As the smoke dispersed, only the occasional crackling sparks remained, adding a sense of desolation to the battlefield ruins.
Blake stood atop the wreckage of the massive mech, his black blade already sheathed.
His black training uniform fluttered loudly in the wind. Though covered in dust, his breathing had already returned to complete calm.
At his feet, the once-arrogant trio now lay sprawled on the ground in utterly humiliating poses.
Count Zack's son clutched the remains of his shattered power armor, crying bitterly while muttering, "My two billion…"
Balger looked like a dead pig drained of all strength, rolling his eyes with his tongue hanging out.
As for the scheming Garon, he was trying to play dead, but his twitching eyelids exposed him.
"According to the rules."
Blake bent down and, with practiced efficiency and absolutely no unnecessary words, directly shoved his hand into Zack's coat.
"Hey! What are you doing?! Don't touch my limited-edition pocket watch! That's worth money too, OW!"
Before Zack could finish protesting, Blake had already pulled out a gleaming golden token, then mercilessly kicked him aside.
Next came Balger.
Then the "dead" Garon.
One token each. No more, no less.
"So this is what they call a toll fee."
Blake weighed the three newly acquired golden tokens in his hand before combining them with his previous loot.
"Fifteen total."
He glanced at the score counter on his wrist. The number shifted, to 15 tokens, still at second place.
"Although there's still a gap between me and that blind old man…"
Blake looked up at the gradually shrinking gray zone in the sky.
"But if I maintain this pace, I'll have a seat in the final circle."
He didn't finish them off, nor did he continue looting the unfortunate trio of their remaining valuables.
Just as his Lord, Renzo had taught him, "Always leave people a little dignity, so they'll be easier to use… ah, easier to meet again in the future."
"You can keep the rest and play with it yourselves."
Leaving behind only a cold silhouette, Blake's figure flashed once before disappearing into the shadows of the ruins.
Behind him, several rescue helicopters bearing the G-5 insignia approached from the sky, carrying enormous electromagnets.
"Attention! Attention! A participant's token count has reached zero! Beginning retrieval operations!"
The merciless announcement echoed through the broadcast: "Contestant No. 44 has been eliminated after repeatedly suffering sneak attacks and losing all tokens!"
"Contestant No. 12 fell asleep in the sloth zone and has been eliminated!"
"Contestant No. 58…"
As the competition intensified, the cruel elimination system finally revealed its fangs.
In just half a day, ten contestants considered strong even by New World standards had already lost all qualifications due to various reasons, knocked unconscious and robbed clean.
Or simply hypnotized into sleep by Renzo's domain.
Dragged from the battlefield like dead dogs.
This wasn't merely a battle.
It was a brutal gamble of willpower and luck.
…..
G-5 Live Broadcast Plaza
The audience had barely recovered from Blake's stunning slash when the giant screen suddenly changed scenes.
The gloomy battlefield was replaced by a vibrant yet eerie sea of green.
A verdant jungle.
"If you thought the previous battle was the art of technical combat…"
At some point Rehn had changed into a camouflage-style tailcoat and was now shouting excitedly through binoculars: "Then now!"
"Let's witness true violent aesthetics!!"
"Or perhaps… a live broadcast of a natural disaster!!"
On the screen, massive tree roots writhed like giant serpents, violently overturning the earth.
At the center of this green tidal wave stood the shirtless man with the "Shinigawa Shinju" tattoo on his back, Aramaki.
He swaggered casually through the forest he himself had created.
The cigarette in his mouth had already been replaced with a fresh one, and somehow he'd found another pair of sunglasses to wear.
"Lahahaha! Hiding? You think hiding in tree holes means I can't find you?!"
Aramaki laughed loudly and flicked a finger.
SWISH!
A tiny vine instantly burrowed underground.
Then, a giant tree over a hundred meters away suddenly came alive. Its trunk split open into a giant mouth and spat out a hidden contestant who specialized in stealth!
"WAAAHHH! LET ME GO!!"
The marine contestant struggled desperately, but the vines wrapped tighter and tighter around him, even beginning to drain his stamina.
"One token in exchange for not spending half a month in the infirmary."
Aramaki extended a hand casually, sounding as if he were simply collecting protection money.
"I'LL GIVE IT! I'LL GIVE IT, ALRIGHT?!"
The marine cried miserably and obediently handed over his token.
"Scram."
With a casual wave, the roots tossed the man away like garbage.
But that was only the beginning.
Aramaki resembled either a thug rampaging through a kindergarten or a lion king patrolling his territory.
He no longer waited passively.
He had begun an active, large-scale, hunt.
"Forest Manifestation: Hellgrass!"
Countless sharp grass blades shot through the air like knives, driving a group of swordsmen trying to resist him into utter panic. Even their swords were sliced into jagged saw-like shapes.
"That's Robert the swordsman worth 130 million?! He couldn't even draw his sword?!"
The audience cried out in shock.
"Giant Flower Rampage!"
Dozens of gigantic carnivorous flowers chased two Zoan users with bounties over 100 million across the mountains.
The scene was both hilarious and horrifying.
"SAVE ME! THESE FLOWERS ARE BITING MY ASS!!"
In the end, the two Devil Fruit users were forced to climb a cliff and throw down their tokens in tears just to survive.
Aramaki's fighting style was simple.
Brutal and deeply humiliating.
Against weak opponents, he simply wrapped them up like rice dumplings with vines, searched them, and left.
Against stronger enemies, he summoned giant wooden giants or unleashed massive plant-based strangulation attacks, using his endless vitality and regenerative abilities to grind them down mentally and physically until they collapsed.
"T-This is way too brutal!"
Someone in the audience swallowed hard.
"This isn't combat anymore. It's straight-up bullying!"
"And this guy… does he even need rest?!"
That was exactly the problem.
Thanks to the Woods-Woods Fruit, Aramaki could absorb nutrients anytime, anywhere, from the earth and surrounding plant life.
Others would be exhausted after a battle.
He could lie on the grass for a minute and instantly return to full condition.
Even the messy hairstyle caused by combat automatically regrew itself.
This absurd stamina made him a BUG-like existence in this savage battle royale.
"Twenty-third…"
Aramaki casually tossed another stolen token into the vine-woven sack hanging on his back. The bag was now bulging.
He looked toward the gray curtain in the sky and then at several distant red light pillars.
"That blind guy… has that many too?"
His Observation Haki swept across the scoreboard.
The rankings had already changed drastically:
1st Place (Tie): Issho (25 tokens)
1st Place (Tie): Aramaki (25 tokens)
3rd Place: Blake (17 tokens)
4th Place: Shelby (14 tokens)
…
In merely half a day, Aramaki's terrifying battlefield-clearing efficiency and map-wide Devil Fruit abilities had allowed him to completely catch up with Issho, who had previously dominated using meteor strikes.
The two now stood far ahead of everyone else!
"Heh…"
Aramaki grinned, green ambition flashing in his eyes.
"Blind old man, looks like the two of us are destined to clash in the final circle."
"But before that…"
Aramaki turned toward another direction, Shelby's territory.
"That fire-playing brat seems to have collected quite a few too."
"Perfect. My forest could use a little fire to burn away the weeds."
…
G-5 Live Broadcast Plaza
The atmosphere wasn't merely boiling anymore.
It had exploded completely.
"A tie! Another tie!!"
"25 to 25! These two are monsters among monsters!"
"How is anyone supposed to compete anymore?! Those two alone already took a quarter of all the golden tokens! Blake and the others are taking more too! Are ordinary contestants supposed to survive on air?!"
The gamblers had gone insane.
The betting odds changed every second.
"I'm betting on Aramaki! Logia users are invincible! And his recovery ability is way too broken! He's practically a perpetual motion machine!"
"Bullshit! Uncle Issho is the real god! Did you not see the meteor move?! No matter how much Aramaki grows, can he survive getting a meteor slammed into his face?!"
"Don't forget Blake! That kid's a sneaky bastard, uh, tactical genius! He might pull a surprise victory!"
Arguments, betting, and cheers erupted nonstop.
Meanwhile, atop the highest viewing platform, Renzo still lounged lazily, now holding a telescope he had somehow acquired, watching the battlefield on-screen.
"Tsk tsk tsk…"
He smacked his lips, seemingly unsurprised by the results.
"Borsalino, what do you think of them?"
Beside him, Kizaru sat cross-legged, trimming his nails with a custom-made gold nail clipper while observing the screens through his sunglasses.
Hearing Renzo's question, Kizaru paused slightly.
"Maa~…"
He let out his trademark phrase, but this time there was less teasing in his tone and more seriousness befitting a Fleet Admiral.
"Renzo-kun… this time, you really found treasures~."
Kizaru pointed first toward Issho, the compassionate-looking blind man summoning meteors, then toward Aramaki, the arrogant man creating forests.
"That blind old man~… his gravity manipulation, swordsmanship, and immeasurably deep Observation Haki…"
"And that Logia kid~… though his personality's terrible, the level of Devil Fruit mastery and that cockroach-like vitality…"
Kizaru slowly lowered the nail clipper and turned toward Renzo with unprecedented seriousness.
"If we ignore seniority and judge purely by combat capability…"
"These two…"
"Already possess combat power worthy of the Marine Admiral position~."
Admiral-level combat power!
Those words, coming from the current Fleet Admiral himself, carried enormous weight.
Even Monet, who was fanning Renzo nearby, trembled slightly.
'Two Admiral-level fighters?!'
'If both fully joined G-5…'
'Wouldn't G-5's power become absolutely monstrous?!'
"Admiral-level, huh…"
Renzo, however, barely reacted.
He simply tossed the telescope aside and laid back down on the sofa.
"Who cares what level they are."
Renzo yawned and pulled down his eye mask.
"As long as they can work for me and reduce my overtime, I'll gladly accept them."
"Even if they're Pirate King-level."
"But…"
A mischievous grin appeared on Renzo's lips.
"Since they're this strong, future construction work, landscaping projects, and cargo hauling…"
"Looks like we can save a lot on outsourcing fees."
"Now that is real value."
Kizaru: "..."
Rehn: "..."
The two exchanged glances, both seeing the same mixture of admiration and speechlessness in each other's eyes.
Faced with two Admiral-level combatants…
Renzo's first thought was actually saving money on landscaping and transportation costs?!
This was…the god of G-5.
As expected, his perspective truly was different.