“Rocks’…
vice-captain!!!”
Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral Pitt’s eyes suddenly widened.
His heart sank, and every cell in his body screamed a warning.
Since the disturbance at last year’s World Conference, whenever Rocks appeared, something major happened.
Even more terrifying was the fact that he was no longer alone.
He had actually recruited two monsters as crew members.
“Ren…”
“I’ve never heard that name before.”
“Where exactly did you come from?”
Vice Admiral Pitt spoke in a low voice.
“You’ve heard it now!”
Ren stood atop the mast with his arms folded across his chest.
“By the way, Marine…”
“You’re not trying to stall for time, are you?”
Vice Admiral Pitt’s expression changed slightly.
Just as Ren had suspected, he really was stalling.
Through the currents flowing behind the Gate of Justice, the warships could reach Marine Headquarters at the fastest possible speed.
Likewise, reinforcements could be dispatched from Headquarters to this location.
As long as the Headquarters reinforcements arrived, no matter what abilities Ren possessed, he would never escape capture.
“Enough talking.”
“Let’s finish this quickly.”
Ren clenched his fist.
Suddenly—
A sharp sound tore through the air behind him.
A tall figure clad in a white robe and wearing a mask appeared.
Its pitch-black claws reached straight for Ren’s back, aiming for a fatal strike.
“I’ve been expecting you!”
Ren smiled faintly.
CRACK!
A bolt of lightning as thick as a barrel descended from the sky, engulfing both Ren and the attacker behind him.
Long before the attack had even begun, Ren’s radar-like electrical waves had already detected the situation aboard the enemy ships.
Aside from the three escort ships commanded by Marine Headquarters Vice Admirals, there were also powerful fighters aboard the World Government vessel.
CP0!
The Celestial Dragons’ strongest shield!
The previous attack on Celestial Dragon Sorodos had happened too suddenly.
Even CP0, the Celestial Dragons’ shield, had been unable to react in time to save him.
Now that the Celestial Dragon had suffered such humiliation, the only thing CP0 could do to make up for his failure was to take Ren’s head.
That was precisely why he hadn’t revealed himself immediately.
He had remained hidden, waiting for the perfect opportunity to deliver a fatal blow.
What he hadn’t expected was that Ren’s perception was extraordinarily sharp.
Ren had known of his existence long ago.
Not only that, he had deliberately played along and set a trap, waiting for CP0 to walk straight into it.
BOOM!!!
Terrifying lightning swallowed CP0 whole.
The white robe covering his body instantly turned black and disintegrated.
The warship’s deck was blasted apart, and CP0 fell straight toward the lowest level of the ship.
After landing his first strike, Ren didn’t let his guard down.
He intended to finish the job while his opponent was down.
While CP0 was paralyzed by the electricity, Ren raised his hand and fired two more bolts of lightning, delivering follow-up attacks.
Even after electrocuting his opponent until smoke was pouring from his body, Ren still didn’t relax.
He flipped his hand and produced a gold coin, preparing to deliver the final blow.
Just then—
“That’s enough!”
Vice Admiral Pitt roared.
Armament Haki wrapped around his blade as he swung it mercilessly toward Ren.
Even though it was merely the Armament Haki of a Vice Admiral, Ren had no intention of testing its sharpness with his own body.
He reached behind himself and drew his weapon—
The Thunder God’s Hammer, Mjölnir.
Unlike the genuine Mjölnir, Ren’s Meow-Meow Hammer had a lengthened handle, making it convenient to grip with both hands.
At this moment, Ren swung the massive hammer and met Vice Admiral Pitt’s slash head-on.
DUANG!
The clash of metal exploded through the air.
The terrifying force of the hammer and blade colliding left Vice Admiral Pitt’s palm numb.
What made his scalp tingle even more was the fact that snakes of electricity were wrapped around Ren’s hammer.
Powerful electric currents surged through the blade in Pitt’s hands and continuously flowed into his body.
After only a brief struggle, Vice Admiral Pitt let out a scream.
His body suddenly flew backward.
Ren’s massive hammer sent him crashing heavily onto the deck of the warship.
Ding~
A dazzling beam of light shot forward the instant Ren snapped his fingers.
Railgun!!!
BOOM!
RUMBLE!!!
The warship was completely pierced.
A huge hole ran straight through it, from the deck all the way to the bottom of the vessel.
“Vice Admiral!!!”
The Marines aboard the ship stared at the scene in horror and cried out in shock.
ROAR!!!
A tiger’s roar shook the heavens and earth.
It came from beneath the deck of the World Government battleship, immediately attracting Ren’s attention.
The next second—
A massive striped tiger more than five meters long smashed through the deck.
Its enormous paw struck out and snapped the mast in half.
“Tch!”
Ren frowned.
He knew it.
When delivering a finishing blow, you had to finish the job properly.
As the Celestial Dragons’ strongest shield, CP0 served as the personal bodyguards of the world’s nobles.
Not a single one of them was weak.
Their strength even surpassed that of Marine Headquarters Vice Admirals.
Because Vice Admiral Pitt had interrupted him just now, Ren had lost his best opportunity to finish CP0.
And now he had to deal with this troublesome situation.
“Divine Punishment!”
Ren’s right arm transformed into lightning and shot forward.
ROAR!!!
The striped tiger—CP0 in his tiger form—wrapped Armament Haki around his claw and slapped the lightning apart with a single swipe.
Residual electricity flowed across his massive tiger body.
His steel-like fur stood rigidly on end.
“You’ve merely relied on eating a good Devil Fruit.”
“Don’t get carried away!”
As the tiger-form CP0 shouted, his body changed once again.
His enormous body gradually shrank, drawing closer to a human form.
In only a few moments, CP0 entered the strongest beast-human form of a Zoan.
And it wasn’t merely an ordinary beast-human transformation.
It was an Awakened Beast-Human Form.
A black-and-white ribbon of auspicious clouds curled around his body.
It was the unmistakable sign of an awakened Zoan.
“What a troublesome guy…”
Ren shook his head and pulled a gold coin from his pocket.
Railgun!!!
BOOM!
A dazzling electromagnetic beam shot forward.
“Tempest Kick—Iron Tail!!!”
The awakened tiger-man CP0 suddenly spun around.
His iron-like tail whipped out violently, meeting Ren’s Railgun head-on.
RUMBLE!!!
A deafening explosion erupted in the sky.
Smoke billowed everywhere.
The awakened tiger-man CP0 burst out of the smoke, his expression dark and gloomy.
A small section of the iron tail behind him was missing.
He had originally believed that with the power of a Zoan Awakening, he could completely crush his opponent.
He had underestimated the power of the Railgun.
“With the power of the strongest Logia, the Goro Goro no Mi…”
“Is this really all you’ve got?”
The awakened tiger-man CP0 refused to lose face and began taunting Ren.
Ren didn’t answer.
He simply reached into his pocket and silently pulled out another gold coin.
Whoosh!
BOOM!
The second-floor deck of the World Government battleship was blasted through.
“Naive!”
“I won’t fall for the same trick twice!”
The awakened tiger-man CP0 burst from the smoke once more, moving at incredible speed.
In an instant, he closed the distance to Ren.
His ten fingers were wrapped in Haki.
“Finger Pistol—Spotted!!!”
Countless afterimages of his fingers shot toward Ren like bullets.
Pfft!
Blood splattered through the air.
Even though Ren had transformed into lightning in time, he was still grazed by the Finger Pistol.
But it wasn’t a serious problem.
In the next instant, Ren appeared behind the awakened tiger-man.
The massive hammer in his hands exploded with thunder.
The awakened tiger-man barely had time to turn around before crossing both arms to block.
Whoosh!
BOOM!
The force of the thunderous hammer sent the awakened tiger-man plummeting downward.
He smashed straight through the warship’s deck.
“Wahahahaha!”
A familiar burst of laughter rang out.
“Is it still not over yet, Ren?”
“You’re taking far too long!”
Rocks had smashed through the Gate of Justice and arrived in pursuit.