When the crew had first arrived in Water 7, the economic disaster of a city had actually been a bit bustling for once. The pirates, bandits, and shipwrights that populated the town were out and about causing trouble, and the sunny day had been a large source of the town's strangely jovial attitude.
That ease quickly disappeared though, as the gravity of the battle between Rocks and his former crew mate would have been crushing to the average civilian. As they clashed once more, the impact of the collusion of their Armament Haki created such a powerful pulse of spiritual energy that even Sakazuki felt his knees nearly buckle.
"Who is this guy?" Sakazuki grunted as he threw up another barrier between Kyo and his captain. The sudden disruption of his fight irritated Rocks in the moment, but the surge of pain he felt through his body reminded him how far away from his prime form that he was. Jumping back to his group, Rocks took several deep breaths as the approaching Navy ships came even closer.
"He is the least of our problems," Rocks said with a dissatisfied grumble. "We need to get back to the ship, we can't afford to have this big of a fight with the Marines yet," he said as he looked back toward Fancy.
"Where do you think you're going, captain?" Kyo asked before leaping above the barrier that Sakazuki generated, spinning his axe with such speed that the weapon turned into a blur to the naked eye.
With a casual flick of his wrist, he launched the massive axe toward the group, the sheen of haki that coated it, increasing its speed and power even more. Raising his hand, Sakazuki generated another barrier just in time to prevent the axe from becoming embedded into Tom's head, but was unable to react to the Warlord appearing right next to him. The right cross that Kyo delivered launched Sakazuki through the nearest building's window, the wooden boards that had been lazily patched together to cover it splintering into dozens of pieces as his body crashed through it.
"Sakazuki!" Rocks shouted as he turned with a furious glare back towards Kyo. However, before he could raise his weapon, Tom and Saul had dashed in front of him with what seemed to be an equal amount of rage.
"Don Headbutt!" Tom shouted as a layer of Armament haki coated the top of his skull as he lowered it into Silveraxe's rib cage. The warlord let out a violent hack, saliva flying out of his mouth as he reeled from the pain of the sudden impact.
"Hull Breaker!" Saul shouted as his Haki coated fist followed with a loud crack into Kyo's skull.
The force of the blow bashed Silveraxe's face into the concrete street, the crack around his head illustrating the damage that the impact caused. The two men stood over the warlord, both panting with the look of fury not leaving either of their eyes.
"So…are you coming with us as well, Saul?" Rocks asked nonchalantly, casually breaking the tension as he stepped forward and rested the tip of Eclipse's blade against Kyo's neck. "I don't think the Navy will take you back after all that," he said with a sarcastic smirk.
"I just…I just wanted to help people," Saul said with clear frustration in his voice. "But I can't think of a single person that I've actually helped in all the years that I've served. Sakazuki and Mayando helped more people today than I've ever been given the opportunity to. Is that what you guys do all the time?" He asked as he looked down at Rocks.
"The people on my crew follow my orders, but as long as they do that, then I support them in what they do. I'm trying a bit of a more lenient approach as I get older, being a father will do that to you I suppose," Rocks said with a small chuckle as he looked up at the now docking Navy ships. "My old crew was a lot less cooperative, so it seems like it's working out better this way. Whatever your answer ends up being though, you might as well help us get out of here first," he said as he gripped his sword tightly, and the massive sources of Haki that he had detected earlier disembarked from their ships onto the decks of Water 7.