"Move aside." His voice was terrifyingly low.
"Please, I beg you!" Kozuki Hiyori knelt down, pressing her forehead to the ground. "Father has already realized his mistake! Please spare him!"
Kozuki Hizumi, though trembling with fear, straightened her back. "I—I am the eldest daughter of the Kozuki family! If you must strike someone, strike me!"
Rhett stared at Hizumi. No Momonosuke in sight—good. Out of sight, out of mind. These two girls seemed decent, at least. Hizumi had more backbone than that cowardly runaway.
But—
"Not my damn problem."
With a wave of his hand, Rhett's blood mist coalesced into two massive hands, effortlessly lifting Hiyori and Hizumi and tossing them aside like kittens to Marco. "Keep an eye on them. Don't let them get in the way."
Marco caught the two girls with a resigned sigh. "Big Bro Rhett, they're still young..."
"Young?" Rhett scoffed. "In a few years, they'll be paying for Oden's stupidity."
He turned, planting a foot on Oden's chest, the tip of his black-tide greatsword pressing against his throat. "Oden, even your daughters have more spine than you."
Oden coughed up blood, struggling to lift his head. "Rhett... I..."
"Shut up." Rhett kicked him over. "Regretting it now? Too late!"
He raised his sword, blood mist coiling around the blade as if ready to sever Oden's head in the next instant—
"Wait!" Whitebeard suddenly interjected, his naginata blocking Rhett's path. "Enough, Rhett."
Rhett took a deep breath. Truthfully, he hadn't planned to kill Oden.
This strike would've just made him suffer, knocked him unconscious for a blissful few months, and left him bedridden for over a year before he could walk again.
Rhett was a professional.
After staring at Oden for a few seconds, Rhett suddenly snorted and sheathed his sword. "Fine. For your sake."
He crouched down, grabbing Oden by the hair and forcing him to meet his gaze.
If only he'd resisted sooner—like in the original story. Their bond on Roger's ship had been solid—that was the main reason Rhett, as a comrade, had come to see him.
"If you still have any dignity as a samurai left—" Rhett's voice was icy. "Get up on your own and finish what needs to be done."
With that, he released his grip, and Oden collapsed heavily to the ground.
Rhett turned away, his blood mist churning as he strode toward Kaido without a backward glance, leaving only one final remark:
"Don't let this beating go to waste."
The moment Rhett's words faded, nine blades suddenly erupted from the ruins!
"You won't lay a hand on Lord Oden!" Denjiro, leading the Red Scabbards, aimed their blades straight for Rhett's throat.
Rhett didn't even blink.
*BOOM—!!!*
A golden colossus abruptly rose from the ground, blocking Denjiro's strike.
At the same time, Tesoro's "Golden Divine Punishment" sent Nekomamushi and Inuarashi flying with a single punch.
*SWOOSH—!*
Rhett pulled his crew forward, positioning them as shields.
Tesoro and the returned Moriah stood protectively in front of Rhett.
"Tch, tch, tch. Our captain isn't someone just any stray dog can challenge."
The Red Scabbards regrouped, their blades flashing as they launched another assault.
Nine slashes tore through the mist simultaneously, the Scabbards fanning out in a pincer formation.
Denjiro's strike arrived first, his blade splitting into seven phantom slashes inches from Tesoro's throat.
Why does everyone and their mother know how to clone themselves???
Denjiro's pupils shrank—he saw his own stunned reflection in the golden pillar before him, while the other six phantoms were crushed by golden hands materializing out of nowhere.
"Too slow." Tesoro emerged from a swirl of gold dust, golden threads extending from his fingers to ensnare Denjiro's limbs.
"Golden Restraint: Gallows!"
"Lord Denjiro!" Kawamatsu shouted, charging at Tesoro—
Only to be blasted back by a bolt of lightning.
Enel sat cross-legged on his drum, picking his ear. "Two Million Volts: Thunderbird."
Rhett's blood mist spread, mingling with golden dust to create a dazzling, gilded haze.
Lightning crackled in the air, while Moriah's zombies flickered in and out of the mist, their shadows swaying eerily.
"Protect Lord Oden!!"
The Red Scabbards surged from the wreckage, their blades like rainbows as they lunged at Rhett.
Going for the decapitation strategy? Rhett almost laughed. This is One Piece—you need backup in this world!
Rhett lazily waved a hand. "Goldie, don't kill them."
"Golden Colossus: Divine Judgment!"
Tesoro spread his arms as his body began to coat itself in gold—his self-developed "Golden Armor." Though he couldn't generate gold from nothing, he could compress and layer it over his body.
The added weight was just extra training. Once Tesoro awakens his Devil Fruit, it'll function like Doflamingo's String-String Fruit.
The gold twisted and morphed into a towering colossus, now clad in Armament Haki.
Inuarashi's crescent blade struck the giant's ankle, only to spark harmlessly against it.
"Pathetic." Tesoro smirked as the colossus stomped down, sending Nekomamushi and Inuarashi flying with blood spraying from their mouths. They crashed through three walls before finally stopping.
*"Raigo: Divine Retribution!"*
Enel lounged mid-air, casually flicking his trident.
Denjiro's blade hadn't even fully risen before a thunderbolt as thick as a tree trunk struck him, sending him crashing into a ditch, smoke rising from his body.
"Mere mortals~" Enel yawned. "Not even worth my full attention."
*"Shadow Spear!"*
Moriah's shadow erupted from the ground, forming a razor-sharp lance.
Kin'emon's "Blaze Slash" barely took shape before the shadow spear impaled his shoulder, pinning him to a wall. Kanjuro's ink tiger roared for half a second before Moriah's shadow bats shredded it into splatters.
"Kishishishi!" Moriah licked his lips. "You're not worthy of disrespecting our captain."
Stella and Perona's Negative Hollows watched from a distance, protected by Lina and Laboon.
Between morale suppression and Negative Hollows, with Rhett nearby, the fight was already over.
Kawamatsu suddenly dropped to his knees, sobbing. "I'm worse than a salted fish..." Raizou hugged his head, crouching. "My ninjutsu is just child's play..."
Rhett lounged on a throne woven from blood mist, chin resting on his hand.
"Lord Denjiro!" Hiyori cried, trying to rush to his aid, only for the blood mist to gently push her back toward Marco.
Hizumi, even as her legs shook, drew a small tanto and charged at Rhett. "Stop bullying everyone!"
Rhett flicked her forehead from a distance, sending her tumbling onto her rear.
"Save it, shrimp." Rhett yawned. "Your dad's men can't even handle my crew. What hope do you have for revenge?"
The Whitebeard Pirates watched with twitching eyes. Thatch muttered under his breath, "This isn't even a fight..."
"Gurararara!" Whitebeard suddenly laughed. "See that, Oden? Your retainers are fighting with everything they've got—"
Oden watched his struggling comrades. "Enough... I said ENOUGH!"
A wave of Conqueror's Haki crashed against Rhett's group.
Rhett immediately countered with his own Conqueror's Haki.
He stood, his blood mist throne dissipating.
Stepping over the fallen Scabbards, he looked down at Oden sprawled on the ground.
Oden strained to lift his head, meeting Rhett's gaze. Before he lost consciousness, he heard Rhett's reply:
"That's more like it, Oden. I thought you'd lost your Conqueror's Haki too."