Chapter 341: Axel's Counterattack
The moment Ama no Murakumo formed in Kizaru's hand, the Admiral moved again.
He stepped forward and brought the blade of light down diagonally toward Axel.
The attack was not made at full strength.
Around sixty to seventy percent.
Based on the data gathered during their previous encounters, that was roughly the upper limit Axel had once been able to handle comfortably.
Kizaru was probing him.
Testing how much had changed.
The glowing blade flashed toward Axel's waist.
Before it could reach him, the wooden sword was already there.
Bang!
The two weapons collided.
A violent shockwave burst outward.
The seawater beneath them was blasted away from the point of impact, opening a wide circular depression around their feet.
Several Marines who had not withdrawn far enough were thrown down by the pressure. They curled against the ground, protecting their heads while the wind tore over them.
From a distant position, Jonathan's eyes widened.
Even his thick mustache fluttered wildly in the gale.
He had heard the reports.
Axel had once injured an Admiral.
Reading about something was one thing.
Watching this young man clash directly with one of the Marines' strongest fighters was another.
Jonathan immediately began considering how he could enter the battle.
The answer came just as quickly.
Not easily.
He had flooded the entire area with seawater.
Without stable ground, there was little he could contribute personally.
Kizaru showed no disappointment when his first strike was stopped.
He maintained pressure with his right hand.
His left hand glowed.
Another blade of light formed.
He thrust it toward Axel's exposed arm.
The intention was clear.
Cut off the troublesome limb.
Axel was no longer the inexperienced fighter Kizaru had faced years ago.
The instant the second light blade approached, Axel moved forward instead of retreating.
His wooden sword slid inward along Ama no Murakumo.
Both hands pressed into the movement.
Kizaru stood nearly three meters tall.
Axel was only around 1.6 meters.
Normally, the difference in size favored Kizaru.
At this distance, it became awkward.
His longer reach and wider stance made it harder to adjust both blades once Axel had slipped inside.
For a moment, the two became locked together.
Then Kizaru moved first.
An Admiral did not earn that title because Headquarters handed out honors.
The position had been built through countless battles.
Kizaru immediately recognized the danger and withdrew before Axel could exploit it.
His body moved backward faster than Axel could follow, breaking the stalemate and restoring distance.
Axel did not look disappointed.
The corner of his mouth rose.
"You fell for it, you perverted old man."
Kizaru's eyes shifted.
The retreat had saved him from Axel's immediate counterattack.
It had also carried him out of the dry space created by their first collision.
He was now above seawater.
Exactly where Axel wanted him.
The sea erupted.
Kizaru's brow furrowed.
The attack he had been preparing stopped halfway.
Water shot upward from every direction.
Dozens of compressed streams burst toward him like bullets and arrows.
Sentomaru's expression changed.
"Old man!"
No Devil Fruit user wanted to be caught in an attack made entirely of seawater.
Sentomaru did not believe Kizaru would be defeated that easily, but the sheer density of the attack still made his stomach tighten.
The streams struck.
They tore through Kizaru's body.
Then his figure scattered into light.
A moment later, particles gathered nearby and reconstructed him without injury.
Kizaru exhaled.
"My, my..."
He looked toward Axel.
"That was dangerous."
"What a terrifying brat."
Axel frowned.
"You actually dodged it."
He sounded almost offended.
"Hard to believe."
Kizaru scratched the side of his head.
"Your voice doesn't make that sound believable at all."
The seawater had technically passed through him.
Kizaru had simply altered his elementalized body at the final instant, opening precise gaps where each stream would pass.
The control required was extraordinary.
It was the kind of mastery expected from an Admiral who had wielded his Devil Fruit for years.
Kizaru lowered his hand.
"Can I ask you something?"
Axel rested the wooden sword against his shoulder.
"What?"
"Where is Vegapunk?"
Axel stared at him.
Kizaru continued,
"My assignment is technically to arrest you."
"But you understand why everyone really cares."
He sighed.
"If you know where Vegapunk went, there's no reason to drag yourself into trouble just to protect him."
Kizaru's voice became unusually sincere.
"And frankly, I would rather not fight someone like you."
Axel sighed in return.
"What kind of person do you think I am?"
Kizaru actually considered the question.
Then answered,
"Someone who causes trouble for others without gaining anything himself?"
Axel blinked.
"Am I really that bad?"
Kizaru thought again.
"Hmm."
"Probably worse."
Axel stared at him.
That was genuinely Kizaru's impression.
Axel could be calculating and rational when he wanted.
But once he decided something mattered, his stubbornness became absurd.
He would pursue certain choices even when the cost included his own life.
Axel shook his head.
"Then you've misunderstood me."
Kizaru waited.
"Why would I sacrifice myself for a crazy old man who wanted to use my body for research?"
Axel tapped his wooden sword against his shoulder.
"If I actually knew where Vegapunk was, I'd probably use the information to cause trouble for the World Government."
His answer was direct enough.
Unfortunately, Axel's natural tone made even honest statements sound suspicious.
Kizaru stared at him for a moment.
Then shrugged.
"Whether you're telling the truth doesn't really matter."
His expression became lazy again.
"If you can't tell me where Vegapunk is, then I still have to arrest you."
Axel smiled.
"What a hassle."
"So we agree."
Kizaru moved again.
This time, he did not rush directly into close combat.
The battlefield mattered.
Navarone Fortress sat above sea level, and Jonathan had deliberately altered the drainage routes before releasing the seawater.
Under normal circumstances, opening the appropriate channels would allow the water to escape.
But some mechanisms had already been damaged during the earlier destruction of the fortress.
The flooding would not disappear without intervention.
That too had been part of Jonathan's calculation.
Several Marines remained nearby for another reason.
Had Axel truly been weakened and drowned by the seawater, they were meant to retrieve him alive.
Jonathan had never intended to let him simply sink and die.
Before the battle, however, Jonathan had given Kizaru one subtle piece of information.
When the Admiral complained about the flooded arena, Jonathan's apology had been accompanied by a carefully directed glance.
A hint.
Destroy the right sections, and the water would drain.
Kizaru raised one hand.
Light gathered around his palm.
"Yasakani no Magatama."
A concentrated barrage of light erupted downward.
Axel immediately understood what he was targeting.
He raised his hand.
One column of seawater surged upward.
Then another.
Then dozens.
They twisted through the battlefield like enormous serpents, some intercepting Kizaru's attacks while others lunged directly for him.
Kizaru frowned.
A supposed ability user controlling seawater was an irritating sight.
For a brief moment, even he wondered whether it should be possible.
Then he remembered Charlotte Linlin.
That monstrous woman had also found ways to weaponize the sea.
The Marines had suffered enough from her to know that the world rarely respected neat rules.
Kizaru stopped thinking about it.
First priority: remove Axel's access to the water.
The barrage intensified.
Countless egg-sized spheres of light rained downward.
Each one carried enough penetrating power to tear through stone and metal.
The seawater columns were shredded.
Some light was weakened by the interception.
Enough survived.
Boom!
The drainage obstruction beneath the battlefield was destroyed.
Seawater began rushing away.
Kizaru expected Axel to stop him.
Axel did not.
Instead, he gathered every drop he could reach before it escaped.
The remaining seawater rose.
Twisted.
Compressed.
It coiled tighter and tighter until it formed a gigantic spiraling spear.
Kizaru's eyes sharpened.
Axel hurled it.
Boom!
The seawater spear crossed the battlefield faster than sound.
It smashed directly through the remaining Yasakani no Magatama projectiles.
Light scattered.
The spear did not slow.
It drove toward Kizaru with terrifying momentum.
Kizaru did not attempt to block.
He turned into light.
Then shot straight upward.
Not sideways.
Up.
There was no time to form the Yata Mirror and redirect himself along another path.
The spear was simply too fast.
Kizaru could only accelerate in a straight line.
As he climbed, he fired streams of light downward from his hands.
Each blast struck the seawater spear, stripping away part of its momentum.
It kept following.
Higher.
Higher.
Clouds began surrounding them.
Thousands of meters above the fortress.
Still the attack persisted.
Only after Kizaru had climbed to roughly ten thousand meters did the repeated bombardment finally break its structure.
The compressed spear collapsed.
Tons of seawater exploded outward.
Then gravity took over.
Rain began falling over Navarone.
Not ordinary rain.
A salty downpour poured from the sky.
Marines below covered their faces.
The water stung their eyes and soaked their uniforms.
For many of them, the thought was unavoidable.
This was not a battle between normal humans.
If the man fighting Axel had not been an Admiral, some might genuinely have considered retreating despite their pride in G-8.
Jonathan sheltered inside the entrance to a cave.
He watched the rain fall.
He could not clearly see Kizaru at that altitude.
But Axel remained below.
Still standing.
Still focused.
The youth's usual carefree expression had vanished.
That told Jonathan enough.
Kizaru was pressuring him.
Good.
And yet Jonathan could not relax.
The seawater had drained.
The battlefield had returned closer to normal.
That should have been favorable.
So why did he still feel uneasy?
There was another problem.
This was still Navarone.
If the battle escalated, G-8 itself would be forced to participate.
Against someone who could create attacks like that...
How much would the fortress lose?
The artificial rain lasted only several seconds.
Then light descended from the clouds.
Kizaru slowly returned to the battlefield.
"How dangerous."
This time, there was no teasing in his voice.
No deliberate exaggeration.
He meant it.
That spear had come close enough for Kizaru to feel something he rarely experienced.
Death.
Elementalization would not have saved him from something that large.
If seawater struck his body with that much force and robbed him of his Devil Fruit ability, the consequences would have been catastrophic.
And then there was the fall.
Ten thousand meters.
Even his body would not enjoy hitting the ground from that height without the Glint-Glint Fruit.
Kizaru looked at Axel carefully.
He had already considered the boy dangerous.
Apparently, not dangerous enough.
Axel had gained the advantage before even using those strange wings from their previous battle.
Only a few years had passed.
And he had already grown this much.
Terrifying.
Axel kicked a pebble.
It shot toward Kizaru like a bullet.
Still tense from the previous attack, Kizaru moved aside immediately.
The pebble passed him harmlessly.
Axel looked deeply disappointed.
Not because he had missed.
"Fighting you is boring."
Kizaru's brows rose.
"You're too fast."
Kizaru finally regained his usual unpleasantly relaxed expression.
"How strange."
His voice stretched lazily.
"I find fighting you rather exciting."
Far too exciting, in fact.
The kind of excitement that made his heart pound because death had been inches away.
Kizaru would happily live without it.
"But I think that excitement ends here."
Axel looked toward the side.
Sentomaru appeared.
And he was not alone.
Another full group of Pacifistas followed him onto the battlefield.
Axel's face twitched.
An Admiral was already troublesome enough.
Now Sentomaru had brought more of those machines.
Axel called them scrap metal, but he knew better.
They were useful.
Especially while Kizaru was present.
He could destroy them easily enough if given room to focus.
Against an Admiral, he would not have that luxury.
Then another figure approached.
Jonathan.
Alone.
The rest of G-8's Marines remained positioned farther away under his orders.
They carried special prison rounds and waited for opportunities rather than entering a battlefield where they would only become casualties.
Jonathan stepped onto the ruined ground with a bitter smile.
After watching the fight, he had reached an unpleasant conclusion.
Among all the Marines stationed at G-8, he was probably the only person who could contribute meaningfully at close range.
Not exactly the answer a commander wanted.
Axel looked toward him.
His own expression became almost as unhappy.
Another nuisance.
If he could remove anyone first, Jonathan might actually be his preferred target.
Axel did not know exactly how strong the Vice Admiral was.
That was not what bothered him.
Jonathan's ability to recognize opportunities was.
Someone like that did not need to overpower Axel directly.
He only needed to notice one opening at the wrong moment.
A hidden arrow was often more troublesome than the enemy standing in front of you.
Jonathan noticed where Axel was looking.
His smile became strained.
"That look is making me uncomfortable."
Axel said nothing.
Jonathan raised both hands slightly.
"I'm just here to fill out the numbers."
"You can ignore me."
Axel answered without hesitation.
"I was thinking about taking you out first."
Jonathan's smile froze.
"You're just as troublesome as that perverted old man."
Axel glanced toward Kizaru.
"And technically, you're the reason the Marines managed to trap me here."
Jonathan chuckled.
"What high praise."
He adjusted his stance.
"I'm just an ordinary middle-aged man who happens to think too much."
His words were modest.
His body was not.
Every muscle was prepared.
Every sense focused.
Jonathan was already waiting for Axel to make the first move.
....
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