But Luffy's pride, his very core as a captain and a brother, would not allow someone else to carry his burden.
"I'll save him myself!" Luffy shouted.
The roar tore from Luffy's lungs, echoing with a staggering, unshakable conviction that seemed to momentarily part the thick grey clouds above.
Without waiting for a response, without a single glance back at the overwhelming odds, Luffy leaped off the railing of the battleship. He plummeted through the freezing air, his sandals aimed directly at the thickest cluster of elite Marine officers guarding the path to the plaza.
"Let's show them, Captain," Roronoa Zoro muttered. The swordsman didn't hesitate for a microsecond. He drew Sandai Kitetsu, a dark, bloodthirsty aura violently erupting from his blades, and dropped from the ship like a stone to cover his captain's flank.
"Leave some for us, you moss-head," Sanji added smoothly. The cook took a final, deep drag of his cigarette, his right leg spontaneously combusting into the searing heat of Diable Jambe, and kicked off the railing.
"HEE-HAW! Let's tear this place apart, candy boys!" Emporio Ivankov bellowed. The massive Revolutionary leader leaped after the Monster Trio, his oversized head leading the charge, followed closely by Inazuma and the ragged, adrenaline-fueled remnants of the Okama army.
Light stood entirely alone on the railing of the battleship.
He watched the Straw Hat vanguard rain down onto the ice below. He watched Luffy's fist violently stretch backward, coated in a rudimentary, desperate sheen of Armament Haki, preparing to smash into the shield wall of the Giant Squad.
The unhinged, arrogant smile slowly returned to Light's face. He shook his head, a soft, genuine chuckle escaping his lips. He admired the sheer, irrational stubbornness of it all.
"Fine," Light murmured to himself, his hand resting comfortably on the hilt of his pitch-black saber. "Up to you."
The moment Luffy's fist collided with the Marine shields, the spell was broken.
The paralyzing silence of Marineford was violently shattered.
"DON'T LET THEM EXPLOIT THE OPENING!" Fleet Admiral Sengoku roared from the scaffold, his voice instantly whipping the hundred thousand Marines back into a disciplined frenzy. "ANNIHILATE THE INTRUDERS! NO ONE REACHES THE PLATFORM!"
'So this kid is the little brother...'
Across the bay, Whitebeard took a deep look at the boy wearing the Straw Hat and slammed his bisento into the ice.
BAM!
"PROTECT MY IDIOT SON'S LITTLE BROTHER!" Whitebeard bellowed, a command that sent a massive surge of morale through the pirate fleet.
"FOLLOW THE STRAW HAT! PUSH FORWARD!"
The meat grinder restarted with a deafening, catastrophic roar.
The thunderous boom of heavy artillery cannons resumed, sending massive iron balls ripping through the pirate ranks. The clash of thousands of swords ringing simultaneously created a high-pitched, metallic symphony of death. Men screamed, ice shattered, and the frozen bay was instantly plunged back into absolute, bloody chaos.
Light didn't immediately jump into the fray.
He remained standing on the railing of the battleship, an elevated spectator to the apocalypse. He closed his eyes, taking a deep, slow breath of the freezing, ozone-tinged air.
He pushed his Level 5 Observation Haki to its absolute maximum capacity, still exploring it.
The Empathic Omniscience expanded, washing over the entire island of Marineford. Light felt the individual souls of one hundred thousand men pressing against his mind. It was a sensory overload that would have instantly shattered the sanity of an ordinary man, but Light's mind—was no longer ordinary, it processed the immense information easily.
He felt the sheer, paralyzing terror of the Marine chore boys hiding behind the barricades, praying to return to their families.
He felt the righteous, blinding sense of duty from the Vice Admirals, men who genuinely believed they were protecting the world from the anarchy of pirates.
He felt the vile, parasitic greed of the pirate fodder, men who were only here in the hopes of killing their personal enemies in the Marine fortress once the Emperor tore it down.
And he felt the cold, sadistic joy of the executioners and corrupt officers, men who used the banner of 'Justice' as a convenient shield to exercise their darkest, most violent urges without consequence.
Light opened his eyes.
The physical battlefield of ice and blood was superimposed with a sea of glowing, ethereal system panels.
He needed some cleaning done.
I have no side in this war, Light realized, a clarity settling over his soul.
This is not a battle between good and evil. This is a clash of two corrupt empires.
"Ha...."
I.
Only I, have the right mind to rid the world of these parasites.
"Huhun...huhuhnn.."
He tried to control it but a few chuckles still escaped his lips.
STEP.
Light stepped off the railing of the battleship.
He didn't plummet like Luffy or Zoro. He simply walked down the invisible staircase of the air using Force, his boots making soft, clicking sounds as he descended toward the chaotic ice below.
As he landed lightly on the frozen bay, he drew his pitch-black saber. The dark steel hissed as it cleared the scabbard, instantly igniting with a terrifying, dense aura of Level 4 Internal Destruction-Level Armament Haki. The spiritual pressure radiating from the blade visibly warped the air around him.
"It's him! The False Deity!" a massive pirate captain roared, his eyes wide with opportunistic greed.
"If we take his head, Whitebeard will make us commanders!"
"OHHH"
"GET HIM!"
A dozen pirates, armed with heavy axes and cutlasses, broke away from the main skirmish and charged directly at Light, their faces twisted into savage snarls.
Light didn't even break his stride. He continued his slow, methodical walk across the ice.
His eyes flicked to the panel above the charging captain.
[ Bad: 22,000 ]. And with his Observation, he understood.
Looter. Murderer.
Light simply raised his black blade. He didn't swing it. He didn't exert any physical effort.
Flick.
PSSSH! BAM!
An invisible, hyper-compressed pulse of internal Haki shot from the tip of his saber. It bypassed the captain's raised axe entirely, piercing directly through his chest. The pirate's heart was completely pulverized.
THUD.
He dropped dead onto the ice, his momentum carrying his lifeless body sliding directly to Light's boots.
The other eleven pirates froze, their battle cries dying in their throats as they stared at their fallen captain.
Before they could turn to run, Light swung his sword in a lazy, horizontal arc.
SLASH.
"One-Sword Style: Vacuum"
A massive, invisible crescent of spiritual pressure erupted from the blade. It swept through the eleven pirates seamlessly. There was no resistance. There was no clash of steel. The pirates simply fell apart, cleanly bisected at the waist, their torsos hitting the ice in a horrific, synchronized thud.
[ Multiple Targets Eliminated. +85,000 KP. ]
"What the hell was that?!" a Marine Rear Admiral shouted from twenty yards away, pointing his katana at Light.
"The intruder is attacking the pirates?! But don't let your guard down! He's an enemy of the Government! Execute him!"
A platoon of elite Marines, emboldened by their commander, raised their rifles and fired a volley of Haki-coated bullets directly at the man in the black coat.
Light didn't dodge. He simply let his Level 5 Observation Haki guide his movements. He walked forward, swaying his shoulders and tilting his head with mathematical, terrifying precision. The bullets whipped past his ears, tore through the edges of his coat, and completely missed his flesh.
He locked eyes with the Rear Admiral.
[ Name: Bastille ] [ Bad: 18,500 ]
Corrupt. Ordered the slaughter of a surrendered civilian ship in the West Blue to rally Justice propaganda.
'Soru.'
BOOM!
Light vanished.
He reappeared directly in front of the Marine Rear Admiral, his eyes apathetic like looking at an insect. Bastille gasped, violently swinging his massive shark-cleaver sword downward.
Light parried the massive weapon with one hand, his black saber easily holding back the tons of force.
PRESS!
With his free hand, Light reached out and gently tapped two fingers against the center of Bastille's armored chest.
'Internal Destruction.'
Vrrrr....BOOM!!
"GAHH-!"
The Haki detonated inside the Marine's ribcage. Bastille's eyes rolled back, a spray of blood erupting from his lips behind his iron mask. He collapsed to the ice, instantly dead.
The Marine platoon stared in absolute, paralyzing horror as their commanding officer was casually swatted down like a fly.
Light stepped over the body, flicking a single drop of blood from his blade. He looked out over the sprawling, chaotic plaza, where tens of thousands of men were tearing each other apart.
STEP. STEP. STEP.
'Insects gathering together...'
'Not bad... not bad at all...'
"Huhun...huhuhnn.."
Ah. He laughed again.
'Well, old habits die hard...'
Light didn't mind and began to take a stroll.
It was a slow, methodical march through the very center of the Paramount War. He didn't run to the execution platform. He didn't actively seek out the Admirals or the Warlords.
He would deal with them when the time came.
Suddenly.
Watching these people, pirates and criminals alike, Light couldn't help but feel disgusted by them.
'Why couldn't they live correctly?'
Flick-BOOM!
A nearby low-ranked Marine, who looked no older than 21, had his face exploded.
'Trash.'
"MATSUNE! NOO!"
"WHY!! I"LL KILL YOU!", someone cried nearby. Light completely ignored him.
Light had judged the man to be a criminal, and hence, dead.
'Why do these people not cherish life?'
Light mused internally.
"They crawl like insects, blind and small,
Yet beg for mercy as they fall."
BAM!
He exploded another's chest, heard the screams, and smiled.
"They scream to heaven, but cannot see—
For they are praying... to the False Deity."
Light had descended upon Marineford, and he was taking his time.
.
.
.
A/N: What do you think of the story so far? Do you like it? Please gibe power stones and leave a review!
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