The flagship of Vice Admiral Tires and the main ship of Atmos were the first to complete their boarding maneuvers.
Soldiers from both sides leaped onto each other’s vessels and engaged in fierce close-quarters combat.
Tires and Atmos themselves also entered into direct hand-to-hand combat with one another.
Tires wielded a Western-style heavy sword, while Atmos fought with dual blades.
As the two clashed, the air was filled with flashing steel and shimmering sword light.
Both men were capable of using Haki, and both had coated their weapons with Armament Haki.
Each time their blades met, the collisions were explosive and intense.
For a time, neither could gain a clear advantage over the other.
After more than a dozen exchanges, Atmos praised Tires: “I didn’t expect a dog-head like you to be such a capable fighter!” But Tires flew into a rage at those words: “What dog-head?!
I’m a fox…
an Inari Okami, got it?!” The two continued their battle, heavy sword and twin blades going back and forth in a lively and spectacular display.
While Tires and Atmos were locked in combat, the warship under Pons’s command also completed its boarding maneuver with one of the pirate vessels.
Having transformed into Gengar, Pons charged straight into the midst of the pirates.
Against these grunts who could not use Haki, he rampaged freely, weaving left and right with absolute abandon.
“Shadow Claw!” “Shadow Punch!” “Shadow Ball!” After unleashing a three-move combo of shadow-based attacks, more than a dozen pirates were successively knocked to the ground by Pons.
“Monster!
Do not be so arrogant!” A burly man over two meters tall, wielding a two-and-a-half-meter-long spear, planted himself in front of Pons.
“I am Amisto, Vice Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates’ 13th Division!
You monster…
prepare to die!” With that, Amisto thrust his spear straight at Pons.
But Vice Commander Amisto did not appear to know how to use Haki, so Pons had nothing to fear.
He simply phased his body into intangibility to evade the attack.
The spear passed straight through Pons’s body without causing any harm, shocking Amisto deeply.
‘Wha…
what in the world was going on?!’ While Amisto was still reeling from surprise, Pons struck him square in the face with a Shadow Punch, sending him staggering backward two or three steps.
“This…
this is outrageous!” Amisto was furious.
He swung his spear with desperate ferocity, thrusting it toward Pons in a flurry of gleaming points.
It was indeed a formidable spear technique.
Against an ordinary opponent, the target would likely have been riddled with holes by now.
But against Pons, who could make his body intangible, Amisto’s entire spear art was completely useless.
Every thrust passed through nothing but air.
And then Pons launched his next attack: “Shadow Ball!” The dark purple sphere struck Amisto square in the chest, blasting him off his feet and sending him crashing to the deck.
“Da…
damn it!” Blood seeped from Amisto’s chest, and frothy blood spilled from his mouth as well…
clearly, he had been seriously injured.
Amisto struggled, still trying to get back up.
At that moment, Raul suddenly darted out from the side, drew his rapier, and thrust it repeatedly at Amisto.
“Sword Flash · Five-Star Chain!” In the blink of an eye, Raul delivered five rapid thrusts, each one landing squarely on one of Amisto’s vital points.
In an instant, five sprays of blood burst from Amisto’s body.
His frame could no longer hold itself upright, and he collapsed onto the deck, unable to move.
Still, he was not dead…
he was still clinging to life.
Raul pulled a pair of Seastone handcuffs from his coat and clapped them onto Amisto’s wrists.
Pons was stunned by Raul’s actions, ‘Wait a second…
wasn’t that basically kill-stealing?’ But Raul was savvy enough to handle the situation well.
After securing Amisto, he shouted to everyone around: “Amisto, Vice Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates’ 13th Division, has been captured alive by Lieutenant Commander Pons!” The young man certainly knew how to share credit.
Still, it was true that without Pons having wounded Amisto first, Raul would not have been able to defeat him outright.
Raul’s swordsmanship was genuinely impressive.
Though his rank was only Lieutenant, his combat ability was likely at the level of a Lieutenant Commander…
or even a Commander.
A talent like him would normally have been assigned to the elite training group during drills.
Pons did not recall ever seeing him before, but there were quite a number of participants in the elite training sessions, so it was impossible for him to remember everyone.
That said, even if Raul was at the Lieutenant Commander or Commander level, Amisto…
as a Vice Commander of a Whitebeard Pirates’ division…
was certainly more than a match for a Commander.
Amisto’s spear skills were also highly refined.
Raul alone would never have been able to take him down, and might very well have lost to him instead.
Since Raul had willingly yielded the credit to Pons, Pons felt no hesitation in accepting it.
The surrounding pirates were stunned when they learned that Amisto had been captured.
He was, after all, a vice division commander…
a man with a bounty of over seventy million Berry.
How could he have been captured so easily?
On the Marine side, morale soared.
The sailors shouted Pons’s name as they pressed their advantage against the surrounding pirates.
Though the fight between Tires and Atmos was taking place on a different ship, both were experts in Observation Haki.
The commotion from Pons’s side did not go unnoticed…
they both immediately sensed what had happened.
Atmos’s expression shifted, ‘Amisto had been taken alive by the Marine?
How had things escalated to this point?’ Tires, on the other hand, laughed heartily: “Truly, a new generation surpasses the old!
It seems I’ll have to work harder too…
I can’t let my juniors take all the glory!” “You think you can capture me alive as well?
Do you honestly believe you have that kind of ability?!” The news of Amisto’s capture had made Atmos even more agitated.
His twin blades grew wilder and more sweeping in their movements.
“How would I know if I don’t try?
I haven’t even used my full power yet!” Tires’s tone carried a hint of eager anticipation.
“If I could deliver a Commander of Whitebeard’s crew to Impel Down, I’d surely become famous throughout the world!
And then even more adorable young ladies would fall for me!” “It seems you’re not just a lecherous dog-head on the outside…
you’re equally depraved on the inside!” Atmos shouted.
“I, the great Atmos, will never be captured by a degenerate like you!” “How is wanting more cute girls to like me depraved?!
This is the romance of a gentleman, don’t you understand?!” As Tires shouted back, his attacks grew even fiercer.
The two exchanged several more rounds without either gaining the upper hand.
Tires then roared: “You’re a tough one to deal with, I’ll give you that.
Very well…
I’ll hold nothing back!” Atmos was startled, ‘Did this dog-head still have some hidden trump card he had not yet revealed?’ “Take this!
Secret Art · Inari Okami’s Absolute Lucky Slash!” ‘What a ridiculous name for a technique!’ Atmos could not help but mock it inwardly, though he maintained a high state of alert on the surface.
But to his surprise, the very next moment, Tires charged at him in what appeared to be a completely chaotic manner.
This was entirely different from the fierce yet measured swordplay Tires had displayed earlier.
Now, he was essentially swinging his heavy sword wildly in every direction.
His movements were utterly messy, and he left himself wide open, with virtually no defense.
Atmos could easily seize the opportunity and land a devastating blow.
‘Was this so-called ultimate move nothing more than a suicidal, gap-ridden assault?
Don’t make me laugh!’ After dodging two of Tires’s attacks, Atmos quickly spotted an opening and raised his twin blades to slash at his opponent.
But just as Atmos was certain his strike would land, his blades inexplicably veered off course and cut nothing but empty air.
‘What…
what was this?’ He had aimed straight for Tires’s chest, yet his swords had somehow swung wide to the side!
While Atmos was still bewildered, Tires’s heavy sword came crashing down toward his head.
Atmos hurriedly sidestepped to avoid the blow.
By all logic, he should have been able to easily evade such a messy, uncoordinated attack.
But to his astonishment, a sudden sharp pain shot through his chest.
‘Wait…
had I been cut?
But how could that be?
‘Whether considering the angle of Tires’s swing or the direction of his own dodge, there was simply no way he could have been hit!
Yet there was blood gushing from the wound on his chest.
‘Hold on…
my positioning was wrong!’ Atmos quickly realized something was off.
Based on the direction he had dodged, he should not have ended up where he now stood.
From this position, it looked as though he had deliberately thrown himself onto Tires’s blade!
What Atmos did not know was that this was the work of Tires’s Devil Fruit ability.
Tires’s Inari Okami fruit allowed him to achieve a state of extreme luck for a short period.
Under the protection of this ultimate fortune, he could illogically evade any attack from his enemies, or deal damage to them in bizarre, inexplicable ways.
That was the origin of the technique’s name, “Absolute Lucky Slash.” Just as had happened when Atmos was wounded, he had believed he was dodging Tires’s attack…
but in truth, he had inadvertently placed himself directly into the path of Tires’s blade, allowing himself to be struck.
Fortunately, the wound was not deep.
He could still continue fighting.
Atmos steeled himself, raised his twin blades once more, and launched a series of strikes aimed at Tires’s chest, neck, and other vital areas.
But these attacks, which seemed certain to land, also veered off course at the last moment, all ending in misses.
Meanwhile, Tires continued his seemingly formless assault.
Though Atmos dodged each attack in time, he was still struck repeatedly from absurd and inexplicable angles.
Although Atmos had coated his body with Armament Haki, Tires was also a master of Armament Haki.
The Haki-infused edge of Tires’s sword cut through Atmos’s Haki-protected body, leaving wound after wound.
Though none of these cuts were deep enough to be fatal, they were nonetheless continuous and cumulative in their damage.
Moreover, blood was constantly seeping from those wounds, and the gradual blood loss was leaving Atmos dizzy and lightheaded.
He felt he was reaching his limit.
‘Da…
damn it!
I am a Division Commander of the mighty Whitebeard Pirates!
How could I fall here?
How could he I defeated by a mere Vice Admiral?
Wouldn’t that be a complete disgrace to everything Pops had taught me?!’