"We can't drag this out any longer, Vista."
Marco's half-man, half-bird face was shrouded in deep shadows above the nose bridge as he spoke in a low tone.
"Marine warships are already on their way here…"
What?
Vista jolted, instinctively turning his head. His swordsman's Observation Haki spread outward.
Sure enough—on the distant sea, cloaked in night, two massive warships were sailing toward the shore.
Could it be that Vice Admiral Kuzan, the one who was supposed to be stationed at Dressrosa, had come as well?
That guy too…
Vista's heart sank to rock bottom. Kuzan's name had been feared across the seas for years. Vista knew very well—he was definitely stronger than himself, and even Marco might not be able to defeat him for sure.
If that man set foot on the cliff and joined forces with Nao—
"We'll have to gamble everything."
Marco's weary voice rang out right on cue.
"Pineapple... Grapple!"
Azure flames of the phoenix burst forth, engulfing Vista. Strength instantly flooded back into his body, while his wounds began rapidly knitting closed.
Marco, however, grew even paler. But he still forced himself to transform back into the phoenix, flapping his wings and flying back into the sky.
Nao watched all this calmly, not making a move to interrupt or stop Marco's healing skill.
Since Katakuri had insisted on a one-on-one duel and fallen early, the three-on-one battle just now had been even more boring than he expected—so boring that it hadn't even forced him to reveal a single trump card.
Now that his opponents were resolved to gamble everything in a desperate fight, he wanted to see just how much pressure two Whitebeard division commanders, both going all out, could actually put on him.
"Thanks, Marco!"
Vista took a deep breath, straightened up again, and gripped his two rapiers tightly. He narrowed his eyes and stared at Nao. As he slowly raised his swords, his entire aura instantly changed.
Like a fierce beast breaking out of its cage in the dark night, emitting a terrifying aura that seemed ready to devour its prey.
"Two-Sword Style... One Hundred and Eight Sides, Rose Hell!"
As his low, powerful voice fell, Vista instantly shot backward like a black lightning bolt, landing heavily on a giant rock at the cliff's edge.
And the moment he pushed off, the two rapiers slashed forward with incredible speed
Slash! Slash!
The moment the blades fell, a terrifying sword pressure erupted outward!
And within it—at some point—countless pink rose petals appeared, whirling amidst the roaring sword energy as they swept down toward Nao like a vast tidal wave.
"So that's your trump card?"
At the first sight of the overwhelming rain of petals, Nao's Observation Haki keenly detected something unique about them. His eyebrows couldn't help but twitch slightly.
Every edge of these seemingly beautiful and enchanting petals was as sharp as a blade and was coated in a very strong Armament Haki.
If it were anyone else, even a Logia-type Devil Fruit user, they would fall into endless danger if they weren't careful.
"No wonder they call you a great swordsman…"
Nao shook his head faintly, sighing with regret.
"Too bad. It's useless against me."
No elementalization. attempt to dodge.
He simply raised the Azakana Sword in his right hand and swept it across in a horizontal slash.
Wind Barrier!
Sword energy roared, converging into a towering wall of wind more than ten meters high and wide, blocking all the rose petals surging toward him in an overwhelming flood.
What?!
What kind of bizarre swordsmanship is this?
To so easily dissolve his strongest trump card—like it was nothing?
Vista's pupils shrank, his face twisted in disbelief. Before he could recover from the shock, a gust of wind cut behind him, and in the corner of his eye he glimpsed a figure suddenly, eerily appearing.
Not good!
His heart clenched. Without even turning his head, he reflexively swung both swords in a desperate backward slash.
But with his stamina already near exhaustion, he couldn't resist Nao's strike. The overwhelming force crashed down, snapping both rapiers clean in half!
Crack!
The shattered blades clattered to the ground. Vista's body, battered by the impact, flew back like a broken puppet, smashing through a dozen massive trees before finally slamming into a rock wall and losing consciousness.
"One left…"
Nao didn't bother to pursue him. He only lifted his head, his gaze shifting skyward.
Under the clear moonlight, the azure phoenix was spreading its wings and flying toward him. It let out a cry, and its body rapidly expanded. The cool, blue flames all over its body instantly boiled and surged violently.
From below, it seemed as if more than half of the sky was covered by the phoenix's wings. Under the faint moonlight, it looked particularly terrifying.
"Now that's a little more interesting."
Zap!
Lightning flashed. Nao's figure vanished, instantly turning into an azure arc of electricity that shot straight toward the phoenix in the night sky.
...
On the other side—
"Captain Vista!"
Around the rock wall, members of the Whitebeard Pirates cried out in shock. They rushed over, lifting Vista and shaking him desperately. Some, faces twisted with grief and fury, drew their swords and turned back toward Marco, ready to fight Nao to the death.
But the moment they turned—
BOOM!
Another explosive roar came from the sky.
Amidst the dazzling lightning, a figure was sent flying like a cannonball, also crashing heavily in front of the rock wall.
With no trees to break the impact, half the rock wall instantly shattered and collapsed, sending boulders and dust exploding in every direction.
The pirates were startled, instinctively pulling back. But as the dust began to settle, they gathered again at the collapsed rock wall—and what they saw froze their hearts.
—The bloodied man lying unconscious beside Vista, pineapple-haired and broken, was none other than Marco.
In an instant, the entire cliff fell silent.
The Whitebeard Pirates stared blankly at their two fallen commanders lying side by side, unable to process what was before their eyes.
"Both commanders…"
"…have been defeated."
After a long while, someone finally spoke with difficulty, their voice dry.
Tap.
A faint sound of landing echoed. Hearing it, the Whitebeard Pirates stiffened in panic and turned their heads, only to see Nao descending lightly from the sky.
Are we going to die here...?
Thinking of the possible outcome awaiting them, they couldn't help but feel a chill down their spines, their hands and feet turning cold.
Unlike Sonic, they all knew this guy in front of them was different from other Marine officers.
He had never once followed Marine protocol. To him, pirates were to be executed on the spot, never arrested or imprisoned.
In their utter despair, their killing instinct surged instead. No one knew who moved first, but a blade was drawn, and soon the others followed—snarling, howling, rushing at Nao in a final, suicidal assault.
As members of the Whitebeard Pirates' main forces, they were unquestionably elites.
Even without commander-level fighters among them, nearly all carried bounties in the tens of millions, with some even exceeding one hundred million.
But it was meaningless.
To Nao, enemies of this level were no different from the ordinary pirates of the first half of the Grand Line.
He didn't even bother to draw his sword.
From his fingertips, arcs of lightning crackled and snapped outward. Thunder tore through the battlefield, and in the midst of shrieks and screams, the charging pirates—those fighting to the death—were reduced in an instant to charred corpses.
...
Down in the forest below—
"Unbelievable…"
"Marco, Vista—those legendary veterans—and even one of the Charlotte family's Sweet Commanders… all of them, not a match for Natsuya Nao."
"He's too strong. In this entire New World, probably only the Four Emperors themselves could suppress this man."
Gazing from afar at the cliff, where faint flashes of lightning still glimmered, the various factions finally snapped out of their shock—but their fear lingered.
Many groups who had clung to their greed for the Poneglyph, refusing to leave, now turned tail and began to retreat.
Yes, there were still plenty of Whitebeard and Charlotte pirates up there, fighting like cornered beasts.
But everyone knew—in only a matter of minutes, they too would be swept aside by Natsuya Nao, as effortlessly as autumn leaves in the wind.
The great battle over the Poneglyph had already come to an end, its outcome beyond any doubt.
There was no longer any point in staying here.
As for the thought of sneaking up the cliff and stealing the Poneglyph while that Marine Vice Admiral was distracted…
The moment that idea surfaced, it was strangled by a shiver down their spines.
Perhaps before they had witnessed this one-sided massacre, they might have had the courage. But now…
What, are you trying to die? What a joke!
Who in their right mind would go throw their lives away to that monster on the cliff?
But then again…
There are always exceptions.
…
"Eh—eh—eh???"
In the forest to the northeast, the bald-headed newcomer stared wide-eyed at Shanks.
"Captain? W–what did you just say? You want to climb up the cliff… and challenge that guy to a duel?"
"Of course!"
The red-haired man tipped his straw hat with a grin, his eyes blazing with excitement.
"Last time at Sabaody, that guy bullied me badly. Now that I finally get another chance to cross paths with him, how could I not give it another shot?"
"Please don't, Captain…"
The bald newcomer was on the verge of tears, certain he was about to piss himself.
"Think it over, I beg you! Even if you don't care about your own life, at least spare a thought for ours!"
"Right? Tell him, seniors!"
He turned desperately to Lucky Roux, Yasopp, and the others—only to find them grinning from ear to ear, with no intention of stopping their captain. Clearly, they were long accustomed to Shanks's reckless nature.
"Relax, Gaia! See, they've got no problem with it!"
With a single leap, Shanks sprang onto the treetop, clapped his fists together at his chest, and roared with laughter.
"Then I'm off!"
What kind of ship have I boarded…
The bald newcomer sniffled, wanting to find a tree to hug and cry under.
Just then, a tissue was handed over. He said thanks and was blowing his nose when he suddenly felt something was off..
Turning his head, he saw a guy with a messy haircut, wearing a white Justice Cloak, squatting in front of him, looking at him with sympathy.
And the others like Yasopp had somehow turned into ice sculptures. Lucky Roux still had a chicken leg in his mouth, reflecting greasy light under the moonlight...
"Choosing the right crewmates really is important."
Aokiji said earnestly, patting his shoulder. Then he stood up, squinting at Shanks, who had just leaped into the air a dozen meters above the treetop, and spoke leisurely:
"And just where do you think you're going?"
"Bounty: 520,000,000 Berries. Former member of the Roger Pirates—Red-Haired Shanks…"