Next Bonus, 100!!
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Marineford.
The sudden appearance of the man drew every eye on the battlefield.
Sengoku scowled.
"This man... I knew he was plotting something."
Garp's expression hardened into a grim mask.
"King Jin!"
Crocodile let out a booming laugh.
"You finally showed up!"
Borsalino pursed his lips. "How terrifying~"
Tsuru remained perfectly still, though a deep furrow appeared between her brows. "Another massive headache."
While many recognized Jin, others were completely clueless.
"Who the hell is that guy? Some kind of Marine secret weapon?"
"Are you blind? He's not wearing a uniform!"
"He just deflected a lethal blow from Admiral Akainu... is he here to back up Whitebeard?"
Gasps of shock and bewildered mutters rippled through the ranks.
Having casually parried Sakazuki's killing strike, Jin didn't miss a beat.
He nonchalantly kicked the unconscious Luffy across the ice, sliding him right to Ivankov's feet.
"What is the meaning of this, King Jin??"
Sakazuki snarled, his voice vibrating with rage. His jaw was clenched so tight the muscles jumped, and his eyes radiated a cold, unyielding killing intent.
Jin smiled faintly. "Sakazuki... that boy is Garp's grandson. Dragon's son."
"I just saved your life. You should be thanking me."
Veins throbbed visibly on Sakazuki's forehead. "Don't spout that garbage at me! A pirate is a pirate, and they all deserve to be executed!"
"I don't care if he's Garp's grandson or not!"
"Oh?" Jin countered smoothly. "And what if a Celestial Dragon commits a crime? Would you execute them too, Sakazuki?"
A Celestial Dragon??
Sakazuki froze, caught completely off guard.
"What's the matter? Does your 'Absolute Justice' suddenly vanish when you're facing down the gods?"
Jin's smile twisted into a mocking sneer. "It seems your vaunted 'Absolute Justice' is nothing more than a convenient excuse to bully the weak."
"Are you questioning the Justice of the Marines??"
Sakazuki roared, stepping back before launching himself forward in a furious assault.
Crimson, superheated magma surged from his very flesh.
BOOM!
His entire arm transformed into a colossal fist of molten rock, blooming like a lethal red lotus. Radiating a blistering, flesh-searing heat, it hurtled straight for Jin's head.
It was an attack of pure, apocalyptic destruction.
CLANG!
Jin raised Shusui in a casual horizontal guard. Coated in dense, pitch-black Armament Haki, the blade effortlessly halted the magma fist's catastrophic momentum.
"Justice? Let me ask you: whose 'Justice' do the Marines truly serve? The justice of the people? Or the justice of the Celestial Dragons?"
"Who gets to define it, Sakazuki?"
As he delivered the verbal lashing, Jin launched a left hook.
The speed was incomprehensible.
It snapped out like a coiled spring, breaking the sound barrier.
What??
Sakazuki's eyes widened in shock.
He couldn't fathom the speed, let alone the sheer, overwhelming power behind the strike.
It slammed squarely into his face.
WHAM!
Sakazuki was violently launched backward. Trailing a comet-tail of magma and thick black smoke, he crashed through the jagged, uplifted slabs of ruined earth.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
The deafening impacts echoed across the plaza. Sakazuki plowed through solid bedrock before finally grinding to a halt.
A massive cloud of dust and acrid smoke billowed into the air.
Jin stood perfectly still, lowering his fist.
Every single pirate and Marine on the battlefield stared in absolute, jaw-dropping disbelief. They couldn't process what they had just witnessed.
"What just happened??"
"Admiral Akainu... was just sent flying by King Jin??"
"I don't understand!"
"Isn't King Jin a Warlord?? Why the hell is he protecting pirates??"
The plaza erupted into a chaotic cacophony of panicked voices.
"King Jin!" Sengoku's voice cut through the din, cold and authoritative. "What exactly is your objective here?"
"My objective?"
Jin let his gaze slowly sweep across the devastated battlefield. "I'm just a curious man. I want to ask this world a very simple question. What is Justice?"
"And what is Evil?"
He didn't shout, but his voice carried a strange, resonant frequency that carried clearly to every corner of Marineford.
"Is that a joke?? The Marines are Justice!" a random soldier yelled back.
"Is that so?" Jin nodded slightly. "The Marines are constantly paraded around as the righteous sword of the World Government, the ultimate avatars of order and justice."
"So then, what is Evil?"
"Pirates are Evil!" another voice cried out.
"Be specific..." Jin challenged.
"They're cruel! Malicious! Heartless!"
"They oppress the weak and destroy everything in their path!"
"They pillage towns and murder innocent people for fun!"
The responses rolled in from the Marine ranks.
Jin smiled. "Excellent!"
"So, what if I told you there was a specific group of people..."
"Whenever they walk down the street, everyone around them is paralyzed by fear."
"Sometimes, if a commoner simply looks at them the wrong way, they are executed on the spot."
"If you accidentally block their path, you are shot dead."
"The number of innocent civilians they have murdered is completely unquantifiable."
"Tell me... do you consider them Evil?"
The Marines exchanged uneasy glances.
Sengoku's face darkened considerably. His brow furrowed in deep concern. Where is he going with this?
Jin didn't wait for an answer.
"There is a group of people..."
"Who, every few years, host a grand tournament. The game? Hunting down and slaughtering civilians and slaves. The winner is whoever racks up the highest body count."
"And they have been playing this sadistic game for eight hundred years!"
"Tell me... do you consider that Justice?"
Wait.
The horrifying realization finally hit Sengoku. His pupils dilated in sheer panic, and he inhaled sharply. "Stop him! Don't let him speak another word!"
"Where do you think you're going, Sengoku??"
Whitebeard swept his naginata forward, completely blocking the Fleet Admiral's path.
His expression was as hard as granite. "Why not let the man finish? We'd all love to hear the 'Righteous Marines' answer!"
Whitebeard spat the last words with venomous sarcasm. The death of Ace had pushed him past the point of no return.
Furthermore, Garp's will to fight had entirely evaporated. The old hero was still slumped on the ground, refusing to move.
It was now a strict one-on-one between Sengoku and Whitebeard.
Jin's voice grew louder, resonating with absolute conviction.
"There is a group of people..."
"Who delight in enslaving others, treating living, breathing human beings as disposable tools or playthings."
"They buy and sell people like cattle. They will humiliate your wives, steal your children, and hold absolute power of life and death over you."
"Tell me... do they deserve to die?"
The battlefield fell into a suffocating, absolute silence.
Sabaody Archipelago.
The same dead silence gripped the viewing crowds.
By now, even the most slow-witted observer knew exactly who Jin was talking about. He was dragging the world's ultimate taboo into the light!
But not a single person dared to utter a word.
The sheer, unprecedented audacity of Jin's speech had paralyzed them all.
"You all know exactly who I'm talking about!"
"You know exactly what they are!"
"Every single person here knows who is truly responsible for the tragedies plaguing this world..."
"And yet!"
"The self-proclaimed champions of Justice."
"The people who scream about righteousness day in and day out."
"They turn a blind eye to this ultimate evil. They cover their ears. They ignore the atrocities because they're terrified of the consequences."
"But it's worse than that. These so-called champions of Justice actively act as the accomplices to this evil."
"Marching under the banner of Justice, they help these tyrants oppress the very people they swore to protect. They drag the very concept of Justice through the mud."
"That's right. I'm talking about all of you. The Marines."
The silence across the plaza was absolute.
"Stop spouting this self-righteous garbage!"
"The Justice of the Marines is not something a pirate sympathizer can question!"
Sakazuki erupted from the rubble, roaring in absolute fury. He lunged forward, his pitch-black, magma-infused fist driving toward Jin with murderous intent.
FWOOSH!
A violent sandstorm whipped up from nowhere, slamming directly into Sakazuki. The moment the sand made contact, countless grains detonated simultaneously.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A massive chain of explosions ripped through the air.
A localized mushroom cloud plumed upward.
The concussive force sent Sakazuki staggering backward until he crashed to the ground.
The Marines gasped in shock.
Crocodile stepped out of the swirling sand, a dark smirk on his face. "Admiral Akainu. Didn't your mother teach you not to interrupt when someone is speaking?"
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