"This guy's growth speed really is a bit beyond expectations."
Looking at Borsalino, who still refused to get up, Kuzan didn't say anything more.
With both hands in his pockets, he stood to the side, eyes complicated as he looked forward.
What entered his line of sight was… a massive crater, a gigantic crater so large it took up half the island.
Everything before their eyes had been destroyed, wiped out by that blazing sun and explosion.
He hadn't expected that kid to already reach such a level. The destructive power of top-tier fighters was tremendous, capable of altering an entire island's environment and climate, and that kid could already achieve that.
Especially that final move…
Even now, he still remembers that radiant, dazzling, and scorching sun.
"The power of the sun, huh?"
"It really is the power of the sun!"
Still lying on the ground, Borsalino also nodded, and within his relaxed tone, a trace of genuine amazement slipped out of his mouth. "It's truly terrifying!"
"I just didn't expect you to actually be defeated."
Hearing Borsalino's words, Kuzan lowered his head and looked at him with a complicated look.
"The entire sea is probably going to shake from this. No, there will probably be mockery, too. An Admiral getting defeated by a retired Lieutenant from the West Blue? What a terrible thing."
"It is pretty terrible."
Although he said that, Borsalino still managed to smile in response. But after smiling for a moment, his expression grew serious. "Do you know what I saw at that moment?"
Kuzan: "...?"
Kuzan furrowed his brow, confused as he looked at Borsalino, not understanding why he suddenly brought this up.
Still, he played along and asked: "What did you see? Sunlight? The sun?"
"No, not those."
Unlike Kuzan's teasing tone, Borsalino's voice remained serious. "At that moment, I saw..."
He paused briefly: "My light is being twisted by him!"
In that moment, he had truly felt as though he were facing the sun itself.
All light was eclipsed by that sun descending upon the earth; even his own light could not shine at all.
"Your light was being twisted?"
Kuzan's pupils shrank, his eyes widening in disbelief. "Your light was actually twisted by him?"
Borsalino was the Glint-Glint Fruit user, one of the highest-ranking Logia Devil Fruits. And yet he was saying that his light had been distorted by a Paramecia Devil Fruit.
But seeing the seriousness on Borsalino's face, Kuzan couldn't help holding his head. "This really is a terrible discovery..."
"Light-Light Fruit..."
Borsalino, as if he hadn't heard Kuzan, continued lying on the ground with his limbs spread open.
Beneath his sunglasses, his eyes seemed to shine with a peculiar light, and he revealed a strange smile. "And that Conqueror's Haki and his development of his Devil Fruit ability… truly astonishing. That moment felt like I was really being embraced by the sun."
As his voice fell, a breeze drifted by, gently brushing across Borsalino's face. Despite being defeated, he acted as though nothing had happened, leisurely enjoying the cool night wind.
After a while, seeing Kuzan still deep in thought, Borsalino spoke again: "And you? Did you complete your mission?"
"I did. I got played, though."
Hearing him, Kuzan returns to normal, hands still in his pockets. He lifted his head to look at the starry sky as he spoke helplessly. "Zephyr-sensei never intended to destroy the New World to begin with."
But after saying that much, Kuzan seemed unwilling to continue. Seeing this, Borsalino didn't pursue it any further.
Pillowing his hands behind his head, legs crossed leisurely, he lay there in comfort.
The two quietly stared up at the sky.
It wasn't until the night wind grew stronger that Borsalino finally stood up, brushing off the dust on his clothes as if nothing had happened, and said lazily: "Let's go back. The headquarters is probably waiting for our report."
As he spoke, he turned into a flash of light and appeared directly on the ship.
Kuzan glanced at the wounded who had already been carried onto the deck to rest, exhaling heavily before slowly walking forward.
After boarding, he finally spoke to the marines who had been waiting: "Set sail."
"Understood, Admiral Aokiji!"
With Kuzan's command, the fleet began moving under the moonlight and night wind as it slowly headed toward Marineford.
This time, the arrest mission failed.
But the mission to stop the third Endpoint from being destroyed succeeded.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, at Ohara.
As dawn arrived…
Bang!
A loud explosion suddenly shattered the silence of the night, and the entire island of Ohara seemed to come alive with noise.
"Kuma, you need to control your strength!"
Ian wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth after successfully landing on the ground, then he looked helplessly at Kuma. "If someone is seriously injured and you teleport them like this, they might just die!"
"Sorry, Mr. Ian."
Hearing Ian's words, Kuma showed a trace of apology on his face. "Time was too tight, so I didn't have time to control my strength. But please rest assured, I controlled it well when transporting Madam Ain."
As he spoke, he looked at Mr. Ian's pale face and the blood at the corner of his mouth.
After hesitating for a moment, he said, "Mr. Ian, do you need me to treat you?"
"No need, this is just a side effect from going all out. I'll be fine after getting some sun later."
Facing Kuma's goodwill, Ian waved his hand.
He was well aware of Kuma's method of healing, transferring the injuries to himself so he could bear the pain.
There was absolutely no need for that. As he said, he just needed some sunlight and he would recover.
But if the injuries were transferred to Kuma, Kuma would probably have to lie in bed for quite some time.
Even though it looked like he was just coughing up a bit of blood and seemed fine, his body was already a complete mess internally.
That state came from compressing and absorbing sunlight, letting the blazing sun rampage inside his body to release all the stored sunlight in an instant.
It was like Luffy's second gear, using pumping to speed up his blood flow to strengthen his physical functions.
He, however, used blazing sunlight to achieve this.
It was easy to imagine: after compression, the sunlight inside his body was even more scorching than the sunlight outside.