Makoto immediately raised his hand and unleashed a series of Spatial Slashes.
In the blink of an eye, Erin, who was wearing the strange mechanical glove, was sliced into eight pieces.
However, looking at her dismembered body, Makoto felt no sense of victory.
That was because every severed surface revealed mechanical components rather than flesh and blood.
No wonder he hadn't been able to detect any signs of life from her earlier.
'So this Erin is actually a completely mechanical robot?'
In that case, it looked like he really would have to fight this Gundam!
Makoto's mood grew heavy for only a moment before a smile returned to his face.
No matter how powerful a Gundam might be, it was ultimately just an enormous robot.
Even if he couldn't defeat it, couldn't he simply use Spatial Manipulation to escape?
With a snap of his fingers, Makoto brought Asuna into his cursed technique's spatial dimension as well.
As for the two Admirals who were still restrained nearby, he temporarily protected them with spatial barriers.
At that moment, the Gundam looming above Makoto seemed to receive a signal and slowly raised its head.
Makoto finally recognized the machine's model.
The GNX-603T GN-X, also known as the White Tiger Star.
It was a mass-produced mobile suit equipped with a GN Drive Tau, secretly developed by Celestial Being Observer Alejandro Corner based on the three Gundam Thrones.
A total of thirty units had been manufactured.
After their completion, all thirty were handed over to the Union, AEU, and Human Reform League, becoming the primary mobile suits of the United Nations Forces.
In short, this was a mass-production model.
Rather than attempting to surpass a Gundam's individual performance, its designers had focused on versatility, carefully refining specific functions to achieve balanced combat capabilities.
While Makoto made his preparations, the GN-X's GN Drive Tau rapidly activated.
Faint streams of light appeared across its grayish-white armor, and the X-shaped particle-control wings on its back slowly unfolded.
A steady yet oppressive mechanical hum reverberated through the surroundings.
Brilliant GN particles poured from the gaps in the machine's armor.
The sight was so impressive that Makoto abandoned his intention of attacking first.
After all, what boy hadn't dreamed of piloting a Gundam?
Makoto was naturally no exception.
'I wonder if I can capture this thing intact...'
This was the first time Makoto had ever felt the urge to attack an enemy simply because he wanted something they possessed.
By now, the White Tiger Star had completed its startup sequence.
Its GN particle thrusters erupted simultaneously, transforming the movements of the heavy mobile suit into something as light and graceful as a butterfly.
The GN shield on its left arm deployed, while the mechanical structures of its right arm unfolded.
Its standard GN beam rifle finished charging.
A pale-red beam suddenly tore through the air, shooting straight toward Makoto's face.
Makoto made no attempt to dodge.
Ten spatial barriers instantly appeared before him.
However, what surprised him was that the supposedly powerful beam rifle couldn't even penetrate the first barrier.
'Is this Gundam really that weak?'
No.
It wasn't that the Gundam was too weak.
Makoto's spatial technique was simply absurdly powerful.
That shot had a destructive yield of at least 100 tons of TNT, with an estimated maximum of around 1,000 tons.
Yet in Jujutsu Kaisen, even Jogo's Maximum Technique could potentially approach the destructive scale of 10,000 tons of TNT.
That was without even mentioning Gojo Satoru and Ryomen Sukuna, whose abilities far surpassed Jogo's.
A trace of disappointment flashed through Makoto's eyes before he accepted the situation.
Although Gundams had been one of his childhood dreams, their destructive capabilities were indeed far below those of certain humanoid characters who could devastate entire landscapes.
Besides, his opponent was, at most, a relatively powerful Veteran.
It wasn't as though she could casually produce equipment of an overwhelmingly higher level.
...
While Makoto was feeling disappointed by the Gundam's attack power, Erin was experiencing something entirely different.
Having uploaded herself into the Gundam as digital data and effectively merged with the machine, her vision was filled with glaring red warning messages.
The person before her possessed exceptionally powerful life-energy signatures.
Even more terrifying was that his body contained more than one type of such energy!
Most importantly, he had mastered a technique as powerful as Spatial Manipulation.
'Is this really the kind of strength a Veteran should possess?'
'It's time to retreat...'
Although Erin had already decided to escape, her attacks didn't slow down in the slightest.
She continued bombarding Makoto with her beam rifle, attempting to create the impression that she was maintaining tactical suppression.
At the same time, she transmitted an order to her remaining subordinate, instructing Ivan to use an Emergency Escape Card.
Unfortunately, she had forgotten something important.
Makoto was also a stand user.
The moment Ivan released his control over the two Admirals, Makoto immediately sensed his movements.
He raised his hand and unleashed a dense barrage of Spatial Slashes toward Ivan's position, forming something resembling an enormous fishing net.
A powerful aura suddenly erupted from beneath the ruins.
Clearly, Ivan was unwilling to die without putting up a final struggle.
Makoto couldn't identify the nature of that energy, but it felt somewhat similar to the magical power Sakiko possessed.
However, Ivan only managed to unleash a Dragon Shout and send a cloud of shattered metal fragments flying toward Makoto.
The next instant, countless Spatial Slashes cut him into pieces.
He didn't even have the opportunity to activate his Emergency Escape Card.
Seeing this, Erin realized that she was now the sole surviving member of her team.
She immediately abandoned all other considerations and activated her own Emergency Escape Card.
Although she had already transformed herself into a purely digital existence, that didn't prevent her from using items prepared in advance.
In fact, this very characteristic had allowed her to escape death on numerous previous occasions.
Makoto had already anticipated that she would attempt to flee.
Without hesitation, he activated Domain Expansion!
In an instant, he pulled half of his cursed technique's spatial dimension into the real world, completely enveloping the Gundam.
This was fundamentally different from his earlier attempts at Domain Expansion, when his storage space had contained only ten cubic meters and prevented him from fully utilizing the technique.
This time, the barrier's interior was filled with countless three-dimensional spatial structures nested within one another.
If an enemy stretched their hand forward, that same hand might simultaneously appear behind their back and beneath their feet.
Directions had practically lost all meaning within this space.
Even the distinction between up and down had become blurred.
Every form of perception would be thrown into confusion.
And once Makoto began releasing his slashes, an enemy without some exceptional means of defense would have virtually no chance of surviving.
Countless slashes struck the Gundam.
Unexpectedly, the GN particles seemed to react with the Spatial Slashes, actually slowing their movement.
Makoto frowned slightly.
'Can those ridiculous particles even interfere with space?'
However, he quickly understood what was happening.
One of the major functions of GN particles was to make heavy Gundams move as though they were much lighter.
In other words, the particles could influence mass and weight to a certain extent.
And since mass and space were closely related in physics, it wasn't entirely surprising that GN particles could interfere with Makoto's Spatial Slashes.
Unfortunately for Erin, that interference was limited to slowing the slashes and slightly reducing their destructive power.
The energy supplied by a single GN Drive Tau was nowhere near sufficient to truly manipulate space.
Perhaps if the Gundam could somehow contain an entire star within its body, it might possess enough power to genuinely resist Makoto's spatial attacks.
In the blink of an eye, countless Spatial Slashes tore through the entire Gundam.
Its armored body was carved into collapsing fragments.
A moment later, a deep, muffled explosion erupted from within.
The White Tiger Star's torso suddenly contracted inward before violently bursting apart.
Pale-red particle flames erupted alongside streams of molten metal slag, scattering outward like the fragments of an enormous explosive shell.
Seeing this, Makoto couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.
It seemed his dream of piloting a Gundam would have to remain unfulfilled for now.
As for the fragments flying toward him, Makoto couldn't even be bothered to dodge.
Although he appeared to be standing at the center of his Domain Expansion, his surroundings were actually filled with countless invisible, distorted spatial passages.
The fragments swirled around him at a distance of roughly three meters.
No matter how violently they moved, they could never approach him any closer.
In a certain sense, this technique was quite similar to Gojo Satoru's Limitless.
However, the underlying principles were entirely different.
Makoto's technique worked by opening countless spatial entrances and exits around his body.
Any incoming attack would automatically travel through these passages, repeatedly colliding with other attacks and gradually exhausting its own energy.
All Makoto needed to do was maintain the spatial structure.
With his Lattice Eyes, controlling such a complicated arrangement wasn't particularly difficult.
The only problem was that it consumed considerable amounts of cursed energy.
The explosions continued for an entire thirty seconds.
By the time everything settled, the Gundam had completely disappeared.
There wasn't even a single intact piece of metal left on the ground.
However, what surprised Makoto even more was that he hadn't received a notification about killing a Player.
'Don't tell me that Erin actually escaped?'
He couldn't help being impressed.
'Giving up your physical body and fighting through a digital existence really does have its advantages!'
It seemed that Erin hadn't summoned the Gundam to defeat him in the first place.
Instead, she had intended to use the entire machine as a protective device while activating her Emergency Escape Card.
It was almost like using an invincibility effect in a game while teleporting back to town.
Makoto didn't dwell on the matter for long.
The reason he had come into conflict with these Players was that they possessed information about numerous secrets.
Originally, there hadn't been any irreconcilable hatred between them.
Of course, there certainly was now.
Makoto withdrew his Domain Expansion.
He glanced toward Aokiji and Akainu, who had finally regained their freedom and were staring at him with expressions of shock and uncertainty.
He smiled and greeted them casually.
"Just a few special abilities. There's no need to look so surprised."
Makoto deliberately avoided claiming that he possessed a second Devil Fruit.
After all, he couldn't guarantee that making such a claim wouldn't trigger the curse that supposedly caused people who ate two Devil Fruits to explode.
"You two should hurry up and get some rest. My max-level Observation Haki tells me that Garp isn't doing particularly well."
[Ding, Making Fake Become Real triggered...]
[Akainu's Fate Value: 30. Trust Level: 30%. Manifestation Points: 9.]
[Aokiji's Fate Value: 30. Trust Level: 40%. Manifestation Points: 12.]
[Your mastery of Observation Haki has reached 91%.]
[You have successfully mastered the technique Future Sight.]
[Effect: While maintaining a high level of concentration, you can clearly visualize the future attacks of a target living being within your mind.]
[Each prediction can display up to 3 seconds of future actions. However, the total duration for which you can maintain Future Sight depends on the strength of your mental energy.]
A look of delight flashed through Makoto's eyes as he read the notifications.
He had finally reached the level of Observation Haki mastery demonstrated by Katakuri!
With Future Sight combined with his Spatial Manipulation, it would now be extremely difficult for enemies to injure him unless they possessed abilities that transcended space or conventional physical laws.
Of course, if an opponent operated on an entirely different scale of power, that would be another matter.
Unfortunately, Future Sight was still fundamentally an application of Observation Haki rather than a weapon capable of manipulating causality itself.
Otherwise, Makoto would have almost nothing left to worry about.
...
Akainu and Aokiji exchanged glances.
In the end, Aokiji, who had encountered Makoto before, chose to speak first.
"Thank you for your assistance. Sakazuki and I will both remember what you've done, and we'll personally testify to your achievements."
"Although we still don't know exactly where you came from, could we ask you to help Vice Admiral Garp and Fleet Admiral Sengoku?"
Akainu apparently considered Aokiji's tone far too weak and decided to speak for himself.
"The Marines cannot afford to lose this war."
"Although we don't know your background, if you help us win this battle, you could even become a Marine Admiral or Fleet Admiral in the future!"
Aokiji looked at Akainu in disbelief.
However, after adjusting his glasses, he ultimately chose not to object.
After all, he also believed Makoto possessed the strength and qualifications to reach such a position.
The only problem was that Makoto's identity was rather suspicious.
Makoto nodded without expressing any particular interest in the grand promises the two Admirals had made.
After all, according to the original storyline, even Aokiji himself would eventually leave the Marines after losing the competition for the Fleet Admiral position following the Summit War.
How could Makoto, a Player from the Main God Space, possibly take such promises seriously?
All he wanted now was to ensure that his newcomer mission could be completed successfully.
Seeing Makoto's lack of enthusiasm, neither Aokiji nor Akainu pressed the matter further.
Their highest priority was to remove as many Seastone fragments from their bodies as possible.
Only by doing so could they recover their fighting strength and return to support Garp and Sengoku.
After the two Admirals departed, Makoto released Sakiko and Asuna from his cursed technique's spatial dimension.
Sakiko's golden mask allowed her to unleash all the energy within her body in a single burst.
That enabled her to deliver an extraordinarily powerful attack, but the cost was complete exhaustion.
Fortunately, her dragon eyes provided a virtually endless supply of magical power.
That was why she had already recovered most of her strength.
Asuna was supporting Sakiko by the arm.
Her own face was similarly pale, but because she hadn't consumed much energy, she wasn't showing any particularly serious symptoms.
Seeing this, Makoto couldn't help marveling at her progress.
'As expected of Yuuki Asuna. Her growth rate really is astonishing.'
"Is the fighting over?"
Sakiko looked around and immediately noticed several loot packages scattered across the surrounding area.
These were the spoils of war obtained from the Players the three of them had killed.
And just as Makoto had expected, these drops weren't Bloody Drops.
That confirmed something important.
In Battlefield Mode, Players were allowed to attack their own teammates.
Under such circumstances, apart from teammates who had formally agreed to work together beforehand, nobody else could be trusted.
"Sakiko, go collect those drops. Their Fate Value is yours."
Makoto spoke as though this were the most natural arrangement in the world.
Sakiko didn't stand on ceremony.
She quickly walked over and gathered five loot packages.
After briefly examining their contents, she reported their rewards to Makoto.
"A little over 50,000 Mission Points and 30 Fate Value."
"There's also a whole pile of miscellaneous stuff, mostly Main God Space items, low-level skills, weapons, and equipment. We can go through the details once this is all over."
Makoto nodded.
Given their current strength, ordinary Veterans were unlikely to possess many items that would genuinely interest them.
For the three of them, those 30 Fate Value were undoubtedly the most valuable reward.
With that thought, Makoto turned his attention toward the Players fighting on the pirates' side.
'I wonder how much Fate Value those people are carrying?'
…