Chapter 156: The Terror of the Future!
Ram's lightning was more like a signal announcing the start of the battle for the cadres of the Red Hair Pirates, rather than a fatal threat.
The pink arcs of magical energy sizzled through the air, carrying enough voltage to incapacitate an ordinary giant, yet they shattered harmlessly against invisible barriers.
Bzzt! Crackle!
Armament Haki, invisible yet harder than steel, easily blocked the violent electrical current. The blackened skin of the pirates repelled the magic as if it were mere static. The cadres of the Red Hair Pirates didn't even pause their steps; their momentum remained completely unbroken.
They were battle-hardened lions. These were men who had conquered the New World, veterans of countless wars. Once they entered their hunting mode, they displayed unparalleled teamwork that bordered on telepathic.
Almost instantly, without the need for a formal meeting, the tactics were assigned!
"The girl who uses electricity and the one next to her... leave them to us!"
The fat man, Lucky Roux, took the lead.
At a glance, his physique resembled a barrel—round, heavy, and seemingly clumsy. But this appearance was the greatest deception of the Red Hair Pirates.
Boom!
The ice beneath his feet exploded. Lucky Roux didn't run; he launched himself. Despite his bulky physique, his speed was astonishing, turning him into a terrifying cannonball of flesh and Haki as he charged straight toward the Ram and Rem sisters.
"Don't get distracted!"
The ship doctor Hongō, his long hair trailing behind him like a banner, followed closely. Alongside him were Building Snake, the navigator with the dragon tattoo, and Bonk Punch, the heavy hitter with his primate partner.
They moved as a singular wave of violence.
"Hah!"
They instantly clashed with the twin sisters.
Rem spun her body, the heavy spiked meteor hammer on the end of her flail tearing through the air with a horrific, low-pitched whistle.
CLANG!
Sparks flew like fireworks as the meteor hammer collided with Lucky Roux's Haki-coated shoulder. The impact was heavy enough to crack a warship's hull, yet Roux only grinned, his momentum barely checked.
Ram floated backward, her hands dancing as she wove nets of wind and lightning to cover her sister. Electric flashes and wind blades flew everywhere, turning that sector of the battlefield into a meat grinder of elements and brute force!
On the other side of the frozen battlefield, a different kind of hunt was unfolding.
Limejuice, known for his aerial agility and lightning-fast strikes with his electric baton; Howling Gab, a man whose roar could shake the soul and whose appearance resembled a wild beast; and the cadre—a monkey named "Monster"—rushed toward Albedo simultaneously.
They approached from three directions—left, right, and center—forming a perfect, inescapable triangular formation.
Their goal was clear: capture the leader first!
In their tactical assessment, this woman with the black wings and the golden eyes—the most arrogant and regal of the group—had the highest bounty among the girls. Her demeanor screamed authority. She was undoubtedly the leader of this specific detachment.
"Take her down!" Limejuice shouted, his baton crackling.
"If we can take her down swiftly, this farce can be ended using the hostage!" Howling Gab growled, his claws extending.
Claws capable of shredding steel, fist winds that compressed the air into cannons, and whistling slashes sealed off all of Albedo's escape routes from three lethal angles!
However, facing the full combined attack of the three Red Hair Pirates cadres, Albedo didn't even bother to lift an eyelid.
She simply stood there quietly, her black dress fluttering gently in the chaotic wind. She looked at the approaching pirates as if everything happening before her was irrelevant—a minor annoyance, like dust on a skirt.
She leisurely raised her slender, pale right hand. Her movements were slow, elegant, and filled with a terrifying grace.
In her vertical-slit golden pupils, there was no fear. There was only boredom.
In her eyes, these so-called cadre "powerhouses" of the New World were nothing more than a few slightly stronger flies buzzing around her.
Her only concern was not her safety, but her presentation. She was calculating how to use the most magnificent, shocking, and brutal method to dedicate her merits to the Supreme Lord Suzaku watching from the rear.
"Honestly... why do I have to compete for merit with that newcomer woman called Esdeath...!"
A trace of jealous complaint flashed in her heart. She bit her lip slightly, annoyed that she had to share the stage.
But her actions were decisive.
Vwoom...
The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy. The light seemed to dim around her.
A mass of darkness, so profound it seemed capable of swallowing all light and hope, rapidly formed in her palm. It wasn't Haki; it was pure, concentrated negative energy from the chaotic dimension.
That ominous, destructive, soul-shaking aura caused the surrounding air to begin twisting! The space around the black sphere warped, creating a gravity well that tugged at the souls of those nearby.
Simultaneously, on the blind side of the battlefield.
While everyone's attention—the Marines, the pirates, the bystanders—was drawn to the flashy frontal clash of lightning and darkness, a crimson figure, like a specter, silently vanished from everyone's sight.
Akame had entered her hunting moment.
She was an assassin. She did not roar. She did not flare her aura.
She made no sound. Her boots touched the ice without a crunch.
She leaked not a single trace of killing intent. Her heartbeat slowed to a crawl, merging with the background noise of the wind.
She didn't even stir the air when she moved. She was a void in the sensory world.
She seemed to merge into the icy background, perfectly bypassing everyone's perception—even the basic Observation Haki of the combatants focused on the front lines.
Like a red shadow, she appeared behind Yasopp.
At this moment, the legendary sniper Yasopp was holding his long gun. His eagle eyes were darting back and forth, vigilantly watching Ram and Rem, who were fighting Lucky Roux and the others. He was searching for a millimeter of an opening to fire a support shot.
"Just a little more to the left..." he muttered, his finger tightening on the trigger.
He was completely unaware that the God of Death was already standing less than a meter behind him.
There was no emotion in the girl's crimson eyes. No sadistic joy, no anger. Only cold, professional determination.
She slowly raised the Cursed Blade, Murasame, in her hand. The blade did not gleam; it seemed to drink the light.
She aimed for Yasopp's undefended back, targeting the gap between his ribs to pierce the heart.
One strike, instant death.
This was her creed, and the blade's absolute curse.
Aboard the bow of the Red Force, anchored some distance away.
Red Hair Shanks and his First Mate, Benn Beckman, were originally watching the battle calmly. They stood with arms crossed, maintaining a sense of composure befitting the leaders of an Emperor's crew.
Based on their understanding of their comrades' strength, even if the opponents were somewhat strange and possessed unknown Devil Fruit abilities, the Red Hair Pirates were a crew with no weak links. Winning the battle was only a matter of time.
"Limejuice has the flank," Shanks noted casually. "It should be over soon."
However, in the very next second!
ZAP!
A violent shockwave of psychic information assaulted their minds.
Both of their expressions drastically changed simultaneously, without warning! The calm smiles vanished, replaced by masks of pure shock.
It wasn't just surprise.
It was a horror that defied description!
It was as if they had both seen a terrifying, apocalyptic future at the exact same moment!
In Shanks' vision, he saw Limejuice, Howling Gab, and Monster disintegrating. He saw them touch that black sphere in Albedo's hand and simply cease to exist—no bodies, no blood, just erasure.
In Beckman's vision, he saw Yasopp collapsing. He saw a small scratch on Yasopp's cheek—a trivial wound—turning black. He saw the necrotic markings spread instantly, stopping Yasopp's heart before his body even hit the floor.
There was no communication. There was no time for words. No hesitation!
Two completely different, yet equally fatal future visions flooded their minds simultaneously, transmitted by their advanced Observation Haki—Future Sight—which reigned supreme over the seas!
"This is bad!"
The figures of Shanks and Beckman instantly vanished from the bow of the Red Force!
They moved so fast they left afterimages burned into the retinas of the lower-ranking crew members.
In the next moment, the fabric of the battlefield tore open.
Snap!
Shanks appeared like a phantom in front of Limejuice and the two others!
He didn't stand with them; he stood facing them, putting his own back to Albedo. He used his body to forcibly interrupt his comrades' suicide charge!
"Captain?!"
Limejuice and Howling Gab skid to a halt, horrified. They completely failed to understand why the Captain was stopping them when they had the advantage.
But it was already too late for explanations!
The mass of ultimate darkness in Albedo's palm had reached critical mass. It had already transformed into a thick, pitch-black [Demonic Cannon], which shot forth with an aura of absolute destruction!
"Perish!" Albedo's voice was cold.
The beam of darkness roared, tearing up the ice.
"Clang...!"
Shanks's face was solemn, devoid of his usual smile. He backhanded the famous blade, Griffon, drawing it from his waist in a blur of motion.
Without even looking, a condensed, ultimate Flying Slash tore out of the sheath!
The golden sword energy, wrapped in crimson lightning, and the pitch-black Demonic Cannon collided head-on at point-blank range!
"BOOM...!!!"
The world turned white, then black.
The terrifying energy impact violently cracked the entire ice field in front of them. The shockwave expanded in a perfect ring, pulverizing the frozen surface into millions of crystals. The resulting storm was so violent that it even caused the massive Red Force, anchored far in the distance, to shake violently in the churning waves!
On the other end of the battlefield, the intervention was quieter, but no less critical.
Benn Beckman's figure similarly appeared beside Yasopp as if teleporting through space itself!
"Clang!"
A crisp, high-pitched metallic sound rang out, cutting through the chaos.
Beckman didn't even have time to raise his gun and aim. Instead, he used the rifle as a club, immediately placing the barrel—now covered in pitch-black, high-density Armament Haki—horizontally behind Yasopp's back.
The steel barrel intercepted a silently stabbing crimson long blade mere millimeters from Yasopp's skin!
"What?"
Only then did Yasopp feel like he had been struck by lightning. The sound of metal behind him snapped him out of his focus.
He suddenly realized the danger!
He felt a chilling sensation rise from behind him, instantly spreading throughout his body like ice water. It was the breath of death.
"Who...?!"
He instinctively tucked his shoulder and rolled sideways to create distance, shouting in shock, "That was close! Thank you, Vice-Captain!"
While exclaiming, his battle instinct—honed by decades of piracy—had already driven his body to counterattack.
He raised the long gun in his hand, fluidly chambering a round, and fired several shots at the assailant.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
Three Haki-infused bullets tore through the air at the crimson figure!
Seeing that her strike failed due to the interference, Akame did not linger in battle. She was an assassin, not a brawler.
Tapping her toe lightly on the ice, her figure drifted backward like a red leaf caught in a gale, deftly dodging all the bullets with minimal movement. She landed softly, her expression unchanged.
"Be careful, Yasopp!"
Beckman did not chase. He stood his ground, keeping his weapon raised. His expression was grave, more serious than Yasopp had ever seen it before.
He stared intently at the emotionless girl in the distance, his eyes narrowed as if analyzing a biological weapon. He said in a deep voice, "Don't let her blade touch you, anywhere!"
"Not even a scratch."
His voice was very low, yet carried a hint of uncontrollable dread.
"Just now, my Observation Haki 'saw'... the moment you were struck by her blade, you fell."
Beckman adjusted his grip on his rifle, sweat beading on his forehead.
"There was no warning. No struggle. Although it looked like only a minor wound... a simple cut... you instantly collapsed as if your breathing had stopped. Your heart stopped. It was like you were hit by some kind of incurable, instant-acting poison!"
Hearing the Vice-Captain's words, the lingering shock on Yasopp's face instantly transformed into bone-deep terror.
He stared blankly at the seemingly harmless girl holding the long blade. She looked so young, so fragile in her school uniform... yet the Vice-Captain was describing her as a grim reaper.
Cold sweat immediately broke out on his back, soaking his shirt.
If... if the Vice-Captain's words were true... didn't that mean that just now, he had already walked through the gates of hell without even knowing what happened?
He hadn't just dodged an attack; he had dodged death itself.
No, he had almost died once already?
Thinking of this, Yasopp felt his hands and feet turn ice cold, and a chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head!
This seemingly insignificant girl, whose ability was so terrifying?
[Akarin Note:
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