Chapter 124: The Light Mirror Beside Me
The Marine formation collapsed again.
What little order they had managed to rebuild shattered under Axel's first move. Their firearms had been destroyed, their attack had failed, and even their confidence had been crushed along with the ground beneath their feet.
And even that was only because Axel had held back.
If he had truly wanted to kill them, the stones scattered by his stomp would not have struck like blunt projectiles. They would have torn through the battlefield like cannonballs, and the Marines lying on the ground would not have escaped with mere injuries.
Rear Admiral DeWitt's frown deepened.
He had not expected his troops to be routed so easily.
Strictly speaking, the number of casualties was not large. Most of the fallen soldiers were injured rather than dead. But combat was not decided by numbers alone. Morale mattered. Will mattered.
And right now, the will of his men was crumbling.
Their bullets could not touch the child.
Their weapons had exploded in their own hands.
Their comrades had been scattered in one breath.
No matter how disciplined they were, no soldier could remain calm after something like that.
Just as DeWitt had feared, Axel did not even need to attack again.
He stood there quietly, wooden sword in hand, and no one dared to move.
When he took a step forward, the Marines stepped back.
One step.
One retreat.
The semicircle around him remained intact, but no one dared tighten it. They surrounded him, yet they were the ones being forced away, like iron filings repelled by an invisible magnetic field. They could not abandon their formation, but neither could they bring themselves to approach.
The soldiers themselves were still bewildered.
Everything had happened too quickly.
One moment, they had opened fire.
The next, their guns had exploded in their hands. None of them had seen the bullets reverse course. To them, it was as if their weapons had suddenly transformed into jagged fragments of metal.
Then the child had appeared in their midst, stamped once, and the earth had ruptured.
By the time they understood that they had been attacked, their comrades were already falling.
Still, even if they did not understand the method, they understood the result.
First, firearms were useless. Even a full volley had failed to harm him, and now most of their guns were broken.
Second, the force behind that one stomp was far beyond what their bodies could endure. If he closed the distance, they would be crushed before they could resist.
Those two conclusions were enough to create the current stalemate.
DeWitt tightened his grip around the hilt at his waist.
The situation was worse than he had expected.
Judging from the child's strange ability, he was likely a Devil Fruit user. Worse, he was not some inexperienced brat who relied only on his fruit. That slash earlier had been far too sharp and far too controlled.
His earlier decision to distract the blind swordsman and support Admiral Kizaru might have backfired.
If this child truly stood on the same side as that man, then defeating the Marines here would allow him to interfere in the Admiral's battle. And with the odd, dangerous power he had just displayed, even Admiral Kizaru might find him troublesome.
DeWitt could not allow that.
He had to step forward.
That was his duty as a Rear Admiral.
Slowly, he drew the blade from his waist.
It was not a long sword—barely two feet, a compact weapon he had carried for years. Since becoming the commander stationed on Sabaody, he had rarely used it.
Perhaps because he had not wanted it stained.
The Marines here were called protectors of order, but everyone knew the truth. On this island, they were often little more than caretakers for the Celestial Dragons—cleaning up their messes, shielding them from consequences, and protecting them from the resentment they themselves created.
Maintaining public order was simply another way of protecting the World Nobles.
DeWitt had never wanted his blade sullied by that kind of duty.
But now, he could no longer leave it sheathed.
"Request reinforcements from headquarters immediately," DeWitt ordered.
Then he stepped in front of Axel.
He did not think he could win.
Not against that sword aura. Not against that inexplicable ability. Not with age already gnawing at his body more deeply than he liked to admit.
But victory was not necessary.
He only needed to stall.
Sabaody was close to Marine Headquarters. With the Triangle Current, warships could arrive quickly. Admiral Kizaru had come alone, but there was no chance headquarters had sent only him. More forces would follow.
DeWitt stood silently, sword lowered, waiting for Axel to move first.
He simply stood there, steady as an old wall.
For DeWitt, buying time was the priority. Any method used for justice could be tolerated.
Axel's lips curved faintly.
He understood DeWitt's intention.
And he had no intention of letting him succeed.
Axel knew the strength of Marine Headquarters better than most people in this era. Once the Marines confirmed that an ordinary force could not defeat their enemy, the massive machine called the Navy would truly begin to move.
The longer this dragged on, the worse it would become.
Fortunately, there was still one piece of good news.
Kizaru.
The clash between Kizaru and Issho looked fierce from the outside, but Axel could tell that neither of them had truly gone all out. Kizaru, in particular, was not fighting like someone prepared to risk his life. He attacked, retreated, tested, and restrained—but he also avoided pushing the battle into a true death match.
Capturing Issho would be best.
Failing that, he would not force it.
That was the sense Axel got from him—a seasoned veteran doing his job, not a fanatic gambling his life.
Even so, it would be foolish to place their survival on Kizaru's mood. If their side exposed weakness, the Admiral would not show mercy.
So Axel's task was simple.
Defeat the Marines here.
Break their ability to support Kizaru.
Only then could they retreat without being immediately hounded from behind.
And the pillar holding these Marines together was the man standing in front of him.
Axel tapped the ground once with the tip of Bokutō.
Then he stepped.
Crack!
The ground burst backward beneath his foot, and his body launched forward like a cannonball.
A frontal charge?
DeWitt's eyes sharpened.
The child was underestimating him.
He seized the timing and swung his blade with confidence.
The edge cut cleanly through the air—
And struck nothing.
Only an afterimage remained.
DeWitt's pupils shrank.
Missed?
His blade was still extended when he realized the truth. Axel had stopped.
The boy's body, which should have been carried forward by momentum, had halted just outside the range of DeWitt's sword, as if the laws of inertia had been severed with a knife.
Impossible!
But DeWitt had no time to dwell on it.
Axel moved again.
Bokutō swept toward him.
DeWitt's stance had already been committed. There was no time to withdraw, no time to parry properly.
His body hardened.
"Iron Body!"
The wooden sword struck him.
For a brief instant, the absurdity of the scene burned itself into every watching Marine's eyes.
A small child.
A crude wooden blade.
A Rear Admiral reinforced by Rokushiki's Iron Body.
Then DeWitt was blown away.
His body shot through the air like a ball struck by a giant club, flying dozens of meters before crashing hard into the ground.
Bang!
Dust burst upward.
"Rear Admiral!"
"What did you do, you bastard?!"
The Marines snapped.
DeWitt was respected among them. He was strict, yes, but fair. In a place like Sabaody, where justice was forced to bow its head far too often, he had done what little he could to keep his men from rotting completely.
Seeing him struck down was enough to make the soldiers forget their fear.
Several rushed toward DeWitt to check on him.
The rest charged Axel.
They knew it was hopeless.
They charged anyway.
Blades flashed. Fists swung. Broken weapons were raised like clubs.
Axel had not expected that.
He had assumed the Marines would freeze once DeWitt fell. Instead, they chose a suicidal rush, throwing themselves at him to buy their commander even one more breath.
Their attacks meant nothing.
Blades shattered against him.
Fists twisted the moment they landed.
Bodies were thrown back by their own force before they could even touch him properly.
Against Axel, numbers were meaningless.
Human-wave tactics were the kind of strategy he feared least.
Yet the Marines kept coming.
Again.
And again.
Axel's gaze drifted toward the fallen Rear Admiral.
Looks like he's respected.
The strike had not been full strength. DeWitt should not be dead.
Just then—
A mirror of light appeared beside Axel.
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]