Moria, who has had mental breakdown, already possessed some of the weakest willpower around and simply could not resist Hancock's Devil Fruit ability.
"Trying to use something like this to replace us. Marines, you're still far too naive. Still, I must thank you. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had this chance."
Hancock ignored Koby standing before her. At this moment, Koby felt no attraction at all, and so was immune to Hancock's Love-Love Beam.
Compared to forced petrification techniques like Slave Arrow or Perfume Femur, the Love-Love Beam had a much wider effective range and was far harder to evade. Its greatest flaw, however, was that it could not affect beings who felt no attraction.
That kind of resistance wasn't worth Hancock paying any extra attention to, nor was it worth her taking action personally. The other Kuja warriors had already begun attacking this insolent man.
At the same time, Garp and Rayleigh stopped fighting almost in unison, then raised their heads to look toward the sky.
The battle on Amazon Lily alone wasn't enough to make them stop, but an unexpected visitor was.
Within the clouds, a blue figure appeared and disappeared, and a wild, unrestrained laugh had already reached below the cloud cover.
"Worororo! Running into some unexpected old faces. This is really great."
A blue Dragon Claw tore through the clouds, and the flame clouds coiling around it stood out like a lighthouse in the night.
The world's Strongest Creature, Kaido of the Beasts, had arrived.
He had originally thought this would be a boring fight, but now it seemed far more interesting than he had imagined.
"Rayleigh, Garp, long time no see!"
Surging energy condensed in his throat, scorching breath leaking from between his sharp teeth. After a brief charge-up, his signature Blast Breath was fired toward the warship where the two were standing.
This wasn't Kaido's strongest technique, but it was the one he used most easily. As for whether the attack would hit Rayleigh as well, that wasn't even a consideration for him.
In his eyes, there were only two kinds of people: those he could fight and those he couldn't. He certainly couldn't fight Kuja during this operation, but what did Kuja have to do with Rayleigh?
Of course, Rayleigh, an old pirate who had long since retired, showing up here to confront Garp was enough for anyone who thought about it properly to guess the reason why. Kaido, however, had no interest in wasting effort thinking about such things. He simply shut down his brain for the moment and decided to fight first.
Boom!!
The Blast Breath pierced straight through the warship's deck. Destructive flames surged into one cabin after another, and as the shockwave and heat arrived, the artillery shells in the ammunition storage detonated, further amplifying the devastation.
The warship that had just finished transferring its soldiers was nearly overturned, forcing Garp and Rayleigh to find a new foothold. Kaido's appearance had completely disrupted the situation here.
"Kaido! Why are you here?!"
"Worororo! Of course I'm here to work. For a bit more fun, I deliberately waited for you guys for several days. Looks like all that waiting was worth it."
Looking down at Garp and Rayleigh below, Kaido's face was filled with excitement, followed by a hint of regret.
"Too bad. I've got things to do this time, so I don't have that much time to waste on you. Kuja people! Get out of the way, I'm clearing the field!"
His main objective was to move the island. To do that, the first step wasn't to lift it directly with flame clouds, but to first blast apart the section beneath the island that connected it to the mainland, while also clearing out any irrelevant personnel on the island.
As soon as he finished speaking, a mass of golden energy began to gather in Kaido's mouth, already locked onto the Marines fighting on Amazon Lily.
His booming voice reached everyone's ears, and the Marines' faces immediately darkened. Kaido's attitude made everything clear.
If they weren't his own people, he would never give such a warning. Indiscriminate attacks like the one before were far more in line with his usual style.
"Cease close combat! Retreat immediately!!"
The one who shouted this wasn't a Marine, it was Hancock. When Olga had passed the message to Hancock earlier, she had specifically added one line: "Be careful of Kaido."
Although Kaido was here to help, once he got fired up it was easy for him to cause friendly fire. Even allies had to keep a constant eye on his movements. Giving advance warning before an attack was already Kaido showing considerable courtesy.
"Arrow suppression! Cover everyone else's retreat, Sonia, Mari, you too!"
Hancock lightly tapped her finger against her lips, then raised both hands in the shape of pistols.
"Pistol Kiss: Rapid Fire."
Powerful shockwaves burst forth from her fingers in rapid succession, targeting the Marine's front line lower-ranking officers.
The Kuja warriors began retreating the instant they received the order, leaving the Marines in front of them to be suppressed by others.
Faced with these Haki-infused arrows, the Marine formation fell into chaos for a moment. Coupled with the oppressive presence Kaido brought from the sky, the Marines began to fall back.
Summit War saw heavy losses among the elite forces, and the newly replenished soldiers simply lacked enough combat experience.
On top of that, years of manpower shortages had forced the Marines to constantly recruit, and quite a few of the Marines assigned to this mission were fresh recruits. Faced with the oppressive presence of an Emperor of the Sea, it was difficult for them to maintain their composure.
Yamakaji was still on the rear warship, directing the other soldiers, while the Vice Admiral on the front lines was entangled in combat with Shakky and couldn't spare any attention for anything else.
The deaths of the lower-ranking officers ultimately cost them their command structure, and chaos gradually set in.
"Move! Get out of the way! That thing's about to come down!"
"Idiot! We can't retreat, charge forward!! Mix in with those pirates! Don't let them get away!!"
The remaining officers realized where the real problem lay. They didn't know when Kaido's charged attack would finish, but they were very clear on one thing: people couldn't outrun fire or light.
On an open beach with no cover, they would only become living targets for Kaido. Kaido was clearly here to help the Kuja; only by mixing in with the Kuja pirates might they be able to make him stop the massive attack he was preparing.
However, before he could finish shouting his order, a python formed entirely of hair wrapped around him and began to constrict, snapping his neck outright.
Sonia and Mari, who had begun retreating after receiving Hancock's orders, also took the opportunity to kill several officers who were directing the troops along the way. Their commands had been correct; it was just that they never had the chance to fully pass them on.
A small number of soldiers who heard the order tried to chase after the retreating Kuja, only to collide with Marines who were attempting to retreat back to the ships. Under the suppressive fire of arrows, this only worsened the confusion.
"Don't panic! Someone will deal with Kaido! Reform the ranks! Scatter and evade!"
The Vice Admiral fighting Shakky endured two of her kicks head-on before managing to disengage and reestablish order among the Marines on the island. By then, it was no longer realistic to pursue the Kuja, so they could only withdraw beyond Kuja's attack range before dispersing.
After leaving behind numerous corpses, they gradually retreated in the opposite direction from the Kuja.
"When did you start having ties with the Beasts Pirates? If you accepted that man's recruitment, it would actually be a nice option for the current Kuja."
Shakky came to Gloriosa's side and asked this senior of hers about the situation.
That the Kuja had connections with the Beasts Pirates was something even Shakky, an information broker, hadn't anticipated.
After all, in this world Hancock hadn't been branded as a slave by the Celestial Dragons, and thus hadn't developed any particular ties with Shakky.
It wasn't strange for an Emperor of the Sea to recruit a former Shichibukai who had been struck off by the government. Their strength was still worthy of recognition.
"It's been going on for a while. Mostly Hancock's personal connection. This time was something planned long ago."
"I see. That's not bad. Which man was it?"
"Actually… it was a woman."
"Hyper… Breath!"
At this moment, Kaido's charge was complete. A Hyper Beam entwined with the flames of Blast Breath shot toward the island, though Kaido's true target was the area beneath it.
Those Marines earlier had overestimated themselves. If Kaido's target had been them, there would have been no need to charge for so long; he could have attacked the moment the Kuja pulled away.
The Marines retreating toward the edges narrowly avoided the core of the attack by sheer coincidence, with one exception - Koby.
He hadn't retreated immediately. Instead, he was carrying his comrades who had been turned to stone. He tried to call for others to help, but in that environment, no one was willing to assist comrades who were most likely beyond saving.
"Kaido, you brat, don't get too carried away!"
Garp's figure appeared before Kaido. Just as Kaido hadn't cared about hitting Rayleigh along with Garp earlier, Rayleigh likewise had no intention of helping Kaido stall Garp.
When Garp moved to confront Kaido, Rayleigh also chose to stop fighting and did not interfere.
"Those are the future of the Marines! I won't let you run wild like this! Galaxy Impact!"
Powerful Haki wrapped around his fist, black lightning crackling and spilling into the air around it. Garp compressed the tremendous force into a single point on his fist, blocking Kaido's breath head-on.
The immense force focused into a pinpoint strike, cleaving a gap through Kaido's attack and halting his attack on those below. As the smoke cleared, Garp's body bore a few charred marks, yet Kaido's reaction far exceeded Garp's expectations.
Tears streamed down Kaido's eyes, and Garp could even feel the fighting spirit in Kaido's heart rapidly diminishing.
"What the hell are you doing? You're like this just because your attack got interrupted?"
"Sniff… No. I'm sad! Really sad! I had such high hopes for you, but with such a perfect opportunity just now, you didn't come attack me; instead, you went and stopped my attack! Is that brat your hope? If the future of the Marines is like this, then how boring would the war I'm looking forward to be!"
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