I just wanted to teach the other party a lesson, but the other party wanted my own life.
It wasn't worth it at all.
Sengoku roared inwardly. But as he saw the massive stone about to crash down from the sky, his expression turned cold. In an instant, he leapt away.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Esdeath wasn't about to let go of this opportunity. She thrust her hand forward, and massive icicles shot toward Sengoku from all directions.
Seeing the incoming ice picks, Sengoku assumed their power was equal to the previous ice blades. Alarmed, he immediately raised his fists to block them.
But as his fists struck the ice, he was shocked to find they were as soft as ordinary frozen water—completely different from the lethal blades he had encountered before.
They weren't even in the same league as the earlier attacks.
Sengoku was baffled. What is this woman playing at? Why does she seem to have two different levels of power when attacking?
Still, now wasn't the time to overthink it. He kept dodging, but with each movement, he became increasingly uneasy.
Esdeath was simultaneously controlling ice picks, ice blades, and stone knives. His divided focus slowed his movements, making it harder for him to evade the massive floating island overhead.
Now, the island was falling—and Sengoku's heart sank. If it dropped directly on him, he'd be smashed straight into the ocean. Even with his powerful body, he'd be crushed—he had no chance of surviving it.
And if he fell into the sea, death would be certain.
"Stop! I surrender!"
Looking up at the descending mountain, Sengoku finally shouted his surrender—though every word dripped with unwillingness.
Compared to death, surrender was the only option. It wounded his pride, yes—but with no other way out, he had to accept it. His opponent's strength was simply overwhelming.
Seeing Sengoku surrender, Esdeath stopped the massive island in its tracks just before it struck.
"That's more like it," she said with a smug smile. "If you'd said so earlier, you could've spared yourself all this embarrassment."
With her objective achieved, Esdeath casually flicked her hand. The colossal island was hurled far away.
It landed in the distant ocean with a thunderous crash and immediately sank, triggering an enormous wave that rose thousands of meters into the air.
That monstrous wave surged outward in every direction.
Nearby islands were instantly overwhelmed by the torrent of seawater.
Fortunately, there were no inhabitants on those islands—so no lives were lost.
But now, the vast surge of water was rushing directly toward Kaos's cruise ship.
The Marines aboard the nearby ships saw the massive wave bearing down on them and trembled in fear.
They wanted to flee at full speed, but their battleship had only just docked—the engine had been shut down. Restarting it would take time.
Time they didn't have.
That tsunami would drown them before they could move.
Just as the massive wave was about to reach Kaos and the others, a flash of light tore through the air—then, in an instant, the devastating wave froze into an enormous ice sculpture.
Sunlight glinted off the suspended ice. The view was breathtaking—yet terrifying.
Some Marines collapsed where they stood, sitting in shock on the deck, staring at the frozen sea. No one spoke for a long time.
Then, Esdeath descended from the sky and landed gently on the cruise ship.
Sengoku, now thoroughly disheveled, had clearly suffered in the battle. His uniform was torn in several places.
But as he stepped back aboard his own ship, he managed to straighten himself out a bit.
Onigumo rushed up to him. "Are you alright, Marshal?"
"I lost."
Sengoku didn't try to hide it. It was an undeniable fact. Anyone who had watched the fight could see the truth: Sengoku had been beaten.
Part of the reason was that he hadn't gone all-out. This was Kaos's woman—if he'd used his full strength, he might've accidentally killed her.
From their first exchange, Sengoku had sensed that Esdeath's physical strength was her weakest point.
In terms of raw physique, she was on par with a Vice Admiral.
One solid punch from Sengoku could have seriously injured her.
So in this battle, he'd only used about 70% of his power—maybe even less.
But despite holding back, he still lost. That much couldn't be denied.
Onigumo stood frozen in disbelief. He couldn't believe that the mighty Sengoku had lost—to a woman, no less.
What troubled them more was that they had no prior intelligence on this woman. She had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
Since when has such a powerful woman existed in the pirate world? Her strength is at least Admiral level...
But they were still wrong.
Esdeath's current strength had already surpassed that of an Admiral. She was on par with a Four Emperor—a level that crushed anyone below it.
The so-called great battle hadn't even been close. Esdeath had fought seriously, yes—but she had also been holding back.
And she knew exactly why she had been able to win so easily.
It was all thanks to Kaos.
She couldn't control so many blades at once the way Kaos could.
And for each blade to have such terrifying offensive power? That wasn't something Esdeath could achieve on her own.
If she had relied solely on her own strength, the blades she threw wouldn't have had enough force to break through Sengoku's Armament Haki.
In that kind of battle, Esdeath would have had to fight with everything she had just to eke out a narrow victory.
But this time, thanks to Kaos's support, she had secured an almost effortless win.
Back on the cruise ship, Esdeath made her way to a particular room. She pushed the door open.
Inside, Rika Minami had already finished her task and was dressed neatly. As Esdeath stepped in, Rika gave a slight nod and silently walked out.