Check out advanced chapters on P@treon: [email protected]/CosmicKaminari
----------
"Are you going to make us come over there ourselves?"
Benimaru stood on the ice and looked out at the Marine fleet. He raised his right hand and swept it forward, and the First Legion began to move out from the port onto the frozen bay in a single, unhurried wave, footsteps hitting the ice in unison, each one certain.
On the Marine side, the CP0 boss had been watching the First Legion deploy, and something shifted in his expression. An opening. He was off the ice and onto Garp's ship before the thought had fully formed, landing and heading straight for Akainu.
"Akainu, listen carefully. This is the moment." He didn't waste time on preamble. "Use your ability to melt the ice. Drop all of them into the water. Then," he turned to Aokiji, "you freeze the surface again and drown the lot of them."
Aokiji's expression tightened slightly, but it was Akainu who responded.
"We'll decide our own tactics. You don't give orders here."
"You...! Fine. When I get back, I'll be reporting this directly to the Gorosei."
(T/N: We will see about that)
Akainu held the CP0 boss's gaze, and something in his eyes went very flat and very cold.
Report it. Let's see if you make it back first.
Besides, this was being broadcast live across the world. The Gorosei were watching. They could see perfectly well what the situation was. Whatever headache they were dealing with right now, he was going to let them deal with it themselves.
He glanced at Aokiji. Aokiji gave a small nod.
Akainu turned and addressed the Marines.
"Nobody breaks. The enemy cannot sustain that kind of attack twice." His voice cut across the deck. "For the honor of the Marines. Follow me."
He didn't wait. He jumped from the ship and landed on the ice, moving toward Benimaru.
The Marines who had been on the edge of turning around found themselves with no good option but to follow. The ones who had already given up mentally, the ones who had been quietly preparing to run, now had the most terrifying Admiral in the fleet walking ahead of them, and turning back was no longer a realistic choice. They charged, because the alternative was worse.
"Kill them all!!!"
"Jura-Tempest Federation! Prepare to die!!!"
The voices rolled across the ice, more desperate than brave, but loud enough to fill the air.
Bang bang bang...
The remaining thirty thousand Marines spread across the frozen surface, shoulder to shoulder, filling the width of the bay. Their steps were quick and their voices were fierce, but if you watched their feet rather than listened to their words, you could see the tension underneath.
Benimaru watched them come and nodded, finally satisfied.
This was worth showing up for. If they had stayed on their ships much longer, he would have gone to them.
"First Legion. Charge!"
"Charge! Bury every last one of them!"
"For the Jura-Tempest Federation!!!"
"For Kaito-sama and Rimuru-sama!!!"
"For Eromanga Sensei's latest volume, you lot can die for me!"
Kaito heard that last one and turned to Rimuru.
"Did he just use us as a battle cry and then immediately switch to a manga?"
Rimuru located the soldier in question, watched him charge ahead screaming, and nodded with great seriousness.
"He did. Remember his face, Kai-chan. We'll pay him a visit tonight."
The soldier in question was fully committed to his charge, giving absolutely everything for his two great leaders, with no idea whatsoever that those two great leaders had just made a note of him.
"Actually, I think he didn't mean anything by it—"
Kaito felt a bead of cold sweat form and start moving.
"Hehe! I'm joking, Kai-chan. How could I do something like that to someone fighting so hard for us."
Rimuru laughed at his expression.
Kaito's lips started to curl.
[Host. Fix your face. For some reason this System has a very strong premonition that you are about to get hit.]
Kaito's lips went flat immediately. He looked around with great casualness.
'That was genuinely close. I could feel it. The universe has rules and I nearly broke one.'
"Kai-chan, what happened? You went quiet."
Rimuru was watching him with a slightly worried expression.
"Hahaha! Nothing. Just remembered something from my previous life for a second."
"Oh, okay!"
"Wahahaha! Rimuru, you worry too much! How could Kai-chan of all people be in trouble!"
Milim shot to her feet, hands on her hips, addressing Rimuru with great authority.
"Milim, did you just use a idiom?"
Kaito looked at her with genuine surprise.
"Hehe! Shizu-nee and the others taught me! I'm Demon Lord Milim, I pick things up fast!"
"Shizu-nee." Kaito stared at her. "You are older than Shizu by several orders of magnitude, and you're calling her Shizu-nee."
Veldora and Ramiris, sitting nearby, both shook their heads at the three of them without looking up from their respective reading material, and went back to ignoring everything.
Below them, things were considerably less idle.
"Take this! You lackey of the World Government!"
A Jura-Tempest Federation soldier roared at the Marine in front of him.
His right hand held a sword. He did not raise it. His left hand produced a ball of scorching flame, and he threw it.
The Marine went down screaming and did not get up.
"Mmm. Cumin flavour. Eighty-nine points."
"You said you'd use the sword! That's despicable!!!"
The surrounding Marines were incensed.
"All's fair in war." The soldier looked at them with open contempt. "This is a battlefield. Either you kill or you get killed. Which is it going to be?"
"You're going to die for this!"
Every Marine in range swung at him at once.
"Hahaha! Amateurs! Fine, have it your way, here's the sword!"
They expected the same trick again. Flame, no sword.
He raised the sword and cut.
The sword gleam was invisible to the naked eye. A dozen Marines in front of him went down before any of them registered the motion.
"How is that possible?! An ordinary grunt is releasing sword gleams?!"
A CP0 agent staring at the scene couldn't keep the disbelief out of his voice.
"Oh? Is that unusual?"
The agent spun around.
"You... you're..."